Authors: Stephanie Rowe
He still couldn’t believe that he’d told her about Frank. Now she was going to treat him like some pathetic wimp who needed therapy. He scowled, and that’s when Kim looked up and realized he was awake.
He braced himself for her reaction.
Instead, she smiled. “I decided that it would be foolish to assume Helen’s guilt and not pursue any other leads, so I went ahead with searching the personnel files from the camp.”
What? She wasn’t going to bring up Frank? Insist he spill his guts? The old Kim would have demanded that he tell all, claiming true lovers didn’t hold secrets from each other.
“Eleven people are new this summer. If we go back eighteen months to when the you-know-what hit the fan with Jimmy, there are twenty-three people who are new. I started making calls to check references and see if any of them lived in L.A., but it’s going to take forever.” She frowned. “Somehow, I don’t think we have forever.”
“August third is coming up.”
“You still think that’s relevant since Jimmy is dead?”
“He wasn’t the one who put the knife in your bed on the twenty-fifth.” He couldn’t believe she really wasn’t going to push. Maybe she was different from the girl he used to know.
Her energy faded and her face darkened. “Well, whoever it is, screw him. We’re going to beat him.”
God help him if he failed. He couldn’t fail someone else. Especially not Kim.
She looked at him expectantly. “So what next? Do we split the list and make calls on these people?”
“Did you check the fax this morning?”
“No, why?”
“I asked Billy to fax me anything that came in at work.” He kicked back the blankets and walked over to the machine. “I’m waiting for details on Jimmy.” Sure enough, there were papers there. He picked them up and turned back, in time to catch Kim with a guilty look on her face. “What?”
“Can’t you put some clothes on?”
He looked down, realizing he was wearing only his boxers. He liked that she’d noticed. “Sorry.” He grabbed a T-shirt off a nearby chair and slung it on while he tossed the papers at Kim. “Take a look.”
He was in the middle of zipping the fly on his jeans when Kim sucked in her breath. “Oh, my God.”
He dropped next to her and leaned over her shoulder. “What did you find?”
She pointed. “Jimmy Ramsey has a brother.”
Kim was so aware of Sean as he leaned over her, reading the printout, conscious of him in a new way. He’d had his best friend die in his arms and he apparently felt that he could have saved him. To live with that knowledge?
No wonder he seemed colder and harder than the kid she’d known. He
had
changed. And so had she. What did that mean for the present? They hadn’t loved each other as kids, not true love. How could they have? They’d been eighteen and mixed up in family dynamics.
But today? They were just beginning to get to know each other as adults. Was it too late?
“John Ramsey,” Sean read, his breath tickling the side of her neck. “Born August 15, 1981.”
“That makes him twenty-five.” She didn’t want to move away from him or encourage him to shift away, so she pulled the papers onto her lap and held them so he could see them. “If we cross-reference that information with the twenty-three names I came up with…” She fell silent as they studied the lists and looked up names.
When they were finished, they had three names: Tom Payton—despite looking as if he was eighteen, he was actually twenty-four—Will Ambrose, and Carl Andrews, the head maintenance guy who had driven her home that first
day. They were around the right age and were new on the scene. Names and actual birthdates could be changed and employment records could be forged, and these three had sketchy backgrounds.
Will was MIA.
Tom was already acting strange.
And Carl was a huge, muscle-bound guy who could kick some serious butt.
She stared at the list. “You think one of these three is John Ramsey?”
“Makes sense.” Sean shifted on the couch, but he didn’t move away from her. “Did Jimmy or your sister ever mention a brother?”
“Not that I know of. Maybe they’re estranged or something.” She frowned. “But if they’re estranged, then why would John Ramsey be after me?”
Sean leaned over Kim and grabbed the phone off the end table. He called the station and asked Billy to request a list of all visitors Jimmy had had while he was in prison. Then he hung up and tossed the phone on the coffee table.
He hadn’t moved. His shoulder was still against hers, and so was his hip. Was he doing it intentionally, or was he too lazy to move? She didn’t dare ask, didn’t want to give him a reason to shift away from her.
She was so aware of his presence and his energy, in a whole different way than she ever had been before.
“I have an idea,” he said.
“What?” She looked at him, realizing belatedly that his face was only inches from hers. She didn’t turn away, and his gaze flicked to her lips.
“I think we should have Cheryl take a look at a staff photo and see if she recognizes any of those guys. Maybe John Ramsey showed up at some point while they were married. Maybe she’s seen pictures.”
Oh, wow, she didn’t like that suggestion at all. “I don’t
know. I don’t want to endanger her by contacting her. Especially now, when someone might be watching. If Jimmy’s brother really is after me, then he’d want to get to Cheryl, too.” She’d almost given her life to save Cheryl once. She didn’t want it to be in vain.
He nodded. “I understand.”
But there was an element of frustration in his voice and she studied him. “You don’t agree.”
