As soon as Troy spotted them, he started waving his arms, hands free of cuffs. Then all at once, Kinsey watched him break into a run, down the ramp and into Kinsey’s arms. “Man, am I ever glad to see you guys. How’d you get me out of there anyway? You know what, I don’t even care. I’m so glad to be outta that place and outside.” He whirled around and gave Logan a hug as enthusiastic as he had Kinsey. He did the same with Mona, who was waiting to give him a chaste peck on the cheek. But Troy was having none of that. He grabbed her around the waist and brought her into his chest. With Derek, Troy simply held out his hand, but his uncle surprised him. Derek threw his arms around Troy’s shoulders. “Man, you’re a sight for sore eyes.”
Kinsey turned Troy around to face her, took hold of his chin, which had a purple bruise on it to go with the shiner under his left eye. “What happened? Did you get into a fight?”
“I got beat on some. But I held my own. Most of the time, anyway,” Troy said with a grin.
Logan slapped him on the back. “I got locked up once during Mardi Gras. Got into a fight with a man dressed up like a clown.”
Troy laughed but there was something about the kid that had changed. The merriment didn’t exactly jive with his eyes. “Well, I don’t ever want to be locked up again. That sucked.”
On impulse, Kinsey grabbed Troy and hugged him again. “I’m so glad you’re out of that place. Listen, there’s a party out at Promise Cove. All you have to do is put in an appearance for a short while and then you can go on your own way. But there’ll be food and cake—along with a lot of people who were in your corner from the start without much prompting from us—those people want to wish you well, Troy.”
“Sounds good to me. I just want to get as far away from this place as I can get.”
Not everyone was thrilled that Troy Dayton had spent only five short weeks locked up.
He intended to make a fuss about that the only way he knew how. He also planned to hold the one person he felt responsible for Troy’s release accountable. Kinsey Wyatt had no business practicing law in the first place. If she had a regular degree, that might be one thing. But she didn’t. Women should never be allowed to compete in a man’s world anyway. They were inferior, emotional beings that were basically good for one thing only, a man’s release. Men needed their bodies. What men didn’t need was a mouthy, demanding, nagging woman at home.
He wasn’t sure yet what to do about the “find.” He didn’t like the idea of sharing his work with the world in such a public way. Everywhere he went in town people were talking about the “body.” It had turned into a spectacle he didn’t appreciate.
From the minute he’d found out Logan Donnelly bought the lighthouse, he’d been afraid the man would eventually stumble upon his secret. He’d have to figure out a way to make him pay for that.
After watching the tender scene unfold outside the jail, he walked to his Cadillac Escalade and slid behind the wheel. He had a party to go to and he didn’t want to be late getting there.
Not only was Promise Cove packed for the Fourth, the place had been decorated especially to welcome Troy back to Pelican Pointe. When Logan made the turn into the long driveway and Troy set his eyes on the red, white, and blue banner, he got tears in his eyes. From the back-seat, sitting between Mona and Derek, Troy struggled for words. “This is all for me? Get out. You guys didn’t have to go to all this trouble for me.”
Kinsey turned in the front seat to look at Troy. She reached out to take his hand in hers. “Oh but we did, Troy. We most definitely did.”
At the sound of Logan’s truck pulling up to the side of the house, people began to pour out the front door to crowd onto the porch. They waited for Troy to crawl out of the backseat of Logan’s truck. When he did, they all noted the tears streaming down his cheeks for real. Troy spotted Margie and Max, Nick and Jordan, Lilly and Wally, Cord and Keegan, Hayden and Ethan Cody, even Ethan’s brother, Brent.
Logan raised his voice as he climbed from behind the wheel. “Troy doesn’t believe this is all for him.”
With that, everyone started clapping their hands together. Nick and Jordan were the first to walk down the steps and Troy met them halfway. But then everyone surrounded him at once. “Why all this for me?”
“We all think you’re pretty special, Troy,” Nick said, slapping him on the back. “You need to start believing that, too.”
