Forever on the Bay--A Novel, page 12
Cassie couldn’t help going tense at his words. Consciously, she rolled her shoulders and tilted her neck back and forth. Tightening up, physically or mentally, would do her no good.
“Not that I’ve seen,” Jayla said. “It’s all quiet.” She put a reassuring hand on Cassie’s arm.
“So,” Cassie said, “the place is empty. Wonder if my key still works.”
“Doubtful,” Jayla said. “They had everything cleaned and I’m sure they changed the locks. But...” She looked at Cassie, her nose scrunching.
Cassie raised her eyebrows. “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”
“The porch thing.” Jayla got up to turn off the whistling teakettle. She did something with an infuser and then brought three cups to the table, fragrant with peppermint. “But why would you want to go in there? What do you think you’ll find?”
Cassie lifted her hands, palms up. “I just wonder if maybe it’ll spark an idea,” she said. “Help me remember.”
“You sure you want to?”
“No,” Cassie admitted. “But Evan hasn’t seen the place in a long time, and... I don’t know. It seems like it’s worth a try.”
“Then drink your tea and let’s go,” Jayla said.
They went around back. Cassie climbed onto the railing of their row house’s back porch and leaned to the side, with Jayla holding her belt from behind.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” Evan said. “We can’t break and enter.”
“It doesn’t hurt anything,” Jayla told him. “No one lives there now.”
“And I used to live here.” Cassie reached for the kitchen window.
“Geez, Cassie, let me do that,” Evan protested from the ground.
“You’re too heavy,” Jayla informed him. So he went and stood beneath Cassie, ready to catch her, muttering about illegal activities.
She got ahold of the kitchen window and pushed, and due to a loose board, it came open. She reached through and unlocked the window and then pushed it wider.
“Step two,” Jayla said, “and this one you can help with, Officer Evan. We need to hoist her through the window.”
“I’m an officer of the law, and this is a crime.” But he held out his hands, interlocked, for Cassie to stand on. She climbed and slid and wiggled through.
She was instantly overwhelmed with feelings. Just keep moving. She went and opened the back door to let Evan and Jayla in.
“Oh, honey,” Jayla said, and that was when Cassie realized that tears were rolling down her cheeks. She wrapped her arms around Cassie. “Worst night of my life, so I know it had to be the worst night of yours.”
Cassie found a tissue in her pocket and wiped her eyes.
“You were here?” Evan asked Jayla. “Can you tell me what you remember, exactly as it happened?”
Jayla nodded. “I heard a lot of banging and yelling, and it wasn’t like Josh and Cassie. They were quiet neighbors. I was in the process of texting her to find out what was going on when there was a gunshot.” Jayla swallowed hard. “I called 911 and grabbed our neighbor on the other side, Darren, who’s a hulk, and we went over. The door was open and Josh was...down.” She paused a moment and collected herself. “Darren and I ran in just as the cops were pulling up. Darren tried to revive Josh, but it was too late.”
Jayla’s words brought the night back to Cassie in vivid detail. Mainly, she remembered feeling helpless, like a rabbit, frozen into place and then darting up the stairs. She’d been cowardly, had left the scary thing to Josh. A better person would have insisted on staying downstairs, would have run into the kitchen for a knife, would have grabbed a lamp and hit the intruder over the head.
It had been so loud, the pounding and yelling. And Josh had ordered her upstairs. Cassie had been obeying Josh’s orders—everyone’s orders—all her life. And she’d recognized his logic: she couldn’t fight a gun.
As for Josh, he of course had a permit to carry, but he didn’t normally have a weapon on him at home. She didn’t even know where he’d kept it. If she had, maybe she’d have grabbed it, fought back.
Except she didn’t know how to shoot and it had all happened so fast.
Now she looked around the kitchen where she’d experimented with recipes for Josh, enduring his teasing about her failures and enjoying his praise when she got it right. She’d dreamed that one day she’d need to know how to cook for the husband and children she hoped to have.
Jayla checked her phone. “Look, you guys, I have to go. I have a class over at the studio. But please, please stay in touch. Come back and visit or, if that’s too hard, we can meet halfway between.”
“You come to Pleasant Shores,” Cassie suggested. “It’s a beach town, really cute. You’d love it.” Being here with Jayla had reminded Cassie of how much she liked the woman. In her grief, she’d lost touch with too many friends.
“I’m there. Text me some weekends that work for you.” And with a flurry of hugs, Jayla was out the door.
Once she was gone, Evan looked at Cassie. “Pretty sure this was a bad idea,” he said. “This has to be so hard on you, and I don’t think—”
“Let’s just walk around.” She moved slowly through the living room and then headed up the stairs and into Josh’s old room, Evan tromping after her. There had to be something here, something to recognize, something that would help them understand what had happened to Josh. There just had to be.
She walked through the upstairs hall and into Josh’s now-empty bedroom.
There was a pounding on the door downstairs.
CHAPTER TWELVE
CASSIE’S BREATH CAUGHT. The sound of someone pounding on the door—this particular door—was way too much like the night when Josh had been killed.
