“What the hell, Dane? You’re making no sense. What are you so angry about?” Shana asked him and it was a good question.
He glared at her, but he knew his look didn’t have the edge it did before, knew and was helpless to stop it, that hurt showed in his eyes and that she would see it. He felt anger dissolving into something else—something he couldn’t tolerate so he yanked the anger back in hand and turned sharply to Cap. He could take the brunt of it and he would know why. If he was the kind of man Dane knew him to be—the kind of friend Dane hoped he was—he’d take it.
Cap took it. But then he shook his head, slapped a hasty smile on his face and stood. They all turned to see Patty Baker walk into the dining room. She’d taken her time—as was her habit it seemed.
The game was on. Dane straightened and pulled the emotionless mask of polite charm over his face.
Patty Baker was a cool one, Dane would give her that. Without breaking stride, she walked right into Cap’s arms as he stood, and gave him a hug and a whisper of a kiss on his cheek. Damn if Cap didn’t color slightly. He hoped this undercover plot didn’t have to go on too long for Cap’s sake.
“I had a feeling it was you. Maybe I was hoping,” Patty said. Cap held her chair and she sat.
“I’m glad you came, Patty. Glad my team here talked you into it.”
“I’m still a little surprised, Colin. You’re in law enforcement now and after the way things ended…” she trailed off and gave Dane a squinty suspicious look.
“All water under the bridge. You’ve come a long way—built quite a reputation.” He cleared his throat. “I’m proud of you, Patty.”
Dane hoped Patty mistook the tension in Cap’s voice for emotional verklempt rather than the difficulty of swallowing the big fat lie that he just told her.
“Still, I hope—”
“Let’s forget the past and start over,” Cap said and looked at Dane and Shana. Patty gave him an expectant glare. Like they were expecting him to leave—Shana too. But Shana had one of those Cheshire Cat smiles—the kind where the Cheshire Cat was about to rip someone to shreds.
“Let’s not forget about the past—not yet,” Shana said. She tented her fingers like she was settling in. “I’m interested in that story from your past.”
Patty laughed. “I’ll just bet you are. Too bad it’s none of your business.”
“Oh, but it is.”
Cap was about to say something and stopped abruptly with a half grunt. Dane was certain Shana had kicked him under the table. Something was afoot—and it wasn’t all about a kick in the shins. Shana had something.
“What are you talking about?” Patty scowled, but then after a quick glance at Cap, she changed her tune. “Colin and I would like to enjoy our reunion over dinner—in private.”
Instead of responding to Patty Baker, Shana took that pause to stare at Cap. She raised her brow at him as if they had a secret code. That got Dane’s gut to sink and a searing burn to singe his chest. It was not heartache. Probably heartburn.
“Cap?” she said.
“Maybe we should hear what Shana has to say,” he said to Patty. He put a hand over hers to calm her and it worked. Patty heaved a sigh, but then looked at Shana in expectation.
“Well? What is this all about?”
“This is what it’s all about.” Shana slipped a tablet from her bag and tapped a few keys, then turned it to Cap and Patty to see. Dane leaned over. It was a video cam of Patty in her room, with audio.
“What’s this?” Patty said with an edge to her voice and a stiffening of every muscle. That was Dane’s cue to come to full alert and he tensed, edged closer to Patty and prepared to apprehend her at the first sign of even a flinch. No way was she getting out of here.
“Listen. It’s the web cam recording from your laptop computer—in your room at the Inn. From a few hours ago. I let it play while you were on the phone with a ‘friend.’ Then when you were in the shower I downloaded a copy onto my zip drive and here it is.”
They listened for about twenty seconds before it became apparent that Patty Baker was blackmailing someone. For a lot of money. It was Patty’s phone conversation with the auction owner telling him that his auction house was suspected of selling forgeries and that she could authenticate or not depending on their level of cooperation. Patty said to the auction house owner, “Fifty K is a small price to pay for the preservation of your reputation.”
“Bingo,” Dane said and stood, simultaneously pulling a pair of handcuffs from an inside jacket pocket.
“What are you doing? What is this? Colin?” Patty still didn’t understand.
“Stand up and put your hands behind your back.” Dane tugged at her arm and forced her to stand. Her chair scraped back. People stared. Dane looked at Cap.
“Call in the troops.”
Cap stood pulled his radio, pressed a button and took Patty’s other arm to assist Dane. Shana sat with her iPad and that lethal smile, watching them. Cap was the first to tell her.
“You are a helluva detective, Shana George. I could kiss you for this.” He smiled but colored and coughed when Shana arched a brow at him.
Dane wasn’t going to put up with any more of this shit between them.
“Let’s haul her out front and meet the troopers. Hand her over. We have unfinished business.”
“Unfinished dinner too,” Cap said. He grinned. Dane didn’t like it when Cap was more at ease than he was. It wasn’t natural. He glanced over at Shana before he turned the squirming and muttering Patty Baker toward the exit amidst a growing din of excitement. Several men in aprons and suits with concerned looks surrounded them now.
“You stay put, girlie.”
She had the nerve to smile at him. Not the killer smile. The real one. He hated that. It caused a crazy buoyant feeling in his insides, like he swallowed a helium balloon. He didn’t know what to do with it. He scowled back at her and dragged Patty through the dining room with Cap telling him to take it easy and Patty squeaking her protest.
“I’ll email the file to headquarters,” Shana called after them.
They were applauded as they took their seats again and each given a complementary glass of champagne with a strawberry in it.
They toasted Shana, who broke the case and didn’t even have all the information. All she had was her people skills and gut instincts.
