The telephone rang. Kat jumped, knocking the stack of photos off the breakfast bar and spilling the last of her coffee.
Hurriedly, she mopped up the spilled coffee, shoving the photos out of the way so they didn’t get wet, then reached for the phone before it could ring again.
“Hello?” She thought she heard breathing. “Hello?”
No answer. Was it one of Emily’s friends, surprised to find Kat home?
She heard a soft click and shivered. Now she was letting even wrong numbers scare her, she thought, angry with her heart for pounding so hard.
She tried to walk off her bad mood by taking the long way down Main Street to Waterfront Avenue. But she couldn’t forget the daisy bouquet. Or the eerie resemblance between her mother and her at this age.
Why did she feel as if she had something to fear? It wasn’t as if anyone had threatened her.
As she turned onto Waterfront, she heard the throb of a motorcycle. She swung around expecting to see Jonah coming toward her. It wasn’t him but still her heart raced reminding her of exactly what she had to fear.
She rushed across the street, deciding right then and there to find out more about Jonah Ries—for her own peace of mind.
With the throb of the motorcycle’s motor growing behind her, she hurriedly slipped into the Bait & Tackle. The bell over the door tinkled and Ernie looked up from behind the counter at the back, seemingly surprised to see her.
“Hello,” she called as she worked her way through the racks of fishing supplies to him.
Ernie was a stocky man of about sixty-five or so, with short gray hair on an obviously balding head. He wore a red cap that read Bait & Tackle in navy. The cap made his ears stick out. She’d seen Ernie around since she was a girl, but he’d hardly ever spoken to her, just hello or a nod on the street.
Now she wondered if he wasn’t shy as she held out her hand. He seemed surprised, almost confused, as if he’d forgotten who she was. Or why she was here. “I’m Kat Ridgemont, the investigator your insurance company hired to file a report on the vandalism.”
He shook his head as if shaking out cobwebs. “Kat, of course. You looked so much like your mother, for a moment…” He shook his head again and offered his hand. “Of course I know you.” His grip was stronger than she’d expected, his arms muscular from hauling in fish, his face tanned and weathered from the sea, reminding her of her father.
“I was wondering how long it would be before my shop was hit,” he said with disgust. “Come around here and I’ll show you.”
He held the back door open for her, reminding her that he was from a generation of men who still believed in chivalry.
She tailed him to the side of his building to the place where she’d seen the vandals applying spray paint last night.
“I guess I’m lucky this is all they did,” Ernie said.
“You’re covered by insurance, but you realize repainting the wall won’t exceed your deductible,” she said, wondering why he’d called the insurance company for such a small claim.
“I suppose there isn’t that much damage,” he said thoughtfully.
She nodded, studying the seemingly hurried swaths of paint on the old brick wall. “Not exactly artistic,” she commented. The vandals had taken more time on Bud Lawson’s walls, but then they hadn’t been interrupted as they were last night. “Any idea who might have done this?”
“Kids.” Unlike Bud Lawson, Ernie didn’t seem that upset.
“Have any kids been hanging around, acting suspicious?” she asked.
“Not that I’ve noticed. I’ve been getting ready for the season, so I haven’t been paying much attention.” Tourist season. “The usual kids hang out at the arcade down the street.”
Yes, the arcade.
“I can file a report with the insurance company if you want me to,” she said, pulling out her notebook and pen.
“No, you’re right. No reason to. Just drive up my rates. I should have thought of that before I called them and had them send you over. I’m sorry to have wasted your time.”
She put her notebook and pen back into her purse. “No problem.”
Ernie walked her back to the sidewalk in front of Bait & Tackle. He seemed to search for something to say, then settled on “Thanks.”
“I’ve been meaning to ask you. Tommy Cavendish said he’s working for you this summer.”
Ernie nodded. “Running errands. Saves me having to take things down to the docks that my crews forget. Why? You don’t think he was one of the vandals.”
“No,” she said, shaking her head. “I was just thinking about hiring him to do some things for me. He’s a good worker?”
