Maggie was on the phone with Tammy when Liam entered the coffee shop. She stepped onto the porch to finish the call, dreading getting back into the truck with Liam.
She’d understood his earlier rebuff. He’d needed her the night before, but when morning came and his hearing had returned, he hadn’t wanted her close, not in that way. How had she ever let herself imagine for one red second that there might be something possible between them? Maybe it was her sister’s silly talk.
But Tammy had never managed to secure a relationship that didn’t end in angst or downright disaster. So why on earth had she listened to her twin about Liam? She loved her sister with every atom of her being, but Tammy was not exactly qualified to dispense advice in the romance department, even if she had found a doting computer programmer.
Maggie finished assuring Tammy that they’d seen no further sign of the white car that had rammed them and ended the call as Liam exited the shop. She followed him to the parking lot, determined at least to let herself into the truck before he did, but he stopped so suddenly she plowed into him. He didn’t budge, but she stumbled back and he shot out an arm to keep her behind.
“Stay here.”
She stayed put but watched closely as he did a quick walk around the truck and the nearby cars. He smacked his hat on his thigh and she saw what disturbed him. Two flat tires, the puncture marks showing clearly.
“He must have parked down the road and snuck in on foot, stayed low under cover of the other cars when I went in to get you.” He looked at her. “Who knew we were headed to see Yoriko?”
She tried to recall. “Tammy and Joe. Whoever was around in the Lodge when we discussed it.” Her stomach clenched and she bit her lip.
“What?”
“Virgil. At the parade. He was close by when I talked to Yoriko. He could have heard.” She groaned. “I’m just real bad at the subterfuge thing.”
He smiled at her. “I’d worry if you were real good at keeping secrets.”
Not as good as you.
He pulled out his phone.
“Who are you calling?”
“Chad. We need some backup.”
After the call Liam went to work on one flattened tire. By the time Chad arrived with a second spare tire, he had already finished changing the first.
Chad rolled out the tire. He opened his mouth to say something when Jingles exploded from the back seat, bounding over to Liam and yipping with excitement.
“What did you bring him for?” Liam demanded.
Chad looked sheepish. “He whined all day in the yard. After I took your call, he jumped the fence and climbed into my vehicle and wouldn’t get out for anything. Dunno how he knew I was coming to meet you.”
Liam’s utter befuddlement made Maggie burst into an uncontrollable spurt of laughter. She was still wiping her eyes when Liam and Chad muscled on the second tire, Jingles sitting contentedly by her side, watching their every move.
Liam did not even try to redirect Jingles to Chad’s vehicle when they loaded up again. “The dog is like a bad cold. You just can’t shake him,” Liam sighed. “It’s ludicrous.”
Maggie scratched Jingles behind the ears. “I guess since you’ve given him a candy cane, he’s yours for life, Cowboy Santa.”
Liam grimaced and rolled his eyes. They started out of the parking lot, Chad keeping pace behind them.
“Is he coming with us?” she asked.
“He’s going to hang back, keep an eye on things.”
Maggie considered that if Virgil had slashed the tires, he might be trying to slow them down to get ahead of them to Yoriko’s shop. The clock was ticking for Virgil. If Tammy had left the jewelry with Yoriko, Virgil would do anything to stop them from retrieving it.
The lighthouse.
The parade.
The torched Corvette.
You don’t want to be standing between a man and his goals. Accidents happen.
Virgil had already been able to get close, very close, and knowing he was out there now, waiting and watching, made her skin crawl.
“Maggie?”
She started, unaware that he’d been paying attention to her mood. “He’s not gonna get what he wants. We’re gonna win.”
She wondered what that would look like. Winning meant Virgil wouldn’t get his money but Tammy might very well go to jail. Or would it be better for Tammy if they didn’t find it? But Bill would be victimized by a traitorous nephew and Virgil might continue to stalk them anyway.
The truth shall set you free, she thought.
She prayed that finding out the truth about the jewelry would somehow release them from Virgil’s trap. Then Maggie would be ready to leave Driftwood, and Liam, far behind.
She watched him from the corner of her eye, broad-shouldered, determined, so strong and so vulnerable at the same time. What they could have had... What she imagined, for the sweetest of moments, they might have meant to each other...
Ignoring a pain in her chest, Maggie set her shoulders and stared straight ahead as Liam exited the freeway and the crashing Pacific came into view.
They pulled up at the address on Yoriko’s business card, which turned out to be a minuscule shop sandwiched in between a rustic cluster of stores that faced a surf shop, a bicycle rental place and a cliff side with beach access.
The interior of her shop was cluttered with shelves full of colored glass items: ornaments, bowls, platters and a skinny Christmas tree sparkling with blown glass icicles. There was hardly enough room for three of them, so Chad waited on the doorstep with his hands in his pockets.
