“Go on, Ian. I’m okay to dry my hair alone.” She needed to talk to her employees, but feared her shaky voice right now would worry them. She needed a minute to pull herself together. “If you wouldn’t mind, I’d appreciate if you could find DiAnn, Lisa or Kelsey. Anyone who works for me. Tell them I’ll be there in a few minutes to find out how things went today.”
He appeared uncertain but nodded his agreement and left her alone. She went into her bathroom and pulled out the hairdryer. She only cared about her appearance for her guests’ sake.
Right. And maybe a little bit for Ian’s sake. How was she going to shake that off? Why did she care?
More important things were going on.
A woman had lost her life. Maybe last night. Maybe after that jerk hadn’t gotten his hands on Jonna.
Furious tears burned at the back of her eyes. She hated this. She hated all of it.
Her knees shook. Her hands trembled and she dropped the dryer. She snatched it up, shut it off and put it back in its place.
She didn’t want to crumble.
But she couldn’t stop herself from crumbling.
She fled to her bed and dropped to her knees, pressing her face against the mattress. Nobody could ever see her like this—how weak she truly was.
Nobody but You, God. Where are You in this?
Another woman...dead...
Jonna allowed the tears to flow now. Getting it over with rather than holding it in was for the best. Especially with Ian inexplicably tuned into her every mood. Why couldn’t she have met a guy like him before she’d been emotionally obliterated and unwilling to let anyone get close?
God, show me what to do. I know when I’m weak You are strong. Be strong for me. Show me the way. Please don’t let this man kill anyone else.
Jonna sat back on her haunches. Snatched a tissue from the bedside table and wiped her nose and eyes. Ian would come looking for her if she didn’t show up soon. He wasn’t the kind of guy to smother a person, but he was someone who had failed before, and had somehow assigned himself to watch over Jonna. Some sort of personal challenge, maybe? The stakes were high for him too.
She started to climb to her feet, then noticed something under the bed. A shell? She picked it up and examined it. A tulip shell.
Now, how did you get here?
She opened the drawer in her nightstand where a small box held a few items she’d brought with her from Florida. A chill crawled over her. She slowly got to her feet and reached for her gun on the table. Whirling, she stood where she was and studied the closet. The door remained closed. Ian had cleared the cabin when they got back.
That would mean he’d looked in the closet. Hadn’t he? And she trusted him, but clearly someone had been here while they’d been gone. She hadn’t opened the closet door to get dry clothes but had simply grabbed them from the laundry basket.
Slowly, she crept closer. Holding her weapon up and ready to use, she whipped the door open.
Empty. No one remained lurking in the closet.
She released a sigh of relief and eyed the shelf above the hanging clothes. The boxes. They were out of place. Someone had been searching for something. But what? What could someone possibly think she had?
Was the shell a clue? Was it confirmation the man after her here in Washington was connected to what happened in Florida?
But what about the woman killed not far from the lodge—near proof that the Shoreline Killer had struck again?
Regardless, someone had been in her cabin while she was gone. And while she was gone, someone had followed her from the sheriff’s office, and he couldn’t have been in two places at once. But he could have gone through her stuff because he knew she would be gone for a while, careful that he didn’t disturb anything so she wouldn’t know—fat chance—and then headed straight to the sheriff’s department. Ian had a tracker on his vehicle. That had to be it.
They’d been there long enough; he could have easily caught up with them there. Watched and waited, then followed them.
Had he wanted to run them off the road when the opportunity presented itself? Had that been his intent?
She grabbed a hoodie, tucked her weapon away so her guests wouldn’t know she was carrying, then left the cabin. Jonna calmed her nerves and tried to walk steadily down the hall. She greeted guests in the main room as she searched for the dark-haired scruffy-jawed man. He was one of a kind.
She found him in the kitchen.
His dimpled smile sent the fireflies dancing in her stomach.
“Just the woman I was talking about,” he said with a wink. Way to really lay it on thick so her employees would focus on the flirty vibes rather than worrying about her being in danger.
“I was just telling Lisa here,” he said, “that you wanted to find out how the day went. Lisa told me that DiAnn left to run an errand.”
Jonna nodded, wanting to speak with Ian about someone being in her cabin, but she reminded herself she had a lodge to run. “Hey, Lisa. Sorry about today. I’m still working with the sheriff about how to track down the guy on the beach. So how did it go? Any issues?”
