Coming Home: Baytown Boys Series

by Maryann Jordan

  But I noticed a difference with Vanessa this week—she was definitely interested in getting me, or maybe any of the guys, horizontal.

  Agreeing to meet at the diner for hamburgers and cokes, I headed to the small locker rooms connected to the public bathrooms by the ballpark. Entering, I heard noises and adolescent curiosity got the best of me. Looking at the mirror, I could see the reflection of a pale ass pumping into a girl on the other side of the lockers. Recognizing the shaggy hair as Chuck’s, one of the county boys who played on our team, I grinned. Then the girl leaned her head back and I was stunned—Vanessa.

  Jumping back, I stepped out of sight, my heart sinking. Chuck was a good guy, but I knew enough about her to know she would chew him up and spit him out. Tiptoeing backward to the door, I heard her words.

  “Thanks. Someone like you is the only good thing about coming over here to this dump.”

  God, what a bitch she is, I thought. Quietly closing the door behind me, I startled when a pair of big blue eyes pinned me to the spot.

  “Tori!” I squeaked, hating the sound of my voice at that moment.

  “I thought we could walk to the diner together,” she said, peeking up at me, a smile playing about her lips.

  I would have walked Tori Bradford anywhere, but especially at that moment. I wanted to get her away from the bathrooms, so I grabbed her hand and hustled her away from the building. After a moment, I realized her legs were running to keep up with me.

  “Geez, I’m sorry,” I apologized. “I guess I’m just hungry.”

  A noise behind us caused Tori to turn around. I saw the expression on Tori’s face at the sight of Vanessa walking out of the boy’s locker room where I had just exited. It was fast—a flash of hurt.

  “I wasn’t in there with her,” I blurted. “I mean I was…but not with her.”

  Her smile, less brilliant now, still glowed in her blushing face. “I know…I also know that what Vanessa wants, she usually gets.”

  “She doesn’t want me,” I declared, hearing the hateful words she spewed in my mind.

  Gazing up at me, Tori said, “How could she not?”

  Smiling down at her, an adorable…and adoring…expression on her face, it touched my adolescent heart. Nothing like her sister—thank God!

  *

  Now, almost sixteen years later, Mitch still felt the same way. Vanessa shunned the small town and even the simple way her grandmother lived and it looked like she had what she wanted. So why would she want the Sea Glass Inn as well?

  “Chief?” Burt interrupted my thoughts.

  “Sorry,” Mitch mumbled. “Just remembering the way Vanessa was many years ago. She hated small town life and spent little time there. She married into this lifestyle, so why the Sea Glass?”

  The two men exited the vehicle and walked to the front door. The bell was answered by an older woman, her face pinched tight and unsmiling. Identifying themselves, they were shown through the elaborate entryway and into a femininely decorated study.

  Vanessa sat, perfectly posed in a coral silk pantsuit, beige heels, makeup carefully applied and coiffed hair in a demure chignon at the back of her neck.

  “Why, Mitch,” she purred. “I was thrilled to hear that you were coming today.”

  Ignoring her greeting, he turned and introduced Officer Tobber.

  “Please, gentlemen, have a seat.” Picking up a small bell on the table next to her, she rang it twice. The housekeeper appeared with a tray, three coffees in delicate china cups balanced perfectly. “I took the liberty of having coffee prepared for us.”

  As Vanessa fiddled with the cups for a moment, Mitch observed her carefully. The years had not been as kind to Vanessa as they had been Tori…or maybe the plastic surgery didn’t do what she’d hoped. Mitch had never been in favor of the too tight skin, too blown up lips, or too highly arched eyebrows of a woman attempting to hold on to their youth. He much preferred the softer look of a naturally maturing woman; the thought of his mother passed through his mind. Tori will look like my mom also, he surmised with a slight smile. Soft…and beautiful.

  He realized his mistake in smiling when Vanessa caught it and must have assumed it was directed at her. She beamed as she handed him a cup of coffee.

