Carol hugged her a little tighter. "Is this a stumble or a fall? You feel...sad to me. Hurt. I can't just kiss you better as much as I'd like to."
Abigail smiled. "When I saw you back in the house, the world was a little brighter and the load lifted. I'll be fine, Aunt Carol. I'm a Drake. We're made of strong stuff." She kissed her aunt on the cheek and started down the hall toward the stairs. "You would have been so proud of Joley. You know her one big fear is tight places and she handled it like a trouper."
"Of course she did," Carol said. "Hannah and Elle both woke at the same time and rushed out onto the captain's walk. The rest of us took a bit longer, I'm sorry to say, but the girls had it all under control by the time we arrived to help." She patted Abigail's shoulder, reminding Abbey vividly of her youth. Carol had so often comforted her when she was a young girl struggling to contain her magic. "It will work out, honey, you'll see."
Abigail took a minute to study her aunt. Her hair was the color of rich champagne. There was laughter and warmth in her blue eyes. As always, she carried a camera around her neck. She loved her job as a Creative Memories consultant and believed wholeheartedly in her work. She had encouraged her sisters and then her nieces and nephews to take pictures at every event, to write journals and prepare beautiful scrapbooks for their descendants. Abigail was rather proud of her albums on dolphins and the places she'd gone to do research. She'd found it was a way to remember funny, touching, and dangerous moments. She couldn't imagine Carol without her camera or her smile and somehow having her there with her familiar warmth gave Abbey a sense of peace as she went down the stairs to face her sisters.
Jonas halted his pacing as she entered the room. Her sisters fell silent. Joley lifted a hand and gave her a faint, encouraging smile. Carol shifted closer, pressing her arm with gentle fingers. "I'll get you a cup of tea, dear. And you haven't had a thing to eat."
"Are you all right, Abbey?" Sarah asked. The eldest of the Drake sisters, she was the acknowledged leader.
Abigail nodded. "I can't believe I've been shot at two days in a row. I'm beginning to think someone has a grudge."
"Maybe someone does," Jonas said.
"Only Sylvia Fredrickson, and I can't imagine her hiring a hit man." Abigail sank into a chair beside Hannah and leaned over to kiss her sister on the cheek. "Thanks. You and Elle saved us."
"Elle lost her temper," Hannah reported with a grin. "That ought to make your shooter easy to identify, Jonas," she added happily. "And just in case you're looking into Sylvia, she'd more likely go after me."
"This is serious, Hannah," Jonas said. "I want all of you to listen up, especially you, Abbey. You had no business going out to Sea Lion Cove after what happened last night and you know it."
"Actually, I have business that can't be put off," Abbey corrected. "The dolphin was injured while risking his life to save not only mine, but Gene's as well. He needs treatment and he trusts me to give it to him. I can't very well hide in my room because some nutcase is running around with a gun."
"I have to go with Abbey on this one, Jonas," Sarah said. "She can't let the dolphin develop an infection and possibly die from neglect."
"Abbey," Jonas said, "you witnessed the murder of an Interpol agent."
"I didn't see them all that clearly. Even with the full moon, I was a good distance away, Jonas," Abigail pointed out. "If they think I can identify them, I can't, so they're being utterly ridiculous to risk exposing themselves in order to silence me. Well, unless I happened to run into one of them, face-to-face, on the street. I did hear the name Chernyshev and I wrote it all down and dated it to give you the report."
"Then you did see them." Jonas pounced on that.
Abigail shrugged. "They don't have to know that."
"What about the man Aleksandr was talking about?" Joley asked. "He was so certain the man wasn't involved but--" She broke off when Abigail shook her head.
"What man?" Jonas asked. When neither Joley nor Abbey answered he glared at Abigail. "I'm not one to tell you what to do..."
A chorus of laughter drowned out the rest of his warning. "Jonas," Kate said, "you always tell us what to do."
"You're so bossy it's unbelievable," Hannah contributed. "You're a dictator."
"You can't open your mouth without giving us the manly decree," Joley said. "Give it up, Jonas. Even you can't say it with a straight face."
