She knew Sam was restless at night and prowled around the property even more than the security guards did. “Sounds good to me.”
They both pulled on warm clothes, boots and gloves and went out into the cold. The temperature had dropped even lower than she’d expected. She gave a little gasp and he laughed.
“I’ll take Bailey out when we get back. You’re sure you’ll be warm enough?”
“Yes.” The sky was clear, no clouds, allowing the stars and half moon to shine overhead. She let him take her hand in his. It still felt a little strange to her to be holding hands with him, but she couldn’t help but like it. His hand was quite a bit larger than hers and his fingers enveloped hers.
“Did you feel better about your relationship with your father after talking to him, Sam?” Stella had held the question back for some time and then was upset with herself for blurting it out. “I’m not asking out of idle curiosity. I wouldn’t push you for answers. It’s just that the holidays are coming up. In spite of the fact that he did ask me and that has nothing to do with it, as you know, Shabina and I put on dinners for the others who are in town. I just assumed you would be spending the holidays with me …”
He tightened his fingers around hers. “You assumed correctly,” he said decisively.
“He is your only family. If you wanted to invite him, he’s welcome. I’d just have to know ahead of time. Don’t invite him if it would make you uncomfortable to have him there. The point of all of us getting together is to have a good time. We can drink too much if we want, or indulge in too many of Shabina’s amazing pies or desserts. You know what we’re like.”
“I do. Denver and I take all the dogs for walks while you ladies get a little crazy on us.”
She laughed. “That’s right. I can’t see your father taking the dogs for walks. He did say he has a lady friend. It’s possible she makes amazing holiday meals.”
“I hope she plans on indulging his every whim. He was used to it from my mother.”
“He never remarried?”
“No,” Sam said, and pulled her closer to him as they walked around the shore of the lake. The breeze was light, teasing at their clothes. “That did surprise me. I always thought he’d at least move in with a woman, but he didn’t.”
“Did you ask him why he didn’t divorce your mother?” Stella dared to ask. “That would have been my first question. I don’t understand why men who cheat bother to get married in the first place. And when they do, why they just don’t man up and leave.” In a way, she was trying to tell him that was what she expected from him.
Sam brought her hand in close to his chest as they fell into step together. “I asked him why he just didn’t let her go, let her get on with her life.”
“Did he have any kind of an answer?”
Sam shook his head slowly. “At first he tried to weasel his way out of answering, blaming his decision on the church and holy vows. I pointed out he was breaking his vows constantly so they really didn’t mean shit to him. In the end, he admitted Mom ran his house the way he wanted it. She kept him comfortable. She also prevented any of the women he slept with from getting any ‘big’ ideas about trying to become the next Mrs. Rossi.”
Stella refrained from calling his father a really ugly name, but it was difficult. She stayed silent, thinking that was the best way to stay out of trouble. As far as she was concerned, Marco Rossi was a first-class dick.
“I think he thought because I was older now, I’d understand. I didn’t. I don’t. I never will. And not just because she was my mother. He’s a selfish bastard and should never have married in the first place. He married her because her family was one of the ruling families and it was like marrying royalty. I thought he loved her. He claimed he did in his own way. He said he loved her more than he has ever loved any woman. He also said that was part of the reason he wouldn’t divorce her. That and her family would never understand.”
Sam rubbed the bridge of his nose with one gloved finger as they continued to walk around the lake. The water lapped gently at the shore. “He did admit to having many regrets. He said he wished he’d stayed home for her birthday. He didn’t because he’d already agreed to meet several of his friends at the strip club and he didn’t want to look weak. He’d forgotten the date. He said he should have just called them and canceled.”
“That’s so sad, that his ego wouldn’t allow him to back down, even though he wanted to.”
“I actually said that same thing to him and he pointed out that it was a different time then. Men and women had different roles. Even children did. He was brought up in a harsher environment than he brought me up in. I suppose he’s right.”
“Still, it’s obvious that he doesn’t have much respect for women, does he?” Stella asked.
“I’m grateful he’s never had a daughter. If he had, he would have treated her like a commodity,” Sam said. “I might have had to arrange to do him in myself. I would never have tolerated him treating my little sister like that.”
“That man with him, his bodyguard or whatever he is, Lucio Vitale, he doesn’t seem as if he has much respect for women either. Or he doesn’t think they have brains.”
“His entire family was wiped out. It’s a long story, not a pleasant one. I imagine he’s very bitter and relentless in his need for vengeance. He’s a man to stay away from. I’m not surprised to see him with my father, although I’m a little shocked that Marco trusts him.”
Stella blinked up at him. “Do you think he would hurt your father?”
“If it ever came out that Marco had a hand in the killing of his family, damn straight he would kill him without batting an eye. He’d do it slow and ugly too, savoring every moment of his torture. His family died hard. First his father. Then his older brothers. He took care of his mother and sisters financially by fighting bare-knuckle in the death matches.”
Stella frowned up at him. “What is that?” A little shiver went down her spine because she had a terrible feeling she knew. “That’s not like those Hollywood films where they fight to the death, is it?” She tried to sound sarcastic so it wouldn’t be real.
