Scene of the Crime: Bachelor Moon

by Carla Cassidy

  He crouched down next to her. She threw herself into his arms, her little body trembling with fear. “It’s okay, Macy, you’re safe now,” he said. “Can you tell me exactly what happened?”

  “I was looking for my mommy and I came out here. I started to go in there.” She pointed to the bait shack. “But there was a monster inside. He heard me and he knocked me down and ran away.”

  Sam’s blood ran cold as he processed Macy’s words. At that moment Frank came running toward them, a pair of clipping shears in his hand. “What’s going on? I was on the other side of the pond and heard Macy scream.” He panted to catch his breath.

  Sam stood and pulled Macy to her feet. “Why don’t you go with Frank into the house and get a drink?”

  “I don’t want a drink,” Macy protested.

  Sam exchanged a look with Frank. “Come on, darlin’,” Frank said. “I need something cold and you need to come with me.” He dropped his shears and grabbed Macy’s hand and together they headed toward the house.

  Adrenaline pumped through Sam as he looked at the bait shack. What in the hell had happened here? Who was the monster and what had he been doing inside the shack?

  As he stepped to the doorway, his heart crashed to his feet and adrenaline spiked through him with a sickening intensity. Daniella was on the floor, her hands behind her back with a length of rope half-tied.

  “Daniella!” He fell to the floor at her side and released a gasp of relief as he saw that she was breathing. Quickly he threw the rope to the side and turned her over on her back as her eyelids began to flutter. She moaned, and as consciousness came, she began to fight him.

  “Daniella, honey, you’re okay. It’s Sam. I’ve got you, you’re safe.”

  As his words penetrated her near hysteria, she relaxed and began to weep. He held her tight, his blood boiling as his mind tried to make sense of things.

  It was bad enough that somebody had attacked her, but what iced his heart was that rope around her wrists, the rope that now lay next to her on the concrete floor.

  Who had done this and what had been their intention? The rope indicated it wasn’t just a simple assault of some kind, but that the perp had other plans besides just attacking her.

  “Can you tell me what happened?” he asked when she finally sat up on her own.

  She grabbed the back of her head with one hand and winced. “I came in to check on the bait, to see what we might need.” Her hand moved from the back of her head to her stomach. “I feel so sick.”

  “Let’s get you out of here and inside.” He stood and got her to her feet. She was unsteady, and he held tight to her as they slowly made their way into the kitchen, where Frank and Macy sat at the table.

  “Mommy!” Macy jumped out of her chair and ran to Daniella, tears choking out of her. “I was so afraid. I thought the monster killed you.”

  Daniella collapsed into a chair and hugged Macy tight. “I’m okay.”

  “What happened?” Frank asked.

  “I’d just opened the refrigerator door when somebody grabbed me from behind and pressed a cloth over my nose and mouth.” Her voice was thin, shaky, and Sam wanted to slam his fist into the perp’s face. “I tried not to breathe.” She looked from Sam to Frank and then back again. “I really tried not to breathe but I had to, and when I did I guess I blacked out. I never saw who it was.”

  “It was monster poison,” Macy said softly, her eyes wide with terror.

  “No, honey, it wasn’t monster poison,” Daniella said, some of the strength coming back to her voice. “It was just a bad man.”

  “Did you see the bad man, Macy? Can you tell me what he looked like?” Sam asked.

  “Big and scary,” she replied.

  “What was he wearing?” Sam knew he couldn’t push the little girl too hard, but she was the only hope for some sort of a description.

  Macy frowned. “I don’t know…I don’t remember.”

  “Did he have hair? What color was his hair?” Frank asked.

  Once again tears brimmed in Macy’s eyes. “I don’t know. He pushed me down and it happened too fast and I don’t know what he looked like. He just looked like a monster.”

  “It’s okay,” Sam replied, disappointed by her response, but moved by her tears of obvious distress. He crouched down next to her and pulled her into his arms. She came willingly and leaned into him and once again a rage filled Sam.