  Immediately getting down to business, Mitch said, “Mrs. Hurkamp, we have reason to believe that someone deliberately put poison in the food at the Sea Glass Inn and the result was the death of a guest.”

  Her hand dramatically fluttered about her chest as she exclaimed, “I read about that in the newspaper. I was so shocked and, well, I would have tried to call Victoria but wasn’t sure she’d take my call. I knew she was terribly busy.”

  “We understand you visited that day,” Burt stated.

  “Well, yes I did.”

  When she offered no more information, he continued, “And the purpose of your visit?”

  “Why, goodness me, can’t a sister drop in and visit? I happened to have a day free and thought I’d like to see Victoria.”

  “I would think that after you were the cause of her divorce, she wouldn’t exactly greet you with open arms.”

  A flash of panic flew through her eyes as she replied, “I was not the cause of her divorce. It was an unfortunate circumstance and one I greatly regret. But I should have called first. She was busy and we weren’t able to have a chat like I’d hoped.” Nervously glancing around, she lowered her voice and said, “I would rather that information not get out. My…um…husband is unaware of that particular regret of mine.”

  Mitch viewed her carefully for a moment. So just how far would you go to keep that information quiet? “At this time, I have no reason to reveal any part of our investigation, but…I cannot make any promises down the road.”

  Nodding curtly, she startled as the front door opened and the sound of footsteps came down the hall. The door to the study opened and a tall, distinguished man entered. His dark hair was slightly sprinkled with grey and his face was tight with anger. Behind him another gentleman entered the room, slightly portly and balding.

  “Vanessa,” the first man spoke. “Don’t say another word.” Turning to Mitch, he said, “I’m Nelson Hurkamp and upon advice from our attorney,” he pointed to the man behind him, “I don’t want my wife speaking to you without him present.”

  Unruffled, Mitch leaned back in his chair, watching the nervous glances between Vanessa and her husband.

  “Of course she may have an attorney present.” Turning his attention back to Vanessa, ignoring the two men, he continued. “And after you left your sister, where did you go?”

  “Don’t answer, Vanessa,” Nelson argued.

  Mitch, standing, towered over the other man. Using his height to his advantage, he said, “We are investigating a murder and an attempted murder. Right now, your wife is a person of interest who was in attendance on the day the food was poisoned. We can do this here or I will obtain a summons and she will be called to the police station in Baytown for official questioning. Which will it be?”

  The older man stepped forward, “Nelson, there’s no reason for her not to cooperate in their investigation. If it appears that Vanessa becomes a suspect, then we’ll take a different approach.”

  “Suspect? Why on earth would I want to kill someone I don’t know?” Vanessa’s voice shrieked.

  Turning to pin his hard stare on her, Mitch said, “Because the intended victim was your sister…Mr. Dumfries was simply the unfortunate victim.”

  At that, the room grew silent, Vanessa’s throat working as she swallowed several times, her eyes darting from Mitch’s to her husband’s to the attorney.

  “My client would have no reason to harm her sister,” the attorney said definitively. “Even if Victoria did die, without any heirs, her estate in its entirety would go to their mother.”

  “Yes, that’s true,” Mitch agreed, then added, “And we’ll be talking to her as well.”

  Vanessa’s face screwed into an ugly grimace before she caught it and repl
aced it with one of concern. “I assure you I had nothing to do with any of this,” she insisted, her hands floundering about.

  Mitch watched as the attorney’s face registered indecision and Nelson continued to glower.

  “We have just confirmed that you visited the day in question. Did you notice anything unusual while you were there?”

  Nelson jerked his head around to his wife, and said, “Why would you visit?”

  Flustered, she replied, “I just wanted to see my sister.”

  Looking back at Mitch, she nervously shook her head. “As I said, Victoria was busy and unable to see me then, so I left. I’m not around enough to be able to tell you who should have been there and who wasn’t.” Her gaze moved back to her husband’s irritated face before she turned back toward Mitch and implored, “My sister and I might not be close, but I’d never want to harm her.”

