LEAH PUSHED OPEN the door of Marian’s Bonniest Bakery and joined the line at the counter. Standing on tiptoe, she tried to see above the heads in front of her into the glass cabinet alongside the cash register. Marian was known throughout the Cove not just for her delectable pastries, but also her wisdom and uncanny knack of knowing far too much about people just by looking at them.
But the risk of Marian looking into her eyes and knowing she had been mere days away from falling headlong in love with a successful author would be worth it for a sticky cinnamon croissant and spicy pumpkin latte, Leah figured. Although her appetite had disappeared along with Ethan, her stomach now growled in indignation.
And being hungry was never the right way for an ER nurse to start a nine-hour shift, with no idea when she’d next get to eat.
The four tall, ridiculously broad-shouldered guys ahead of her, talking and laughing with Marian, were almost identically dressed in smartly cut suits. Leah recognized one of them as Charlie Hickman, the guy who had asked her out in Amanda’s shop a few days ago.
She glanced at her watch, her patience wearing thin. At this rate, she’d be forced to settle for a plain doughnut and lukewarm coffee from the machine at the hospital.
“Come on now, boys.” Marian’s voice boomed around the bakery. “Go get yourselves a seat and let me see to my other customers. Ella will bring your orders over in just a minute.”
Grateful for Marian’s intervention, Leah edged forward in line, nearly bursting with relief when the guy in front of her ordered nothing but an espresso.
She beamed at Marian. “You’re a lifesaver. If you hadn’t moved that group of guys on, I would have had to bring out my karate.”
Marian raised her eyebrows. “You don’t know karate.”
“I could...if I wanted to.” Leah winked and nodded toward the glass cabinet. “One, no, two of your cinnamon croissants to go, please. Oh, and a pumpkin latte.”
“Two croissants? Someone’s hungry this morning.”
“Yep.” She sighed. “A shock to the system can do that to a girl.”
Marian whipped open a paper bag and thrust her ever-ready tongs beneath the counter. “And what was the shock?”
Leah shook her head, feeling more stupid and blind than ever. “You don’t want to know.”
“I always want to know.” Marian dropped the croissants inside the bag and twisted the ends with a flourish. “That author boyfriend of yours hasn’t upset you, has he?”
Damn it. “No, of course not. Ethan and I are just friends.”
Marian’s laughter once more boomed across the bakery. “Of course you are.”
“We are.” Leah’s cheeks warmed and she glanced around. Thankfully, everyone was preoccupied with breakfast. She paused as she locked eyes with Charlie Hickman. He gave her a wink and she quickly snapped her gaze to Marian. “How’s that latte coming?”
Marian looked toward the group of men in suits. “Someone else has got his eye on you if Ethan James is too wrapped up in the imaginary to see what’s right in front of him.”
Leah glanced again at Charlie and narrowed her eyes before facing Marian. “No, thanks.”
“What? He’s cute.”
“Yeah, and judging by that wink he just gave me, he thinks a little too much of himself.”
“Nothing wrong with a bit of confidence in a man.”
“There’s confidence and there’s confidence.”
“They’re just here having a good time while getting some work done. You know as well as I do that sometimes visitors to the Cove end up hooking up with a resident or two while they’re here. Nothing wrong with a bit of fun as long as you’re playing safe.”
“They seem like they spend more time looking in the mirrors at the gym than at a woman. Most definitely not my type.”
Marian glanced over Leah’s shoulder. “He’s still checking you out.”
She feigned a glare. “Not interested. Latte?”
“He’s a financial adviser. Hardly a gym rat.”
“How do you know that? Do you grill people the minute they walk in here?”
Marian wiggled her eyebrows. “I have ways and means. Plus, I like to keep any newcomers in line. Once you know a little about them, it’s easier to identify them to the police, if need be.”
“The police?” She glanced toward the group again. “Why would a group of financial advisers cause that sort of trouble?”
“I doubt they will, but it never hurts to keep an eye on a pack of men who have an eye for beer and women.”
“They told you that?”
Marian laughed. “Of course not, but they’re men, aren’t they?”
Having had her fair share of dealing with men in the ER when one or more at a party ended the night with a bruised or lacerated face, Leah looked toward Charlie again. He stared straight back at her, his intense study making her a little suspicious.
She faced Marian. “He’s creeping me out.”
“Why?” She glanced over Leah’s shoulder and back again, then frowned. “Hmm, maybe you’re right. He does seem a little too sure of himself.”
“Well, let’s hope I don’t end up treating him in the ER, should he look at a different, less tolerant, woman that way.”
Marian laughed and held out her coffee. “Here. That’s six fifty.”
