Paradise Crime Thrillers Box Set

by Toby Neal

  All of Jake’s mental scheming evaporated the minute he got done greeting the dogs, turned around in his seat, and got a good look at Sophie’s face.

  Her vibrant golden skin tone was ashen; her big brown eyes shadowed and dark, her mouth pinched. That mask she hid behind was in place, but it couldn’t hide the pain radiating off her in waves.

  “What happened?” He reached for Sophie’s hand and peeled it off the steering wheel. Her fingers were icy, and he pressed her hand against his chest to warm it, sandwiching it beneath his. “Something happened. Tell me.”

  Sophie shook her head. “We need to get to the rental place before five.” She yanked her hand away and gripped the steering wheel, eyes forward. “I am getting my own car and I have a reservation for a room downtown. I will take Tank to my place if you don’t want to deal with him.”

  Jake recoiled, absorbing the rejection. She was hurting. He had to make it stop. “I won’t leave you like this.”

  “I don’t need or want your help.”

  Ow. That hurt. He forced his mouth to close on arguments, his arms to stay down, not grabbing her and dragging her against him and causing an accident. He was a cave man, but at least he knew it.

  Jake sucked a few breaths and then turned to the dogs in the back seat. “Hear that, guys? She’s taking off and trying to take you with her. Well, I’m not going to let her do it, ya hear? We’re sticking together. We’ve got work to do.”

  Ginger woofed and Tank pricked his ears.

  Calmer, Jake turned to face forward. “Something happened. I respect that you want some space, but I have no intention of letting you blow me off. So, I’ll just follow you to wherever you’re staying and get a room there too.”

  A long beat passed by. Sophie gave a tiny nod. “Tank would like to stay with Ginger and we are still working together, so that would be acceptable.”

  He felt like he’d won a major battle, but schooled himself not to show it.

  At the car rental place, she went into the office and got keys. She came back to the Jeep with them in her hand. “I’ll take Ginger and my backpack and go now.” She was still trying to leave him.

  “Not necessary. Just tell me where your room is and I’ll bring the dogs and your things.” Keep the high ground and make no concessions—he’d learned that in Special Forces.

  They locked eyes. His chest hurt at how dead her gaze was. Sophie was deep in her depression, barely functioning, trying to get to somewhere to hole up. “It’s the Banyan Tree Motel downtown,” she finally said.

  “I’ll be right behind you.”

  Sophie walked off and located a small blue Ford Focus. She unlocked it and got in. He followed her in the Jeep through the busy streets of Hilo to a side road near the harbor. The motel was three stories of cinderblock painted the green of a hospital hallway, deep in the shade of a massive banyan. They parked and went into the small office without speaking.

  “Checking in,” Sophie said, and presented a credit card.

  Jake pushed her hand aside and handed the clerk the Security Solutions business credit card.

  “Both rooms on this card, please. Adjacent if you have it,” Jake said. “Is this place dog-friendly?” He held up a hundred-dollar bill.

  “It is now.” The clerk grinned. He assigned Jake the room next to Sophie’s, ran the card and pocketed the cash.

  By the time Jake got his stuff moved in and the dogs installed in his room, Sophie had drawn the drapes on her side. He didn’t see any light around the door, and it was locked.

  She didn’t answer when he knocked.

  She hadn’t even taken her backpack inside the room.

  This was bad.

  Jake called for a pizza delivery and took the dogs out for a run before bed. Back at the motel, he couldn’t shake his worry when she didn’t answer the door for the pizza, either.

  Only one person he knew had successfully dealt with Sophie when she was like this: Marcella.

  “Hey Jake. What’s up?” The beautiful Italian FBI agent always sounded so cheerful. Why couldn’t he have fallen for a woman like her? Marcella was awesome, and what you saw was what you got. But Sophie? There was no end to the depths and layers of Sophie.

