“When you woke up, you knew someone was watching, that’s why you called to Bailey,” Stella guessed.
“Yeah. I slept about two hours and when I got up to make my rounds, I took him with me. I didn’t think you’d mind. I locked you in, not that you stayed.” He gave a little shake of his head. “Should have left you a note.”
“Do you think it’s the killer?”
“Why would he be watching you? He can’t know about your nightmares, Stella.”
“Because I was there at the lake and I stopped him from murdering you.”
Sam’s fist clenched around the thick spindles that made up the fancy railing on the porch. “There is that. You did draw attention to yourself by diving into a freezing-cold lake to save me.”
“I couldn’t possibly know you weren’t knocked out, Sam, and that you had a knife and were about to do him in.”
He reached up and cupped the side of her face. “Did I sound upset with you instead of grateful? Because believe me, Stella, I’m very grateful you cared enough to put your life on the line for me.”
“I think I just feel guilty that I got in the way.” She gestured toward the lake over Bailey’s back. “He’s still out there. If he really killed James Marley, and he does what the other two killers I’ve encountered have done, he’s going to kill again very soon. If I hadn’t gotten in your way, maybe you could have stopped him.”
“You can’t think that way, Stella, and you know it.” Sam sighed. “It’s too cold out here. Go in with Bailey. I’ll go around to the back and go in that way. We aren’t going to find him tonight, whoever he is, and there’s no use in losing any more sleep over him.”
“You don’t have to sleep at my house if you’d be more comfortable in your cabin, Sam,” Stella forced herself to say. She felt far safer with him there, but just because he’d made love to her once, she didn’t want him to think she was presuming he would want to stay with her.
“I’ve got my gear here and there are very comfortable rooms, Stella, if you don’t want me in your room. Don’t worry about me. I’d rather we be together while this is all happening.”
She nodded, not certain she liked his answer. What did that even mean? That he’d leave when it was over? That he’d not want to be in the main house any longer? When had she become someone who didn’t just come out and ask? Why was she so reluctant? Because she wasn’t good at relationships. Why didn’t she just tell him she wanted him to sleep in her bedroom?
She’d been friends with five women for several years and none of them knew who she really was. That should tell her something right there. Raine didn’t count because she hadn’t known Raine was aware of her true identity. Even Zahra, her best friend, hadn’t known who she was. She didn’t give anything of her true self away. She was guarded and careful at all times.
She stood up, murmuring to Bailey to stay at her side, not wanting the dog to give away Sam’s presence. Once inside, she leaned against the heavy door and waited, not arming the alarm system, knowing Sam would when he came in through the back. She didn’t turn on lights because that was the first thing taught to her. If windows were lit, whoever was outside could see inside, and she couldn’t see out.
“What are you doing, Stella?”
She nearly jumped out of her skin, even though she was expecting him. She put a hand over her wildly pounding heart, pressing hard. The house was much warmer than outside, and her sweater was almost too hot. It could have been that Sam had gotten too close to her, towering over her.
“I’m just thinking.” She looked up at him. “I’ve really come to rely on you around here. I didn’t realize how much.”
His dark eyes moved over her face. “How is that a problem?” He held out his hand to her. “I’m a reliable kind of man.”
She found herself staring at his palm. There was an odd scar across it. She put her hand in his and let him close his fingers around hers. His hand was large and completely engulfed hers. He tugged her into the bedroom and indicated the bed.
“You change and I’ll make you hot chocolate. That always gets you back to sleep.”
Stella watched him leave and then pulled off the sweats and got into her thin pajamas. She didn’t like heavy clothes at night. It was odd how much Sam knew about her. When had he discovered that hot chocolate helped to put her to sleep, especially if she was restless? He always knew when she was having a bad day, even if they hadn’t seen each other. It was odd how he was so tuned to her. The only other person that came close to knowing her so well was Zahra.
She sat in the middle of the bed, up high by the headboard, and thought about what she would do if Sam left. She had done that a few times when she worried that Zahra might decide to relocate somewhere. She knew sometimes Zahra worried that she wasn’t as free as she thought she was from her past, and she would get the sudden urge to run. Stella only knew part of her story, that Zahra’s parents had arranged a marriage for her—a common practice in her small village—and she had fled. Stella knew the consequences were dire and Zahra could never go back, could never see her family. They had disowned her. Whenever she thought about losing Zahra, she would panic, just as she felt panicky at the thought of losing Sam.
“What’s going on, Satine?” Sam asked, handing her a mug of chocolate. “Talk to me.”
She made a face at him. “Relationships are difficult when you’ve never had them.”
He took the chair across the room from her, sprawling his long legs out in front of him. She was pretty certain he wasn’t drinking hot chocolate in his mug.
She shrugged, trying to be casual. “I do rely on you in a lot of ways. The thought of you leaving scares me a little.”
He took a sip from his mug and regarded her through the steam. “Why would you think I would leave?”
“I don’t know. Everyone leaves, don’t they?” That sounded lame and not at all like her. She was honest and she wanted honesty between them. “I didn’t understand when you said you’d rather we be together while this is happening. That implied when this is over, you intend to move on.”
