Chapter 2
MITCH
Mitch stared down at Elias Dane’s body, his mind racing through the implications.
Elias Dane. Killed. Or at least gravely injured.
The timing was incredibly suspicious. Just hours after the brick had been thrown through Ryan’s window. Just after Tessa had sent her official request to Barstow Security asking what Elias Dane had been doing for Lori’s late husband’s firm two years ago.
That meant Elias had become a liability to someone. Someone who needed him silenced before he could answer those questions.
Or...
Mitch’s brow furrowed as another possibility occurred to him. What if Elias hadn’t been spying on them for whoever was behind the threats? What if he’d been trying to keep them safe?
He turned that thought over in his mind, examining it from all angles.
The voice of reason in his head pointed out that they’d only ever spotted Elias watching.
There was no actual evidence placing him at Seabird Cottage the night the dead bird appeared on the porch.
No evidence he’d been the one to break into the basement or cause the blackout.
Of course, the lack of evidence proving it wasn’t Elias was also significant.
But then why kill the man? That didn’t make sense.
Even if questions were being raised about him, even if they’d found out who he was and where he worked, whoever hired him could have just pulled him out and replaced him with someone else.
Which raised a whole lot of other questions for Mitch. Like, why send Elias Dane in the first place if his connections to Lori, Tessa, and Sally could be so easily traced? It was sloppy. Unprofessional. The kind of mistake Barstow Security wouldn’t make.
Nothing about this was making sense.
But Mitch couldn’t stand here theorizing. He had to concentrate on what had happened to Elias Dane and question the only witness they had.
Clara.
“Do you want me to handle this?” Marcus asked quietly, stepping up beside Mitch.
Lori had gotten Tessa’s phone and was already dialing 911.
Tessa and Ryan had dropped to their knees beside Dane’s body and were starting CPR.
Ryan was trained in emergency medical response, as were Mitch and Marcus from their years in intelligence work.
Mitch shook his head. “The less you’re in the limelight right now, the better. We need to keep you in the background.”
Marcus nodded his agreement. “I’ll stand with Misty then.”
Mitch glanced over to where the German Shepherd had moved away from the body. She was sniffing along the rocks now, her nose to the ground, her body language alert and focused.
“It looks like she’s found something,” Marcus observed. “I’ll go and investigate.”
“Be careful on those rocks,” Mitch warned. “They’re incredibly slippery.”
Marcus was already moving in that direction, his steps careful and deliberate despite his urgency.
Mitch turned his attention to Clara. She was now standing a few feet away from where Ryan and Tessa worked on Elias Dane, her arms wrapped around herself, her face pale with shock. Her eyes were fixed on the body, staring blankly as Ryan performed chest compressions.
“Clara,” Mitch said gently, moving to stand beside her. He kept his voice low and soothing, the tone he’d used countless times in his career when interviewing traumatized witnesses. “Can you tell me what happened?”
“I...” Clara started, then stopped. She swallowed hard, her throat working. “I came down here after dropping off the cookies at your house. I wanted to do some observations. The tide was out, and that’s when the tide pools are most active.”
“Okay,” Mitch said encouragingly. “What happened then?”
“I was trying to find the best spot to sit and set up my notebook,” Clara continued. Her voice was shaky but becoming steadier as she talked. “That’s when I saw a man on the rocks.”
She pointed with a trembling hand toward the outcropping where Marcus and Misty had stopped.
“He looked like he was just lying there,” Clara said, frowning slightly as if trying to recall the exact details. “I thought maybe he was sunbathing or something, though that seemed odd on the rocks and fully clothed. I was about to turn around and walk away when he stood up.”
“Stood up?” Mitch’s head turned toward where Marcus and Misty were positioned on the rocks. “Was he out there near where Misty and my friend are now?”
Clara’s head turned, her eyes following Mitch’s gesture. She looked back at him and nodded. “Yes. Somewhere near there.”
“So he got up,” Mitch prompted gently. “And then what?”
“He started walking,” Clara said. Her brow knitted together in concentration.
“No, not walking. More like staggering. You know, like he was drunk or dizzy or something. He couldn’t walk in a straight line.
He kept falling and pushing himself up. I was frozen on the spot and didn’t know what to do.
” Her head snapped up, and her eyes darted back and forth as she stared at Mitch.
