by B. J Daniels
“Is this all the drugs in the house?”
* * *
DREY HADN’T EVEN considered that. Had she been taking them without her even being consciously aware that she was back on the pills? “I don’t know.”
“Why don’t we start there?” Hawk said, getting to his feet. “In the meantime...” He opened the container and dumped the pills into his palm.
She watched him count them, amazed that her body still wanted them and the release they offered. Right now, given everything that had been going on in her life, it would have been so easy to get back on them. She hugged herself at the thought and then finished her coffee.
“More than two are missing. Are you sure you haven’t taken any of these?” he asked.
“I don’t know. You’re going to think I’m...” She met his gaze. “I think Jet was drugging me.”
“He moved out, right?”
She nodded. “But right before you arrived, I thought I saw someone in the trees near the house. When I looked again... Hawk, I don’t know what’s real and what’s not. I don’t trust myself. But if I haven’t been drugged, then how do I explain what has been happening to me.”
“What has been happening?” he asked as he put the pills back into the container and pocketed it.
“Shouldn’t we dump those down the drain?”
“They might be evidence at some point because I don’t think you’re crazy. I think someone is trying to manipulate you. You said strange things have been happening?”
She told him about the thumb in the disposal and the tiny dead mouse in her water bottle. “That’s why I was screaming the night you climbed the balconies and broke my window to get to me. I swear there was a mouse in the bottle, but when the lights came back on...”
“So the night I broke in here, it wasn’t a bad dream.”
“I’ve been under a lot of strain but—”
“Drey, that’s what I’m trying to tell you. I have no idea about the thumb. But I saw the bottle with the tiny mouse in the bottom of it.” He nodded at her shocked expression. “It was down on the ground under the balconies, as if someone had tossed it down there from up here.”
She hugged herself. “So I didn’t imagine it. You saw it? It was real.”
He nodded. “Probably as real as you seeing Jet dead in the pond. Let’s see if he left you any other pills around.”
* * *
HAWK HAD SEEN little of the house the night he’d climbed the balconies to get to the screaming Drey. Now he looked around and couldn’t shake the feeling that they were being watched. Maybe it was all the glass. He felt as if he was in a fishbowl.
But the large windows that covered the entire front of the house were treated with something that made it impossible to see inside from outside. Inside, there was a great view of the mountains, but a person had to step out onto one of the balconies on either side of each level. From the balcony, he could see the valley without the tinted glass of all the windows.
“You think there are more pills hidden in places that I’m apt to find them so I’ll be tempted to take them.”
“I do, but I suspect there’s a lot more going on in this house. Let’s start at the top and work our way down.” He followed her up to the master suite, stepped out onto the balcony closest to the pond and looked down. “This is where you saw Jet get shot?” He turned when she didn’t answer to see her nod and hug herself.
“It was horrible,” she said in a whisper. Her gaze rose to his. “Afterward, I had this terrible thought. I went into the closet where I’d seen my gun in one of the drawers after Ethan had had my personal items brought up here.”
He took a wild guess. “The gun was gone.”
She nodded and swallowed. “Why is this happening to me? Why would someone want me to think I’m going crazy?”
Hawk shook his head. “I don’t know, Drey. But damned if we aren’t going to find out.” He stepped back inside and moved to the nightstand he knew was hers. She always slept on the right side of the bed.
“Drey, have you looked in this drawer?”
“Oh, the money.”
He turned to look at her. “‘Oh, the money’?” he asked in shock. “Drey, there must be thousands of dollars in that drawer.”
She nodded. “It was delivered today. The package was addressed to me. I didn’t know what to do with it.”
“So you put it in your bedside table?”
She looked close to tears. “I thought about burning it or throwing it out. Hawk...”
“I know.” He could see that all of this was taking its toll on her. Add in the pills... “It’s going to be all right,” he said, stepping to her. But he had no way of knowing if that was true. Someone had sent her thousands of dollars. To incriminate her? To make it appear she was involved in whatever her husband was being investigated for? Or had Ethan had it sent because he was planning to make a run for it and maybe take Drey with him?
Hawk didn’t know what to do with the money either, so he simply closed the drawer. The damage was already done; she’d opened the box. “Let’s see if there are more pills hidden around here.” Right now, that was his biggest concern.
They searched the bedroom, found another container of pills in the back of a drawer. Some of them were missing.
He shook his head. “We’re going to search this place from top to bottom. I can’t leave you, knowing how afraid you are of finding more of them.”
“I won’t take them.”
But they both knew that in the state she’d been in lately, she might. All his instincts told him that Drey was in trouble. But then she’d been in trouble all those years ago. He just didn’t want to fail her again.
“I trust you, Drey. I don’t trust whoever is determined to get you back on the drugs.”
Hawk thought about the bottle of pills and Drey’s confession. He hadn’t believed that she’d miscarried their baby. He’d said he believed it, but in his heart, he hadn’t. It was why he hadn’t been able to forgive her.