  “Listen to me, Macy. Catching monsters is my job. That’s what I do for work. You don’t have to worry. I’m going to catch the monster, okay?” Somewhere in the back of his mind he knew he was making a promise he wasn’t sure he could keep, but at the moment he meant what he said.

  “Really?” she said, her tears disappearing.

  “Really,” he replied firmly.

  A knock on the door halted any further conversation. “That’s Tina,” Daniella said. “Frank, would you mind letting her in?”

  “Can I still spend the night with Lisa?” Macy asked.

  Daniella gazed at her daughter. “Of course you can,” she replied, knowing that her daughter’s instinct was to get away from the danger at home.

  “And you’ll be okay when I’m gone?”

  “I’ll be just fine,” Daniella assured her. “Sam and Frank are here with me. Go on and get your suitcase.”

  Tina walked into the kitchen along with a little girl about Daniella’s age, with Frank following behind. Macy and her friend disappeared in the direction of Macy’s bedroom as Tina gave Daniella a look of concern. “Frank told me what happened. Are you all right?” she asked.

  “I’m okay. I just have a touch of a headache.” Her words were punctuated by a loud rumble of thunder.

  “I need to get some tools inside before it rains,” Frank said. “Is there anything else I can do for you, Daniella?”

  “No thanks, Frank. Just take care of whatever you need to do, and then you can take off for the night.”

  Frank left, and soon after Tina and the two girls had gone, as well, leaving Sam alone with Daniella in the kitchen. “We need to call the sheriff,” Sam said, as he sat in the chair next to hers.

  She frowned. “Is that really necessary? I don’t want to deal with Jim Thompson right now.”

  “I know, but you’re going to have to. He needs to know what happened here.”

  “I’m not sure I know what happened,” she replied. “It’s too bad Macy couldn’t tell us more about who she saw, but thank God she wasn’t hurt.”

  “She was traumatized. It’s possible he knocked her down so fast she didn’t get a chance to really process what was happening or who it was.” As he thought of Macy’s tears, her terror, he once again fought against an anger he’d never allowed himself to feel before.

  He got up and grabbed the cordless phone from the counter and then returned to his chair and held it out to her. “Call the sheriff.”

  She made the call, and when she was finished she leaned back against her chair and gazed at him, her eyes turbulent. “I don’t know what to do,” she finally said.

  “There’s nothing to be done until Jim gets here,” he replied.

  She gave a small shake of her head. “I’m talking about this place, my business.”

  “What do you mean?”

  Another rumble of thunder resounded, and Daniella jumped and wrapped her arms around herself. Sam needed to hold her. He wanted to ease the shadows in her eyes, fix the bright world that had suddenly dimmed for her. Instead he got out of his chair and leaned against the cabinet nearest to where she sat.

  “How can I have guests here when they might be in danger? And if I have to cancel all the reservations I have and refund deposits, I’ll be in financial ruin.” Her voice cracked but she drew in a deep breath and sat up straighter in the chair.

  So far, despite what had happened to her, she’d managed to keep it together, and Sam admired that in her, but she was showing cracks in her facade. The fact that she’d just been attacked and was worried about financ
ial ruin showed him she wasn’t quite in touch with the reality of what had happened.

  “Daniella, there’s no reason to believe that any of your guests would be at risk here. There’s no reason to do something impulsive because of what happened. Besides, you have to remember the murder didn’t actually happen here on the grounds. It’s possible anyone visiting won’t even know about what happened.”

  She gave him a quick, grateful smile that lasted only a minute and then fled. “If this is the same person who has been leaving gifts for me, the same person who you think has a sick crush on me, then why would he try to kill me?”

  “I don’t think his intention was to kill you.”

  She gazed at him in confusion. “Then what was his intention?”

  Sam drew a deep breath and realized the kitchen had grown dark with the approach of the storm. “He didn’t want to kill you,” he finally said. “I think what he wanted to do was take you.”

