“Okay, that’s a little unexpected. Twenty years and still creeping?” Connor shuddered and tugged Jules closer. “Guy needs to be stopped.”
“Okay, this is great and all, but can we focus on the fact that someone CUT the wires on the boat and we are stranded here? Oh, and they want us scared. And they’ve succeeded cause I’m terrified,” Carly brought us back to earth as the boat gently rocked beneath us.
“She’s got a point,” I conceded, moving to step back on the dock since the boat wasn’t going anywhere.
“Everything alright?” Duke called from the porch where he’d been watching.
“No,” I yelled back, too tired to explain as we all walked back up to the house.
“The wires were cut on the boat. Someone wanted to delay us,” Danny told him as came closer. “And scare the girls,” he added under his breath.
Danny’s words caused worry to crease Duke’s forehead and part of me felt bad that we’d dragged this mess to his doorstep, but the bigger part wondered how much of his past had caused our current problems.
If the guy stalking us now was the same one who’d chased Summer and possibly killed her, we were all in danger. And Duke seemed to have no idea Summer had been stalked which I found hard to believe.
“I can give y’all a lift home. I don’t have room for everyone though so we’ll need to split up,” Duke offered kindly.
“Hell no,” Carly said to all of our surprise. The idea of walking through the woods at night left me uneasy. I had no idea if the guy who’d cut the wires was still out there waiting for us and watching, but my instinct screamed he was. I knew Carly felt the same so why was she saying no? “We are not splitting up. Every horror movie ever has proven that’s a bad idea.”
“This isn’t a horror movie,” Wade reminded her.
“Isn’t it?” She retorted sharply, her eyebrows raised in question.
“She’s right. We stick together,” Danny replied, coming up beside her. “Duke, what are you driving?”
“I’ve got a Silverado,” he answered, digging his keys from his pocket.
“Alright, the guys can ride in the back.”
Everyone nodded in agreement and we piled into his truck. I sat in the front with Duke while Carly and Jules huddled in the backseat. One of the guys banged on the hood once they were settled and Duke eased out of the driveway.
“I’ll have a guy come check the boat in the morning,” Duke told me and I glanced at him in surprise. “It’s the least I can do.”
It felt awkward, and I was sure Jake would have refused, but I could sense Duke was trying and I didn’t have it in me to tell him it wasn’t necessary. Danny could fix almost anything mechanical and would no doubt check it himself.
“That’d be great,” I replied, forcing a smile as he looked over. Duke nodded and stared back at the road. He was going a full ten miles under the speed limit, and I figured he didn’t want another run in with the police today. I tugged on the hemline of my shorts as the silence grew heavier. I had no idea what to say to him. He was my uncle but we had no relationship and I didn’t know how to change that.
“I don’t know what to say to you,” he said abruptly, startling me with how close his words echoed my thoughts. “I’ve been trying to figure out something to say, and I’m drawing a blank. A rarity for a lawyer, I can assure you.” I smiled at his weak attempt at a joke, somehow relieved I wasn’t the only one having an issue figuring this out. “I feel like you’re going to slip away after you find out what happened to Summer and I don’t want to lose you. Not that I have any right to want to be part of your life.” He gave me a quick glance and then stared back at the road, seeming to find it easier to talk when he wasn’t looking at me. “I should have tried to be a part of your life when you were younger, been a role model or something.” He waved his hand and I laughed.
“I had…have a role model. My grandfather. But that doesn’t mean you can’t also have a place in my life.” I paused, trying to find the words to express myself. “I don’t know what to say to you either.”
“What a pair we are,” he chuckled and I nodded to myself.
“But if we keep trying, we’ll find something. Some common ground.” I glanced in the backseat to see Jules and Carly give me encouraging smiles. They stayed silent, but flashed me a thumbs up. I sighed almost inaudibly, but somehow Duke heard it.
“If you want, maybe I can tell you about your dad.” His voice was uncertain, and I didn’t find myself curious about my dad at all, but I didn’t want to reject his attempt to find conversational ground either.
