Chapter 16

flourish

"This doesn't feel right." Zoe sat in the passenger seat of Dane's Jeep, driving up 275. She'd convinced him to give it a day. Sleeping on a big decision was always smarter. Almost always.

He didn't respond with words but laced their fingers together and traced circles around the inside of her wrist with his thumb. He hadn't even let her finish her sentence when she tried to talk him into waiting longer to report Seth's affair. And the fact that she remembered her attacker was female. Maybe Dane was right. Sleeping on it didn't change anything. Seth was having an affair, and it was a woman who broke into her parents' home... also probably her house and Seth's old apartment, too. Coincidence? This was a necessary tattle.

Calm waters lay to either side of her, like they were the day she found Seth's remains. She wanted to be down there, with him. But he wasn't there. Just her friend, the moray eel.

She still needed to tell her parents and her sisters the attacker was female. A strong female. Or was Zoe a wimp who frightened more easily than a trapped mouse?

She couldn't imagine what it would be like to be abused or feel afraid to leave someone. Then again, anyone who could break into someone's house could be capable of lying their butt off. Raine was right, they would let Matt do the judging.

Dane parked in new car parking. Why was that suddenly cute?

He walked to her and wrapped his arm around her waist. It was one those things that was starting to be blessedly natural. The look on his face puzzled her but for whatever reason didn't make her inquire. His smile was content; it was complacent. He reached down and kissed her on the top of her head before continuing on. A wave of warmth rolled throughout her before landing in the center of her heart.

The receptionist had been told to send her up. He was waiting when they exited the elevator. Matt and Dane extended hands at the same time.

"Good to see you, Dane. How have you been?"

"Good and bad, as I bet you can imagine. Zoe's got something for you."

Matt's eyes turned to her, and she nodded. They stepped into Matt's office and she took her usual chair. Zoe noticed a white box with some letters and numbers written above the word 'Clearwater.'

Seth's skull might be in there. And the knife. A sheet of clammy sweat erupted over her skin. Her body language had always given her away in everything she did. Her blushing was only the beginning. They both must have been able to read her, because Matt grabbed the box and took it somewhere out of his office as Dane turned to her.

"He didn't mean it," he whispered and took her hand in his.

She must look bad if he was sticking up for Matt. "I know. Of course, I know. Seth isn't in the box." She tried to sound like her mother, but she wasn't.

"Well," Matt said as he came back in his office. "Now that I've been an ass, what can I do for you?"

She tried to laugh, but it came out as a sickly squeal. Straightening in her chair, she worked at appearing professional. This was a case, right? A detective's case.

A case that might draw the line between making or breaking her. So, no pressure there.

She took a deep breath and dove in, relinquishing the letter to him. It was postmarked at the Ibis Island Post Office a few days before Seth's... murder. Then, she explained her epiphany that the person who attacked her was female.

Matt scratched his chin. "And you say you found the letter before you decided your attacker was female?"

She knew where he was going with this and didn't like it. "No. A girl on my Ultimate Frisbee team jumped on my back and made me remember I had breasts shoved in my back the night my parents' home was broken into." It sounded worse after she tried to explain. How did she miss that before? Dammit. Now, he had her second-guessing herself. "I would have never thought a woman could do that. I assumed it had to be a man until the gal jumped on me. It made me remember." Yes. Digging herself a hole.

"Could be, Zoe. Definitely. We're bringing in the other men who were in the group Seth dove with the day of his death."

The group that each had a diving partner except Seth. She shook her head, keeping herself from going down that road.

"They did that already, two years ago," Dane interrupted.

"New evidence. New questioning. Can't hurt."

Matt's tone was condescending, and she didn't like it. "What did you find out about the evidence?" she asked as Matt looked over the letter for himself.

"I assume you're speaking of the murder weapon, and we're not going public with that yet."

"I'm not public," she protested.

He looked at her with cop eyes. "I'm afraid I can't give you any information that might compromise your brother's case."

She felt like Raine and wished her sister were here to set him straight.

"You're smart enough to know I can't share confidential information about a pending investigation. Do you want me to mistrial your brother's case before we make it to trial?"

"Make it to trial? Do you have a suspect? Who is it?" She nearly jumped out of her seat.

