by Lisa Boone
She wrapped her arms around herself. An awkward feeling had come over her as she replayed the last few minutes in her mind while Jamie was gone and had only intensified now that he was back.
She couldn’t take back the words now. She wasn’t even sure she wanted to. She just hoped it wouldn’t drive him away. While his immediate reaction to her declaration of love was encouraging, she knew better than to press her luck. With more time to think and consider, there was a good chance he would throw up his guard once again and start shutting her out.
He looked over at her curiously. “Are you all right?”
“Fine.”
“There’s nothing to be scared of. Fletcher doesn’t know of this place and even if he did, I doubt he’d think we would come here.”
“Good,” she said tightly.
He moved around the room, locking the door, checking the fire, trying to act busy while surreptitiously glancing at her every few seconds. When he was done, he gestured to the bed. “We should probably get some sleep. You can take the bed and I—”
She lifted a hand to her head with a weary sigh. “Let’s not fight about that again. Please.”
He must be tired, she thought as he quickly undressed, then pulled down the bedding and climbed into bed without arguing.
“We have a lot to do tomorrow,” he said as she settled next to him.
“Like what?”
“We have to come up with a safe place for you to hide,” he said.
“Me?” she repeated not too terribly surprised that he was already trying to put some distance between them. “Just me?”
He turned off the bedside lamp and laid down. “Just you.”
She hit the pillow, trying to mold it into a more comfortable shape. “What are you going to do once I’m gone?”
“I’ll be looking for Fletcher.”
“Whoever hired him will just hire someone else. We need to figure out who killed Robin. If we do, then hopefully, this madness will stop.”
“Don’t worry, Fletcher will tell me.”
“He doesn’t seem like the chatty type.” Sarah rolled onto her side away from him. After a moment, she rolled back around. “I’m not leaving. You can try to push me away but I’m not going anywhere. It’s my life on the line now and I have a right to say what happens. We need to stick together and figure out who killed Robin.”
“Sarah—”
“No, listen to me. I’ve been thinking. Whoever hired Fletcher must be the same person who killed Robin. This whole nightmare started when Kristen and Phoebe started talking about finding her real killer. Talking about hiring a detective. Getting you involved. Getting the case re-opened. The killer is obviously nervous. That’s why he hired Fletcher to take Kristen and Phoebe out. He only went after me in order to bring you back so Fletcher could get rid of you too.”
“Sarah, I’m not trying to push you away. I’m trying to protect you. I don’t want what happened to Robin to happen to you.” He pulled her close. “I need to know that you are safe and the only way I can do that is by taking care of Fletcher.”
“Who’s going to keep you safe then?” she muttered against his neck. “Jamie, you were willing to run away with Robin. Why can’t you run away with me?”
“What?”
“Listen,” she said softly pulling back to look at him, “I’m not trying to replace Robin in your heart. I understand how much you loved her and that you’ll never get over her.” She pressed her hand to her heart. “Believe me I get that. I understand. You both were young and she was beautiful. Add in the fact that she was forbidden and I know she must have been hard to resist. I know you still love her. All I want is to—” She frowned as he began to laugh. “What’s so funny?”
“You are such a romantic. Who told you that I’m in love with Robin?”
“Brian.” She narrowed her eyes. “Why?”
He nodded as if he expected that answer. “Figures. I am not now nor have I ever been in love with Robin. And trust me, it wasn’t that difficult to resist her. She made it rather easy.”
Sarah leaned further away from him. “What?”
“She was kind of mean,” Jamie said, “and even if she wasn’t, I still wouldn’t have touched her. When I first arrived at Bellemeade, her father threatened to cut bits and pieces of my anatomy if even I thought about touching Kristen or Robin.”
“What do you mean you didn’t love her. She was your girlfriend.”
“Well,” he said slowly drawing out the word, “that’s not exactly true.”
Her frown deepened as she struggled between being happy and being angry. Part of her was relieved she wasn’t battling a ghost for Jamie’s love but another part of her was angry she had been duped. After a moment’s consideration, she finally settled on anger. “What part of it wasn’t true?”
He hesitated a second before blowing out his breath. “All of it.”
“But her father caught you two together on her twentieth birthday.”
“Not exactly. Patrick O’Malley heard Robin fooling around with a boy in her room one night, but by the time he busted through the door the boy was gone, out the window. Unfortunately, I was just leaving the stables at the time. Anyway, Patrick went flying down the stairs and out the door just as I rounded the corner. He put two and two together and assumed I had just come from Robin’s bedroom.”
“Why didn’t you tell him the truth?”
He snorted. “I did, several times that night. Over and over I told him it wasn’t me. Oddly enough, he didn’t just take my word for it. I begged him to go get Robin so she could tell him who she had been with.”
“Did he?”
“Oh, yeah, only she didn’t say what I expected her to say. She wrapped her arms around my neck, told her daddy we were in love and begged her father for forgiveness. Patrick went for the gun in his gun case and I turned tail and ran out toward the stables. I ran straight through and out back intending to disappear into the woods, but I didn’t make it that far. I accidently tripped over Brian who was hiding in the bushes buck naked.”
