[Avery Shaw 11.0] Unwritten & Underwater

by Amanda M. Lee

  “Of course you’re not,” Eliot gritted out, dropping the yearbook on the floor and grabbing the stack of paperwork closest to him. “What did you find?”

  “A lot of stuff. She was a little obsessed with me.”

  “How do you mean?” Eliot wasn’t happy, but he was interested. I took that as a good sign.

  “She got a lot of stuff, and I’m a little impressed with how diligent she was,” I started. “She got my high school report card and all of the disciplinary reports filed on me while I was in school. There’s quite a few, in case you’re interested.”

  “I’d expect nothing less. Still, how did she get them?”

  “My guess is she visited the school and conned someone into helping her. I wasn’t exactly popular, and there’s bound to be a person or two – or maybe even ten – working for that school district who didn’t like me.”

  “Okay, what else?”

  “She’s got a list of all my moving violations from the Secretary of State, which seems to suggest she knows someone there, too. She also has a bunch of photos of me.”

  “Photos?” Eliot finally gave in and embraced his curiosity. “Where?”

  I grabbed the stack of snapshots resting next to my hip and handed them over. “I don’t know when they were taken or by whom, but … that’s weird, right?”

  “Definitely.” Eliot was grim as he flipped through the photographs. “She’s got some of you and Lexie in here … Carly … Jake … me. Heck, she’s got some taken outside of the family restaurant. This one was taken the night your grandfather decided to yank out the parking sign in his lot. It has all of us breaking the law together.”

  “I’m surprised she didn’t use it.”

  “She probably wanted more,” Eliot said. “We wouldn’t have gotten in very much trouble for what happened that night. Still, you have to figure that she hired someone to follow you. These photographs were probably taken by a private investigator.”

  The thought hadn’t even occurred to me. “Maybe the investigator is the one who got the yearbook and my high school records.”

  “Maybe. Anything else of interest?”

  “Just this.” I grabbed the biggest pile of documents and handed it to him. “This freaked me out the most, even more than the photographs.”

  “What’s this? Wait, is this your online shopping report? Between the shoes and Star Wars stuff, this looks about right.”

  He was trying to make a joke, however lame, but I couldn’t muster a smile. “It’s my personnel file at The Monitor.”

  Given what I’d already told him, I didn’t think I was capable of surprising him. Eliot looked downright stunned when he accepted the stack, though. “This is your record at the newspaper? Are you telling me this is how many times you’ve been in trouble?”

  “Who cares about that? She was totally stalking me.”

  “I know.” Eliot shifted his expression, contrite. “I’m sorry. I knew you were a problem employee, but this is freaking ridiculous.”

  “Ninety percent of that is Duncan.”

  “Well, that makes sense.” Eliot gave a low whistle. “How did she get this?”

  “I don’t know. To be fair, when the Human Resources lady dragged that thing out every time I got called to the office I thought most of it had to be blank pages and they were just messing with me. It turns out Duncan has reported me twice as many times as I realized.”

  “He deserves a good pounding.” Eliot flipped through the file, the corners of his mouth tipping up as he read a sheet. “Did you really tell him only men with small penises are obsessed with war reenactments?”

  I shrugged. “Probably.”

  “Well, she clearly got the information from someone,” Eliot said after a beat. “The Human Resources representative is a woman, right?”

  I nodded.

  “Give me her name and I’ll try to find a connection between her and Cara.”

  “What if the investigator is the one who got the file information?”

  “Then I’ll find a connection there, too,” Eliot replied. “I have an idea who she might’ve used, so I know where to start. That guy is good, but I’m better. He’ll own up to it if I ask him.”

  “He’s not really our problem,” I pointed out. “If Cara had this big file on me, that means she had plans. I didn’t have a chance to look around to see if she had anything else that makes me look bad. If she does, Fraser will be heading straight for me with more questions.”