His dark eyes held hers captive. “Babe, try to keep up. I’m in this for the long haul. I made that very clear with you. I moved into your house in order to keep you safe and be here if these nightmares persisted, not to make you uncomfortable. I don’t want you thinking I expect anything from you. Do I prefer to stay? Yes. Hopefully I’ll manage to seduce you into letting me stay in your bed with you before you kick me out. If that doesn’t happen, I’ll need to work a little harder.”
Okay then, so much for insecurities.
* * *
—
“Vienna found the body,” Denver said. He put his hand on Vienna’s shoulder in sympathy as he explained to Stella what had happened on day three of the search.
Vienna kept her head down, looking into her drink, her beautiful features an unreadable mask. No one would ever suspect that behind that gorgeous face with its classic bone structure and her runway body, she could easily be a member of Mensa and had held several patents that she sold, turning her ideas into gold mines. She made money playing cards in Vegas, and was quite passionate about playing poker.
She excelled at being an emergency and trauma nurse. Her love of the Sierras kept her in their small town. She was head of Search and Rescue and had been for the past few years. Due to her organizational skills, she had managed to get much-needed equipment and funding for them as well as new recruits. Those recruits, like Sam and a few others, were very skilled on various terrains.
“We have to be sworn in as a sheriff’s deputy when we work on the team,” Bruce pointed out. “I always sort of wonder if Sean and Bale won’t get hit by lightning when they take the oath. Both of them were fishing out on the lake the morning of the assault on Sam. They had Bale’s boat out. Griffen’s people searched their boat and truck for scuba gear. Neither man was wet, he said,
but by the time anyone got to them, the sun was out.” He sounded disappointed that Bale or Sean wasn’t the culprit trying to kill Sam.
“I always forget they’re part of Search and Rescue,” Stella said.
Vienna looked up. “Bale and Edward are local boys and both are good in the snow. They hunt and fish. They grew up here and know the area. Jason and Sean have been their friends since college and have been members of the community for a few years. They’re all pretty tight. They’re solid when it comes to rescue, particularly Bale and Edward. They’re all business.”
Denver nodded. “That’s true. As much as they annoy me sometimes, never during an actual search and rescue mission. They all knew James Marley. We all did.”
“He was a good man,” Raine said. “Loved his family. There’s no way this was an accident, not with it being the same way Sam was attacked. I looked at the rocks where he was fishing. Griffen took tons of pictures. There was a kind of skid mark where it looked as if one of his waders slid along the algae on the rock.”
“I saw that,” said Sonny Leven, the younger of the two security guards from the resort. He had been born and raised in the small town as well. He’d never left, not even to go to college. Stella knew he supported his father and that was why he hadn’t gone away to school. He’d never had that opportunity. Like many, he had worked multiple jobs before becoming a full-time security guard at her resort. “There was blood on another rock where Marley hit his head.”
Stella glanced at him sharply. He sounded a little strange. She’d forgotten that he lived in close proximity to James Marley, just down the street from him. She vaguely recalled that there was some kind of feud between Marley and Leven’s father, but she didn’t know what it was about or when it had taken place. Not while she’d been living there.
This was what they did after one of the rescues turned into a recovery. The members came together at the Grill and talked about the mission in low voices, especially if they knew the deceased. Stella knew it helped them to get rid of some of the aftermath of their grief.
“We had to walk in those reeds for what seemed forever,” Carl Montgomery said. “We all knew he was there and we didn’t want to face his family without bringing him home, but those reeds were so close together, choking the water and preventing any sight.”
“I stepped on him,” Vienna said in a low voice. “I felt so awful stepping on him, but that’s how I found him.”
Stella felt the delicate little shudder that went through her body. That shocked her. Given all the things Vienna faced, all the surgeries and trauma victims, all the rescues and dead people she brought home to families, she hadn’t expected her friend to be so shaken. Still, James Marley wasn’t just anyone. He was well liked and respected. He had been a friend.
“An accident is one thing,” Vienna continued, “but to think that someone would viciously target a man like James is so ugly.”
“The worst of it is,” Harlow said, “it really does look like an accident. He slipped, hit his head. He has that injury on the back of his skull, which easily could have made him disoriented or even unconscious. He didn’t have signs of a struggle, nothing that would indicate someone drowned him. He had a finger broken in two places, but there was fishing line wrapped around it. Cause of death was drowning.”
“That fishing line was everywhere,” Denver said. “It was around the reeds and partially around his wader, anchoring him underwater. It looked like he rolled a couple of times with the waves and that was what wrapped him up in it.”
Bale came in and ordered a beer, seating himself a few barstools over from Denver, who immediately acknowledged him. “Came to pay my respects to the old man,” he muttered. “Helped me out when I was a kid a few times.”
“Yeah,” Carl said, “I have to admit, he did me as well. Loved his family and got a little crotchety as he got older, but always did the right thing in the end.”
“Loved those grandkids of his,” Raine said. “Heard he called them every single day. Even the younger ones. Liked to take them fishing with him. He had patience for them.”
