by Lauren Berg
"Where are we going?" Laura asked.
"There's a little place down the street. Mexican food. You game?"
"I love Mexican food. Let's go."
Cain reached for her hand, and Laura smiled as she threaded her fingers through his. They walked in silence for a block, and then she said, "Tell me something about yourself. Something that has nothing to do with Edith von Farron or the Seaside Inn or her disappearance. Heck, tell me something that doesn't have anything to do with reporting."
"Well, my middle name is Stanley. My favorite color is yellow. And I have nine brothers, and one sister."
"Cain Stanley McGrath, huh? Nice."
"What's your middle name?"
"That doesn't seem relevant," Laura said.
"That bad, huh?"
"No, not really. So, what do you want to know about me?" she asked.
"Anything. Everything. Tell me what's your favorite thing to do in your free time?"
"Free time. What's that?"
"No, seriously."
"Oh, um, okay. I like to read. I'm sort of boring that way." Laura shrugged.
"What do you like to read?" he asked.
"Crime novels. Mysteries. Stuff like that."
"So this investigation is right up your alley, huh?"
"I thought we weren't going to talk about work," Laura grumbled. "No, it's a lot different to read about this kind of thing, than it is to be involved in it." They fell silent for a while. Then she asked, "Have the police talked to you?"
"Yeah. I get the impression they're talking to everyone who had or was supposed to have had any contact with Edith in the past few days."
"They want to talk to me again. I guess that's why I'm working so hard to get the story, sort of sleuthing on my own, you know?"
Cain was quiet for so long that Laura finally looked up at him. "You know," he said, "this is exactly why we should be working on this story together. We could cover more ground."
Laura sucked in a breath. This was exactly why she hadn't wanted to talk about work stuff. She should have known that he'd bring up Edith. Heck, Laura couldn't get it out of her mind for more than three seconds at a time. Still, she didn't want to team up with him. She liked him. She was attracted to him. She appreciated what he'd done for her earlier, but she wasn't sure she could trust him. They'd only met two days earlier, and Laura wasn't someone to jump into something like a relationship, professional or romantic, with anyone she didn't know extremely well.
"I don't know," she said. "This story seems to be taking all kinds of twists and turns that I'm not sure I'm ready to follow. Adding another person will just complicate things. I'm sorry."
"Don't be," Cain said. "You'll change your mind eventually. I can tell."
Laura was about to say something when she caught sight of someone. "Hey," she whispered, "isn't that Benjamin Whitaker?" She pointed down the street.
"Yeah, I think so."
"Let's follow him," she said.
"Are you serious? Do you have a death wish?" Cain sounded incredulous, and Laura tossed him a look.
"Are you sure that you're a real reporter?"
"Fine," he grumbled. "But you stay behind me."
"Never," Laura said as they took off down the street.
She felt adrenaline flood her system as they walked. Benjamin was moving pretty fast, and for them to keep up, they almost had to jog. As it was later in the day people were flooding the street as they got off work, and this made it harder to keep the other man in sight. Still they managed to tail him until he turned down an alley.
"We can't go down there," Cain said. "You do remember what happened at the pier, don't you? That was only two hours ago. I shouldn't have asked you to go out. I should be taking you to the hospital."
"Oh my gosh, Cain, stop. I'm fine. You saved me, and I'm fine. Right now we need to see where Benjamin Whitaker is going. If we know where he is, maybe we can go to the police. We can do that together, but for love’s sake, let's go."
Cain smiled at her, which made her stop in her tracks. She hadn't expected that reaction, and it wasn't completely appropriate. "You are hilarious, but you're right. We need to go to the police, and knowing his whereabouts and what he's doing makes a huge difference."
"Thank you," Laura said as they headed into the alley ... only to find it empty. Disappointment, hot and bitter, descended on her and she let out a slow breath. "Maybe we should just head back to the hotel.”