Leah gave her the money. “Thanks. I’ll see you soon, okay? Got to rush or I’m going to be late for work.”
“Sure. Look after yourself, and don’t get all moony over Ethan James unless you’re willing to share him with that baby of his and his books. I’ve never known the guy to have time for anything else.”
“Yeah, well, he has a lot more than that going on right now.”
Marian’s eyes lit with interest. “Really?”
Leah shook her head. “Oh, no. You’re not getting any more details from me. You’ll have to interrogate him yourself.”
“You can bet on it.”
She grabbed the bag of croissants, already sipping at her latte. “Give my love to that husband of yours.”
“Will do.”
Leah headed for the door and was nearly there when Charlie slid out of his booth and stepped in front of her. “Hi.”
She halted midsip, swallowed and promptly scalded her mouth. She winced. “Hi.”
She’d moved to brush past him when he gently gripped her arm. “Do you remember me? Charlie Hickman.”
Leah eased her arm from his hand. “I do remember you, but I’m in a bit of a rush.” She stepped toward the door. “Nice to see you again.”
“You can run, but you can’t hide.”
She stilled. “What?”
He grinned. “I’m joking. I’d really like us to have that drink sometime. Or is there someone else on the scene right now?”
Leah frowned. “Where did you say you were from?”
“I didn’t.”
“Only it’s unusual for a group of...” She peered around him toward his table. “...financial advisers to take a business trip to such as small a town as Templeton.”
He raised his eyebrows. “Are you insinuating I’m not all I seem to be?”
Leah stared into his eyes, torn between the need to be wary of anyone new to the Cove, and the fact that Charlie seemed a genuinely nice guy. She shrugged, forced a smile. “I’m just careful when guys come on to me out of the blue. I couldn’t say it’s something that happens to me every day, that’s all.”
“Well, it should.” He leaned closer. “You’re kind of cute.”
She stepped back, her face heating. “Anyway... I’ll see you around, okay?”
As she moved to walk away, he lightly gripped her arm again. “That drink. How about tonight? We could meet in the Coast. Seems a pretty cool place.”
“Sorry. Busy.”
She lifted the cup in a salute and headed through the door, shaking her head. Did the man not sense that any male attention would be far from welcome right now? As much as she shouldn’t be thinking about Ethan, she couldn’t stop doing so—and Charlie’s persistence only served to make her wonder what he was about.
What if Charlie and those three other guys were affiliated somehow with Anna’s boyfriend?
Maybe she should accept his offer of a drink and find out for sure, within the protection of a packed bar?
Sighing, Leah tried and failed to push Ethan from her heart and mind as she jogged along the street toward the hospital. She was thinking irrationally. Silently admonishing herself, she rushed into the hospital’s busy parking lot, dodging past an ambulance and its exiting gurney. The glass double doors swished open and she lifted her latte in a wave to the reception staff before ducking into the employees’ changing room.
“There you are.” Her friend and colleague Mike Bell smiled. “We were beginning to think you weren’t coming in today.”
She glanced at her watch. “I’m right on time.”
“Yes, but you can hardly say that’s usual for a workaholic like yourself.”
“I had a hectic start.” She put her pastry bag and coffee on a side table and walked to her locker. “What’s up?”
He shrugged into his white doctor’s coat. “It’s busy out there already. I didn’t want to be another nurse down. Sara and Jenny are out sick.”
“Really? Must be something going around.” She stuffed her jacket in her locker and dropped her stethoscope around her neck. “I’ll get out there as soon as I’ve downed half of that coffee and at least one of those croissants.”
“You have one going spare?” He wiggled his eyebrows.
She smiled. “Sure. Help yourself.”
“Thanks.”
She walked back to the table, drank some more coffee and devoured half the croissant in a way that would hardly be deemed polite in any kind of society.
Mike finished his and swiped the back of his hand across his mouth. He took a step toward the door and stopped. “I almost forgot.” He brushed past her to his locker, opened it and pulled out an envelope. “Some guy left this with me when I dropped by Reception earlier. He said he was a friend of yours.”
“Friend?”
He shrugged and passed her the envelope. “I didn’t recognize him, but I doubt I know all your friends.” He turned to the door and held it open. “Are you coming?”
“Sure. Mike? What did this guy look like?”
“Blond, pretty built, wore a leather jacket, jeans.” He frowned. “Why? You’re not getting hassle from anyone, are you?”
“Course not. Thanks.” She pocketed the envelope, stuffed the remainder of her croissant in her mouth and washed it down with another sip of coffee. “Let’s do this.”
She followed Mike from the staff room. Whoever had delivered the envelope wasn’t Charlie Hickman, who was tall and dark. Who could it be from? Although itching to open the note, she would have to wait. She glanced toward the busy waiting room. Her patients came first.