  “There, you have your answers and I’ll now ask you to leave my house,” Nelson stated emphatically, before turning to his wife and glaring. “Going there was foolish!” As he looked back and caught Mitch’s questioning look, the man hurried to add, “Of course Victoria would be busy at that time of the morning. Vanessa should not have dropped by without calling first. It was a waste of time.”

  Not looking at him, but holding Vanessa’s gaze for a moment until she dropped hers, Mitch nodded. As he and Burt exited the room, Mitch turned back around, pinning her attorney with his stare. “If we have further questions, we’ll be summoning her to the station at Baytown and you may certainly accompany her. Good day.”

  As he and Burt entered the hall, the housekeeper suddenly appeared and showed them to the door. Stepping out into the sunshine, the two men slid on their sunglasses and walked to the jeep. As Mitch drove out of the driveway, he looked back in his rearview mirror at the ostentatious house. This time he wondered if it was Vanessa’s dream house…or a gilded cage.

  Chapter 17

  Driving in the car, Mitch called Ginny. “Do me a favor and check out the Hurkamp’s finances as well as anything else you can think of. Their house is a mansion, but I got the idea perhaps not all is well in paradise.”

  After he disconnected, he glanced over at Burt. “You got any thoughts?”

  “I wonder if Nelson knew about his wife’s indiscretion with her brother-in-law, even though it occurred before they got married.”

  “I have a feeling there’s little he doesn’t know about,” Mitch replied. “He’s too smart to just get married to any gold digger. He probably had her investigated before they married.”

  “So what’s the attraction? She didn’t come from money. She can’t bring a daddy’s trust fund to the marriage.”

  “Some men like their women to need them…to be dependent on them. Maybe that was what he was looking for.”

  Within an hour, they arrived at another gated community, this one full of exclusive condos instead of mansions. Burt glanced over at Mitch and asked, “You okay?”

  Mitch shook his head and replied, “You know what? I’ve got Tori and that’s possible because Thomas screwed her over with her sister. So, I hate like hell Tori had to go through that pain, but his loss is my gain, so I’m all good.”

  Thomas Porter answered his own door and Mitch immediately reassessed him, having seen him at Tori’s Inn. Tall, blond, hair slightly thinning. He was wearing khakis paired with a light blue polo. Handsome, but the way his eyes are shifting back and forth…I don’t trust the guy.

  Showing their identification, Thomas invited them in and, as Mitch stepped into the elegantly appointed living room, a woman came from the back. Her reddish hair was pulled back with a headband but the length was left to flow down her back. Her blue eyes landed on the logos on the officers’ shirts and her gaze jumped to Thomas’.

  “Honey, is everything all right?” she asked, stepping closely to him.

  “Yes. This is my fiancé, Hailey Bernard.” As the woman nodded toward Mitch and Burt, Thomas turned to her and said, “Please leave us to talk.” His voice was firm, but he grimaced a smile toward her. “How about some iced tea?”

  Nodding, she pinched her lips together tightly but did not argue. Mitch watched her walk away and wondered if Thomas had specifically gone for a woman who resembled Tori.

  Sitting down, Thomas said, “Now, how can I assist the Baytown Police?”

  “We’re investigating a murder at the Sea Glass Inn—”

  “Tori? Is Tori all right?” Thomas blurted, interrupting Mitch.

  “The victim was one of her guests,” Burt explained. “Why did you seek out Tori the other morning?”

  “Me? Why would you be questioning me?” he sputtered. Looking up as the woman came back into the room, he remained quiet while she loitered before leaving with a huff when it was obvious he was not going to ask her to stay.

  Mitch watched as Thomas took a long sip of his tea, biding for time. “You were going to tell us about the last time you were at the Sea Glass Inn.”

  The officers stayed silent with the desired effect of watching Thomas squirm in his seat. “I had not seen Tori in over a year and…and…decided to make a trip over the bridge to see how she was doing.”

  Burt, taking notes, lifted his head, a quizzical tone to his voice, “Just to take a stroll down memory lane?”

  Blushing slightly, Thomas shifted once more. He darted his eyes over to the doorway where Hailey had left, then cast them down at his hands. “Sure. I mean, I had just gotten engaged and thought maybe I should let Tori know in person.”