Lisa was in her late twenties. Her blond hair was pulled back, but curls escaped and framed her face. She smiled. “You’ve trained us well. We know what we’re doing and can handle things for a day or more. I mean, how hard can it be?”
Had she insulted Lisa? Jonna hadn’t meant to. She just wasn’t good at relinquishing control of any kind. Jonna smiled to put Lisa at ease. “I’m glad to hear that. Of course, you can handle things without me.”
Lisa chuckled. “Well, we always need you, Jonna. I don’t mean it like that. The lodge wouldn’t be the same without you, and I’m sure some guests would agree.” She shot her gaze to Ian. “But no one had any issues. It’s been an amazing day to watch storms. DiAnn brought in corn bread and a big pot of chili from the restaurant next door for lunch. I’m just glad I wasn’t out in the storm. Ian was telling me there was a wreck and you guys were almost part of it.”
“It was Ian’s quick thinking that saved us. It looked like the others involved will be all right.”
“Well I’m just glad you weren’t hurt. I’m about to take over the front desk from Kelsey. Is there anything else you need?”
“No. You’re good to go. And thanks, Lisa.”
Lisa left them alone in the kitchen.
Ian watched Jonna. What was he thinking? It didn’t matter. They had other issues. Big issues. Jonna grabbed Ian’s arm and surprised even herself with her forcefulness as she dragged him down the long hallway back to her cabin. She opened the door, urged him inside and shut it behind them.
“What’s going on?”
“We have to check your SUV. In fact, we should check both our vehicles in case someone put a tracker on them.” Jonna explained that someone had been through her things while they were gone then showed up at the sheriff’s department to follow them.
“Show me your closet.”
“That’s not important—it’s not like you know what it looked like before it was rummaged through. Let’s look at our vehicles.”
“Fine, but tell me, what could someone have wanted from your closet? What were they searching for? We need to tell the sheriff this information.”
She knew what he was thinking now. “I know. It’s not something the Shoreline Killer would have any reason to do.”
Grabbing flashlights, Ian and Jonna searched his vehicle and removed a GPS tracker. She placed it in an evidence bag. They found one on her vehicle as well.
Standing in her private closed garage, she hugged herself. “I want to know how someone is getting in and out.”
“I noticed you have security cameras.”
“Only in the main lodge.”
“Let’s look at that.” Ian took off his jacket and handed it to her. “Here. You’re cold.”
“I’m fine. I’ve made a decision.”
“Oh?”
“I don’t need you to sleep on the sofa to watch over me.”
“Jonna...”
“I’m going to be watching the lodge tonight. I’m going to stake it out. Want to join me?”
“I have to advise against that. It’s not the best way to remain safe and protected. But I can’t stop you, and I happen to know you’ll do it without me, so you’re on.” He cocked a brow. “And it’s going to be cold out there, unless you want to sit in one of our vehicles.” Ian hesitated, then, “Jonna, I don’t know if he’s going to come back to the cabin.”
“What makes you say that?”
“For one thing he’s already gone through your stuff—and left a sign he was there. He knows you’re aware of the break-in and will be watching for him to return. I think a better angle for us to investigate is what he might have been looking for. It would be best if you could think about past cases in Miami, let’s say.” His eyes flicked to hers. He knew something. She could sense it. What had he learned? Fury boiled under the surface. She didn’t like that he’d been looking into her past. But she didn’t want to argue about it right now, so she focused on the other part of what he’d said.
“So why won’t he come back to my cabin tonight? He wants to kill me, remember?”
“But he’s already lost the element of surprise.”
“Maybe. I still think it’s worth it to stake out my lodge and cabin. We can borrow Lisa’s car and sit in that to keep warm. She’s working as the night auditor. Of course, I’ll have to explain what we’re doing and why, so that isn’t so good.”
“I don’t think that’s necessary. He’s not going to be looking at my SUV to see if we’re sitting in it. I’ll bring the coffee and scones this time.”
“Well, there you have it. You’re buying dinner tonight.”
“That isn’t dinner. Eating at a stakeout is never dinner.” He stepped closer to her then. Too close. Chop Suey wound between his ankles and hers as though chaining them together. “Jonna, we’re going to get him. Don’t worry.”
His tone was reassuring. Even though she was angry with him, she still needed that from him. With the intensity in his eyes, she wanted nothing more than to believe Ian was right. If only they could nab the man who attacked and tried to kill her on the beach and, in doing that, also take out the Shoreline Killer.