* * *
LEAH WALKED FROM the hospital, her back and shoulders aching, her eyes tired. The nine-hour shift had turned into ten, and now exhaustion lay like a lead blanket over her entire body. She needed to get home and into bed before she fell asleep against the nearest lamppost. DI Garrett had already left two messages for Leah to come in and speak with her, so falling asleep wasn’t an option until she’d stopped by the police station. A chilly wind swept along the promenade as she passed the beach and headed for the station. It was nearing six, with evening closing in, the darkening skies threatening rain before sunset. She pulled her jacket tighter around her body and suddenly remembered the envelope she had hurriedly stuffed in the pocket of her uniform at the start of her nursing shift.
The number of incoming patients had been nonstop and she hadn’t given the note a second thought until now.
Wandering to the promenade railing, she glanced toward the bakery across the street and debated whether to grab a coffee at Marian’s, where it would be warm, before seeing DI Garrett. No, Marian would only try to interrogate her about what was happening with Ethan.
Leah took out the envelope and ripped it open. As soon as she touched the glossy edges of several photographs, her curiosity turned to alarm. Not again, please.
The poor-quality photographs had most likely been taken from a distance with a phone, but Leah recognized Ethan’s posture immediately—even with his face scratched out. Her stomach rolled with fear. The pretty, dark-haired woman with her head on his shoulder Leah recognized as Anna, from her brief online search of Ethan’s ex.
A second picture showed them climbing the steps into the police station, and a third—Leah pressed her hand to her stomach—was Ethan hand in hand with Daisy at the train station. She could only guess the picture must have been shot when he was taking Daisy to his mother’s.
Her mind whirled. Should she call Ethan? Or take the pictures straight to DI Garrett? She looked around, wondering whether whoever had delivered the envelope might be watching her. People meandered back and forth, their interest turned elsewhere. Paranoia whispered its harsh warning through her, and Leah looked out across the ocean.
She gripped the railing and took a calming breath.
Ethan had been clear he didn’t want her involved from here on in, and the pictures weren’t of her but of him, Anna and Daisy. Did this mean that whoever was taking the photos no longer saw Leah as a potential target, but as a way to get a clear message to Ethan and Anna? Had Ethan told someone they were over? Maybe he’d told Anna, and she’d relayed it to the thugs threatening her, in a bid to free Leah from the situation.
It hardly seemed plausible that Ethan’s ex would care for his new lover’s safety. But what did she really know of Anna’s personality?
She was on the way to the station anyway. She would give the pictures straight to DI Garrett. Decision made, Leah stuffed them back into the envelope and shoved it into her jacket pocket.
A horrible sense of betrayal toward Ethan mixed with the fear for her own safety. And she knew for certain Ethan would hate that she chose to speak with the police before him. What else was she supposed to do when he so often ignored her reasoning? Look how long it had taken her to persuade him to speak with DI Garrett, despite the danger coming so close to Daisy.
She had to do this. She had to talk to Cat.
Picking up her pace, she hurried to the police station.
She wasn’t betraying Ethan’s trust for the sake of sparing him pain. She was acting out of common sense and her duty as a nurse. If this madman or madmen who were out to find Anna were determined to cast their gruesome net far enough to encompass Ethan and Daisy, Leah had no choice but to take every precaution she could to prevent that from happening.
Adrenaline pumping, she soon hurried through the station parking lot and up the steps into the station.
She approached the desk and the sergeant on duty looked up. “Well, hello, Miss Dixon. What can we do for you this evening?”
“Hi. I need to speak with DI Garrett. It’s urgent.”
He frowned and stood. “Are you all right?”
“Yes. It doesn’t concern me. Well, not directly. I need to speak to her about Ethan James and Anna Holt.”
His eyes showed his recognition of the names. “I see. Wait there. I’ll be straight back.”
Leah paced the small lobby, the flyers pinned to the gray walls and the harsh fluorescent lighting above her blurring and stinging her eyes. She wrapped her arms closely around herself, her gaze darting back and forth from the walls to the front doors as though Ethan might appear at any moment.
A side door opened and Leah turned.
Inspector Garrett stood on the threshold. “Leah, Miss Dixon, won’t you come through?”
Taking a strengthening breath, Leah uncrossed her arms and followed the inspector through the hubbub of the station and into her corner office.
DI Garrett shut the door and gestured for Leah to sit down, before she rounded her desk and took her own seat. “I’m glad to see you. I was becoming concerned you wouldn’t come in to make a statement.”
Tension held Leah stiff on the edge of the chair as she pulled the envelope from her pocket and held it out. “I was on my way here when I opened this. A man left it at the hospital for me early this morning.”
