Death at First Sight

by Lena Gregory

  She stopped halfway to the car. She should let someone know where she was going. She thought of Luke but, for all she knew, he was the killer. Heck, she wasn’t even 100 percent sure Bee wasn’t the killer. But somehow Bee seemed different now. Less dangerous. She could call Stephanie, but Tank would be all over her before she got anywhere near the lighthouse. She could send a text to Stephanie’s cell. But Stephanie used the phone for an alarm, so she slept with it beside the bed.

  Bee. Bee turned his phone off at night while he was working, so chances were good he wouldn’t get the text until morning. She typed out a quick text to Bee. Went to Bay Pointe lighthouse to meet Jay. That oughta do it. Now, at least sometime tomorrow someone would know where to start looking for her body. She shoved the phone in her pocket and ran to the car before she could change her mind.

  Once she had Beast settled in the backseat, she sat and stared at nothing. Was she crazy? Running off to a deserted area of the island at three in the morning? Heck, every area of the island was deserted at three in the morning. Even during the height of tourist season the beach bars closed up by two.

  She dropped her head onto the wheel. How had she gotten involved in all of this mess? All she wanted to do was be left alone. What would Jay do if she didn’t show up for their meeting? Come and find her? A chill blasted through her.

  She shifted into reverse and turned to Beast’s questioning gaze.

  “It’ll be okay, boy.” She patted his head, and he lay down on the seat.

  She drove slowly, allowing herself time to change her mind. There were too many questions that needed to be answered. Where was Ellie? She didn’t just disappear into thin air. Ellie never missed being home to put Jay’s dinner on the table. And why would Jay be arrested? Surely Chief Langdon wouldn’t arrest him if he didn’t do anything wrong.

  Of course, he’d brought her in for questioning, and she hadn’t done a single thing. She stepped on the gas.

  19

  The Bay Pointe Lighthouse sat atop a hill on a narrow strip of land that jutted out into Gardiners Bay. Cass drove slowly past Mystical Musings and up the dark, winding road that would bring her onto the small peninsula. She pulled into the deserted lot, gravel and seashells crunching loudly beneath the tires.

  Beast popped his head up at the noise.

  “It’s okay, boy. Lie down.” She backed into a spot against the low, sagging split-rail fence—in case she needed to make a quick getaway—and scanned the empty lot. Nothing. No sign of Jay or anyone else. She shifted into park, but left the car running, and climbed out.

  Where could he be? She eased the door shut quietly, pulled the cell phone from her pocket, and glanced at the time. It had taken only half an hour to get there, even with the extra time she’d spent driving slowly and beating herself up over whether or not to go. She should have taken Jay’s number from the caller ID at the house, but she hadn’t thought of it. Now she couldn’t even call him back . . . unless she went home first. She blew out a breath.

  The small lot was lit by only two streetlights. The big light atop the lighthouse farther up the peninsula scanned the bay, illuminating sections of the darkness briefly before moving on, but it didn’t cast any light down toward her. Fear gripped her chest. She looked up the hill toward the lighthouse. Nothing. No sense of movement anywhere. That’s it. I’m outta here.

  She turned toward the car, but her hand froze partway to the door handle. She looked up the hill again. He’d said the lighthouse, not the parking lot. Dang.

  Crunch! Crunch! Crunch! She winced with every step she took across the lot. Nothing like announcing your position. She held her breath, trying to listen for any sound other than the crunching of her footsteps. The rustling of leaves as the light wind blew through the trees, the lapping of the choppy waves against the shore, and crickets chirping. The usual sounds of night on the island. Nothing sinister.

  She blew out a sigh of relief when she finally stepped onto the concrete walkway. A headache beat at her temples, but she didn’t dare rub it, too scared of blocking her peripheral vision. She hurried up the walkway to the lighthouse, then followed the path around the back. She’d go around once and then head back to the car. If Jay wanted to talk to her after that, well . . . he was out of luck.

