“Yeah,” Rachel said, “but I didn’t expect love to be this complicated.”
“How so?” Jane asked, crossing her arms and leaning against the wall.
Rachel seemed about to explain, then changed her mind. Sighing, she lifted one shoulder. “It just is.”
“Are you going to follow Nate to San Diego?” Teri asked. She’d hate it if Rachel moved away. Get Nailed wouldn’t be the same without her, although she also wondered how long she’d be able to maintain her own splintered life, with Bobby’s home on the east coast and hers on the west. More and more, she felt that her place was with her husband. They needed each other, although it was an odd feeling to need anyone. Being needed, yes; she was used to that. But needing someone? Having lived her life as independently as possible, Teri found this difficult to grasp.
Still, she didn’t want to leave Cedar Cove. And she didn’t know how these new contradictions in her life could be resolved.
“I don’t know what I’m going to do,” Rachel said.
“Just remember,” Jane told her, “if you marry Nate, you’re married to the United States Navy, too. You go where they tell you and when they tell you, and you do it without complaint.”
“Aye, aye, Captain,” Rachel teased, saluting Jane. She sat down and dipped her fork in the steaming chicken and rice entrée. “Actually, it isn’t the navy that scares me. I can deal with navy life, but I’m not sure I can cope with Nate’s mother.”
Just then, Denise, the receptionist, came into the break room. “There’s someone here to see you,” she said, directing the comment to Teri.
“I don’t have an appointment until one,” she muttered, eyeing her half-eaten lunch.
“It’s not a customer,” she said. “It’s that tall, skinny driver.”
“James?” The only reason James would be in Cedar Cove was if he’d driven Bobby.
“There’s someone else with him, too,” Denise added, curling her lip as if to say she didn’t like his companion. “A big, beefy guy.”
“Is everything all right with Bobby?” Teri asked, instantly concerned. She immediately set aside her salad and got to her feet.
“He didn’t say,” Denise told her.
Pushing back the drape, Teri hurried into the salon foyer. Sure enough, James was there. She didn’t recognize the man with him. Like Denise said, he resembled a wrestler with huge biceps beneath a black suit.
“Teri,” James said. “Come with us.”
“Is Bobby with you?” she asked
“He’s in the car,” the other man answered for him, speaking with a heavy accent. One Teri couldn’t identify.
“He is? Why didn’t you say so?” She started out of the shop, with James and his friend following behind. But when she entered the mall parking lot, she couldn’t see the limo.
“Over there,” James said, pointing.
The other man led the way to a white van, where a third man waited. “James?” she asked, suddenly suspicious. Something wasn’t right.
James avoided her gaze.
“What’s going on?” she asked urgently.
“Just do what he tells you,” Bobby’s driver instructed her in a quiet voice.
“Now, just a minute,” Teri said, standing her ground. She wasn’t about to walk off with this…this gangster, not without a very good reason, anyway. “What’s going on here?” she asked again.
James’s cell phone rang, and he looked at the other man before answering. The wrestler type nodded, and James flipped it open. His gaze shot to Teri.
“She’s with me,” he answered, his voice unnaturally high. “No, no, we haven’t been hurt.”
“Is that Bobby?” Teri asked. She noticed that the big guy was walking away.
James nodded.
“Give me the phone,” she said, and James complied. “Bobby?”
“Did they hurt you?”
“You’ve got to be kidding,” Teri said. “What’s all this about? Did they threaten you?” She was tempted to race after the big guy and give him a kick he wouldn’t forget. How dare he frighten Bobby this way! “You don’t have anything to worry about,” she assured her husband. “I can take care of myself.”
Bobby didn’t respond.
“Give me James,” he said a moment later.
Teri handed the cell phone back to his driver. The two spoke for a few minutes and then James closed the phone. He offered her a tentative smile. “Nothing’s going to happen,” he announced, his voice trembling.
“Did those gorillas threaten Bobby?” she demanded.
“No,” James said, wiping the perspiration from his forehead. “They threatened you.”
“Me?” she cried. “I’d like to see them try.”
“No, you wouldn’t,” James said in the same shaky voice. “Trust me, you wouldn’t.”
The outrage was building in her. “Who are they?” she demanded. The first thing she intended to do was inform the sheriff and have them arrested for—she didn’t know what but she’d find out. Uttering threats? Blackmail? They were clearly guilty of something.
“I don’t know exactly who they are.” James seemed on the verge of collapse.
Teri took him back inside the shop and into the break room, which had emptied. Jane and Rachel cast her quizzical looks, but she ignored them both.