“He told me his dad taught him to pocket his hands whenever they went into a store,” Liam whispered to Maggie.
She smiled. “Sounds like a smart dad. I’d like to meet him someday.”
Liam’s grin flickered. “Chad’s got a difficult story. Not my place to tell it. He’s doing great things. Trying to start a therapy program for veterans and horses on the ranch. Good man.”
She caught Chad’s silent profile as he scanned the parking lot. He had his own troubled path, it seemed, and it didn’t surprise her. Still waters could run very deep indeed.
Maggie rang the tiny bell on the counter. There wasn’t much of a back room, just a tacked-up curtain separating the office area from the front. Liam had circled around the counter, reaching to grasp the curtain, when a young woman walked through, startled.
Liam apologized. “We’re looking for Yoriko.”
She flipped her blond ponytail behind her shoulder and Maggie thought something wary crept into her eyes. “You, too?”
“Too?” Maggie’s eyes rounded. “Someone else was here looking for her?”
“A guy called. Said he wanted to talk to her, but like I told him, she isn’t here. She asked me to look over the shop for a little while. I work at the bike rental place. Do you want to buy something? I can ring you up.”
“We need to speak to Yoriko,” Maggie said. “She’s a friend of my sister’s. She asked us to come.”
Again the woman’s eyes looked over Liam and Maggie and then her gaze drifted to Chad, lingering on him for a moment, then moving back to Maggie. “You look familiar.”
“I haven’t been here before but you might have seen my sister, Tammy. We’re twins. Like I said, she and Yoriko are friends.”
That got a smile of recognition. “Oh yeah. Your sister used to help Yoriko out and once in a while she’d rent a bike. That’s why I know your face, or hers anyway.”
Maggie returned the smile. “We really need to talk to Yoriko. Will she be back soon?”
“I hope so, but there’s, uh, been some trouble.”
Tension zinged through Maggie’s nerves. “What kind of trouble?”
“I guess it’s okay to tell you. Yoriko had a bunch of her merch—you know, her Christmas stock—loaded up in a van to deliver to the Lodge for the festival on Wednesday. It was parked out back and someone broke into it early this morning.”
Liam blew out a breath. “Damage?”
“Some. Mostly the boxes were thrown around.”
Thrown around, as if someone was searching. Maggie knew Liam was thinking the same thing.
The woman glanced at Chad as he knelt to scratch the ears of an old tabby cat that had crept close. “I helped her clean up the mess and she pulled some inventory from the back to replace the broken stuff. That’s where she is now. She left me a note on the door that she’d driven to her house to pick up some other items but she’d be back as soon as she could. She lives on the bluff at Sea Cliff. The only house there. Sorry, but I don’t have her cell number.”
“Did you tell the man on the phone where Yoriko lives?” Liam said.
“Nah. I’m only telling you because I know Yoriko really loves Tammy. I’m not sure exactly when she left, so I don’t know when she’ll return. You can wait if you want.”
Her gaze drifted appreciatively to Chad on the porch. He noticed her attention and gave her a polite nod. “He can come in, too.”
Maggie squelched a smile. The allure of a handsome dark-eyed cowboy was working. She’d not noticed that Chad had a girlfriend in the time she’d been on the ranch, but it seemed this young lady was eager to remedy that problem.
An older couple crowded into the shop and Liam and Maggie squeezed out to give them room.
“Gonna have to split up,” Liam said after he filled Chad in, “so we don’t miss her.”
Chad nodded. “Okay. I’ll stay here if you two want to go to her house.”
“All right,” Liam agreed. “But Virgil didn’t find what he was looking for the first time. He rammed us and flattened my tires to slow us down so he could track Yoriko. If he didn’t find out her address, could be he comes back here to look again, only he’s running out of time. Watch yourself.”
Chad nodded.
“Oh,” Liam said with a sly grin. “Seems like the lady inside is an admirer of your movie star good looks.”
Chad’s cheeks went ruddy and he looked at his boots. “Oh, knock it off.”
“Just thought you should know which way the wind is blowing, brother,” Liam quipped as they made their way to his truck.
Chad mumbled some sort of a reply, which did not sound complimentary, but Maggie noticed him dart a quick look from under his hat toward the young lady in the shop.
Liam’s playful mood dissipated as they pulled back onto the road. “Wish we had gotten a cell number for Yoriko. Could have warned her about Virgil.”
“You think he’ll head for her house? How would he know where to find it?”
“Same way we know. People here are friendly. They talk.”
She lives on the bluff at Sea Cliff. The only house there.
He pressed the accelerator until the truck was taking the turns at the maximum speed limit. To the west stretched green grassy fields dotted with cattle. To the right, black cliffs seemed to reach out to the darkening sky as the day headed toward sunset. And ahead? She prayed they would not find any more evidence of Virgil’s ruthless desire to reclaim what Tammy had taken.