Evan walked out of the room and over to the stairs. He squatted and peered down. “Looks like a white guy, bald with a fringe, maybe late 60s? Does that ring a bell?”
Relief washed over her. “I think it’s the landlord. He’s not dangerous, but...”
“We need to get out of here.”
“Right. He’s not the understanding type.”
“Follow me.” Evan sidled down the stairs and she followed, clinging to the railing on the side that wasn’t visible from the small window beside the door.
They heard a key turning in the front door’s lock and ran through the apartment. Just as they slipped out the back, Cassie looked over her shoulder and saw the front door opening.
“Out, now!” Evan ordered in a low voice.
She exited and he eased the door closed, and then they ran back to the alley and down the block.
Once they were well out of sight of the house, Cassie stopped and bent over, hands on knees, panting. “Oh, man, I am not used to running.”
“Did you recognize him? Was it the landlord for sure?”
She nodded and caught her breath. “Pretty sure. I only met him once. Josh always dealt with him.”
“Someone must have seen us climbing in. But why wouldn’t they call 911?”
“It’s a weird neighborhood,” she said. “Not always cop friendly.”
“Must have been someone in the building who called, or a neighbor from across the alley who saw us breaking in.” They were walking rapidly around the block now, Evan’s head swiveling back and forth. When they got to the spot where they’d be visible to the front of the building, he put out his hand to stop Cassie. “Wait.”
He scanned the street. “He must be inside. You wait here, and I’ll go get the truck. If he got a report, he’s probably looking for two or three people breaking in, not one.”
“Be careful.” She watched as he strode toward the truck, head held confidently high, shoulders squared. That was partly an act, she knew, because sneaking would be way more obvious. But partly, it was who he was. He wasn’t afraid of anything. He’d likely been in all kinds of terrible situations, in his military and police life.
Not only that, but he understood that there were shades of gray in interpreting the law. Yes, they’d been legally wrong to break in, but if it could help them apprehend a killer, that was the greater good.
There was no one she’d rather be in trouble with. And that was about feeling safe, but it was also about more than that. And more than about being attracted, although that was there. He pulled the truck forward and around the corner, and she climbed inside.
He headed the truck out of the neighborhood. “Back to Pleasant Shores,” he asked, “or are there other things we can do here before we go?”
“I’m starving,” she said. “There’s a little diner where Josh and I used to go, just before you get on the highway. Let’s grab dinner there before going back.”
“You’re sure you’re up for more memory lane?” he asked.
She blew out a breath. She’d gotten so agitated by their escape that she’d left her sadness behind. “May as well,” she said. “I think about Josh all the time, anyway.”
They drove in silence, except for her directions. And now the sadness hit her hard, like a delayed reaction.
He didn’t comment on her wiping her eyes and blowing her nose. But once they arrived in the parking lot, he reached over and pulled her in for a hug. “It’s understandable,” he said. “Going back to the scene where something awful happened. It’s hard on anyone.”
She nodded against his arm. “I wish I could have done something to save him.”
He patted her back, still holding her, which felt so, so good. “I know. That’s a common reaction. I have it, too, with Josh. Wish I’d asked him more about what he was working on.” Josh had worked out of his home and the police had taken his files and computer. As far as Evan knew, they’d found nothing of interest.
Evan should have asked Josh more questions.
They sat there for a few minutes, just holding each other. Slowly, Cassie grew aware of her surroundings: the rain beating against the truck windshield, the flashes of headlights going by, the sound of Evan’s breathing and her own.
The smell of his aftershave, something woodsy and masculine.
She didn’t want to move, and he wasn’t letting go. She looked up at him, then reached up and ran a hand along his jawline, feeling the stubble there. “You need to shave.”
“Yeah.” He took hold of her hand and moved it away from his face. Loosened his arms and eased back from her.
“Is this making you uncomfortable?” She didn’t know where this husky, sultry voice was coming from, but it was the only tone she had in her on a rainy evening, in this truck, with these feelings.
He cleared his throat.
Look away. Back away.
Cassie felt skinned of all her restraint and good judgment, her usual calmness. All that was left was something raw and primal.
Something she shouldn’t feel. Their focus should be on Josh. Evan wasn’t the man for her. She needed to grow her independence so nothing like this would ever happen again, not melt into Evan Stone, Josh’s old friend.
But she’d used up all her restraint today, all her good sense, getting through the visit to the police and the apartment, not to mention running away from the place.
She was looking into his eyes, so she saw his gaze flicker down to her lips.
She wet them with her tongue. Heat started low in her belly and radiated out, making her hot and sensitive. Sensitive enough to know what he wanted. What she wanted, too.
“You can kiss me,” she said, bold, because life was short and she didn’t want to wait and lose her courage.
He studied her. And then his hand crept up and pushed back her hair. He shifted in his seat, leaned closer.
Then he jerked away, climbed out of the truck and stood, the door open, the rain soaking him.
He was still staring at her.
She stared at him, too, because she’d never wanted anything more in her life than for him to kiss her.
That look went on too long.
