Chapter Twenty-Six
The next few weeks went by in a blur. Aylin had never been so happy in her life. Becoming intimate had changed things for the two of them in such a positive way. It was her first real relationship, and she was definitely hoping it would be her last. She couldn’t imagine ever being with anyone else besides Ben.
Ben seemed to be just as happy as she was, and even though the days were hectic, she looked forward to every single night she could be with Ben.
They’d decided to move forward by purchasing more furniture for the house after adding a few coats of paint in the living room as well as the dining area and kitchen, which had a monstrous sized island, topped with creamy quartz. Ben had ended up moving into the master along with Aylin so she was going all out with a beautiful muted green and violet color scheme, which included throw rugs for the wooden floor and comfortable furnishings so they could sit and chat near the fireplace to discuss their days before falling asleep at night.
When they actually slept that is. Aylin had a dreamy smile on her face while she counted out the receipts before closing time exactly two weeks after opening the store.
They’d ventured to the grocery store multiple times together and after Aylin had loaded up on fruit and crunchy vegetables and lettuce for salad, they’d ended up purchasing a load of frozen dinners along with food that was easy to eat like cereal and chips, and toaster pastries and waffles. They ate most of their meals at the Inn, but Aylin had purchased an easy to put together ingredient cookbook and would try making a few meals when they both weren’t so busy.
Business at the shop was calming down a little more, but it could still get pretty hectic—especially during the weekends. After talking with a rep from a delivery service in Crystal Rock that came highly recommended by Danielle, she’d hired two more salespeople along with a stockperson to help after hours and was considering hiring a few more salespeople to work only weekends.
“Did you have a good day?” Ben asked, arriving to pick her up. They’d decided to go out to eat tonight at the Crystal Rock Tap.
“A great one,” she replied.
“Wait until summer, when it’s actually tourist season,” he said, helping her into her coat.
She pursed her lips. “Yes. I’d better start thinking ahead and look for a few more salespeople as well as another person who can handle alterations. I can’t get over how well we’re doing. In fact, we’d probably better put this cash in your office safe. I’m thinking that I’m going to take your dad up on that offer of delivering cash proceeds to the bank along with the Inn’s. I feel nervous about continuing to deliver this much cash to the bank in person.”
“I think that’s a smart idea. I can’t believe I didn’t come up with it myself,” Ben admitted, as Aylin began flipping off lights.
She snorted. “We’ve both been kind of busy, not to mention distracted.
Ben grinned at her, winking.
* * *
One afternoon about three weeks later, when it had finally slowed down for a while, she sent both girls off for their hour-long lunch break, planning on using the time to come up with a few new summer designs. All her clothing was assembled at a high-end facility in New York that she would eventually own outright. But if her online sales continued to do as well as they had, she was thinking about opening another factory in North Carolina, since she was designing with more denim and there were several textile mills operating in the state.
When she looked up from her sketchbook another twenty minutes later from where she sat behind the register, she could have sworn she recognized the man who was walking past the store through the breezeway.
Although he had curly hair and she couldn’t remember meeting anyone who looked like him, even here in the store, he sure looked familiar. There was just something about his height and the way he walked, like he was trying to remain unobserved in plain sight.
All was forgotten when Ben walked into the shop, a frown on his face.
“What’s wrong?” she asked, standing from the register as she laid down her sketchbook.
“Something puzzling is going on. All of our outdoor storage buildings have been broken into, but the odd thing about it is that nothing appears to be missing. The only thing that Max is trying to figure out is why he ordered so much fertilizer last year.” Ben sighed. “We assumed that it was teenagers the first time it happened, but since something else might be going on here, Dad and I decided to view the surveillance footage. Just for the heck of it, he asked me to check with you to see if you might recognize any of the men we have images of.”
“Sure. Let’s have some coffee and I can take a look,” she replied, having him follow her to the line of chairs outside of the workroom, where she’d recently set up a coffeemaker.
After pouring a couple cups of coffee, she handed his over once he’d brought up the footage on his tablet.
Sitting beside him as she rested her coffee on the table nearby, she reached for the tablet, glancing at the clip.
“I can’t say that I recognize any of these men.”
