Chapter 3
LORI
This was getting to be too much.
Lori stood on the beach watching the police officers work, watching the EMTs load Elias Dane onto a stretcher, and felt the weight of guilt pressing down on her like a physical thing.
This was her fault. Hers and Tessa’s.
The brick through Ryan’s window had made that abundantly clear. The message hadn’t warned Lori or Tessa to back off. It had warned Ryan and Mitch. The Brandon men. Which meant that she and Tessa were the targets, and the Brandons were just getting in the way of whoever was doing this.
Her mind circled back to the same conclusion it kept reaching.
This had to be about the Stansteads. While she could maybe understand why Sally might come after Lori because of jealousy over Mitch and a desire to eliminate perceived competition, there was absolutely no reason for Sally to go after Tessa.
Tessa had nothing to do with any romantic entanglement.
She was just Carrie’s daughter, visiting with Lori for a few weeks.
But if whoever was doing this wasn’t after Tessa, wouldn’t that warning note have said so? Wouldn’t it have been more specific?
To Lori, this meant that Tessa was just as much of a target as Lori was.
And now someone had tried to kill Elias Dane.
They had hurt Mitch and threatened both Lori and Tessa.
Her heart stilled at that thought, then began to race.
Will whoever tried to kill Elias try again?
If Elias survived, if he woke up and could identify his attacker, would they come back to finish the job?
Or to get to them because they thought Elias might have told them something?
Her head snapped around to where Mitch was still talking to the police officers. Surely Mitch would tell them to keep Elias safe? To post a guard at the hospital? She gave herself a mental shake. Of course, Mitch would. He’s a professional.
Another thought struck her. Lori wanted to question Elias herself. Needed to hear from him directly what was going on, who had hired him, and what he’d been doing watching their houses.
But she knew that wouldn’t happen.
Or could it?
She glanced at Tessa, who was standing a few feet away, talking to another officer. Maybe when Elias regained consciousness, Tessa could get them in to speak to him. Tessa was an attorney. She knew how to navigate these situations, talk to officials, and get access to people.
No. Lori shook the thought away. It’s best to leave this to Mitch and Marcus. They’re the professionals. They know what they’re doing.
But something at the back of her mind wouldn’t let it go. Was it best to leave it to them? So far they hadn’t gotten anywhere!
Stop it, Lori. She mentally chided herself. Mitch, Marcus, and Ryan are the professionals here. She was just an artist who’d walked into something way over her head. It was already dangerous enough without her trying to sneak into a hospital to question a man who might not even survive the night.
“Lori?”
Mitch’s voice snapped her out of her spiraling thoughts. She looked up to find him standing right in front of her. She’d been so caught up in her own head that she hadn’t even realized he’d moved, hadn’t heard him approach.
“The police want to talk to you,” Mitch said. His voice dropped lower, for her ears only. “Don’t mention Marcus unless specifically asked.”
Lori’s eyes widened. “And if I’m asked? What am I supposed to say? Do I tell them anything about anything else that’s been going on?”
“No,” Mitch said, shaking his head firmly. “Let’s keep that to ourselves for now.” He glanced over at the police officer walking toward them. “It’s Tim who’s asking the questions, so he already knows a lot.”
That made Lori feel a bit better, but it also made her anxious. Tim was standing in for Carrie while she was in Florida. Then panic hit her again. Surely he reported back to her about what was happening on the island?
“What if he tells Carrie about all this?” Lori whispered urgently. “I don’t want her—”
“Don’t worry,” Mitch interrupted gently, reaching out to take her hand in his. The contact sent a shock up her arm, but it also made her feel better, supported, like she wasn’t facing this alone. “Tim won’t say anything to Carrie unless it’s absolutely necessary. He knows how to be discreet.”
“Mrs. Carlton,” Tim greeted her as he reached them.
“Lori, please,” Lori told him, just as she had the first time they’d met the day after Mitch was injured.
“Lori,” Tim said with a small smile. “I’ve questioned nearly everyone here except you. Can I get your statement about what happened?”
Lori nodded, gathering her thoughts. “Tessa and I were in the kitchen at Seabird Cottage. We were making salads and having iced tea.” Her voice was steadier than she felt. “We heard a scream. It was so loud that even Mitch heard it from his house next door.”
She glanced at Misty, who was sitting at attention near Ryan, her eyes still focused on the path to the beach as if she expected danger to come from that direction at any moment.