I swallowed and said, “That would be good.”
He gave me a relieved smile and I was glad I’d agreed. I personally thought he needed to talk about his brother more than I needed to hear about him, but I kept it to myself. We were both trying.
A few minutes later, the truck turned onto our gravel driveway and the headlights swept over the porch. The cabin was dark and creepy as hell.
“I know I left a light on,” Jules whispered behind us and I twisted around to look at her.
“We’ll let the guys check it out,” I answered and they both nodded. I rolled the window down and Connor ducked his head in.
“We’re going to make sure no one’s around,” he said, glancing at us.
“Connor.”
“Yeah?”
“Why don’t you just ask me?”
“Oh, yeah. Addie, is there anyone in the house?”
“No, it’s empty. But Jules left a light on,” I told him, handing him a flashlight Duke had pulled from under his seat.
“Alright, sit tight.”
He jogged to the other guys and they split up to go around the house. Jake and Connor took the front while Danny and Wade headed to the back. The glow of their flashlights flickered through the windows as they swept through the house and I wondered if someone had cut wires here too.
A few minutes later the cabin lit up, and Jake came toward us.
“It took us a few minutes to find the breaker box. Looks like all the circuit breakers were flipped, but nothing was cut. Someone wanted to spook us.”
“Ugh, remind me to never vacation with you again,” Carly ranted, stumbling from the truck. “A relaxing time at the lake, my ass.”
I bit back a smile and turned to Duke.
“Thank you for the ride home,” I told him somewhat formally.
“My pleasure,” he answered equally formal and held out his hand to shake. I smiled and shook it, glad he hadn’t wanted a hug. That would have been too much.
Jake pulled the door open and helped me down.
“We’ll come by in the morning to get the boat,” he told Duke, who nodded.
“Look forward to seeing you.” We stepped back and he turned the truck around to leave.
“We need to talk about everything we learned,” I said as Jake took my hand and pressed a kiss on my palm.
“Not tonight.”
Chapter Thirteen
“We need a chart. I can’t keep up,” Connor begged, tossing a dart at the wall. He’d found them in a drawer, but so far hadn’t found the dartboard that went with them. “There are too many players, plus what happened then versus now.”
“I agree,” Jules grabbed a piece of paper as Connor stared at her in shock. She shrugged and said, “What? Sometimes you have a good idea.”
“Maybe we should draw a picture of our sleezeball stalker for you to throw those at,” Carly mentioned, nodding at the dart sticking from the wall.
“Maybe we shouldn’t throw darts at the wall,” I suggested, my words completely ignored as he threw another one.
“I’m on it,” Wade declared, snitching a piece of paper from Jules. “Older, baseball cap.”
“Yeah, Addie, you’d make a great eyewitness,” Connor joked as I flipped him the bird.
“The boat’s working,” Danny told us, coming in the door. “Your uncle had a guy out there bright and early this morning. He did a good job,”
he added grudgingly, walking to the sink to wash the grease from his fingers.
“Well, you’ve got more accomplished than we have,” Connor informed him.
“I don’t know about that,” Wade interjected holding up his sketch. “Here. An artist sketch of our vandal.”
“Stalker, vandal is too innocent,” Carly chimed in.
Jake walked over and yanked the darts from the wall before glancing at me with a raised eyebrow. I rolled my eyes, but nodded. A few more holes in the place wasn’t going to hurt anything. Wade grinned and taped the drawing to the wall.
“His chin was more receding,” I told him, pulling my own chin in to demonstrate.
“Hey, you should hold that pose. It really improves your looks,” Connor shouted and Jules threw her pen at him, hitting him right on the nose. “Oww. What did you do that for?”
“Because you’re an ass, that’s why.”
“Guys, we need to go over what we know. Figure something out.”
“We know nothing, Jon Snow,” Danny said, and after a moment of shock we all cracked up.
