Never Forget The Past (The Men 0f Fire Beach Book 4)

by Lorana Hoopes

  * * *

  “Was this always here?” Bubba asked as they pulled into Peter’s repair shop. “I don’t remember an auto repair shop here before.”

  Makenna turned off the engine and stared out the windshield at the large black tire atop a metal pole that sat to the right of the building. Above the door, the sign read: Peter’s Parts. “No, you wouldn’t. It used to be a butcher shop until Peter converted it a few years ago. Seemed like a nice enough guy. A little rough on the exterior but good at his job.”

  “So, what are you hoping to find here?”

  She turned to face him and shrugged. “I honestly don’t know. A disgruntled employee, a jealous ex, a secret smuggling operation. Some reason for someone to want him dead.” One corner of her mouth twitched up into a half smile. “I’m reaching at this point, but what have I got to lose?”

  “I’ll follow your lead then,” Bubba said and then opened his door.

  Makenna was actually a little surprised to see the open sign on the door. It was a small business, and she only knew of one other employee besides Peter. Was he trying to run it on his own? She supposed there could have been more than just the one guy she knew of. She’d only been here a couple of times when the check engine light came on in her cruiser. Though usually nothing, she could never ignore warning signs in her official vehicle like she could in her own car. They always had to be in perfect working order. Just in case.

  The soft tinkling of an overhead bell announced their entrance, and a blonde popped up from behind the counter. Sparkly was the best word Makenna could come up with to describe her. Her tightly curled hair - most likely from a perm - fell to her shoulders. Glittery eyeshadow covered her lids, and her mouth glistened with some shade of pink. In addition, her top sported sequins that caught the light and appeared to shimmer. She looked anachronistic, like she belonged on a bad eighties sitcom instead of current time. Makenna had heard of previous fashions coming back in style, but even if that was the case, and she certainly hoped it wasn’t, this was quite the odd outfit choice for someone working in a repair shop.

  “Who are you?” Makenna asked. She’d never seen this woman before. She rarely forgot faces, and this getup was one that would regrettably be burned into her retinas for some time.

  The girl placed her hands akimbo on her hips, and Makenna expected her to smack gum loudly in her mouth as she spoke. “I’m Skye. Who are you?”

  No gum, but the effect was still there. “I’m Captain Makenna Drake. Do you work here, Skye?”

  “Do I look like I work here?” she asked rolling her eyes. “No. I’m Peter’s ex-girlfriend. He owed me money, and I came to collect what I was owed.”

  “You can’t steal money from his shop.” Makenna hoped she wasn’t going to have to arrest this woman and book her for theft. That hadn’t been on her plans for the day and would mean paperwork to fill out, sucking her time from the more important matter at hand of finding a killer.

  “I’m not stealing. I’m taking what’s mine. He owed me a hundred dollars.” She raised one manicured hand to flick her blond hair off her shoulder.

  Makenna’s eyes narrowed as her intuition perked into gear. As the saying went, money was the root of all evil, and she’d seen men killed for less. An ex-girlfriend with a monetary vendetta certainly had motive, and Skye had just made herself a suspect. “What for?”

  “For spilling beer on my purse. I had to throw it away because I couldn’t get the smell out,” she wrinkled her nose and shivered, “but he promised he’d buy me a new one. Course then I saw him schmoozing with my ex-best friend a few days later. That’s when we broke up, but he still owes me the money for the purse he ruined.”

  Makenna’s head spun, and she glanced at Bubba to see if he found this as preposterous as she did. He shrugged and shook his head, clearly agreeing with her unspoken question. Did this woman have any idea how much motive she had just laid out before Makenna? Somehow, she doubted it. “Let me get this straight. Your boyfriend ruined your purse and cheated on you with your best friend?”

  Skye’s eyes widened as she nodded. “See? You get it. He wasn’t a great boyfriend anyway, but cheaters get what they deserve.”

