Chapter 21

 

When I looked over my shoulder to see what he was looking at I spotted Abby. What was she doing here? I instantly became nervous around her. I couldn’t remember for sure, but it even looked as if she was wearing clothing like I’d seen on the woman at the pier.

“Did you invite her?” I asked with a frown.

“It must be a coincidence.”

Was it a coincidence that Abby was looking around the room as if she was searching for someone? At that moment she spotted me. A frown came over her face. Was she not expecting to see me here? Maybe she’d thought she would only see Jake. Her gaze traveled to the left and she spotted Jake.

Too bad he’d been looking at me when she frowned. I wanted him to see her reaction. He looked at Abby and she immediately smiled. Ugh. Now I wouldn’t even be able to finish my meal. Her behavior made me nauseous. Abby headed our way. There was no way I was inviting her to sit at the table with us. I would tell her no without hesitation. Okay, I would be slightly nice about it. I tried hard never to be rude unless completely unavoidable.

“I didn’t know she would be here,” Jake whispered.

I forced a smile.

Abby approached our table. “Jake, I didn’t know you would be here,” she said in a super-sweet tone.

Yeah, right. Did she expect me to believe that?

She cast a glance my way. “Good evening, Maggie. Don’t you look lovely this evening.”

Now I knew something was wrong. She was acting like nothing was wrong and she never did that. She’d never exactly been friendly to me. I hoped Jake picked up on that too. A flash of falling into the water popped into my head.

“What brings you this way?” Jake asked with a smile.

“I’m meeting someone here,” she said.

I looked around the restaurant. I didn’t see anyone who looked as if they were waiting for her. She must have noticed that I was looking.

“He’s not here yet,” she said.

I smiled. “A date?”

Did I sound too happy about that? I hoped she was really telling the truth.

“Yes, he’s a friend,” she said.

“I think that’s great. You should get out more,” I said.

She stared at me. I knew she wanted to make a snarky comment, but she refrained in front of Jake.

“Yes, I should,” she said with another big smile.

She was being so sweet to me. Usually I would start questioning whether I had read all her other behavior incorrectly, but not this time. The frown on her face when she’d first seen me here had told me all I needed to know. I wouldn’t let her trick me like that. I wanted to ask her about being at the park, but I didn’t want to do it in front of Jake. If Abby had lured me to the park and pushed me in the water, then why hadn’t she just shoved me in front of that car the other day? Oh, that was right, I had been the one who’d grabbed her. I still thought those men had been after her. This was all so confusing.

Abby was now chatting with Jake about something unrelated to the case. I looked at my phone. How much longer would she stand here chitchatting? I was beginning to doubt whether she really had a date at all.

Abby looked out across the restaurant. She smiled and I scanned the room to see who she was smiling at. A tall good-looking man had entered the room. Oddly enough, he looked somewhat like Jake.

She waved at him. “It was nice seeing you again, Maggie.”

So she had a date after all.

“Nice seeing you too,” I said with another forced smile.

I had forced it so much that my mouth hurt. I watched as she walked away and met the man. They moved over to a table across the room.

“See, I told you she would never do anything to you,” Jake said.

“Yes, but you didn’t ask her,” I said.

“I didn’t know that I had to.” Jake frowned.

“Well, I said I thought it looked like her.”

“Yes, Maggie, but there is no way Abby would do that.”

I stared at him.

He leaned back in his chair. “You’re right. I shouldn’t assume. I’ll ask her tomorrow where she was yesterday at that time.”

“Thank you,” I said.

Now I really was questioning what I’d seen. After all I’d thought it was Cora at first too. In reality it was probably neither of them.

“Did I tell you about the man’s strange voice?” I asked.

Jake took another drink and then said, “Yes, you told me.”

I rubbed my temples. “I think I just need to go to bed.”

“It’s been a long day. You should get rest.”

Once we finished eating, Jake and I stood from the table. We’d almost made it to the door when Dorothy walked inside the restaurant. Morton was with her.

“What is going on here?” I ran over to her.

Dorothy had a panicked look on her face.

“Dorothy, is everything okay?”

At that moment Dorothy realized it was me talking to her. She reached out and hugged me. “Oh, Maggie, I’m so glad to see you.”

“Dorothy, what is wrong?” I asked.

“You haven’t answered your phone. I thought you were dead.”

Oh, yeah, I had forgotten that my phone no longer worked. Dorothy had probably sent a million texts by now.

“How did you find me?” I asked.

She blushed. “Never mind that now. All that’s important is that you’re okay.”

“Yes, my phone stopped working. I have to get a new one.”

I wouldn’t tell her right now that it wasn’t working because I’d been knocked into the ocean.

“And you didn’t think to use Jake’s phone to call me?” She placed her hands on her hips. “That doesn’t explain why he didn’t answer his calls either.”

“I turned my phone off so that Maggie and I wouldn’t be disturbed during dinner,” Jake said.

Dorothy waved her finger at Jake. “Well, you shouldn’t do that.”

He held his hands up. “I promise I won’t do that again.”

“And when are you getting another phone?” She turned her attention to me.

“First thing in the morning. I promise.” I smiled at Morton. “Nice to see you, Morton.”

“Likewise, Maggie.” He shook Jake’s hand.

