August Unknown (17 page)

His energy increased as he drove north, munching on pretzels
and an apple. His father would surely run him up one side of the mizzen and
down the other when he found out about Sonja, but hopefully Colin could keep
her quiet about the baby until he and Emily were married.

He intended to provide for it, to fill a place in the child’s
life. But Sonja had to find a husband of her own. It was an old-fashioned
notion to expect him to marry her just because she was pregnant. If a girl was
modern enough to sleep around before marriage, she should be modern enough for
single parenthood.

His anxiety increased with each hour on the road. Gnawing
hunger poked at his belly. He used the john at a gas station, but the munchies
in the Jeep would have to do.

The only thing on his mind was reaching Seattle, and finding
Emily.

* * *

August awoke late feeling groggy, but she didn’t think it was
from the pill Gran Millie had given her last night. She’d been up late,
thinking about that kiss over and over again.

She rose from the bed and padded to the mirror, smiling to
herself as she wondered if Geoffrey had as much trouble sleeping, too.

He’d been a wonderful kisser, but she’d known he would be.
There was something so enchanting about a humble man. His beard hadn’t been
prickly, after all. His skin, and the gentle brush of his eyelashes across her
cheek, had been magically soft.

She brushed her teeth and dragged a comb through her hair
before venturing into the main part of the house. A quick glance outside showed
Leah’s Lexus missing, and August remembered her saying she was taking Jocelyn
shopping this morning.

“Geoffrey?” The house was eerily silent. “Derek?”

The patio door to the deck was open, just the screen closed,
letting in the cool morning air. She expected to find Derek outside, but the
deck was empty.

The morning was crystal clear, giving her a bright view of the
gleaming tower in the distance. Two or three miles down the beach, a familiar
shape in black shorts jogged toward the house at the water’s edge where
receding waves left the sand hard.
Geoffrey
. Even at this distance, she
could make out his blond hair and muscular physique.

August went back in and stuck a mug of hot water into the
microwave for tea. A little caffeine would clear her head. She started a teabag
steeping in the hot water and opened the dishwasher. Unloading dishes and
vacuuming were the only tasks she could manage with one hand, and she’d quickly
learned where things went in the orderly kitchen.

A sound from the back of the house seized her attention. She
went still, all the hairs on her body prickling.

“Derek?” His room was at the other end of the house, next to
Geoffrey’s.

She slotted the last knife into the butcher block holder,
closed the dishwasher, and started down the hall in the direction the sound had
come from.

Cold shivers of unease slid over her flesh. She cleared her
throat. “Derek?”

Silence answered her. It was the first time she’d felt
uncomfortable in this house. August turned around and went back to the kitchen.

She was imagining things, that was all. She needed the tea to
wake up and clear her head. The pain pill Gran Millie had given her last night
made her more fuzzy-headed than she realized.

She went back to the kitchen and toward the steaming cup on
the counter. Halfway there, she froze.

One of the knives was missing from the butcher block.

Her body grew hot and hissing rose in her ears.

She glanced around the kitchen, searching for the phone, but
couldn’t convince her feet to move. It was at the back of the long kitchen, by
the doorway to the foyer.

A creak sounded from the hallway—the creak she had already
come to recognize between Jocelyn’s room and the entrance to the grand living
room, directly on the other side of the foyer.

Someone was coming.

She turned and bolted through the living room to the patio
door. Her fingers fumbled on the latch, but she couldn’t stop her momentum. Her
body hit the screen and she stumbled, knocking it off the track. She fell to
her knees on the deck and nearly went flat on her face. With her good hand, she
shoved herself upright and scrambled to her feet.

She leaped onto the stairs and crashed into Geoffrey.

“Whoa, what is it?” He grabbed her by the shoulders.

“Someone is in the house!”

He glanced past her. “Who? Did you see them?”

She turned around, nearly choking on her fear. Was someone
coming with the kitchen knife, or a gun, to finish the job they started?

“I heard a noise when I was unloading the dishwasher. I
thought it might be Derek, but he didn’t answer.”

He took her hand and stepped around her.

