There seemed to be no choice at all, so Maggie, in the van, followed Liam to the Lodge, wondering the entire ten-mile journey why Liam’s sister had summoned her. Tammy had mentioned Helen a few times—they were friends—but Maggie could not imagine what Helen wanted.
At least it had bought her some time to avoid Liam’s questions. He’d busted her right and proper. So far she had discovered nothing about whom her sister might have entrusted with the jewelry Virgil Salvador sought so desperately or where her sister might possibly be staying. How much longer would it be before she heard from her?
Tammy, where are you? Tension knotted her already taut muscles even tighter. And something else zinged along her nerves: a strange buzz that had started up when she’d looked into Liam’s face as he’d described her eyes... A wash of gold there, like the sun setting into the ocean.
Tammy had always been the one to whom men paid attention...her outgoing, bubbly spirit, the long, fashionable hair and trendy outfits. It was just the way things were and it had never caused Maggie a moment of angst. She wasn’t the belle of the ball, more like the star of the stove, which suited her just fine. Liam’s scrutiny unsettled her. That was all. Who wouldn’t be rattled with the current situation?
There was no more time to mull it over as she pulled the van up at her destination. She marveled at the rich wood exterior and peaked roof of the rustic building. Enormous Christmas trees, glittering with ornaments, flanked either side of the substantial front doors. The porch itself housed cozy cushioned benches and pots of crimson poinsettias. Liam caught up to her, Jingles’s nails scrabbling on the flagstones in hot pursuit.
He stepped ahead and pulled open the heavy oak door for her. Though his smile was pleasant, concern pinched the corners of his mouth.
“Jingles, you stay out—” Liam didn’t finish his sentence before the dog trotted right into the pine-scented lobby.
Giggling, Maggie sailed in, too, leaving Liam grumbling along behind her. The lobby was as glorious as the exterior, all dark woods and comfy seating areas, illuminated by a massive chandelier formed from a collection of antlers. Cheerful clusters of people sipped cider and hot chocolate. The stone fireplace dwarfed the space, the mantel artistically decorated with greenery, crystal icicles and a white porcelain Nativity scene. Yet another Christmas tree, this one decorated with gold and silver balls, stood sentry near the front desk.
A woman with auburn hair twisted into a neat chignon, despite the pencil skewered through the elegant twist, hurried out to meet them. She blinked when she saw Maggie before she extended a manicured hand. “I’m Helen, Liam’s sister.”
Liam didn’t waste time on the niceties. “What’s wrong? Why did you need to see us both? How did you know she was Maggie, not Tammy?”
“Stand down, soldier,” she said. “Come with me.” She led them behind the front desk, nodding pleasantly to the couple checking in with the young employee. “Welcome to Roughwater Lodge,” she called out before they entered a quiet hallway and climbed a narrow flight of stairs.
On the way, Maggie caught the scent of something savory cooking in the kitchen. Her brain automatically sorted the scents into their elements: chicken, garlic, thyme, perhaps bay leaves and white onion.
“We’re completely booked,” Helen was saying. “My room was the only place.”
“Place for what?” Liam said, scooping up Jingles as he tried to scamper ahead of them. “This dog has zero manners.”
“Devoted, just like I said,” Helen quipped over her shoulder. She opened a door at the top of the stairs that led to a charming sitting room impeccably decorated in elegant creams with touches of green and exposed wood beams overhead. A real Christmas tree scented the room, ornamented with white lights and what looked to be tiny, handcrafted leather ornaments, each a different animal.
“Stay here for a second. I’ll be right back.”
“Helen...” Liam started, but she’d disappeared into what Maggie assumed was the bedroom.
Maggie moved to the tree and examined the branches, fingering a tiny mouse ornament with delicate ears and a cheeky grin. “These are amazing.”
He shrugged. “They’re okay. I got better as I went.”
She was awed by the craftsmanship but more by the whimsical nature of the figures. “You made these?”
“Don’t sound so surprised. I’m a saddler, gotta be good with leather.”
But the ornaments were more than well-crafted bits of leather, they were infused with a charm and sweetness she would not have expected.
“Used to have this mouse that took up residence in our pantry when we were kids. Helen was never scared of that thing. Had to talk her out of leaving it little cheese presents. She named it Lucy Lee.”
She laughed. “Family name?”
Liam did not return the smile. “Mom’s name.”
There was such a depth of emotion in the two words, a flash of pain hidden in the navy depths of his eyes. She wanted to ask but did not dare and he did not offer so she sat in a richly upholstered armchair.
Liam removed his hat and put the wriggling dog on the floor. Jingles scampered over to Maggie. “Your dog is pigeon-toed,” she said, scratching the animal behind the crooked ears until his doggie eyes rolled in pleasure.
