Chapter 38
Harper sat on the veranda as the sun set, turning the sky multiple shades of orange, red, and purple. What was the saying, red sky at night, devil’s delight? The thought alone brought shivers down her spine. She hugged the sweater tighter around her. She hated sitting around doing nothing.
Zoe had decided to go and spend the evening with Georgia and Leo was out in the vineyard. Harper stayed and waited for Brookes to come back. She was curious to know what he’d been up to after leaving her home in such haste. Checking her watch for the fifth time in five minutes, she got up and went inside the house. It was clean, but she cleaned anyway. Polishing surfaces, dusting, organising the fridge, vacuuming. When she was done, her mind continued to wander. She showered, changed, made herself a sandwich, and poured a glass of wine.
‘Hey.’
Harper looked up and saw Brookes standing in the doorway. ‘Where were you all afternoon?’
‘Here and there.’
She shook her head as she stood up. ‘No, that’s not how this is going to go.’
He sighed. ‘I followed a lead.’
‘What sort of lead?’
‘The car this morning. I recognised it. It was Lisa’s.’
‘What? No. Lisa wouldn’t do anything that crazy.’
‘I don’t know. She’s definitely hiding something.’
‘The fact that she wants you. Although I don’t think she’s hiding that very well.’
‘I only have eyes for one.’
Harper smiled and looked away. She didn’t want to be leading him on.
When she said nothing, he continued, ‘I went to speak with Constable Graves, but he wasn’t all that happy to see me. Apparently, teenagers admitted to slashing tyres that night at the tavern, trying to drum up extra business for their old man. Nice but stupid. I’m not going to press charges. I doubt anyone else will either. But your car is another story.’
‘Lisa wasn’t the one on the property last night, nor was it random teenagers . Those eyes…’ She could still see them clearly in her mind.
‘I’m trying to understand why someone would target you. You haven’t been here long enough to step on any toes,’ he said. ‘Could be related to something or someone from the city?’
Harper had considered that, too. Her work had only sometimes gotten her into strife, but mostly it was mundane investigations. Nobody paid attention to her.
‘What are you working on now?’
‘I can’t really talk about it.’
‘Okay, so it’s sensitive. Is it dangerous to someone?’
‘It could be. But no one is supposed to know what I’m actually investigating.’
‘What if somebody does?’
Harper considered the implication. If someone actually knew, then there was a massive breach. She kept her computer and her files under lock and key. Her conversations had always been limited and did not pertain to anything that she’d been actively working on. Her reports were anonymous to those that were investigated. It seemed impossible that someone could access her details. Then again, hacking was more common than ever. If someone accessed her files, she would be the one to blame. It would be her neck on the line. Where had she gone wrong? What had she overlooked?
‘It would be difficult, but not impossible,’ she finally said.
‘Who were you investigating?’
She hesitated. ‘A large real estate corporation. There were some anomalies in their numbers. Suspected money laundering, etc.’
‘Is that why you broke it off with this David character?’
Her eyes widened, but she said nothing. If it was that simple for Brookes to guess, could David had figured it out, too? It would make sense as to why he was here. She’d never given him the address of her family estate or the name. He could have asked around town, that was plausible, but was he the type of person to do that? David was a real estate salesman. He had ties to the company she’d been investigating, and it was possible that he got wind of it. He knew what she did for a living. If anyone mentioned to him that the company was under investigation, he could have naturally assumed that she was the one leading the investigation. He had never come across as dangerous, but how well did she really know him?
When she didn’t respond, he jumped to his own conclusions. ‘You went above and beyond, and dated him to help your investigation.’
‘There are things about my job that I can’t talk about.’
He laughed. ‘You’re definitely dedicated.’
‘It wasn’t like that.’ Not at the beginning, at least.
He leaned back against the wall. ‘How was it then?’
‘A colleague set us up. She thought I was lonely and could use some male company. She knew David to be an eligible bachelor who liked to have a good time. So they arranged for us to meet at the charity function.’
‘So, you went for it.’
‘To shut her up and stop getting her to set me up with random guys.’
‘When did you start investigating him?’
‘It was the real estate company that he was associated with. As soon as I discovered his connection, I broke it off. The relationship was never going to work, that just sped up the inevitable.’
‘Do you think he’s capable of doing something dangerous?’
Everyone was capable at one point or another. She didn’t know him well enough to assume either way. She’d kept David at arm’s length throughout the duration of their relationship and assumed he had done the same. Future talks didn’t happen. They knew what they were to each other — a distraction at the weekend, a moment of pleasure amongst the chaos. Him showing up at the family estate was not usual behaviour. But did that make him dangerous? ‘There’s no way he could know that I was the one investigating the real estate company.’
‘Could he have accessed your laptop while you were in the shower at some point?’
He’d said that through gritted teeth.
‘I don’t leave my electronics lying around open or accessible.’
‘He knows what you do, right?’
‘I try not to talk about my job too much.’
‘He should be looked into.’
‘I can give him a call.’
‘Do that.’
Harper picked up her phone and searched for David’s number. A part of her hoped Brookes was wrong, but another part wondered whether he was right. David seemed harmless, but even the harmless types had a streak. Affection could easily be replaced by anger and desire to hatred.
She pressed the name and waited for the ringing tone. The ringing started in her ear, but her breath caught in her lungs when she also heard the familiar ring tone close by. Pulling the phone away from her ear, she could still hear the faint ringing, and it was coming from somewhere inside the house.
Brooke’s eyes widened, and he put his index finger to his lips. She nodded and followed him out of the kitchen. When they got to the front door, the ringing grew louder. Brookes stopped.
Harper looked past him.
David stood on the veranda, pointing a gun at them.
‘One move and you’re both dead.’