Too bad she couldn’t bring herself to believe it was going to end well.
* * *
Dressed in dark clothes—black jeans, turtleneck, leather jacket and knit beanie—Ian shivered and waited in the shadows near the lodge entrance. A security lamp barely illuminated a small circle of light in the parking lot, but lights shone under the awning over the doors to the lobby, leaving his position hidden. In the shadows he could keep an eye out.
At least it wasn’t raining at the moment, though the wind had seriously picked up. He and Jonna had decided to look at the security cameras tomorrow so they would have more time for staking out the cabin. Besides, the security footage would only show them the guests, and it was unlikely any of them were involved. The employees would have noticed any suspicious behavior and said something, especially after what had already happened on the beach to Jonna.
The man’s access point had probably been the private entrance to her cabin, though they hadn’t been able to detect any forced entry.
Last night, the man had shown up in the early morning hours before dawn, but they couldn’t count on him keeping to that strategy, if he showed up at all. When Ian spotted Jonna through the window of the main entrance to the lodge, he shoved from the wall and met her as she came out.
He tugged her into the darkness next to him. “I scouted the area already.”
“What? Without me? We’re supposed to do this together, remember?”
“And we will, but first I needed to make sure we’re good to go for the stakeout. I didn’t see him, so we have a window of opportunity to get inside my SUV. I warmed it up and moved it over there with the other guest vehicles. It’s darker and he won’t so easily spot us if he’s looking.”
Ian stayed close as they moved in the shadows to his vehicle, then crept silently over. Jonna moved to the passenger side’s back door. Ian nodded and quietly unlocked it. They each climbed into seats directly behind the driver and front passenger seat.
“The windows are tinted,” she said. “He won’t see us in here.”
He and Jonna thought alike. Agreed on most everything, except for keeping her away from danger.
“You’ve used this for surveillance before?” Jonna pulled off her knit cap and finger combed her long hair.
“Maybe.” Ian frowned. With Jonna next to him for hours, this would be a tight space. Doubt edged his thoughts. “It might be better if we just wait inside your cabin for him to show up.”
“Something about waiting in the cabin for a killer to come and get me just doesn’t feel right. At least it’s nice and warm in here. Maybe too warm. You’re not going to fall asleep, are you?” she asked.
“No. But I’m worried about you.”
“At least I didn’t forget.” She stared at him. “You were supposed to bring coffee and scones tonight.”
“I didn’t forget either. It was more that I think we should stay on alert and not get distracted with food. Warm scones in our stomachs and we’d get too comfortable and fall asleep. If he came, we’d miss him. In fact, we should stop talking now. We don’t want to scare him off, or have him catch us by surprise.” Admittedly, he really should have brought thermoses of coffee. They might need the caffeine to stay awake. That misstep disturbed him. Jonna was already becoming a dangerous distraction to him.
He lowered the windows slightly, but not too much, so they could listen to night sounds. On this side of the lodge, the crashing waves weren’t so loud, so they had a better chance of hearing someone’s approach if they were quiet and paid close attention.
“It’s going to be a long night,” Jonna whispered, her attention on the dark woods.
“Though I didn’t bring the coffee and scones, I did bring these.” He tugged night-vision goggles from his pack on the floorboard. “I only have one pair. So we’ll take turns.”
Jonna frowned.
“Don’t worry, I know how to share.” Everything but his life. Years ago, he’d dreamed of someone to share his life with, but after everything fell apart, he’d become a broken man inside. Best not to drag anyone else down or put himself in a position to get more shattered than he already was. Unfortunately, Jonna had brought all those long-forgotten dreams back to life. Somehow he had to put them aside. That dream wasn’t for him, even with someone like Jonna.
But despite his best intentions, he was sure it wasn’t going to be easy to sit in close quarters all night with Jonna while they waited and watched for the guy to try again. Ian did his best to focus on why they were there, and not his personal issues.
Would her would-be killer really be so stupid as to come back tonight? The criminal had put a tracker on their vehicles. What else had he done? He might even see them sitting here, in which case Jonna’s safety was definitely compromised. The SUV’s windows were tinted, but they weren’t bulletproof.
“The only way to get to the cabin is through this parking lot or those woods,” he whispered, and peered through the goggles.
“You don’t think he would risk going around the front of the inn?”
“In the dark with that cliff? No.”
