Gran: I don’t think so. She was talking about it, but never made it down to the police to get rid of the thing.
“Yeah, I would strongly suggest they tell her.” I handed him the phone and let him read the message. Saying it out loud sounded threatening in my mind’s voice, and past experience told me it never got better when I ignored my filter. Filters were good. His hand rubbed his forehead while his eyes closed and his lips moved, but I couldn’t catch what he was saying. Not that I needed to. This town was driving him crazy. I, on the other hand, was enjoying this thoroughly.
“Give me a second.” His fingers were flying as he started texting again, and I looked out the window. June’s flowers were trying to bloom out of season again and I was shaking my head at the poor, confused flower when a red mustang turned onto my street. I grabbed Brecken’s arm and caught his attention as I gestured at it with my head.
“What do we do?” My mind was trying to find a response through the panicked excitement of seeing the red head again.
“Why?” Brecken’s head hadn’t stopped looking at his phone as he texted another reply.
“Because a red, basic model mustang is driving past my house.” That got his attention.
“What?” His eyes instantly found the car as it drove past, inching its way down the street under the speed limit. I ducked so the person driving wouldn’t see me just as they passed, and when I came up, Brecken was staring at me, his mouth hanging open. “What was that?”
“I was hiding! She could be the killer.”
“Okay, but you know that she could probably see you from fifty feet away, right? That hiding only as the car passed was completely useless?”
Well, no. It hadn’t occurred to me. This just got awkward.
“You also realize that everyone watching, which, knowing this town like I’m starting to, they all think that you did that for another reason, right?” Brecken added with a side look.
“What other reason—oh.” I looked down at my phone just as a text from my grandmother came through. I threw it on the ground before I could read it. “Oh God.”
“Yeah, they probably think that was what I was saying.”
Wow. That was crude. And kind of funny. I couldn’t stop the giggling. He held his scowl for another second before he joined me. Soon we were both laughing like maniacs, releasing the stress and fear through laughter.
“Oh wow. I needed that,” he commented.
“That’s what she said.”
That set off another round. We must have been really stressed because it wasn’t that funny.
“Okay, so how do we get to the resort?”
“You haven’t been?” That was surprising. I would have thought Brecken and John would have talked to the manager already.
“Why would we? We’ve been trying to solve a murder. Spa treatments don’t help.”
“Didn’t help. Until now,” I corrected him with a smile as I pulled out my phone and searched. Reveling in knowing something before Brecken and John, I handed him Lindsey’s post from a week and a half ago. It was a good photo. The lighting was nice and Bryan and the woman were staring into each other’s eyes like they were truly in love. It was hard to believe he had another girl on the side.
“Who is this?”
“The night manager at the hotel.”
“Do you have a name?”
“Nope. How did you guys not catch this?”
“No names.”
What? I pulled the phone to an angle where I could see it. Dang. He’s right. No names. It wouldn’t have flagged in a web search. And, frankly, not many of the people around town read all of Lindsey’s blogs. We mostly stuck to the town blog. She just posted the picture with a blurb about lovers. Had she not told me about it I might not have known, either.
“You’re lucky I got stuck talking to Lindsey. You guys talked with Becky already, right?”
“Yep. She had stuff over at his house.” He pursed his lips before glancing at me. “Along with another bra that must be this night manager’s.”
“Ha! We have a break! Let’s go.” This was exciting. His eyes narrowed on me.
“You know you won’t be there when I interview her.”
“What? Why not?”
“Civilian.” He pointed at me.
“Person who found the lead.” I pointed at myself.
“Civilian with a small child who is trying to be less involved.”
“Low blow, man. Low blow.” I sat back in my seat, conceding to his point.
“Got the job done.”
True. I still gave him a glare just for good measure. I couldn’t let him think his logic had defeated me. Even if it had.
The drive to the spa was short since it was basically the end of main street plus an elaborate driveway that led up to the 300-room hotel. The main building sprawled out in front as we approached, making me think of the mansions from movies. I expected a starlet to run down the front steps, dramatically placing a hand on the white pillars as her skirt caught the wind. It even had a round entrance so guests could drop off their things and valet the car. All in all, the elegance of the old world mixed with the practicalities of the new. No matter how many times I saw it, it never failed to stun me. Even I, the jaded critic of modern buildings, had to admit that this building pulled it off flawlessly.
Opening its doors twenty years ago, it was the brainchild of Mrs. Dorothy Watts, the wife of the businessman Gerald Watts. Upon his death, Dorothy, who had spent most of her life following her husband on his many business dealings, had decided to find a more quiet life with a real community. Somehow, she found Barrow Bay, a struggling town with one rundown hotel, no real industry, and people too stubborn to leave. My suspicion was that it met her criteria of ‘close enough to San Francisco’ to get people to travel, but with dirt cheap land. At least by California standards. A year later the resort was built, and she was leveraging her many business contacts to make it ‘the place to be.’
Strangely enough, Dorothy had bought a cottage three doors down from mine and lived a quiet life when she wasn’t making appearances at the hotel for social and conventional media. Rich hotelier by day, active Sewing Circle member and community pillar at night. She was better than Batman.