  “That is a problem, but you didn’t kill her. And the bulk of the stuff in these files is childish nonsense,” Eliot pointed out. “Nothing in here makes you look anything other than immature. It certainly doesn’t make you look like a killer.”

  “I’m pretty sure I should be insulted by that.”

  “You should also be relieved. We need to get this file to Jake.”

  My mind momentarily flashed blank. “I’m sorry, but … what?”

  “You heard me.” Eliot was firm. “We have to, Avery. I can guarantee that Jake didn’t know what Cara was up to. He won’t rat you out, but we need to cover our bases in case Fraser somehow finds out you were in Cara’s house and stole from her.”

  “No way!” I hopped to my feet. “I may not be the smartest person in the world – or even in this room when it comes to stuff like this – but I do know that you never tell the cops when you’ve broken the law. You let them box you into a corner and deny until the end of time.”

  “That’s not the way we’re going to handle this.”

  “Yes, it is.”

  “No.”

  “Yes.”

  We were at an impasse and we both knew it. The smart thing to do was take a break. Of course, I never pick the smart thing to do.

  “We’re not turning that file over to Jake and that’s final!”

  I turned on my heel and stormed out of the room, leaving Eliot fuming behind me.

  Well, that went better than I thought.

  15 Fifteen

  Eliot and I were still fighting in the morning. We didn’t go so far as to sleep in separate beds, but we might as well have, given the gulf between us. The distance might’ve done us good. Each time one of us shifted during the night the other made a growling noise … and not for a fun reason.

  I woke more tired than when I went to sleep, closing the door as I hopped in the shower and refusing to make eye contact with Eliot. Even though I knew I did wrong, what he was asking of me I wasn’t capable of doing. Come on. You don’t admit the laws you’ve broken to the cops without proof. Even when they have proof it’s always better to lie. I firmly believe that.

  Eliot was another story.

  He found me in the kitchen chewing on a cold Pop Tart when he finished showering, his hair still damp and his expression withdrawn. “What are you doing today?”

  I was almost relieved when he finally spoke. I didn’t want to be the first to speak – that’s losing, after all – so the fact that he did made me feel marginally better. Maybe he wanted to make up. “I’m going to track down that attorney we saw Cara with at the store the other day. I’m hopeful he’ll have some information.”

  “Don’t go anywhere alone with him.”

  “Where do you think I’m going to go?”

  “Knowing you, it’s hard to say, but I’d rather you not fall into the clutches of a potential killer.”

  Okay, he definitely didn’t want to make up. “I’m hoping he’ll be at his office. That’s where I’m heading first. If he’s not, then I’ll try to sweet talk his secretary into giving me his court schedule and I’ll track him down there.”

  “What do you think he’s going to tell you?” Eliot’s tone was unnaturally grim. On most mornings he’d be playful and flirty, even his admonishments to be careful carrying a fun vibe. This morning he was all business. It was beyond grating.

  “I don’t know that he’s going to tell me anything. That doesn’t mean I can ignore the fact that he was one of the last people we saw with Cara. Th
ey seemed friendly. I want to know when he last saw her.”

  “You think he had a reason for being at the aquarium? Maybe he drew her there?”

  I realized I hadn’t related everything I discovered the previous day. “No. I talked to one of Cara’s neighbors, and she told me that Cara was handling the party preparations for the aquarium opening. I confirmed that with the county executive’s secretary.”

  “I guess you forgot to tell me that part.”

  “I got distracted.”

  “I guess so.” Eliot dragged a restless hand through his hair. He looked as frustrated as I felt. “Did she say anything else?”

  “She was actually a real chatterbox. First she told me I had thick thighs. Then she told me Jake was considered the hottest bachelor in the county and all of the women in the neighborhood were jealous when Cara snagged him. Never fear, though, you actually made the list, too. Everyone was disappointed when I snagged you.”

  “Well, that’s a relief.”

