by Lena Gregory
“Turn right at the first corner, then loop around the lake. Trevor’s is the last house on the cul-de-sac. On this map, it looks like it backs up to the lake.”
“Wow. Waterfront property?” Savannah leaned forward for a better view of the neighborhood. “Exclusive may have been an understatement.”
“No kidding.”
Estates lined the road, most with shrub walls or concrete walls surrounding their yards. Every so often, a roof peeked over the shrubbery.
They crept through the dark neighborhood, keeping an eye on the house numbers.
According to the map on her phone, Trevor’s house should be coming up. “It should be the next one.”
“Over there.” Savannah pointed out a driveway on the right side of the road. It curved around through a closed wrought-iron gate, then continued up to a sprawling mansion. Palm trees lined either side of the driveway, creating a canopy of palms leading to the house. She stopped in front of the gate.
Gia craned her neck but couldn’t see all the way up the driveway. “Do you see his car?”
“No, but I figure it’d probably be in the garage.”
“Are you sure this is the right house?” Gia double-checked the map on her phone.
“It’s the address you gave me.”
“Do you think he lives alone in there? Maybe he just rents an apartment in the basement or something.”
Savannah laughed. “Gia, these people don’t rent out their basements.”
“Maybe his parents own it.”
“I guess,” she conceded.
Gia turned off the overhead light and opened the door.
Savannah grabbed her arm. “Where do you think you’re going?”
“It couldn’t hurt to have a look around.”
“I don’t know.” Savannah caught her lower lip between her teeth and peered out the window.
“Why don’t you move up past the driveway, and we’ll walk around and see if we see his car by the house or if any lights are on?”
“All right, but just a quick peek, and then we’re on our way. I’m not missing my vacation so you can play peeping Tom.”
“Yeah, yeah. Don’t worry, we’ll be out of here in five minutes.” Gia waited for her to pull up, then cracked the door open and started to get out.
“Wait.”
“What’s the matter now?”
“What about his dog?” Savannah stiffened. “I’ve seen that animal, and there’s no way I’m getting out of this car if she’s lurking around somewhere.”
“Relax, Zoe was supposed to call me if he picked her up.” Of course, Gia was supposed to call Zoe and let her know if she heard anything too, but there was no need to mention that.
“Make it quick.” Savannah climbed out of the car with Gia and shut the door softly behind her.
They approached the wrought-iron gate and peeked through the bars. They couldn’t see any more than they’d been able to see from the car.
“Do you think we should follow the wall around the back?” Gia whispered, probably needlessly since the house was like half a mile up the driveway, but it didn’t feel right to talk too loudly in the dead silence. “It probably doesn’t go all the way around if it’s on the lake.”
“Why bother with a wall if it doesn’t go all the way around? Here.” Savannah dropped to all fours in the dirt. “Climb on my back and peek over.”
“Get up. I’m not climbing on you; I’ll hurt you.”
“Oh, please, Gia, I grew up surrounded by brothers and cousins. Trust me, I’m tougher than I look.”
Gia grabbed her arm and yanked her up. “Still, I’m not climbing on you.”
“All righty, then.” Savannah brushed the dirt from her bare knees and started for the car. “Let’s go.”
“Here.” The wall couldn’t be higher than six feet tall. Gia cupped her hands and held them low. “I’ll boost you up, and you tell me if you see anything.”
“You can’t be serious.”
“Oh, come on. It’ll only take a second, and then we’ll go.”
Savannah sighed but relented. She put one foot in Gia’s clasped hands and boosted herself up until she could see over the wall.
Chapter 14
“Anything?” Gia called softly.
“It’s too dark.”
“Aren’t there any lights on?”
“No.” She glanced down at Gia. “Maybe he didn’t come home.”
“Hmm…”
Savannah scrambled onto the top of the wall and held her hand down to Gia. “Come on. We’ll take a closer look, but then we are really out of here.”
“What if we can’t get back over the wall?”
“There are trees lining the inside of the wall, so it’ll be easier from that side. The purpose of the wall is to keep people out, not in.”
“If you say so.” Gia grabbed Savannah’s hand.
Using a tree branch to brace herself, Savannah helped Gia scale the wall.
“I’m not exactly dressed for breaking and entering.” When Gia reached the top, she hiked her skirt up, straddled the wall and tried to see between the branches to the house while she caught her breath. “You weren’t kidding. It’s pitch-black and quiet as a tomb over there.”
“All right, we’ll run across the lawn quick and see if the garage has windows. Maybe we can just look in and see if his car’s in there.”
“That works.” Gia turned and hung her feet over the wall, then inched her way down the other side until she was hanging with her arms fully extended before she released her hold on the wall.
Savannah swung her legs over and dropped gracefully to the ground.
“Showoff,” Gia muttered.
When Savannah started moving forward between the trees, Gia started after her, then plowed full force into her back, bounced off, and caught herself against a tree trunk. “What are you doing? Why did you stop?”
“Uh, Gia,” she whispered, her hands held high over her head.
Gia froze at the sense of urgency in her tone. “What’s wrong?”