“I didn’t know if I should go help him or run for help or phone the police…
” She took a shaky breath. “I was scared, but at the same time I couldn’t move…
I’ve… I’ve been attacked on a beach before. ”
Mitch’s eyes widened. “I’m sorry, Clara, this must’ve been very traumatic for you.” He gave her an encouraging smile. “I’m sorry too that I have to ask you these questions.”
Clara’s eyes cleared as if she was focusing in on him. “It’s okay.”
“Did he call out to you?” Mitch asked.
Clara nodded quickly. “Yes. I was about to leave when my legs finally unfroze, and he was making me more and more nervous, but he waved his arm and called out, ‘Help me.’ His voice was weak, like he could barely get the words out.”
“What did you do?” Mitch kept his tone neutral, non-judgmental.
“I froze—Again,” Clara admitted, and Mitch could hear the guilt in her voice.
“I didn’t know what to do. I was alone on the beach, and this man was staggering toward me.
I should have helped him right away, but I was scared.
So scared. What if he was dangerous? What if he was appearing helpless to trap me… ”
“That’s a natural reaction,” Mitch assured her. “Especially after what happened to you before.” He paused to let her gather herself. “Then what happened?”
“He kept staggering toward me,” Clara said.
“When he got off the rocks and onto the sand, he reached out to me like he was trying to grab my arm or something. And then he just... dropped. Face first into the sand. That’s when I screamed because I saw all the blood on the back of his head.
” Her voice broke on the last words, and Mitch saw tears gathering in her eyes as they landed on the blood pooled on the sand. “There was so much blood.”
“Did you try to help him?” Mitch asked, noting blood smeared on her palms.
“I knelt down and tried to shake him,” Clara said. “I was calling out, mister, mister, can you hear me. But he didn’t respond. I tried to feel for a pulse, but there was so much blood, and that’s when you all arrived.”
“The police and an ambulance are on their way,” Lori said, appearing at Mitch’s elbow. She glanced at Clara with sympathy, then looked at Mitch. “And you’re being called.”
She indicated with her head toward where Marcus and Misty were on the rocks.
Mitch looked at Clara, then at Lori. “Can you...”
He didn’t have to finish the sentence. Lori nodded immediately and stepped forward to stand with Clara, placing a comforting hand on the younger woman’s arm. “It’s going to be okay, Clara.”
“Thank… thank you, Chief Ware.”
Chief Ware? Mitch frowned and was about to say something, but he caught Marcus waving to him from the corner of his eye and made a mental note to ask Lori about that later.
Mitch made his way across the sand to the rocks. The surface was uneven, a black volcanic stone jutting up in irregular formations. He climbed carefully, testing each foothold before putting his weight on it.
Marcus was crouched near where Misty sat, her nose still working the air. As Mitch approached, Marcus pointed down at the rock surface.
“What did you find?” Mitch asked.
“Blood,” Marcus said.
Mitch looked down and saw the dark stain on the black rock. He reached down and carefully touched it, seeing the red on his fingers. Yes, that was definitely blood.
“Clara said she saw Elias lying here,” Mitch explained, gesturing to the general area. “Do you think he fell and hit his head on the rocks?”
“Not unless he dragged himself from over there,” Marcus said, pointing to a spot on the opposite side of the rock outcropping where there was a second small sandy cove.
Mitch followed Marcus’s indication and saw what he meant. There were marks in the wet sand near the rocks, parallel lines that could only have been made by something heavy being pulled across the surface.
“I doubt that gash on Dane’s head came from hitting his head here,” Marcus continued, his voice clinical and analytical. “Look at the rocks around this blood. There are no fragments of skin, no hair, no tissue. Just blood. Like he was bleeding but didn’t actually sustain the injury here.”
Mitch crouched down to examine the area more closely. Marcus was right. If Elias had fallen and hit his head hard enough to cause that much blood loss, there should be biological evidence on the rocks. Hair, at a minimum. Probably tissue or bone fragments, given the severity of the wound.
“He was hit somewhere else,” Mitch said, understanding dawning. “Then dragged here.”
Misty suddenly moved, her nose leading her toward the opposite side of the outcropping, toward the drag marks Marcus had spotted. Both men followed her carefully, watching their footing on the slippery rocks. As they walked, Mitch noticed splotches of blood. “Look a blood trail.”
“Yeah, I see it,” Marcus said in a low voice.