She glanced up. Zach stared at her with an intent expression that made her mouth go dry. Surely that was longing she saw in his eyes, but if it was, what did she do with it? Ever since she’d heard him talking to Alex about heaven, her feelings had undergone a seismic shift. She relived the sensation of the rough stubble on Zach’s cheek under her lips.
He didn’t glance away and neither could she. In that moment, she saw into his soul and knew he saw into hers. There was a knowing that was impossible to explain, but it also felt immensely disloyal to Jack. Hadn’t she promised to love him forever?
She bolted to her feet. “I need to get to bed.”
“Shauna, wait!”
She ignored the plea in his voice and fled to her room, where she shut the door and locked it behind her. If he’d approached, she couldn’t have helped throwing herself against his chest. All the guilt in the world wouldn’t have kept her from kissing him. What was she going to do? She had to stay here until it was safe to take Alex home, but how did she resist the irresistible?
Chapter 23
Zach used a poker to separate the logs so the fire would die, then stood and paced the floor in front of the fireplace. This had to stop. One more moment and he would have kissed her. Guilt held his gut in a painful grip. What kind of friend put the moves on his best friend’s widow? Scum of the earth, that’s what he was.
And he hadn’t even had a chance to tell her what he’d found about her siblings. That was one conversation he wasn’t sure how to bring up, but the greater importance of Jack’s warning had pushed everything else out of the way.
But he would have sworn he’d glimpsed the same yearning he felt in her eyes.
He slapped his hand against his forehead and moaned as he dropped onto the sofa. The cat was quick to leap into his lap, and the burning in Zach’s eyes started at once so he pushed him off. “No you don’t.”
Weasley stalked off with his tail held high.
Sleep would be a long time coming tonight, so he might as well kill a little time before he faced the restlessness. He’d normally take his time to clean the kitchen, but Shauna had already left it spotless. Even the thriller he’d started a couple of weeks ago wasn’t likely to hold his attention when all he wanted to do was bang on her door and tell her how he was feeling.
But doing that would be disloyal to Jack.
He grabbed Jack’s phone and plugged it into his computer. He downloaded all the information including the pictures, texts, and videos. This was one more piece for them to go through.
Was it really possible that someone had sent those rocks hurtling down on Jack’s head? And even if it were true, the connection to Clarence and Lucy seemed slim. More like nonexistent. But Theresa’s necklace seemed even more unlikely to be connected to anything, yet something was going on. The tentacles of all this seemed entwined, but it was going to take some time and investigation to untangle them.
His cell phone rang on the table beside him, and he grabbed it before it woke Alex. He lifted his brows at the name on the screen. Why would Lewis be calling this late?
“Hey, Lewis, everything okay?”
“Fine, jus’ fine.” Duval’s words were slurred.
Great. He’d been drinking. “Glad to hear it. What can I do for you?”
“She called me today.”
“Who called?”
“Dorothy. Said you came to see her. That true?”
“Yes, it’s true.”
“Why you pokin’ your nose into my business?”
“Lewis, I had no idea you and Dorothy had a relationship. I was trying to find out what happened to your other kids.” Should he reveal that Dorothy told him Lewis had left them in the state’s care?
Zach gripped the phone and shook his head. No sense in talking to Lewis when he was this drunk.
“Tol’ you what happened to the kids. They’re dead. Pokin’ around like this won’t get anyone nowhere.”
“It might help Shauna find closure.”
“That girl needs to move on with her life and quit yearnin’ for what’s dead and gone.” His voice hardened. “I’m warning you to quit pokin’ around in my life or you’re gonna find yourself facing a shotgun—”
His voice cut off, and Zach glanced at the screen. Lewis had hung up on him after that warning. Why was he so upset about Zach investigating Shauna’s siblings? It’s not like he was afraid of losing Shauna’s attention. The two barely spoke because Lewis found a bottle much more engaging than his family.