For the rest of the evening, people from town came and went. Most of them lined up and waited their turn to speak to Troy and give him a hug. Murphy and Carla Vargas did. Pete Alden and Betty Brinker did. So did Perry Altman, Drea Jennings, Carl and Elaine Knudsen, Frank Martin, Bran and Joy Sullivan, Ricky and Donna Oden, along with most of Cord’s crew from the farm. Troy’s co-workers were all there, including Paul Bonner and his girlfriend, Abby Pointer. Wade Hawkins put in an appearance. Even Aaron came, although his physical strength seemed to lessen a little each day.
Of course, not everyone accepted the invitation. Janie Pointer, Abby’s sister, stayed away using the excuse that she’d been doing Eileen Purvis’ hair far too long to be disloyal to a customer now. Janie also added for Wally’s benefit, that he shouldn’t try to guilt her into coming to a party she didn’t want to attend. Flynn McCready failed to show, as did Joe Ferguson and Doc Prescott.
But the no-shows couldn’t put a damper on Troy’s welcome home celebration.
For three hours children squealed and made noise as kids tend to do. Adults huddled in conversation, some whispered in the corner, while Troy mingled with some of the town’s leading citizens.
As Logan and Kinsey made the rounds, Logan happened to look down at Kinsey and see her almost stumble. “You look exhausted. How much alcohol have you had?”
“I took the one glass of champagne that was offered but never got to drink it. I do feel tired though. Maybe I’m coming down with a summer cold.”
“Kinsey, you’re holding down three jobs. Tomorrow is your first day off since Memorial Day.” He automatically reached out, felt her forehead. “No fever. In all the excitement did you remember to eat?”
“I nibbled on some of Jordan’s canapés.”
“Come on. Let’s get some decent food in you, something besides finger sandwiches,” Logan suggested as he elbowed Carl Knudsen, the pharmacist, from in front of the wine and cheese tray to get to the buffet. Logan eyed the offerings. “What’ll it be? Baked ham or roast beef with some nice green beans or those little corn-on-the-cob things?”
Kinsey scanned the choices. Once again, Jordan had outdone her last event, which had been Scott’s first birthday party, a couple of days earlier. But for some reason she didn’t feel very much like eating. Since she needed to put something in her stomach, she decided on the least offensive thing. “I’ll take a little of that ham and the green beans.”
For the rest of the evening they kept an eagle eye on Troy just to make sure he was dealing with the crowd okay and vice versa. They didn’t want anyone making a scene, at least not tonight. Kinsey and Logan were well aware Troy still had his detractors, people who believed that even with DNA, it had been Troy who had ended Gina’s life. While they understood that, they kept up a steady stream of chatter with most of the guests in an attempt to feel out any that might be hiding a grudge. After all, Gina’s killer was still out there.
But after Margie and Max made an early exit and took Mona with them, Troy’s energy seemed to wane. Ethan and Hayden also had to leave because a fussy Nate refused to settle down.
After that, the revelry began to taper off. Guests began to dwindle to a few stragglers until even those eventually said their goodbyes. Once everyone had gone, Troy tapped Logan on the shoulder and wanted to know, “Derek and Paul told me they found a body in the keeper’s cottage. They said the site was closed. Is that true or were they just pulling my leg? Do I get to come back to work?”
Logan flinched at the question. Troy caught the look and said, “Please don’t tell me you’ve already replaced me.”
Logan looked around the room at the die-hards. Most of Troy’s supporters had hung back, knowing they would need to fill in the gaps at some point. But the core of it would fall on Logan’s shoulders. There was no better time than now to do it. “There are some things you need to know, things that happened over the last five weeks.”
Kinsey came over and put her arm through Troy’s. “It’s true the site is shut down, will be for probably another three days.”
“I don’t understand. Don’t they just take the body out of there to the morgue so we can get things back to normal?”
“It doesn’t work that way, Troy.” Logan took him through a detailed account of what had transpired, how the discovery of mummified remains played a pivotal role in getting him released from jail. It was especially significant since Brent had gone to the district attorney to lay out the details about a serial killer.