The inspector took the envelope, her gaze on Leah’s. “This morning?”
“Yes. I put it in my pocket and completely forgot about it until the end of my shift. It’s pictures. More pictures. This time of Ethan, his ex-wife and daughter.”
DI Garrett scanned the photos, her brow furrowed. Leah tapped her foot against the floor as she waited.
The inspector looked up. “I’d hazard a guess these were taken on a phone rather than a camera like the previous pictures. I’ll have them checked out, but you need to know that nothing useful was lifted from the other photographs, and I’m not sure we’ll get anything from these, either.” She laid the pictures on her desk and leaned forward. “Have you spoken to either Mr. James or Miss Holt since yesterday?”
Leah’s cheeks grew warm at the realization she had no choice but to confess that Ethan had spent the entire night at her home. She briefly closed her eyes before opening them again. “I’ve seen Mr. James, yes. He...spent the night at my place.”
Surprise flashed in the inspector’s gaze before disappearing. “I see. And you’ve spoken to him since? He knows about the new pictures?”
“No.” Leah’s cheeks burned hotter. “He thinks, with everything else going on in his life right now, that it would be better for us not to see each other for a while.”
“And how do you feel about that?”
“Fine.” She forced a shrug. “All this nastiness is centered around his ex-wife and also involves his daughter. I understand why he wouldn’t want any further complications and I respect his wishes.”
“I agree that distance is for the best, considering it’s clear these people aren’t going to give up until they have certainty of Miss Holt’s silence. How much do you know about what has been going on?”
“Pretty much everything, as far as I know.”
“Do you know Miss Holt chose to leave town this morning?”
Leah frowned. “But Ethan said you found her somewhere safe to stay while she figures out what she wants to do next.”
“I did, but she chose to return to Bristol. I have no authority to keep her here. However, now that we have more pictures, I’ll need to speak with both her and Mr. James again. I’m no longer comfortable with the Bristol constabulary being kept out of this.” She picked up the photographs again, looked at each one in turn before lifting her gaze. “These were delivered to the hospital?”
“Yes.”
“Then we can’t rule out that you could be of interest to this person or persons. Is there somewhere you can stay so you aren’t alone? I’d be happier if you were in company for the time being.”
“Leave my home because of an invisible threat? You know that’s not me. I understand what you’re saying, but—”
“Leah...” The inspector’s green eyes darkened with warning. “This is serious. The people threatening Miss Holt could be exceedingly dangerous. If they’re in the Cove—”
“We don’t know that they are. Someone other than these thugs could’ve delivered that envelope. Anyone desperate enough for money would deliver a few envelopes. They might not even know what’s in them.”
“True, and my first instruction to my team will be to go to the hospital and check the closed-circuit TV to see if we can get a look at whoever delivered them. But I’ll still be happier knowing you aren’t alone. Mr. James’s daughter is at his mother’s, but after receiving this picture of her leaving, I’ll contact Mr. James to ensure everything is okay with his mother and daughter. That’s not going to be a nice call to make, and I’d rather not have you to add to my list of emergencies right now.”
Leah squirmed slightly under the inspector’s glare and the authoritative tone of her voice. She sighed. “I guess I could stay with Tanya for a few nights.”
“Tanya Todd? Good. Why don’t you call her while I give these pictures to a couple of uniformed officers? I don’t want to waste any more time.”
“When will you call Ethan?”
The inspector rose and came around the desk. “The minute I get back. By then, I’ll expect you to have confirmation that you’ll be safely sleeping in Tanya’s spare room tonight.”
DI Garrett left the office and Leah chewed her bottom lip as she stared after her. The people after Anna had cast their net wider, and now Leah had no choice but to drag her best friend’s sister and her fiancé into the equation, too.
She pulled her phone from her bag and dialed Tanya’s number.
“Hi, Leah. What’s up?”
Leah slumped back in her chair. “I need a favor.”
“Sure.”
“Can I sleep in your spare room for a couple of nights?”
“Are you okay?”
“I need a place to stay where DI Garrett can be persuaded that I’m safe.”
“DI Garrett? What’s going on?”
“I’ll explain when I get to your place. Will Liam mind?”
“Of course not. Pack a bag and get yourself over here. I’m meeting Carrie for a drink at the Coast in an hour or so. You can come with us.”
Leah closed her eyes. “A drink sounds great.”
“Good. See you soon.”
Ending the call, Leah opened her eyes and dropped her phone into her bag. How had her already manic life gotten so much crazier so quickly? Her mind filled with Daisy’s pretty face, and tears burned behind her eyelids. The little girl had brought her into the company of one of the nicest and most attractive men she’d ever met, and now they were all separated and no doubt afraid.