  She crept through the darkness, careful to stay on the walkway. As she rounded the side of the lighthouse, wind tore through her hair, whipping it across her face.

  “Psst.”

  She shoved her hair back, holding it with her hand, and searched the darkness. A row of bushes bordered the walkway. Past that was the small cliff that dropped toward the giant rocks bordering the beach below. She squinted into the darkness.

  “Psst.”

  She kept her voice a hushed whisper. “Jay?”

  “Yeah. Come around through the opening in the bushes.”

  The image of her body plummeting over the cliff and landing broken on the rocks kept her from obeying his order. “No way, Jay. I’m here. Now start talking or I’m leaving.”

  “Come through the opening. We can sit against this side of the bushes.”

  She crept forward. This was crazy. This is the kind of stupid everyone talks about when the woman in the horror movie creeps up the stairs in the dark house, where ten people have already been killed, by herself.

  She rounded the edge and sat with her back pressed against the bushes, right next to the opening. She pulled her knees to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. “That’s it, Jay. I’m not taking another step. Now, spit it out, or I’m outta here.”

  “Thank you for coming, Cass.” Jay crawled out from beneath the bushes a little farther down the path.

  Wow. He really was paranoid.

  He moved closer to her and sat, knees to his chest. “I need help, and I don’t know who else to turn to.”

  Cass shivered. The wind whipping over the top of the hill off the bay felt much colder, and she pulled her jacket tighter around her. “What happened?”

  Now that she was there, sitting next to Jay, some of the fear began to release its hold. He seemed broken, afraid . . . not the same man who’d barreled through the door of her shop intent on intimidating her.

  “I didn’t kill anyone, Cass. You have to believe me.” His voice held a pleading quality that bordered on whining.

  “Why should I believe you?”

  “Did you kill anyone?”

  “Of course not.”

  “Chief Langdon sure thinks you did.”

  Touché. She waited silently for him to continue.

  “I know you’ve been asking questions, investigating Marge’s murder on your own. I figure you’re trying to clear your name, and I thought maybe you could help me.”

  “All right. Why don’t you start at the beginning? I don’t even understand what the problem is.”

  Jay took a deep breath. He moved closer to her, and his rumpled clothes and wild hair came into view. Jay was a mess.

  “I didn’t kill anyone . . . but I can see where people might think I did.”

  Anxiety tightened her chest.

  “It’s no secret Marge Hawkins and I pretty much hated each other. And, well . . .”

  He leaned closer, and she gagged on the combination of body odor and alcohol. Was this the same man who always strutted around town with a woman on his arm and no regard for his wife?

  “I have a confession to make.” Jay shoved a hand through his tangled mess of hair. “I’m not proud of this, but . . . the woman who was killed at the hotel was . . . a friend . . .”

  Cass’s stomach roiled. Bile crept up the back of her throat.

  “My sister took Ellie to the city for a few days, and I spent the weekend with my friend.” Jay dropped his head onto his knees and clasped his hands over the back of his neck. “I know it wasn’t right. Ellie deserves so much better than me. I’m so sorry. All I
want to do is make it up to her, but I can’t find her.” He sobbed, but something about the sob sounded off. Phony. Contrived.

  “So, what do you want from me?” Cass shifted to get upwind of Jay.

  “Don’t you see? You have to tell me where Ellie is.” Jay shifted onto his knees, grabbed both of her upper arms, and shook her. “If Ellie doesn’t show up soon, they’re going to think I killed her, too.”

  Sheer terror seized Cass. Her head exploded with pain. A giant vise squeezed her chest. No words could move past the lump in her throat. Too? What was he saying?

  Jay’s mouth dropped open and his eyes went wide. “I didn’t . . . I mean . . .” He released her arms, sat back on his feet, shoved both hands into his hair, and lowered his head.

  Cass fell back onto her butt when he let go. She worked desperately to force air into her lungs. In, out, in, out . . . She choked the lump back down her throat. She crab-walked toward the opening in the bushes, her gaze glued on Jay.