“I’ll get you something to go,” he said abruptly. “You can eat in the truck on the way back. We need to leave.” He spun and strode toward the diner.
Almost to the door, he turned back. “Shut the door and lock it,” he called, and watched while she did so.
Then he disappeared inside, and Cassie sat in the truck, feeling stunned.
What had just happened between them?
Who had called the landlord about their break-in to the old apartment?
And what was she going to do about all of it?
One thing was for sure: she wasn’t going to let an awkward moment with Evan derail their attempt to find answers about Josh. No matter how embarrassing, she was going to force Evan to talk with her and continue helping her figure it out.
She sucked in a deep breath. You’re not helpless anymore, she told herself, and got out of the truck.
* * *
EVAN STOOD IN the diner, waiting his turn to order takeout and scanning the environment the way he always did. It was a cop thing. And it might help him regain his cool.
The place was a real old-fashioned diner with chrome-edged tables and turquoise vinyl covering the counter stools and booth benches. At this hour the dinner crowd had mostly cleared out. Three solo diners, all male, hunched over big plates of food. The air was heavy with the smell of fries and coffee. Two of the booths were occupied, one of them with a loud group of women, one with a father and two kids. No threats, at least no obvious ones.
Which left the threat waiting for him out in the truck.
How was he supposed to handle Cassie’s telling him he could kiss her? He’d never imagined anything like that, not in his wildest dreams. He’d only expected to deal with his own desires, not hers.
Because it had been desire in her husky voice and intense eyes, he was pretty sure of that, and it had thrown him. This was another side of his best friend’s little sister, one he hadn’t even considered. It would be much better to just have her be off-limits, some kind of pure being you wouldn’t dare approach.
Maybe if he just pretended it hadn’t happened, gave her the food and turned up the radio on the way home, a hockey game, not romantic music, it would go back to being that.
The door opened behind him and Cassie appeared. Her hair half up and half down, messy and wet, her eyes full of rueful humor and something else he couldn’t name, shaking herself like a dog.
If she came on to him again, even a little, he was a goner.
“I told you to wait in the car.” His voice came out sounding like a drill sergeant, and the group of women in the nearest booth turned to look.
“I know, but I’d rather eat in here.” She raised an eyebrow. “Any problem with that?”
Yes, he wanted to say. Instead, he nodded, raised a hand to get the waitress’s attention and pointed to one of the empty booths. “Okay if we sit down?”
“Wherever you like,” she said.
So they sat and Evan tried not to look at her, and then he couldn’t help it. He was floored by her beauty, her appeal, her as a grown-up. The fact that they were sitting here together, across from each other in a dive of a diner, was like a breath, a wish, a charm.
Stop. He couldn’t have her. He was an alcoholic who would definitely like a drink right now. He had a troubled son back in Pleasant Shores, a son whom he’d failed. And then there was his promise to Josh.
He couldn’t have her. He couldn’t.
“Are you done worrying?” Cassie sounded amused as the waitress held out plastic menus. Cassie took them, handed one to him and started perusing the other one. “Look, I’m sorry about that, what happened in the truck. But we need to talk about next steps.”
She sounded so casual, like it hadn’t affected her at all. “You can’t do that to me again.”
“It was the stress,” she said, waving a hand. “I’m sorry. I’ll behave.”
He narrowed his eyes at her. “You’d better.”
“Okay, okay, I’m sorry!” She glared at him. “But grow up. We can work together. It was just a moment.”
He studied her. “You don’t know how you affect men.”
“As a matter of fact, I do know that men are easily aroused, so don’t treat me like a ten-year-old.” She opened the menu and scanned it.
Evan’s mouth had been open to say more, but at her words, he closed it. And stared at her. Who was she?
“What?” She sounded irritable. “Yes, I’ve dated, and yes, I know something about men. So you don’t need to treat me like a child who’s playing with matches without knowing the danger.”
He seized on that. “It is dangerous.”
“Why?” She wasn’t taking it the least bit seriously, and that was a good thing. There was no reason to feel disappointed or let down. He should be glad she hadn’t truly been hitting on him.
But he wasn’t glad; he was irritated. “It’s dangerous,” he said, “because I actually am attracted to you. I’d like to kiss you and more.”
She sucked in a breath and her eyes flicked up to his, then back down to the menu.
“Take your order?” the waitress asked. “Hey, Cassie. Didn’t recognize you, it’s been forever. Where’s Josh?”
Cassie looked up from the menu, then set it down. “You haven’t heard,” she said.
The waitress tucked her pencil behind her ear. “Heard what, hon?”
“About Josh.” Cassie swallowed. “He, um, he passed away.”
The woman gasped, audibly. Then she sat down in the booth beside Cassie and pulled her into her arms. “Oh, my word, I’m so sorry. What happened? He wasn’t sick, was he?”
Cassie blinked and shook her head. “He was shot,” she said, almost whispering.
“Oh, no. You poor dear.” She gave Cassie another hug. “You poor, poor dear. I would’ve come to the funeral if I’d known.”
“I know you would have.”
