by Lena Gregory
Cass sat up straighter, her interest piqued. “What do you mean?”
“Apparently, there’s another man asking around about her.” He frowned. “Well, actually, no one seems to be sure he’s looking for the same woman. Everyone just assumed so, because, hey, let’s face it, how many women turn up missing on Bay Island?”
“Are you sure it’s a second guy?”
He shrugged. “A young guy. Slim, glasses, shaggy hair?”
“That’s definitely not Artie Becker.”
He waved her off. “I’ll know more later, anyway.”
“Why?”
“Well, when I was getting ready to leave, an order came in for coffee. Seems they are sending someone from the deli out to the beach with coffee and buttered rolls and bagels for the crime scene techs.”
“Do you know who they sent?”
He grinned. “Emma Nicholls.”
Cass laughed. “Yup, with Emma out there, we’ll get all the dirt for sure.”
“Why do you think they sent her?”
Bee was right. As soon as word spread that Emma had been anywhere near the crime scene and had contact with some of the responding officers, business in the deli would be booming for sure.
“Anything else?”
Bee shifted in his seat.
Uh-oh.
“Well, you’re probably not going to like it.”
“Spit it out.” She braced herself for the worst.
“Rumor has it, Artie was in here talking to you before you found the body on the beach. Everyone thinks his daughter’s ghost led you to her body.”
“Hmm . . .” What else could she say? That might actually be pretty close to the truth.
8
The first thing to hit Cass when she walked into the kitchen was the scent of pot roast, which brought back a rush of childhood memories. Playing on the beach or riding bikes throughout the neighborhood with her friends, then coming home to the house filled with the aromas of dinner cooking or something baking in the oven. Her mom had loved to cook. The ache of losing her parents never fully went away, but sometimes, when a particularly strong reminder surfaced, the pain was nearly unbearable.
She sighed and hung Beast’s leash on a hook beside the door, then filled one of his bowls with water and dumped a scoop of dry dog food into the other. Preparing the rest of dinner would be a lot easier if he was already fed.
She thought again of the woman who’d been haunting her. Was she really a ghost of someone who’d lived before? Or just a figment of Cass’s imagination trying to tell her something she already knew, something she might have repressed? It was possible her subconscious was trying to relay a message. But what could she possibly know about the woman?
Frustrated, she set aside the line of thought. If there was anything, hopefully it would come to her eventually. For now, she wanted to forget about everything and enjoy a nice dinner with friends. With no talk of death.
As soon as Beast finished inhaling his food, she opened the back door, checked the gate was closed, and let him out. Leaving the door open so he could come back in when he was ready, she turned her attention to dinner. She didn’t cook often, but when she did she enjoyed it.
She checked the roast, then gathered what she’d need for the salad and put it on the cutting board. She pulled out a large salad bowl, set it on the counter beside the sink, and started washing the lettuce and breaking it up in the bowl.
“Hello,” Stephanie called as she came in the front door.
“Hey.” Cass glanced out the window over the sink to make sure Beast was okay. “I’m in the kitchen.”
Stephanie came in a moment later. Alone.
Cass frowned. “Where’s Bee?”
“Either at the deli, the bakery, or the diner.” She grinned. “Take your pick.”
“What?”
“After we left Mystical Musings earlier, he dropped me off and went to make the rounds.”
Cass couldn’t help but laugh. Bee lived for gossip. “Yeah, well, he’d better still be hungry when he gets here.”
“Seriously?” Stephanie shot her a pointed look. “When is Bee not hungry?”
“Okay, that’s true.”
Beast surged through the door, skidding when he hit the floor, but managed to regain his footing before falling or knocking anything—or anyone—over. Of course, he left a trail of mud in his wake.
Stephanie petted his head in greeting. “So, he starts training Wednesday, huh?”
“Yup. Looks like it.” Cass just sighed and started cleaning up the mess. What in the world had he gotten into this time? She’d have to go check after dinner.