“Back up.”
“Wh—?”
“Back up. Slowly,” she bit out through clenched teeth.
Gia started to back away.
A growl brought her up short.
She shot her hands into the air, as if the dog knew what that meant. “Brandy?”
“No.” Savannah’s breathing had grown heavy, ragged.
“What is it?”
“Big. Really big. And not amused.”
Gia took another step back, bringing another growl from the other side of the tree. “What’s it doing?”
“Standing.” Savannah stood frozen. “Do you have your phone?”
“I’m wearing a skirt with no pockets, where would I have my phone?”
“Reach in my back shorts pocket, get my phone, and call Trevor.”
“Trevor? For what?”
“To come call his dog off.”
“Uh…”
“I’m not kidding, Gia.”
“The dog hasn’t made any move to attack. Maybe we can just climb up the tree or climb back over the wall.”
“Can you see this dog?”
“The tree’s in the way.”
“Take a peek.” Savannah shifted to the left to give Gia a clearer view.
When Gia peeked between the tree and Savannah, and her gaze landed on the dog, the breath shot out of her lungs. “Do you see the size of that thing’s head?”
Though Savannah remained silent, Gia was pretty sure she could hear her eyes rolling.
She fished the phone out of Savannah’s pocket.
“Don’t move.” A man’s voice came from across the yard, moving toward them. “As long as you don’t move, he won’t attack. Unless, of course, I order him to
. Who are you and what are you doing here?”
The fleeting thought of saying they were reporters flickered in and out of Gia’s mind. No way he’d let them climb back over the wall and disappear without checking. “Trevor? It’s me. Gia.”
“And Savannah! Don’t let the dog bite us,” Savannah blurted.
“Oh, for crying out loud, Gia. What are you doing here in the middle of the night?”
“Well, technically, it’s morning.”
“Gia?” His voice held a note of reprimand that in the dark, just for a minute, reminded her of Hunt.
“Oh, all right. We’re on our way to the Keys for a few days, and I didn’t want to leave without checking on you. I’ve been worried sick.” She couldn’t help the bit of anger that crept into her tone. “You haven’t returned any of my calls.”
The dog growled again, just a low growl, deep in its throat, and all the more menacing because it stood so still.
“Zeus, release,” Trevor commanded.
The dog trotted to his side and stood at attention.
“Zeus? I didn’t know you had another dog beside Brandy.” Gia’s eyes had grown more accustomed to the dark, and she could see Trevor well enough, though the big, dark-colored dog still blended with the shadows.
“Two, actually. Zeus and Ares are my guard dogs.”
“Guard dogs?”
“Yes. Akitas. Trained to detain an intruder but not to attack unless ordered to.”
Gia eyed the big animal. “Shh… Don’t say that word out loud. It might think you’re serious.”
“If I wanted him to attack, I’d issue the order in Japanese. That way, there are no mistakes.”
What in the world was he talking about, and who was this man? Guard dogs? Japanese? And if she wasn’t mistaken, whatever he was holding in his hands was a gun. “Is that a gun?”
“Shotgun.”
“Trevor?” How is it possible this was the same easygoing, affable, kind-of-goofy-in-an-adorable-sort-of-way guy she’d been hanging out with? She glanced at Savannah.
Savannah shrugged, her hands still held high.
“Put your hands down, both of you.”
Gia lowered her hands and rolled the tension out of her shoulders. She hadn’t even realized she was still holding them up. “Trevor, what is going on?”
He lowered the silhouette of the shotgun. “You shouldn’t have come here.”
“What is this place? You live here?”
He turned and glanced over his shoulder at the enormous mansion then looked back at her. “Yeah.”
“With whom?”
“My dogs.”
“Whose house is it?”
“Mine. Now why so many questions, Gia?”
“I…uh…” What could she say? She didn’t even know who this man was. Certainly not her friend. “I’m sorry. We’ll go. I was just worried.”
Savannah started back toward the wall without saying anything.
Gia stared at Trevor for another minute, his big dog standing guard at his side, his shotgun cradled low, then turned and started after Savannah.
Trevor sighed. “Wait. Come on.” He gestured toward the driveway. “I’ll let you out the gate.”
Gia looked at Savannah then started in the direction he’d indicated, one eye firmly on the dog.
Out of nowhere, Trevor laughed, and for an instant, he was the man she knew. “I have to admit, I’m kind of impressed.”
“At?” Gia was in no mood for games. Her mind was reeling.
“You climbed over the wall.”
She smiled; she couldn’t help herself. “Savannah helped.”
“I should have known.”
Some of her courage returned—though, who’d have ever thought she’d need courage to speak to Trevor? “What happened, Trevor?”
“Ah, man, Gia. I didn’t mean for you to get involved in any of this. Why don’t you two go to the Keys, relax, and enjoy yourselves for a few days?” He reached the gate and stood face to face with her. “I’ll tell you what. You get one question, and I’ll answer truthfully, if you promise you’ll go to the Keys and forget about this whole situation for a while.”