Kinsey picked it up from there, presenting the serial killer theory first and foremost and how that had brought Logan back to Pelican Pointe.
“Your sister disappeared? You lived here before? I wish I’d known you then. I did miss a lot,” Troy admitted.
“I was just a kid myself, younger than you are now. But not everyone knows that or why I’m back here, Troy. For now, I’d like to keep it that way. The people in this room know but I don’t want it becoming common knowledge yet.”
“So you don’t want me saying anything to Mona? Is that it?”
“I’d rather you didn’t. I saw your face when Mona left. Are you disappointed she didn’t hang around longer?”
He shrugged. “Some. Okay a lot. But I guess she was tired. I realize she may not want to have anything to do with me now.”
Jordan went over to him. “I don’t think that’s the case at all. But you’ll have to give her some time if it turns out you’re right.” She patted him on the shoulder. “I’ve got to put the kids to bed. You look drained, too, Troy. Would you like to stay here tonight?” Jordan glanced at Logan and smiled wickedly. “I believe Logan’s room is available.”
“Really? I mean, y’all aren’t scared of me? I don’t have my truck either. In fact, it’s still impounded as far as I know.”
Nick shook his head. “If I thought you were a danger, I’d never let you anywhere near my kids. Do you remember when Scott was born, Troy?”
“Sure. We had that big storm. I helped you patch the roof.”
“No, that isn’t quite right. You patched the roof for me. We had a houseful of guests with a newborn baby and a toddler. Jordan had just given birth. You were the only one who showed up to help me. At the time, I’d never been so glad to see anyone pull up in the driveway than I was to see you that day.”
Troy looked embarrassed. “I was out of work, Nick. That day I made the rounds to everybody in town. You were the only one that put me to work.”
“But if it hadn’t been for you, the roof would’ve leaked, which means we might have lost guests, probably would’ve checked out of here never to come back. So if you want to spend the night instead of going back to your place, you’re welcome in this house anytime.”
Troy grinned and looked at Logan. “I guess I won’t ask how come it is you don’t need your room.”
Logan picked up Kinsey’s hand, kissed it. “I’m pretty sure the whole town’s aware of that.”
“By the way, if anyone’s interested, I went to school with Belinda Truitt. We were in tenth grade together. I remember she went missing around the time she turned fifteen.”
“One of the local girls,” Kinsey finished. “Please don’t tell us you were dating her.”
Troy shook his head. “No, Belinda and I never went out. We had a couple of classes together though. But her disappearance was a puzzler.”
Slightly relieved at that and annoyed with herself for thinking the same way the district attorney might, Kinsey asked, “Troy, do you remember anything else about Belinda’s case at all.”
He scratched his blond head. “Just that they found her car at the side of the road like they did Gina’s, but out on the 101. Rumors at school said someone had messed with her car.”
“Wait a minute. That had to be five years ago,” Wally spoke up. “Belinda drove an older model Nissan hatchback as I recall, similar to what you drive, Kinsey. I remember that car. I towed that Altima into my shop. Someone had indeed messed with it by removing her oil cap and adding sand.”
For the first time in five weeks, Kinsey’s heart soared. “If we can connect those two incidents, we might be onto something that I could hand the D.A. Tomorrow we need to go through those police reports again at Ethan’s.”
“Tomorrow’s the Fourth of July, Kinsey. I think Ethan mentioned he and Hayden will be in Santa Cruz the whole day at a barbeque,” Nick said.
“Then I guess we’ll have to wait until the day after.” Kinsey turned back to Troy. “By the way, did either one of your uncles ever own a maroon pickup truck?”
“Not that I know of. Dale rode a motorcycle most of his life. And Derek’s drove his white Tacoma ever since I was a kid.” Troy gestured to Wally. “But this is the guy that pretty much knows what everybody in town drives.”
Wally nodded. “I might be able to make you a list at that. Give me a couple of days. You’re sure it’s maroon?”
“That’s the color the witnesses reported. Not red, maroon.”
