The Cottages on Silver Beach

by RaeAnne Thayne

  “What’s going on?”

  She was so caught up in the moment, she hadn’t realized Elliot must have seen her wild spree as she chased after the boy and had followed them.

  “He was trying to steal your laptop.” She didn’t know if it was the wild burst of exertion or the adrenaline that made her breathless, but she found it pretty disgusting that she didn’t have much more energy than her chubby little dog. Maybe she would have to forgo the chocolate bar Elliot held in his hand.

  Or maybe not.

  “Is that what you were doing?” he asked the boy.

  The kid looked around nervously. His sweatshirt was torn and his hair was shaggy, in need of a trim. Her initial assessment proved to be pretty accurate. He looked about eleven or twelve, though he could have been older and just small for his age.

  “No, dude. I was just—”

  “Were you?” Elliot asked again, his voice harder.

  “I was just playing around, dude. Here. Take it.”

  Out of nowhere, Megan felt a pang of sympathy. The boy had a pinched look around his mouth, and his eyes reminded her of a stray dog that had hung out around the hotel for a few days the month before, until she found a home for it.

  “What’s your name?” she asked.

  The boy’s nervousness was now palpable. “Joey.”

  “You have a last name, Joey?” Elliot asked.

  “Why do you need to know? You have your stupid computer bag. No harm done, right?”

  “This could be a felony, you know, especially if you have a weapon on you. That’s a knife in your pocket, isn’t it?”

  Fear flashed across his features. He looked like he wanted to take off running. To his credit he stood his ground, though Megan had released her hold on his sweatshirt.

  “You a cop?”

  “FBI,” Elliot replied, just as tersely.

  Now the fear twisted into outright terror. The boy’s hands started shaking. “Look, let’s just forget it, dude. Sir,” he corrected. “I made a mistake. It was stupid. I’m sorry. It won’t happen again. Please don’t arrest me.”

  Elliot studied him, his features harsh. “What would you have done with my laptop, if you had been a little faster? Pawned it to buy beer or blow?”

  “No, man. I don’t do that stuff.”

  “Then what?”

  After a long moment, the boy finally sighed. “My brother and me need a computer for homework.”

  Oh.

  Megan’s ridiculously soft heart started to melt, though she knew it was stupid and he was probably lying.

  Elliot wasn’t as easily fooled. “Am I supposed to buy that?”

  “I don’t care if you buy it or not. It’s true. My mom’s laptop died and she doesn’t have the cash to replace it right now.”

  “So you wanted to give her a stolen one?”

  “All our classes give homework on the computer now. Without one at home, we have to go to the library.”

  “What’s wrong with that?”

  “Nothing, except my mom has to work at night since our dad left and I have to babysit my brother and little sister. She’s only three and it’s too hard to take her to the library all the time, especially at night when she’s tired.”

  He looked down at the ground then up at Elliot. “I’m sorry, man. I shouldn’t have taken it. I just saw your bag sitting there in your nice ride and figured you probably had insurance and stuff and could afford another one. I’m sorry. It was wrong. Please don’t tell my mom.”

  “You can’t just take other people’s things, simply because you want something,” Megan said.

  “I know. It was stupid. Are you going to arrest me?”

  Elliot looked to be considering it. Before he could answer, a woman came around the side of the building, clearly looking for something. Or someone. Her eyes widened as she caught their tableau and her features first looked worried, then protective.

  “Joey, what’s going on?”

  The boy’s features paled further as his gaze jumped from Elliot to Megan to his mother. The woman looked tired, with deep circles under her eyes and fatigue lines around her mouth.

  “Uh...” He swallowed hard, obviously trying to come up with an explanation.

  That, if nothing else, convinced Megan he was telling the truth when he explained his reasons for stealing the laptop. He obviously wasn’t a very good liar.

  “You should be very proud of your son,” she said suddenly.

  The woman looked confused. “I...should?”

  “Someone just tried to steal my friend’s laptop but Joey helped us get it back. He’s a good boy, ma’am.”

  She straightened a little, losing some of her fatigue. “He is.”

  “He deserves a reward,” Megan went on. “Don’t you agree, Agent Bailey?”

  He gave her a long look, eyebrow raised. “A reward.”

  “Yes. For assisting the FBI. It’s a matter of national security. A reward is the least we could do.”

  His gaze shifted from her to the boy and back again. She held her breath, hoping he wouldn’t call her a liar and the boy a thief, and break a mother’s heart.

  Elliot always played by the rules. Or at least she thought he did. She was coming to realize there might be much more to him than she had always thought.

  After a long beat, Elliot reached into his pocket for his wallet.

  He slowly pulled out a twenty. Then, after a moment, he added another and handed them to the boy.

  “I can’t take that,” Joey said, looking appalled.

  “Sure you can,” Megan said. “Save it. Maybe you can tuck it away and use it for something you need.”

  “Thank you,” the mother said, looking baffled at the entire situation.

  “You’re welcome, ma’am,” Elliot said, with another dry look in Megan’s direction. “We couldn’t do our job without vigilant, honorable citizens out there, willing to step up when they see something wrong.”

