by Jeff Shelby
Thankfully, though, he remained a gentleman throughout the evening and when we parted ways, all we did was give each other a friendly hug.
So seeing Bryce wasn’t the worst thing about heading into Oasis Ridge.
The worst thing was that I knew exactly what would happen the minute I walked through the doors.
I would be looking at every single person who crossed my path as a potential suspect.
Not that I wasn’t doing that before, of course. I was. Sort of. But as I’d methodically crossed people off my list, I was beginning to feel a little more desperate.
I wanted to know who was responsible.
And not because Anne had ordered me to find out.
I made a face as I walked across the parking lot and toward the building. There was a part of me that was strongly considering not telling her anything after the conversation we’d had the day before.
No, I wanted to know for me. And for Denise. And even for Aidan, since I had pulled him into the fray.
Lindsay was behind the receptionist desk when I walked through the doors. She gave me a friendly wave and I returned the gesture.
There were a handful of residents in the Gathering Room, who greeted me with a chorus of “good morning.”
I forced a smile, but the whole time I stopped to chat, I stared deeply into the eyes of the residents gathered there, wondering if they had it in them to sabotage Anne’s car.
Was it Billie? June? Ethel? Ruth? Dexter? Luther?
My gut screamed no, of course it wasn’t the residents.
But if not one of them, then who?
I stole a glance at Lindsay. She was happily answering the phones, her face animated as she spoke to whoever was on the other end of the line. She didn’t seem to have a mean bone in her body, but how could I be sure?
That was the problem.
I couldn’t.
I trudged down the hall, intent on heading into my office, when I saw a familiar person standing outside of a different office door.
I squinted. Was I seeing things? Were my eyes playing tricks on me? Because I was pretty sure the individual currently bent over and shoving a key in the door was none other than Anne Engle.
I ignored my own office and headed toward her. As I drew closer, I was certain. It was definitely Anne.
I blurted out the first thing came to me. “What are you doing?”
Anne jumped and whipped her head up. “What does it look like I’m doing?”
“No, I mean…why are you here?”
“I work here, don’t I?” she snapped.
“Well, yeah, but I didn’t know you were coming back…” My voice trailed off.
Her eyes narrowed behind the purple glasses perched on her face. “What do you mean?” She wiggled the key again. “And why doesn’t this darn thing work?”
“Because I changed the locks,” a stony voice said from behind us.
Anne and I both turned.
Bryce was standing in the hallway next to us, his hands shoved in his pockets, a stern expression on his face.
“What?” Anne’s voice was incredulous. “Why did you change the locks?”
“To make sure something like this didn’t happen.”
Anne’s eyes popped. “Something like what?”
Bryce motioned to the door. “Like what you’re doing right now.”
Anne straightened. Her complexion had gone from white to red in a nanosecond. “This is my office!” she raged.
To his credit, Bryce kept his cool. “Technically, yes, it is. But you have been suspended while corporate reviews your case file.”
“My case file?” she spat out. “What case file? What are you talking about?”
“The harassment case file,” Bryce said. “You were cc’d on all the documentation.”
Her eyes flashed fire. “Well, I didn’t get anything,” she growled.
Bryce was holding a briefcase and he took this opportunity to set it on his thigh so he could open it. He pulled out a folder. “All of the paperwork is right here. Would you like to see it?”
Anne wrenched the papers from his hand and for one horrified moment, I thought she was going to tear them to shreds. Her eyes raced across the pages, and her hands trembled as she flipped to the second page.
Finally, she looked up. The color had drained from her face. “They think I harassed you?”
Bryce nodded.
Her eyes flitted to me, almost as if she was looking for support.
I glanced down at the floor.
“But…but…” she sputtered.
Bryce took the papers from her hand and shoved them back into his briefcase. “You’ll also note that the paperwork showed you are prohibited from being on the property while the investigation takes place.” He gave her a curt smile. “I don’t want to have to call security to remove you, but…”
A strangled scream tore from Anne’s throat and she made a lunge for Bryce.
He sidestepped her, shock registering on his face, but Anne wasn’t about to be deterred. She reached out her arms, her fingernails like claws. With a snarl on her face and her eyes narrowed to slits, she looked like a big cat ready to pounce. I had no doubt she’d rip into him—literally—the second she got her hands on him.
I stepped between the two of them. “Anne.” My voice was as forceful as I could make it. “Stop.”
I wasn’t convinced she would listen to me and briefly I worried that my body would be the one to get cut up by her talon-like nails, especially since I’d inserted myself between her and Bryce.
But she stayed put. Her breath was coming out in heaving gasps, and her eyes were still bugged out of her head, but at least she’d temporarily sheathed her claws.
Bryce cleared his throat and I glanced his direction. “Leave,” I told him.
He frowned. “But—”
“Just go and I will handle this.”
He hesitated, but eventually did as he was told.
As soon as he rounded the corner at the end of the hallway I reached for Anne’s arm.