Laura felt dejected as Cain kissed her forehead before she stepped off the elevator. They hadn't gotten any farther, and her head wasn't any clearer than when she'd left the hotel. She wasn't sure she wanted to face Amy at the moment either.
But there sat her best friend as soon as she stepped into the room. Amy jumped up from her chair, and crossed the short distance in a few steps. "I'm so sorry that I didn't tell you about Benjamin before," she said. "But it was only a few times months ago. It was a total mistake."
Laura exhaled. "He tried to kill me earlier."
"What?" Amy's shriek rang in Laura's ears.
Laura stepped away, and walked over to the sofa where she slumped down. She then explained about her trip down to the dock, and spying on Cain and Benjamin. When she got finished, Amy had tears streaming down her face. "I'm so sorry. Why didn't you tell me right away? Have you gone to the police? Is that where you were?"
The questions were interrupted by hiccups and sobs, and Laura found herself feeling calmer than she had all day. Her thoughts peaked into one clear thought. She could use Amy's old relationship with Benjamin to draw him out.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Laura slipped down to the hotel bar where she'd texted Cain to meet her. He was seated in the same place they'd met earlier, and he seemed to sense her presence before she was there because he turned around to smile at her. After their disastrous attempt at dinner--she was loathe to call it a date because if that was their official first date, any relationship that came out of it was doomed to be a disaster--Cain had been so quiet that she wondered if he even liked her in that way. She felt like such a junior high girl just thinking the thought that she should write him a note asking him if he wanted to be her boyfriend, check an option: yes, no, maybe.
But from the way he smiled at her at that moment, she knew he felt some attraction to her.
When she sat down he asked, "So what was this big news that you couldn't wait to tell me until morning?"
She grinned at his teasing tone and shook her head. "It isn't so much the news as the idea I got. What if we use Amy and Benjamin's relationship to draw him out?"
Cain frowned, his eyebrows knit together, but he slowly nodded. "I'm not sure using your best friend as bait is a good idea, but I admit I don't have a better one. You really think we need to find Benjamin? Couldn't we just go to the police?"
Now Laura frowned back at him. "You seem awfully chicken. I'm the one he tried to kill."
"He pulled a gun on me," Cain protested.
Laura raised her eyebrow and cocked her head to one side. "Sure, but he’ll do anything. Aren't you curious why he did that? His motive for killing Edith just doesn't add up, does it?"
"Whoa, wait a minute. He never admitted to anything. Why are you jumping to conclusions like that?"
Laura couldn't help but stare at Cain in dumbfounded silence. "Um ... because he tried to kill me?"
"Right, but...”
From his tone Laura's suspicions were raised. He was awfully quick to jump to Benjamin's defense despite the fact that she had nearly drowned, and he had been the one to save her. Add to that the fact that he'd gotten to Benjamin before she did, and it almost seemed like the two of them had known each other before this morning. Laura chewed her lower lip. What if Cain was involved in Edith's death somehow? His motivation would be the same as hers. If he got the inside scoop then he'd be able to go just about anywhere he wanted.
But did she think that Cain was really capable of hurting an innocent, old woman or plotting her demise?
It was either him or Benjamin, and the other man's motive was just as shifty.
Laura accepted the drink from the bartender that Cain had ordered for her. "Thank you," she said as she forced a smile. "And you're right. In the morning we can go to the police, and take care of this whole thing. For now we should just enjoy the night.
****
The next morning Laura woke bleary eyed, feeling headachy and nauseous. As she turned over on her pillow her face rolled onto a piece of paper. She squinted at the squiggly writing, and recognized that it was from Amy. Her phone started buzzing, and when she grabbed it from the night stand, she saw that her best friend was calling her.
"I'm coming," she mumbled into the phone as she rolled out of bed.
Pulling her hair into a smooth ponytail, she threw on jeans and a t-shirt. Amy's summons for a massage in the hotel's spa was actually a welcome respite. She and Cain had spent the remainder of the time at the bar chatting about innocuous things, and her confusion had only grown. She genuinely liked this man. He was smart and funny, even if he was a bit of a coward about pursuing dangerous people. He had been brave when it counted, yet she didn't completely trust him.