As we pulled up, I saw a scooter parked in Dorothy’s spot. Hmm, I wonder if that was how Gran got her scooter idea. If Dee got one, it was guaranteed that the rest of the Sewing Circle would follow. There went any hope of talking Gran out of it. Brecken found a parking spot not far from the front door and we both got out.
“You sure you can’t think of anything else to do? Anything?” he asked, dragging his feet like Hailey did when I made her go to school in the morning.
“We already have an appointment, remember? It’s too late. Suck it up like a man.”
“I am. I’m pouting like a child.” He even stuck his bottom lip out at me.
“Touchè, suck it up like a woman.”
“Be passive-aggressive in the hopes that the other person reflects on their actions and realizes how wrong they are and how amazing the other person is?”
“I am mildly offended by your statements.” I glared.
“So, you don’t do that?”
“Okay, yes. That’s completely me, but not all women are the same.”
“I noticed you didn’t argue the man statement.” He pointed out.
I shrugged at him. “I figured you were a man. You would know better.”
“You agreed with it until I made a statement about a group you classified yourself in. You’re sexist.”
I whirled around to face him and defend my honor.
“I am not!” I was not. Women were just better than men. It was a life lesson. Men were more likely to cheat. Men were more likely to speed. They were more likely to explain things like boobs make us stupid or treat their significant other like a given instead of a partner—
Okay. I might have been a little sexist.
“Mmm. Didn’t like that thought, did
you?” he asked with a smirk.
“I don’t like you.” Okay, that was sliding a bit on the childish scale, but it didn’t seem to faze him. He kept smiling and began walking again.
“Please! You will miss me when I’m gone.”
Suddenly I was glad that he was walking ahead of me. Because I had realized that he was right about something else. I was enjoying our verbal sparring. Our arguments. Our flirting. I would miss him. A lot. Too much for the limited exposure I’ve had over the last few days. Not good.
We walked silently. He was cocky, still bouncing with energy from the discussion he had just won. Me? I was completely in my head, trying to figure out how to emotionally pull back. Telling myself ‘no’ didn’t seem to be working. The evil part of my brain suggested to try the opposite answer, but my logical mind told me that was a bad idea. I had to admit, from the eighth perusal of his butt, it was tempting to tell logic to back off. Bad decisions were just learning opportunities in disguise, right? We were even in a hotel. We could just—
“Lark? Lark!”
“What?”
“Do you know where to check in? Wow, you were really lost in thought. Should I ask you about what?”
Sweet cheese and crackers. No. No, no, no, no. Think. Anything—Say anything. Anything except what I was actually thinking.
“The letter!” He just stared at me, his eyebrows creeping up as he waited for me to make sense. “The letter I got from Annie last night.”
“You got a letter from Annie last night? Why were you interacting with a possible drug dealer? And why didn’t you tell me immediately?” I would have responded, but now Brecken was in my space, yelling at me, and I was distracted. By his chest. That was rubbing up against mine. So hard. What would it be like to—
“Larklyn Davis! Are you listening to me?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“Because you will probably tell me that I can’t be friends with Annie Phan and I’m treating you just like I did my dad when he tried to tell me who to date.” Turned out that he was right, but I wasn’t going to bring that up right now. Also, I couldn’t believe I just compared him to my dad right after having those thoughts about him. It was disturbing.
“I am not like your father!”
That was certainly the truth. My dad hadn’t looked a thing like Brecken.
“But you were trying to say the same thing, right?” He narrowed his eyes but just turned and walked towards the spa area. Then spun around and marched back, waiting until he was close enough to speak.
“You cannot be friends with a drug dealer.”
“Ex-drug dealer. She says she doesn’t do it anymore.”
“No! No friends with drug dealers. No friends with ex-drug dealers. No putting yourself in danger.”
I guessed now wasn’t the time to point out that I rode large beasts with the brain capacity of birds and the flight instinct of meerkats.
“Annie isn’t a danger. She’s retired. I will make sure I avoid her sons, however.”
“Why? Do you have proof they are drug dealers?” This excitable Brecken was sexy when he was worried about me, but it was starting to be exhausting.
“No, but despite what you think, I do try to mitigate risks. They seem like they would logically be risks. Except for Tim.”
“Who’s Tim?”
“Annie’s cousin. I think.”
“Why not Tim?”
“Have you met him?”
“I haven’t had the pleasure of meeting any of them.”
“Well, then. Trust me. Tim’s all right. There is nothing dangerous or exciting about him.”
His hand went to his forehead again, rubbing the center, and he took a deep breath before looking at me again.
“What—” He took a deeper breath and tried again. “What did the note say?” His hand had slid to his chin as if he wasn’t convinced he wouldn’t need to go back to his forehead before we were done.
“Fiona—” Shiitake mushrooms. I had forgotten the last name. Something simple… and … English? Maybe one of the jobs? Yes! “Miller. Fiona Miller.”
“Who’s that?”
“You don’t know?” I made my face as innocent as possible as I answered the question like everyone should know who Fiona Miller was. This man brought out the devil in me.
“No.” His voice was as flat as his gaze. He was onto me.