“You’re probably right. Someone might see him in the panoramic windows. Anyway, I thought you said we should stop talking.”
Right. Talking could give them away. So they sat together with the windows cracked as they listened.
Ian wanted to do more than talk. He wanted to shake Jonna. He wanted to make her tell him everything that had happened in Miami to bring her here. The professional story and the personal story, even though he knew that was none of his business. It burned him she hadn’t opened up to him about Miami yet. He’d been transparent with her when he’d shared about his job and the tragedy that had happened while on his watch.
In fact, if she’d wanted more details, he would have given those.
Maybe. Or maybe he was lying to himself. Still, she’d held her secrets close when he’d opened up. At least she’d told him she’d been an ICE agent in Miami. That had made him hope she was starting to trust him. But then tonight, when she’d shared someone had been searching for something in her cabin, he’d given her the opportunity to tell him about Florida when he mentioned Miami.
She hadn’t.
“You seem distracted,” she whispered.
Ya think? He glanced at her, then away. He didn’t want her to see his frown or know that he was brooding. The close quarters with her didn’t help. His senses were on high alert, hoping the man would show up tonight and that this time they would take him down. But other senses were on high alert too, and not for reasons of his choosing. Jonna’s essence, her nearness, pressed in around him. When she leaned over her long hair fell forward. He wanted to weave his fingers through the soft tendrils.
Not professional thinking.
He cleared his throat.
It didn’t help that he sensed Jonna was attracted to him as well. They...worked well together.
Ian shrugged off the unbidden thoughts—everything to do with Jonna.
Hours passed. 2:00 a.m....3:00 a.m....4:00 a.m....
Both experienced in their chosen line of work—though in Jonna’s case that career was well in her past—they remained awake and on alert, but lost in their own reflections, hoping for the best, preparing for the worst.
Ian donned the goggles again and searched the woods. He turned to look behind them through the crack in the glass and froze. He touched Jonna. Motioned for her to pay attention.
He’s coming...
When the prowler crossed the parking lot, keeping to the shadows as much as possible, Ian removed the goggles. Too much light from the security lamp rendered them useless. A shadow crossed in front of the vehicle. Ian stiffened. Jonna sat up. The plan was to let him enter the cabin and trap him there. He wouldn’t be able to escape through to the lodge because of the dead bolts and locks—they would pin him before he could reach them.
Jonna gripped her weapon.
Ian grabbed her arm and leaned in close. “Stay here. Let me go after him,” he whispered. He could plead with her one last time.
In response she slowly and quietly opened the door. Ian got out too. Together they crept around into the cover of the woods and watched the man edging his way to the front of the lodge, near the windows—exactly where they thought he would never go.
Jonna motioned silently for Ian to go around the other side of the lodge and block his path that way. No. Not happening. He grabbed her and shook his head. Motioned for her to go around the other side. He would come at the guy from the near side where he was likely to face off with him before Jonna. She didn’t look happy, but she complied.
If anything Jonna was professional. A team player. Add in Uncle Gil’s words of admiration, and Ian knew the Department of Homeland Security had lost a good investigator when she’d left.
But this wasn’t the way he would have wanted any of it to play out. Given his preferences, Jonna would be safely away in another cabin and Ian would be protecting her, but she was proactive, preferring to take the offense rather than waiting for someone else to take out the bad guys.
He got that about her. He liked that about her too. But the next few minutes would be telling.
Wearing the night-vision goggles again, he readied his gun and crept stealthily around the cabin entrance. Preparing himself for the unexpected, but hoping he had the advantage of surprise.
No one was there. Ian’s pulse ratcheted up.
The man couldn’t have escaped. But he could have continued on around the corner of her cabin and be hiding in the space between the cabin and the lodge. Another structure—the add-on that connected the cabin to the lodge—would prevent his exiting that way, but he could use the spot to lie in wait for an ambush. If he was hiding there, that could mean he was onto them.
Jonna hadn’t made it around the other side yet. They should be trapping the man between them.
Then he saw her edge around the corner. He didn’t like this. She should be somewhere safe, or at least by his side. Where had their perpetrator gone, and what would he do next?
Waves crashed against the shore, preventing him from hearing anything else.
But he sensed someone all the same.
The hair on his neck stood on end.
He whirled around to face this new threat. Lightning coursed through his insides, incapacitating his ability to move. To react. To think. Then his body was shoved out into open air.