Her head still felt fuzzy as she rode the elevator down to the lobby. If Cain had indeed gotten his interview appointment with Edith through Benjamin, then why had the other man pulled the gun? Could something have gone wrong with their plan? What kind of plan had they come up with?
The questions made her head throb all the more as she tried to work out the answers. She hadn't wanted to wake Amy up to talk about any of her concerns or plans, but she hoped that after their massages, the two of them could sit down for a heart to heart. Apparently there were a number of things the two of them hadn't been honest about. Amy was the only other person in Laura's life who knew about her sleuthing. It wasn't that she was embarrassed about her amateur detective work, but she did find that it compromised her work when she talked about it. A good reporter should never give away her secrets. That was the other problem she had talking to Cain as extensively as she had. He was, by the very nature of his job, her rival.
She sighed as she entered the spa. The girl at the front desk smiled at her. "Ms. Madison is waiting for you. If you'd like to change into a robe, the dressing rooms are right over here."
Laura thanked her and headed to undress. Amy liked to do things in the most extravagant way possible. That probably meant that the massages would be with weird hot rocks and girls standing on their backs, digging into their knotted muscles with their toes. It didn't sound appealing, but if Laura could relax for even a few minutes, she'd be happy. The stress of this investigation/report was starting to fray her nerves. Add to that her complicated feelings about Cain, and she was just a bundle of frenetic energy that was threatening to detonate at any moment. She had just gotten her underwear off when the fire alarm started to blare. She grabbed a towel, and headed out of the dressing room.
"This way please," the front desk girl was calling as she directed the guests across the space to an emergency exit.
Laura wrapped her arms around herself as she cinched the robe tighter in the front. She was acutely aware of the fact that she was very naked beneath the thick terrycloth. The group of spa patrons huddled together on one of the lower decks that overlooked the bay. Laura wondered where Amy was, but before she could look for her best friend, she heard a familiar voice.
“Well, well, well, it looks as if my plan worked.”
Laura turned to see Cain striding toward her. She raised an eyebrow, feeling slightly alarmed by his word choice, but knowing that he was too smart to have anything to do with the pulled fire alarm. The rush of pleasure she felt at the sight of him was undeniable, though, and she looked at the ground to avoid catching his gaze. When their eyes met she knew she’d explode in a hot blush like a volcano, not really the most attractive position to be in since she was also in such a state of undress.
“And what plan was that?”
“My plan to see you naked,” Cain said as he dropped his voice so only she could hear him.
The flush crept up her neck, but she couldn’t keep the smile off her face. “Not very smooth,” she countered. “Considering the fact that I am, in fact, not naked. I do have a robe on after all. So you’ll have to do better than that next time.”
She looked up at Cain through lowered lashes, and a smirk crossed his face. “At least I get a next time. If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. That’s my motto.”
Laura knew she needed to gain some distance from Cain or she wouldn’t be able to think straight. Even though she was attracted to him, she couldn’t let that cloud her vision. Her interview skills were sharp, and more than that, she knew that her intuition was normally right on. If she allowed herself to be distracted by whatever positive things she saw in Cain, she could miss the subtle—and even the not so subtle—clues that could connect him to Edith’s disappearance and presumed death.
“So, where were you when the fire alarm went off? You can guess where I was.” She turned her gaze back to the hotel. From their vantage point in the back she couldn’t see any smoke or flames, but the resort was massive.
“The café. I was trying to send my story to my editor, but I didn’t get the chance.”
“I’ve been meaning to ask you, who do you work for?”
Cain cleared his throat. “Fuel.”
Laura’s eyes widened as she turned back toward him. “I had no idea. That’s pretty cool. So what angle did you take, if you don’t mind my asking?”
