Beach Reads Boxed Set

by Marie Force

  He wiped the tears from her face and brought her hand to his lips. “I hate to see you so upset. What can I do for you?”

  “You’re doing it.”

  “Oh, I can do better than that.” He quickly shed the rest of his uniform into a pile on the floor and got in bed. “Come here.”

  She curled up against him and released a deep rattling breath. “I want to be so mad with Carly, but I can’t quite seem to get there.”

  “She’s crazy about that boy of ours, and her devotion to him has never wavered, even during all the years he was gone,” Michael reminded her. “She made a huge sacrifice for him. Maybe it wasn’t what was best for us, but it was best for him. You have to know that.”

  “I do know that, Michael. I think that’s why I can’t seem to stay mad with her. She suffered as much as anyone after the accident.”

  “Maybe even more so.”

  “Maybe,” she conceded. “When I think about the empty lives she and Brian have led when they should’ve been raising their daughter together, and then add to it everything Sam and the others were denied, that’s when I really get mad. Whoever this monster is, the list of things he’s taken from us and so many others just gets longer and longer. I blame him for the fact I don’t know my granddaughter. It’s his fault.”

  “You’re absolutely right.”

  “You have to find him, Michael. You have to stop him.”

  He kissed her forehead. “I’m going to get him, babe, or die trying. I promise you that.”

  “Don’t you dare die trying, because when you get him, you’re going to retire.”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  Startled, she looked up at him. “That was far too easy.”

  “If you want me to retire, I’ll retire. Whatever you want.”

  Her laughter touched his heart. “You’re so full of it. You’d already decided.”

  “I haven’t given it a thought.”

  “Yeah, right. This case is kicking your butt, and you’ve had enough.”

  He could fool a lot of people but not his wife of thirty-five years. “If you say so.”

  “I don’t care how it happens, as long as you mean it.”

  “I do. You might’ve heard my son is moving back to Rhode Island and marrying a girl we both love. He’s promised me some grandkids before much longer, so it seems like a good time to hang up my hat.”

  “It’s the perfect time. Besides, Matt’s ready for his shot at being chief.”

  “Yes, he is, but I’ve got one loose end I need to sew up before I put in my papers.”

  “Just hurry up, will you?”

  “I’m going as fast as I can, believe me.”

  “Michael?”

  He was so tired. He couldn’t remember ever being more tired. “Hmm?”

  “Don’t let him take you from me, too. Do you hear me?”

  “I won’t.”

  “Do you promise?”

  Where the burst of energy came from he couldn’t have said, but he rolled her under him and kissed her as if his life depended on it. Maybe it did. “I promise,” he whispered and then went back for more.

  Carly and Brian had just returned from Cape Cod and were unloading the Jeep in front of Carson’s two days later when Luke McInnis pulled up behind them in his company truck. He got out and walked over to them. Carly squeezed Brian’s arm to tell him to turn around.

  “Hey, you guys,” Luke said.

  Brian stepped in front of Carly. “What do you want, Luke?”

  “What are you doing?” Luke cried when he noticed Brian’s protective gesture. “Do you think I’d hurt her? I’ve known her all my life! Why would I want to hurt her?”

  Carly moved from behind Brian. “I don’t think it’s you, Luke. I told Chief Westbury and the others that. I said you were my friend, that you stuck up for me with that rude guy at Miss Molly’s.”

  With his eyes still trained on Brian, Luke said, “Thank you.”

  “What were you doing in the cemetery the other night?” Brian asked him.

  “The same thing as you! Visiting a dead relative. I was very close to my grandfather, and I go all the time.”

  “Interesting that we were there at the same time.”

  Luke snorted with disbelief. “So that coincidence was enough for you to go running to daddy and turn my whole life upside down? I always knew you could be an arrogant prick, Westbury, but I never thought you were malicious.”

  “Think whatever you want about me. All I care about is keeping Carly safe.”

