Crashing Waves

by C J Baty

  Richard had disappeared after Caroline’s funeral, which was no surprise to anyone. It was his thing . . . disappearing.

  “Justin.” Peter spied Justin in the open office door. “Are you okay?”

  “I’m fine. Still a little unsteady at times, but the headache is gone.” Justin turned to Richard and offered him his hand.

  “Hello, Richard. I didn’t expect to see you again so soon,” Justin said, then asked Peter, “What’s going on here?”

  Richard stared at Justin’s outstretched hand, eventually shaking it.

  “You’re looking . . .” Justin started.

  “Sober,” Richard finished for him.

  “Yeah. I knew something was different about you yesterday. How’s that going for you?” Justin sat in a chair beside the desk. Richard finally sat down as well. He seemed a little calmer now that Justin was in the room.

  “Some days are rougher than others, but I’m getting there.” Scowling at Peter, he added, “When people won’t listen to me and I get worked up, the cravings get worse. But I’m not going to drink again. Ever.”

  Justin could see the absolute determination in Richard Brooks’s eyes. He was sober and he wanted to stay that way.

  “My mother lost it after . . . you know. They need me. Dad too. After Caroline was gone, they needed me. I’m trying to do the right thing for the first time in my life,” he confessed to Justin. “I want to do the right thing this time.”

  “What has Daisy Marshall got to do with that?” Justin asked.

  “Marshall?” He was clearly confused.

  “Peter can you give us a few moments?” Justin told his brother.

  “Sure, but we’ve got a major problem with the—”

  “It will keep for thirty minutes.”

  Peter nodded and excused himself. As soon as the door closed, Richard started rambling.

  “You were still at college. Caroline was busy planning the wedding. She was the complete center of attention for my parents. I had no one. I know it sounds stupid and juvenile now, but that’s how I felt back then. Then I found Daisy and things weren’t so bad for a while.”

  “How do you know Ms. Marshall?” Justin asked.

  “I suppose she could have gotten married, but her name was Lee. Daisy Lee.

  She is Moses Lee’s younger sister.”

  Justin was shocked. Why would Marcus hire Moses Lee’s younger sister to work for him? Did he even know they were related?

  “What the hell are you talking about?”

  “Daisy and I were in love. At least, I thought we were. Then she found out she was pregnant. The next thing I knew she was gone, the baby was gone, and I was shipped off to Europe.”

  Justin tried to make sense of what Richard was telling him, but he’d never heard anything about this before. Surely someone in the family would have

  told him that Richard had gotten someone pregnant. Caroline never said a word. Neither did his parents.

  “I came back about six months later for your wedding. I was drunk. I’d been drunk since I left, and I never really sobered up until recently. But you already know that. What I didn’t know was what an asshole your old man was until the wedding.”

  “My father?” Now Justin was really confused.

  “Bradley Warfield encouraged my father to get rid of the baby. Mine and Daisy Lee’s child.” Richard Brooks sat and waited for Justin’s reaction.

  “How do you know my father had anything to do with what happened?”

  “Because at your wedding, he had the nerve to corner me and tell me it was in my best interest for the child to be given away! He had my father convinced too.”

  “What do you think he did?” Justin asked quietly.

  “I think he got someone to adopt the baby. They told me Daisy didn’t want it.

  That she took money for signing the baby away. I remember that my father and yours had pushed me to sign some papers before I left the country. I had no idea what I was signing.” Richard looked like a broken man sitting before Justin.

  “Is that why you were so angry to see Daisy here today? You think she ran out on you and your child?”

  “No,” he answered, but added, “I want to know what happened to her, that much is true. Mostly, I want to know if she’s come back to cause trouble for my parents? I don’t think they could take another shock, Justin, especially my mother.”

  “I don’t know her but maybe we need to talk with Marcus and her to see what is going on. I don’t think he knows that she is Moses Lee’s sister.”

  Richard’s shoulders shuddered as he took a deep breath. His next words were soft.