“Maroon trucks aren’t all that common around here. If I can’t come up with a fairly accurate record though, I’m sure Lilly and I can go through my dad’s old accounts and come up with who owned what even as far back as twenty-five years ago. Even back then, his shop was the only one around for miles.”
Kinsey and Logan exchanged grins before Logan said, “You know what? We might just figure this thing out after all.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
There were reasons Kinsey thought something didn’t feel right when she woke up the next morning. For one, as Logan had mentioned it was their first day off together since Memorial Day. They’d talked about doing something fun, like motoring over to check out Scott’s Treasure Island, a little speck of land across from the cove. But after getting out of bed, after whipping up pancake batter that had sounded like the perfect start to the day, she’d gotten sick at her stomach and thrown up.
While they both waited for the nausea to pass so they could get on with their outing, there was a knock on the door. When Logan answered it, Troy stood there looking uncomfortable, shifting from one foot to the other. “I’m sorry to bother you guys but I don’t have a way back home. I waited as long as I could for y’all to come down but when you didn’t…I called Derek but he’s not home. I didn’t want to ask Nick and Jordan because let me tell you it’s crazy over there at the main house.”
Logan chuckled. “That’s okay. I felt like that a couple of times. Kinsey’s not feeling well though, that’s why we stayed in. Come on inside and I’ll grab my keys. I’ll take you home.”
When Troy spotted Kinsey still in bed, he whispered, “Thanks. What’s wrong with her?”
“Stomach flu. She mentioned not feeling well last night and it’s hit her hard this morning.” Logan turned back to Kinsey and asked, “Is there anything you want me to pick up while I’m out?”
“No, I think I’ll just curl up here in bed and take a nap.”
Logan leaned over to give her a kiss and muttered, “This is what holding down three jobs, seven days a week will get you. Sick.”
“Stop that and go take Troy home.”
As Logan closed and locked the door behind him, he walked down the steps with Troy. When they got to his truck, he shook his head. “Stubborn woman, she will not give up one of those damn jobs no matter how sick she gets. Watch and see. She’ll get up and go to work tomorrow no matter what she feels like.”
“Leave me out of this ’cause I don’t understand women any better than you do.”
“And you never will. You know why? Because there’s no getting them ever.”
“Does that me
an Kinsey is a lot like Fiona Perez?”
“Oh hell no. Fiona Perez is a manipulative viper with a right hook that makes Joe Frazier look like an amateur.”
“Wow. Really? Then she is the one that broke your hand.”
“She took a damn statuette and cracked my skull open with it. Took sixteen stitches to close. When that wasn’t enough she started hitting me anywhere she could reach.”
“Why’d you marry her?”
Logan sent him a contemptuous glare. “We’re all allowed stupid mistakes, some of us more than others. It’s how we get past them that counts.”
“I’m sorry about the lighthouse. I know you wanted to stick to the schedule. First, my getting arrested made you one man short. And now this body’s discovered in a closet and has you shut down. You know I don’t remember that closet being on the blueprints we looked at. Either that or I don’t know how to read them like I thought I did or what I was looking at.”
Logan took his eyes off the road long enough to stare at Troy. “With everything that was happening that day I never thought one way or the other about it. You’re right though. I’ve got the blueprints in the back. We’ll take a look at them as soon as we get to your place.”
“Why’s that important?”
“Because. Either the Restoration Commission gave me the wrong plans which I doubt or someone went into that keeper’s cottage at some point and purposely walled up that room so no one would ever know it existed.”
It didn’t take long to reach Derek Stovall’s land less than a mile southeast of town. Troy’s home was an old rundown aluminum trailer about fifty yards off the road, well past the main house where Derek lived. Logan noted a few rickety boards acted as a slab of porch.
“It’s not much I know,” Troy said as if embarrassed. “That’s why I need a good steady job to get out of this place.”
“Let me ask you something. I’ve heard some bad things about Derek. I want to know if they’re true.”
“Like what?”
Lighthouse Reef (A Pelican Pointe Novel Book 4) Page 26