“That was just to let Bobby know they could get to you anytime they wanted,” James told her.
If this was supposed to frighten Teri, it didn’t. Perhaps she was being foolish, but she really could take care of herself. Bobby had enough on his mind without worrying about her.
As soon as James was seated, Teri poured him a glass of cold water, which he drank in giant gulps.
“All right,” she said angrily. “How much money did they want?”
James stared at her. “They weren’t after money.”
She frowned. What was the point of this charade if it wasn’t money?
“They want Bobby to throw a chess match,” James explained.
That was when Teri started to laugh. “They don’t know, do they?” she said.
“Don’t know what?” James asked.
Teri shook her head. “Don’t they realize how much my husband hates to lose?”
Forty-Six
Justine had arranged to meet Warren Saget at D.D.’s On the Cove. Even now, several days after the shocking revelations, she had difficulty believing he’d set the fire. It tore her up to think he could hurt her like this, and yet in a strange way, it all made sense.
Warren already had a table and was waiting for her when she arrived. He stood as she entered the room and held out a chair for her. This meeting hadn’t been her idea, but she’d agreed to it, although neither Sheriff Davis nor Seth fully understood what they were asking of her.
“I can’t tell you how happy it made me to get your phone call this morning,” Warren said the moment she was seated.
In an effort to hide her uneasiness, Justine reached for the linen napkin and smoothed it across her lap. “I appreciate your willingness to have lunch at the last minute like this.”
“Could I refuse you anything?” Warren asked gallantly. His gaze was warm and appreciative. “I want to be your knight in shining armor—you know that.”
“I do,” she said, and in a flash she understood what had led this man to do the things he’d done. Later, she’d discuss her insight with Seth, but right now she had a role to play.
“What can I do for you?” Warren asked.
Justine mentally reviewed the tips Sheriff Davis had given her to guide the conversation. “I talked with an architect about building the Victorian Tea Room,” she began.
“Fabulous. You do want me to look over the plans, don’t you, and give you a construction bid?”
“That would be wonderful.” She pretended to glance at the menu. “By the way, Seth met with the insurance people this morning, and there’s been an interesting development in the case.”
“Really?”
As she suspected, Warren’s interest was immediately awakened. “It’s all rather complicated.”
“Complicated? How?”
Justine shrugged. “I don’t want to discuss the fire—it upsets me. I still can’t believe anyone would do something like that deliberately.”
Warren nodded. “It’s a cold, dark world out there.”
“There doesn’t seem to be a logical reason anyone would want to hurt us. It just seems…irrational. I mean, there’s no financial gain to be had.”
“So, you think it was personal?” Warren asked.
“What else can I think?” she responded. “Whoever did this must hate me. Whoever did this must’ve been looking for a means to hurt me and my family.”
“Not you, Justine,” Warren said quickly. He glanced down at his own menu.
“Hurt Seth, then?”
“He’s the one who laid off that dishwasher, isn’t he?” Warren muttered.
She leaned toward him and placed her elbows on the table. “That’s the interesting thing about all of this, Warren. Apparently it wasn’t the young man we assumed. We have positive proof that Anson Butler wasn’t involved in the fire.”
Warren frowned. “I thought I read that his cross was found in the ashes.”
“No one ever said it was his cross.” Justine met his gaze.
“Perhaps I’m wrong, but it seems to me I heard that somewhere.”
“You might have,” Justine agreed. “All the evidence certainly pointed to Anson.” Outwardly she remained calm, in contrast with the wild pounding of her heart. Turning to the menu again, she added, “Some other evidence has recently come to light. That’s why Sheriff Davis contacted Seth.”
“What evidence?” Warren asked sharply.
Playing her role to the hilt, Justine looked away and then sighed. “Unfortunately, I’m not at liberty to discuss the details, but from what I understand, it’s pretty damning.” Step by step, she was leading him on, leading him to an admission of guilt.
Alert now, Warren leaned close and lowered his voice. “You can tell me, Justine. I can be trusted.”
“Can you, Warren?” she asked softly. And then, because this was so much more painful than she’d realized it would be, she stopped and swallowed hard. Tears clogged her throat as she thought about the day of her panic attack and how Warren had seen her through it. His kindness had seemed genuine, and yet all along he’d been the one responsible for bringing this sadness and stress into her life.
As best she could, she remained calm and set her menu aside. “I’ll have the crab cakes.”
Warren nodded, but he didn’t appear willing to drop the subject. “Tell me,” he coaxed. “You’ve always been able to trust me. What information does the sheriff have?”
Justine met his gaze. “You honestly think I should tell you?”