  When he lifted his head, she froze. He held his hands up, palms toward her. “I didn’t mean I killed Marge and that other woman. I meant they’d think Ellie was dead, too. And they’d think I killed her.”

  Cass opened her mouth to speak but couldn’t force words through the dryness. Between the absolute fear and the sand being whipped into her open mouth by the wind, she couldn’t get the words out. She sat, frozen in terror, and stared at him, choking on the sand. Finally, she managed to snap her mouth shut.

  “I love my wife, Cass, and I’m worried about her.”

  He loves himself, and he’s worried about going to jail.

  “I have to find her and make sure she’s all right.”

  He has to find her to cover his ass.

  “Will you help me?”

  Not a chance, buddy. She nodded mutely.

  Jay smiled, his teeth glowing a sickly white in the darkness. “Great. Where is she?”

  “I-I-I don’t know.” Her throat hurt with the effort to speak.

  “You don’t know, or you won’t tell me?” Jay’s jaw clenched.

  She shook her head frantically. “I really don’t know. I haven’t heard from her.”

  Jay balled his fists and pressed them to his eyes. “All right. Where do we go from here?”

  We? Keeping her eyes firmly on Jay, Cass pushed to her feet.

  He stood as well.

  She had to get out of there. Once she was away from him, she could think more clearly. Maybe she’d just call the police and let them handle it. Not Chief Langdon, but she could tell Tank. “I’m not sure. I need time to think.”

  With her eyes more adjusted to the darkness and fear magnifying all of her senses, she had no trouble making out Jay’s frown.

  “I don’t have time.”

  “You woke me up in the middle of the night, dragged me out of bed, and dumped all of this on me, and now you don’t even want to give me time to think about what to do?”

  “How do I know you won’t go to the cops?”

  How could she give him an honest answer when she had every intention of doing just that? “I’m not exactly Chief Langdon’s favorite person right now.” That was true enough.

  “I guess.” Jay studied her. “You think I did it, don’t you?”

  Now that she was standing a few feet away from him, centered in the opening between the bushes, her confidence began to return. “I honestly don’t know what to think.”

  “I’m guilty of a lot of things, Cass, but murder isn’t one of them.”

  She didn’t say anything.

  “All right. How can I convince you I didn’t kill anyone?”

  The memory of Jay carrying a . . . something out of the hotel came to her. “What were you carrying out of the hotel the other day?” She clapped a hand over her mouth. What was she, crazy?

  “What day?” He actually sounded sincerely confused.

  Could she have been mistaken? She lowered her hand slowly. “I s-saw you leaving the hotel the other day with a . . . large bag or something over your shoulder. You threw it into the back of your truck and disappeared.” She swallowed hard and backed up one step, then another, ready to run if need be. “The same day the body turned up on the beach.” Her teeth chattered, from the cold or nerves, she had no idea which. At the rate she was going, she was probably on the verge of a nervous breakdown. She held her ground. Waited.

  Jay laughed. It started as a chuckle but built into something almost maniacal. She turned and ran for the car.

  “Hey, Cass. Wait.” Jay’s footsteps pounded behind her.

  She ran faster. The wind tore through her hair, whipping it into her face, blocking her view. Her jacket billowed around her, slowing her down. She leaned forward and tried to propel herself faster. The wind rushing through her ears wasn’t loud enough to drown out the steady rhythm of Jay’s footsteps, the heavy panting of his breath—coming closer.

  Cass hit the gravel parking lot, and her foot slid out behind her. Her forward momentum wouldn’t allow her to stop. She went down hard. She caught herself with her hands before she face-planted into the gravel, but she still managed to scrape her chin. A weight on her back crushed her for an instant before Jay rolled over and off her.

  She rested her cheek against the ground, unable to do anything but suck air and sand into her straining lungs. She lay in the gravel, seashells poking into her hands and cheek, listening to Jay heaving in air beside her and Beast’s frantic barking.

