Autumn opened her mouth to ask another question, but Mr. Blazevig grabbed a stack of paperbacks off the coffee table and pushed them into her open arms.
“You enjoy mysteries, Autumn? You seem to like playing detective. I can’t read these anymore. My eyesight and such.”
“Oh, okay.” She accepted the books, taking the hint that Mr. Blazevig was purposefully changing the subject.
“I’m really tired. I should go lie down and sleep off this blasted cold.” He ushered her outside and waved goodbye as he closed the door.
Autumn scuttled down the stairs and stopped dead with a realization. Mr. Blazevig’s handkerchief was the same one Autumn and Liam had pulled out of the Cayo’s bathtub. The cream one with blue trim.
The embroidered B stood for Blazevig.
#
“What do you mean it was the same handkerchief?” Liam asked.
Autumn and Liam stood shoulder-to-shoulder on Duval Street, handing out Mr. Blazevig’s brochures and occasionally leaning back to allow a tourist to sidle past.
Today was the last day of Fantasy Fest, to Liam’s relief. He’d had enough of naked tourists, crazy costumes, and impassable roads.
“Love ghost stories?” Autumn called to those strolling by. “Sign up for a haunted tour of the island. Midnight tours sell out quickly.” Autumn extended the brochure, waiting for tourists to take it. Liam knew enough to shove the brochure in people’s hands.
“It was the same piece of cloth. Same light blue embroidery,” she said.
“You think that’s a coincidence?”
Autumn gave him a pointed look. “Too many coincidences aren’t a coincidence.”
Liam considered this for a moment. “So Ralph Blazevig, the nicest man on the planet, killed Inez.” He shook his head. “No way can I believe that.”
Autumn smiled at a blonde family who graciously accepted her handout. “Me neither. But what else could Inez be trying to tell us?”
Liam threw the stack of brochures down at his feet. “Not only is Inez a bitchy ghost, but she’s also a vengeful one. She’s jerking us around. She wants to live again, and she’ll say or do anything to get a host body.”
Autumn squinted and nudged Liam’s elbow. “Look across the street. At the corner. Is that—”
“Mr. Blazevig? What’s he doing here? I thought he was sick, and that’s why we’re doling out brochures.” Liam watched as the old man approached a black Escalade. “I know that truck.” He glanced at the driver’s flattop. “I recognize that driver. It’s Mick’s guy. His bodyguard or something.” Liam snapped his fingers. “Finn.”
Ralph Blazevig spoke to Finn through the driver-side window. Finn tilted his chin, and Mr. Blazevig climbed into the passenger seat.
“Why do you think Mr. Blazevig lied about being sick only to go off with Mick’s driver?” asked Liam.
“I don’t know,” said Autumn. “But we’re gonna have to find out.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
The following morning as Autumn got ready for school, Evelyn knocked on Autumn’s door. Her mother stood in the doorway and picked at some loose paint flecks on the moulding.
Autumn sat on her bed and ran a brush through her dark hair. She glanced quickly at her mother. “What do you want?”
“Actually, I’m here to give you want you want,” Evelyn replied. “I’m sending you to live with your father. You’ll be back in New Jersey. Back with your old friends. In your old house. In your old life.”
Autumn paused the hairbrush in mid swipe. Her muscles went rigid, and the brush suddenly felt as if it weighed a hundred pounds.
“Isn’t that what you always wanted? To get away from here? To go back home?”
“That was before.”
“Before what?” Coldness tinged her mother’s voice. “Before Liam?”
Autumn wanted to say before she made a life here. Before she appreciated Key West, its stifling humidity, but also its festive life. People lived here. Maybe before, she just existed. But her mother wouldn’t understand.
“I thought so,” Evelyn said. “I was wrong to make you move here. I should’ve agreed to keep you in New Jersey.”
“Agreed to keep me there? You said Dad didn’t want me to stay with him. That you were moving me out of my high school in my junior year because Dad didn’t want his old life intruding on his new family.”