"No, no. Now, take a breather there."

She could slap him.

"One step at a time. I'll keep you updated on everything I can. I won't forget. This is good." He waved the letter. "It could be a motive. I'm glad you brought it."

A motive? As in someone killed her brother because someone found out Seth was having an affair?

"Well, I can tell you right now," she thought out loud. "Richard Beckett is gay. His partner is definitely not a woman. And—"

Matt held up a finger as he opened a file from the side of his desk and started thumbing through. It was Seth's file. She wanted to read it so badly she could taste it.

"The realtor," he said knowingly.

"Yes," she answered curtly. "The realtor. Why isn't this, I share, then you share?"

He lifted his eyes to her as Dane injected, "This isn't a game, Zoe. This is murder." There he was again. Sticking up for the cop. Where was Raine when she needed her?

"Timothy Hart," she offered reluctantly. "School Superintendent. He never married. The letter refers to a husband."

Matt nodded and took notes.

"The rest are up for grabs. The police chief and Blake Eaton... he's the Show Me's owner... both fit the asshole status, but abuse? I don't know. Wait a minute. Blake Eaton's wife is younger than me. I can't see Seth with someone barely old enough to drink legally." She started imagining the other wives with Seth.

"It might not have been someone in his diving group," Matt suggested. "Try to keep an open mind."

Wow. She hadn't even considered it. He was right. Each diver had the same story the days after Seth's disappearance. They just felt awful about it. One minute Seth was there, the next he wasn't. The last time they'd spotted him was at the mouth of the larger crystal springs cavern.

* * *

She'd found three more letters. After Matt's refusal with transparency, she was reluctant to turn them over to him. Yet. Her family never saw the first one. Maybe she would share these with them before she gave them to Matt. Maybe she would make copies of each. Maybe she would just keep them to herself. First, she would read them each a dozen more times.

'My dearest Seth, I'm so sorry for my reaction when you mentioned having kids. Of course I want to have children with you. The thought of cuddling on a porch swing with you and our son or daughter is a dream I'll keep forever. I'm just not sure I can have children after... after. I love you. Maybe we can adopt. I love you...'

He wanted children with this woman? Zoe rubbed her face over her hands. How did he keep such secrets from all of them?

Her life was becoming more and more surreal. Dane was spending his sixth night at her place. It was as natural as breathing now. They were sitting on her couch, Zoe with her legs over his lap. He used them as a desktop for his Sun Trips bookwork.

She wasn't sure if she felt guilty because he was doing the bookwork that used to be hers or because he was staying at her place due to the recent break-ins. "You don't have to stay, you know."

He didn't answer with words. It was more of a grunt as he kept his eyes on his paperwork. It felt like a challenge. Pulling her legs from his lap, she destroyed his lumpy, make-shift table top. Crawling the short distance between them, she straddled him as he dropped his papers next to them.

"You're... um... happy to see me." Very happy.

He didn't laugh at her attempt at humor. Instead, he slid his hands up her blouse sending her from zero to sixty in seconds. His hands. She let her head fall backward. His glorious, magical hands. How did she ever live without them?

She shifted just enough to make him suck in a quick gulp of air. Dane Corbin could multi-task. He soothed and caressed, teased and molded. Dipping his fingers beneath her lace, he tugged enough to cause her to lift her head. She needed to see his blue eyes, see them as they turned a shade deeper.

Her damned, damned, flipping cell rang. It was Raine's ringtone. She looked at the time. Eleven-thirty. "I'd better get it."

This time his growl was much sexier.

"Can you get out?" Raine asked. "I'm at the north end of the island with a disorientation. I just got a call about a rental with the porch lights on in front of an early nest that's near its hatching due date."

"Are you sure you want me?" Zoe asked. "Shouldn't you call Willow?"

"Nah. You don't need a permit to knock on a patio door. Unless you're chicken."

She was not. "Give me the address, smart ass. Oh, and I found some more letters. I'll let you see them before I hand them over to Matt this time."

"More letters? Really. And thanks. You should've known Osborne wouldn't return the first one. A pig's a pig."

She slung a leg over Dane like she was dismounting. "I've gotta check out a patio light left on beach side. You don't need to come with. Get your bookwork done."

"Like hell."