“Ellie, I did a lot of thinking while I was in Paris. About us, and how much I’ve come to care for you. I know this is sudden and everything—but I think you return my feelings. When I asked you to marry me last night, I meant it, every word. I don’t want to push you but…”
Ellie watched, stunned, as Brad produced a jeweler’s box from his pocket, flipping it open like a magician to reveal the solitaire diamond ring inside. She should have seen this whole proposal thing coming, should not have been taken by surprise—but she was. Because you haven’t really taken Brad seriously, sneered the voice in her head as she dragged in a deep breath.
“Darling Ellie.” Brad gently took her hand across the table. “I picked this ring out in Paris, with your face haunting my dreams. I’ll ask you again. Please say you’ll marry me?”
Ellie’s eyes widened as she stared at the beautiful ring nestled in its blue velvet. It was undoubtedly the most beautiful ring she had ever seen—but one, she knew with sudden clarity, she would never wear, and her heart contracted with the shadow of the pain her choice would cause Brad. Brad, who had always been there for her, on whose generosity she could always rely, and who was now offering her the chance to share his life for better or for worse.
It would be so easy just lose herself in Brad’s life. To let herself be loved, and to give up struggling to make it on her own. To simply follow him, and her whims, wherever they led. Brad was a wealthy man and he enjoyed spoiling her…..how empty that seems!
Brad gave an anxious laugh, unnerved by her silence, and the sound touched Ellie’s heart. She’d rarely seen him at a loss, and it emphasized to Ellie more than any words could, just how much hung upon her reply.
“Listen, Ellie—don’t make a decision right now. Take your time. Maybe we can talk some more. Oh, Lord, I’m babbling on like some nervous teenager!” He subsided into an awkward silence that neither of them seemed able to break. They sat together in silence at the table Ellie had so artistically set, and as far as Brad was concerned, the day was downhill all the way from there.
Even in the old jeans and simple sweater, Ellie had taken his breath away. His hopes that they could ratchet their relationship up to a higher level had risen as the meal progressed. But Ellie had a different agenda.
“Brad, I can’t make any commitment yet, especially without telling you…”
Ignoring his puzzled look, she sat back in her chair, her eyes wide and far away, her long fingers toying with the rim of her coffee cup. The distance between them was widening alarmingly, and she could tell by the twin creases over his eyes that Brad knew this, too.
She filled him in about the call from Chief Superintendent Harris, and the invitation—or command - to join the review team, and her subsequent secondment back onto the manpower- short special task force.
Brad simmered silently as he listened. But when she expressed her intention to return to policing, the thunderclouds that had been gathering on his face suddenly burst into a storm over her head.
“You’re going to do what? Have you completely lost your mind?” Brad hadn’t intended to raise his voice, but Ellie’s announcement had shocked him to the core. Shocked and frightened him. “How can you even consider going back into all that? You told me you were going to resign once the suspension was over! You still have nightmares after so long—and for all the good your colleagues did, I doubt there’s one of them would stand between you and some lunatic waving an antique scalpel!”
Ellie leaned across the table, anger making red slashes across her pale cheeks. “I don’t know what you’re so angry about. I’ve been asked to take part in the review, and I’ve agreed. I was only suspended, and Harris wouldn’t accept my resignation. Now I’ve a chance to sort things out and make it right. Then I’ll be able to decide what to do from there.
“But there’s no more commitment than that. And I’d be doing a lot of desk work on the review - it’s not exactly ‘NYPD Blue’ you know.” Ellie was taken aback by his reaction. Here was the man who had encouraged her to get back into life at a time when she’d sometimes found herself wondering if she might just walk into the sea one day and never return. Handsome, kind Brad had pulled her out of the storm of her own emotions, and brought her safely into harbor. Of all people, Ellie thought he should understand her decision to try to correct the old wrongs that were etched onto her soul like acid on glass.