“You need to leave,” I said as I guided her back toward the building’s entrance.
“What? Why?” Anne demanded. She was struggling against my grip but I wasn’t about to let go.
“I don’t want to see you get dragged out of here,” I said.
This was a partial truth, at best. Obviously, I felt no love toward Anne. But the last thing I wanted to do was create a spectacle inside the building. And I didn’t want anyone to get hurt, either, which had looked to be a strong possibility earlier when she’d been ready to take down Bryce.
“No one is kicking me out of here.” She pulled harder against me. “I belong here. I work here.”
I needed a new tactic, fast. Because I wasn’t sure I could hold her much longer.
“I can’t solve this with you here,” I said.
She stilled.
“I need you to go,” I told her. “So I can focus.”
Anne’s eyes widened. “You have a suspect?”
I didn’t, but that didn’t keep me from offering a slight nod.
Her hand flew to her mouth. “It’s him, isn’t it?” she said with a gasp. “That man. He’s…he’s after my job!”
I pursed my lips. The words she just spoke reminded me of what Connie had said, about the argument she’d overheard between Anne and Bryce.
“Can I ask you a question?”
Anne narrowed her eyes. “What?”
“Why do you think he would want this job instead of going to Jacksonville?”
My question must have stumped her because she didn’t answer right away. It was something that had started bothering me over the previous day. He'd assumed Anne's role and was clearly making changes that felt more permanent than temporary. If he didn't already have another position lined up, maybe I would've understood. But he was looking at the same position in a brand new facility that most likely paid better. I couldn't understand why he seemed to be so content to take Anne
's position.
“I don’t know,” she finally said. “But he does. Obviously! That’s why he’s doing all of this!”
I had more questions for her but I didn’t ask them. She was listening to me for once, and my primary focus had to be on getting her out of Oasis Ridge before Bryce followed through on his threats.
But I would follow up on her questions.
Because I wanted answers, too.
TWENTY FIVE
It was hard to put Anne out of my mind, but I had to.
Especially because my day took on a life of its own as soon as I escorted her out of the building and made my way back to my office.
As soon as I set my purse down, the phone on my desk began to ring. I took a seat and grabbed the receiver and immediately got to work. For some reason, all of the groups and individuals I’d called about December activities chose that morning to get back to me: to ask questions, to firm up details, to offer additional information. I didn’t even have time to grab coffee, which meant I was more than a little grumpy when I finally got the chance to sneak away from my desk and into the dining room to get my first cup.
I wasn’t surprised to see Denise in the dining room, cleaning up the remnants of the noon meal.
She, however, did a double take when she spotted me. “I didn’t think you were here today.”
“Why wouldn’t I be?”
“I don’t know. I just hadn’t seen you yet this morning.”
“I’ve been busy.”
It came out shorter than I’d intended and Denise visibly shrunk back, as if stung.
“Sorry,” I said. I added some more cream into my coffee and used a stir stick to blend it. “It’s been a crazy morning.”
Denise swallowed. “Anything to do with Anne’s visit?”
I looked at her. “You heard about that?”
She nodded.
“What exactly do you know?” I asked.
She stacked a couple of dirty plates on top of each other. “Not much,” she said. “Just that she came by.”
I wondered if she was telling me the truth. And I hated that I had to even consider that.
“She was only here for a few minutes,” I said.
Denise blinked. “Did…did you talk to her?”
“Yes.”
Her shoulder sagged.
I sighed. “Not about you.”
Not yet, I added silently.
“Have you found any new leads?” she asked, her voice both tentative and hopeful.
My answer was quick. Brief. “No.”
She looked crestfallen. “Oh.”
I sucked on the inside of my cheek, knowing I should expand on my answer. I could tell her that I had looked into a few things. That I was still searching. I could tell her any number of things to reassure her, to let her know I hadn’t given up on finding out just what had happened to Anne’s car.
And I was about to. I felt like I owed it to her. She was my friend, after all, regardless of what she’d done to Anne. I could be upset with the decision she’d made but she was still my friend and I loved her.
But as soon as I opened my mouth to offer some small reassurance, Connie flew by, her long hair billowing out like a sail behind her.
Even Denise noticed. “Where in the world is she going?”
I set my coffee down and hurried to the dining room entrance. “I have no idea.”
Connie was still within sight so I called to her.
She turned around, a scowl on her face. It disappeared when she saw who was calling for her.
I speed-walked in her direction. “Is everything okay?”
She nodded, but I could see the frustration lurking behind her eyes. “I’m just trying to get everyone to bingo.”
I glanced up at the clock. “It doesn’t start for a half hour.” I’d been keeping a close eye on the time so I wouldn’t be late setting up yet another activity.
“I know, but I have to get all of the residents to the activity room by myself. All the residents that need assistance, I mean.”
“Are you the only person working today?” I hadn’t seen Aidan yet, but that didn’t mean much, especially since I’d been holed up in my office the entire morning.