“That oughta be fun, no?”
Cass didn’t really think it would be, but she kept the opinion to herself. She had no idea why she was so resistant to training. She wanted Beast to listen, and she definitely didn’t want to see him get hurt or hurt anyone else, but the thought of going to classes to teach him how to behave just seemed weird. Of course, she’d never owned a dog before, not even as a child, so the thought of being corralled in a pen with a bunch of other dogs intimidated her just a little. Okay, actually, it scared her a lot.
“It’ll be fine, Cass.” Stephanie laid a hand on her shoulder. “Now, what can I do to help?”
“Do you want to set the table?” Cass indicated the stuff she’d already piled on the counter that morning. Another advantage lack of sleep had allowed.
Stephanie washed her hands, then grabbed the stack of dishes and started setting them out on the table. They worked together in silence for a few minutes, Cass readying the salad and Stephanie setting the table. When Cass had the salad finished, she glanced over her shoulder. Stephanie had been too quiet lately. It was obvious something was bothering her. If the circles under her eyes were any indication, she wasn’t getting much more sleep than Cass.
Cass put the salad in the center of the table. With everything that had gone on that day, she never had gotten the centerpieces together. Maybe tomorrow. She laid a hand on Stephanie’s shoulder and asked quietly, “Are you okay, Steph?”
Stephanie offered a sad smile and patted Cass’s hand. “I’m okay. Thanks.”
“You know if there’s ever anything you want to talk about, I’m here, right?”
Stephanie nodded. “I know. It’s just . . .” She looked out the back door and shook her head. “Have you ever thought about having kids?”
The question caught Cass off guard. “I don’t know. I guess. There was a time when I thought about having them, but Donald wasn’t ready. Then, after the divorce, I never thought about it again.”
She’d have to learn to trust a man again before she could even consider having children, though she couldn’t deny the fact that a little boy or girl with Luke’s thick, dark hair and big blue eyes did tug at something deep within her. Of course, it would help if they could ever find a moment to spend together. Maybe when things calmed down Stephanie or Bee would babysit Beast for a night so she could visit him on the mainland. “Why, are you and Tank thinking of having kids?”
A car door slamming announced Bee’s arrival. Dang his timing.
Stephanie wiped a tear that had trickled down her face, turned to Cass, and smiled. “I’m okay, hon. I promise. It’s really just foolish.” She waved away whatever was on her mind. “Come on. Everything smells so good, let’s eat.”
Bee poked his head through the open door and knocked on the doorjamb, then spotted Cass. “Hey, honey. I’m home. And lookie what I brought.” He held up a Tony’s Bakery box. “Gina was just putting a fresh Black Forest cake in the case when I walked in.”
Saliva pooled instantly beneath Cass’s tongue. Tony’s Black Forest cakes were amazing. “Thank you, Bee.”
When she reached to take the box from him and put it on the counter, he held on for a moment, then kissed the top o
f her head and released the box. His gaze slid to Stephanie. “I don’t like seeing my girls so unhappy.”
“We’re okay.” This time, Stephanie offered a genuine smile. “At least we are now that you brought cake.”
Bee gave a wary glance around the kitchen. “Is there anything in there I should know about?”
Cass laughed. “Just come in, Bee. It’s safe. Nothing otherworldly.”
“Oh yeah? Where’s Beast?”
Cass looked around the kitchen. Good question. Where was Beast? “He was here a minute ago.”
“The gate was closed when I came in, and I closed it behind me, but I didn’t see him out there.” Bee frowned and turned back toward the yard.
Cass pushed the door between the kitchen and living room open and stuck her head in. No Beast. And no mess to indicate Beast had been there. “Beast!”
“Is he in there?” Stephanie poked her head into the open doorway beside Cass.
“No.” She turned away and let the door fall shut.
“Cass?” Bee yelled from the yard.
Cass ran through the door with Stephanie on her heels.