He heard a sound and looked up to see Shauna standing in the hall. She’d put on a long red gown and her hair hung around her shoulders.
She laid her hand on her throat. “My dad had a relationship with Dorothy?”
Shauna felt as though every bit of her body was vibrating. She wet her lips. “That was my dad, wasn’t it? What’s going on?” Not daring to even breathe in case it drowned out his answer, she locked gazes with Zach.
He sighed and patted the seat beside him. “Sit down, and I’ll tell you all about it. I was going to talk to you tonight, but the news about Jack pushed it aside.”
Her knees didn’t want to seem to support her as she moved on bare feet to the sofa and sank beside him. “Tell me. You found Brenna? Where’s Connor? Do you know?” Apollo moved over to lay his head on her foot, and she reached down to rub his head.
He held up his hand. “Whoa, Flygirl, it’s not what you think.”
She hadn’t heard Zach use that old nickname in ages. “Then what’s going on?”
He took her hand. “Your dad had an affair with Dorothy. You were right about Penelope being angry. Dorothy went into a depression when they broke up, and Penelope hated your dad for the neglect that followed.”
She clung to the solid comfort of his hand. Affair? Her father was a horrible man. She’d always known it, but this confirmed it. He’d been married with kids and had another baby on the way, yet had been a total jerk. “Did Mom know?”
“Dorothy says she found out just before she died.”
“Poor Mom. She probably wasn’t sure what to do. All she knew was staying home and raising us. She didn’t work outside the home, so she probably thought she was stuck. She had no parents of her own to turn to, no family.”
His expression alarmed her. His deep-blue eyes held a mixture of pity and fear. Was he afraid she was going to cause a scene with Dorothy?
Shauna laughed, a sound that shocked her with its bitterness. “Some dad I had.”
“That’s what I told Dorothy when I saw her today. I’m sure she already knew he wasn’t much of a father.” He stared intently at her. “Especially not after what he did about your siblings.”
“What do you mean? You found out something about my siblings?”
He nodded, and his fingers tightened around hers. “Now, keep in mind this is coming from Dorothy. She might have an ax to grind, or she might be mistaken. She says he left them in state care and didn’t try to find them. Several children were left unclaimed, and the state assumed their parents died in the quake. Dorothy thinks they were adopted out.”
A great pressure built in her chest until she couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think. She tried to wrap her head around the words, but they made no sense. Her dad wouldn’t just walk away from his own children, would he? No one could be that terrible, not even a drunk and an adulterer.
Alive. Her Connor and Brenna are alive.
Tears rushed to her eyes, and she tried to leap to her feet, but Zach held her in place. He gripped both hands and half turned her to face him full on. “Shauna, don’t jump to conclusions. We don’t know for sure. It might not be true.”
“But it gives us a place to look.”
“It does. We can check with the county and see if there are pictures of the unclaimed children. Maybe they will release the whereabouts of the kids who were adopted and who went into the foster care system. But even then, it isn’t going to be easy to find them.”
Nothing could dampen the overwhelmin
g joy bursting out of her chest. Her siblings were out there somewhere, waiting for her to find them. Or maybe they weren’t. Maybe they didn’t even remember her. Connor had been two, so he might have some dim memories, but Brenna had been just a newborn. She might not even know she had siblings somewhere in the world.
Shauna brushed the tears from her lashes. “I don’t know what to do first.”
“First we have to tell the sheriff about Jack’s video. We need to bring justice to Clarence and Lucy. Finding your siblings can wait until you and Alex are safe. First things first.”
She wanted to argue with him, but he was right. Her number one priority had to be keeping Alex safe, but everything in her wanted to travel wherever she had to in order to find the rest of her family. The thought they might be alive changed everything.
“What about Darla’s death? Maybe we can start there.”
She nodded and reached for her phone. “I know it’s late, but I’ve been wanting to talk to Darla’s best friend, Alyssa.” The number was on her contact list because she’d looked it up several days ago.
The call was answered almost immediately. “Hello?”
