Blue Heaven (Blue Lake) (21 page)

“He’s coming back tomorrow?”

“He said he’d be home to make breakfast, so yeah,” Bob said.

She had a good mind to drive to Port Huron right now and go through every sports bar in the town looking for him. Then she checked the clock. It was after eleven. She’d get to PH by midnight or a little after. And then how many bars would she have to troll before she found the one he was in? What if it wasn’t a sports bar? What if it was a strip joint? Did Port Huron even have topless dancing? Her mind was a cesspool and she felt so low she couldn’t even think right.

On the drive home, Jane called. Her voice full of regret, she said her dad had decided to call in the loan if it wasn’t paid by next Friday.

“I’m sorry, honey. I’ll work on him some more.”

Eva could barely thank her friend. She didn’t want to talk anymore. She had a weird hopeless hope that Daniel could explain everything. Maybe it had something to do with the magazine. Maybe he’d wanted to have the place empty for the photographer and the writer. But why would he use her money? And not talk to her about it first? She wished she had a pill she could take to make it all go away but the best she could come up with out of her medicine cabinet was Tylenol PM.

****

Eva woke groggy from the Tylenol, a tinny taste in her mouth. She’d remembered waking feeling like this, utterly helpless and lost, many times. But not recently. She brushed her teeth for five minutes. It didn’t help; her mouth still tasted bad. Her heart still hurt. This time it was so much worse. Last time, she’d lost her boyfriend and her job and the economy tanked. This time, she’d lost her family’s legacy. How would she tell her mother?

She checked her cell but Daniel still had not called. That made him seem guiltier than ever, and yet, she still held out hope that there was some explanation. He’d said he loved her. She couldn’t quite believe he’d do this to her. And all the folks she’d talked to said a woman called them. Not that Daniel didn’t have access to women. Of course he did. She cursed the little corner of her heart that refused to believe that Daniel had betrayed her.

Eva called the lawyer she’d used to handle all her other business. He wasn’t picking up his phone, since it was Saturday, but she left him a message.

Then she threw on the jeans she’d worn yesterday and drove over to Daniel’s house. If the bastard wouldn’t answer his phone, she’d just wait there for him. It’s not like she was needed at home.

“Bob answered the door in only his boxers, rubbing sleep from his eyes. “He’s still not here.”

“Well, I’m coming in and waiting for him.”

“Suit yourself.” Bob shrugged, went upstairs and came back down with clothes on.

“You can quit calling him,” Bob said, making coffee in the kitchen. Coffee. Eva had forgotten about ordinary things like caffeine this morning. The smell of the fresh roasted beans drew her into the kitchen with Bob.

“I keep thinking he’ll pick up.”

“But he won’t. I found his cell in his room, on the floor. There’s like, sixty calls from you. It must have fallen out of his pocket when he got dressed to go to PH with the guys. You want to tell me what this about?”

Eva told him.

Bob whistled.

“Daniel wouldn’t do that.”

“I don’t want to think so, but I can’t think of anyone else who would.”

“Me either,” Bob said. “It sounds crazy. But don’t worry. We’re loaded. Daniel will loan you the money to pay your bills, and then your customers will come next week, and you’ll be fine.”

Eva’s phone rang then, and she hoped it might be Daniel, but she didn’t recognize the number. She answered, talked for a few minutes, and then hung up.

“That was the guy from the magazine. Arriving on schedule with his photographer. He has a hotel booked in Port Huron. He gave me the number.” That quashed her last threadbare theory about Daniel wanting his friend to stay on the premises and maybe wanting a vacant property to photograph. It hadn’t made sense at the time, but she so wanted to believe this was just a big mix up, another one of Daniel’s plans to make things better for her, if only she’d do things his way.

“See. I told you it wasn’t Daniel. Why would he ruin the one thing he’s wanted more than anything? He’s been after that guy forever to do a piece on Blue Lake.”

Eva allowed another tiny sliver of hope to wedge itself into her hurting heart. But then, a little voice whispered that Daniel could still get the press. The article would still be published. Except now Blue Heaven would be his.

She and Bob drank coffee. They ate Cheerios. When the hour got sufficiently proper to make a call, in Bob’s estimation, he called the hotel in Port Huron where Daniel said he was staying. Daniel had checked out.

“See, he’ll be home in an hour and we’ll get this entire thing straightened out.”

Eva kept wondering what to tell her mother. Or when to give up on Daniel and call the police. She would not ask her mom, her sweet retired schoolteacher mom living on a fixed income, to dip into her life savings to bail out her loser daughter.

“What did you tell the guy from the magazine?”

“I acted like everything was fine.”

“So they’re coming.”

“Yep.”

“Lily really wanted to meet them. Especially the photographer.”

Eva noticed for the first time that Bob didn’t seem much happier than she was, and she knew it wasn’t her situation. It was Lily, of course. He missed her.

“Have you heard from Lily?”

“Nope. You?” Bob’s voice lifted in hope.

“No. But then I didn’t expect to.”

“You don’t think Lily would have…” Bob hesitated, then said “No.”

“No.” Eva agreed.

“She’d have no reason,” Bob said. “I mean, I love Lily, so I think she’s perfect and would never do anything wrong, but also, she doesn’t have a motive. In the television shows, you always need a motive.”

“The problem is, there’s nobody with a motive. Except Daniel.”

“But Daniel wouldn’t do it,” Bob insisted.

“I hope you’re right.”

“I am. And you’re making me mad talking about him like that, after everything he’s done for you. He loves you the way I love Lily. Don’t you know that? Why are women so stupid?”

