Chapter Twenty-Three
Twenty-Three
Mendocino, California
Elle drew in a deep breath of the sea air. It was cold, but she thought she might be getting used to it. The cold didn’t matter, though. The view from the back deck of the house owned by Ronan’s neighbors was well worth any discomfort.
In the morning light, it was breathtakingly beautiful. She was surrounded by cliffs and wind and crashing waves. The heavy morning fog had rolled in from the ocean, blanketing everything in a stillness that was absolute.
It was chaotic and magical and calming all at once.
She didn’t want to leave.
She smelled coffee and looked over her shoulder to see Ronan standing at the open sliding glass door, two travel mugs in his hand.
“You about ready to go?” he asked.
He’d gone home an hour before, showered, and changed his suit. He looked like a movie star, standing there all golden and rugged.
She hoped his staying with her overnight wouldn’t cost him at work. She didn’t want to stand between him and his job. But she’d slept for several hours, her head pillowed on his chest.
She didn’t feel refreshed but she could think, which was important, because they were going back to the police station to call Ashton’s aunt.
“Yes.” She reached for one of the mugs. “Is that for me?”
“It is.” He joined her at the railing, leaning one hip against it.
“Penny loaned you one of her old laptops. I left it on your kitchen table along with the charging cord. It’s probably not powerful enough to run facial recognition software, but you can do email on it until you’re able to replace the laptop Ashton stole. ”
“I’ll be sure to thank her later.”
He hummed his agreement, then turned to face the ocean. “It’s spectacular, isn’t it? The view.”
“It truly is. I can’t believe you get to see this every day. You’re a lucky man.” Because his house had the same view. There weren’t many houses on the headland, and they were bunched together, all facing seaward.
He stared out toward the horizon, a small smile playing on his lips. He’d kissed her with those lips last night.
She wanted him to do it again when she wasn’t scared or feeling so guilty that she wasn’t sure she could breathe.
Or now. Now would also be good. But he made no move to come closer and they stood a few inches apart, watching the crashing waves.
“I am lucky,” he said. “My grandparents bought the house next door in the sixties, long before housing prices skyrocketed to the moon. But homes are still much cheaper here than they are in San Francisco.”
“I like my house there, but it’s in a busy neighborhood. Cars always driving by, horns honking. Sirens blaring at all hours of the night. This is the definition of peaceful.”
“I’m glad. You deserve some peace.”
She sipped at the coffee, wishing she could put off the upcoming call to Ashton’s aunt.
Elle didn’t think it was going to go well.
“I wish we could stay here all day, but I think I’ve procrastinated long enough. Let’s go face the music.”
“Elle.” He touched her then, lifting her chin. “There’s no music for you to face. We’re going to ask the aunt some questions. Hopefully get some answers. You didn’t do anything wrong.”
She so desperately wanted to believe him. Maybe someday she would.
“Did the Sarasota police find anything when they searched his house?”
Ronan had called the Sarasota PD hours ago—Elle had slept through the entire conversation—to share the photographic evidence they’d accumulated from the various surveillance cameras and to coordinate a search.
The evidence so far had been enough for a warrant for Ashton’s home, his vehicles, and any storage units rented in his name.
The searches should have happened by now.
Ronan’s expression went carefully blank, and Elle’s heart sank. “What did they find?” she asked, grateful that her voice was steady.
“Come inside and I’ll tell you. It feels like we’re alone out here, but it’s not secure.”
She followed him into the house, the peace she’d felt moments before now gone.
Ronan closed and locked the slider and motioned to the kitchen table.
“It’s bad, then,” she said. “If you’re making me sit down.”
“He’s obsessed with you,” Ronan said bluntly. “There were photos in his house of you on your various cases, in a dozen different places.”
It was suddenly hard to breathe. A dozen. They knew of only six deaths. “Does that mean there could be more murders that we haven’t discovered yet?”
“Possibly. Elle, I’m not going to sugarcoat it. I respect you too much to gloss over the facts.”
“I appreciate that.” And she did. But the thought of even more deaths…because of me. It made her sick. Carefully she pushed the coffee aside. “What else?”
“A lot of handguns. Different calibers, different models. A few rifles. A shotgun. A lot of ammo. The Sarasota guys were stunned at how much Ashton had stockpiled.”
“Do any of the guns match the ballistics on the bullets recovered from the victims? Here and earlier?”