  “And that makes you different from anyone else in this town? Who do you think was keeping an eye out for her while you were off becoming a fancy lawyer?”

  “I’m sorry you got dragged into this, Luke.” Carly rested her hand on Luke’s arm. “I never suspected for a minute that you’d be capable of the kind of things this man has done.”

  Luke looked at Brian. “He did, though, and so did his father. What I don’t get is how could you, Brian? We were in freaking Cub Scouts together, for Christ sakes. You know me.”

  “No, I don’t,” Brian said. “I haven’t seen you in fifteen years. And even before, I didn’t know you that well.”

  Luke shook his head, his expression full of disdain. “I appreciate your support, Carly. I hope they catch this guy soon, so you can breathe easier—so we all can. I guess I’ll see you at the concert.”

  “What concert?” she asked.

  “A bunch of Rhode Island bands are doing a free concert on the town common tomorrow night. A show of support for the people of Granville.”

  “That’s nice of them,” Carly said. “We’ll definitely be there.”

  “Be careful, Carly. Just like your fiancé,” he said with a pointed look at Brian, “I don’t want to see anything bad happen to you. Not after everything you’ve already been through.”

  “Thanks, Luke.”

  With a final glare for Brian, Luke turned and walked away. They watched him until he ducked into Miss Molly’s.

  Carly’s eyes were focused on Miss Molly’s. “It’s not him. I’d know if I had anything to fear from him.”

  Brian tilted his head to study her. “And how would you know that?”

  “When you lose something, like the ability to speak, it sharpens your senses, and you have to rely on your gut much more than the average person. I get these feelings about people. It’s hard to explain. It’s not him. I just know it isn’t.”

  Brian put his arms around her. “I appreciate what you’re saying, hon, but a gut feeling isn’t forensic evidence.”

  “In the absence of evidence, it may be all we have.”

  He pulled back to look down at her, his face twisted into an amused expression. “Well, listen to you. You already sound like a prosecutor’s wife.”

  She smiled. “A prosecutor’s wife. I like the sound of that.”

  “Good, because in nine days, that’s what you’ll be.”

  “I just want to be Brian Westbury’s wife. That’s all I’ve ever wanted.”

  He kissed her, right there in the middle of Main Street, without a care in the world as to who might be watching. “You’ll be that, too.”

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  “I like that one.” Carly pointed to a plain gold band. “That’s nice.” She looked over at Brian. “Don’t you think?”

  “It’s boring.”

  “It’s classic,” Carly argued.

  “We can do better.” To the saleslady, who watched their exchange with amusement, he said, “Can we see that one?” He pointed to a circle of diamonds that glittered under the store’s bright lights.

  The lady reached inside the case, withdrew the ring, and handed it to Brian.

  “Now that’s more like it. Let me see it on you.”

  “I don’t need this, Brian,” Carly said as he reached for her hand and slid on the ring.

  “It looks lovely with your engagement ring,” the lady said. Reaching for Carly’s hand, she asked, “May I?”

>   Carly nodded.

  The woman bent to take a closer look. “It’s exquisite. Is it antique?”

  “It was my grandmother’s,” Brian said.

  “The stone is beautiful. Two carats?”

  “Just over.”

  “Well, I’ll let you two talk about it. Give me a holler when you decide.” She walked away.

  Brian took Carly’s hand and brought it to his lips. “It’s perfect. That’s the one I want you to have.”

  “It’s too much, Brian.”

  “No, it’s not.”

  Carly looked down at the sparkling combination.

  With a finger to her chin, he brought her eyes back to his. “What’s on your mind, honey?”

  “We have to buy a house and cars. We’ve got the wedding and the honeymoon. We don’t need to be spending money on something like this. The plain gold one is fine with me. That’s what I want.”