Then a thought slammed into Ellie’s brain—how had Brad known the Sunshine Slasher used an antique scalpel for his macabre work? The Slasher had pleaded guilty, but his defense team had presented expert testimony and asked successfully for a hearing on the grounds of insanity. The result was that minimal evidence about the case had been heard, witness statements were admitted without the witnesses themselves being called, and juicy details like the Slasher’s use of an antique scalpel once part of a collection owned by his surgeon father remained buried in the statements submitted. The judge had recommended that the Slasher be held in the psychiatric wing of a maximum-security prison.
“Do what you like—but don’t say I didn’t warn you!” Brad stood abruptly, the metal legs of his chair scraping harshly on the wooden floor. “Just think it all over—maybe when we go out tonight, you’ll feel better.” Then he left her alone with her thoughts.
****
He had to get inside that house, but that damned dog was patrolling her terrace like a sentry, and had fired off a staccato bark at him as he tried to move closer. Night was closing in, but Ellie hadn’t moved from the cottage all day. The man tossed his cigarette onto the damp sand and without its tiny glow he was no more than a dark shadow on the darker beach.
For now he had to content himself with brief glances captured through her windows. It hit him right in the pit of his stomach, remembering how he’d once wanted her. They’d called her the Ice Queen, but in his dreams she’d melted, warm and wet against him.
But that was long ago, his life had moved on and she no longer infested his dreams. Even so, passing time had not destroyed her attraction. Her hair was still that ripe corn color, and he enjoyed a brief fantasy of running his fingers through that pale golden waterfall…
****
Larry and Sue-Ellen Darnley, proprietors of the CrossRoads Café, were hosting a welcome home party for Larry’s brother, Jack, that evening. Jack was newly returned from a job in the States. “Larry’s treating him like the prodigal son,” Sue-Ellen had confided, rolling her eyes, the previous evening when Ellie and Brad had called for dinner.
The evening Brad proposed to you. Remember that bright sparkly diamond ring he just offered you? What are you going to do about that, then? Ellie knew what her heart wanted—her heart wanted Liam Reilly. But her heart was unlikely to get its wish—so was she willing to settle for second best and marry Brad?
After the morning’s upset and then the argument with Brad, Ellie had decided to phone Sue-Ellen with her apologies and stay at home instead. But Brad arrived early at her cottage, dressed to go out, and persuaded her that what they needed was an evening out with friends to lift the mood. If nothing else, it would give her a chance to blot out the awful discovery on the beach—and the morning’s interview with Liam. She gave in and went to get dressed as Brad sat outside on the terrace with a glass of wine.
Larry and Sue-Ellen had become good friends in the time she’d lived at the family cottage near Whitby. By contrast, Larry’s brother Jack seemed to be a complete pain in the rear. Something bothered her about the man—was it just that lazy familiarity of his manner, or had she met him before? She frowned as she feathered her hair with the drier. There was a hard edge to him, something dangerously attractive and arrogant. She didn’t believe in coincidences, and the arrival of Larry’s brother coincided too closely with the discovery of a body on the beach.
Good God, Ellie—you’re doing the suspicious police officer thing again! She grinned at her reflection in the mirror, but the smile faded. What was she going to do about Brad? She pushed the thought away.
Tonight she was simply going to enjoy herself.
She dressed carefully, pulling on a sleek purple dress in soft linen and slipping her feet into slim-heeled black strappy sandals. The reflection in her mirror showed a poised young woman whose eyes sparkled and whose cheeks were flushed with the natural color of anticipation.
Chief Superintendent Harris had called her again, ordering her to report for duty the next day. “We’ve too many people off sick with this summer flu, and now this new case. We need all the manpower we can get. I believe you found the body?” Harris made it sound as though Ellie had deliberately gone out of her way to find the body so that she could create further problems for the Chief Super. And thinking about what he’d said, the additional sub-text was that they were so short of staff right now that he’d take anything, even disgraced Inspector Ellie Fitzpatrick.
Ellie smiled at her reflection in the mirror. She didn’t care what Harris thought—tomorrow she’d be back at work doing the job she had dreamed about since she’d been a little kid. Even if the cloud of suspicion still hung over her Ellie had her job back and she vowed that she’d investigate the accusations against her and prove herself innocent. Yes, she had something to celebrate, even if Brad didn’t want to celebrate with her. She’d hug the secret of her return to work the next morning to herself a little longer.
