Murder at Sunrise Lake

by Christine Feehan

  Again, Harlow probed along Stella’s ribs and along her stomach and then under her breasts, where she’d taken the brunt of his feet connecting. She did her best not to react when Harlow found the exact place of impact.

  “Underwater he couldn’t really hurt me with a double kick like that,” Stella reaffirmed. “I’m sure it was more to shove me away than anything else.” She dropped her sweater back in place.

  “I don’t understand why he didn’t just use a spear or a weapon like that,” Harlow said. “He really put himself at risk. Now most of the county is on alert. You know just about everyone carries a gun. The warning went out on Facebook to fishermen. It won’t stop anyone from fishing, in fact the lake will be packed tomorrow, both with boats and with men and women fishing around the lake. All of them will be packing.”

  Stella sighed. “I know.” She certainly carried a gun. She had since she’d been old enough to learn how to shoot. She’d never stopped practicing. The images of the terrible things her father and the other serial killer had done to their victims had been burned into her mind. No matter how hard she tried to forget those terrible nightmares, she couldn’t. The worst of it was, she knew they were real. Human beings had done those things to other human beings. Her father, a man who was supposed to love and protect her, had done those things to other people’s loved ones. How could she ever fully trust anyone again?

  She had the feeling the killer was someone who visited the county often, perhaps fishing or hunting on a regular basis. He might even stay at her fishing camp, or one of the many campsites or RV sites she rented out. She could be harboring the killer. He had to be close to her, or she wouldn’t be having nightmares.

  Bailey gave a short bark of warning to announce the arrival of another vehicle. Sam immediately stood and gathered his gear as Zahra and Shabina leapt out of Shabina’s RAV4, neither looking as if they had been up most of the night partying.

  “Where’s Raine?” Harlow asked.

  “Search and Rescue was called to help look for whoever tried to kill Sam this morning,” Shabina said, looking Sam and Stella over. “She’s checking boats for scuba gear and talking to everyone out on the water, hoping someone might have seen something strange. Are you two all right?”

  “Harlow has pronounced both of us just fine,” Stella said, following Sam to his rig. “Are you certain you’re okay to drive? I can take you back and have one of the others come with us.” She tried to keep anxiety out of her voice.

  Sam had the door to his rig open and his gear already tossed on the passenger seat. He turned back to her and unexpectedly framed her face with his hands, sending her stomach into a roller coaster of loops and somersaults.

  “I’ll be fine. Got work to do. You have fun with your friends, Stella, and don’t think about anything for a couple of days. It will do you good. I’ll look after the resort.” He bent his head and brushed his lips over hers.

  It was the briefest of contacts, but hot as sin. A million butterflies took wing. The somersaults in her stomach increased so that she pressed her hand tight there, wondering why she’d never had that reaction in her life to any man she’d been around, or dated. He hadn’t really kissed her but it hadn’t seemed to matter.

  He slid inside the truck, shut the door, eased down the window and looked at her with his dark eyes. “Satine, you have to step back so I can go. Not sticking around when the camp is overrun with women.”

  That made her laugh. “You’re running away.”

  “As fast as I can possibly go.”

  Stella shook her head and moved away, lifting her hand, watching him back out with expert ease, then turn around and drive away. Almost at once she felt vulnerable, as if eyes were on them. She crossed her arms over her chest and took a slow look around. Someone could be on higher ground, hidden in the trees, a good distance away from them. He’d need binoculars if he was going to really see them clearly from that vantage point. There was the granite cliffside that ran up to the trees. Boulders jutted out and could provide cover. And of course, there was the lake. Anyone with a boat could watch them from the lake or one of the spots along the shore close to them.

  “Stella, are you going to stand there all day in a Sam-induced fog,” Zahra demanded, “or get over here and tell us what is going on? Because it looked like he kissed you.”