“Dorothy, why don’t you and Morton have dinner on me,” Jake said. “I’m going to take Maggie home. She’s had a long day.”

Dorothy narrowed her eyes. I knew she would be suspicious of that comment. “Well, I suppose we are hungry.”

“Great.” Jake waved over the waiter. “Make sure they get everything they want.”

“Are you staying with Maggie? I don’t like her not having a phone. I worry about her.”

Jake exchanged a look with me. “Yes, I’ll stay with her.”

I wasn’t going to argue with Jake staying. I actually liked the idea. I didn’t want to be alone. More than anything I wanted to be wrapped in his arms.

“I’ll talk to you in the morning, Dorothy.”

“First thing in the morning,” she warned.

Jake and I left Dorothy and Morton.

“Morton and Dorothy seem pretty serious,” Jake said.

“I guess it was love at first sight,” I said.

Jake chuckled. “What? You don’t believe in love at first sight?” I raised an eyebrow.

“I believe in love at first sight because I’ve experienced it.”

My stomach dropped.

“Oh? Anyone I know?”

“I think you know her.” Jake said.

Was he getting really telling me he loved Abby?

“So who’s the person that you fell in love with on first sight?”

I couldn’t stand the suspense.

“She’s a fantastic private investigator.”

Was he talking about me? Heat rushed to my cheeks. I was afraid to ask if there was another private eye that he kept following around Miami.

Jake took me back to my tiny apartment.

I got my wish and spent the night wrapped in his arms. I wasn’t sure how long it had been since I’d slept so well.

***

The next morning Jake took me for breakfast. Pancakes for me and French toast for Jake. After that we went to purchase a new phone for me. Jake was dropping me off back at my car afterward so that I could drive to my office. My phone was in order again and Dorothy had already sent a text. We were back at my car.

“Thank you for taking time out to do this for me.”

Jake squeezed my hand. “I’m just glad that your phone was the only thing hurt.”

Jake stood beside me at the car. “I had a great time last night.” He brushed his lips against my neck. The heat had already taken over and it wasn’t even ten o’clock yet.

“I had a good time too.” My heart beat faster.

“Did you?” His breath whispered across my skin as he placed feathery kisses on my neck.

My legs went weak.

“The best time,” I whispered.

My phone sent an alert for a text and snapped me out of the trance. “I should get to the office before Dorothy comes looking for me.”

He chuckled. “I’ll call you later.”

I slipped behind the wheel of my car. Jake watched as I pulled away. Up ahead while stopped at the stop sign, I watched as Jake crossed the street and walked toward his car. Movement caught my attention. I thought for sure I saw a guy watching him. Was it one of the men who had tried to hit me? It looked a lot like Garrett Smith. Of course it was at a distance, so I couldn’t be sure. I made a turn so that I could loop back around. I hoped that I would catch the guy still there and find out who he was.

Jake probably wondered why I was making the turn. This wasn’t the way to the office. I hoped he hadn’t seen me. Since he didn’t text me I assumed that he hadn’t. I would text him and tell him that I thought someone might be back there, but I didn’t want to make him think that I was too paranoid.

I made a few more turns and ended up in front of my apartment building again. There was no one back there. I knew I’d seen someone. What if he’d followed Jake? I was having too many paranoid thoughts. I had to calm down. I would drive to the office and forget about this. What if something happened to Jake? Then I would feel terrible that I hadn’t told him about what I’d seen.

Just then my phone alerted me to a text. I assumed it was Dorothy. I stopped at a red light and checked the phone. It was Jake telling me again what a great time he’d had last night. Whew. Now I could relax. He was fine and no one was following him. I sent a message back that I couldn’t wait to see him again. I couldn’t believe that I was writing this. I was falling head over heels for Jake.

The light turned green and I took off. A few minutes later I arrived at the office. Of course Dorothy was already there. I’d told her she could come in late, since I knew I’d be late too. It wasn’t really Dorothy’s style to come in late.

“It’s about time you showed up,” she said when I walked through the door.

I headed straight to my desk and sat on the metal chair. I was on cloud nine and didn’t even notice how uncomfortable the thing was.

“Wait a minute. I know that look.” Dorothy waved her finger.

I couldn’t hold back the smile.

“That’s the look of love,” she said. “See, I knew it was a good suggestion that Jake should stay with you last night. You can thank me now.”

“Thank you, Dorothy,” I said.

“So tell me what happened to your phone.”

Oh, yeah, that. Now I was down from my cloud. “Someone pushed me off the pier and into the ocean.”

Dorothy jumped from her chair. I’d never seen her move so quickly. “Who did this? Tell me who it is and I’ll go after them.”

“Calm down, Dorothy.” I stood from the chair and took a mint from her desk. “Here, have a mint.”

She sat back down and popped the candy into her mouth.

“I don’t know who did it. I got a call telling me to meet the person there. They never showed up, but someone pushed me in the water. I didn’t see who it was because they came up from behind.”

“So it could have been the person who asked you to meet them there?” Dorothy asked.

“Most likely it was,” I said.

“How will you find this person?”

I sat back down at my desk. “I don’t know. The person was trying to disguise their voice.”

“Did you find out anything else?”

“I have the number, but it doesn’t work now.”

“Sounds like a setup to me,” she said.