“That’s not the only thing cockeyed about this dog, believe me,” Liam muttered. Hands on hips, he stared at the doorway, mouth working in thought. He was, she noticed again, an extremely handsome man.
And he probably knows it, she thought. Was that why Liam and Tammy had not become anything permanent? Annoyed by her own thoughts, she straightened as Helen entered.
“Okay. Come on back,” she said.
Once again, Liam deferred to Maggie, allowing her to pass him and enter the bedroom. It was another beautiful room, complete with a slender Christmas tree decorated all in silver, but Maggie had no eyes for any of it. All she could do was cry out and run to the pale woman lying in the bed, a bandage taped to her forehead.
“Tammy,” she whispered, gathering her sister in her arms and trying to hide the tears.
Liam could only gape. When he summoned the wherewithal to close his mouth, he stared from Helen to the sniffling sisters and back again. “What...?” He stared. “I mean...why...?” He rubbed a palm over his beard-roughened chin when the words failed him again.
Helen raised an amused eyebrow. “Need a minute to formulate your question?”
“I’m circling around to it,” he said, marshaling his thoughts.
Helen beat him to it. “You’re probably wondering what Tammy is doing here.”
“That is the question that rises to the top of the list,” he said as Maggie finally released her sister and they both wiped their eyes.
He found he was not distressed at the sight of his former girlfriend as much as completely befuddled.
Jingles, bored of the proceedings, leaped up onto the bed and nestled down next to Tammy. Liam was going to scold him severely when Maggie began to stroke the dog and Helen smiled adoringly at the mutt. He bit back his rebuke. Jingles had an uncanny ability to charm women. He wished he could do the same.
Tammy looked wan under the bandage on her temple, the fire missing in her words when she spoke. “Hi, Liam.”
“Good to see you, Tammy,” he said, politeness winning out temporarily over his aggravation.
She took a breath. “Helen took me in a few days ago. It was...” She cast a confused look at Helen.
“Wednesday night.” Helen filled them in. “Actually she arrived just as I was talking to you that night on the phone. I recognized her and saw she was in trouble. Since there were no rooms, I put her up with me.”
“And you didn’t feel the need to tell me?” Liam asked, skewering Helen with a look.
“She asked me to keep her presence a secret until she could talk to Maggie.” Helen held up a hand to wave off his remark. “I know, Liam, you’re cooking up a list of rebukes, but considering that things ended a little...awkwardly between you and Tammy, I figured it would be a kindness to both of you to keep it quiet until the situation was clearer.”
He had no answer for that, but he felt the heat crawl up his neck. That wasn’t all. He could see it in his sister’s eyes, the shadow of guilt, the agony she still felt over the murder of her best friend, a tragedy for which she blamed herself. “I let her die,” she’d told him one bitterly cold afternoon. “And now those babies have no mother.” She’d steadfastly refused any consolation from him. It probably explained why she was so determined to step out on a limb for Tammy.
“Not a good idea to keep her here.”
Helen’s chin went up. “I’m not going to let her get hurt.” He heard the unspoken, Like I did with Fiona.
He waited until Helen finally looked at him. “Honey, she’s in deeper trouble than you know. She’s got some guy after her.”
Maggie nodded to her sister. “It must be Virgil, the one you warned me about. He almost killed me yesterday. I think he mistook me for you.”
Tammy jerked. “Oh, Mags. Really?”
“I’m okay. Liam scared him off,” Maggie said.
“Yeah, and I still got the pulled muscles to prove it.” He stared at Tammy. “Who is this guy? And why didn’t you turn this over to the cops if you’re scared of him? Why put Maggie in danger?” His anger was stoked good and proper. All this lying, sneaking around...it wasn’t right. And Tammy, it seemed, was the cause of it all. What really bothered him the most was that Helen hadn’t looped him in. Helen had taken Tammy’s side over his and the betrayal stung.
Now the old spark kindled in Tammy’s expression. “His full name is Virgil Salvador and I would never have put my sister at risk, Liam, any more than you would knowingly put Helen in danger.”
He wanted to stoke his anger, to add more fuel to his already simmering temper, but her sincerity drained him. It was the truth; he heard the twined cords of anger and regret deep down. “I do know that,” he conceded, “but she’s in danger anyway.”
Tammy took Maggie’s hand, knotting their fingers together. “If anything happened to you...” She gulped, blanching.
Maggie offered a bright smile. “I’m perfectly fine, but why didn’t you come to the lighthouse? Or call me at least?”
“My memory’s messed up from the concussion. I was in a car accident. I think Virgil drove me off the road.”