“God, Autumn. Is it so wrong for me to have wanted you to move with me? Did I really need to lose my house, husband, and daughter all at once?” Her voice sounded shrill.
Autumn bit her lip. Her mother was angry because she felt like no one loved her. But the truth was, Evelyn’s anger made it hard for anyone to be close to her.
“I was never given a choice.”
Evelyn crossed her arms. “Well, I’m sorry to say you’re not being given a choice now. Go back home. Enroll at Candlewick. Get a degree and make something of yourself.”
“You said I could do all that here,” Autumn said.
“That was before you met a guy. A guy with no prospects. No future.”
“Liam is nothing like Dad,” Autumn said.
“No. He isn’t. Your father had a good future ahead of him, and he still turned out to be a lying, cheating bastard.” Evelyn turned to leave. “Your flight leaves next week.”
And there was nothing more to be said.
#
Liam hung near the water’s edge and scanned the ocean waves. A cool breeze blew off the water, and the sun was preparing to dip below the horizon. The past few days made Liam feel like his life was reeling out of control. Randall. Inez. Evelyn. Even Pops. They were all pushing against him, trying to ruin any semblance of normalcy and happiness he might be entitled to. Whether it was Evelyn bossing him around, Pops evading him, or Inez, whose only goal was to try and kill him—everyone wanted something from him without giving anything in return. And he was sick of it. Except for Autumn. She was the only person who made him feel valued. She wasn’t trying to change him. And he loved her for it.
A rush of warmth flooded throughout his body. He loved her. He loved Autumn and today, he would tell her that.
Light fingers covered his eyes.
“Guess who?” a female voice said.
Liam whipped around and embraced Autumn. “My girlfriend.”
Autumn beamed. “You cheated.”
“I have your voice memorized. I don’t need to guess.”
Autumn sidled up to him and he put his arm around her shoulder. “It’s beautiful tonight. The air is cool.”
“It feels good,” he said. “Sometimes, I get so sick of being hot.”
Autumn nuzzled his neck. Then her eyes drifted toward the water. “Do you think you’d want to come to the northeast?”
“You mean to visit your dad? With you?”
Autumn cast her gaze downward, and Liam suddenly felt self-conscious about his ratty sneakers. He tilted her chin up so he could see her whole face.
“Are you still wanting to go back to New Jersey?” he asked. “I thought you had made a decision to stay here.”
Autumn moved away from his touch. “My mom is sending me home to New Jersey.”
“Your home is here. In the Keys. With me.”
She rested her hands on the metal railing, but didn’t make eye contact. “It’s not that simple. On one hand, I love New Jersey. It’s familiar and comfortable. On the other hand, I was just starting to enjoy Florida. I’m not ready to leave.”
“Please tell me that I’m the reason you want to stay here,” he said.
Autumn pushed off the railing and pressed her hands against Liam’s chest. “Of course you’re the reason.”
Liam wrapped his arms around her. An iron pit settled in his stomach. He felt like he could sink to the bottom of the ocean if he was crazy enough to jump in. “Your home is with me. Tell your mom ‘no.’”
“I can’t,” she whispered into his chest.
“Why not?” He rested his chin on the top of her head.
She didn’t answer and Liam read her silence as doubt. He knew by insisting she stay in Florida, he was asking for a big commitment, not to mention defying her mother. They hadn’t been dating long, but Liam couldn’t imagine his life now without Autumn.
Autumn took Liam’s hand. “Move to New Jersey with me. We’ll go to college. We can get away from the Keys for a while. We can make a fresh start.”
“I can’t leave here,” he said. “Sure, I lost my job and my scooter business is a criminal empire, but Pops is here. And I don’t know if I want to start fresh somewhere new. I can’t run from my problems. I’d be no better than my father or my mother.”
“If you want to be with me, why won’t you come home with me?” Her voice trembled.
“That’s not fair. I could ask you the same thing. If you want to be with me, then why won’t you stay?”
“Nothing is keeping you here,” she said. “I have college prospects up North.”
Liam splayed his fingers against his breastbone. “Ah, I see. Because I’m a high-school dropout, I have no reason to stay here.”