  Jay recovered first. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you.” He struggled to his feet. “Are you all right?” He bent over and reached for her.

  Cass rolled over twice and stopped on her back, looking up at him.

  He held up his hands.

  Cass scooted backward until she was sitting, then climbed slowly to her feet.

  “Please. Come with me to m—”

  “There’s no way I’m going anywhere with you, Jay.”

  Frantic barking pulled her attention, and she looked over at the car. Beast was barking nonstop, alternating between pressing his head against the window and pacing back and forth across the seat. She ran for the car. She cracked the door and reached a hand in to pet him, not wanting to risk him escaping and tearing Jay to shreds. “It’s all right, boy. Everything’s all right.” She eyed Jay warily.

  “I understand you won’t come with me, but if you could just wait here, I’ll go get my truck and prove I wasn’t carrying a body out of the hotel.”

  Cass sighed, too exhausted and emotionally drained to argue. “I’ll be here for five minutes. That’s it.”

  “Thank you.” Jay backed to the edge of the parking lot without taking his eyes off her, then he turned and ran into the woods.

  “Come here, boy.” She opened the door all the way, and Beast jumped out. Cass dropped onto the driver’s seat. The big dog whined and lowered his head into her lap. Twisting her hands through his long fur brought her as much comfort as it seemed to bring him. “It’s all right. You’re a good boy.” She sat sideways, feet on the ground, and rested her cheek against the seat. “Ouch.” She pulled down the sun visor and looked at her face in the mirror. Great.

  A large scrape marred her chin. A variety of small scratches crisscrossed her left cheek. And a large bruise darkened the skin over her left eye. How did I get that?

  The sound of a motor reached her before headlights stabbed through the darkness. She stood and put Beast back in the car as Jay’s truck rounded the last curve and came into view. No way was she moving away from her car again. She stood still and waited for him to back the truck up beside her.

  Jay jumped out, ran around the back, and lifted the back of the SUV open. “See?”

  She leaned forward, trying to keep one eye on him and one on whatever he was showing her in the back of the truck. Even in the dim light cast by the overhead light in the mi
ddle of the SUV, Cass could make out a shape similar to what she’d seen him carrying over his shoulder.

  Despite her fear and the throbbing of . . . well, pretty much her whole body, her interest was piqued. “What is it?”

  Jay grinned and, for just an instant, beneath the glow of the streetlight, the charm that attracted so many women shone through. “It’s a carpet.”

  Her mouth fell open.

  “They were remodeling one of the rooms at the hotel.” He gestured toward the bundle in the back of the truck. “This was going in the garbage, so I grabbed it for Emmett.”

  “Emmett?”

  “Yeah. When I got to work on Saturday, the carpet in the waiting room had been ripped up. The concrete floor makes the whole room cold, so I figured he could use it.”

  She frowned as she tried to bring Emmett’s waiting room into focus. She could clearly remember the floor in the garage, the cleanliness standing out in her mind. But no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t recall if there was a carpet in the waiting room when she was last there. Of course, she had been kind of preoccupied. “What happened to Emmett’s carpet?”

  Jay shrugged. “I have no idea. You know Emmett.”

  She did know Emmett. He did things on a whim whenever the mood struck, even if it didn’t appear to make any sense. Another question crept in, interrupting her confusion about Emmett. “What were you doing at the hotel, anyway?”

  Jay looked at his feet. “Visiting a friend.”

  “The friend who turned up dead?”

  He nodded. Apparently the dead woman wasn’t too good a friend, because Jay didn’t seem the slightest bit upset about her body being found. He might not be guilty of murder—though Cass wasn’t completely convinced of his innocence—but he was guilty of being the creep Cass always knew he was.

  Thoughts whirled around in her head. If Jay didn’t kill Marge and the other woman, then who did? She clearly remembered the words Jay had spoken earlier, the words that had pushed her out the door in the dead of night on what could easily have been a suicide mission. “I know who killed Marge.”