  “I thought you would think so.” I figured, at the very least, he would tell me I didn’t have thick thighs. Apparently he was really angry. Well, I refused to give in. I was putting my foot down. “She also told me that Cara tried covering it up when Jake began distancing himself, and then turned bitter and crazy when he dumped her. She blamed me.”

  “That doesn’t surprise me. I always figured Cara blamed you. That’s why I was so angry when she showed up the day of the party.”

  “You think she wanted to hurt me, don’t you?”

  “I think that she wanted to hurt you from the day she met you,” Eliot clarified. “I think she managed to convince herself that you could be friends at first, but only because she believed Jake wanted that. She knew that if it ever came to a choice, Jake would choose you.

  “When it became clear you weren’t going to play the game in the manner Cara wanted, she became angry and tried to force you into attacking her in front of Jake whenever possible,” he continued. “She wanted Jake to see you as irrational and detrimental to his career. What she didn’t comprehend was that Jake already knew that and didn’t care.”

  “I hardly think I’m irrational.”

  Eliot ignored me. “Cara was still laboring under the misguided belief that she might be able to draw Jake back to her when she died,” he said. “My fear was that when she finally realized that was never going to happen she would snap and go after you.”

  “Hey, I don’t want to speak ill of the dead, but I totally could’ve taken her.”

  “On an even playing field, sure,” Eliot said. “Cara wasn’t going to engage you on an even playing field, though. She would’ve been far more likely to sneak up from behind and stab you in the back.”

  “Wow. You’re really a bright and shiny soul this morning, aren’t you?”

  “I’m merely stating it as I see it.”

  “I guess that means you’re going to stay angry for the foreseeable future, huh?”

  “It means that I love you, but I’m not going to let you bully me into your way of thinking,” Eliot replied, calm.

  “You still love me?” I felt like a ninny for asking the question, but the simple admission caused some of my pent-up rage to ebb. I wasn’t expecting that.

  “You just want to hear me say it.” Eliot’s lips twitched. “I love you.”

  “I love you, too.”

  “You’re still a massive pain in the ass.”

  “Right back at you.”

  “Yes, well, that’s where we’re at for the day,” Eliot said. “You’re angry. I’m angry. Neither of us is going to give.”

  “I won’t admit to breaking into Cara’s house and stealing that file,” I argued. “Jake is a ‘by the rules’ guy and he’d arrest me. I’m not going to jail.”

  “Jake won’t arrest you. He needs to know,” Eliot shot back. “He’s operating without all of the information right now, and that’s not fair to him … especially because he’s going to end up in the most trouble if Fraser keeps up his current plan of attack.”

  “I can’t.”

  “Then I’ll do it for you.”

  That was an option … that I wouldn’t consider for even five seconds. “No way! Just because you take the file to Jake doesn’t mean he still won’t arrest me. It’s not going to happen.”

  Eliot stared at me for a long beat, unblinking. “It’s going to happen. I already gathered the file and I’m taking it to him.”

  My mouth dropped open. “What?”

  “I have to do it for your sake,” Eliot said. “We need help. We need Jake on our side. We can’t operate in the correct manner if he doesn’t know everything that’s going on. Now, I’m sorry, but you’re going to have to live with my decision.”

  “Fat chance!” I bolted from the kitchen and hit the stairs that led to the second floor before Eliot started to follow. I barreled through the door to the office, finding the floor clean and the file missing. By the time I swiveled, Eliot stood in the doorway. “Where is it?”

  “I’m taking care of it.”

  Eliot was calm, which only caused me to fly off the handle. “This isn’t funny! I want that file back, and I want it back right now.”

  “No.”

  “Eliot!”

  “Avery, it’s not going to happen.” Eliot folded his arms over his chest. “I love you. That is not going to change. I’m also going to protect you to the best of my ability. I’m sorry that upsets you.”

  “That’s it?”

  “That’s it.”

  Oh, if he thought that was it, he had another thing coming. I wasn’t above making a grown man cry. In fact, I was looking forward to it.

