Chapter Twenty
Jazzi sat on the green on Sunday afternoon for her lunch break, looking down over the lake. Tourists who had come in for the weekend were taking a last walk along the shoreline, dipping their toes in the water or removing their boats from the slips and taking a final glide out on the lake.
Jazzi took a bite of her blockbuster sandwich—Canadian bacon, lettuce, tomato, and mayo—and, while she ate, thought about what had happened yesterday. True, there had been a crowd pressing around her. Dawn had been close to her on one side, but not close enough that she was affected by that push. Yes, Jazzi had been close to the edge of the dock. But if someone had pushed her, wouldn’t one of the other people around her have noticed?
Jazzi hadn’t been jostled. She was sure of that. The nudge, if she could call it that, had come from the middle of her back, right at the center of her body. Someone knew a good push would send her frontward. There had been no room on the dock to stumble. She’d just gone straight into the water.
Afterward, she’d asked Dawn as subtly as she could who had been around her as she’d stood there. Dawn had been wide-eyed and hadn’t known why she was asking the question. Jazzi hadn’t let on that the answer was very important. Like Jazzi, Dawn had been looking forward toward the pontoon boats, not around the crowd to see who was gathered.
If Jazzi pursued it further, she could sound paranoid. Did it matter? Not particularly, unless she was becoming paranoid. She couldn’t put a notice in The Landing asking who had been around her on the pier. So she was left with her thoughts and her suspicions.
She suddenly heard the sound of pounding footsteps behind her. She turned quickly to see Theo jogging toward her. He was wearing red shorts, a white polo shirt, and a broad smile. He anchored himself by grabbing onto the back of her bench. He said, “I was hoping I could catch you here. Erica told me you were probably on the green eating lunch.”
She lifted the half of the sandwich she hadn’t eaten and laid it on the paper in her lap. “You found me. I’m just watching the weekenders take their last look at the lake and gather their gear.”
“It was a great weekend,” Theo said. “That party on the boardwalk had everybody up and dancing, you included. I saw you with Olsen.”
That dance with Parker had been nice, gentle, friendly as they’d danced together for a ballad. They’d really let loose along with Derek and Addison and Delaney for a few uptempo songs. Jazzi had been glad to see that Delaney had had a smile on her face.
“I saw you with Andrea,” Jazzi reminded him. “You looked cozy.”
“Jealous?” Theo raised a brow and looked mischievous.
“Considering we haven’t even had a date, I doubt if jealousy is appropriate.”
“Appropriate or not, I’d feel honored if you were jealous.”
Throughout the weekend that had seemed like a vacation from the grief, she decided she needed to have more fun, not just go out on the lake with Dawn or by herself. Tomes & Tea was all-important to her, as was her friendship with Dawn and the other book club participants . . . and the kittens. But she needed . . . she needed to socialize. Hadn’t she told Parker the same thing? He had to get out of his office, away from his games, and see other people? In person social contact meant so much more than her communities on social media. Social media was what she showed the world. But spending time with her friends was her real life. And her real life needed a little red-pepper activity to spice it up.
Theo had sat down on the bench beside her, and he was opening his phone. Had he sat down beside her to take time to scroll on his phone?
She looked over his arm and saw that he’d pulled up his calendar. It was full of so many dates and meetings, she couldn’t even process it. It only took her a moment to see, however, that some of the engagements were in green, some were in blue, and some were in red. The red ones, which stood out to her, were mostly in the evenings and two on Sunday afternoons. She imagined those were his deejaying gigs.
“Checking what you’re doing next?” she teased.
He looked up, straight into her eyes. “That’s what you think I’m doing? Seeing where I’m going next?”
“I don’t know what you’re doing. Tell me.”
“I’m trying to find a spot so we can have dinner.”
She felt foolish, embarrassed, yet pleased all at the same time. “That calendar looks pretty full. Am I going to be green, red, or blue?”
He laughed. When he did, crinkle lines came up around his eyes, and she couldn’t help but keep her gaze on them.
“You’re definitely green. Green are my important personal engagements.”
This time she had to laugh. “Does that mean there’s an important girl that you’re going on a date with at each of those green spots?”
“You caught me,” he said nonchalantly. Then he said, “No. Some of the green ones are personal appointments that have nothing to do with dating.”
“And the blue?”
“The blue is definitely business. Now, let’s get back to the green. How about Thursday around seven thirty?”
“Thursday is good.” She was glad her memory was usually solid, and she didn’t have anything planned for evenings this week.