Bee stood at the back fence, hands on his hips, scanning the beach beyond Cass’s yard. A giant hole gaped open at his feet, a hole that tunneled beneath the fence, allowing Beast an escape route. He cupped his hands to his mouth and yelled, “Beast!”
Cass held her breath. Nothing.
“Which way do you think he’d go?” Stephanie looked around the yard, but there was really no point. The yard was small, and there was no way Bee would have gotten in unscathed if Beast had been there.
“I don’t know.”
Bee grabbed Beast’s leash from the hook by the door and yelled over his shoulder as he strode toward the gate. “I’ll search the beach. That’s the way you usually go when you walk with him, so it makes the most sense he’d take the familiar route.”
“Come on.” Stephanie grabbed her arm. “We’ll take my car and search the neighborhood.”
They climbed into the car, and Stephanie drove slowly up and down the narrow residential streets.
Cass sat in the passenger seat, window open, yelling Beast’s name. She had to find him. What if something happened to him? She’d never forgive herself. She wiped the tears streaking down her face, and Stephanie handed her a napkin.
“Thanks.”
“Don’t worry. We’ll find him.”
She just nodded.
“We live on an island, Cass, how far could he go?”
She smiled a little. That was true.
“Plus, everyone knows him from the shop or around town, and he wears a tag.” She squeezed Cass’s arm. “Someone will find him and call you.”
Dusk was just falling, and deepening shadows made it difficult to see. She yelled his name again, then listened for any kind of response. “Slow down.”
Stephanie let her foot off the accelerator. “Do you see him?”
“No, nothing. I just don’t want him to hear me calling him and run out in front of the car.”
Stephanie nodded and continued at an even slower crawl than she’d been going.
Small, well-manicured lawns dotted the streets. Lights had just begun to come on in a few downstairs windows and on several porches.
“Hakuna Matata” blared from Stephanie’s cell phone. She fished it out of the cup holder between the seats, glanced at the caller ID, and answered as she pulled to the side of the road and stopped. “Hey, Bee. Did you find him?”
She nodded at Cass. “Yeah. Okay, we’ll be right there.”
Stephanie dropped the phone back into the cup holder, hit her turn signal, and made a U-turn on the empty street. “He found him.”
Relief washed over her. “Is he okay? Where was he?”
“He went back to the crime scene. One of the detectives recognized him and already had him when Bee got there.”
Cass took a deep breath. “He’s okay?”
“He’s fine. Even had a donut.”
Cass flopped back against the seat, tension seeping from her rigid muscles. For the first time, she was actually happy Bee had made the appointment with Herb. If she wasn’t going to train Beast properly, it was time to give him up. No way was that happening. “The detectives were still out there? Isn’t it kind of late?”
“Yeah. I haven’t heard from Tank all day.”
“That’s weird. Doesn’t he usually call you several times a day?”
“Not so much lately.” Stephanie shrugged it off, but her grip on the wheel tightened. “He’s been busy.”
Uh-oh. Maybe things were worse between them than Cass realized. Stephanie and Tank had always had the closest relationship. Aside from being married, they were best friends. Maybe Tank didn’t share Stephanie’s apparent desire to start a family. “Is everything all right?”
“Yeah, it’s fine. It’s me. I don’t know what’s wrong with me lately, but I’m so cranky . . .”
An idea struck, and she blurted it out without thinking. “Are you pregnant?”
“No. No, I’m definitely not pregnant.” She waved it off as she rounded the corner onto Cass’s street. “Hey, who’s that?”
“Who?”
“Someone just got into that white car in front of your house.”
Cass shrugged, not really paying attention. “I invited Emmett and Sara, but they already had plans. Maybe they changed their minds. Are you sure it was in front of my—”
The screech of tires cut her short as the white car rocketed away from the curb. By the time Stephanie reached the front of the house the car was gone. “Do you want me to try to follow it?”