  Megan had to swallow her smile, delighted beyond words that he would play along.

  “Good luck with school, Joey. Something tells me you’re the kind of guy who’s going to make all the best choices from here on out,” she said.

  “I sure will.” Joey looked astonished, gazing down at the bills in his hand as if they had dropped from the sky.

  “See you around,” Megan said. “Don’t forget your laptop, Agent Bailey.”

  She ushered him back to the car, leaving a startled boy and his equally baffled mother behind them.

  CHAPTER TEN

  “LET ME GET this straight,” Elliot said slowly, after they had returned to the SUV and found Cyrus curled up in the driver’s seat. “The kid tries to steal my laptop and walks away with no punishment, plus a forty-dollar reward.”

  “You gave him the forty dollars. Don’t blame me for that.”

  “Only because you guilted me into it. What else was I supposed to do, when you were giving me that look?”

  “What look? I don’t have a look.”

  “You totally have a look. A we-have-to-do-something look.”

  “Okay, go ahead and say it. I’m a sucker.”

  “You, Megan Hamilton, are a sucker.”

  She made a face. “I know. I can’t help it.”

  In Joey’s case, she knew she was a goner when he matter-of-factly dropped the information about his father leaving the family. She was entirely too familiar with that feeling.

  “I’m willing to bet you give away plenty of free hotel rooms to people in need, don’t you?” Elliot said as he returned Cyrus to his crate with a little extra scratch behind his ears.

  Had Cade told him about their arrangement? The Haven Point police chief knew he could always call her in an emergency. No matter what it took, she would find room in case a woman needed to quickly
leave a violent situation or a family had been displaced by fire or even when someone traveling through town ran into car trouble or had insufficient funds to continue on their journey.

  “Sometimes,” she admitted now to Elliot. “My grandmother had a policy to always help those in trouble.”

  “And you’ve continued it.”

  “Maybe I am a little too familiar with what it’s like to feel completely helpless about the circumstances swirling around you.”

  He gave her a long look, clearly curious about what she had left unsaid. She didn’t want to enlighten him further. She had already said too much.

  “Anyway, I had a good feeling about Joey,” she said, to distract him from digging too deeply. “I think he was telling the truth about his homework situation. He shouldn’t have taken your laptop but he obviously thought he had a good reason.”

  “You could tell that from a thirty-second interaction?”

  “I have good instincts about these kind of things.”

  His eyebrows shot up but he didn’t say anything.

  “Anyway, you got your laptop back. That’s the important thing, isn’t it?”

  “Thanks for chasing after him. It’s password protected and encrypted and also backed up in triplicate, but I would have lost everything I had worked on today on the manuscript. That would have been a shame, since I was able to make some serious progress this morning.”

  She liked thinking she had a positive impact on his creativity.

  “I’m glad. Keep going, since it’s working for you.”

  “Are you sure you don’t want me to take a turn behind the wheel?”

  “Positive. I don’t mind driving. Just give me five minutes to use the restroom. Then I’ll be ready to hit the road again.”

  “I’d better stay here to watch over things, just in case any other miscreants happen by. At this rate, I’ll go broke giving out rewards before we hit the state line.”

  Another joke. If things continued like this, she might begin to suspect Elliot’s sense of humor was far more keen than she had ever imagined.

  * * *

  HE AWOKE WITH the odd, disconcerting confusion of not being quite sure where he was in the universe.

  He had been working, he remembered, so close to finishing one of the last chapters of his book. From there, he wasn’t sure what happened. He only knew they had stopped moving.

  A glance out the window told him they were parked in front of a gas pump, a different one from earlier in the day.

  He blinked a few more times and found Megan looking at him, apology in her eyes.

  “I’m so sorry I had to stop,” she said softly. “I wanted to keep going and let you sleep but I think Cyrus needs to pee again.”

  Elliot couldn’t remember the last time he’d fallen asleep in a moving vehicle. Maybe on that trip to Oregon when he was a boy.

  “It’s fine,” he said, dismayed when he had to clear the sleep out of his voice. “How long have I been asleep?”

  A tiny smile played around her mouth. “An hour, maybe a little more. I had the feeling you needed it.”

  She was right. He hadn’t been sleeping well, not since... Well, not since the shoot-out. And especially not since coming back to Haven Point and finding Megan living next door to him.

  “Thank you. Though I must admit, I’m a little embarrassed. Did I snore?”

  Now her small smile grew into a full-fledged one. “A bit. I wouldn’t worry about a little snoring. The drooling, now, that’s another matter.”

  He might have been mortified, if he didn’t catch the teasing look in her eye.

  A whine and nails scrabbling on plastic from the back seat caught his attention before he could reply. Her poor dog. He was likely to explode.

  “I’ll take care of the gas again,” he said. “You worry about Cyrus. Maybe you might like to take him for a little walk.”

  “I was thinking the same thing,” she said, climbing out of the driver’s seat while he exited the other side. “I noticed a sign when I pulled in pointing to a scenic river trail. We’ll just wander there for a moment, if you don’t mind.”