  “And how did she take the news?” Mitch asked.

  Sucking in a sharp breath, Thomas admitted, “She wouldn’t talk to me so…” he lifted his hands up in the air.

  “Were you surprised?”

  “Well, yes. I thought enough time had passed that perhaps…I don’t know…we could talk.”

  “You slept with her sister and then assumed that she would want to see you again?”

  At those words, Thomas’ face contorted. “I never meant for that to happen. Jesus, Vanessa is such a bitch.”

  Once more the officers remained silent and were rewarded as Thomas continued to talk. “Tori had gone to visit her grandmother, who was beginning to slow down. Vanessa and I were at the same function, had too much to drink and…I tell you, she came on to me. She seduced me!”

  “So you just happened to take her to a hotel and leave the receipt in your coat pocket?”

  Red faced with anger, Thomas bit out, “What does this have to do with anything? It happened…Tori came back, found out, and walked out! I never got a chance to make it up to her…she just left!”

  Unimpressed with the poor-me-pity-party Thomas was exhibiting, Mitch continued, “So when she closed the door in your face, what did you do?”

  Blinking, Thomas appeared surprised by the question. “Um…well, I came back home.”

  “Straight away?” Burt asked.

  “Um, well, I stopped at a restaurant in town. It was a new one and I was early for lunch so I figured it would be a good place to get served quickly.”

  “You did not stay in Baytown any longer?”

  “No!” Sitting up straighter, Thomas leaned forward, pinning the officers with his glare. “I won’t answer any more questions until I know what this is about.”

  “The victim was not the intended victim,” Mitch said deliberately. “The murderer was after Tori.”

  Sucking in a gasp, Thomas visibly paled, flopping back into his seat. “Oh, fuck, no.”

  “Since the incident occurred on the day that you appeared at her door, we are questioning everyone who came in contact with the Sea Glass Inn.”

  His eyes darting back and forth once more, Thomas said, “Um, Tori’ll tell you when I was there at her place. And then I was at the restaurant. Surely someone there’ll recognize me.”

  Nodding deliberately, watching the other man sweat, Mitch finally said, “Can you think of why anyone would want Ms. Bradford dead?”

  Shaking his head bac
k and forth slowly, Thomas’ voice croaked as he replied, “No, no. Not at all. She was…well, I was just a fool. Such a fool.”

  Standing, Mitch concluded, “Those’re all our questions for now, but I’m sure I’ll be following up with more as we see where the investigation leads us.”

  Burt walked out onto the front stoop followed by Mitch, who hesitated for a second to slide on his sunglasses. Behind the closed front door, he clearly heard the screetch. “You went to that fucking bum-fuck town to go visit your fucking ex-wife?”

  Interesting, he thought as he moved toward his jeep. Anxious to get home to Tori, he hustled in and gladly left the picture-perfect-on-the-outside community.

  *

  Jason walked down the stairs and saw Tori standing in the living room staring out the window. “He’ll be here soon,” he said softly so as not to startle her.

  She let the sheers drop from her hand and turned, offering a little smile. “I know…it’s just…I don’t know…weird.” Seeing Jason cock his head to the side, she explained, “The day that someone must have tampered with my food I had two visitors. One was my ex-husband, who I haven’t seen in over a year. Then a couple of hours later, my estranged sister showed up. And Mitch went to interview them today.”

  Nodding his understanding, Jason asked, “Is there anything I can do?”

  “No, no. In fact, I feel badly that you’re hanging around here when I know you need to be working on getting the shop ready.”

  Chuckling, he replied, “Don’t worry. The realtor has placed the bid for the building and I’ve got nothing to do until I find out if I can get it. I’ve already put in my application for a business permit.”

  Just then a jeep honked in the driveway and Tori squealed as she saw Mitch drive up. Rushing past Jason, she tore through the door and down the sidewalk to meet Mitch as he alighted from his vehicle. Jumping into his arms, she held on tight. “How was it? Was it awful? What did they say?”