Chapter 29
TWENTY-NINE
M addy walked over to where Lachlan was talking with one of the Coast Guard members on the beach, mentally gearing up for the impending interaction.
She wasn’t great with people, never had been, and generally sucked at making conversation.
Considering how tired, drained, and cold she was at the moment, her social skills would probably be worse than usual.
She wrapped her arms around her body to keep warm. The temperature had dropped as soon as the last rays of sun had disappeared below the horizon. Now the wind whipping over the water had an icy bite that bled through the fleece jacket she had zipped all the way up to her neck.
Lachlan saw her coming. He said something to the Coastie and headed her way. His tall, broad frame was backlit by the lights of the boats bobbing just offshore, short reddish-brown hair blowing in the wind.
The crowd from earlier had dwindled to a trickle, most people having left within thirty minutes of Xanthe and Blaine. Only a few dozen remained on the beach, with more curious onlookers arriving in the parking area at the top of the cliff.
“You’re still here,” he said in his quiet baritone, sounding surprised.
His calm confidence affected her on an instinctive level, drawing her with an almost magnetic force.
Which meant it was total bullshit and absolutely not to be trusted.
“If you give me Xanthe’s keys, I’ll drive her car to her place.” She couldn’t wait to get back to Blaine’s for the night. Have a hot bath, then get tucked up in her comfy bed and work on her laptop while soothing Celtic music played through her headphones.
“I can give you a lift home after.”
“Blaine will take me.” The words came out more abruptly than she’d intended, her social awkwardness showing. Tripp and Willow had offered to give her a ride back to Blaine’s house earlier, but she’d wanted to stay here in case she could help some more.
“You sure?”
“Yes.” Her guard went up without conscious thought. Lachlan seemed like a decent enough person, and he was friends with Xanthe, but she didn’t know him. She definitely wasn’t going to get into a vehicle alone with him at night. Hard-learned experience had taught her to be wary of men.
There was only one man she trusted implicitly, and that’s why she’d come to stay with him here.
“What did the Coast Guard say?” she asked.
“They’re going to tow the carcass out to sea once the necropsy is completed.”
Such a sad end for a magnificent animal that had suffered so much. “Will Xanthe be given the results?” She shivered, angling her back to the wind.
“I’m sure she will.” Lachlan took her elbow in a gentle grasp and guided her in front of him. She resisted for an instant until it registered that he was moving her to shield her from the icy wind. “Come on, you’re freezing.”
Secretly moved by the almost gallant gesture, she allowed him to walk her to the bottom of the trail up to the parking area. Wary, but not letting him know it.
“Quite the introduction to our island you’ve had,” he said.
Standing so close to him heightened her awareness of how big he was. Bigger than Blaine even. Yet she wasn’t afraid of him. Guarded, yes. But something stirred inside her when she looked at him.
She lowered her gaze, focused on the uneven terrain. “Yeah, can’t say I expected all this when I got here. And all of it within a few days.”
“No. Where you from?”
He was just being friendly and trying to make polite conversation, but her innate need to protect herself immediately sent her into defensive mode. A habit that had served her well in some ways. In others, it kept her more and more isolated from life.
Since he was friends with Xanthe, she decided it wouldn’t do any harm to tell him what city she’d grown up in. “Chicago. You?” she asked, making an effort to appear at least somewhat normal.
“Here.”
“Really? Born and raised?”
He grinned. “Yeah, there are a few of us.” He looked out at the water at the base of the trail, his profile lit by the lights on one of the boats bobbing close to the beach. A neatly trimmed beard softened the square angles of his jaw.
She squashed the tug of attraction that sparked to life. Looks didn’t mean anything. They were deceptive, could hide ugly things about people beneath a fake facade.
For so long she’d tried to overcome her social anxiety and awkwardness and paid a high price in the end. She no longer trusted her gut where people were concerned. That went double for good-looking men. Triple.
“This place gets into your blood. Once it does, there’s no getting it out,” Lachlan said. “My brother and I moved back as soon as we left the Coast Guard, and neither of us ever looked back. There’s no place we’d rather be.”
“Your brother?”
“Greyson. He’s a fireman. He was down here for a while with some of his guys earlier, you might have seen him. We look a bit alike.”
“No, I don’t think I did.” If they looked alike at all, there was zero chance she wouldn’t have noticed him. And considering how beautiful it was here and how tight-knit its community was, Maddy could understand why they had decided to move back.
A deeply buried part of her wondered what that felt like. To have somewhere you truly belonged.
She had never known a place like that. But deep down inside where she kept her dreams locked up tight, she craved it. A place where she felt accepted. Where she felt safe enough to stay and maybe even put down some roots.
She noted that he’d shortened his strides to match hers. Tried to think of a way to continue the conversation without making it seem forced. Over the years she’d learned that conversation was a lot like a tennis rally. Someone lobbed the ball to you, and then you had to lob it back to be polite.
“You been working with Xanthe long?” she asked.
“Five or six years now. Soon after she moved to the island and started at the research station. How do you know Blaine?”
“We worked together,” was all she said. Although their relationship was a lot more complex and meaningful to her than that. If not for him, she wouldn’t have survived?—
She blocked the thought before it could finish, tucking it away in one of the compartments in the back of her mind. She had a massive filing cabinet back there, and some of the drawers had locks on them.