  “Uh huh. Skye, where were you two nights ago?” Makenna asked. This woman hardly looked capable of killing a spider should it run across her path, let alone a man, but not only did she have motive, she had also just stated that Peter had gotten what he deserved. Makenna would be remiss if she didn’t at least ask.

  “You mean when Peter was killed?” Skye’s tone stayed completely even as if the thought of his death didn’t affect her at all. “I was with Nick. Nick, come here and tell this fine police officer about our second date.”

  Nick stepped out of the work bay area, a complete opposite of Skye. As he was covered in grease and at least one tattoo that Makenna could see peeking from his collar, she assumed the bulging muscles protruding from his sleeves was what attracted Skye to him.

  “You’re dating Peter’s employee?” Makenna asked. Now, she suddenly had two suspects. “Did Peter know?”

  “He saw us together the night before he was killed,” Skye said with a shrug as if this sort of thing happened every day. “Made a big scene about it and everything. I don’t know why since he was still with my ex-best friend.”

  Makenna felt like slapping her forehead or pinching herself to make sure this was real. This situation was more like a “B” horror movie than actual life. “I’m afraid I’m going to have to bring you both in for questioning.”

  “What for?” Skye’s wide eyes appeared clueless. Did she really not understand what she had just admitted?

  “For saying too much,” Nick hissed under his breath. Clearly he was the brains in the relationship which Makenna wasn’t sure was saying much. “You just made us both suspects in Peter’s death.”

  “What? But we didn’t kill Peter. I can’t be arrested. I can’t have mug shots.”

  “I’m not arresting you.” Makenna couldn’t believe this woman was more worried about mug shots than a possible murder rap. “Not yet. But I do need to ask you a few questions. If you come with me, I won’t have to pull out the handcuffs.”

  “I’ll answer whatever you need as long as there are no mugshots.”

  “I can’t believe you got me into this,” Nick grumbled as he glared at Skye. “Now, I have to close the shop and lose money.”

  Makenna rolled her eyes at Bubba as she opened the back door for Nick and Skye. She’d quit her job on the spot if either of these two turned out to be the arsonist. Still, with so few leads, she couldn’t let any possibility slip through her fingers.

  “Looks like we’ll be making a slight detour before talking to family. Do you mind?”

  Bubba shrugged his broad shoulders. “I’ve got nothing else to do today.”

  Makenna flashed him a grateful smile. She felt taxed and overburdened by this case, but just having Bubba around calmed her a little though she didn’t know why. Maybe it was the sheer masculinity he exuded. Maybe it was that he had been involved in the original case. Maybe it was the simple fact that she hadn’t really conversed with a man not employed by her in ages, and it felt nice. She really needed to look into taking some time off when this case was wrapped up.

  Chapter 7

  Surprise shot through Bubba as they pulled up to the station and he noticed Felicity standing against the wall. His mother had said Felicity would try to see him today, but he had expected she would come to the house tonight, not show up at the police station. Though she hadn’t appeared to change as much as his parents, the tight ponytail holding back her dark hair made her facial features appear more severe than normal.

  Felicity was not his biological sister. After he and his siblings graduated high school, his parents felt the desire to help more kids, and they began fostering. Felicity was one of those foster kids. She joined their family when she was seventeen and Bubba was twenty-one, so he was not as close with her as he was with his biologica
l brother and sister. But when Jacob and Rachel had moved away, he and Felicity had spent more time together, and they had grown closer the last year before he left.

  Almost too close from Bubba’s point of view though. There had been a few times when he’d heard her mumble snide remarks once or twice when he brought a woman home to meet his parents. As if she had any say. Still, she was family, and she’d had a rough childhood, so Bubba had always dismissed it.

  “Why don’t you take a few minutes to reconnect, and I’ll come back for you when you’re through?” Makenna asked as if reading his mind.

  Bubba nodded and opened his door.

  “Matt Fisher, I can’t believe you let me think you were dead for five years.”

  He was unsure if the anger in her voice was real or forced, but before he could decide, she threw her arms around him in a giant hug.