“I don’t mind at all, as a matter of fact. I just went with a straight forward portrait of Edith. We’re running it as an in memoriam.” Cain pushed his hands into his pockets, and avoided her eyes.
“Oh. But they haven’t found her body.” She felt lame for saying it out loud, but she wasn’t convinced that Edith was gone. Something about it all felt off. She suspected a kidnapping, but as the days went on without a ransom demand, she had to admit she might be wrong.
“And they might not never find it. My editor wanted to be the first on the story.”
“Fuel often is,” Laura said. She’d often thought about trying to get a job at the magazine, but her profile felt weak in comparison to the writers who boasted resumes that included interviews with world leaders and rock stars. Working features didn’t give one those impressive stories, and the interview with Edith could have been her in. Laura frowned and chewed on her lip. Jerry wouldn’t be happy that someone else was publishing a story before them. She’d have to put something together later.
“Laura! There you are! I’ve been looking for you everywhere.” Amy’s voice cut through the air. When her best friend got within a few feet she stopped short and gave Laura a look. “Oh, I see.”
Laura knew that Amy was intending to leave them alone, but she was going to use her bestie as a means of escape. Cain was overwhelming at the moment. She needed to clear her head. “I need to go,” she muttered, trying to give him a smile, but it came out as a grimace.
When she caught up with Amy, she tucked her arm through her friend’s, linking their elbows. “Don’t ask me why I’m not hanging out with Cain still. For one thing, I have nothing on under this robe, and that’s making me feel awkward.”
“Please, being the naked one is rarely a disadvantage with a man like Cain,” Amy said.
“Maybe, but he’s on my suspect list.”
“What?”
“No, seriously. He found Benjamin faster than he should have. It makes sense if he was somehow involved with him to get rid of Edith. Money and a story. That’s a pretty lethal combination. Besides, he always seems to show up at just the right moment.”
“Come on, Laura, you can’t really believe that he had anything to do with Edith’s murder.”
“Disappearance,” she corrected. “Everyone keeps assuming that she’s dead, but the police have never said she’s dead. They only reported large quantities of blood found.”
Amy rolled her ey
es. “Whatever. It’s the same thing. I just can’t see a guy like Cain doing something like that. He’s got a great job. He’s hot, which means he never lacks for company, if you know what I mean. He was supposed to have an interview with Edith, wasn’t he? An Edith von Farron interview is worth more than a second hand story about her death.”
Just as Laura was about to respond, Vincent ran out of the hotel, looking frantic. Amy reached out, and grabbed his arm. “What’s going on?” she demanded.
Vincent looked at her with wild eyes. “The hotel has been robbed. There was no fire. Someone tripped the alarms to rob the safe. Many guest rooms were left wide open. We’re going to be making the announcement soon. I recommend you ladies go up to your suite, and check your belongings. If you do find anything missing, report it to the front desk immediately. Nothing like this has ever happened at the Seaside Inn before. We pride ourselves on guests’ safety above all else.”
“I certainly hope you’ll have an insurance agent here by the time I come down from my room. I want to speak to someone about this breach. Where were the security guards?”
“We thought there was a fire,” Vincent said, failing to conceal his annoyance with Amy. “Our main priority was getting people out of the building.”
“Whatever,” Amy said.
Laura knew that her friend was going to keep railing against the hotel manager if she didn’t pull her away. “Are we allowed back in now, Mr. Ferrimo?”
Vincent looked startled, but he nodded. “We’ve received the ‘all clear’ from the fire department. Please be careful, ladies.”
“Come on,” Laura said, pulling gently on Amy’s arm. “Let’s go check our suite.”
Amy muttered all the way up to their floor, and when they reached their open door, she swore loud enough for the whole hotel to hear. The two women split apart as they headed to their own rooms. Laura could see quickly that her things were untouched. She took the opportunity to pull on fresh clothes. As she was shimmying into her jeans, she remembered that she’d left her other clothes in the changing room along with her phone. She needed to get back down there immediately. All of her notes were on her phone. Without them, she was lost.