  Stella felt color creeping into her face as she walked back to her friends. “I assure you he did not.” It took effort to keep from pressing her fingers to her suddenly tingling lips. “I’m not certain what you thought you saw, but it wasn’t that.” She put her hands on her hips and regarded Shabina and Zahra, studying their clear, glowing skin. “You went to the spa first thing this morning, didn’t you?”

  The two looked at each other and burst into laughter.

  “While I was nearly getting killed by some madman, you were wallowing in luxury,” she accused, happy to divert attention from Sam’s goodbye to her. “And I don’t see any remorse on your faces at all.”

  Shabina shoved her sunglasses onto her nose. “Girl, if you were hurt, we would be upset, but everything turned out just fine, so there’s no reason to be anything but thankful we had a spa morning.”

  “I had a harrowing experience.” Stella threw herself into her camp chair.

  “You shared an experience with Sam, the hottest man on earth,” Zahra corrected. “That’s what she said last night, Harlow. Over and over. She kept saying he was the hottest man on planet earth.”

  “I certainly did not,” Stella denied, afraid she might have. Probably on the way home. With Sam driving. It wasn’t like he couldn’t have heard. She groaned. “Just kill me now.”

  Harlow burst out laughing. “Stella, did you drink too much last night?”

  “Apparently so. Let’s not talk about this anymore. I’m getting a headache just thinking about it.” Stella delved into her small backpack to pull out her sunglasses. She needed them to hide behind.

  “Perhaps blurting out in your drunken state that you thought Sam was hot paid off,” Harlow pointed out. “He did hold your hand.”

  “What?” Zahra nearly jumped up and down. “You are holding out on us. We’re your best friends and you’re lying to us. He did kiss you goodbye.”

  Shabina pulled her sunglasses down to peer over the top of them at Stella. “I’m texting Vienna and Raine right now to keep them in the loop. Kissing. Holding hands. What else happened? All in a couple of hours in the morning too. It is a good thing we went to the spa, Zahra. We’re like matchmakers. Without our timely intervention, they probably would never have gotten together.”

  Stella couldn’t help laughing. That was the way it always was when they got together. They could go from serious to funny in a heartbeat, taking each other’s backs always.

  Vienna and Raine didn’t join them until the afternoon. They set up the campsite the way they liked it when all of them were present. Vienna looked tired, and the others suggested she rest while they did the bulk of the cooking when it came to dinner, but as always, she insisted on pulling her weight. They played cards and talked long into the night. Stella still felt uneasy and often walked around with Bailey to see if he was picking up any signs of an intruder close by. Bailey seemed as wary as she did, but he didn’t growl or posture, simply stayed alert when he normally would have been relaxed. No one else seemed to notice the ominous feel in the air the way she did. Stella tried to put it down to her nightmares.

  One by one the others went to their tents. She stayed outside with Bailey, patrolling around the tents and then down by the lake just to make certain everyone was safe. She even took her gun out of the compartment in her 4Runner, loaded it and put it in her backpack, which she kept close to her at all times.

  When she returned to the firepit, the fire had died down and only Raine remained seated, clearly waiting for her. Stella retrieved a blanket and then moved her chair just a little back
from the fire, more to keep the light from hitting her face than anything else. She knew Raine had waited up for a purpose—to talk to her alone.

  “Is everyone asleep already?”

  Raine nodded. “You’re restless tonight.”

  “I just keep feeling like someone is watching us. I know it’s probably a leftover thing from this morning, but I can’t seem to shake it.” Bailey shoved his head in her lap and Stella scratched his ears.

  “I made you hot chocolate and put it in your hot chocolate mug.” Raine handed her the to-go mug. “That should keep you warm.”

  “You want to talk about something?” Stella figured she might as well get it over with.

  “How involved are you with Sam, Stella?” Raine asked very quietly, looking around as if the others might overhear them even though she’d waited until they were asleep in their tents. She and Stella sat a good distance away, by the firepit, but she was still concerned.

  Stella froze. This was Raine. She knew things others didn’t. “Why?”