“Alright, so we have Summer, her dad, who we now know didn’t like Duke, some guy who chased her through the woods and stalked her, a fact Duke didn’t know. This same guy is now stalking us and seems to be interested in me,” Jules rattled off the facts, sobering us up quickly. “Do I have it right so far?”
“Yeah,” I replied, nodding. Something bothered me but I couldn’t put my finger on it.
“So, we’re pretty sure the guy who cut the boat wires is the same one who stalked Summer and then rifled through the cabin and messed with the breaker box.”
“I don’t think that’s right,” Danny spoke up then and Jake nodded.
“He didn’t have time.”
“Yeah, exactly.”
“So what, there were two people involved?”
They all glanced at me, but I shook my head. The question didn’t trigger anything. If it was too vague, or open to interpretation I couldn’t get an answer.
“Did the guy who cut the boat wires also flip the breakers in the cabin?” Wade asked slowly, making sure the question was specific.
“No,” I replied instantly.
“Great, just what we need. Two psychos working together,” Connor muttered, throwing a dart right through the guy’s forehead on the sketch.
Danny’s eyes narrowed as he looked at me. “Is that true? Are they working together?”
I tipped my head as separate reactions flowed through me and I shook my head.
“I don’t think so.”
“So we’re dealing with two people, who have two different reasons,” Jake surmised.
“Yes, the guy, he’s a watcher, a lurker. The one who messed with the breaker wants us gone.” I shook my head, clearing the unsettling sensations away. “It’s hard to say, both feel dark and bad.”
“I think there’s more to all of this than we realize.”
“You’d think murder would be simple,” Connor groused, another dart going through an eye. “She was killed one way, but it was listed as another. Everything pointed to Duke as the primary suspect but he was never charged due to lack of evidence. If it was a witch hunt, it was a poorly executed one.”
“Yeah, why did they lie about the cause of death?” I asked, still troubled by it. She was murdered, why hide how and let the murderer go free?
“Maybe we should talk to her father, the mayor. The one who despised Duke. He seems to think her father had something to do with it,” Danny suggested, straddling a chair at the table.
“If he’s still alive,” Carly reminded us. “He has to be in his eighties, at least.”
Several eyes glanced at me and I held up my hands. “Ask me!”
“Is Summer’s dad still alive?”
“Yep.”
“Where is he?”
“Plantation Nursing Home.”
“Alright, let’s go then,” Jake said, crossing the room.
“I should go with Wade,” I told him, standing up and missing the change in Jake’s expression. Wade groaned and I smacked him. “You can see if the man actually was angry enough to kill his daughter. We’re missing something here and maybe he’s the key. Jake and Connor can see if there have been any reports of stalking and vandalism. Maybe we can figure out who this guy is and if he was the cause of Summer’s death.” I tapped the sketch as I spoke as Wade dutifully followed me to the door.
Connor caught me on the porch and waved Wade off as he paused.
“I need a word with Addie,” he told me and Wade nodded, heading to the car.
“What is it?” My forehead furrowed at the uncomfortable look on Connor’s face.
“I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings,” he said, surprising me.
“Hurt my feelings? Connor, you didn’t hurt my feelings. Why would you think that?”
“What I said about your chin and you looking better,” he explained, his expression a combination of sheepish and worried.
“Please, I know better. What’s really going on?” I felt frustrated that I couldn’t sense the answer to my own question. It’d be much faster if I didn’t have to keep asking him.
“You’re not mad about the darts?” His question revealed a little more, a mix of worry and concern I couldn’t understand.
“No?” I drawled out questioningly. “Connor.”
“Are you replacing me as your best friend?” He burst out and I reared back at the jealousy behind the question, all of it directed squarely at Wade.
“NO! Why would you think that?” My response was instinctive and loud and seemed to make him feel better, but he’d only caused me more anxiety. “Connor,” I spoke sharply, wanting to know.
“You’re going with Wade,” he responded and I shook my head.