“I asked the same thing. I heard back from our ballistics lab early this morning. The bullets retrieved from Kasey Arnold, Steve Garfield, Judith Kingman, and Olive Lavery were fired from the same gun. They don’t match any of the bullets used on the previous victims. None of the those match each other, either.
Sarasota PD will be running ballistics on the guns they found to see if they match any of the bullets recovered. They’re fast-tracking everything.”
“Ashton wanted the murders tied to me, but not to each other. Why?” But then she understood. “I guess I should be flattered. He must have thought I’d be too smart to use the same gun each time.”
Ronan only nodded.
She gathered her courage. “What else?”
The way he paused made her dread increase exponentially.
“Photos of your parents’ house.”
Elle’s heart stuttered. “Wh-what?”
“Your parents are still fine. Sarasota PD is giving them protection. Ashton Dempsey had photos of your father, too, dressed in his robes. They were the pictures from the county’s website. Some of the photos had bull’s-eyes hand-drawn over his face.”
Dad. Elle pressed her hand to her mouth. Her stomach was churning. It was bad enough that Ashton had targeted her. But her father?
Ronan covered her other hand with his. She shivered at the sudden infusion of warmth.
“Elle, nothing has changed from last night when you called your folks. They are fine, but you can call them again if you need to.”
“I will. Why would he target my father?” Then she remembered the detail about her father in his judge’s robes, sitting at the bench. “He targeted my father as a judge. Not just my dad. But why?”
Ronan took both of her hands in his. “I’m not sure yet, but I have a theory.”
She straightened her spine. “Okay, let’s have it.”
“There was a scandal after the accident. A lot of people thought you’d caused it by driving drunk.”
“The first responder thought I was drunk because Todd had tossed whiskey on my dress. I smelled like a distillery.”
“You also said that even after the evidence proved your innocence, some people thought you really were guilty.”
“They thought I’d manipulated the sys—” She stopped, Ronan’s meaning becoming clear.
“Oh. People thought that because I was a judge’s daughter, the cops had given me a free pass.
Or because my family had money or because Todd’s family had money, we were able to bribe people to make the ‘real’ evidence disappear.
Dempsey thinks that my father got my charges dismissed. ”
“He wrote ‘DIRTY’ on the photos of your father, in all caps.”
“God,” she whispered. “Where was he between the murders?”
“His flight records under his alias Bradley Albertson indicate that he returned to Sarasota each time.”
“So he was close to my dad for months at a time.”
“Yes. But your father is fine, Elle. And now he knows the danger. You warned him and the Sarasota PD warned him even more specifically. He is okay.”
She let the words wash over her, willing her heart to slow down. Ronan didn’t move, didn’t show any signs of impatience. He held her hand and gave her exactly what she needed—quiet support.
He wasn’t letting her do this alone.
“Thank you,” she whispered. “I think I’m okay now. Was there anything else?”
“Yes. I got calls back from the other gas station owners I texted last night. They found the Explorer in their surveillance footage and now I have two more credit cards Dempsey’s been using under his Albertson alias.
I’m hoping they’ll give us some clue as to where he’s holed up.
So far, he hasn’t boarded a plane back to Sarasota. ”
Elle made herself smile. “You’ve been busy this morning. Did you sleep at all?”
“A few hours. It’ll be enough. Are you ready to talk to Ashton’s aunt?”
“No, but let’s go anyway.”
He stood, drawing her to her feet. Then he cupped her face in his palms and kissed her. She gripped his forearms, feeling the muscles flex under the suit he wore as he tilted her head, first to one side and then the other as he deepened the kiss.
He’s good at this, she thought as she lifted on her toes and kissed him back.
She only pulled away when she needed to breathe. His gray eyes were dark and full of desire.
For me.
She was panting and so was he, his chest rising and falling as he got his breathing under control.
“Let’s do that again as soon as we’re able,” Ronan said.
“I agree.” She grabbed the travel mug of coffee, needing the warmth even though she wouldn’t drink it. Her stomach was too unsettled. “I’ll call my parents on the way to the police station.”
She needed to hear their voices. Needed to prove to herself that they were unharmed.
“Do you have your sat phone? There’s no service for most of the drive to Fort Bragg.”
“I don’t. It’s in the Tahoe.” Which had been taken by the sheriff’s department as evidence. “Can we stop on the way and pick it up?”
“Yes, but you can use my sat on the way, if you want to. I know you need to hear their voices as soon as possible and you’ll have twenty minutes to talk to them.”