“Wait, Geoffrey—no.”

“We have to call the police.”

She pulled on his hand. “Can’t we go to a neighbor’s house?”

A female voice called out a hello from inside the house.

Geoffrey’s features relaxed. “It’s Leah.”

But it hadn’t been Leah. August jerked free and rushed up the
stairs. Leah was in danger, didn’t he realize that? There was someone else in
the house!

His footsteps thumped behind her on the wooden steps.

Leah set a bag of groceries on the counter and smiled when she
saw August. “Hi. What happened to the screen?”

August glanced around. The house appeared the same as it
always did.

“Where is Derek?” Geoffrey asked his sister.

“I took him to Gran’s. What’s going on?”

Jocelyn came through the front door carrying a grocery bag and
a little sac from a boutique. She handed the groceries to her mother and
started the other way.

“Jocelyn.” August stopped her. “Come here for a minute,
please.”

“What’s up, August?”

She smiled, not wanting to upset the little girl. “What did
you buy?”

“Mom got me these really cool beads to make a friendship
bracelet for me and my best friend, Amy Knoeller. I’m going to make one for you,
too.” She sat down on the couch and opened her bag, but stopped. “What’s going
on? Why does everyone look so weird?”

August turned around and met Geoffrey’s eyes. “Someone
was
just here,” she whispered.

“Leah, did you see anyone on your way in?”

His sister shook her head. Leah had shifted into full-fledged
worry; August could read it in her body language.

“Call Mike.”

Leah turned and grabbed the phone.

“Jocelyn, why don’t we take a walk down to the beach?” August
held out her hand. She could hear Leah asking for her brother-in-law in the
background.

“What’s going on?” Jocelyn pressed. “I’m not a baby, you know.
Was there a burglar?”

Leah hung up the phone and they all headed out onto the deck
together.

“August got scared, that’s all,” Geoffrey explained gently. He
looked at the side of the house. August grabbed his arm when it seemed he was
going to investigate.

“Then why is Mike coming?” Jocelyn’s voice took on a new hint
of fear.

“We just want to make sure. Come on, let’s watch for him.”

A section of the road could be seen from the far end of the
deck. In less than ten minutes, Mike’s black sedan angled around the bend,
followed by a squad car.

Leah, August, and Jocelyn waited outside while Geoffrey
explained the situation. After Mike and the two officers with him thoroughly
checked the house, they went back inside and Jocelyn was allowed to go listen
to music in her room.

“We didn’t find anything. The glass door to your father’s room
was unlocked, but nothing to indicate someone had been here.”

They grouped in the kitchen, all of them looking at August
like she was crazy.

“There was someone here,” she insisted. “I heard them in the
hall. I thought it might be Derek, but he didn’t answer.”

“I took Derek with me this morning,” Leah confirmed. “There was
no one in the house.”

“Are you sure you didn’t just hear the house settling?”

“When I came back to the kitchen, I saw that a knife was
missing out of the butcher block. I had just unloaded the dishwasher and I’m
sure the block was full. Every knife was clean.”

She could practically hear the swish of all five heads turning
toward the butcher block.

“All the knives were there,” she repeated. “Then I heard
someone step on the creak in the hallway. That’s when I ran to the glass door
to the deck and fell through the screen.”

Leah went over to the dishwasher and cracked the door. She
pulled it all the way open, bent, and retrieved a knife from the bottom rack.
“This one?”

A wave of heat rushed from head to toe. She wasn’t crazy! “I
put that in the block, I’m...I’m sure of it.”

“You’re certain you didn’t leave that one behind? It’s small; you
might not have seen it in the silverware tray.”

“I remember replacing all five knives in their rightful place.
That’s the paring knife. It goes in the bottom, rightmost slot.” She glanced
away, certain that if she let go the tears stinging the back of her eyes, she’d
lose all credibility in the officers’ eyes. “I’m not imagining this. I heard
someone in the hall.”

“There’s something else,” Geoffrey added. He sighed. “I didn’t
think it was important so I didn’t want to worry you with it. Now I’m not so
sure.”