  “You two have always acted as if you’re very good friends, but now Shabina texted me saying he kissed you and you were holding hands. That seems as if you’re more than friends. Are you in a relationship with him? Or was she kidding? At the bar last night he seemed protective of you.”

  “He’s always protective,” Stella countered, trying to dodge the question. “That’s his nature.”

  “No, it’s not,” Raine denied. “Not unless you belong to him. He doesn’t claim many people in his circle. Not even us, and we’ve been around him for a few years now.”

  Stella tilted her head and studied Raine’s face in the light from the waning fire. “You tend to do a background check on anyone who comes close to us. Did you do one on him?” She was curious. If Raine had, she’d never shared.

  Raine shook her head and again looked around, her expression cautious. “No.”

  “Why not? I’ll bet you know more about everyone in town than anyone else. Why not Sam? Why wouldn’t you check up on him, especially since it’s clear you don’t altogether trust him?” Stella tried not to sound aggressive or belligerent.

  This was Raine. Her friend. She’d known Raine longer than she’d known Sam, and Raine had always been intensely loyal. If Raine had something to say, Stella needed to hear her no matter how much she wanted to be with Sam. Denver had warned her about Sam, but she wasn’t exactly certain what he was trying to say. Raine would be truthful and there would be no hidden agenda. Stella might not want to hear it, and it could be painful, but Raine wouldn’t intend it that way.

  Raine frowned. “No, it isn’t a matter of trust, Stella. You’re reading me wrong. You’re my friend, and I don’t want you to get hurt. Sam is the type of person you can count on if you’re in his circle, and his circle is going to be extremely small. He won’t ever let many people in. If you’re one of them, count yourself lucky because he’ll defend you with his life. He won’t ever lie to you, and he’ll stay.”

  “But. I hear a but. There’s a reason you didn’t do a background check on him, Raine. And there’s a reason you’re warning me about him, because this is a warning, isn’t it?” Stella forced herself to pursue the conversation when she knew Raine would have stopped right there. Raine didn’t pry. She didn’t push into any of their lives when she easily could have. She didn’t gossip and she held confidences.

  Raine sighed and pushed at her long sun-streaked hair, a rare gesture of nerves. “I knew I wouldn’t have found anything on him and I didn’t want to trigger an alert if anyone was looking for him.” She hesitated. “Men like him have alerts set for anything like that on their records. They know when someone is trying to find them. He’ll have friends that will tip him off if someone is searching for him. I don’t want a visit in the middle of the night.”

  Stella’s heart dropped. “What does that mean, Raine?”

  Raine rubbed her hand over her leg and looked toward the lake. “He’s obviously come here to just live his life, Stella. He wants to be left alone. If I brought attention to him, he wouldn’t be very happy and I couldn’t blame him. He served his time.”

  “Denver told me he’s what some people in the military refer to as a ghost. He more than implied that Sam cleaned up messes, not only for the military but for other agencies as well.”

  Stella kept her gaze glued to Raine’s face. Raine didn’t have Vienna’s poker face, and right now she was very uncomfortable.

  “How would Denver know what Sam did for any agency, Stella? Unless Sam told him—and you and I both know Sam would never do that—Denver doesn’t know anything. I’m only taking a stab in the dark and doing so as your friend because I want you to be very sure before you enter into a relationship with him. I’m not saying it’s a bad thing, only that you need to know who you’re with. You have that right.”

  “Should I be afraid of a man like that?”

  “Are you afraid of Sam?” Raine looked directly at her.

  Stella didn’t answer immediately. Raine deserved a real answer. Stella thought about all the times she’d been alone with Sam over the past two years. Had she been afraid of him? She had considered that he, like everyone else, might be the murderer in her nightmares when she needed to rule suspects out, but she hadn’t really believed he could be the serial killer. She shook her head. “No, I’ve never been afraid of him. He makes me feel safe.”

  Raine nodded. “Then you have your answer, Stella, and I have mine. I don’t need to do a background check on him.”