"I only give advice when you clearly need it," he defended with a faint grin. "I can't help it if that means all the time. If you weren't always in some kind of trouble, I wouldn't have to give you lectures."
"Actually you could have stopped several years ago," Joley said. "We have them memorized. Just give us an indication of which one it's going to be and we'll recite them for you. My particular fave is the one where you tell us we have no common sense."
"Ha ha ha, you're all so funny!"
"Jonas, dear, do sit down," Carol said. "You're making me nervous with all that posturing. You started bossing the girls when you were about ten and you haven't stopped since. They don't mind--do you, girls?" She beamed at her nieces as she set a tray laden with sandwiches on the small table in front of them. "Eat up. There's plenty for you too, Jonas."
"Aleksandr Volstov is a very dangerous man. I can't even begin to tell you how dangerous he is, Abbey." All the teasing had gone from Jonas's voice, leaving him deadly serious. "I know he's calling himself an Interpol agent and I've checked his credentials, but I can tell you, he didn't start out that way." Jonas pulled a chair close to Abigail, trying to read her expression. "You know me, hon. You know the places I've been. I was a Ranger in the army. I'm telling you, I can see it in him. I've met very few men in my life that have ever scared me, but this man is one of them."
Abigail twisted her fingers together as she glanced around the room at her sisters. They looked alarmed, just as she knew they would be. Jonas might be bossy, but he told the truth and he could be dangerous when called upon. If he said Aleksandr was a danger to Abbey, her sisters would fight with everything they had, including magic, to keep her safe.
It was Sarah who asked, "Why do you say that, Jonas?"
"It's in his eyes. The way he carries himself." Jonas kept his gaze on Abigail. "The other night when I came up on you, with him standing over you and I had a gun on him, you were afraid he'd kill me, weren't you?"
"Yes," she answered, very low. "He's had extensive training."
"I'll just bet he has. What's he really doing here, Abbey?"
"I didn't know he was here until I saw him at the harbor. I have no idea how long he's been here either. I know less than you." She worked at keeping her voice expressionless.
Jonas caught her chin in his hand, tilting up her face, studying the smooth curves. "He put that neat little circle right between your eyes, didn't he? He slammed that gun into you hard enough to give you a bruise and he would have pulled the trigger if it had been anyone else."
"I can't say what he would have done," Abbey protested, pulling her face out of his hands, "and it's a smudge. He thought I'd killed his partner. You were pretty upset that night as well. All of us were."
"You should have seen him examining the cliff," Jonas said. "He knew exactly what to look for. He saw something I didn't. I've gone back three times to try to figure out what he saw that we missed. He was like a damned bloodhound." There was self-disgust mixed with reluctant admiration in his voice.
"He's a good detective. Why can't you work together?"
"Because he isn't working with me. He 'did me the courtesy' of telling me he was in the area. He neglected to say he had a man undercover and he only gave me the bare outline of what he was after."
Abigail shook her head. "I don't know any more than you do."
"I know there's something between you, Abbey. I really, really don't want to stick my nose in where it isn't wanted, but I can't, in good conscience, let this go. He's from Russia. The world over there is very different from ours. I'm guessing, from the way he moves and t
he way he acts, that he was trained in something a little more lethal than police work. His background, if one tries to look into it, is a huge mystery. I'm betting he's an intelligence operative and I don't like that idea at all."
"You're being melodramatic and you're making him sound like a spy. He's a police officer, no different from you, and if you checked up on him then you know he's legitimate." Abigail had no idea why she couldn't stop defending Aleksandr, but the words kept tumbling out of her mouth in spite of every intention to remain silent. "I know you, Jonas. If you didn't think he was Interpol, he'd be in jail or thrown out of the country. You have too many friends."
"He has more than I do. Whatever he is, he's got a lot of heavy people behind him. Things work differently in other countries. Before you get upset"--he held up his hand--"I know you've traveled extensively, but there are places where the police just shoot the suspect rather than try to bring them before a judge. And there's a lot worse things going on. I've seen men like Volstov and he's not just a cop."
"It happens here as well," Abigail pointed out. "But I understand what you're saying to me and I promise I'll be careful."