  “She’s the only woman I’ve ever truly loved.”

  Justin hurt for his ex-brother-in-law.

  “Do you think . . . she’d talk to me? Just talk.” Richard’s voice sounded lost.

  Whatever had happened in the past had affected the man Richard had turned out to be; that was clear to Justin now. But he didn’t know Daisy, so he didn’t have any words of comfort for the man before him.

  “I don’t know. I can ask Marcus to—” a knock at the door interrupted Justin.

  Marcus’s dark head of curls peered through the opening and looked around the room.

  “Can we come in?”

  “We?” Justin asked.

  Marcus opened the door wider and a woman who Justin assumed was Daisy Marshall, or Lee, walked into the office. She was gorgeous with rich-brown skin and dark-as-night eyes. Richard Brooks stood but didn’t say anything.

  He didn’t have to. Every emotion, every painful memory, was already playing out on his face. Justin had never seen anyone who looked so lost and alone.

  Justin understood that feeling completely. Marcus spoke first.

  “Here’s the ground rules. No shouting. No accusation throwing. Daisy only wants the truth,” Marcus said, looking between Richard and Justin, then added, “and to find her child.”

  Richard spoke up, “Our child.”

  “Okay, your child. Can you do that?” he asked Richard directly.

  Richard nodded his head, his eyes never leaving Daisy. “Yes.”

  To Daisy, Marcus asked, “Do you want us to stay?” She smiled and shook her head no.

  “We’ll be in the bar,” Justin offered, then motioned for Marcus to follow him.

  “He’s in control, right?” Marcus inquired, as they closed the door to the office.

  “He’s sober and clearly shook up, but, yes, I think he’s in control. And he’s still in love with her.”

  Marcus stopped and stared at Justin.

  “She’s Moses’s sister. Well, half sister. I had no idea.”

  Justin led Marcus down the hall to the lounge. It was open again after the fiasco from a few days before. A small before-dinner crowd had gathered, and Robert was behind the bar pouring Peter a glass of something amber.

  “Pour two more,” Justin stated as he and Marcus walked up beside Peter.

  “Where’s everyone else?” Peter asked. “And should you really be having a drink after what you’ve been through?”

  “I’m fine. And she is Moses Lee’s sister,” Justin said so all three men could hear him.

  Peter’s mouth dropped open, and Robert stared in amazement.

  “You’ve got to be kidding me?”

  “Nope, and they are in our office talking.” Justin sipped at the glass of liquor Robert had poured for him.

  “Is that wise? The way they were shouting earlier—” Robert asked, and Marcus cut him off.

  “It’s none of your business.”

  Peter changed the subject quickly, drawing Justin and Marcus’s attention.

  “We’ve got a bigger issue, and it has to do with the hotel. Someone broke into several of the locked rooms in the basement last night. Including the one where dad had his stuff stored. It was completely ransacked.”

  “If I were guessing, I’d say that was the room they were looking for to begin with,” Robert added.

  �
�And why would you say that?” Marcus asked, twisting his glass on the counter.

  “Because the other rooms weren’t nearly as messed up. If you don’t believe me, go have a look for yourself you—”

  “Whoa guys.” Justin interrupted to keep things from escalating. Several customers in the bar were beginning to watch them.

  “That’s a good idea. Peter, why don’t you show me.” Marcus stood, downed his drink, then slammed the glass on the bar.

  “Yeah, okay. I guess I’m going with him.” Peter jumped off his stool and hurried after Marcus.

  “He’s an asshole!” Robert said, his voice rising again.

  “You need to calm down. Marcus is here to help us figure out what’s going on. We need him.” Justin didn’t understand why Robert was acting the way he was.