  “I’ve been so lonely without you here. How could you just leave without a word?” she asked when the hug ended and she stepped back.

  “It was important to the case, Felicity. When the arsonist made an attack on me, Captain Drake figured we would all be safer if he thought I was dead.”

  A dark expression took over Felicity’s face for a moment as she watched Makenna walk inside, and then as quickly as it came, it was gone. “Turns out she was wrong though, wasn’t she? Since the murders have started again? So, you lost five years of your life and put us through the ringer for nothing.”

  Bubba didn’t appreciate the tone in Felicity’s voice even though that very thought had crossed his mind when Makenna first reappeared in his life. “She couldn’t have known that though, and I was worried the killer would go after you or Mom and Dad. Plus, they didn’t start again for five years, so for awhile, at least, Makenna was right.”

  “Hmph. Well, anyway, it’s good to see you again, big brother.” She placed a hand on his arm and squeezed. “I’ve missed you.”

  The last three words felt wrong as they landed on Bubba’s ears, and his body stiffened. He didn’t even know why, but something in the tone of them had been off. Perhaps he was making too much out of it though. Coming back to a town where everyone believed you were dead and stared and whispered about you was much harder than it had sounded initially, and it could be that he was the one off. He was definitely out of his comfort zone.

  “It’s good to see you again too, Felicity.” He patted her hand before removing it from his arm. “You couldn’t have missed me that much though since you didn’t come over last night.”

  Another cloud crossed her face for a moment and then she smiled. “Yeah, sorry, I wasn’t feeling well, and I had some work to catch up on, but you should come over for dinner tonight. Now that Roger and I are no longer together, I suddenly have a lot of free time on my hands.”

  The idea of a dinner alone with Felicity sent the hairs on the back of Bubba’s neck up, but it would be rude not to accept, especially since she was family. “Sure, that sounds good. I’m staying with Mom and Dad, so maybe we should all do dinner together there.”

  Her lips pulled into a tight smile. “Yeah, that would be great. I’ll see you tonight.”

  The door behind him opened as Felicity walked away. “Everything okay?” Makenna asked.

  He watched his sister walk away and tried to put a finger on what was bothering him, but it was still too ambiguous. “Yeah, fine, it’s just weird being back here. Everyone feels different or maybe I’m just different.”

  She placed a hand on his arm, and Bubba’s gaze dropped to the heat creeping up his arm from her touch. How different her touch felt from Felicity’s “I know it’s hard, but it will get easier.”

  “I certainly hope so,” he said as he followed her toward the station door, but as he grasped the handle, he wondered if that was true. Did one really ever get used to being the focus of town gossip? As the door swung open, a movement to the right caught his eye. He peered closer, but nothing appeared different.

  “You okay?” Makenna asked.

  “Yeah, I thought I saw something, but I must just be tired. I’m good.” Still, he gave the surrounding area one more perusal before he followed Makenna inside.

  * * *

  “I can’t take you in the interrogation room, but you can watch the whole thing from here,” Makenna said, showing Bubba into a small room with a few chairs. On either side were large windows that looked into the interrogation rooms. Skye sat in the room on the left and Nick in the room on the right. She hadn’t had many people watch interrogations, but the thought of Bubba on the other side of the glass sent her nerves coiling in her stomach. Was she afraid of messing up in front of him? Afraid of what he might think?

  She shouldn’t care what he thought. He lived in Fire Beach and her life was here. Besides, their schedules would probably never work, but she couldn’t deny that there was something about Bubba. Growing up with two older brothers and learning to shoot rifles at the age of twelve, Makenna was used to defending and taking care of herself. She’d always felt tough and maybe a little too masculine, but Bubba made her feel feminine again. His six foot two frame dwarfed her five feet seven inches, and he exuded a protective vibe. She could imagine a life with someone like him, a life where she didn’t feel like she always had to be the one calling the shots.

  “I’m going to talk to Skye first and then Nick, though I doubt I’ll get much,” Makenna said, forcing her mind away from thoughts of curling up on a couch in Bubba’s arms and to the task at hand. She turned up the knob to Skye’s room. “This way you can hear us. When the interview is over, you can turn this down and turn the one on the other side up.”