  “I actually don’t want you to do one. I wasn’t asking you to do one, I just wondered why you hadn’t.”

  “Because he’s a dangerous man and I’m not going to tangle with him. I also think he more than deserves to start a new life, which he’s done here.”

  Stella took a sip of hot chocolate. “Did you do a background check on me?” She kept her voice low, sounding calm, but her heart beat so fast and her chest hurt to the point she was afraid she knew what those having heart attacks felt like.

  Raine sighed and nodded, not looking away from her. “I’m sorry. It’s a hazard that goes with my job. I actually have to do background checks on people I hang out with. I’ve known you a lot of years, Stella. I’ve never said anything to you or anyone else. I can keep secrets and I’ve kept yours.”

  “Even from our friends?” Stella gestured toward the tents.

  Raine frowned at her. “Of course. It isn’t anyone’s business. If you choose to tell someone, that’s for you to decide, not me, not anyone else.”

  Stella wasn’t certain she knew how to feel about Raine knowing who she really was, or the fact that her father was a serial killer. She felt color sweep into her face and was grateful the evening had darkened and she was sitting far enough away from the firepit that the flames weren’t throwing light on her face. Raine had always accepted her, and she’d shown intense loyalty to her, but just knowing she knew who she really was, with her ugly past, was disconcerting.

  This was how it always started in the past, one person knowing and then her life turning upside down. The whispers. The looks. A media circus. That was so unfair to put on Raine. She’d known for years and never said a word to even their closest friends.

  Raine cleared her throat. “I don’t know for certain what kind of work Sam did. I don’t like to speculate, but let’s say Denver is right about him and he’s one of these ghosts, for lack of a better word.” She pressed her lips together and again looked around and even glanced in the air as if a drone might be hovering.

  Stella sat up straighter, all thoughts of anyone finding out about her past gone. If Raine was that nervous, there had to be a reason. Raine didn’t get nervous, unless she was climbing at certain heights and she had a panic attack or swore like a sailor.

  “Men in that line of work don’t usually live long, not because they aren’t good at what they do but because they ar
e. They make enemies. They’re sent all over the world to take out major targets and, as such, have information that can never be revealed to the public. They’re trained in methods of interrogation and killing and they’re truly like the ghosts Denver called them. If they’re sent after you, they don’t stop.”

  Stella held herself very still. “Shouldn’t Sam be telling me these things? Isn’t that what you said?”

  “Yes, if he’s one of these people, and I don’t know that he is. But someone tried to kill him this morning in a very strange way. He was fishing, Stella, and they put on scuba gear and swam in very cold water and would have made it look like an accident. A man who has done the kinds of things he’s done for his country has made enemies, Stella. Those enemies wouldn’t stop looking for him. They can find ways to put alerts on his files so if someone like me did a background check on him, it might give him away. If they found him, they would send an assassin to finish him. If he is what Denver thinks, he might have a target on his back, and if you’re in a relationship with him, that makes you potentially vulnerable as well.”

  Raine put her hands out in front of her, spreading her fingers wide. “I’m not trying to scare you away from him, because I don’t really know anything about him, but maybe you should straight up ask him, Stella. He could just be a veteran who has gone through a difficult time and wants to be left alone.”

  “Would this assassin kill others, making the kills look like accidents in order to cover up what they did?” Sam hadn’t in any way indicated to Stella that he thought the killer might have specifically targeted him. And how could he have? Sam wasn’t supposed to have been there. But Raine kept looking at the sky. Did that mean some agency had the ability to watch them? Could they find Sam that way? Stella held her breath.

  Raine frowned. “No, why should they? They would send a pro. He would hit his target and get out. No one would be the wiser. If there was a witness, he might have to kill the witness as well, but no, he wouldn’t indiscriminately kill a bunch of others. Ghosts aren’t mass murderers. They take out specific targets that are threats to national security. Heads of drug cartels or terrorist cells. They don’t just kill anyone, Stella. Someone sent after them in retaliation wouldn’t want attention drawn to them.”