“Alyssa? This is Shauna McDade. I hope I didn’t wake you.”
“No, I was up watching a movie. What’s up?” She had been instrumental in getting Darla off drugs and had been devastated by her death.
“I have something to tell you that might shock you, and I’d like you to keep it to yourself.”
“Of course.”
“Darla’s death was not accidental.”
“What do you mean?”
“The sheriff hasn’t let the media know, but he’s investigating her death as a homicide.”
Alyssa gasped. “I knew she hadn’t gone back to heroin!” A long pause followed. “She’d been acting odd for weeks and had mentioned finding some strange things at one of her jobs.”
“Jobs?”
“She was working through a temp service and didn’t say which job it was. Or what the things were, for that matter. I know she talked to Jack about it all. I urged her to tell me too, but she didn’t want to get me involved.”
Shauna’s fingers tightened on her phone. “We recently found some evidence about Jack’s death. It might not have been an accident.”
“Wow.” Alyssa’s voice went soft. “Maybe I should be glad she didn’t tell me.”
“I think so too. Listen, if you think of anything that might help us get to the bottom of this, would you let me know?”
“Yes, for sure. I’ll think about it. Thanks for telling me. I felt like I’d failed her, you know?”
“It wasn’t your fault, Alyssa. Get some rest. Talk to you soon.” Shauna ended the call and told Zach what she’d said. “She said Darla was talking to Jack.”
“Wow, that ties the two of them together. We might be on to something.”
She nodded. “We need to tell the sheriff.”
Chapter 24
Zach wrapped his fingers around the mug of hot coffee Felicia had handed him and looked around the sheriff’s living room. Shauna had gone off to the kitchen with Felicia for some kind of confab while they waited for Burchell to finish his shower. The sheriff was normally in the office by eight, but when Zach called the office this morning, he’d been told the sheriff had taken a vacation day.
The coffee was strong and hot, and he took another sip, then heard footsteps on the stairs. The house shook a bit, and he jumped to his feet. Another mild earthquake.
Sheriff Burchell, his hair still damp and wearing a T-shirt and jeans, came toward him with a frown wrinkling his brow. “Felicia said some kind of earthshaking news had come in. What’s going on? Hold on a second while I grab some coffee.”
Zach pointed to the mug beside an obviously new leather recliner. “Felicia already brought some.”
The sheriff smiled. “She’s a great wife.” He scooped up the mug, then settled on the chair. “So what’s up?”
“It’s about that phone of Jack’s.”
Burchell shrugged. “Not much to go on with those text messages. Yes, the one could have been a threat, but it’s pretty oblique. I ran down the number, and it’s a burner phone with no way to trace it.”
“It’s not the text messages that are the problem.” Zach pulled Jack’s phone from his pocket and started the video, then handed the device to the sheriff. No matter how many times he listened to it, the impact was like an unexpected gut punch.
Burchell watched it in silence, but his brows rose as he listened through to the end. He stilled, then shook his head. “Do you still believe his death was an accident after hearing this? You were there. Did you see anything that might make you doubt it was a simple fall?”
“I’m starting to wonder. I never did understand where that slide of rock and ice came from. There were no other climbers, so it was out of the blue. So yeah, in light of this warning from Jack, I’m not sure what happened that day.” Zach launched into the sequence of events as he remembered them.
The sheriff sipped his coffee, then stared down at the phone with a thoughtful expression. “Any idea what the whole Jupiter reference is about?”
“The only thing I could come up with is the Jupiter Hammerheads. Jack and I know a pitcher with them, but that’s a stretch. I called him this morning and left a message. He was here a few weeks before Jack died. The two of them had coffee, but Jack never mentioned what it was all about. I’m hoping Harry can provide some answers.”
The sheriff pulled out a small notepad and pen. “What’s his last name?”
“Harry Richards.”
Burchell nodded and jotted it down. “I’ll see what I can find out. Did you ask Marilyn if she knew this Richards guy?”