Brad turned as she stepped out onto the terrace, and his face lit up as he looked at her appreciatively. Placing his wine glass on the patio table, he rose and took her in his arms.
“Wow! If traumatic experiences do this for you, I might start sprinkling a few bodies up and down the beach myself,” Brad said. He stopped as he saw the blood drain from Ellie’s face.
“Was that a confession, Mr. Scott?”
Ellie and Brad jumped apart like guilty teenagers as the hard, familiar voice drawled from out of the shadows. Liam Reilly strolled toward them with that same knowing smile as his gaze flickered over Ellie.
“Lord, man - you could give a person heart failure, sneaking up on them like that. And no, it wasn’t a confession, just a tasteless joke that fell flat,” Brad, the first to recover, snapped.
“Well, I hope I’m not interrupting anything - I just needed to speak to Ms. Fitzpatrick,” Reilly said smoothly.
“What the hell do you want now, Reilly?” She didn’t bother to hide her irritation.
“I’m just a police officer doing my job, Ma’am.” His false humility made her grind her teeth. “I wanted to check on this blanket that we found at the crime scene. It has your name on a label, here - “ He held out the plastic covered beige and brown blanket for Ellie’s inspection.”And I’m trying to ascertain whether it’s part of the evidence.”
Ellie was silent a moment, held captive by the memory of standing among the rocks, feeling the blanket in her numb fingers as the nightmare became reality before her eyes. When she finally spoke, her voice was so soft that both men had to strain to hear her. “I ran all the way back here to call the emergency services. On the way back I took the blanket with me, to cover her up. She looked so very sad, lying there...I thought she had drowned, an accident, you see. But when I went to put the blanket over her, I saw...I saw the cut on her neck, and the rose…”
“Did you actually place the blanket over the body?”
“No, no - I was afraid of contaminating the scene, so I dropped it onto the rocks and sat on it until the police arrived.”
Reilly gave an approving nod. “Good, you were thinking like a police officer.”
“Maybe it’s all the crime programs I watch on TV,” Ellie snapped, and she saw the glint of laughter in his eyes.
“Well, that’s cleared up. I can leave this with you.”
“I take it I’m not a suspect, then?”
“Everyone’s a suspect, Ellie. You know that,” Reilly said, casting a suspicious look at them as Ellie and Brad grinned at each other, remembering Ellie’s earlier comments. “Am I missing something?” he asked, his eyes narrowing under dark brows.
“No, but we are. There’s a party tonight at the CrossRoads, a sort of welcome home party for the owner’s brother, and Ellie and I are off to it.”
“A party, eh? Maybe I’ll come along, too,” Reilly said mildly.
“I’m afraid it’s a private party.” Brad didn’t try to disguise his irritation.
“Tsk. Didn’t Ellie tell you that there’s no such thing as privacy in a police investigation?” He turned to leave. “Can I offer you a lift?”
“No, we’d planned to walk,” Ellie said firmly.
“That’s a good idea. I think I’ll do the same—don’t want to be pulled over for drunk driving, do we?” Reilly leaned casually against the wooden railing to wait for them. Scowling, Ellie went to get her lightweight jacket.
And so Ellie made her entrance at the CrossRoads party with a deliciously handsome man on each arm, and she wouldn’t have been human if she hadn’t enjoyed the stir they created as they strolled into the restaurant together. It was only moments before Sue-Ellen, drawn by her curiosity, came up to welcome them.
“Ellie! Brad! Wonderful to see you - we’re so glad you could come! And you brought a guest!” She briefly kissed their cheeks in turn, pausing to hold Reilly’s hand a little too long and gaze into his brown eyes. “And just where have you been keeping this handsome treasure, honey? Isn’t our Ellie a dark horse?” The last was murmured to Larry as her husband came over with a tray of drinks. Larry looked harassed and out of sorts.
“She certainly is. If I’d known you were collecting strays, you could have had my brother!” he said, his face dark. He flushed as he realized the implied insult in his words and, balancing the tray in one hand, he held his free hand out to Reilly. “Sorry, mate. I didn’t mean to suggest - it just came out all wrong...”