  “I need your help. Sophie and I are on the Big Island on a job, and something happened to her today. She won’t talk to me. Tried to ditch me. She’s holed up in a motel room with the drapes pulled, and won’t answer the door. She’s not eating. I’m looking for advice.” He rubbed his face in frustration.

  “Oh, damn. Sounds like she is in one of her depression cycles. Usually there’s a trigger of some kind. Did anything unusual happen?”

  “Yeah. We slept together last night, for one thing.” Jake stumbled to a halt, flushing hot and cold with embarrassment.

  “Oh-ho. I kinda saw that coming.”

  “It was really good. I mean, it was mutual, you know? Sophie was into it. But this morning, she began pulling away. I was expecting that, it’s her style, so I wasn’t happy but I wasn’t really surprised either.”

  “Did you guys have a fight or something, afterward?”

  “No. She was withdrawn but I didn’t push; I expected she needed space and the case we’re on took us in different directions during the day. I went on a house search and Sophie worked at the police station and then went to the park with the dogs. When she came to pick me up . . . I could tell something serious had happened. Maybe someone called her, did something to her. I don’t know, but she’s in a bad place.”

  “Let me try to phone her. I doubt she’ll pick up; she usually turns everything off, closes the curtains, and goes to bed during one of these episodes. Last time she had a really bad one was when her boyfriend was killed.”

  “I remember that, of course. Call me back, ok?”

  “Will do.” Marcella ended the call.

  Jake hated being so helpless, so useless.

  He dropped to the ground and did one-armed pushups. Right side, left side, then a couple of hundred crunches. Not tired yet, he did lunges and burpees. Someone banged on the ceiling from below, so he lay down and did bicycle sit-ups until the phone rang.

  His phone buzzed. “Tell me something, Marcella.”

  “The person she met in the park was her mother.”

  “Oh shit.” Jake sat up on the bed and tried to calm his ragged breathing. “They are estranged, right?”

  “Yeah. Sophie hasn’t seen her mother in nine years. Supposedly, Pim Wat Smithson was catatonic in an institution. Turns out she’s not as depressed as she pretended to be. Everything Sophie thought she knew about her mom is a lie.”

  “What did her mother want?”

  “Some sort of reconciliation, I guess. Sophie wouldn’t say. But it has thrown her for a loop.”

  Jake ran a hand through his hair, grabbing it in his fingers and giving a rough tug. “I can deal with it as long as it’s not my fault.”

  “Well, Jake, depression is a chronic illness. It’s no one’s fault.” Marcella sounded completely matter-of-fact, and he was relieved at the implicit acceptance there. “When she’s been in her hole too long, and I think anything more than a day is too long, I break in, open the drapes and turn on the lights, make her get in the shower, feed her, and give her something to do. Once she’s moving, she seems to get better. But she won’t like it. Don’t expect hugs and kisses or gratitude.”

  “Duly noted. Thanks, Marcella. I’m glad she told you what the problem was. I hope she trusts me enough someday to tell me what’s really going on with her.”

  “Sophie is a complicated woman. She’s got more baggage than a freight train. If it’s not too late, you should run.” Marcella softened her words with a laugh.

  “Not gonna run. And it’s already too late.” Jake laughed too. “So now you know how I feel about her. Thanks again.”

  He ended the call and stared at the closed door between the rooms.

  He’d give Sophie until tomorrow morning to come out; and then he was going in.

/>   Jake woke at six a.m. and took the dogs for a run around the spectacular horseshoe of Hilo Bay. The palm trees stood still in the morning calm. Mynahs hopped and chattered on the smooth, mowed expanse of the park. Gentle waves lapped at the jetty. Jake tried to find peace in the beauty, but he was too disturbed. What was Sophie’s mother doing in the United States?

  Jake had a lead for them to pursue, a good reason to roust Sophie out of bed. He planned his strategy as he took a shower and shaved in the little bathroom in the seedy motel.

  He knocked on the connecting door when he was dressed and ready, but there was no reply. He took out his toolkit, extracted his lock picks, and two minutes later, stepped into her room.