But now, knowing about the pills, about how badly she’d suffered after the miscarriage...he felt like the heel he was. “I’m so sorry,” he said, reaching for her hand. He’d thought she might pull away, but instead, she closed her eyes. Tears seeped out.
They covered the rest of the house but found no more pill containers.
In the kitchen again, Drey poured them both another cup of coffee. The sun had come up on another day. He had fence to string. By now Cyrus would be wondering what had happened to him. He was surprised his brother hadn’t called.
“I don’t like you staying here,” he said.
“It’s my home now. Jet is locked out. Ethan should be back soon.”
He doubted Ethan would be coming back—if he’d even left the country, which the feds were sure he hadn’t.
“Are you going to be all right now?” he asked Drey, hating to leave her alone especially in this house after what she’d told him. He hadn’t been there for her all those years ago. He’d been struggling with his own loss, his own pain, his own anger. He didn’t want to be that man anymore.
“I’ll be fine.” She still looked scared, but he got the feeling it wasn’t of Jet or Ethan or even this house. It was the two of them being this close. So she felt it, too. They’d once been as close as any two people could be. They’d shared an intimacy that he hadn’t known since. It was hard not to remember how good they’d been together when they were this near each other. It was why he’d kept her at arm’s length for so long.
He looked down at the huge diamond on her ring finger as she nervously turned it. She covered it with her hand before looking into his eyes.
“I know,” he said. “You’re married.”
She looked away. “I shouldn’t have called you last night—”
“I told you to call me if you needed me. You needed
me.”
She nodded. “But I put you in a terrible position, I’m sorry.”
He shook his head. “I’m a big boy. You just worry about yourself.” He grimaced. “That came out wrong.”
“Ethan would understand why I had to call you.”
“Would he?” He could see that it was a lie. Ethan was the kind of man who would be jealous. “You know you can always call me.”
She nodded, no doubt wondering if that was true. “Thank you for your help.”
He started to turn when he spotted something they’d missed. “Drey, is that your purse?” He pointed to where the strap of her bag was looped over a chair back.
She glanced at it, then at him. “You think I have more pills in there?”
He said nothing. Didn’t have to.
She stepped to her purse, picked it up and unceremoniously dumped the contents on the table. The bottle of pills fell out, rolled toward Hawk. She let out a cry, her eyes wide with a growing horror. “Oh, Hawk.”
He caught the bottle of pills and read the label. Again they were in Drey’s name. He checked to see how many were missing.
“No,” she said, shaking her head. “I’m telling you—those weren’t in my purse just yesterday when I had lunch with your sister. I know because when my credit card didn’t work...” She looked up at him. “I swear to you I didn’t take any of those.”
“I believe you, all right? But that’s not to say that someone didn’t put these pills in your drinks or your food...” She stood hugging herself, looking more afraid than when he’d gotten here. “Are you sure you don’t want me to stay? I’m assuming there are guest rooms.”
“No. My husband could come home at any time.”
“Right, your husband.”
“Take the pills with you, please. If I find anymore, I’ll flush them. I promise. I feel better now. Really.”
“Drey, if you didn’t refill the prescription...”
“I know what you’re saying. If no one knew about my former addiction to these particular pills, then how could they have planted them on my nightstand, in my drawer and in my purse?”
He pocketed the third pill container. “Someone knew. You must have told someone or... Wait, didn’t you say a friend in Spain got you more?”
“Yes, but I haven’t seen Lena in years. She dropped out of college shortly after that. I have no idea what happened to her. Maybe it is just a coincidence that the pills are the same kind as the ones I was addicted to.”
“Maybe.” Hawk didn’t believe that for a moment.
* * *
DREY CHANGED INTO jeans and a T-shirt before joining Hawk on the next level down. She felt stronger. Calling Hawk had been hard, but it had been the right thing to do. He’d taken the news about her former addiction well. It was such a relief having him here. Before they’d been lovers, they’d been friends. Their issues aside, she knew she could trust him.
And she’d been so afraid that she would weaken and take the pills. If she’d been the one to refill the prescription—
That was what really terrified her. How could she not remember something like that unless she’d already been on the drugs?
She shook her head, telling herself she hadn’t taken them since Spain. But that didn’t explain how the containers had ended up on her nightstand and in her bathroom and purse. It wasn’t just that, she realized. There’d been times over the past six months that she’d felt...out of it.
Ethan had always insisted she lie down for a while. He would make her a nice glass of warm milk. Often when she woke up, though, she felt...confused. Just thinking about it made her sick to her stomach. She refused to believe that Ethan had been drugging her, so who did that leave? Just her.
She shuddered as she remembered the last time she was under so much stress. She’d gotten hooked on these very pills.
Drey found Hawk in one of the conference rooms on the next floor. “Did you find any more pills?” she asked, worried. Jet might have hidden them throughout the house. If it was Jet behind this... That was what she wanted to believe, but Jet Baxter had no way of knowing about her addiction.