  He smiled. “Carly, honey, we don’t have to worry about money. We’ll make a killing on my loft in New York. And I told you, I’ve worked so much over the last eight years that I didn’t have time to spend even half of what I made. I invested most of it and forgot about it. I want you to have this ring. It’s important to me.”

  “Why?”

  “We’ve both had so little for so long. Don’t we owe it to ourselves to live it up now?”

  Touched, she said, “I guess so.”

  “Now what? You’ve got that look.”

  “I didn’t spend much of the money I made, either. I’m sure it’s nothing like what you managed to stockpile, but I’ve got about twenty-five thousand in CDs in the Granville Credit Union.”

  His face lit up with delight and what might’ve been pride. “Get out of here! You mean to tell me I’m marrying money?”

  She rolled her eyes. “Whatever. I’m sure it’s nothing compared to what you’ve got.”

  “It sure is something when you consider how hard you had to work for it.”

  She shrugged. “I guess.”

  “So no worries about money? Will you please let me buy you the ring I want you to have?”

  “On one condition.”

  He smiled. “What’s that?”

  “I can buy you the one I want you to have.”

  His smile faded. “I don’t know. I’m not a big jewelry person. You know that. Plain gold is about all you’ll catch me wearing.”

  “Oh, so we’re going to have a double standard in this marriage? Is that how it’s going to work?”

  “I’m starting to see there were benefits to you not being able to talk back to me,” he grumbled.

  Her grin lit up her face as she signaled to the saleslady. “Can you show us what you’ve got in wedding bling for men? I’m looking for something really flashy.”

  Michael paced the short length of his office, resisting the urge to sweep the piles off his cluttered desk. So great was his frustration, so overwhelming his sense of impotence, it was all he could do not to chuck the paperweight Brian had made for him in grade school right through the window. Only the knowledge that none of these urges would make anything better stopped him from acting on them.

  A twinge of pain in his chest reminded him of the consequences of internalizing the stress. He dropped into the desk chair and did the breathing exercises they had taught him in the hospital.

  “Bunch of voodoo science,” he grumbled, even as the pain seemed to recede.

  Matt burst into the room without knocking, his blue eyes bright with excitement. “We might have a break.”

  Michael sat up straighter in his chair. “What?”

  “Remember a kid named Randy Lowell?”

  “No, should I?”

  “He was in Sam’s class, Granville High class of 1996.”

  Michael racked his brain but couldn’t come up with a face to go with that name. Shaking his head, he said, “What’ve we got on him?”

  “Woonsocket police stopped him on suspicion of DUI. When they ran him through the system, they discovered an outstanding warrant for a parole violation in Missouri.”

  “What was he in for?”

  “Attempted rape and second-degree sexual assault—on a high school cheerleader in Jefferson City.”

  Michael stood and made for the door. “Call Nate. Tell him to meet us there.”

  After a full day in Providence, Brian and Carly rode home to Granville in northbound rush-hour traffic leaving Rhode Island’s capital city.

  “When did they say you can pick up your suit?” Carly asked as she perused her wedding to-do list in the passenger seat.

  “Three or four days.”

  “I know, I know. You’ve got twenty of them hanging in your closet in New York. But wasn’t it easier to buy a new one than go to New York between now and the wedding?”

  “Yes, dear.”

  Carly shot him a victorious smile. “Since I plan on being right most of the time, you’ll need to get used to saying that.”

  His scowl made her laugh. “We’ll have to get down to the city eventually and clean out my place before I put it on the market—not that there’s much to clean out.”

  “After the honeymoon,” she said, filled with delight and anticipation. “Ten days in Jamaica. I can’t wait.”

  “Are you sure you don’t mind leaving the morning after the wedding? We can push it back a day or two if you want to rest up.”

  She arched an eyebrow. “Rest up for what?”

  “The honeymoon, of course. You’ll need to be very well rested.”

  “I don’t know what you’ve got in mind, but I plan to sleep and lie on the beach.”

