Chapter 10
Heath Elsworth sat at his desk in his office at the medical building, trying to decide if he would continue his participation in the Harmony Health Collective.
He wasn’t happy with the place right now.
Finn was attacked. There was a fucking bombing.
And Scarlet had some bad feelings about the security guard he’d hired.
The first problem with leaving the place was it had only been open a month and they’d all committed to a year.
Of course, given the events of the last few weeks, his lawyers could probably get him out of the contract.
Hell, his safety was in jeopardy. Second, though, he’d invested quite a bit of money to be a member, which he’d lose if he bowed out.
And third and most important, he wasn’t happy with his current situation.
Sitting back in the chair, he swiveled to look out the window.
After he finished med school, fellowships and residency, he’d joined his father’s cardiothoracic practice.
This had been expected of him and he never thought about doing anything else.
Now, though, he was sick of being under his father’s thumb.
And he was tired of the pressure of literally holding people’s lives in his hands.
He was forty years old and he’d never been content.
His brother had died of prostate cancer and his best friend had related issues with his prostate that went untreated.
Partly because of them, Heath wanted to be involved in keeping men healthy through targeted medical exams and lifestyles conducive to men’s health.
Unbeknownst to his father, he’d gone back to school to take special classes in the area of men’s health.
Then, he’d joined the collective to try his hand at it.
Even that, Edward Elsworth knew nothing about. Yet.
The phone buzzed interrupting his rumination. “Yes, Ceilia?”
“Your father called. He wants you to take an appointment of his in fifteen minutes. He’s been called away on an emergency.”
“Who is it with?”
“Albert Crenshaw.”
Heath rolled his eyes. Albert Crenshaw was a friend of his dad’s and he was a hypochondriac.
He guessed Crenshaw had come in with more heart palpitations, none of which had been documented.
He hated it when his father drew him into situations where there was no real medicine practiced.
And why? The emergency was probably a scheduled golf date with his other cronies. Yes, it was time to reevaluate.
* * *
After finding out about the baby—his baby—Finn had decided to pamper Elise…
“Where are we going?” she asked Finn when he showed up at her condo the next day.
“To Canandaigua Lake. I got a room at the Inn on the Sea so we can sit out on their private beach.”
“Will we stay overnight?”
“If you want to. I packed a duffle just in case we want to. But we can also just go for the day. I thought it would be relaxing.”
“I’m free again tomorrow. How about if I pack a bag real quick then we can stay if we want?”
“Sounds good. Bring something dressy to wear to dinner. They have a fancy restaurant on the premises.”
Though she looked adorable in white shorts, tennis shoes and navy top, she still spiked his blood pressure with the way the clothes fit.
The trip down was fun. They listened to music and talked about baby names. Finn checked them in while she sat on a porch off the reception area with a cool drink.
Soon, they were ensconced in a cabana on the sand with comfortable chairs and valet service. It was warm and sunny and he could hear the lap of the waves on the shore. Elise watched the water. “I haven’t been to many lakes.”
“You have the ocean in California. But there’s something about the earthiness of lakes that I like.”
“I see what you mean.” She held out her hand to link it with his. “Finn, do you think we’ll be raising this child together or separately?”
“I told you, honey, I want to do it together.”
“I don’t see how that’s possible with my career.”
“Do you want raise him or her with me?”
A face softened beneath the straw hat. “Of course.”
“Then we’ll find a way.”
* * *
Elise worked on some sound editing the following day and was tired when Finn picked her up to take her to his place.
They walked inside; he’d placed candles all over the main room.
He led her to the bathroom where he’d lighted more candles.
“Sit on that chair over there. I’m going to run you a bath. ”
He poured in some bubble bath and the smell of jasmine filled the air as water rose in the tub. “It’s not too hot. You have to be careful not to take hot baths during pregnancy.”
“I guess I should read some books about dos and don’ts. Since I didn’t ever believe this could happen to me, I never paid any attention to it.”