“He’s okay, he’s a kid,” Ernie said, and shrugged, squinting at her and into the bright sun.
“I heard he’s also running errands for Brody Ries.”
“I wouldn’t know.” The phone rang inside the Bait & Tackle and Ernie excused himself to go answer it. He turned once to look back at her.
She waved and then, against her better judgment, glanced across the street to the Wharf Rat where Jonah’s motorcycle was parked out front. He was nowhere in sight, thankfully.
But Kat hadn’t gone two steps when Jonah fell in beside her, startling her.
“Hello,” he said, his voice deep, setting a tremor off inside her. “I wanted to apologize for last night.”
“What for?” she asked, pretending the kiss hadn’t meant a thing to her.
“For not offering to walk you home,” he said.
She stumbled and looked over at him in disbelief.
“Oh, did you think I was going to apologize for kissing you?” He smiled, sharklike. “I’m not sorry about that at all. In fact, if you give me the chance…” He laughed. “Got to get to work. Nice seeing you.”
She stopped to watch him jog back to the Wharf Rat. The man was impossible. She mentally kicked herself for still being attracted to him. Like mother like daughter.
BACK AT HER OFFICE, Kat was surprised to find a message on her answering machine from Dr. Leland Manning, a local scientist who lived in town and, according to local folklore, did strange experiments in his laboratory.
“Ms. Ridgemont, if you could call me regarding an urgent personal and very private matter, I would greatly appreciate it,” Manning had said in a clipped, officious tone.
She dialed the number the doctor had left, curious beyond words. She’d never even seen Manning, let alone talked to him, and now here he was asking her to call.
An older-sounding woman with a European accent answered the phone. “The doctor is unavailable. May I take a message?”
“Just tell him Kat Ridgemont of Ridgemont Detective Agency returned his call. I will be out of my office—”
“Ms. Ridgemont,” Dr. Manning broke in, his voice just as clipped and cool as it had been on the answering machine. “How good of you to call so promptly. I would like to discuss acquiring your services.”
She blinked, caught between curiosity and uncertainty. Why would Dr. Manning possibly want to hire her? “I’m free this afternoon—”
“I’m afraid I’m tied up until later on in the evening,” the doctor interrupted, “but it is of utmost importance that I speak with you in person tonight. It will have to be late because of a previous engagement. Say, nine-thirty? At my home?”
She’d had a mental image of the Manning estate since she was a kid. Tall, dark spires that rose above the gnarled trees, hidden behind an electric fence, like some brooding entity. In her mind, it made The Bluffs, a castle at the edge of the sea where the town’s local hermit, David Bryson, lived, look like Candyland.
And go out there after dark?
But she wasn’t one to turn tail and run from anything any more than she was apt to turn down a job without a good reason. “Nine-thirty is fine,” she said, assuring herself there was a very good explanation why no one had ever seen Dr. Manning in the daylight. Why few people had ever seen him at all. “But can you tell me what this is about?”
“I’d rather not discuss it on the phone. Until nine-thirty then.” He rang off.
Just before she hung up, she heard a click on the phone as another line disconnected. She wondered if the older woman she’d talked to first had been on the entire time. Or if it had been someone else at the estate? Hadn’t she heard that Dr. Manning had married? A much younger woman. The word around town was that she never left the estate.
Kat replaced the receiver, torn between curiosity and apprehension. She didn’t like the idea of going out there at night, though.
The other message on her answering machine had been from her friend Elizabeth—and was about the wedding. At least that’s what Elizabeth said it was about. Elizabeth had never been a good liar. Kat hoped everything was all right.
AS JONAH UNLOCKED HIS door, he knew someone had been in his apartment before he even saw the tiny piece of dental floss already on the floor. Brody?
Cautiously, he opened the door. The nice thing about a studio apartment was the lack of adequate places for a man of any size to hide. He stepped into the room, moving quickly and quietly to the bathroom. No one behind the cheap plastic curtain in the shower stall. Nor anyone hiding behind the bathroom door.
He glanced around the apartment. Nothing looked out of place or gone. But maybe the intruder hadn’t come to steal anything. Maybe he’d come to leave something behind—like a bug.