They reached the bottom of the narrow trail at the base of the rocks. “Watch your step here.” Lachlan pulled a flashlight out of his pocket, aimed it at the ground in front of her. “You go first.”
A bit uncomfortable that he insisted on escorting her, she started up the steep path. There were a few places where she had to scale some large, craggy boulders.
Lachlan stayed close, a step or two behind her, lighting the path for her the whole way. She got the sense that he was watching her every move. And that if she slipped, he would catch her before she hit the ground.
The telltale brush of butterfly wings rippled low in her belly. She didn’t trust them in the least.
She scrambled up a final boulder and reached the narrow gravel trail that wound the rest of the way up to the clifftop. Rafe was gone, but two uniformed deputies were there maintaining the perimeter. They nodded at her and Lachlan and lifted the police tape for them.
Xanthe’s car was parked nearby. She exhaled in relief, anxious to part ways and get back to Blaine’s house where she could relax and have her own space. “Can I get the keys?”
“Yeah, sure.” Lachlan dug in his pocket and handed them over. “I’m starving. You hungry? We could get dinner together in town, warm up by the fire in The Skelly.”
Nope. “Thanks, but I’m going to head straight back to Blaine’s house.”
“You sure? Not even for one drink?”
“Thanks anyway.” Men didn’t ask women out for just dinner or a drink. Better to set clear boundaries from the start so there was no confusion. And if he really knew her, he wouldn’t want to get involved with her anyway.
She didn’t know why that made her feel a little sad.
He didn’t try to argue or pressure her to change her mind. And if he was disappointed, he didn’t show it. “All right. I’ll follow you to Xanthe’s.”
“No need. I’m good.”
“You know where she lives?”
“By the research station.”
“It’s really dark out here, and the roads are winding?—”
“I’ll be fine.” She couldn’t help the brusque tone. She had her issues and insecurities, but she wasn’t weak or helpless. He needed to know that.
He hesitated the briefest of moments, his gaze measuring her, then nodded. “Okay. Drive safe.”
“You too.” She strode for the driver’s side door, a faint buzz along her spine alerting her that he was still watching her.
She spotted something tucked under the left windshield wiper. A piece of paper. She pulled it out, opened the door, and read the hand-written message under the dome light.
TRAITOR!
The single word was spelled out in red block letters.
She paused, glanced around her. Lachlan was talking to one of the deputies, but he was watching her. The curious onlookers peering down at the beach were all corralled off to one side. No one was paying her any attention except Lachlan.
“You good?” he called out, taking a step toward her.
For a split second, she thought about telling him, then dismissed it.
She didn’t know anyone here. Didn’t know if Lachlan could be trusted, and didn’t want him to tell Xanthe and upset her more after everything else she’d been through today.
Better to tell Blaine first and let him decide how to handle it.
She raised a hand to ward him off. “All good. See you.” She tossed the paper onto the passenger seat, started the car, and reversed out of the spot. Xanthe needed to learn to combat park. Reversing into a spot was far more efficient, saved time and aggravation when leaving.
Sometimes those few seconds could mean the difference between life and death.
Lines of cars were parked front to rear bumper on either side of the narrow access road as she headed for the T junction ahead. She called Blaine on speakerphone right before making the turn.
“Hey, Mads. All good?”
Relief slid through her. She hadn’t interrupted anything private, or he wouldn’t have answered. “I’m driving Xanthe’s car over there now. ETA maybe twenty minutes, depending on how busy the roads are. What are you guys up to?”
“Just finishing up dinner. What’s the situation down there?”
With the sun gone, the sky was growing darker every minute.
Her headlights cut through the gloom, illuminating the curving road ahead as she drove south along the coast. “The team’s taking tissue samples now.
I’m guessing they’ll send the results to Xanthe when they have them.
They’re going to tow the carcass out to sea once they have what they need. Don’t tell her that.”
“I’m sure she already knows.”
Yes. True. “Can she hear me right now?”
“Maybe.”
“Can you meet me alone when I arrive?”
“Why?” There was an edge of concern in his voice.
She lowered her voice a little. “Someone left a note on her windshield.”
He paused at the seriousness in her tone. “What did it say?”
“I’ll show it to you when I get there. Feels like a warning. I think it might be from someone who saw her leaving with you.” That’s what her gut said. It could be something else, but a lot of people here didn’t like Blaine because of the development and because he was an outsider. Their loss.
“Okay, text when you get here, and I’ll meet you.”
“See you soon.” She ended the call.
Headlights appeared behind her as she exited another curve in the road.
They disappeared when she entered the next.
When the road wound back in the other direction, her heart jumped when the car appeared right behind her, so close that she flinched at the glare of the high beams reflected in the rearview.
She sped up to put distance between them, annoyed by the tailgating. Gasped when the car hit her back bumper with a crunch.
Her head jerked back, the seatbelt snapping taut across her chest. She clutched the steering wheel and slammed her foot on the brake to correct the sudden jolt to the left. The car spun sideways, wheels sliding across the narrow unpaved shoulder.
Out of the corner of her eye she saw headlights as the other car whipped past her. Had only a split second to suck in a breath and brace for impact before the front end slammed into a tree.