"Abbey, I don't think you are understanding what I'm saying to you." Jonas sat back as he pushed a hand through his hair, betraying his agitation. "Men like Aleksandr Volstov can be in the same room with you and you don't even know they're there. They can move fast and if you blink you miss them. They walk down a street as casual as can be and someone passing by falls to the sidewalk dead before their body ever hits the ground. They're already gone and no one can quite remember how to describe them. That's his world and he lives in it and he's comfortable in it and make no mistake, he'll kill to protect it. You could get hurt."
Abigail avoided looking him in the eye. "I know that, Jonas."
"What is he to you? How far into this relationship are you and can you back out of it?" Jonas leaned closer. "It isn't just you we have to worry about. These people play rough. His partner has been killed. Somehow I don't think he's going to take that lying down. That mark between your eyes tells me that. Tell me what you know about him."
Abigail wanted to deny any relationship. They didn't have one anymore. They were never going to have one again. "Only that he was a policeman in Russia and that he says he works for Interpol. That's it. That's all I know."
"Damn it, Abbey!"
"Jonas Harrington! You watch your mouth in this house," Carol admonished. "I won't have you browbeating Abigail. I won't have it even if you are the sheriff."
"Watch it, Aunt Carol, he'll threaten to arrest you," Hannah said. "He's always threatening me."
"With good reason," Jonas said. He leaned over to kiss Carol's cheek. "You, I would never arrest."
"Are you going to tell us what's going on here in Sea Haven?" Kate asked. "Does it have something to do with the old mill?"
"Yes, tell us what's going on, Jonas," Joley said. "If we're all going to be looking over our shoulders, we may as well know what it's all about."
Jonas sighed. "I wish I knew what to tell you. Several months ago, Gene Dockins and his youngest son, Jeremy, thought they saw one of the local fishing boats rendezvousing with a freighter out at sea. They became suspicious and talked to me about it and I notified the coast guard. Gene never said another word to me about the incident and, to be honest, with everything else going on up and down the coast I didn't give it another thought. Then about a month or so ago, Jeff Dockins--"
"He owns the local gas station, Aunt Carol," Sarah supplied. "He's Gene's oldest son, remember?"
"Of course I remember him, dear," Carol said. "He's very handsome."
"Aunt Carol!" All seven sisters made the protest.
Carol burst out laughing and her hand fluttered to her hair. "I'm not as young as I used to be, girls. You're flattering me. I hardly think at my age I'm going to cause another scandal in Sea Haven."
"You never cause scandals, Aunt Carol"--Hannah blew her a kiss--"just stir things up a bit, which is good every now and then."
"I'm certainly not going to win any beauty contests," Carol said, "but I do intend to renew my acquaintance with a few old friends."
"Jeff is happily married," Jonas felt compelled to point out. He wiped his brow, not in the least surprised he was sweating. The Drake women could do that to a man. All he needed was the additional trouble of Carol and her love potions. The rumor was, there had been more than one scandal and quite a few fights over her. In fact, Inez, owner of the grocery store, loved to tell how two of the local men broke out the door and three windows at a dance in a brawl over Carol. There were many such tales and Jonas had heard, and believed, them all.
"I never go near married men," Carol said. "It can be fatal. It would have been to any woman who came after my Jefferson."
"Then you haven't met Sylvia Fredrickson," Joley said. "She was in Abbey's class and even as a teen, she was after married teachers. It seems to be her goal to break up every marriage in Sea Haven."
"Not anymore," Hannah said smugly.
Jonas shot her a quelling glance. "Did you have something to do with that rash that keeps appearing on her face?"
"You mean the one in the shape of an open-handed slap that comes out whenever she flirts with a married man? Why ever would you think I had anything to do with it?" Hannah examined her fingernails.
"I can't wait to meet Frank Warner again," Carol said. "He's such a sweetheart and he sent me an invitation to his fund-raiser at the gallery next Tuesday. I'm really looking forward to seeing him. We had dinner right after my husband died and he was very interested, but I just wasn't up to a new relationship. I do love artists. They're so inventive."