Her eyes widened. “Brian?”
“Yep. He took off toward the woods. I was just getting to my feet when Danny, Moose, and several of the others tackled me. Knocked me out cold. I woke up in the hospital with three broken ribs, a broken arm, and a concussion.”
“Why didn’t you say anything?”
“Oh, I did. I threatened to kill both of them when they visited me in the hospital, but they both begged me to keep my mouth shut, so I did. Brian’s like my brother. We all knew Patrick wouldn’t hesitate to kill Brian if he found out the truth. He always hated Brian. Besides, I figured that if I took a beating for him, I then would have something to hang over his head for the rest of his life.” He grinned. “I can pretty much get Brian to do anything I want now.”
“I don’t understand. Patrick and Robin are long dead, so why are you and Brian still pretending you were the one Robin loved?”
“Brian’s afraid that if the truth comes out people might start to wonder if he was the one who killed her and not me.”
Sarah’s eyebrows went up. “No kidding. Well, I guess he has a point. What makes you so certain he didn’t kill her?”
“Brian’s not a killer. He’s a coward. When something goes wrong, he runs and hides. Besides, he doesn’t have a motive. I saw him the day Robin died. He was happy. The happiest I had ever seen him. He told me that he and Robin were planning to get married and running away together.”
“What did you say?”
“I told him he was crazy and a dead man. He wouldn’t listen to me though. The only one he cared about was Robin and she had him wrapped around her finger.”
“Phoebe said that Robin called her that night crying. Something must have happened between them, otherwise, why would she be crying.”
“Brian told me that once he got to the pub and saw the money she had stolen from her father lying on the desk, he freaked out. He got scared and broke things off with her.
He swore to me that when he left the pub she was alive and well and I believe him.”
“Why?”
“Robin left me a voice message that night, remember? She said that she was alone and she needed to talk to me. Obviously, the fight between her and Brian must have already have happened. Why else would she call me? I figure she must have wanted me to talk to Brian and get him to come back.”
“Well, who’s to say he didn’t come back. He could have been hiding someplace waiting for her to get off the phone.”
Jamie sighed. “I don’t know. It’s possible.”
“What happened when you got there?”
“I walked in the office, saw a pile of cash sitting on the desk, and her body on the floor. When I bent down to check for a pulse someone rushed through the door and hit me on the head.”
“Did you get a good look at them?”
“No. I only got a look at his feet.”
“His?”
“It was definitely a man. He was wearing black suit pants and black wingtip shoes. There was nothing special about them. Could have been anyone. I woke up a little while later to find a gun had been placed in my hand and the money and the engagement ring Brian gave her was gone. The cops busted through the door a few seconds later.”
“The killer took the money and her ring? I hate to say it, but doesn’t that give Brian a motive? What if he wanted the money more than he wanted Robin? Who else knew the money was there for the taking besides him?”
Jamie yawned. He rubbed his hands across his eyes. “I don’t think robbery was the killer’s prime motivation. Others would have liked to kill her. Robin was always pushing people’s buttons. I can’t think of anyone who spent any time with her that hadn’t wanted to kill her at one point or another.”
“Over and over, all I’ve heard about her was how great she was.”
He snorted as he laid back and closed his eyes. “The canonization for sainthood process didn’t start until after she was dead. Before then, pretty much everyone but Brian and maybe Danny had tried or at least threatened to kill her at some point.”
“You’re kidding.”
He opened one eye. When she looked at him doubtfully, he added, “Her father threatened to bury her alive. Kristen pushed her down the stairs in a fight. Phoebe tried to run her over with a horse one year. Nathan started walking around like the walking dead shortly after their engagement party, and even easy going Moose threatened to leave her on the side of the highway after chauffeuring her around for a week. Robin wasn’t the easiest person to get along with. Only Brian and Danny seemed to like her and that was only because she was nice to them. To the rest of us she was a nightmare.” He laid his head back down and closed his eyes. “Still, she didn’t deserve to die.”
“Who else knows about Brian and Robin?”
“Hmm?” he asked sleepily.
“Did you tell anyone else that Brian was the one she loved?”
“No one but you.”
“Did they?”
“Brian was too scared to tell anyone and she didn’t trust anyone. She had burned too many bridges in the past to trust anyone with her secrets.”
“Phoebe seems to think Danny killed her. She says he was obsessed with Robin.”
“Maybe.” He kissed her head as he brought the blanket up closer around her shoulders. “Let’s think about it tomorrow,” he said over another yawn. “We have all day.”
Closing her eyes, she snuggled closer to him, waiting to fall asleep. Minutes passed by as she lay there listening, as his breath evened out and the storm outside grew worse. No matter how hard she tried, sleep refused to come. All she could think about was Robin and who could have possibly killed her. Everyone who knew her had a motive but who knew she was going to be at the pub that night, sitting there alone with all that money?