“What?” Liam and Maggie said at the same time.
She waved them off. “I’m okay, but I couldn’t recall where I’d agreed to meet you and I’d lost my phone. I couldn’t remember your number anyway.
“Things are coming back to me in bits and pieces. I woke up on Tuesday night in the hospital, after the wreck. That’s when I messaged you, I think, to set up the meeting at the lighthouse. I snuck out and came here by taxi. I might have stopped on the way. I know I was at my trailer for a while. At least, I think that’s what happened. It’s all such a blur. My head was splitting, and I hurt my ankle, too. Somehow I wound up at the Lodge. Helen took me in. Gave me her bed, even.”
Helen shrugged. “The sofa is perfectly comfy. She was sort of muddled, talking about jewelry or something, clearly exhausted, but she begged me not to call the police. I agreed to wait a few days. One of the Lodge guests is a doctor and he checked her out. He prescribed bed rest until the headaches die down and the ankle is less swollen. His opinion is that her confusion will lessen as time goes by.”
Helen grinned. “And then I hear through the grapevine that Tammy Lofton is tootling around town. Neat trick, Maggie. I knew there had to be something odd going on if you were impersonating your sister. Nan at the Chuckwagon told me you and Liam were chatting in the parking lot. I felt it was time to get both sisters and my helpful brother in the same room and put our heads together. That’s why I called you, Liam.”
“Eventually,” he reminded her. He tried to wrangle all the details into a cohesive picture. “Why is this Virgil guy after you, Tam?”
Tammy sucked in a breath and blew it out. “That part I do remember. Virgil moved in with his uncle Bill, the man I was tending to. Virgil’s a bad man, greedy, and I suspected from the start he was out to steal from his uncle.
“Bill gets a little confused sometimes, and Virgil convinced him to buy a new car, which Virgil drives, a new cell phone...things like that. Bill owns a vintage diamond jewelry set that belonged to his wife, Elizabeth. She passed away a couple of months ago... Anyway, Virgil urged Bill to take out a hefty insurance policy on the jewelry. I heard him on the phone Tuesday—I don’t know who with—saying he’d put the jewels out on the dresser and make sure Bill was asleep. He was arranging to have the jewelry stolen so Bill could claim the insurance money and Virgil could help himself to the settlement.”
“Swell guy,” Liam muttered.
“It was all happening right then. I immediately went to Bill, but I couldn’t wake him. So I...I took the jewelry. I couldn’t let Virgil steal it from Bill, not his wife’s special things. It was an impulse. Stupid. I brought it to Driftwood and I left it with someone or hid it. At least, I think I did.”
Maggie groaned. “But why not go straight to the police?”
“I was going to, but when I woke up in the hospital, I heard Virgil talking in the hallway and I panicked and headed to Driftwood. I figured I’d talk to Danny Patron at the police department, but he was not in. I got the jewelry hidden somewhere and I intended to call Joe, my boyfriend.”
Liam resisted the urge to add, “The computer programmer.”
“But I lost my phone, as I told you.”
Maggie’s mouth pinched. “At the lighthouse, Virgil told me if I didn’t give him the jewelry, he would kill me.”
Tammy clutched the blanket. “I’m scared for both of us. I just really want to talk to Joe.” She waved a helpless hand. “Can you find him? He lives somewhere near Sand Dune and I know he’s probably worried that I haven’t called or texted him recently.”
Liam tried for a patient tone. “One thing at a time. Police protection is the way to go.”
“But Virgil will tell the police I stole the jewelry,” Tammy cried. “Which I did, but they won’t believe that I was trying to help. Virgil texted me right before the accident. He said he’d tell the cops that I’d been stealing from Bill all the while I was in his employ.” She flushed crimson. “He said he’d paid off a pawnbroker to say I’d brought in several of Bill’s possessions.” She swallowed hard. “I’d never do that, but it looks so bad.”
Liam didn’t like the desperation he heard in her voice. “I know Danny Patron. He’ll believe you and he’ll give you a fair hearing.”
Tammy started to cry. Liam shifted uncertainly. The situation was getting thicker than Aunt Ginny’s pea soup. Jingles burrowed deeper into the blankets. Liam tried again. “You have to tell the police where the jewelry is, and Virgil will be off your back.”
The room seemed to go ultra silent. The women all looked in the direction of the mantel where there was an antique clock Liam had given Helen for her twenty-first birthday. It must be chiming the hour. He could not hear it. He squashed the fear and turned back to Tammy. “Where’d you hide the jewelry? Or who did you leave it with?”
“That’s the problem,” Tammy said. “I can’t remember.”