Cap was happy that she saved him from selling himself cheaply in the line of duty to seduce the truth from Patty. They laughed at that, but he insisted it was true.
“But you were once … romantically involved with her. So I’m sorry it turned out this way.”
“You’re such a girl,” Dane said.
“Don’t worry about me—I knew long ago what the score was with Patty Baker,” Cap said with a mysterious smirk.
“What do you mean?” Shana asked.
“I broke it off with her before I graduated BC.” He stopped. Dane waited a beat for him to explain and took another sip of his champagne. Shana said nothing. She was learning patience. He felt her knee move as she tapped her foot in an almost indiscernible rhythm. He took mercy on her, so he prompted Cap.
“Spill it. Tell us the whole story.”
Cap looked at him a beat and then into the distance. Dane realized there must be more to it—some kind of regret involved.
“Patty had been in business back then as an undergrad, and helped pay a good deal of her tuition with her term paper writing business. She wrote and then brokered/distributed the sale of term papers to college students throughout Boston. She’d been very enterprising.
“When I asked her to, she not only refused to give her business up, but had plans to expand it.” He paused again and gave them a sad smile. It was the one Dane had noticed, the sad look he’d been wearing lately.
Dane said, “Damn.”
“What a fool she was,” Shana said.
Cap nodded and picked up the champagne, looked at it—probably thinking the same thing Dane was thinking—th
at it wasn’t nearly strong enough for this occasion. But Cap swilled half the bubbly down anyway and continued his story.
“Eventually I heard that she left BC suddenly the following year after being called on the carpet. No one had known officially what had happened, but I figured she agreed to leave before she was thrown out and cut a deal—probably gave up names of participating students to get out of any official charges.”
Dane stopped a waiter who happened to be walking by—reaching out and almost pulling him up short—and ordered whiskeys all around.
“I applaud you for your good judgment.” Dane raised his champagne flute and so did Shana.
Cap raised his glass too and they all dumped the rest of it down in one gulp.
They argued about who would get to call FBI guy to enlighten him. They agreed Cap would call the governor with the official report.
“But the most burning question I have,” Shana said, perfectly serious, “is will we get the two thousand dollar balance of our fee?”
Dane laughed.
But Cap was a gentleman, so he said, “I’ll make sure you do. I was surprised Peter—Governor Douglas didn’t include you up front.”
“Don’t worry. We’re square with that,” Dane said.
“We are?” Shana arched her brow. Dane threw an arm around her and hauled her into his side. She played at resisting—only for decorum’s sake, he figured. When he got her hair within whiffing distance he buried his nose and breathed in the scent and the soft silky feel and let himself relax.
“I’m so proud of you,” he murmured.
The small jolt of surprise when she looked up was her only response—that and the telltale glitter of her sparkling green eyes. And maybe there was a tinge of affection or warmth or something like that in her face. He looked away and loosened his hold when Cap harrumphed.
“So, about that bet—”
“Don’t even dare to bring that up,” Shana spoke up.
“I got side-tracked. No date for me.” It surprised him how easily the admission of defeat came out and wafted away like a breath of air, leaving no disturbance behind in him.
“As you both well know, I have no date.” The tinge of pink on Shana’s cheeks didn’t stop her from raising her chin to prevent anyone who dared from making anything of it.
“Then I guess I’ll have to call it a tie,” Cap said.
“Not so sure there’s such thing as a tie for this bet. We have stakes. A prize.” Dane dared turn his gaze to Shana. She narrowed her gaze, unafraid of him. That only made his blood go faster.
“He’s right. Who wins the prize?” she demanded.
“The only prize either of you win is for the most unromantic couple I’ve ever met.” Cap raised his champagne flute and winked at them. “And yet somehow it works for you. Suits you.” He looked at each of them and shook his head.
Dane didn’t dare take another look at Shana. She went still as a rock. He knew that feeling. He let the words sink in and settle on him and felt an ironic comfort.
“It does suit us, doesn’t it?”
He felt Shana’s eye roll and then turned and smiled at her. He squeezed her shoulders in the most unromantic way he could manage and she let him do it this time without struggling or pulling away. That was the romance in her talking.
Cap continued looking at them, his smile sad and happy at once—contented. In spite of everything, they had each other. All three of them, for now, in this close-knit triangle of friendship. They had a dysfunctionality that worked.
The waiter brought three jiggers of whiskey to their table. In the nick of time.
Dane raised his shot glass at the same time Shana did—like the synchronized fighting cats that they were.
Shana said, “Here’s to us and the next Beachcomber Investigations adventure.”
They all took a swig of their whiskey. He drank—and he figured they all did—to fortify himself.
Dear Reader,
I hope you enjoyed this installment of Dane and Shana’s story and their ongoing adventures with Beachcomber Investigations on Martha’s Vineyard. If you did, I would appreciate it very much if you’d consider writing a review. I always love to hear from readers, so feel free to drop me a note at [email protected] or visit me on Facebook Stephanie Queen page, or visit my NEW website www.StephanieQueen.com.
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If you haven’t already, you might want to read The Beachcombers, where Dane and Shana’s story starts.
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Stephanie Queen
More Stephanie Queen Books
Between a Rock and a Mad Woman – Prequel Scotland Yard Exchange series
The Throwbacks – Book 1 Scotland yard Exchange series
The Hot Shots – Book 2 Scotland Yard Exchange Series
The Romantics – Book 3 Scotland Yard Exchange series
The Beachcombers – Book 4 Scotland Yard Exchange series
Playing the Game
Small Town Glamour Girl Christmas
Small Town Glamour Girl Wedding – a novella
Small Town Hot Shot Bride – a novella
Beachcomber Valentine Page 8