Delaney came up along the other side of the bench and spotted Jazzi. She stopped but looked hesitant. “Am I interrupting?”
“Not at all,” Jazzi told her, then wondered if Theo minded she said that. He didn’t look bothered as his phone dinged and he scanned the screen.
Delaney moved close to the bench. “I just wanted to check if we’re still on for breakfast tomorrow morning at the waffle truck.”
Delaney knew the waffle truck was her favorite. They often made plans for breakfast while Dawn slept in. “We sure are.”
“I’ve got to go,” Theo said with a smile. “I’ll text you the deets for Thursday night, okay?”
“Sounds good to me,” Jazzi answered.
“Thursday night, huh?” Delaney gibed as Theo walked away. “Are you two finally going out on a date?”
Something else had started dancing around Jazzi’s mind. Then she realized Delaney had spoken to her. “Yes, I guess we are.”
“Are you going to be enthusiastic about it and let Dawn dress you?”
“If I let Dawn dress me, I’d be ready for a night in New York City at a club.”
“Would that be so bad?”
“I’m not sure. I don’t know how I feel about Theo.” That was absolutely the truth because she needed to get to her laptop and look up something. But now she was late getting back to the store, and that had to come first.
Jazzi asked, “Were you looking for me, or did you just spot me by accident?”
“I was looking for you,” Delaney responded. “I need to know if you need more of Emilia’s books. She texted me this morning and said she can sign another fifty.”
“Another fifty would be great. I’m sure they’ll sell within the next month or so as long as we have tourists.” Jazzi popped the remainder of her sandwich into the bag and took it to the nearest trash container. “I’ve got to get back to the store. Want to walk with me?”
“Sure. I need to pick up a copy of Emilia’s book for one of my clients. She couldn’t make it to the store the day of the signing.”
Jazzi felt emotions tighten her throat. “Thank you for everything you’ve done.”
Delaney simply replied, “That’s what friends are for.”
* * *
Jazzi had believed that once the regatta was over, business would slow. However, it didn’t. When she returned to Tomes & Tea for the afternoon, she didn’t have a minute to slow down and search for what she wanted to check on her laptop. She was afraid of what she was going to find. Maybe she was suspicious for no reason. The thing was . . . she couldn’t figure out what was connected and what wasn’t.
Still . . . she hadn’t imagined being pushed off the dock. She’d spoken to all the men Brie had dated. Had one of them told her a clue she hadn’t picked up on? And now one of them felt threatened? Lots of people had seen her speaking with Detective Milford on the green and at the regatta. Was she being targeted? Or was she paranoid?
It was her night to close Tomes & Tea. Dawn had already headed up to the apartment. Finally finished for the day, Jazzi used the back stairs from the storeroom to go up to her room. She was careful to look for the kittens when she entered her bedroom. A string of bells on her doorknob announced her entrance.
Dawn called from the kitchen. “Zander and Freya are in here. I’m serving their supper. What are we having?”
Jazzi grabbed her laptop from her desk as well as a legal pad and pen. As she entered the kitchen, she could see that Dawn had scooped wet canned kitten food into Zander and Freya’s dishes and set them on a silicone mat on the floor.
Setting her laptop and legal pad on the counter, she quickly jotted down notes on the pad. Freya was making little kitty noises as she ate, and it sounded like a low purr. Zander just gobbled his food and was usually finished before his sister.
To answer Dawn’s question, Jazzi looked up. “We still have salad greens left from yesterday. How about grilled cheese sandwiches to go with a salad?”
“Sounds good. I only had yogurt with strawberries for lunch.”
“Can you wait a few minutes until I check something on my laptop?”
“I can survive a few more minutes. What are you looking for?” Dawn had already gone to the refrigerator and pulled out a salad bowl filled with greens.
Sitting on the sofa, Jazzi opened her laptop. “I’m looking for an article in The Landing. Parker told me about it after the shooting. It listed the dates and locations of the robberies.”
“Why do you want that?” Dawn pulled a cucumber and baby carrots from the crisper.
“Just a hunch.”
Dawn stopped what she was doing and stared at Jazzi. “Let me think about it. The Landing always prints more news on the weekend, especially on Friday with the regatta. It was pages longer with ads. I was thinking maybe we should have taken an ad. There was a human interest piece about one of the sailboat races. The racer had broken his arm and his leg in an accident and had recovered to enter the race.”