  “Sounds good. I’ve never been on this side before,” Bubba said with a playful smile. “I bet I’ll enjoy it more.”

  Makenna swallowed the sting of embarrassment. Now that she knew him better, she couldn’t believe she had ever thought he could be a killer, but she’d been greener then and the evidence had pointed to him - what little they’d had. Still, as much as she wished she could erase that experience, it had made her a better cop. She didn’t jump to conclusions as quickly, and she challenged herself to consider other options.

  “I’m sure you will,” she said as she exited the room. She grabbed the folder with the case files from a hanging compartment outside of Skye’s room and then pushed open the door.

  “Do I get to go home soon?” Skye asked as Makenna entered the interrogation room. “I thought this was going to just be a few quick questions.”

  “I’ll get you out as soon as I can,” Makenna said pulling out the chair across from Skye and sitting down. Her eyes wandered to the two-way mirror, but she forced them back to the folder in her hand. “Now, tell me again where you were on the night of the sixteenth.”

  Skye sighed and rolled her eyes. “I told you. I was out with Nick.”

  “Right, your second date. Did he pick you up?”

  “No way,” Skye said with a shake of her head. “I don’t let a guy know where I live until the fifth date. Have to make sure he’s not crazy, you know?”

  Makenna bit her lip to keep from laughing. This woman exemplified crazy but didn’t seem to recognize it. “Okay, so where did you meet?”

  “At Darby’s over on Sixth Avenue. I wanted to go dancing, but he wanted dinner first, so we decided to meet up there.” Skye ran her hand through her blonde mane, fluffing the hair as she did.

  “And what time was that?” Makenna asked as she made a note in the file.

  “Seven. I remember because we were only able to get one drink before their happy hour ended at seven-thirty. Who ends a happy hour that early?”

  “I don’t know.” Makenna didn’t drink, so she had no answer to the question. She’d only ever tried alcohol once, and it had been disgusting enough to turn her off of it after that. She still remembered leaning against the tractor on a hot, sunny day and watching her father pop the beer can open. The sound of the fizz had fascinated her, and she’d asked him for a drink. He’d paused and then, evidently deci
ding it wouldn’t hurt, he’d held the can out to her. The smell had hit her first, that weird yeasty odor, but being the fearless child she was, she had tipped back the can and filled her mouth only to spit most of it out again when it hit her taste buds. That had been her first and last drink, so she had no idea what restaurants even had happy hours. “What time did you leave?”

  “Eight thirty. I wanted to get into The Hop before they raised the price at nine.”

  The Hop was the closest thing to a club that Woodville offered. A couple had purchased the old warehouse a few years ago and fixed it up. Makenna had broken up many fights in that place.

  “And how long were you two there?”

  Skye placed her hands on the table and leaned forward. “Only till midnight. I had to work the next morning, and if I don’t get a full eight hours, this is a puffy mess the next day.” She made a circle around her face.

  Midnight would be cutting it close. The fire was reported at one a.m., so she supposed Skye could have had time to get home, grab supplies, and get over to Peter’s house, but every bone in Makenna’s body was telling her that this woman was not a killer. “I’m assuming you left The Hop alone?”

  “No, I left with Nick. We had taken one car from Darby’s, so he drove me back there, but I left Darby’s alone and so did Nick. Are we done now? I really have to get my nail fixed.” She held out her hand and wiggled her ring finger. That nail didn’t look any different than the others to Makenna, but she didn’t say that.

  “Almost. I have a few more questions, and I need to talk to Nick, but then I’ll get you processed.” Unless Skye said something revealing with the next few questions, Makenna didn’t have enough to hold her even if she wanted to.

  “Do you know any of these women?” Makenna pulled the photos of the three women out of the folder and spread them on the table.

  “Her,” Skye said, pointing to the fitness instructor. “I took a few classes with her, but I don’t know the rest.”