“I do business with his sons. They’re good, honest men. Don’t know his daughter . . .” Carl trailed off, as if he might have heard things he didn’t want to repeat.
“She lies,” Bale said. “Always did, even in school.”
Stella wondered if that was the truth. She glanced at Carl. She tended to believe him. He didn’t make a reply, but then he didn’t deny it either.
“Why did it take so long to find him?” Sonny Leven asked. “I mean, his family looked in the water all around that area because his truck was there, right? They searched before we did. Why do you suppose they didn’t come across him?”
“The reeds are really thick there, Sonny,” Vienna said. “We didn’t actually see the body, and it was close to the surface. The reeds hid it.”
“There are rocks all through there as well,” Bruce said. “The reeds choke out everything so you can’t see the rocks. The rocks are green under the water.”
“But wouldn’t the fishing line have been at the top of the water where they could see it?” Sonny persisted.
“You don’t think his own family did him in, do you?” Carl asked.
Sonny shook his head. “No, it’s just weird that no one could see him when he was in such shallow water, even with the reeds.” He was the newest member of Search and Rescue and trying to learn.
Stella knew this was their process, but still, it sickened her. She didn’t know why she felt so guilty, but she did. All the rescuers were hurting. She stood up and moved away from them, needing fresh air. Although intellectually she knew it wasn’t her fault, guilt still weighed on her. She told herself there was no way she could have foreseen that the murderer would have rushed from attempting to kill Sam straight to another fisherman. James had been miles away, so there had been a boat involved. Boats meant launching into the lake. Pulling behind a vehicle. Someone had to have seen something—someone. There were so many people out that morning.
She slipped out of the bar into the evening air. Temperatures were already dropping, especially at night. Folding her arms across her chest, she walked briskly up the street just a little way from the bar’s entrance to try to stay warm. She didn’t plan to go far.
This was a town where most of the locals hunted and fished. They owned guns. Now that one of their own had been most likely murdered and word had gone out from the sheriff’s department to be on the lookout for someone in scuba gear, it hadn’t stopped anyone from fishing. Instead, they were fishing in pairs, and all were packing guns and looking for the killer.
She hadn’t gone halfway down the block when Jason Briggs, Bale’s friend, came up behind her. “You shouldn’t be out here alone, Stella. It isn’t safe.”
She whirled around at the sound of his voice. Of all of Bale’s friends, she knew Jason the least. He rarely said much, particularly when he was with his friends. He stayed in the background. He’d gone to college with the others, was an engineer and liked the Sierras enough to want to stay. He was a strong climber, one of the main reasons he relocated to the area.
“It can get stuffy in the bar. Tonight the rescue crew is talking about finding James Marley. It makes me feel so sad for him and his family.”
Ominous gray clouds towered toward the moon, stacking up in formations blocking out the stars. The weather was definitely changing. Winter was coming with a vengeance.
“I didn’t know him. Bale and Edward did. They said he was a pretty cool guy most of the time. Edward and he had a few words a couple of months ago, but that was over his daughter’s mouth. Apparently, she didn’t like something Edward and Sean were talking about in the parking lot of the hardware store. She overheard them and told them to be quiet. Something to that effect. They told her to go fuck herself, that she had no right telling them what they could or couldn’t say in a public plac
e. The exchange got heated and they left. They thought it was over, but she ran to her daddy and he was really pissed.”
Stella couldn’t tell if he was relaying the incident the way it really happened, or the way he heard it happened. She didn’t like Sean or Bale, so in her mind, they were always at fault. Just because she didn’t like them didn’t mean they were always the ones in the wrong. If they were having a private conversation outside and James Marley’s daughter overheard it, she really didn’t have the right to ask them to stop talking.
“That’s too bad that they would have a bad experience with him when James was such a good man as a rule. He was fiercely protective over his family, and they were the same about him. I just can’t understand any of this.” That much was true. She couldn’t.
“People don’t always make sense,” Jason said. “I hope it really was an accident and no one murdered him.”
Music suddenly blared louder as someone opened the door of the Grill and allowed the sound to escape. Sam moved toward them in that easy way he had that made him look like a menacing jungle cat.
Jason glanced toward the bar and then leaned into her, but kept his eyes on Sam and his voice a whisper. “Tell Shabina to stop going out into the forest by herself looking for birds. Not a good idea right now.” He walked briskly away, continuing on down the block as if he’d been walking all along and had never stopped.
Stella stared after him, her heart pounding, her mouth suddenly dry. Shabina was an avid bird watcher and she did go into the forest, hiking the trails, looking for various rare birds and their nests. It wasn’t like she advertised she was a bird enthusiast. She was very quiet about it. Someone was watching Shabina’s movements closely. Sean? Most likely. Jason would know. Sean seemed obsessed and not in a good way, if there was such a thing. Things were getting more and more complicated. What had happened to her peaceful town?
“You forgot your jacket, Stella,” Sam said as he held out her coat, expecting her to slip her arms into it.
Murder at Sunrise Lake Page 14
