Treasure Point Secrets

by Sarah Varland

  Only a couple of them smiled back. Several of them wore straight faces devoid of expression, and one or two were almost frowning.

  “I hope you’re right,” Hal Smith said, finally nodding as he wrapped up the meeting. “I certainly hope you’re right.”

  The words left Adam with an ominous feeling that nearly matched what he’d felt when Shiloh had driven off the road. Of course, he knew he wouldn’t back down from the challenges of the position he’d worked so hard to achieve...but the deacons’ words left him uneasy. He couldn’t help but remember Shiloh’s accusation that the earlier attack had been triggered by his arrival.

  Just what trouble had he gotten himself into by coming to town?

  THREE

  Adam waved to the Joneses and kept the smile pasted on his face long enough to get in the car, ease it into Reverse much more gently than he’d wanted to and drive away.

  That could have gone better.

  Three days on the job and he’d visited four congregation members’ houses so far, as the board had requested. The theory was that, as their new pastor, people would want to meet him and get to know him. The visits were also meant to allow him to get to know them.

  It was that second part they seemed to be having problems with. Somehow he’d expected this to be easier, even though his dad had warned him that this wouldn’t be the case.

  “Running a church is harder than you think, son,” his dad had told him with a smirk as Adam had prepared to leave Savannah and go to Treasure Point. “You’re going to have to give it everything you’ve got and more.”

  He was trying. Adam rolled down the windows as he got closer to the marsh. The salty smell reminded him of so many things. Last week’s debacle at Hamilton Creek, of course. Adam felt his face tense into a frown. He could still relive the incident in his mind, practically taste the fear he’d felt for their lives, especially Shiloh’s. He hadn’t spoken to her since then. Nor had he spoken to anyone else about the accident, other than to give his statement to the police.

  He wondered if they’d figured out who was behind the accident or if it was even intentional. It had seemed planned to him. But he wasn’t a cop. Maybe it was paranoia to worry that someone could be after Shiloh. He had no reason to believe she was in danger. She’d lived a quiet life when he’d known her. Even her current position as a police officer shouldn’t be sufficient reason for someone to hurt her. Surely there wasn’t a lot of crime in Treasure Point that could result in her making dangerous enemies.

  Adam sighed. He didn’t know what to think about any of that, so he pushed away the thoughts for now, inhaling another breath of the tangy air. Memories further back in his mind made him think of Savannah’s coast. And the time he’d spent there with Shiloh.

  Great. Something else he’d failed at.

  He prayed that God would do something to help him make an impact in this town. It wasn’t as though he’d expected people to start pouring out their life stories to him or divulging their darkest secrets on the first visit. But he hadn’t expected them to be so...cordial.

  His first Sunday at the church had gone fairly well. The sermon had been well delivered—at least he had thought so. But the people, as they did today, had seemed just short of standoffish. While it was God’s word that had the power to change lives, Adam was a firm believer that discipleship was done through deep relationships. Without that, how would he grow this church, succeed in ministry? He’d hoped to feel more secure in his position by today—when the next part of his responsibilities would commence.

  He glanced at the clock on the dash. He needed to be at the police station by 12:30 for his first day at that job. Like many small-town churches, this one could only offer enough money for a bi-vocational pastor, so the chaplain position was his second job.

  He’d been looking forward to it since he had finished his training several months ago, but now his excitement was being slowly replaced by nerves. If he was having a hard time showing his regular congregation members that he was trustworthy, how would he convince guarded law-enforcement officers that he was someone they could confide in, turn to for counseling?

  The drive to the police station went by too fast—he’d been hoping to use the commute to help sort through his thoughts and figure out his next step. Hopefully, the chief had a plan to help Adam persuade people to accept him because Adam was determined to prove he could do this job. To himself and to his father.

  The chief’s door was open, but Adam knocked anyway.

  The man looked up from what he was doing and waved him in. “Ready for your first day?”

  “I hope so.” He tried to project as much assurance into those words as he could, but judging by the thoughtful expression on the chief’s face, Adam had failed.

  “Shut that door, would you? Then sit down. I think we should talk.”

  Adam complied, then had a seat.

  “I enjoyed your sermon yesterday.”

  “Thanks.” The words did boost Adam’s spirits, but not much. It wasn’t the sermons he struggled with; it was the relationship aspect of his job.

  “I’ve been noticing it seems like you’re having a little trouble getting to know some folks, though.”

  The man had to be incredibly observant to have seen that, but then again, with his job, he’d have to be. It shouldn’t surprise Adam that the chief’s people-watching skills carried over into other areas of life besides the job.

  Too bad the chief’s notice of such things may likely cost Adam his job before he’d really started. If the chief had doubts about Adam’s ability to connect with the police officers, he’d let Adam go before he’d ever been given a chance. Adam couldn’t blame him, but he wanted this job. Needed it.