  “Take me?” The tremor was back in her voice.

  Sam nodded. “The gifts he’s been leaving you, that was his courtship. Now I’m afraid that the courtship is over and he’s ready to close the deal.” Lightning flashed in the kitchen, followed by a clap of thunder that sounded like danger closing in.

  DANIELLA STAYED STRONG when Jim arrived and interviewed her. He then questioned Sam and Matt, who had napped through the whole incident. Jim went out into the bait shack and looked around but found nothing useful to the investigation. The rope was a clothesline type that was sold in nearly every hardware and discount store in the area.

  When he finally left, Daniella felt no closer to safety than she’d felt when he arrived. The thought of some body wanting to kidnap her and take her off somewhere was horrifying.

  She closed the front door and locked it, knowing that Matt was back up in his room and expecting nobody else for the night. Who was doing this to her? She hadn’t seen anyone unusual around the place, didn’t know who to suspect.

  As she left the front door and headed back to the kitchen where Sam was, she realized the entire house smelled of the pot pie she’d put in the oven hours before.

  “Oh, my God,” she exclaimed. She raced into the kitchen, grabbed two hot mitts and opened the oven door. A faint trail of dark smoke drifted out as she grabbed the large baking dish and pulled it out.

  She stared at the blackened crust and then looked at Sam, and to her horror she burst into tears. Logically she knew she wasn’t crying about a stupid, burned pot pie, but that didn’t halt the cascade of tears that erupted.

  Leaning weakly against the counter, embarrassed by her lack of control, she hid her face in her hands as sobs racked through her.

  “Hey,” Sam said softly. “Daniella, don’t cry. We’ll order in pizza for dinner or make sandwiches. Dinner isn’t a big deal. Please stop crying.”

  She shook her head, unable to comply with his wishes. It was as if she’d managed to stuff the horror deep inside her for the last several hours, but it refused to be stuffed any longer.

  What on earth had happened to her life in the last week? A week ago her biggest concern had been how to get Macy to brush her teeth before going to bed and what new breakfast casserole she could make for her guests.

  Now somebody had killed a woman and attacked her, and until the man was caught she knew she wasn’t safe. Her home was no longer a safe haven.

  Before she could manage to get control, Sam stepped in front of her and pulled her into his arms. She leaned into him, welcoming the strength of his arms around her, the warmth of his body that after a moment eased some of the chill inside her.

  She felt safe with his arms around her and his scent filling her head. It wasn’t because it was an FBI agent who held her but because it was Sam.

  He was the only one she trusted. And in a week he’d be gone and she’d be here alone to face a madman.

  She looked up at him searchingly. “Why is this happening? What did I do?”

  His blue eyes darkened and he tightened his arms around her. “Don’t fall into the victim way of thinking. I’ve seen rape victims who blame themselves for wearing certain clothes, robbery victims who blame themselves for the hour they decided to go shopping, the store they chose to shop at. This isn’t your fault and you didn’t do anything wrong.”

  He dropped his arms from around her and took a step backward. “This isn’t about you so much as it’s about the person who wants you. Something apparently isn’t firing right in his head, or he’s so maladjusted he believes the only way to have you is to take you against your will. We can’t know exactly what’s going on with him until we’ve caught him, but I doubt if there is anything different you could have done to stop this.”

  Daniella moved to the counter that held the burned chicken pot pie and placed the dish in the sink. “So how do we catch him?” she asked, as she began to scrap the pie down the garbage disposal.

  “I’m hoping he’ll make a mistake. This attack on you is a definite escalation of whatever drives him. Some thing set him off, a trigger of sorts. It was damned ballsy of him to attempt to grab you right here on the property, and in the middle of the afternoon with so many other people around.”

  He sat in a chair at the table and Daniella was aware of his gaze on her while she finished scraping out the last of the pot pie. She then placed the baking dish in the dishwasher and turned to face him.