She was more than ready for a few days to unwind, though she doubted she’d be able to forget anything. She had a sneaking suspicion this new side of Trevor would haunt her for some time. How could she have been so wrong about him?
“Did you kill him?” she blurted out before she could stop herself.
Savannah gasped.
Trevor moved closer and reached for her. He cupped her cheek in his hand. “Of course not, Gia.”
Relief rushed through her, and her shoulders slumped. “I’m sorry, I—”
A loud boom tore through the night.
Pain seared Gia’s arm, and she clasped her hand over it as Trevor plowed into her and Savannah, knocking them to the ground against the wall.
Savannah screamed.
Trevor slapped a hand over her mouth. “Shh…”
He scrambled into the tree line, half dragging them with him, keeping them pinned between him and the wall.
Gia lay on the ground, staring up at Trevor crouched over them, gun held at the ready.
He pressed a phone against his ear. “I’m in my front yard, and someone is shooting at us.”
Shooting?
He paused a moment while a deep voice on the other end of the line said something.
Her arm stung, and she pulled her hand away covered in something dark and sticky. She sniffed her fingers, and the coppery scent hit her immediately.
“Gia and Savannah are here.”
The voice on the other end of the line blew up and let loose a string of profanities Gia could hear from her spot on the ground.
For a brief moment, she was glad for the big dog standing in front of them, though she figured even he’d cower in the face of Hunt’s wrath once he arrived.
She laid her head back on the cool, damp ground, thinking for a moment of what might be crawling around her, then struggled to sit up.
Trevor helped her to sit against the wall but crowded her so she couldn’t move. “Sit still.”
She did as she was told. “Savannah?”
“I’m here. Are you all right?”
“I think so. Are you?”
“Yes. But this is so not what I had in mind for a vacation.”
A car door slammed in the distance, followed by the sound of an engine starting.
Trevor started toward the gate in a crouch, then looked over his shoulder at them, cursed, and ducked back behind the wall.
She had no clue what was happening. Fear clawed at her. To top matters off, the sting in her arm was getting worse, the pain starting to radiate up and down her arm. She needed light.
She felt around the ground for Savannah’s phone, squinting in the darkness to make sure she didn’t put her hand on anything disgusting…or poisonous. She’d had the phone in her hand before Trevor came out, but it was no longer in her hand, and she couldn’t remember dropping it. It had to be nearby somewhere. Maybe Trevor had knocked it out of her hand when he’d knocked her down.
“What are you doing?” Savannah grabbed her arm, right on the sore spot.
“Oww!” Gia yanked her arm away and cradled it close against her body.
“Ah, jeez, Gia, are you hurt?” Savannah shifted closer. “Let me see.”
“What’s wrong?” Trevor said over his shoulder.
“I hurt my arm, and I was looking for Savannah’s phone so I could see what’s wrong.”
“No.”
Sirens wailed in the distance.
“What do you mean no?”
“You can’t turn on a light. We’ll be sitting ducks. Just sit tight until the police get here.”
“Trevor, what is going on?” S
avannah asked. “Why was someone shooting at your house?”
“They weren’t shooting at my house; they were shooting at me. And I don’t know what’s going on, but I have a feeling it’s connected to Ron Parker’s murder.”
Hunt’s jeep tore into the driveway, cutting off anything further Trevor might have said. He stopped just short of the gate, putting the jeep between the gate and the shooter, and hopped out, keeping his head low. “Trevor?”
“Yeah.”
“Just hold on. Is anyone hurt?”
“Gia is. I don’t know how bad.”
“All right. Don’t move.”
Gia dropped her head back against the wall, cradling her arm close, and closed her eyes. She wasn’t going anywhere.
Savannah crouched beside her, arm draped protectively over her shoulders.
Police cruisers filled the cul-de-sac, their flashing lights casting a dizzying blue-and-red strobe effect over her closed lids. Radio chatter cut through the peaceful silence of the night. The gate creaked open.
“Gia?” Hunt squatted at her side, shining a flashlight at her. “Are you all right?”
“My arm hurts.” She held it out to him, seeing the nasty gash for the first time. Blood trickled down over her wrist and fingers.
“It’s just grazed.”
“Grazed?” She lurched away from the wall, and the world started to spin.
“Hold on. Sit back.” Hunt eased her back against the wall and waved an EMT over.
“Grazed, as in shot? I’ve been shot?” Darkness encroached on her peripheral vision, spots of light swirling amidst the black.
Savannah’s soft cries gave her something to focus on, and she held the darkness at bay. Barely.
“Gia, stay with me.” Hunt cupped her cheek. “You’re fine.”
“But I was shot?” She couldn’t wrap her head around it. Not that the wound hurt any more or less, but the idea of being shot was too incredible to fathom.
“It’s just a scratch, Gia.”
“It’s a bullet wound.”
Hunt laughed. Laughed! The nerve. “Don’t worry, the EMTs will fix you up. I’m pretty sure they have Band-Aids.”
“Band—?” She huffed out an indignant breath. How dare he make light of her injury? Who did he think he was? She scooted up a little straighter. “I’ll have you know…”