“Marilyn isn’t inclined to tell me much. Maybe you’ll have better luck.”
Burchell nodded again as his wife and Shauna joined them. Shauna carried a plate of cinnamon rolls, and Felicia set a coffeepot on the table in front of Zach.
Zach reached for a cinnamon roll. It was still warm and smelled amazing. “You just whip these up this morning?”
Shauna took a roll and sat beside him. “Felicia had them ready to put in the oven. It’s the anniversary of when she and Everett met.”
Zach couldn’t watch her like he wanted to with her beside him instead of in front of him. He had been unable to keep his eyes off her ever since they got up this morning. Sleep had been elusive last night, and he knew she’d been restless too because he heard her in the kitchen around three. It had been by sheer will alone that he hadn’t gone in to talk to her then.
It was best they weren’t alone together. She was entirely too tempting with her green eyes flashing and those all-too-kissable lips. Not that he’d ever tasted them, but he’d dreamed about it plenty these past few days.
I’m in big trouble.
He forced his attention back to the sheriff, who was talking about possible Jupiter connections. “Yes, we talked about all those. Nothing really seems to fit. If only he’d given us more information before he ended the video.”
The sheriff consulted the phone again. “This was recorded two days before he died.”
Shauna nibbled on her cinnamon roll and nodded. “Which is why we’re here. What if his death is connected to the deaths of Clarence and Lucy? And to the break-in at my house? This thing could go back a whole year.”
“That’s a stretch, Shauna,” the sheriff warned. “If that’s true, why did the killer wait a year to kill them and target you?”
Zach leaned forward and jabbed his finger at the phone. “Listen to it again, Everett. The coroner ruled Jack’s death accidental, so what if the killer thought with Jack dead, he was safe, but then Clarence found out something? And whatever he found out flushed the guy out.”
The sheriff’s lips turned in a skeptical twist. “Lucy too? They were separated. I don’t think they are connected.” He started the video again and let it play through. “But I do think it’s possible someone rolled those rocks down on Jac
k deliberately. I’ll poke around into the few months leading up to his death and see if anything turns up. I don’t have enough personnel to be handling all these separate investigations, so it’s likely going to take some time. The state is asking lots of questions, which is taking up manpower too. My first priority is to follow the trails around Clarence and Lucy first. Their deaths are the freshest, and I have the best chance of solving them.”
Zach wanted to throw his roll against the wall. “Everett, if they’re all tied together and you have separate teams investigating them, clues are bound to be missed. Connections won’t be made like they should be. Can’t you give your detectives all the information and see where it leads them?”
Shauna set down her coffee. “Please, Sheriff. What could it hurt? There’s something else too.” She told him about talking to Alyssa. “So that ties them together.”
Burchell stared at them for a long moment, then shrugged. “Okay, I’ll make sure my lead detective has all the details, but I think you’re looking in the wrong direction.”
The spicy aroma of seafood curry in Marilyn’s kitchen made Shauna’s mouth water. After talking to the sheriff, she’d gone directly to fly a client to Vancouver, and lunch hadn’t been on her agenda today. It was already nearly four, and her empty stomach clenched painfully. She sat at the breakfast bar, then listened to the distant sound of Alex’s game from his bedroom.
She needed to talk to Marilyn before Alex finished his video game, so food would have to wait a while. Marilyn stirred the big pot of curry with a wary expression. Things hadn’t been the same between them since Shauna had moved in with Zach, and the video on Jack’s phone wasn’t likely to change things for the better. Her mother-in-law didn’t react well to stress.
“Marilyn, I need to show you something.”
Marilyn tucked a strand of auburn hair behind her ear. “What’s wrong now?”
“It’s about Jack. I found his phone.” Shauna pulled her phone from her jacket pocket. “The sheriff kept Jack’s phone, but Zach copied everything first. There’s a video from Jack I think you need to see.”
The View from Rainshadow Bay Page 16