“That’s exactly what it is.”
“I didn’t think those were real. He’s still alive so he must have won.”
“He won, but they took his money to pay his father’s debt every match. That left his mother and sisters without a roof and no food. He had to do other things to get money for those things, and still, life wasn’t good for any of them.”
They walked in silence, listening to the familiar sounds of the night creatures and the whisper of the wind ruffling the surface of the water. Bats wheeled and dipped, catching insects as they flew in the moonbeams above the water’s edge.
“You just never know how complicated a person’s life is, do you, Sam?” Stella asked. “Ever since the nightmares have started, I’ve been finding out all sorts of things about my friends, from Denver to Vienna, things I hadn’t known before.” She tilted her face up to his. “Things about you. I guess everyone has things in their past they prefer stay there. I feel for him now, for Vitale, and I don’t want to. I think he’s too much like your father. I also think he’s the man who broke Raine’s heart. I don’t know that, but if he did, he’s indirectly responsible for her father’s death and her being thrown out of her family.”
“I hope not,” Sam said. “Raine strikes me as the vengeful type. If they both are, that could be a very bad combination. Especially if they both are sitting at our holiday dinner table.”
“Since the talk didn’t go so well, I guess I won’t have to worry about that,” Stella said, feeling somewhat relieved.
“Actually, it went better than I expected. I had checked into his medical history before I went to see him. He does have a heart condition. I also put a couple of top-notch investigators on him to dig up as much as they could in an afternoon. It does look as if he’s considering retiring. He’s moved the bulk of his money, all legitimately his, into his offshore accoun
ts. It looks as if he’s been having meetings with the man he would have take over for him.”
“You believe he is retiring?”
“He’s taking the steps toward it. Careful ones,” Sam acknowledged, turning them around, taking them back in the direction of the house. “He was looking into real estate here and he really has met a woman he seems to like. This one is closer to his age and doesn’t seem to be interested in his money, although it’s too soon to tell. It appears he was telling the truth about those things.”
“You’re taking a wait-and-see policy with him, aren’t you?” Stella guessed.
“I advised him to hire a very good security firm and gave him the name of one. I have friends I know who are excellent bodyguards. It’s up to him whether or not he listens. Raine’s father should have hired guards. Just because you retire doesn’t mean you’re out of the game. You still have a lot of knowledge. The feds can still decide to come after you. It isn’t like in the old days where there are shoot-outs all the time, but that doesn’t mean criminal activity isn’t taking place. It’s just conducted behind the scenes and the families look very legitimate and stay as low-key as possible. No one wants to draw attention to themselves. So, killing an old man who is living up in the Sierras by putting a bullet in his head would be stupid. Arranging an accident would be easy.”
He opened the door for her and allowed her inside. Before she got very far, his palm curled around the nape of her neck and he pulled her to him, his eyes dark with heat. Her heart immediately accelerated. His mouth descended slowly, in a way that always said she had the choice to stop him, but only made her burn hotter for him.
Then he was kissing her and everything disappeared but Sam. He could make her boneless in seconds, her body melting into his, her mind fading so there was only feeling, this sensation of free-falling, of fire in her veins and that ball of need building in her stomach and in her sex. He lifted his head and gently kissed both eyes and then the corners of her mouth and her chin, giving her time to find the strength to stand on her own again.
“You must be overheated with all these clothes on. Take them off and wait for me in bed. I’ll just be a minute taking Bailey out.”
That gruffness in his normally gentle voice was the only thing that told her he was as affected by their kiss as she was. That and his hard body pressed so tightly against hers. A little dazed, she nodded up at him.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Mommy, Daddy’s doing the bad thing again.
Stella could see the climbing shoes and gear, ropes and even the edge of a backpack where it lay against a smaller rock. The shoes moved and the base of the boulder came into view. There was an overhang right at the bottom of the granite that seemed to be hollow for a long distance. She immediately knew she had climbed it— or tried to. The reason her memory was so vague was because she’d only gone there once. The boulder had been far too difficult— and high— for her skill set.
She tried to push her memories away and concentrate on what she was seeing. She needed to catalogue every detail, to make certain she got this right. Colors swept up the rock. Reds and dark grays, light yellows and golds, this rock had all the colors of granite with the early morning sun beating down on it. She even caught glimpses of a deep purple in the cracks as the two men paced across the ground, looking upward.
The boulder was very high. When one of them turned slightly and the lens followed that sweep, she caught sight of a second boulder, almost as tall with a jagged top. Both were wide and long. They looked as if they would be a climber’s dream— and nightmare. Neither would be an easy climb, but few boulderers would pass up the chance to work out the problem of ascending to the top in total triumph. Apparently, that was exactly what the victim had been doing— working on his project for some time.
Stella studied what she could see of the base of the boulder. The overhang was extremely severe. A climber would have to be a spider, going upside down and finding a route to take him up and over the ledge to get to what appeared to be a smooth surface. There were cracks and outcroppings, if you just had the patience to find them. The granite wasn’t smooth at all, but had little fingerholds and tiny places the toes of climbing shoes could find to lever one’s body up.