  The darkness was complete—only a line of light showed beneath the pulled blackout drapes. He spotted the mound of her, pressed up against the wall, as he shut the door.

  The plan he’d had, to rip open the curtains, tear off the covers, and roll her out of bed—suddenly seemed way too cruel.

  He walked over, stumbling a little in the dark, and leaned over to whisper in her ear. “Sophie.”

  Sophie didn’t move. Her sweet, unique scent enfolded him.

  He touched her bare shoulder. The rest of her naked body was buried in the cheap hotel comforter. Her skin was as cold as it had been yesterday.

  Operating on instinct, Jake lifted the covers and slid in behind her, wrapping his arms around her, pulling her close, tucking her head under his chin. She was as passive and unresponsive as a doll.

  Jake shut his eyes, willing the energy and vigor that filled him to flow into her. Maybe it would just seep out of him somehow. In any case, he was warm and she was cold; whatever he could give her, he would.

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Sophie felt Jake get in beside her, surrounding her, his warmth beckoning her back from that dark place deep inside herself, that familiar gray desert where nothing mattered.

  Jake had always been intrusive. He was so irritating that way, big and loud and pushy. He would not leave her alone. He was trying to break into the protected fortress of her heart. He was dangerous.

  But he was so warm. One of his big hands stroked her head. “Your hair feels so soft. Better than petting the dogs,” he whispered in her ear. Such a way with words. Sophie would have smiled if she could have come back enough to do that.

  Jake settled her closer, shifting her into his chest, her head pillowed on one of his biceps. He gave a deep sigh as if giving up all his tension. She felt him relax, the thick hard muscles that created so much heat around her going soft and vulnerable. A few moments later, she felt his slow, even breathing as he slept, the metronome of his heart beating against her back. And soon she slept too.

  Sophie was overheated, and there was a weighted blanket holding her down. She struggled to lift it, and woke suddenly.

  The hot weighted blanket was Jake. His arm was draped over her, so heavy that it smothered. She could feel him behind her and around her. Deep rumbling snores lifted the hairs beside her ear, making her smile.

  He had vanquished the darkness.

  Yes, she could still feel the depression around her, flapping its ugly wings, trying to drag her back down—but the sickness was pushed back, manageable. She could breathe, she could move, she could think.

  A change in Jake’s breathing signaled he was awake too. One arm was underneath her so her head was resting on it, and the other, draped over her waist. His hand began to move, sliding lightly up and down her side.

  Sophie shut her eyes and let herself enjoy the tingling sensation, the awakening of her nerves. After being in her robot body, it felt like circulation returning to a limb that had fallen asleep. His hand slid from her waist to her hip, down her leg, back up again to her shoulder, cupping the round of her deltoid. Nothing inappropriate, unless breaking into her room and climbing in bed with her naked and him fully dressed, holding her and taking a nap with her was inappropriate. And somehow, he’d pulled her back into her body by doing so.

  First aid by hugging. That’s what he’d done.

  She wanted to feel alive, healthy, cherished; and Jake made her feel all those things.

  Sophie turned in his arms and breathed in the lemony fresh scent at the apex of his collarbones. She kissed the smooth, tender spot under his freshly shaved chin, the granite knob of his jawbone. She reached up with a hand and tilted his face down so that their mouths could meet.

  They spoke, for a long slow time, without words, though getting his clothing off was a bit of a bother.

  Afterward, Sophie waited for Jake to make a joke. To tease her, even to nag her to get out of bed, take a shower, eat something—after all, it must be at least ten a.m. on a workday. But he said nothing, just lying beside her, stroking whatever skin he could reach, which was most of it.

  His silver-blue eyes in the dim light were the exact color of the mourning doves that were so common in Hawaii. She couldn’t look at them for long, and finally got up to shower. Jake went to his room to do the same.

  She dressed and opened the curtains. Both dogs were on the other side of the connecting door, scratching to join her, and Jake opened the door. Ginger launched herself onto the bed and licked Sophie’s face. “Bad dog! Get down!” Sophie scolded. Ginger hopped down and began wrestling with Tank. The two crashed into the TV stand, making the appliance rock perilously.