Jonas buried his face in his hands. "Where the hell are Matt and Damon? I need some men in this household. I'm drowning here."
"Matt's at work and Damon had some wonderful idea that he had to share with his former bosses. Something to do with a satellite security system." Sarah shrugged. "He left last night in the middle of the night for San Francisco. A helicopter was picking him up and taking him to some undisclosed location for a meeting."
"I thought he was completely out of that work," Kate said, leaning forward, concerned. "He was so scarred when he came here, both physically and emotionally. Are they pressuring him to come back to work?"
Sarah shook her head. "His brain just works on things. He can't help it. He knows the defense systems inside and out and when he figures out things that make them better, he can't help perfecting the ideas and wanting to share them."
"So basically, Damon is back as the think tank for the Defense Department," Kate said.
"How long will he be gone?" Libby asked. "We're in the middle of planning your wedding."
Sarah laughed. "He can design a defense system, but if you ask him about wedding cakes he looks blank."
"Matt's just the opposite," Kate said. "He wants to take over the entire event. I think it's the architect in him."
"It's because he's a Granite and bossy," Hannah said and glared at Jonas.
He put both hands up in protest. "I'm not a Granite."
"You could be," she said.
Jonas ate two of the sandwiches and washed them down with tea. "Before you set your cap on Frank Warner, Aunt Carol, Aleksandr Volstov is investigating the theft of artifacts stolen from Russia. Warner owns a flourishing gallery and is a collector of artifacts. I've seen part of his collection and it's amazing. He also ships to the Bay Area all the time and he is a part owner of the fishing boat that Gene saw rendezvousing with the freighter. And I know you'll keep this information confidential." While he spoke, his gaze was on Abigail.
"Oh, bosh," Carol said. "Frank Warner has absolutely no need to deal in stolen goods and he's been a part of this community for years." She drummed her fingernails on the coffee table and heaved an exaggerated sigh. "All right then, I'll go undercover for you. It's obvious you need me to do it, although I don't like spying on my friends. But you're family, Jonas, and if you need me to get informat
ion out of him, I have my little ways and because of my looks, men tend to underestimate my intelligence."
"Which you encourage," Jonas accused. "Absolutely not, Aunt Carol. I forbid it. Sarah, you talk to her and make her understand this is dangerous and an ongoing investigation. She could ruin things or get hurt, neither of which is acceptable. I'm trusting you with this information so you avoid him, not vamp him."
"But I'm a natural for the job," Carol protested. "Everyone is used to me taking pictures and I can offer to help with his scrapbook album. He started one the last time I was here. I'll just naturally bring him more product. Wouldn't it be a good thing to have pictures of his artifacts to compare with the stolen ones?" Her smiled widened. "A Creative Memories consultant turned spy. I'll be able to journal my experiences. I'm very excited about helping you, Jonas."
"I said no! And I mean it," Jonas said. He glanced around the room at the Drake women. "All of you can quit grinning. If something happened to Carol you wouldn't be laughing. Abigail, you stay away from Aleksandr Volstov. And if you remember anything else not in your report call me immediately and give me the information. And Aunt Carol, you stay away from Frank Warner." He stood up and shoved a hand through his hair. There was sweat on his forehead. "The entire bunch of you is giving me gray hair."
Hannah's mouth twitched behind her hand and her eyes danced as Jonas stalked out of the house, closing the door with a resounding bang. "I'm so glad you've come, Aunt Carol. That's the first time I've ever seen him flustered."
Carol grinned at her. "I suppose it wasn't very nice of me, but I couldn't resist." She patted Abigail's knee. "He didn't upset you, did he?"
Abigail shook her head. "Jonas is always looking out for us. I know he means well. It isn't his fault there are so many of us and we're always getting into some kind of a scrape."
Hannah gave a derisive and very inelegant snort. She tossed her mass of platinum hair and rolled her eyes. "Don't even cut him any slack. You didn't hear him ranting and raving about your Russian before you came down. And speaking of your Russian, Abbey, tell us everything. Are you or aren't you engaged to the man and where did you meet him?"
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