  “You’re right. It’s proving to be a bit of a challenge in some ways, but if you’re worried about my ability to be a good chaplain to this department, sir, let me assure you that I am going to give it everything I’ve got and—”

  The chief held up a hand to stop Adam. “That’s enough, son. You don’t have to defend yourself to me. It’s nothing that’s your fault anyway. It’s how people around here are with outsiders.”

  It was hard to believe that he could be considered an “outsider” when he’d grown up just over an hour away, but that was how small towns were, he guessed. He was new to Treasure Point, and that was what mattered to these people.

  “So what do I do about it?” Adam asked, hating that he needed help but knowing that the chief, of all people, would be able to give him insight into how to succeed at least at this job, if not his pastor job.

  The chief rubbed his chin. “I’ve been working on that question myself. The best thing I can think of to help you here and with the rest of the people from the town is to have you ride along with one of our more respected officers. You’ll stay in the car if they’re making any calls that seem to warrant extra caution or are obviously dangerous. But you’d ride along on patrol with them anyway.”

  Adam frowned. “What would that do?” He was willing to do whatever it took, of course, but how could spending time with one man help him make any inroads with anyone else in town?

  “When the officers see one of their own trusts you, they’re likely to do so, too. And as the townspeople see you have the stamp of approval from someone they respect, they’ll see that they can trust you, too. Make sense?”

  The chief’s logical explanation had him nodding his head in agreement. “It does, actually.”

  “So you’re fine with that plan?”

  “Yes.”

  The chief stood, clearly happy that they’d worked something out. “Good. There are a few officers I can think of that would work. Officer Evans would have been my first choice, but given the fact that she’s in the middle of an investigation into the attack the two of you faced by the bridge, I’ve decided on Officer Rowlan
d. I’ll arrange for you to begin joining him tomorrow.” He nodded decisively, the conversation over.

  “Wait,” Adam heard himself say, even as a plan formed in his mind—one he wasn’t sure was smart in any way, but that wouldn’t leave his head.

  The chief turned to him.

  “What if I want to ride with Shiloh—Officer Evans?”

  The chief’s eyes narrowed a little. “As I said,” he replied slowly, “she would have been my first choice. But considering the fact that she could be in danger—and you’re an untrained civilian—I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

  “I noticed on Saturday that Shiloh rode alone. Was her partner out, or is she always solo?”

  “She doesn’t have a partner at the moment.”

  “So there’s no one to watch her back.” Adam’s heart pounded harder as the plan solidified in his mind. “If I’m with her, at least someone will have her six. I’ll stay in the car when you think I should, but if you think the attack by the bridge is serious enough to warrant an investigation, then that means she’s at risk. And in that case, I want to be there, at least as another set of eyes.”

  The older man studied him for a full minute or more before speaking. “All right. You can ride with her. But your job as far as protecting her goes no further than being there to call for backup if she’s unable to do so. I won’t have civilians getting injured in my department. Are we clear?”

  Relief and utter fear overwhelmed him. “Yes. Thank you, sir,” Adam said as he stood and left the office, his mind still spinning out of control until it finally landed on one clear thought.

  Shiloh was going to kill him.

  * * *

  Shiloh returned home after a downright boring shift and sorted through a stack of mail on the counter. Electric bill. Water bill. A letter from an old friend from college.

  A hand-addressed envelope. No postage. The sender was in town and wanted to make sure she knew it.

  Shiloh dropped the envelope and found her gaze immediately drawn to the window several feet from her. The woods—though they were far in the distance—would make good cover for someone wanting to hide. She felt her skin crawl at the knowledge that she could be standing in the crosshairs of someone’s sniper rifle.

  She pulled the cord and dropped the blinds, startling at the crash they made as the bottom landed on the windowsill. Every sense went on alert as Shiloh chided herself for being so careless. Someone had tried to kill her just days ago and she’d gone about life as though it was business as usual. This wasn’t the time to relax. Relaxing got you killed.

  She turned, studied the envelope where it sat on the counter. Shiloh weighed her options. Even in a department as small as Treasure Point’s, the police station would have tools she didn’t have to confirm or deny whether anything dangerous could be sealed inside. But the contents of the letter might include information about her past that she wasn’t ready to share. Did she take the risk?

  She eyed the envelope again. It was stupid to handle this herself. She knew it was. She knew it when she walked to the cabinet under the kitchen sink where she kept her latex gloves, and when she pulled the collar of her shirt over her mouth and nose as she gently unsealed the letter.

  Once it was open, she let out a breath. No suspicious substances, nothing out of the ordinary except for the note inside.

  Forget about the past and the people from your past. It won’t do anyone any good for you to keep remembering. You don’t want to end up like your cousin.

  Shiloh choked out a muffled sob at the mention of her cousin. Annie had been just shy of her thirtieth birthday. Too young—much, much too young—to die in the line of duty. But her cousin had eaten, slept and breathed law enforcement and given each case everything she had had. In this instance, that had been her life.

  The room spun, and Shiloh closed her eyes to escape it, shoving the note back inside the envelope as she did so. The tone didn’t seem blatantly threatening. The first part seemed almost concerned about her; the last line was the only one to speak of danger.