“Misty’s hair went up right away,” Lori continued. “She scrambled to the front door like something had spooked her badly. As soon as we opened the door, she dashed around the side of the house and then down the path to the beach. We followed her and found Clara with the injured man.”
Tim was writing in his notebook, his pen moving quickly across the page. “Are there any other entrances to the two small coves below the houses?” he asked, glancing back toward the path they’d all taken.
“Not that I know of,” Lori said, then looked at Mitch for clarification. The geography of this place was still somewhat unfamiliar to her.
“No, there isn’t,” Mitch confirmed. “You have to either come from the main beach in front of the houses, or from that path you just came from on the side of Seabird Cottage.” He paused and glanced at it.
“But you can only do that at low tide. When the tide’s high, the water comes right up to the rocks, covering the small coves completely, and there’s no way through.
” He pointed to where the rocks curved around the edge of the property.
“The back of my house and Seabird Cottage back onto a part of the nature reserve that ends in a rock shelf. It drops straight down into the sea from there. There’s no beach access from that side. ”
Tim nodded, making more notes. “So there’s no way to get to the other small part of the beach except through that path from the houses, and around from Pelican Bay during low tide?”
“Yes,” Mitch and Lori said in unison.
“I’m sorry, Lori,” Tim said, his expression apologetic. “But we’re going to have to comb through the gardens of Seabird Cottage. We need to make sure the attacker didn’t come through there, or didn’t leave any evidence behind.”
“Whatever you need,” Lori told him without hesitation. “Do whatever you have to do.”
Tim’s expression turned more serious. “This is the second attack here in less than a week.” He looked at Mitch. “I know I told Ryan I wouldn’t pry into what happened to you, Mitch, but I’m wondering if these attacks aren’t related?”
Lori felt her nerves kick into high gear. “What do you mean?”
She hated this. Hated lying. And yes, as far as she was concerned, withholding information from the police was as good as lying to them.
But what choice did she have? If she told Tim everything, about the surveillance, the dead bird, the break-in, the threats, Carrie would find out.
And Carrie would come rushing back from Florida, and that would ruin Maggie’s time with her grandmother on summer vacation there as well.
“We may have a prowler at Pelican Bay,” Tim said, his eyes moving between them. “Someone who’s been hanging around, watching the properties, maybe looking for opportunities. Have you noticed anything strange these past few weeks? Anyone loitering around who shouldn’t be here?”
Mitch and Lori both shook their heads.
“No,” they said in unison.
Tim pulled a card from his pocket and handed it to Lori. “If you think of anything, or if you see anyone loitering around the properties, call me immediately. Day or night.”
His eyes narrowed as he spotted one of the EMTs checking Clara out near the ambulance. “Miss Stark said you gave her permission to use the bay area for her research?”
“Yes, we did,” Mitch said. “She’s writing a book about seabird migration patterns. She needed access to the beach and the tide pools.”
“She tells me she hurt her wrist on the same day you got hit on the head,” Tim said, putting the pieces together in his mind. “Did you see her on the beach that day?”
“No,” Mitch said, shaking his head firmly. “I think she was injured a little while before me. She wasn’t on the beach when I was attacked.”
“Are you sure?” Tim asked again, his tone suggesting he wanted to be absolutely certain. “I’ll be verifying this information with the hospital records.”
“I’m sure,” Mitch assured him.
“Okay, well,” Tim glanced toward the water, where the tide was visibly higher than it had been when they’d first arrived. “We’d better head back up. The tide’s coming in fast.”
They started walking back toward the houses. As they reached the gardens of Seabird Cottage, Tim paused.
“Miss Stark mentioned that Ryan’s truck was broken into,” he said casually, but Lori could hear the question behind the statement.
She and Mitch both froze for a fraction of a second.
“Ryan said it was a smash-and-grab somewhere on the outskirts of town,” Mitch told him, having overheard what Ryan had said to Clara earlier when she’d asked about the window.
“Why didn’t he report it?” Tim asked, pulling out his notebook again.
“Nothing was taken,” Mitch explained smoothly. “I think he just didn’t want the headache of dealing with all the paperwork. Or giving you the headache of having to file an entire report for something that resulted in no actual theft.”
“Doesn’t his insurance need a police report?” Tim queried, his pen poised over the paper.