“That’s not what I meant.”
“That’s exactly what you meant. But you don’t understand. My history is here. In the Keys. I don’t belong anywhere else.”
Autumn’s eyes clouded with tears. “And I don’t know where I belong. All I know is I can’t defy my mother. I can’t be one of those kids who doesn’t have my parents’ support. If you came with me, it would be easier.”
They stared at each other for a moment, although to Liam, it felt like an hour. Finally, he said, “You know I can’t leave. Not again.”
Autumn glanced at the ocean waves and sighed. “I gotta go back to the Cayo.”
“How much time do we have together?” He reached for her, and their fingers grazed.
“A week, maybe. I’ll see you later.” Autumn didn’t kiss him goodbye.
Liam should’ve asked her to wait. He should’ve told her he would do anything for her or go anywhere to be with her. But Liam didn’t have it in him. Autumn was the last person he thought would want him to change. But she was just like everyone else. She wanted something from him and wasn’t willing to give something in return.
#
Liam woke the following morning and stumbled into the kitchen in nothing but a tattered pair of boxer shorts. Usually, Pops was awake by now, drinking coffee and reading the morning paper, but not today. His chair was empty. A note was tacked on the fridge. Liam pulled it off and read it.
Went grocery shopping with neighbor. Then shuffleboard. See you later, kid.
Liam crumpled up the note and threw it into the trashcan. The lid banged shut. Shuffleboard was Pops’s joke about going to the Green Parrot for lunch. Just as well. Liam’s only plan today was to throw himself a pity party and check on Craigslist for job openings. The only good thing in his life was Autumn and now she was leaving.
It was probably better that Pops was gone for the day. Liam wasn’t sure he could really look at the old man. Pops and his navy buddies all knew something about Inez’s disappearance, and they were hiding information. Either that or they were covering for someone. But who?
Liam went into his room and threw on a dirty pair of cargo shorts and a stained gray T-shirt. No sense in showering—he ran his hand over his stubbly chin—or shaving. A pity party waits for no man.
Liam rummaged through the small fridge in the carport for a soda, but only found a six-pack of beer. Alcohol had ruined his father and was only slightly more kind to Pops. Liam exhaled, tired of resisting his fate. He pulled back the tab on the beer can. Pops would be annoyed, but Liam figured he could feign ignorance. Maybe his grandpa would think he drank it and forgot. Which had happened plenty of times in the past.
Liam plopped down into a beat-up patio chair. Its ribbed nylon weave dug into his back, but he didn’t care. He took a sip of the cold liquid and let it cool his throat. A neighbor walked by with her snippy yorkie. She cocked her brow at him.
“Aren’t you a little young to be drinking, Liam?” she called out.
Liam tipped his can to her. “Morning to you too, Mrs. Wiznewski.” Then he took a gulp and belched. She clucked her tongue and kept on walking her dog.
Eventually, Liam got bored and dragged an old kiddie pool into the yard. He filled the pool with cold water from the hose and laid down in it, his arms and legs splayed like a starfish. After that, he made a salami sandwich and chugged another beer. He eventually fell asleep in Pops’s beach chair and was woken up by a female voice. A tall, slender figure cast a shadow over him. He popped one eye open and then the other.
“You’re drooling,” Victoria said.
Liam wiped at the moisture on the edge of his lips with the collar of his dirty T-shirt.
“You look like crap.” It wasn’t her usual judgey way of speaking. She actually seemed concerned.
He sat up on his chair. “I’ve had a rough few days.”
Victoria rolled her eyes. “You always had rough days.”
Liam sighed. “Was I always this sad?”
She shrugged. “You’re not what I would call a guy who radiates glitter and rainbows.”
“I guess not. What are you doing here? I’m surprised you didn’t send Randall to spy on me.”
Vicky cocked her brow in confusion. “I’m not pathetic enough to send a spy.”
“Right. You know he likes you, so you exploit him.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Victoria opened up her coral, sequined clutch and withdrew an envelope. She snapped the clutch closed with a definitive smack that rattled Liam’s nerves. “I have a proposition for you.”