Sean leaned forward, resting his forearms on his thighs and shifting restlessly. “I don’t want to endanger Cheryl, but I want this over. It’s only a matter of time until this guy gets to you or her.” He shoved off the couch and stood, pacing the room. Darn it! Why had he gotten up? “We could notify the police in her town and have them look out for her. We could ensure her safety.”
Kim watched him prowl the room. “I thought we couldn’t trust cops.” Then she had a thought. “What about Officer McKeen? Do we know about him?”
Sean stopped mid-step and stared at her. “He’s new. All of Billy’s hires are new.”
“What about the guard on my dad’s room?”
“New. They’re all new.” He cursed and stalked across the room. “Come on.”
“Where to?”
“We’re going to go talk to Billy.”
W
HEN
S
EAN WALKED
into the chief’s office, he knew he was putting his friendship, his career and his future in law enforcement in Maine at stake. The state was too small for him to piss off someone as well respected as Billy.
Billy was sitting at his desk, arguing on the phone with someone. When he saw Sean and Kim arrive, he waved them in to have a seat. Sean shut the door behind them and they sat down.
And waited.
Billy finished his phone call and hung up. “They don’t want to send the records of who visited Jimmy in prison. It’s turning into a pissing contest between us and them and I’m sick of it.” He scowled. “What did you come up with?”
Sean tossed the short list of names across the desk. “Folks new to the camp that are about the right age to be John Ramsey.”
Billy studied the list. “Is this it?”
“Garth McKeen.”
Chief Vega’s friendly expression faded. “What about him?”
Sean replayed the events of last night, ending with the fact that the young man was the right age, hit the town at the right time and was a cop.
When he finished, Bill did not look friendly at all. “You’re accusing me of hiring a guy whose goal is to murder one of the citizens in my town.”
“Two of them, because of the accident with her dad. Plus the P.I. Any sign of him?”
Chief Vega leaned back in his chair, but Sean didn’t buy it. “I did a background check on every one of these guys. Per your request, I questioned all of them again. Offended the lot of them, and I don’t blame them. They’re all clean.” He looked at Kim. “Sounds to me like Officer McKeen’s behavior last night was right on. He was actively patrolling and—”
“Maybe a little too actively.”
Chief Vega eyed Sean. “What do you mean?”
“Trying to overcompensate for the fact that he was going to be setting Kim up. If he looks super-proactive, who would suspect?”
Bill stood up and banged his hands down on his desk. “Listen, Templeton, unless you can give me concrete evidence to suspect one of my officers, you need to leave. Merely stating that the guy is the right age and that he’s new
and that he happens to have a profession that fits your profile isn’t enough. It’s not even circumstantial.” He gestured at the list. “And that’s all you’ve got on these guys, too? Right age, new to town? Come on, Sean, you’re better than this.” He gathered himself and sat. “You know we have to build a case, have evidence, probable cause. What’s this garbage you’re bringing to my desk?”
Sean frowned. “My gut says I’m on the right track.”
“Your gut isn’t enough, not with this weak case. You have nothing. Nothing!” Chief Vega ran a hand through his red hair. “You have a boating accident involving someone who shouldn’t crash a boat. A possible spot of his blood on the boat he’s had for twenty years. It means nothing.”
It meant something to Sean. He shot a glance at Kim. She was chewing her lower lip and watching the chief. Did she agree with Bill? Was she thinking that Sean was incompetent and that she would be better off not teaming up with him? He scowled at the idea. In the old days, she would have believed in him without a second thought, but what did that really mean anyway? They’d pretty much established that they’d been deluded teenagers. Today, she’d reserve judgment until she had a good reason. Better that way, but damn if a part of him didn’t want her to trust him blindly anyway.
Chief Vega wasn’t finished. “You show me a piece of metal stuck in the steering column and an eighty-year-old man who says he never messed up on his boats. And based on that, you want me to call it attempted murder?”
Sean frowned. “Don’t you feel it, Billy? There’s something off here.”
“It’s Chief Vega, and no, I don’t. Kim was being stalked. The man who did it is dead. End of threat.”
“What about the knife in her bed and in the tree?”
Chief Vega met his gaze. “A sick joke.”
“Do you really believe that?”
He was silent for a long time.
That’s okay. Sean could wait.
Finally, Chief Vega said, “As a cop, I can’t afford to dismiss it. But until you bring me something concrete on your suspects, there’s not a damn thing I can do about any of them.” He met Sean’s gaze. “And there’s nothing you can do to them. You’re a cop now, Sean. No vigilante justice. Play by the rules. I’m not questioning the integrity of my staff until you bring me something other than a gut feeling. The department would never survive it. You bring me evidence, I’ll act. Without it, I can’t and I won’t.”
“You used to go with your gut.”
“Yeah, when we were teenagers. Now I have a job to do and a department to manage.”
Sean cursed and stood. “Great rhetoric. Will it sound so good when you’re at Kim’s funeral?”
Kim’s mouth tightened, but she said nothing.