Bee ripped open the front door and stormed out onto the porch, Beast beside him barking furiously.
Cass hesitated. As much as her curiosity was piqued, seeing Beast safe was more important. “I can’t right now. I have to make sure Beast is okay first.”
Cass shoved the door open and ran. When she reached Beast, she dropped to her knees and threw her arms around him. “Oh, boy, I’m so glad you’re okay.” She gripped the fur at the sides of his neck and set him back a little. “What were you thinking? You can’t take off like that. You could have gotten hurt.”
He tilted his head and licked her cheek. Okay, so much for disciplining him.
“Did you see who pulled away just before you pulled up?” Bee had his cell phone in hand and was dialing.
Cass stood. “No, why? Is something wrong?”
“Look at your window.” He pressed the phone to his ear and gestured over his shoulder.
In her relief to see Beast, alive and unharmed, she hadn’t even noticed the shattered front window of her house. “What the . . .”
Bee handed her a brick. “Hey, Tank, it’s Bee. I’m at Cass’s house, and everyone is all right, but someone just threw a brick through her front window.” He pointed to the word liar painted in black on the long side of the brick. “Uh-huh.” He turned the brick over in her hand, and painted on the other side, in bold black brush strokes, was the word fraud. “No, we’ll be here. Thanks.”
The whole scene felt like something out of The Twilight Zone, and Cass struggled to make sense of what was happening through a fog of confusion. “What’s going on here, Bee?”
“I don’t know. I came in from the beach, so we went through the back door right after I called Stephanie. A second or two after we walked in, there was a loud crash. I ran into the living room and found the front window shattered and the brick lying in the middle of the mess. Beast went ballistic, so I couldn’t hear anything . . .” He dropped a hand on the big dog’s head. “By the time I made it out here, whoever it was had already left.”
Stephanie pointed in the direction the vandal had fled. “He took off that way.”
“He?” Bee asked. “Could you tell who it was?”
“No. I’m not even a hundred percent sure it was a man. I just saw a shadow getting into a car from down the street. The driver’s-side door swung shut, and the car took off.” She shrugged. “It was white, that’s about all I can tell you.”
The three of them stood there, staring off in the direction Stephanie had indicated. There wasn’t much sense in trying to go after whoever it was. They were probably long gone.
Beast nudged Cass’s side and whimpered.
“I have to get the glass cleaned up before Beast steps on any of it and gets hurt.”
“I’ll put him in the kitchen, then we’ll help you clean up.” Stephanie started toward the house.
“With the pot roast? Are you crazy?” Bee asked.
Stephanie laughed. “I doubt he can get the cover off the Crock-Pot.”
The three of them stared at Beast, who licked his chops.
“Fine. I’ll put him in Cass’s room for now.” She stared pointedly at Bee. “Then we’ll help her clean up.”
Bee huffed out a breath. “Fine. But if he’s in the bedroom, we should probably leave everything like it is until Tank gets here. He said he wouldn’t be long.”
“Hmm . . . true.” Stephanie peered through the window. “I doubt there’s anything in there for him to see, but I guess we could leave it until after dinner. Is that all right, Cass?”
But her mind had already wandered away. Who would call her a liar and a fraud, and what did it mean? And more importantly, did it have anything to do with the body she had discovered on the beach or the rumors Bee had heard earlier?
9
“The display window looks gorgeous, Bee.” Cass dropped her fork onto her napkin. No way could she eat another bite.
“Thank you.” He beamed.
“I love the lingerie line.”
“I told you you’d be good at lingerie,” Stephanie added.
He laughed. Bee had been hesitant about designing lingerie, but Stephanie had been . . . persistent. Actually, she’d annoyed him to death until he gave it a try. “I can’t believe how much I enjoyed doing it. And I’ve been talking to a buyer in the city who’s been looking at my beach wedding line. He’s been interested for a while now, but with the addition of the lingerie, I think it’s pretty much wrapped up.”