Her heart did a flip-flop. What did he know that he hadn’t
told her? She swallowed back the burning in her throat and waited while
Geoffrey turned to his brother-in-law.

He briefly explained the eerie feelings August had every time
she saw the marina, and her memory of a red-haired woman. “Then last night at
the banquet, I noticed a strange woman sitting at the back of the ballroom at
an empty table. She didn’t look like she belonged. She was dressed casually and
didn’t talk to anyone.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” August didn’t mean to shout, but at
the same time she couldn’t believe Geoffrey had kept this from her.

“Her hair was dark, almost black, and I didn’t think anything
of it at the time.” The voice he returned sounded hurt. “I noticed a car had
followed us out of town, but I didn’t put two and two together.”

“My God, Geoffrey, you endangered your family!” One tear
slipped free, and August lost her hold on the others. She turned sideways and
wiped at them with her good hand.

Geoffrey stepped closer and slipped his arm around her
shoulders. “Listen, we still don’t know it’s anything to worry about. You may
have left the knife behind, and this old house creaks all the time.”

He wiped a tear from her cheek. When he gathered her into his
arms, she melted against him. She could feel the others watching them in
silence.

“I think you may be overreacting,” Officer Mike finally said.
“After all, if someone were after you, why would they put the knife back into
the dishwasher?”

August pulled out of Geoffrey’s grip but wiped the tears from
her face before turning back to face the group.

“I wish I had the answers. Believe me.”

“I know you do, and nobody blames you,” Mike said. “What can
you tell me about the marina? Do you think it’s possible you were on a boat
that night?”

August shook her head. “I don’t know. Geoffrey took me onto
Penny
Lane
, but nothing looked familiar. Only the red-haired woman and her black
Labrador were right at the edge of my memory.”

“Did you talk to Dr. Lohman about it?”

August shook her head. She didn’t want to admit she wasn’t
going back to the psychiatrist. Thinking about it now, though, maybe she
should.

“August isn’t comfortable with Dr. Lohman,” Geoffrey said. He
stepped up behind her and placed a hand on her shoulder. She felt a rush of gratitude
for his support, and guilt churned in her stomach for snapping at him.

Mike’s frown said he disapproved, but he didn’t comment. “Well,
the house is clear, and I locked that sliding door in your father’s room. I’ll
send a patrol car past every few hours.”

“Can you issue an alert to pull over any cars with out-of-state
license plates?” Geoffrey asked. “Just to check license and registration for
any red-haired women from out of town? The woman last night might have been
wearing a disguise. At least we could get a name.”

“Not officially, of course,” Mike said. “But I’ll see what I
can do. Leah, when are you heading back to Portland?”

Geoffrey’s sister turned a sympathetic smile toward August.
“I’m sorry, sweetie. In light of this, I think we should go today. Believe me,
if Jocelyn were with her father, I’d stay here and help you kick some ass.”

August grasped her hand. “Don’t apologize. I don’t want anyone
hurt because of me. I couldn’t live with myself.”

The officers departed and Leah went to pack, leaving Geoffrey
and August alone in the kitchen.

She leaned against the counter and stared at the butcher
block. Was she going crazy? When she’d seen the empty slot, she’d been so sure
she had replaced all five knives. Now, she couldn’t even remember closing the
dishwasher. She hadn’t imagined it, had she?

“Maybe we should put off our trip,” Geoffrey said.

“No. I definitely want to go. I need answers.”

He put his hands on her shoulders. “All right.”

He touched her chin with the tip of his finger and smiled down
at her. His presence helped calm her nerves. Drawn against his chest, she felt
safer in the protection of his muscular embrace. She could tell he wanted to
kiss her, but she didn’t invite it. With her nerves as tight as a guitar
string, she was in no mood. The kisses last night had been a mistake, a
misguided prelude to something that could never be. She felt wretched for
allowing them, leading Geoffrey up just to drop him down. She hadn’t intended
to be cruel, but it had turned out that way anyhow.

“I’ll go shower.” He stepped back, as though sensing her need
for space.