  “Bullshit!” Robert lowered his voice after one customer at the bar turned toward him. “Look, you’re out now. He knows it, and he wants another chance at you.” Robert pulled back from the bar and looked at Justin as he folded his arms across his massive chest. Hardness edged his eyes. “Tell me you aren’t still attracted to him. I thought we were starting something between us. We should never have dated—”

  “I didn’t know we were dating,” Justin said, feeling bewildered at Robert’s words. “I thought we were friends having a couple of meals together.”

  “At first that’s true, it was just friendship. I thought, when you asked me to dinner the other day, it was finally becoming more.” Robert looked more infuriated than hurt.

  Justin stared back at the angry blond man and realized he had been wrong about a couple of things. He had let his comfort with Robert lead him to do something he shouldn’t have. It had been wrong to ask Robert on a date . He was still attracted to Marcus, always had been. He’d spent so much time making up excuses why being with Marcus was wrong it had totally escaped him that he wanted Marcus. Now he was going to lose a friend because of his own blindness.

  “I’m sorry.” Justin barely caught the slight flinch in Robert’s hard eyes, but he had seen it there for an instant.

  Two waitresses walked up at that moment and gave Robert their orders. He poured the drinks they needed and then went to speak with someone at the other end of the bar. It was clear he was trying to put some distance between them. Justin had never meant to hurt Robert, but he knew in his heart that Robert wasn’t the man for him. Justin hoped he hadn’t lost his friend.

  Staring into his drink, realization dawned on Justin. Marcus was the one he wanted, and if Marcus would give him a second chance, he wasn’t going to let him go this time. He just prayed that it wasn’t too late.

  “I knew.” Robert’s soft words caused Justin to look up from his glass. This was the Robert Justin knew. The gentle giant who spoke with a kind word for everyone. A man that valued loyalty and friendship.

  “I knew you were in love with him last summer. It was in the way you looked at him. I hoped you’d gotten over it or that I could help you get over it. But yesterday when I saw him with Peter and they were on their way to see you at the hospital, I knew. I knew, I wouldn’t stand a chance with him back here.”

  “I don’t want to lose your friendship, Robert.”

  A weak smile curled at one corner of Robert’s mouth, then he said, “Let’s just see how it goes. He nodded toward the door with a shake of his head.

  “You better go see what those two have found in the basement.”

  8

  ––––––––

  PETER WALKED AHEAD of Marcus and pointed out the doors in the basement that had been pried open. Robert was correct; the intruder had stopped opening locked doors as soon as he’d found the room where Bradley Warfield’s things had been stored. The fact that he had been right did not make Marcus like the man any better. Several large boxes had been opened and their contents strewn across the concrete floor. Three large filing cabinets in the room had their drawers pulled half open, and the contents covered the floor as well. The disarray reminded Marcus of how the attic looked the day after Justin’s attack. Someone was searching for something specific. The rest didn’t matter, so it was left scattered about.

  “I just don’t understand what they were looking for.” Peter leaned against the doorframe. “Most of this stuff has been here since before my parents died.”

  The room had clearly been undisturbed for quite some time. Marcus could see the thick layer of dust covering everything in the room except the emptied file cabinets and some overturned boxes. That’s when Marcus noticed the tracks in the grime on the floor. Something heavy had been dragged from the far left corner of the room to the door. That was where the tracks ended.

  “Peter, can you tell if anything is missing?” Marcus asked as he made his way through the mess to the far side of the room.

  “Not really. I haven’t been down here in ages. Well, not this room anyway.

  There’s no reason to come in here. I come down to the liquor storage room and to the laundry, of course. It’s at the opposite end of the hall. That’s about it.” Peter followed behind Marcus as he spoke.

  “Do you have any idea what was stacked in that corner or what might have been stored there?” Marcus asked. He tried to get an idea of how big the box or boxes could have been.

  “Shit!” Peter exclaimed. “Someone did take something.” He looked over Marcus’s shoulder. “There was a huge wooden crate stored there. It’s been here for years, but I have no idea what it contained.” A noise at the door caused Marcus to look back over his shoulder.