Liam stretched his arms above his head. “I need another beer. You want one?”
“Another beer? Since when do you drink?”
Liam got up from the chair and opened the fridge. “Since now.”
“Ah.” Victoria’s face lit up with recognition. “Something happened with Autumn, didn’t it?”
Liam stuck his head in the fridge so that Victoria couldn’t read his expression.
“Whatever,” she said, annoyed. “Listen, I’m loaning you money for your bike tour company.”
Liam grabbed a can and closed the fridge door with his foot. “That’s nice, but I’m not in business with Randall anymore.”
“Good. You’re better off.” She thrust the envelope in Liam’s direction. “Take it. I heard you got fired from the Cayo. Use the money for your own start-up. Just promise me you won’t turn into—”
“My father? Pops?” Liam held the beer can in his hand, the cold stinging his skin. He put down the can but didn’t accept the money.
“I was gonna say, a drunk.”
“Same difference. Does your grandfather know you’re doing this?”
“Yes,” she said. “It’s an investment, and there’s nothing grandfather likes more than investing in the future.” Victoria swallowed and stared at her flip-flops. “But, if you must know, there’s a condition.”
Liam fought back laughter. “Of course there is. Why would you do anything without strings attached?”
Her eyes hardened. “I will ignore that comment. With this money, you could be in business tomorrow.”
“If . . . ?”
Her face reddened. Whatever this condition was, it sure embarrassed her to say it. “If you agree not to see Autumn anymore.”
Liam blinked several times. Then he muttered, “pathetic” under his breath.
Victoria charged toward him and Liam backed into Pops’s old workbench. A jar of nails rattled on the top shelf but held fast.
“If you must know,” she said. “It was not my idea, but grandfather’s. He’s looking to purchase the Cayo Hueso, and he’s concerned about your loyalties.”
Liam pushed off the bench. “Tell him he doesn’t have to worry.”
Victoria relaxed. “I told grandfather you wouldn’t do that.”
“No, I mean, I’m not going to stop seeing A
utumn.” Even if Autumn returned to New Jersey tomorrow, there was no way he’d ever agree to such terms. Liam watched Victoria’s tough exterior crumble. He felt bad for hurting her feelings, although it’s not like she’d never hurt his.
“You won’t take the money?”
He shook his head. “Not on those conditions.”
Victoria paused for a moment. She softened her shoulders and stepped toward him, setting the envelope in his hand. “It’s a check,” she cooed. “A blank check. No more working for other people. You could be your own boss.” Liam smelled her crisp perfume.
She sidled up to him and leaned in, practically pushing up against him. Liam’s head buzzed from the alcohol. He flashed back to last year, before he went to North Dakota. Before his dad went to rehab. Before he met Autumn. Before a ghost tried to kill him. His life was no simpler now. Everything came full circle.
Victoria whispered, her warm breath on his skin. She turned her face toward his and looked into his eyes. He didn’t pull away. Why wasn’t he pulling away from her? She brushed her lips softly against his. It could barely have been considered a kiss.
Liam heard someone clearing her throat. Victoria slowly turned and a smile broke out on her face.
“Autumn,” she said. “I didn’t expect to see you today.”
Liam squeezed his eyes shut. Now, he was truly done for.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
Autumn felt sick. She had borrowed her mother’s car so she could apologize to Liam for arguing with him last night, but all she wanted to do now was get back into the car and run him over with it. Then she saw Victoria’s smug smile. Correction, I want to run Victoria over first.
Victoria wiggled her fingers. “See you in school,” she said to Autumn before climbing into her convertible and driving away.
Liam straightened up, but he stumbled, and Autumn noticed two beer cans rolling around by his feet.
“That’s not what that looked like,” he said.
Autumn’s eyes weighed heavy on her face. Every time she blinked, she could feel how swollen her lids must have been. She’d been crying all night. She didn’t have the energy to debate about seeing Victoria blatantly kiss him.
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