“Friday,” Jazzi repeated, as Zander used his claws to climb over the arm of the sofa. He clambered over to her and she picked him up, cuddled him, and returned her attention to her laptop. When he aimed to crawl on top of the keyboard, she picked up a fuzzy ball on the sofa cushion and tossed it across the room. He leapt after it and Freya joined in the fun of pushing it around.
After Jazzi brought up the paper’s website, she scrolled through the pages. Although she had an online subscription, she didn’t often peruse the paper. Gossip in the store kept news flowing and relevant.
Hearing a clatter on the stove, Jazzi saw that Dawn had placed the griddle on the burner. In the next moment, she was opening the loaf of multigrain bread. Jazzi scrolled faster. The column of locations and dates of the robberies caught her attention as much as the headline—”Belltower Landing’s Burglaries Multiply.”
She checked her notes on the legal pad. Then she scanned the list, and her heart lurched. This couldn’t be a coincidence, could it? Maybe her memory wasn’t as reliable as she’d considered it.
She must have let out a small gasp because Dawn asked, “What’d you find?”
“Something I didn’t want to find,” she muttered.
Should she call Detective Milford? What did she really have? A hunch and no proof.
Coincidences did happen. There were so many variables. So many people who could be involved. Yet the center fixture that everything revolved around about the robberies unsettling their town was . . . Theo. She had to be wrong.
* * *
At the marina the next morning to meet Delaney for breakfast, Jazzi saw many of the food trucks were closed. They probably had to regroup and restock supplies after the busy weekend. The waffle truck was open, though, as well as the burger truck that also sold breakfast sandwiches. She could order two coffees; she knew Delaney liked mocha lattes best. She did that at Casper’s truck, then chose a picnic table away from the trucks near a parking lot. The table was located under a tall silver maple in the shade. Even at 7:30 a.m., the day was heating up into the eighties.
Jazzi spotted a humongous silver SUV parked about fifty yards away on the grassy lane that led away from the parking lot to a back road that aimed toward the shore docks on the east side of the marina.
She was pulling her pink hat with the wide visor from her crossover bag when the hair on the back of her neck prickled and her hand stilled.
A crawling sensation alerted her to—
The feeling didn’t coalesce into a thought because someone tall and strong and bulky clasped a hand over her mouth. Her hat slipped from her fingers and fell to the ground. Before she could manipulate her feet under her body, her assailant yanked her from the bench with the backs of her legs scraping against it. She couldn’t see who was dragging her. Small stones from the pebbled area infiltrated her sandals.
As her assailant pulled her, Jazzi dug the heels of her sandals into the dirt and pebbles. She had a sense of rounding the food trucks, and she snagged her foot on a paddleboard rack. They were often set up here for tourists to rent for the day.
She managed to knock over a green paddleboard on the end of the rack, but didn’t deter the guy from yanking her farther away. Her senses had been frozen for a few startled and panicked minutes but now she caught a whiff of his cologne. She knew that scent. Musk and patchouli. That scent belonged to Theo.
Her suspicion of him had materialized into this . . . this . . . what? Kidnapping? She remembered the silver SUV parked off the beaten path.
Her mother had drilled safety rules into her when Jazzi had begun dating. “If you want to end a date because you don’t like the vibes you’re getting from a man, never . . . never . . . ever get into a vehicle with that man. NEVER.”
Her mom’s rule didn’t quite apply to this, but the sentiment would be the same. Somehow she had to prevent Theo from taking her anywhere.
Gearing herself up for something foreign to her nature, she bit into his hand. He yelped and changed tactics. Switching his position, he clamped his good hand over her mouth harder this time and wrapped his free arm around her waist. He was at least a foot taller than she was, but that didn’t mean she had to submit to whatever he had planned for her.
Not caring if she ended up on the ground, she kicked out over and over again. His hand was clamped so hard over her mouth and nose, she was having trouble finding air to breathe. He was out of breath too. The more she kicked, the more out of breath he became as he attempted to secure his hold on her. Struggling became her chosen method to attempt to free herself and get away. Or at least free enough to scream.
“Stop it,” Theo growled. “You’re just like Brie.”
For a moment, frozen from his revelation, she did stop struggling. Robbery was one crime, but murder was another!
He must have seen her eyes go wide or feel her mouth slacken because he huffed into her neck, “A text from Vic when Brie and I were having dinner alerted her to our robbery spree. Vic isn’t too smart. He asked about the next heist. Brie saw the text. I couldn’t explain it away. As soon as you glimpsed my calendar—you’re too smart. Now let’s get you into the car so I can take care of you too.”