Kristen and Phoebe knew. So did Jamie and Brian. Jamie said it was a man who knocked him out so that cleared Kristen and Phoebe. Only Brian was left, and out of all of them, he seemed to be the most likely to have killed her. They were involved and Jamie did say he was a thief. But … he also said Brian was too much of a coward to be a killer. Someone else had to have known she was there, but who?
Danny, maybe. He lived across the street. Perhaps Phoebe was right. Maybe he saw the money and the girl that he loved there. Realized she was about to leave and killed her in a jealous rage. And since the money was just sitting there, he took it with him when he left.
She lifted her head. She could have sworn she heard what sounded like a knock.
She glanced toward the window as thunder shook the house. Probably just the wind, she thought as she looked down at Jamie, gently pushing his hair off his forehead. She laid her head back down on his shoulder and hugged him, smiling to herself. He didn’t say he loved her, but he was here in her arms and that was enough.
For now.
Her eyes flew open and quickly she sat up, listening as the rain pelted the house.
There it was again.
It sounded like someone was knocking.
She started to reach out a hand to shake Jamie awake, but stopped as one of the shutters next to the bedroom window creaked and hit the side of the house.
Groaning, she pulled her hand back, now more awake than ever.
She glanced over to the window as the shutter hit the boards across the window again. How can he possibly sleep through this, she thought glancing back down at Jamie.
She was just about to lie back down when her stomach grumbled, reminding her that other than some snacks at the guesthouse, she hadn’t really had much to eat before they went on their run through the woods.
Quietly slipping out of the bed, she made her way downstairs and toward the kitchen. Once there, she flipped on the light and moved to the refrigerator.
She stared inside the empty refrigerator. “What is wrong with this man? Why doesn’t he eat?” she grumbled slamming the refrigerator door shut.
The lights flickered as thunder crashed causing the house to creak and settle. Another rumble and crash and the lights went out for good.
“Wonderful,” she said, holding out her hand trying to make her way in the darkness through the downstairs. She eventually made it to the stairs, but stopped as a sharp rat-a-tat sound echoed through the downstairs as though someone was rapping on a window somewhere.
Following the noise, she turned back to the kitchen. Once she reached the kitchen, the noise had stopped and seemed to be coming from another part of the house. She then followed the sound to the living room, pausing at the doorway as a shudder went through her. The sheet-covered furniture hadn’t looked so ominous when Jamie was standing next to her, but now it sent a chill up her spine.
The sheet-covered grandfather clock next to her chimed, which caused her to jump in surprise and let out a small scream. She was just about to race from the room and back into Jamie’s bed when the rat-a-tat-tat started again. This time, it was coming from the heavily draped window next to her.
Fletcher? She thought but immediately dismissed. Fletcher wouldn’t bother knocking.
Taking a deep breath, she slowly moved to the window. She pushed the curtain aside and looked through the boards, jumping back as the branches of a nearby tree struck the window.
The drapes slipped from her fingers. “You’re going to be old before your time if you don’t calm down,” she said to herself with a giggle. Laughing more to dispel the unease that surrounded her than out of any real amusement, she walked to the foyer.
Turning toward the stairs, she took a moment to stare at a man sized sheet covered object standing next to the door.
It was just a coat rack, she decided as she inched closer to the stairs.
Nothing more than a coat rack.
Deciding she much preferred being in Jamie’s arms than investigating what was under that sheet, she raced past it and started up the stairs, just as something or someone rapped against the front door.
She paused on the steps, glancing back
at the door.
Maybe another branch flew off a tree and hit the door. That’s probably all it was.
Heart beating fast, she started to turn away when she heard the sound of a dog barking in the distance.
She glanced at the door as the barking came closer before ending with a whine.
Maybe I should ask Jamie if his house is haunted when he wakes up, she thought, wanting to rush up the stairs and cling tightly to him. She took a step up and then another.
A mournful howl outside halted her movements.
It sounded so much like Rory, she thought slowly walking down the stairs and to the door.
It wasn’t of course. Rory was with her sister, Ashton, and Ashton had no idea where she was, but still …
She rose to her tiptoes and looked out, seeing nothing but the trees near the walkway blowing in the wind.
More barking and then a whine.
Or was that the wind?
She unlatched the door and looked out. She took a step out the door, only then realizing the boards that had covered the door now lay scattered on the ground.
A chill went through her. The wind couldn’t have taken those off. She spun around, ready to dash inside and slam the door shut, but froze.
A man dressed head to toe in black stood next to the door.
“I thought I was going to have to break the door down,” he said in an annoyed tone of voice.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Sarah gasped. “Casey?” She took a hesitant step toward the door, suddenly afraid of the fighter, as questions flashed through her mind. What would make him come out all this way in the dead of night? How did he know she was here? Was he working with Fletcher? She discounted that thought immediately, but still the suspicion remained. She sidestepped past him and dashed back inside. “What are you doing here?” she asked, holding onto the door, preparing to slam it in his face if he made a move toward her.
Casey jerked his thumb over his shoulder. “I was in bed. Sound asleep. Minding my own business when…” He moved to the side just as Ashton, her head protected from the rain by a newspaper, dashed up the three steps to the door.