  Full of mock outrage, he said, “That’s not a honeymoon! That’s a vacation.”

  Carly smiled. She loved pushing his buttons. After a few weeks back together, it was as if they’d never been apart. Everything between them was as comfortable and easy as it had ever been.

  They tuned into the radio when the concert planned for Granville led the newscast at the top of the hour. “Local bands from all over Rhode Island will come together tonight in a show of support for tiny Granville, which has been rocked by the recent rape and murder of a fifteen-year-old high school student and the aggravated sexual assault of another teen earlier this year. Granville Mayor Bob Simon joins us in the studio. Mayor, the entire state has been riveted by the events in your town. How are your citizens holding up?”

  “It’s been a difficult year, there’s no doubt about that. But the people of Granville are resilient. We’ll get through this.”

  “Are the police any closer to naming a suspect?”

  “I’m not at liberty to discuss the investigation. All I can say is local, state, and federal authorities are doing everything they can to catch the person who has been terrorizing our town as well as young people in other parts of the state.”

  “Your police chief, Michael Westbury, was briefly hospitalized. The chatter on local talk radio has been trending toward a loss of support for the chief’s leadership. Are you confident in Chief Westbury’s ability to lead the department during this difficult time?”

  “The chief and his men and women are working around the clock to bring this investigation to a successful conclusion.”

  “But does he have your full support?”

  “I’d like to see an arrest—and soon. That’s all I’ll say.”

  “Goddamn him!” Brian slapped his hand on the steering wheel. “That’s just what my dad needs—some limp-dick politician twenty years younger than him taking a shot at him on the radio.”

  Carly reached for his hand. “Try not to let it bother you, Bri. Your dad doesn’t listen to stuff like that.”

  “He’s working himself to death, and people still have the nerve to say he’s not doing enough? He’s not a miracle worker, for Christ sakes. Don’t they think he wants to get this guy as much as anyone? His own son is one of the victims.”

  Carly had heard the rumblings in town since Alicia’s murder. People were frustrated by the lack of prog
ress in the investigation and looking for someone to blame. Unfortunately, Chief Westbury was the most readily available target. “Hopefully it’ll all be over soon,” she said.

  “I don’t know how much more of this my dad can take. I’m afraid he’s going to drop dead one of these days from the stress.”

  “He’ll be fine. He won’t let gossip distract him.”

  Carly’s cell phone rang, and when she reached into her purse for it, she noticed a scrap of white paper tucked into her phone. Puzzled, she flipped open the phone, and the paper fluttered onto her lap. She gasped when she looked down to find the word “SOON” in bright red letters. “Oh my God,” she whispered.

  Brian looked over and startled, causing the car to swerve. A horn blared from the lane next to them. “Don’t touch it,” he said, his eyes darting back and forth between the note on Carly’s lap and the interstate.

  “How did he get a note into my purse?” she whispered.

  “Who was it that called?”

  Her hands shaking, Carly checked her phone to find the number unavailable. “I can’t tell.”

  Brian’s knuckles turned white from the grip he had on the steering wheel.

  They both jolted when the phone rang again.

  “Who is it?” Brian asked.

  Carly glanced at the caller ID. “It’s an out-of-state number.” She took a deep breath before she answered the call. “Hello?”

  “Carly! It’s Mrs. Townsend. I was so delighted to receive the invitation to your wedding and to get your mother’s note that you’re talking again. I’m just thrilled for you and Brian.”

  “Thank you,” Carly said, relieved. “I hope you’ll be able to make it to the wedding.”

  “That’s why I’m calling—to tell you I wouldn’t miss it for the world. I booked my flight from Baltimore just this morning. Mr. Townsend is living in Phoenix now, so I don’t think he’ll make it.”

  The reminder that Michelle’s parents had divorced a few years after the accident saddened Carly. Their marriage hadn’t survived the loss of their only daughter. “Well, I can’t wait to see you. It’s been too long.”