“No.”
“Who else is here?”
“Aidan.”
I frowned. “And he can’t help?” He was usually the primary person who shuttled residents to and from activities.
“He’s helping with something else.”
“Oh.” I paused. “Something for Bryce?” I had a momentary flash of panic that Bryce would look at Aidan and suddenly see the uncanny resemblance between him and the non-English speaking man trapped in the bathroom with me at Freddy’s.
She shook her head. “No.”
She wasn’t being terribly forthcoming with information.
“Where is he, then?”
She brushed her heavy curtain of hair off her forehead. “He’s outside.”
“Outside?”
“Yeah. Something with the shuttle.”
I wasn’t following. At all.
“What is he doing with the shuttle?”
The shuttle was Oasis Ridge’s bus that we used to ferry residents back and forth to places in town. Regular stops included the grocery store and the pharmacy, but there were some occasions when it went other places, too. Not many, of course, thanks to Anne’s hyper-vigilance.
“I don’t know,” Connie said in answer to my question. “Something broke, I guess, and Aidan offered to fix it.”
Her words registered and my blood suddenly ran cold.
Aidan offered to fix it.
TWENTY SIX
Connie hurried off and I was left reeling.
Aidan was fixing a car? Or, rather, Oasis Ridge’s shuttle?
I leaned up against the wall, feeling as if I’d literally run into a brick wall. My heart raced and my head pounded as I tried to process what Connie had just told me.
Aidan had told me that he didn’t know the first thing about cars. He’d barely been able to change Anne’s tire when she dragged him out to help her. So why would he be trying to fix the shuttle?
Connie had to be mistaken. That was it.
But even as I thought this, doubts began to surface. I remembered what Denise had told me days ago, about Aidan’s schedule and the threat of potentially losing his job. It wasn’t a stretch to think that he could absolutely feel like Anne was solely responsible for that situation, since she had adamantly refused to work with his class schedule.
I tried taking a few deep breaths, a feeble attempt to get my emotions under control.
I just couldn’t wrap my head around Aidan actually doing something so sinister. Regardless of how much he disliked his boss, he wouldn’t actually do anything to hurt her.
Would he?
I swallowed the lump that had lodged itself in my throat, because an even bigger question occurred to me.
Would he lie to me?
Because he’d flat-out denied any involvement in tampering with Anne’s brakes.
And I’d believed him.
My pulse was still racing, and the roaring in my ears still sounded like a freight train barreling through my skull, but I knew what I had to do.
I straightened, tugging on the tail of my shirt as I did so.
And then I headed directly for one of the doors that led to the back of the building.
The sun nearly blinded me as I pushed the door open. I shielded my eyes, and searched the parking lot.
The shuttle was right where I knew it would be, parked near the Dumpsters. The hood was propped open and Hugh, our regular daytime driver, was standing near the front passenger wheel, his hands on his hips, his head bent as he studied something.
And next to him, with his own head buried deep inside the hood of the shuttle, was Aidan.
I couldn’t see his hair or his face, but I knew it was him.
Suddenly, his head popped up and he reached up to grab the hood. He slammed it shut
and then accepted the rag Hugh extended to him.
“That should do it,” Aidan said, grinning.
I gaped at the scene in front of me, speechless.
Aidan had just fixed the shuttle.
Aidan.
The same guy who had told me he didn’t know the first thing about cars.
I felt a little weak-kneed but there was nowhere to sit, nothing to lean against.
All I could do was stare at the two men a few yards away. And all I could think about was that one of them had lied to me.
I could barely swallow, my mouth was so dry.
If Aidan had lied about his car repair skills, what else had he lied about?
I tried swallowing again, but there was no way I was getting over the lump in my throat.
I knew what else he’d lied about.
Sabotaging Anne’s brakes.
I sucked in a breath, but it came out as more of a sob, and Aidan’s gaze flew to me.
A surprise smile bloomed on his face, but disappeared in an instant when he noticed my own expression.
His eyes darted to the shuttle and then back to me and I could see it, clear as day.
He was in a panic.
Because he knew that I knew.
He had tried to hurt Anne.
Tried to kill her.
TWENTY SEVEN
“It’s not what you think!”
Aidan raced toward me, his hands waving in the air.
I was already backing away from him. “You…you fix cars!”
He slowed, but his hands were still up. It looked as if he was trying to show me he was unarmed. “I don’t, I swear.”
“I saw you! And you told me you didn't know anything about cars.”
My heel hit the curb and I started to stumble backward. Aidan grabbed my arm and steadied me but I wrenched free. I didn’t want him to touch me. I didn’t want him to talk to me. I didn’t want him to look at me.
I sat down on the curb and buried my head in my hands.
I couldn’t believe what was happening. First Denise and now Aidan. The two people I was closest to at Oasis Ridge had both done horrible, illegal things, all to get back at the boss they hated.