“I explained why. He can read emotions! How many times have you brought him in on a questioning for that very same reason? Hmmmm? I can’t look up police records, Connor. I’m trying to divvy up the investigation to suit our strengths.” My heart hammered in my chest as I spoke, indignation making my words sharp. It was fine and dandy when they did it, but the first inclination that I might prefer someone else and the jealous monster came out. “Is that it? Cause I’m going to go do what I need to do.”
I didn’t wait for an answer as I stormed down the steps and threw open the car door.
“Let’s go,” I muttered, a ferocious frown on my face as a contrite Connor stood on the porch.
“Want to tal…”
“Nope,” I cut him off.
“Alright then,” he replied, shutting his mouth and taking off down the driveway. By the time we hit the highway, I couldn’t contain it anymore.
“Why would he think he wasn’t my best friend anymore? Why? It makes no sense. The whole thought was that you would be able to see the truth in her father, something they can’t do. Ugh,” I groaned, flipping my hands wildly as Wade eyed me warily. “Connor…. like we’ve been through stuff and yes, you’re my friend, but we can have more than one friend. Why is he jealous? He’s still my go to for the gas station runs for Diet Coke and scratch offs. He’s big brother, you know?” I twisted to look more fully at Wade only to find yet another man with an uncomfortable expression on his face. “Oh God, what are you about to tell me now?”
He sighed and slowed the car, getting into the right-hand lane. “I didn’t really want to have this conversation with you, but it looks like I don’t have a choice. He’s not the only one who’s jealous, kid.”
“What? And I’m not a kid.”
“You are to me.”
“You’re not that much older.”
“Five years,” he answered and I rolled my eyes.
“Jake is older than you. Hell, Connor is older than you.”
“Which is still odd to me.”
“Beside the point, who else is jealous?”
“You have to ask?” He turned the question around on me and I saw what I’d missed earlier.
“Jake?”
Disbelief radiated through me as I contemplated the thought.
“Yeah, kid. Jake.” He sighed again, his fingers tapping the wheel. “I’ve seen flashes of emotion from him. Concern, worry, and jealousy. I dismissed most of it as misinterpreting the reason, but I can’t keep doing that. He’s jealous of our relationship.”
“But why?” I couldn’t wrap my head around it. I had zero romantic feelings for Wade and I knew he felt the same about me. Wade was like another big brother, which kind of explained Connor’s upset earlier.
Wade chuckled as he glanced at me and I knew he was reading my emotions. “You really can’t see it.” I shook my head and he explained. “I can read your emotions and see you feel only friendly affection for me, with some protectiveness. But you have to see how it looks from the outside.”
I didn’t normally feel obtuse, but at the moment bricks were smarter than I was.
Wade shook his head at my blank expression.
“You’ve been hanging around the store a lot lately,” he started and I interrupted.
“Because Jake has been working and I didn’t want you to withdraw from the world,” I exclaimed exasperatedly and he lifted his eyebrows. “Oh,” I said in a small voice as my words echoed in my head. “But that is explainable.” I waved my hand and he tilted his head.
“You’ve also told me things before you told him. If you even told him at all,” he added and I frowned.
“Okay, that was my bad, but again its proximity.”
“You’re not helping your case, kid.”
“Grrrr,” I growled, glaring at him. “Don’t call me kid.”
“Don’t act like one,” he retorted. “When we got here you admired me, my body,” he clarified and I threw up my hands.
“YOUR SKIN COLOR!”
“That doesn’t matter to a guy,” he told me regretfully and I slumped into my seat, unable to argue. “Then when you first met your uncle and I felt the surge in your emotions….it bothered him, understandably.” I shifted, suddenly the uncomfortable one. “I have to admit I’ve never felt someone else’s emotions so strongly and we were miles apart. That’s gonna bother a guy. I’m lucky he hasn’t punched me yet. And then today, you shut the guy down.”
Hidden Secrets (The Hidden Series Book 3) Page 14