Chief Vega looked at her. “You don’t have to work with him, Kim. I can get someone else to watch you, or you can head back to L.A.”
Sean tensed. He hadn’t expected Bill to make the offer. If Sean were Kim, he’d be half tempted to take it. After this little discussion, how could she feel confident about him? “I request permission to go off duty and devote my full schedule to this case to provide protection for Kim.”
The chief eyed him. “I hired you to help take some of the workload off me, not to go off on some personal vendetta.”
“If I wasn’t working this case, you’d have to do it.” Sean knew he was right. As much as Billy might want to deny it, the details simply didn’t add up.
Chief Vega turned to Kim. “It’s up to you. You want him, you can have him. You don’t, I’ll find someone else.”
She shot a glance at Sean. “I’ll stick with Sean, thanks.”
“You sure?”
“Yep.”
Sean didn’t realize how tense he’d been until he felt himself relax. He looked at Kim and she raised one eyebrow at him. She knew the facts. She knew he’d let his best friend die. She knew he was running on fumes and gut instinct on this case. She was smart and independent and able to stand on her own.
And she’d decided to throw in her lot with him.
For some reason, that show of confidence meant a hell of a lot more to him than her acceptance of his proposal all those years ago. She was putting her life—and her sister’s—in his hands and he’d be damned if he’d let her down.
K
IM’S CELL PHONE RANG
as soon as they stepped outside the police station. “It’s Alan,” she told Sean as she answered it. “What’s up?”
“I’m at the office working on your dad’s files,” Alan said.
“And?”
“Someone has been embezzling from the camp.”
She sucked in her breath. “Are you sure?”
“Uh-huh. And in an attempt to hide his tracks, he’s changed so many files and entries that there’s no way this camp could run efficiently. It’s impossible to track deliveries, payments to vendors, staff payroll—you name it. It’s a disaster, but only if you’re looking for it. Can you come by so I can show it to you?”
“You bet.” She snapped the phone shut and frowned at Sean. “Embezzling isn’t exactly in line with Jimmy Ramsey, is it?” So now they were back to two different crimes, or the attacks on her being a red herring. “What career did Helen have before she married my dad and started helping out at the Loon’s Nest?”
“I knew you were going to bring that up.”
“Show me someone else with an incentive to wreck the camp.”
“She loves him.”
“People have done far worse in the name of love.”
He scowled. “She knows that losing the camp would ruin him.”
“No, Sean. She believes that failing to let go of his past will kill him. If she has to rip the camp out of his hands to save him, she’ll do it. She told me that, Sean. In front of Officer McKeen, if you don’t believe me.” She clenched her hands. “Or maybe the whole show was a lie and she actually wants the money and the inheritance. That’s why the accident on top of the embezzlement. Did you know that she wouldn’t get the camp if my dad died? Cheryl and I would get it. That means she had to siphon off the money before he died, so there was nothing left for us.” She took a deep breath. It would shatter her father to lose the camp, if he wasn’t dead already. Her throat began to tighten up and she sucked her lip between her teeth.
Sean yanked open the passenger door of his cruiser for Kim. “You want to get Helen thrown in jail, even if it’ll devastate your father. You’ll take any chance you have at destroying your dad and the family he loves.”
She paused in front of him, one foot in the car. “Not anymore.”
Before he could ask, she pulled the door shut, leaving him standing on the outside.
He climbed into his side and started driving. They were halfway to camp when he asked, “What changed?”
She sighed and stared out the window.
She
had changed. It hadn’t occurred to her until Sean brought it up, but now that she was thinking about it, it was true.
“Kim?”
“I thought my dad was going to be killed last night. I thought someone was going to go to the hospital and finish the job. Remember when I tried to rush out of your cabin to go save him?”
He nodded.
“I didn’t think about it. I just ran for the door. To rescue him.” She bit her lower lip harder, but it wasn’t working to ward off the emotions. “If I wanted him dead, I wouldn’t have reacted that way.”
“He’s been in a coma since you got here and that didn’t bother you.”
She sighed and watched the trees go by. “I guess you were so certain he was going to wake up that I didn’t really think he wouldn’t. He’s my dad. He’ll be around for me to hate as long as I want.” Hate. It seemed like such a strong word now. Too strong?
Sean managed to exercise enough control not to editorialize on that statement. The man was learning. Good for him.
“But when I thought someone was going to kill him…I got mad. And I got scared.” Sean turned into the camp driveway, heading toward the parking lot. “I don’t have a mom anymore and suddenly I realized I wasn’t ready not to have a dad. Even if I don’t talk to him, he’s always there, you know?” As long as he was alive and she could hate him, there was still a foundation in her life. As long as she knew he still loved her and wanted her back, there was comfort in knowing that she belonged somewhere. If he died, then she had nothing. No home to come back to. No roots. No parents at all. No possibility of future reconciliation, if she ever decided she wanted it. “Dammit, Sean. I don’t want him to die until I’m ready for him to die!”