  I WAS STILL plotting when I pulled into The Monitor’s parking lot. Whatever way I chose to retaliate had to be mean, decisive and not nasty enough to cause Eliot to kick me out of the house. I was walking a fine line.

  That’s probably why I didn’t notice Inspector Fraser standing in the lobby until I was almost on top of him.

  “What are you doing here?” I’ve never been good at the social graces. I saw no reason to improve now.

  Fraser arched an eyebrow, his expression somewhere between amused and annoyed. “I’m here to talk to your boss.”

  “Fish? Good luck with that. I find that if you have mittens shaped like sharks that he’s perfectly happy to watch you do a puppet show.”

  “I don’t know who Fish is. I’m here to talk to the publisher, Jim MacDonald.”

  Crap. I should’ve seen that coming. The fact that I didn’t meant I was off my game. I blamed Eliot – and he would know it when I saw him again. “Oh, well, I hope you have a nice discussion.”

  I moved to slide around Fraser but he stopped me with a hand on my arm. There was something proprietary about the way he touched me, and I didn’t like it. I’d had about all I could take of know-it-all men for one day. “Do you need something?”

  “I thought you might want to hang around for my meeting with the publisher.”

  That sounded like the last thing I wanted. “I’m good.”

  “And yet I think it would be best for all concerned if you stayed,” Fraser pressed. “We have a few things to discuss.”

  Uh-oh. That couldn’t be good. I searched his face, looking for clues that he knew I broke into Cara’s house and stole the file. His expression was unreadable. “I have other things to do today.”

  “Oh, I think you can spare a few minutes for Inspector Fraser, don’t you?”

  I cringed when I heard MacDonald’s voice, turned slowly and plastered what I hoped was a friendly smile on my face. Even though we worked in the same building, I rarely saw the big boss. That was by design. “Hi!” Whoops. That came out a bit squeakier than I intended.

  “Hello.” MacDonald didn’t let his emotions show, and instead gestured toward the conference room on the other side of the hallway. “Let’s go in here, shall we?”

  I fell into step between the two men, my mind racing. I had no idea what Fraser wanted to di
scuss. I felt that if he knew about my law-breaking ways from the previous afternoon that he’d already have me in cuffs. The fact that he wanted to sit down for a conversation with the big boss led me to believe something else was going on. But what?

  Fraser didn’t waste any time once the door was closed. “I would like you to change reporters regarding the Carpenter case.”

  Whatever I was expecting, that wasn’t it. “No way!”

  “I don’t believe you have a say in the matter,” Fraser said. “You, Mr. MacDonald, have the final say. I want her off this story.”

  Instead of answering right away, MacDonald opted for a calmer approach. “And why is that?”

  “Because she’s publishing ridiculous stories that no one else is getting,” Fraser replied. “That’s not conducive to an organized investigation.”

  “I fail to see how that’s my problem,” MacDonald said.

  “Your reporter is a suspect in Ms. Carpenter’s murder. How can you let her cover the story given that information?”

  “Because I know she’s not really a suspect,” MacDonald replied. “She was home with her boyfriend at the time. You’ve already confirmed that with the security company.”

  “And how do you know that?”

  I couldn’t help but echo the question. “Yeah, how do you know that?”

  MacDonald offered a smarmy smile. “I have my ways. Even if Avery didn’t have an alibi, I wouldn’t peg her as a murderer. She has no motive.”

  “She and Ms. Carpenter were involved with the same man.”

  “We were not!”

  MacDonald held up a hand to still my temper. “I’m well aware of the friendship between Sheriff Farrell and Avery. I’m also well aware of her relationship with Eliot Kane. They live together. She is not involved with Sheriff Farrell, and she hasn’t been for a very long time.”

  “And you’re sure of that?”

  “I am.” MacDonald stared unblinkingly at Fraser. “I’ve watched Avery’s antics for quite some time now. I’m well aware of who she is and is not dating. Do you want to know how? She’s loud. When she does something – or someone, in this case – she makes sure everyone knows.”