  “So what happens now?”

  “We make sandwiches?” He offered her a smile that further eased the tension inside her.

  By the time they had eaten and she had taken up a platter of sandwich and chips to Matt, the rain finally arrived, pelting the windows with ferocity as thunder and lightning returned.

  At eight Macy called to check in, and the sound of her happy voice was like a balm to Daniella’s jagged nerves.

  After the call Daniella and Sam moved into the common room, where they sat on the sofa to continue discussing the events that had occurred.

  “Jim said he’s going to check to see if anyone in town has access to chloroform. From what you described that sounds like what he used to press against your face,” Sam said.

  “I just don’t have much faith in Jim and his team coming up with anything concrete,” she confessed.

  “When he left here he was going to Frank’s cabin to talk to him about what happened. Jim seems to be taking the whole thing seriously. No matter what happened between the two of you in the past, you need to give him a chance now.”

  Daniella wondered if he was just saying that because in a week he’d be gone and she’d be left depending only on Jim Thompson to find the man who killed Samantha, the man who attacked her.

  “I know you have a life to return to, but I wish you didn’t have to leave.” She looked down at her hands in her lap, not wanting him to see her need for him in her eyes.

  He reached out and took one of her hands in his, and she looked up to see his eyes dark and unfathomable. “At least you know now that there’s danger near. You know you have to be careful. Don’t go anywhere that’s isolated, be aware of your surroundings. If you leave the house for anything make sure somebody is with you. If you’re smart you’ll be fine.”

  He dropped her hand and reached out to tuck a strand of her hair behind her ear. “A lot of things can happen in a week. Maybe by the time I pack my bags to go home Jim will have made an arrest, and you won’t have to worry anymore.”

  She told herself that he owed her nothing, that he had a life to return to, a life that didn’t include any desire for a wife, a family. Besides, he was just a guest here, a guest who had gone above and beyond for her in a time of crisis. She had no business wanting him to stay, no business wanting him at all.

  But she did want him. Even now, just sitting next to him, despite everything that had happened to her, a small sizzle of desire for him burned inside her.

  “You should call it a night,” he finally said. He stood and held out a hand to her to help her up.

  She took his hand
and stood so close to him that her desire shot higher. Did she want him because she was still afraid? Because that fear had created a need to be held, to not be alone while the rain fell and somewhere out there a crazy man plotted evil?

  Maybe, but her desire for him was also tied to the fact that sometimes, when he looked at her, she felt half breathless, and that the scent of him made her want to crawl into his arms and never leave. She had wanted him before Samantha’s body had appeared in her yard, before she had known that any danger existed.

  “Daniella? Are you all right?” he asked.

  She realized she held his hand too tight and had been staring at him as her brain raced with her thoughts. “No, I’m not all right. I don’t want to be alone, Sam. Would you come to my room and sit with me for a little while longer?”

  Once again it was impossible to read his eyes. He hesitated a moment and then nodded. “I can do that.”

  She left a small lamp on in the common room and then, after she checked to make sure all the doors were locked, they went through the kitchen and into her private quarters.

  Her bedroom was just large enough to hold a double bed and a dresser. She’d given Macy the larger of the two bedrooms in this area of the house, knowing her daughter would need room to play.

  As they entered the bedroom Sam stood just inside the door, obviously ill at ease. She went to her dresser and pulled out her nightgown, a simple, white cotton shift. “I’ll just get ready for bed and be right back.” She disappeared into the bathroom and wondered if he’d still be there when she came out.

  As she changed her clothes and brushed her teeth she consciously kept her thoughts away from what had happened in the bait shack, willed herself to think only about Sam and what she wanted to happen now.

  It had been years since she’d thought of making love to a man, years since she’d entertained any desire for anyone. Sam had stirred something in her that she’d almost forgotten she could feel: he’d made her remember she was a young woman who had always enjoyed sex, who wanted to experience it again with him.