But then her eyes went wide as she took a harder look at one of them. “Wait a minute. I don’t want to scroll away from your video. Could you focus in on this guy for me, Ben?” she asked, pointing at the man wearing a stocking cap that she was certain she’d seen a few minutes earlier.
He grimaced, reaching for the tablet and enlarging the man’s face before handing it back to Aylin.
“I could see the curls sticking out from under the stocking cap. I’m pretty sure I just saw this guy, and it’s definitely him.” And then she studied him harder, her eyes going wide. “ Oh, my God, Ben . I can’t believe it. This is my brother, Beau. I didn’t recognize him with all that hair and the beard. He’s supposed to be serving time in an institution.”
“We’d better get a hold of your dad and mine right away,” Ben muttered. “What in the heck could he be up to?”
“I don’t know,” she replied, feeling dazed. “Mom was certain he could be rehabilitated, even though Dad and I weren’t so sure. But if he was released from the institution, why doesn’t anyone seem to know about it?”
* * *
“Was there anything missing from those storage sheds?” Dad asked as Aylin switched her phone to speaker. Dad had been shocked to discover that Beau was no longer in the psychiatric institution where he’d been living instead of serving time.
“No, Dad. Ben said that according to the groundskeeper, everything inside each shed appeared to be organized, just the way he’d left everything in the fall,” she replied.
“Was there anything inside those sheds that he didn’t remember seeing there before?”
“Ben?” she asked, raising a brow.
Ben scratched his head. “There was one thing. Max couldn’t understand how he’d overordered so much fertilizer last year.”
“Ben. This is an important question,” Dad said tersely. “What kind of fertilizer? Someone needs to read the label.”
“Let me send Max a text and ask,” Ben answered.
Suddenly spitting out a bunch of cuss words after reading what Max texted back, Ben growled, “ Ammonium nitrate . Don’t worry, sir. I know what it means when ammonium nitrate is combined with fire. I’ll call the bomb squad. Meanwhile, we need to evacuate the Inn. One of the wooden gardening sheds is located immediately across the road near the equipment building where our plows and transport vans are parked.”
Ben was still cursing as he disconnected, calling his father on Aylin’s phone.
“Dad,” he said quickly. “ The fertilizer that was stocked in those sheds is composed of ammonium nitrate. That’s what it’s all about. Revenge . Most likely against us— me in particular.”
“Get those fire alarm sirens running throughout the Pointe, Ben. Hopefully, they’re still just getting their plan into place, and nothing’s already rigged to go off. We need to get everyone away from Dragonfly Pointe.”
* * *
Two hours later, Ben was staring at the craziness around him, relieved that they’d somehow managed to evacuate all the guests from the Pointe, while the bomb squad moved out the chemicals by way of the lake.
The twelve-man bomb squad was making one final sweep of the property, and once it was cleared, both guests and employees would be welcome to return.
All it would have taken was a lit fire at each location. After trimming branches and chopping up fallen limbs and debris, the extra ground crew they’d hired to do the spring cleanup had conveniently stacked lumber near each of the wooden sheds located throughout the Pointe. An accelerant at each location would have been all that was needed to set the saboteur’s plan into motion.
How much this thwarted threat would affect business, he couldn’t say, although this wasn’t the first time something like this had happened. Years earlier, a bomb had been planted on a vehicle in the parking lot and dismantled. But if it had gone off, the destruction would not have been on such a horrific scale—except for possibly ending the lives of undercover agent Rand McAllister, along with Ciara Ryan, who was now his wife.
He glanced over to where he’d left Aylin, beside the two girls who worked for her. They’d decided that the Inn’s shop owners and employees would be safe enough sticking around since there was no accelerant detected at any of the sheds where the ammonium nitrate had been stacked.
But where was she? He spent the next five minutes scrambling through the crowd until he felt himself begin to panic.
He could see Dad standing over in the road, talking to a few members of the bomb squad. The situation was obviously deescalating as members of law enforcement were preparing to depart. Dad could easily convey all the details to other members of the FBI once they were on scene.
“Dad?” he called out across the road after searching the crowd. “Have you seen Aylin?”
“It’s been about twenty minutes since I last saw her, son,” Dan yelled. “Try giving her a call.”
And when he reached for his phone, he stilled, closing his eyes while exhaling a ragged breath.
Ben couldn’t call Aylin because he still had her phone.