“Hmm.” He crossed to the counter, picked something up and handed it to her. What to Expect in Pregnancy. “I thought you could peruse it at your leisure. Then after the baby’s born I got the companion book, The First Twelve Months of a Child.”
As the water rose, she leafed through the pages. Finn left the room then came back with a bottle and two champagne glasses. “Finn, I can’t drink.”
“It’s sparkling juice. Not too sweet and not too tart. I’ll have a glass too while you bathe. Or I can leave if you want solitude.”
“No, I’ll read some of this out loud.”
“I’d love that, sweetheart.”
He watched her disrobe. It was sexy. And she was glad she could still feel sexy. Holding onto the grab bars, she climbed into the tub. The heat of the water relaxed her. The swirling of the jets felt wonderful. Boy, she was happy right now!
* * *
Juggling his packages, Finn let himself into her condo.
He planned to wait for the rest of the deliveries as he prepared dinner.
First he grated the cheese. As it melted, he took out the shrimp he’d prepared at home, along with tabasco sauce and a can of crushed tomatoes.
Soon, Shimp Cheese bubbled in the pan, its spicy scent filling his head.
He put on rice to boil and cut the ends off of plump green beans and set them in the microwave.
The doorbell rang. He opened it to a delivery. “You can put them all on the counter.” When they did, he tipped the three men who’d brought in the flowers and began to arrange the roses, pink carnations, daisies and even tall bouquets of sunflowers. He placed them in the living room and bedroom.
Then he fished in his pocket for the small jewelry box which held the platinum gold bracelet with a single charm on it—a cutout of a baby. It was an extravagant gift but the sentimentality of it would charm her.
He smiled, thinking of how good life was.
* * *
But then all hell broke loose.
* * *
Elise arrived at the collective the next day, to find several cop cars in the parking lot. Finn was approaching two police officers. She scrambled out of the driver’s seat and caught up with him just as he reached the cops.
“Hello, Mr. McKenna, Ms. Preston.” Captain Marshall was the officer who had come to Fiona’s house to question Finn after he was attacked. “I’m afraid we found a body in your parking lot this morning.”
A body? Elise slapped her hand over her mouth.
Finn raked a hand through his hair and flushed. “That’s horrific. Who is it?”
“Cary Jacobs, your security guard.”
She gasped. Finn moved in close to take her hand. He squeezed it but said nothing to her. “How did he die?” he asked Marshall.
“Two gunshot wounds.”
Another car drove into the lot and parked at an angle. A tall man with blond hair and wide shoulders. When he reached them, he said, “I’m Will Kirkland, of Kirkland Security. I got a call from the police that something happened here and to come immediately.”
Marshall addressed him directly. “I’m sorry to have to tell you that your employee, Cary Jacobs was found dead in the bush over there.” Marshall glanced at Finn. “Right where you were left beaten a few weeks ago.”
Will’s hands fisted. “That’s terrible.”
“How well did you know him?” Marshall asked Will.
“I hired him three months ago. He has…had…a stellar resume and seemed very competent.”
“Does he have a family? We need to notify them.”
Will took out his phone and fiddled with the buttons. “I’ve got his application right here. He has a wife and three kids.”
“Damn it.” Marshall cleared his throat. “Text the application to me, would you?” He gave Kirkland his phone number then he turned to Finn. “Mr. McKenna? Did you know him well?”
“I only met him a few times. But my colleague, Scarlet Smith, told us he was on duty one night and she got a bad feeling about him.”
“A bad feeling?”
“Yeah. Scarlet’s a hypnotherapist and she picks things up about people better than any of us.”
“We’ve called all your practitioners to come in. Something’s going on here.” His brow furrowed. “First you’re beat up, then the explosion inside. Now this.”
Cars began to arrive. Marshall said, “Go on into the building with your colleagues. I’ll brief you all in a bit. I’m sure you want to meet.”