“No more pills,” Hawk said, sounding distracted. He motioned for her to follow him out on the balcony. Once out there, he closed the door behind them and turned her so they weren’t facing the house.
The day was bright and sunny. Just the thought of spending another day in this house followed by another night terrified her. If Hawk was right, whoever had left those drugs would make sure she got more.
“I think someone is watching you.”
“The FBI.” She couldn’t understand why they were standing out here and why he was acting so strangely.
“We need to disable the camera in one of the rooms.”
“Camera?” she said.
“I spotted it under the sconce on the wall in one of the guest rooms,” he said. “Don’t say anything when we go back in. Don’t look for the cameras. Just act natural and play along.”
Cameras? She’d forgotten how to act natural, but she nodded as they reentered the house. And play along? He’d said someone was watching them. On cameras, inside the house?
Once inside, he took her hand and led her to one of the guest rooms. The moment they entered, he pulled her to him as if he was going to kiss her. But instead he swept her into his arms, spun her around, her feet hitting the sconce. It shattered.
As he put her down, she couldn’t help feeling disoriented. He walked over to the sconce and then nodded. “The camera’s busted,” he whispered. “They shouldn’t be able to see us.”
For a moment she thought he would kiss her. Or really carry her over to the bed. The thought made her pulse leap. Being here in this bedroom with him...
But Hawk had other things on his mind. He moved to the guest room closet. “I noticed that the guest room next door is smaller than this one.”
She watched him step into the closet. She followed, intrigued and yet a little disappointed. For a few moments there, she had forgotten she was married. Being with Hawk felt so natural... And Ethan... She had no idea where he was or if he was ever coming back.
All the times she’d looked through this house she hadn’t noticed the discrepancy in the room size. But Hawk had. He quickly moved to the back of the closet. Removing a stack of down comforters, pillows and sheets from the shelves at the end, he let out a triumphant sound and stepped back as a door opened.
Drey stared in shock. Past the door, several rows of monitors glowed in the small room. “Is that—”
“Surveillance equipment. I suspect you’ve been watched from the moment you walked into this house.”
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
DREY STARED AT the monitors. There were at least a dozen of them, all screening various rooms in the house, as well as around the place. “I knew someone was watching. I could feel it. This house, it’s been watching me the whole time,” she said with a curse.
“Not just the house,” Hawk said. “But whoever has been monitoring this system from some remote location.” He sat down at one of the monitoring stations. “If I’m right, there should be video of the pond. Do you know how to work any of this?”
She shook her head as she saw a clear view of the pond and the forest beyond it on one of the camera screens. “So if I really did see Jet—”
“The camera would have captured it.” Hawk got up. “We need to get someone who knows how to work all the electronics. My brother Cyrus has a knack for this sort of thing. He set up the surveillance at the ranch when we had someone stealing our hay.” He looked at her. “Are you all right?”
Drey felt as if she would never be all right again. “You think Ethan has been spying on me.”
Hawk didn’t need to deny it. She could see the answer in his face. It was Ethan’s house, so of course he knew about the cameras and the surveillance equipmen
t. If Hawk was right and Ethan hadn’t left, then he’d been watching her this whole time?
The thought gave her the creeps. She shuddered and hugged herself, feeling anger make her eyes burn with tears. Why would he do such a thing? She felt a chill race up her spine as she thought of how jealous he’d been of Hawk. He’d made her wish she’d never told him about her first and only love.
Was it possible Ethan had set up his whole disappearing act to see if she would turn to Hawk? The thought turned her blood to ice because that’s exactly what she had done. When she was in trouble, Hawk had shown up and now...
If Hawk was right, she didn’t think she could ever forgive Ethan.
“It could be anyone. Anyone with a smartphone or a computer,” he said.
“Ethan doesn’t have his phone.” That gave her only a little comfort.
Hawk said nothing.
“It’s not Ethan,” she said with more conviction than she felt. “It’s got to be Jet. But why watch me? Unless...” She met Hawk’s gaze. “He really is trying to drive me crazy, isn’t he?”
“Someone is,” Hawk agreed as he stepped to her to put an arm around her shoulders and draw her to him. She felt stiff in his arms as she stared at the monitors, wondering if someone was watching them at this moment. Ethan? Jet?
“Come on, it’s going to be daylight soon,” Hawk said. “We’ll get Cyrus to take a look at these. Hopefully we can find out what’s going on.”
* * *
GIGI GOT THE call from the fire department just before daylight. She was half-groggy when she answered the phone, but instantly came awake when she heard the word fire. “My restaurant?”
“One of the apartments upstairs, but I’m afraid you’re going to have both smoke and water damage,” the officer calling on behalf of the fire chief told her.
“I’ll be right there.” She started to get up, but his next words stopped her.
“We’re not letting anyone back into the building at this time. We’re just notifying property owners right now whose space has been affected.”
Gigi threw herself back onto the bed. “Thank you for letting me know. When is the soonest I can see the damage?”