No way. No how. Her stepfather had taught her self-defense moves, and she had taken a course in college so long ago. But she remembered one main tenet of the course. Go for the eyes, the throat, the groin, and the knees.
While Theo had been relaying his threat practically in her ear, she’d managed to slide her feet into a more grounded stance that gave her leverage. Because she was shorter than Theo, he was slightly stooped over.
All at once she made her body limp as if she’d fainted. The sudden slack surprised him, and his hand over her mouth loosened so he could catch her. She took full advantage of the release.
She yelled “Help!” and pushed at him. His clutch loosened, and she kicked at him, hoping something landed in the right place. He couldn’t fend off her wild attempts to jab at him and he released her. As soon as he let go of her, she screamed again and aimed her sandaled foot at his knee. She made contact.
When he yelped and dropped to his knees, she took off sprinting as if her life depended on it. It did.
Breathing hard, he snarled, “I’m going to hurt you. Vic and I had something good going until nosy—”
Her heart was pounding so fast she didn’t hear what he yelled. If she could just make it to the front of the food trucks. Glancing over her shoulder, she saw Theo was hobbling but coming after her faster than she ever would have expected.
Maybe she could reach Casper. Maybe. Maybe Delaney had seen her hat and their coffee and called for help. Maybe.
Better to make a stand and not count on someone else to save her.
Panic crushing her chest, fear in every stride, she remembered what she’d passed by before for tourists to rent. She also remembered how she loved everything about her life—family, friends . . . and the kittens.
The paddleboard stand was in sight. Would she have enough time to grab a board and use it for defense? She had to have enough time. She had to grab it and make it work for her, just like a heroine in one of Parker’s virtual reality fantasy games.
Nearing the boards, she started screaming like a banshee . . . or a woman who was almost about to be murdered. Certainly the chefs in the food trucks could hear her, couldn’t they? Lifting the thirty-pound board, her fingers slipped and she almost dropped it. Her hands were sweaty from fear.
Grabbing it with a better grip this time, she wheeled around just as Theo reached her. Hesitating only a second, she swung the board with all her might. It hit him squarely in the face. She didn’t stop to consider damages or consequences. She sprinted toward the trucks again, yelling for all she was worth.
To her astonishment, Oliver was jogging toward her, phone in hand. She careened into him and he held her by the shoulders. She finally took the time to turn around toward Theo. He sat on the ground holding his jaw, his nose pulsing blood.
Her breath was coming too fast to let her release many words. “Theo . . . killed Brie.”
A siren blared. Patrol officers ran toward Jazzi and Oliver.
Oliver pointed to Theo, who was climbing to his feet, scrambling in the other direction.
“He tried to kidnap Jazzi. He killed Brie Frazier.” With that explanation the officers drew their guns and ran after Theo.
Oliver told her, “I called 911 when I heard you scream. Delaney’s at the table. She found your hat and bag and flagged me down.”
Suddenly Jazzi’s legs wouldn’t hold her. She sank to the ground.
Oliver peered down at her. “Do you need the EMTs? Can you breathe okay? Should I carry you anywhere?”
Taking a few gulps of fresh air, she protested, “I don’t need to be carried anywhere. And I can breathe just fine.”
Oliver’s hand gently clasped her shoulder.
She heard Oliver say, “I’ve got to say one thing about you again, Jazzi Swanson. You’ve got grit.”
Delaney rushed to Jazzi, dropped down beside her and wrapped her arm around Jazzi’s shoulders. As she did, Oliver moved away. Jazzi felt bereft he hadn’t stayed close.
“You’re in good hands now,” he said. “I’ll follow the officers and make sure Theo doesn’t get too far.”
“His SUV is parked back there,” she somehow managed to say with a lump closing her throat because of the realization of everything that could have happened.
“Good to know.” Oliver gave her a wave as he jogged toward the officers.
Jazzi watched him as he ran toward danger, all the adrenaline in her body flooding from her head down to her feet . . . and dwindling out.
She let Delaney keep her arm wrapped around her as her friend explained, “Casper saw Theo stalk you right before I found your hat and bag. He called 9-1-1 too. Your face is bruising.” Delaney gingerly touched the area around Jazzi’s mouth.
“Theo had his hand clamped hard over my mouth. Thank goodness for you . . . and Casper . . . and Oliver.” She felt tears and a shivering reaction setting in.
“Miss Swanson.” The voice belonged to Detective Milford. He was peering down at her. “I just heard on my mobile that we got him. Theo Carstead is in custody.”