“Yes, of course.” Finn turned to Elise. “We can reschedule your appointment or you can wait in my office.”
“I think I’ll wait for you.”
Scarlet arrived first. She rushed up to them. “What’s going on?”
Marshall said, “I’ll fill everybody in at once. Let’s go inside.”
She looked over his shoulder. “Is that a dead body?”
“I’m afraid so.”
Elise followed Finn into his studio and Scarlet went into hers. “Hell of a thing, isn’t it?”
“It’s scary.”
“Yeah, it is.”
He placed his hand on her stomach. “How’s my kid?” His smile was cute.
Her heart danced. “Far as I know, she’s doing fine.”
“Were you sick today?”
“Only once.”
“I’d better get out there.”
“Go ahead.”
As soon as he left, her phone rang. “Elise Preston.”
“Elise, this is John Gorman. I’m afraid I have some bad news.”
“Is everybody okay there?”
“Why, yes, of course. But all the reshoots we filmed are corrupted.”
“Corrupted?”
“Yeah. We can’t get into them.”
“Damn.”
“This’ll be a lot of work, Elise. I hope like hell you’re available.”
“I’m am. I’m staying in town a while.”
“Most of the others are on board, too.”
“When do you want me?”
“I’ll let you know. I’m only notifying everybody now.”
After she disconnected, she dropped into a chair. This was turning out to be a really bad day.
* * *
Heath was grim-faced and angry. “I’d like to start.”
“Go ahead,” Finn said, still shaky from the events of the morning.
“Something’s up here at the collective.”
“Up?” Daisy asked. “What do you mean?”
“The place is cursed,” Scarlet put in.
“No.” Finn frowned. “We’ve just had some very bad luck.”
“After this gets out,” Juliet said softly. “Will we even have any clients?”
Oliver squeezed her hand. “Don’t think like that. I closed my practice on Main Street so I’m dependent on this place, too.”
“And my lease was up at my other studio. I didn’t renew it because of the collective.” Daisy had risked a lot to join, too.
“Not to mention the sizable monetary investment we all contributed.” Heath again.
Finn could go back to having clients in his office at home, but he didn’t want to. The idea of working with other alternative healers had brought him joy as well as a living wage.
Captain Marshall walked into the break room. “I’d like to talk to you all.”
“Fine.” Finn got up. “Take my chair. I’ll get another.
When he joined them, Marshall sighed heavily. “I’ve talked to police headquarters. We’re going to close you down for a while.”
Heath said, “What?”
“You can’t do that.” This from Oliver.
Daisy added, “I have to put food on the table.”
“We all do.” Finn tried to be the voice of reason. “You can’t take away our livelihoods.”
“I can, for the duration of the investigation. This whole place is a crime scene.”
“How long does it take to process a crime scene?” Finn asked.
“Probably about two weeks. Maybe we’ll get lucky and find the perp sooner. But maybe not.”
That silenced them.
“Look at it this way,” he continued. “Do you all want to endanger yourselves and your clients by working here right now?”
“No, of course not.” Finn was torn. He could go back to sessions out of his house and Heath could practice because he could use the space at his medical practice.
He didn’t know much about Scarlet at all, including her finances.
And he and Oliver had talked about money so he knew his friend would be okay.
But Daisy and Juliet probably couldn’t afford two weeks off.
Daisy said, “Maybe we could rent another place for a while.”
“The mechanics of that would take too long,” Heath put in. “By the time we got settled, this place would be cleared.”
Finn sighed. “I have a reiki room in my house. If we juggled out schedules, one of you could practice there too.”
Scarlet said, “I have a converted barn on my property. It has two big spaces in it. In some ways, it’s nicer than my house. I only moved to this location because, like most of you, I wanted to work with others in alternative medicine.”
Finn was shocked at her invitation. She’d never seemed that interested in the others in the collective.
Marshall nodded. “So you all can make do.”
Reluctantly, they agreed.