  “You’d think they hadn’t been out, but I’ve taken them for a run already,” Jake said. “I have a new lead for us to follow up on today. I wonder if you’re up for a drive. This contact is somewhere in Hilo, a witness that emailed the parents that she saw Julie after she disappeared from Volcanoes Park.”

  Sophie needed to get to the secure online police station internet to use DAVID to search for her mother and information about the secret Yām Khûmkạn organization; but it would be a good idea to get out and shake off the cobwebs of her depressive episode before she went back into that triggering swamp.

  “I need some food first.” Sophie’s stomach growled loudly.

  Jake smiled. “I tried to get you to eat pizza yesterday but you wouldn’t answer the door. The dogs got the rest of it when I was out of the room. I’ll take you to breakfast.”

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Jake pulled the Jeep out of the breakfast restaurant’s parking lot and out onto the busy thoroughfare leading through Hilo. Sophie had eaten a good breakfast. Her color and energy were better.

  Jake felt victorious. His chest gave an almost painful twinge every time he thought of why they were late getting on the road. Happiness this extreme was hard to take.

  He had made her feel better. He had brought her out of that coldness. She had turned to him, initiated making love. He couldn’t think about it much or his skin would burst with exhilaration.

  Was this what being in love was like? He’d thought he’d experienced love before, but he’d never felt anything like this.

  Jake stole a glance at Sophie, and she met his eyes. A little smile played around her mouth. “What?”

  Anything he said would only reveal what a sap he was, and it might even scare her off. “Nothing.”

  “What is going on between you and Antigua?”

  Jake frowned. “I told you. We broke it off.”

  “Why?”

  “She wanted more. I didn’t. The usual.”

  “The usual. Aha.” Sophie rubbed her cheekbone where the scar was. “Then you’re okay with our arrangement being more of that ‘usual’?”

  Just like that, she crushed him.

  Jake opened and closed his hands on the steering wheel and lightened his voice with an effort. “Sure. Partners with benefits. Thought we were clear on that already.”

  “Good. Just making sure there are no misunderstandings.” Sophie’s hand dropped to his thigh. She massaged the thick muscle there. “Because I have every intention of making use of those benefits. Often, in fact.”

  His body was not averse to this idea even if his emotions were out of control. Ja
ke forced a laugh, removed her hand. “You’re distracting me. I don’t even know where we’re going. I have to pull over and program the GPS.”

  Jake navigated to the side of the road and fumbled with his phone.

  There was a buzzing in his ears. The exhilaration of a moment ago felt like a heart attack as pain shortened his breath and stabbed his chest. Was this how Antigua had felt when she broke up with him? If so, holy shit, ow!

  Tank thrust his head forward from the back seat and nudged Jake’s elbow, as if sensing his distress.

  Regroup, retrench, re-strategize. Never give up. You can win her, Jake, but not head on. You have to accept where she put you; she doesn’t feel safe having feelings for anyone right now. You understand that. It has to be okay. You’re strong enough to do this. Don’t lose sight of the goal.

  Sophie was his mission. He knew how to do missions.

  “Tell me about this witness.” Her voice was cool and businesslike, and that helped.

  Jake cleared his throat. “Don’t know much. Bix gave me the name, address, and phone of a female contact, Shirley Mandig, who claims to have seen our victim after she disappeared from the park.”

  “So you told Bix that this was likely before they abandoned Julie in the forest area?”

  “I did. Bix seems to think it was after, by the timing the witness described—it was dark, the night of the day they took her. The witness was unclear on when that was, exactly.”

  “I wonder how she recognized Julie Weathersby.”

  “Bix confirmed that the Weathersbys have hired a firm that specializes in PR campaigns for missing people. They’ve plastered the area with posters of Julie. They’ve got a lot of social media going.” Jake shook his head. “What a thing to find a market niche for.”