  “This room is basically the same as it was when I took over the Warfield,”

  Justin said from the open doorway. “Our father must have placed that crate there before then.”

  Marcus noticed Justin seemed different. His stance was more self-assured.

  More like the way he had carried himself before the events of last summer.

  Marcus also observed the soft easy way Justin’s eyes roamed over him and the slight curve of his lips that developed into a grin. He looked like he was enjoying himself while he stared at Marcus, and he wasn’t blushing. Marcus felt his body heat rise. The look Justin was giving him warmed him from the inside out. He cleared his throat and pulled his thoughts back to the business at hand.

  “I’m only guessing, but I bet the crate held more of your father’s journals,”

  Marcus stated.

  “Journals? You mean like a diary?” Peter snickered.

  “Our father kept journals, and it would appear someone is looking for information they believe is contained in them,” Justin said to Peter, but Marcus noticed his eyes never looked away from him.

  “What do you mean by that? Like a secret Swiss bank account number?”

  Peter chuckled to himself.

  “No. I think it’s more likely he had information—secrets on some of the residents of Beaufort—and now someone doesn’t want that discovered,”

  Marcus answered, then turned away from Justin.

  “He even used Alexander as a distraction last night.”

  “What?” Peter asked.

  “You think that’s why Alexander was at the house?” Justin asked Marcus.

  “It seems likely. The damage here is very similar to the damage in the attic.”

  Marcus scrutinized the room again.

  “Wait. Alexander was in the manor last night?”

  “Yes. At first we thought he was the person who broke in the night before and attacked Justin. I’m pretty sure that isn’t the case after what happened here.” Marcus faced Justin again.

  “What we need to do now is place things in a time line. Try to establish when and what was disturbed with each of the things that have happened over the last month. It’s going to be hard to tell when this happened,”

  Marcus said.

  “I can answer that,” Robert interrupted as he walked into the small room.

  “I bet you can,” Marcus muttered under his breath.

  “Marcus,” Justin chided
him.

  Ignoring Marcus’s statement, Robert told them that he came down every other day to check the liquor inventory. He added for Marcus’s benefit that it was the first room on the left at the bottom of the stairs. It occurred to Marcus that the inventory room had not been opened. Was that because the intruder already knew what was in that room?

  “I was down here yesterday, and these rooms had not been opened. It just makes sense that this happened last night.”

  Marcus noticed the smile Robert gave Justin when he stated his conclusions.

  “Does anyone else ever accompany you when you do the inventory,” Marcus asked.

  “No. It’s part of my new duties, and there’s never been anything missing. I don’t like what you’re implying.” Robert stepped toward Marcus with his fists clinched.

  “Enough!” Peter’s voice vibrated in the small room.

  “We don’t have time for this right now. We need to find out who’s behind this shit and stop it before someone gets hurt. I need both of you to focus on

  your goddamned jobs.” Peter stormed from the room leaving Marcus, Justin, and Robert to stare after him.

  “I guess I’d better get back to work,” Robert said as he left Justin and Marcus alone in the basement room. Marcus started to follow him out to go check on Daisy when Justin spoke up.

  “Can I talk to you for a moment?”

  That look was back in Justin’s eyes, the self-assured one. Marcus just didn’t know what to make of it.

  “Sure.”

  Justin stepped closer, right inside Marcus’s personal space. It was the closest they had been since before Caroline had been killed. Justin’s hand came up and touched his cheek gently.

  “We need to talk,” Justin said quietly.

  Justin moved closer, palmed his face, and pulled Marcus to him. The kiss was tentative at first, but when Marcus kissed him back, Justin took it a little further. It was that wonderful mix of sweet memory and first-time excitement that stirred something deep inside Marcus. He could feel Justin’s free hand come around his waist and pull him closer, but the kiss never went any further. It just lingered there between them. When Justin finally pulled back and Marcus opened his eyes, he didn’t know what he would see but he wasn’t expecting such intensity in Justin’s eyes. It was as if he was searching for something.