  “No. I can stay here with the car.”

  “Worried we’ll run into another Joey?”

  “You never know.”

  “I’m sure you would be fine if you pulled in front and locked it after you fill up. I imagine you need to stretch your legs, too.”

  Everything was tight, especially his shoulder. His wound was protesting where he apparently had been leaning against it while he slept.

  “Sounds good.”

  Megan opened the crate and hooked the dog’s leash on his collar before lowering him to the ground. Again, the dog didn’t wait for grass but lifted his leg against the tire.

  “I’m going to need a serious car wash when this trip is done,” she said, shaking her head. “It’s my own fault for making him wait so long.”

  “Poor guy.”

  “I’ll swipe my card, then leave you to fill it up,” she said.

  “I’ll pay for this top-off,” he said.

  She looked as if she wanted to argue but finally shrugged. “We won’t take long.”

  After a moment’s hesitation, she pulled out her camera bag, slung it over her shoulder, then took off with the dog leading the way.

  He watched them go for a moment, before turning back to take care of the gas.

  When the tank was full again, he started up the SUV and drove to a shady spot near the front entrance, within sight of the clerks inside, tucked his laptop bag beneath the seat and out of sight, then climbed out, locked it and took off after Megan and her dog.

  The trail curved behind the service station, leading down to a pretty little creek bordered by cottonwood trees. He followed the trail wending beside the river, enjoying the lovely May day. After about ten minutes of walking, he caught up with her. She was leaning across a boulder, her camera lens balanced in front of her as she snapped away at a waterfall that tumbled about six feet, surrounded by colorful spring wildflowers.

  He had to stop, suddenly breathless at the picture she made—completely in her element while her dog sat at her feet, content with his world.

  Elliot wasn’t aware of it but he must have made some sound. She looked up, sensing his presence, and smiled in welcome. “It’s beautiful, don’t you think?”

  How was he supposed to notice anything but the happiness in her green eyes and the way the sunlight picked out coppery highlights in her hair?

  “Stunning,” he murmured.

  He sat down on a weathered wooden bench that had been thoughtfully provided for contemplation. After a moment, Cyrus rose and waddled to him with a jingle of his leash. Elliot obliged by picking up the dog and petting him, to Cyrus’s delight.

  “If you aren’t careful, I’ll waste the entire afternoon here shooting. I lose any sense of time and place when I have a camera in my hands.”

  “It’s fine with me.” He wouldn’t mind sitting here all afternoon, watching her. “And it wouldn’t be wasted, if you came away with some nice shots.”

  “Except I need to be in Hope’s Crossing before dark. And the midday light isn’t the greatest. It’s a morning shot, I think.”

  She shot a few more frames of the waterfall and the flowers, then started putting her camera body and lens away.

  He set the dog down and rose. “I can take that,” he said, holding his hand out for her gear when she finished.

  She looked as if she wanted to argue but must have seen she wouldn’t win. With a sigh, she handed over the bag and took Cyrus’s leash in return while Elliot slung her gear over his left shoulder and took off down the trail.

  “Have you always loved photography?” he asked as they made their way back toward the service station.

  Her brows drew together as she considered the
question. “I suppose I have. My grandmother gave me an early digital camera years ago, when I was maybe eleven or twelve.” She gave a short laugh. “I used to walk around the inn, photographing everything. The lake, the gardens, the guests. I was probably entirely too intrusive on people’s vacations, but nobody complained—at least not to me, anyway. In those days, I wanted to get lost behind a camera lens. It was magic.”

  Why had she wanted to escape? Elliot wondered again at her childhood with a sickly mother and a father who hadn’t been well liked around town. It must have been very different from his own.

  “I continued on with photography in high school but really started to get serious about it again when I went away to college.”

  “Is that what you majored in?”

  “No. My degree is in business administration, but I took a couple of fine art photography electives and loved those more than anything else at school.”

  She glanced over at him as they walked. “What about you? I guess I don’t need to ask what you planned to do when you grew up. I think you were born wanting to go into law enforcement, weren’t you?”

  “My mom used to say I came out with a badge in one hand and a printed Miranda warning in the other.”

  She laughed, her features soft in the afternoon light. “That’s what I remember about you most. Always so serious, always following the rules and making sure you didn’t step out of line.”

  He didn’t like that she saw him in such rigid terms, uncompromising and inflexible. He had a wild urge to show her she was wrong.

  “Not always,” he murmured.

  He stopped on the trail, leaving her no choice but to stop as well. Before he could talk himself out of it, he turned around, leaned down and kissed her.

  He meant it only as a joke, to let her know he could be capricious when the mood struck him, but the feel of her mouth, the heat and taste of her, sent all his intentions floating down the creek like leaves swirling in the current.

  Whoever would have guessed she fit so perfectly? She was the perfect height for a man to tuck against him and explore that delicious mouth.

  The circumstances weren’t perfect. It was midday and they were on a public trail where anyone could stumble onto them at any moment. Beyond that, his arm in its damn sling kept her too far away from him, she was holding a leash and he had a camera bag slung over his good shoulder.