“Neither do I. But that was the note. And she confirmed that Bryan was a drug dealer. Oh! And they meant to set her up to take the fall, but Bryan worked for another … what do you call them?”
“Drug syndicate?”
“Sure. Anyways, she thinks Bryan got killed by his own for doing something, and then they decided to try and eliminate the theoretical competition.”
His hand fell away from his face, and he pulled out his phone and started typing.
“Anything else?”
“No. You aren’t going to mention Annie, right? I mean, everyone deserves a retirement.” Okay, maybe not. I didn’t really know how bad she was. Maybe she was just … guilty by association. Yeah, I could ignore that. Murder? Not so much.
“Your pho is safe.” I got a glare from him before his eyes went back down to his phone. “I looked up her records. We have nothing on her. Her husband and sons? Well, the same can’t be said for them, but Annie has officially kept her hands clean.”
“Yes!” I got to keep my moral high ground. My phone went off with a text so I pulled it out to read. Oops. We were late. “Time for the massage! Let’s go.”
“Great. Can’t wait.” His bland tone told me he was being sarcastic, but I was too excited about the massage to care.
“You’ll feel like new after! Trust me.”
Chapter 14
I didn’t get to find out if his trust was worth it. By the time I was done with the massage, Brecken ended up being called away to help with something I wasn’t allowed to know about. He did, however, leave me a note saying that if I went near the night manager, he would do something drastic. I was pretty sure it was a bluff, but after this week I wasn’t taking any chances. I canceled our lunch reservations and ended up having my new protection detail, Zach, take me to Gran’s instead. If I wasn’t going to get to interview, at least I could help Gran cook. Zach was one of the younger cops, having joined the force a few years ago. His brown hair and baby face didn’t help his attempts to get more authority, so he had the bad luck of drawing most of the low-end jobs.
He seemed like a nice guy, but when we got to Gran’s house, Zach released his seatbelt as I opened the door only to shove me out, craning his whole body over to grab the door and shut it with a clunk when the lock engaged.
What the heck? I knocked.
Oh, no, buddy. There was no way I was leaving without knowing what that was about.
He shook his head at my knock. I knocked harder. Another shake. Okay, drastic measures. I called him, only to see him hit ignore on his phone.
“I will call John!” I yelled through the door. He crossed his arms over his chest, but I could see him looking at me from the side. Ha! He didn’t want John involved. I knew it. Pulling out my phone and putting it up to the window where he could see what was happening, I dialed. It took all the way to the first ring before the window came down.
“Hello?” John’s voice came through the speakers and I smiled.
“Sorry, John! Must have been a butt dial.”
“Okay. Talk with you later.”
“Bye.” I hung up and slipped the phone into my pocket. “Speak.”
“Your grandmother wants to kill me.”
Well, okay then.
“I assure you, my grandmother doesn’t want to kill you. If she did, you would already be dead.”
“I refused to take it. But if I go in there, she’ll make me.”
Ahh. Now we’re getting somewhere.
“She wants you to drink some herbal tea to help you with some health thing and it smells like dirt from a compost bin so yo
u refused and she tried to make you?” He nodded. “That isn’t really attempted murder.”
“It could be.”
I opened my mouth to respond, then shut it.
Nope. I was not getting pulled into this particular madness. He was on his own. Waving behind me to show Zach he had won, I walked up the sidewalk to Gran’s door. It opened before I could knock, and Gran didn’t even acknowledge me before she started peering over my shoulder at the car.
“That isn’t the cute policeman.”
“Ahh, Zach isn’t that bad.”
“That’s Zach? Good. I have some—”
I put my hands on her shoulders and turned her. “Nope. No terrorizing the police until they catch Bryan’s killer. Then you can chase Zach down to your heart’s content.” That earned me a glare, but she stopped fighting my grip and we both went back in the house.
“So, tell me about your date.”
Nope. Changed my mind. Zach was on his own.
“There was no date. It was a protective detail.”
“That’s not what Olivia said.”
Foiled by my own plot.
“It was a joke. I was teasing Brecken.” I frowned as I remembered the conversation.
“Blew up in your face didn’t it?”
“Boy did it. He saved a dog! Jumped into the bay and saved a dog. I didn’t think he could get any sexier, but that did it. No, if he rode, he would be the perfect man.” Then again, I had already tried that once. “I take that back. Just have him buy me ponies and I will be his for the rest of my life.”
“Your sarcasm isn’t appreciated.”
“You started it. You know I don’t want to date!”
“You are too young to curl up and die just because one man was a jackass!”
“I am not!” Wait. That came out wrong. “I am not curling up and dying. I am raising my child! I can’t be introducing random men into her world! What if one is a pedophile? I have horrible taste in men! Look at my ex. No. I have to think of her. No men. No dating.”
“This is your father’s influence.”
“Not everything that you dislike about me is my father’s fault.”
“This is. This idea of being perfect in everything you do to the exclusion of anything else.” She shook her head. “You don’t have to be perfect, and there’s no reason that you can’t date and be a good mother, too. Who knows? The man you find might be a good influence on Hailey. One she desperately needs since her father isn’t going to give it to her.”
Leg Up Page 13