The shadows thrown by the two boulders in the early morning hours indicated these two boulders would be considered “high balls.” She thought they could be at least thirty or forty feet, if not higher. She didn’t want to think that the climber was considering climbing without rope on his own. It was done. There were a lot of climbers who free-climbed. She didn’t like heights and just the thought freaked her out. Now, knowing that the killer intended to murder his friend made climbing the heights and depending on someone else all the worse.
She could see only portions of the rock as the two men began to prepare for the climb. One was climbing, the other belaying from below. Her heart began to pound. Again, there was that feeling of absolute triumph emanating from the killer. The air felt heavy and oppressive to her, a sinister, menacing shroud the killer created with his twisted glee. He was there with a friend. His friend trusted him enough to put his life in his hands, and all the while he plotted to kill him and make it look like an accident. Stella was uncertain how he was going to manage that and not have suspicion fall on him.
She took in every single detail she could of the boulder and the gear before the lens closed and she found herself once more staring at a black screen.
STELLA SAT UP slowly, not even fighting her way out of the nightmare. The moment she lifted her lashes, she was staring into Sam’s eyes. She knew he would be there, sitting across from her in the chair, his gaze steady on her face. Calm. Her anchor. She definitely was falling in love with him. Just seeing him righted her world.
“I got more details. I’ve been there. I know I even tried to climb it once. It was beyond my ability. I never would have gone there alone, so it was with one of my friends. I don’t understand how the killer plans on making this look like an accident without everyone knowing he was involved.”
Her gaze clung to Sam’s. Even though she was getting so much better at handling the nightmares, she needed that first connection with him, and he never failed her. He was always right there. She glanced at the large crate where Bailey was curled up, his gaze trained on her alertly. He was as devoted as ever. The terrible attack hadn’t in any way diminished their relationship. She had so much to be thankful for. These two and her friends.
“We’re going to get him this time, Sam. I just know it.”
He nodded. “You’ve got one more night. Whatever he plans to do, you’ll see tomorrow night. You always do. By that time, we’ll have the location. We’ll go out there and do some climbing ourselves. It will be natural enough for you to want to climb. The days are beautiful and you really don’t like heights. It sounds like the perfect rock to practice on.”
A little shudder went through her as she reached down to unlock the safe. “He’s here tonight. I can feel him.”
“He is. Whatever prevented him from coming the last three nights is evidently over. Or he just took a break.”
Stella looked at Bailey again. “I would prefer that you didn’t go out without me. I know you like to prowl around at night, but you’ve always had Bailey with you. He might have stabbed Bailey on purpose so you didn’t have him to alert you.”
She twisted her fingers together tightly in her lap, hoping he wouldn’t notice. She had no idea how she thought she’d get away with that, because Sam noticed everything. His gaze dropped to her linked fingers, and his hard features softened immediately.
“Woman.”
“Man.” She whispered the response automatically, the lump in her throat threatening to choke her. His eyes had darkened. Heated.
“Do you remember what I did for a living before I came here?”
She shook her head slowly. “I’m not the kind of woman to pry. I never actually asked you. I know you’re not a ‘ghost.’ Other than that I only know yo
u worked for the government and you were very good at what you did.”
His eyes got even darker and a whisper of a smile turned sexy. “You know what I did.”
“Okay, maybe I do know. Sort of.”
“I’m still alive for a reason, Stella. I walk out your door alone at night, that man watching will not be able to find me with or without his night-vision glasses. I can creep up on him. I know where his camp is. I told you it’s straight across the lake where the bend is. He’s cunning like an animal and he’ll run the minute he can’t find me, but he won’t be able to sneak up on me. I’m the wild card, Stella. He doesn’t know me. He can’t figure out who I am or where I came from. He can do all the research in the world and he won’t find records of me anywhere.”
She sighed. “I still don’t like it, Sam.”
The lines around his eyes crinkled. “That’s because you’re sweet, Stella. And fierce.”
“I can hit what I’m aiming at,” she pointed out. “When I shoot, Sam, I know what I’m doing, and I wouldn’t hesitate to protect you.” She wouldn’t.
“I’m well aware. And thankful. I wouldn’t want you to own a weapon you couldn’t use.”
“The point being, I should be of equal help to you. It shouldn’t just be you always looking out for me. I’m not a damsel-in-distress kind of woman.” She tried not to sound belligerent, but she wasn’t a woman who needed to be taken care of. She was self-sufficient. She’d turned the business around. She’d had the good sense to hire Sam, and over the last two years, she maybe had leaned on him a little more than she should have, but she could stand on her own two feet and, if necessary, take care of him and Bailey.
That shadow of a smile became a flash of his white teeth. “I think it’s safe to say we’ve always been a partnership, Stella. We look out for each other. This is a strange situation. If you recall, at the beginning of it, you were the one diving into a freezing lake to save me.”
Murder at Sunrise Lake Page 34