Stepping to the couch, Jonah reached under to the thin shelf holding his laptop. The computer was still there and it didn’t appear it had been touched. He could see Brody looking under a couch cushion, maybe even bending down enough to peek under the couch, but his cousin would never get down on his hands and knees—and that’s what it would have taken.
Jonah booted up the laptop. He ran a check on Cassandra Quintana. No big surprise. Either Cassandra Quintana wasn’t her real name or she had never bothered with a social security card or any other identification.
“About time,” flashed on in the message box.
“What’s up?” he answered.
“We got another anonymous tip.”
Jonah groaned. “What now?”
“Our anonymous source thinks shipment coming in tomorrow night on Audrey Lynn.”
Jonah jumped at the sudden loud knock on his apartment door, followed almost immediately by Brody’s strident voice.
“Open up.”
The computer screen flashed. “BTW.” Online lingo for “by the way.” “That name you asked about—Ridgemont. We just picked it up on Dr. Manning’s phone surveillance. Not Leslie. Kat? Meeting him tonight, nine-thirty, his place.”
“OKAY, WHAT’S REALLY bothering you?” Kat asked after she and Elizabeth were seated in her friend’s living room. “I know you too well. You didn’t just invite me here to talk about the wedding.”
Elizabeth wasn’t just a brain. She was refined and beautiful with long brown hair that, until recently, she’d worn in a bun. It seemed she’d let her hair down since her love affair with the local cop.
Elizabeth gave her a sheepish look. Deceit was something her friend failed at miserably. “I just thought you ought to know. There is a man in town asking questions about you and your mother.”
Kat stared at her, remembering the man in the army jacket. “What man?”
“Cullen said his name is Jonah Ries.”
Jonah? “What kind of questions is he asking about my mother?” She could understand Jonah asking about her. Kinda. But her mother?
Elizabeth looked uncomfortable. “Then you know him?” She sounded surprised—and worried. “Cullen says he’s a former FBI agent and that there are federal charges pending against him. He sounds dangerous.”
More than Elizabeth could know. “Liz, I appreciate you worrying about me—”
“Okay, butt out, right?”
“No, I just…What about my mother?”
Elizabeth seemed to hesitate. “He’s been inquiring about her murder.”
Kat couldn’t hide her surprise. What possible interest could Jonah have in her mother’s murder? She looked at her watch, wondering if she had time to stop by the Wharf Rat before she met with Dr. Manning.
“Look, I’m sorry, this has obviously upset you,” Elizabeth said.
“No, I’m glad you told me. I just can’t talk about this right now. I have an appointment.”
“This late at night?” Elizabeth frowned. “Not with—”
“No, not with Mr. Ries. But don’t worry. I can handle this.” She hoped.
“I know you can.” Elizabeth sounded relieved. “I should have known you wouldn’t get involved with anyone like that. I mean, not—”
“Again?” Elizabeth had found out about the abusive relationship Kat had had. Kat almost confessed to her right then and there just how scared she was about her…attraction to Jonah. Was there a twelve-step program for women like her? But she didn’t want to worry her friend, not with the wedding less than two weeks away.
Kat told herself she was too smart to let another man hurt her. The problem was, she was having trouble believing that Jonah Ries was dangerous. Why was that?
Because of his kiss? Or because of the way he’d been with Tommy? She knew she could never get him off her mind until she got to the heart of the matter, so to speak. Until she found out what he was doing in Moriah’s Landing and why he seemed to have taken such an interest in her—and her mother’s murder.
“You must have a million things to worry about other than me,” Kat said to her friend. “Getting cold feet?”
Elizabeth laughed and shook her head. “I’m busy, but I think I’m on top of it.”
That was so like Elizabeth. “You look happy. Radiant, as corny as that sounds.” She gave her friend a hug. “Thanks for the concern.”
“If you need me—”
“I know,” Kat said, but right now she just needed answers and there was only one person who had those—Jonah Ries. Unfortunately, she had just enough time to get to Dr. Manning’s. Jonah would have to wait.