“Oh, he’s in such a mood,” Sue-Ellen complained, an indulgent smile on her pretty face.”Just because his brother wants to relax and have a bit of fun, while old Mister Work Ethic here thinks everyone should slave their days away...”
“Oh, no offence taken,” Reilly said, speaking directly to Larry. “After all, anyone who comes bearing drinks can be forgiven almost anything.”
“Well, help yourself, it is a party, after all. And I think Ellie may have forgotten her manners,” Sue-Ellen said waspishly.
Before Ellie could take Sue-Ellen’s hint, Reilly stepped in easily. “Liam. Liam Reilly,” he said, offering his hand to Sue-Ellen again.
“Superintendent Liam Reilly,” Ellie put in. Reilly wasn’t going to get away with interrogating her friends without them knowing who he was. She got quite a kick out of the sharp look Reilly shot her over his glass.
“Ooh, a police officer! You must be investigating Ellie’s body!” Sue-Ellen blurted.
Ellie’s jaw dropped and her face burned as Reilly struggled not to choke on his drink with laughter.
“I think you might phrase that a little better,” Brad said, smiling despite himself. Sometimes Sue-Ellen could be so gauche it was easy to forget how shrewd she could be.
“Don’t be naughty, you guys. What I meant was, I suppose you’re investigating the drowning?”
“A super’s a bit of a high rank to be brought into something like this, isn’t it?” Larry asked.
My, what a suspicious bunch these people are, Reilly thought, but he answered smoothly, “Well, we have to investigate any case of sudden or unexpected death where the circumstances are unusual.”
“And are there unusual circumstances?” A slender man in his late twenties had come up to join the group. He pulled out a cigarette packet and offered them around. Reilly took one, but Brad shook his head. “I’ve given up. It just takes self-control, but they say it’s a bit like alcohol - take one and you’re hooked all over again.”
“I thought you’d given up, too, Reilly?” Ellie asked sweetly, knowing his habit of collecting information so casually. “Did the famous Reilly self-discipline give out?”
“You’re right, Ellie. I’ll
tuck it away and see how long I can resist temptation,” he replied, slowly sliding the cigarette into his shirt pocket while his eyes challenged her.
“Now I’m forgetting my manners,” Sue-Ellen exclaimed. “This is Larry’s brother, Jack, newly returned to us from Stateside and guest of honor at this party. Jack, you’ve already met Ellie Fitzpatrick and Brad Scott. And this gentleman is Superintendent Liam Reilly.”
Jack’s eyes took her in slowly from head to toe with obvious appreciation. “Well, I am very pleased to meet you again, darling. Beautiful unattached women are hard to find,” he said, holding her hand and looking directly into her eyes.
“I wouldn’t say she’s unattached,” Brad cut in brusquely as Ellie tried to retrieve her hand. Out of the corner of her eye she spied Reilly’s lips curve upwards in a sardonic smile.
“Well, I see no ring on this pretty little finger,” Jack replied, turning Ellie’s hand palm downwards.
“Ah, now, even a ring on the finger doesn’t necessarily mean a commitment,” Reilly said, handing Ellie a drink from Larry’s tray. The ploy worked - Ellie was holding her evening bag in one hand, so Jack had to let go of her other hand to allow her to take the drink. He flashed a dark look at Reilly who seemed not at all perturbed.
“So, where in the States were you, Jack?” Reilly helped himself to a second drink. He’s up to his old tricks again, Ellie noted, putting one drink down untouched and taking another. Everyone thinks he’s the worse for wear by the end of the evening, and people let down their guard. In reality he’s had only a sip or two and is stone cold sober.
“Oh, here and there. I traveled about a bit,” said the other man. “Mostly around Chicago.”
“Hey, what do you know? Spent quite a bit of time there myself,” Reilly replied, “Quite different from the charms of Yorkshire, eh?”
“It sure is. I mean, it’s so quiet here,” Jack replied, “You kinda get used to all the action in a city like Chicago.”
Resort to Murder Page 4