  Something didn’t feel right. Shiloh shook her head and opened her eyes. Why would this person try to kill her and then send her a warning note? In situations like this, the crimes and attacks usually escalated; they didn’t go backward in terms of threat level, as this did. She searched her mind for explanations, something that would make everything clear, but found nothing. Were they toying with her? Trying to confuse and scare her?

  Shiloh didn’t know.

  She left the mail on the counter and walked to her bedroom. She’d take a hot shower, read the book she was in the middle of and see if she could make sense of everything happening in her life. The resurgence of the threat she’d thought had dissipated, Adam’s reappearance in her life... It was all too much to take in within a few days.

  Yet again she wondered if the two were connected but dismissed the idea. Whoever was threatening her had no connection to Adam—she was certain of that. Adam may be a lot of things—she could make a long, insulting list—but he’d never threaten or attack her. That made one person—two, if she counted the chief—in this town that she could trust if she needed help.

  As much as Shiloh preferred to rely on herself, she knew it was smart to have contingency plans. Too bad the one man she felt she could trust the most was the one she’d handed her heart to, only to have it stomped to bits and then returned.

  Shiloh turned the shower on to a scalding temperature and breathed in the steam. She always felt better after a good, long shower. Even though these were bigger problems than she’d faced in a while, it would help with those, too, at least a little.

  Shiloh was in the middle of shampooing her hair when she heard the first rumble of thunder in the distance. Her long, relaxing shower would have to be a quick one. She hurried her pace and tried to calm the pounding of her heart as the thunder grew louder and more frequent. By the time she had showered and then dressed, rain pelted her little house, and thunder shook the windows violently.

  It was a fitting end for the afternoon she’d had, and Shiloh was confident of one thing: it was going to be a very long night.

  * * *

  Adam sat in his rented house, listening to the howling storm trying to find its way inside. It had succeeded in the kitchen via a leak in the corner of the ceiling. He’d have to fix that once it dried.

  He made his way to the garage, eager to work out the tension of the day on his boxing bag. He’d hung it up Sunday afternoon after going back to Savannah following church to pick up his dog, his belongings, which he’d put in a storage unit after moving from Atlanta, and a U-Haul trailer. He hadn’t boxed seriously since he’d finished college, but it was the best way he knew to burn off stress. It also helped him focus while he prayed, especially if he was wrestling with something.

  Tonight it was Shiloh.

  He’d seen her in town once or twice, but they hadn’t spoken since that first day. Not that it seemed to matter to Adam’s heart or mind. He kept thinking of her, of the way things used to be. Wondering if she was in danger now. Wishing he could do something to protect her if she was. His tumultuous thoughts about her made it difficult for him to focus on anything else.

  He’d been in love with her once—before she’d broken his heart by leaving him behind. It had been a shock to see her again, putting his emotions in turmoil. But he wasn’t one to let feelings overrule his common sense. They were at different places in life now. He’d seen a hardness in her eyes that hadn’t been there before, and he knew he’d changed, too. It wasn’t as if picking up where they’d left off was a good idea or an option at all.

  Besides, she’d run away from him once. He wasn’t exactly eager to experience that again, especially when he wasn’t clear on all the details of why she’d left. Everything had been perfect in their relationship; but in the last six months of S
hiloh’s cousin’s life, things had started to change between him and Shiloh. The three of them had all been friends, but eventually Shiloh and Annie had started getting together alone and making it clear that he wasn’t welcome. Shiloh had given only vague answers when he’d asked about their evenings. Now he wondered if he should have pressed her more.

  And then there had been that blowup in his dad’s office, days after Annie’s death, when Shiloh had gone to his dad for help, and he’d told her that what she was planning—becoming a cop to find her cousin’s killers herself and pursue justice—was wrong, even unbiblical for a woman.

  That seemed to be the moment things ended for them.

  He punched the bag hard.

  He pulled back to do it again when his cell phone rang. He slowed his breathing and answered. It was a man from his church whose teenage daughter was about to have emergency surgery for appendicitis. From what Adam gathered, it sounded as though the situation was under control, but people liked to have a pastor around in those cases.

  He ran upstairs and jumped in the shower, ignoring the crashing thunder and deciding getting struck by lightning while wet in his bathroom would be better than going out in public smelling as though he’d been working out for an hour.

  Adam felt relieved that the man had called and had given Adam an excuse to stop thinking about Shiloh in particular and women in law enforcement in general. For tonight he was grateful to put them both out of his mind.

  FOUR

  Shiloh was beyond ready to get to work the next morning. The storm the night before had set her on edge. Along with the threatening note, the weather had unearthed memories she’d thought long buried. The crashing thunder had sounded the same as it had on the night Annie had been killed. Shiloh had lain awake all night, caught between the past and the present. Even if she’d been inclined to heed the warnings of the note found in her mailbox, she couldn’t forget the past. It was etched in her memory with the clarity of a lightning flash.