Bob stormed out of the room, leaving Eva to ponder the idea that Daniel loved her. He’d told her so. Twice. Right before he disappeared at the exact same time as all her money. Bob returned a few minutes later, sheepishly hanging his head.

“Sorry,” he said.

“It’s okay. Why don’t you call Lily? Not about what happened to me. Just to talk. I’m going to go over to Jane’s and see if she can ask her dad again for an extension on my loan. And then I think I better drive out to the Sheriff’s in Delton.”

****

Eva turned onto Jane’s block and saw Daniel’s car in the driveway. Her stomach flipped, so she pulled over before she reached Jane’s.

She got out of her car and walked toward Jane’s house, cutting across the lawn to the front door. In the picture window, she saw Jane and Daniel, champagne glasses in hand, toasting.

Toasting. The scene took a minute to make sense, but only a minute. They were toasting the fact that they’d wrested Blue Heaven from her. They only had eyes for each other and neither noticed as she turned away and walked back to her car.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

From the first, a part of her had known he would betray her. Intellectually, intuitively, she’d known there was still something there between Jane and Daniel. But her emotions, her neediness, made her blind to the truth.

All the signs had been there, she just hadn’t wanted to see them.

Exactly like Mom always said, she was relearning her lesson, all over again.

Both Marcus and Daniel had money and power. Both wanted something from her. Sex, but also something else. Marcus had wanted her youthful take on advertising. Daniel had wanted Blue Heaven. And she’d believed both of them when they told her they loved her.

The worst part was that with Daniel, she thought she’d done everything right. She thought she’d been cautious. She thought she’d matured, learned wisdom. But no, dumb as ever.

No wonder he didn’t mind working long hours for her. No wonder he hired extra crew at his own expense, paid more for materials than her budget allowed. He knew the place would eventually be his.

Even at the bank, he’d stepped down as an active employee so there’d be no conflict of interest. Hell, he probably put his share of the bank in Bob’s name just to make everything nice and legal. So many signs and she’d missed them all.

As she drove toward Delton, Eva thought more about how it would be to live in a town where she’d been made a complete fool of by two of its leading citizens. And further, the court battle she was bound to be headed into. She saw no way out. And she had no money to pay lawyers, while Daniel and Jane had bucks to burn. She was nobody and they were everybody who’d ever hurt her. She should just leave town. Sarasota was supposed to be a really nice place. Her mom said they had a great downtown with art galleries and coffee shops.

Her heart burned with grief. To leave all she’d worked for. To admit defeat. Blue Lake didn’t have a police department. The county had a Sheriff’s office two towns down and that’s the way she pointed her car.

The Sheriff’s office in Delton was a squat brick building. There were only two cars in the large asphalt lot, so she parked as far away as possible from the six or seven orange suited jailbirds behind a tall fence topped with barbed wire who were presumably out for fresh air and exercise.

She wasn’t afraid of the criminals. She just didn’t want to look at them. Same way she had not wanted to look at the truth about Jane and Daniel.

She shouldered her handbag and walked into the glass front door. At another set of glass doors, she saw a bored looking dispatch operator, a woman. Her voice boomed over a speaker “Can I help you?”

“I need to speak to the Sheriff. Someone hacked into my bank account and stole all my money.”

“Deputy Montclare is in.”

The woman buzzed the doors and they opened.

“Purse.” It took Eva a second to realize her purse would be searched. As the woman pawed through her wallet and gum and sunglass case, Eva studied her outfit. A tan uniform of shirt and pants that reminded her of the park ranger in Yogi Bear cartoons.

The dispatcher handed her purse back. “Name?”

“Eva Delacroix.”

“What’s the problem?”

Eva explained.

“You’re in luck. Montclare is out resident computer gee—expert.”

She picked up her phone and spoke into it. Eva could see two hallways, one presumably led to the jail, the other to offices. Dispatch Woman pointed down the hall on the left. Eva started to walk that way when a guy appeared dressed just like the woman she’d left at her desk, except for a shiny badge on his pocket and a gun at his side.

“Come right in, Ms. Delacroix.” Deputy Montclare was young, but he listened intently as she told her story, which was also being recorded by a tiny device on the desk between them.

He pushed the recorder off and got up. “I’ll just make a few calls and then we will head over to your place to collect evidence and dust for prints.”

“But I know who did it! I told you!”

“I understand. We’re just verifying. Proof. Right?”

“Okay,” she said as his desk phone rang.

He picked up the phone. Spoke into it, his eyes shooting to lock with hers and then break contact. Not once, not twice, three times. What was going on?

Eva tuned into the one-sided conversation.

Deputy Montclare said, “She’s injured? Where? How critical?”

“Good thing you came here,” Deputy Montclare said, walking her out to her car. “You have the tightest alibi in the world.”

“Was it Jane? Is she hurt?” This was unreal. Could she really not know Daniel at all? Had he hurt Jane?

“Non-fatal. If your story pans out, she’ll go to trial. Your office is a crime scene. Don’t go back there until I phone you.”

Deputy Montclare left her to her broken heart and burning questions. Not somebody, but something had died. Inside of her. She drove home. She didn’t stop at Daniel’s or Jane’s or the antique store. She didn’t stop in Eddie’s for a burger. It was a gorgeous sunny day. If she had customers, they’d be at the beach. Maybe not swimming, but taking in the sunshine after a long Michigan winter.

The cops were at her place, crime scene tape blocking the office entrance. She went in the lake side door, and lay on her bed. Mama and kittens covered her with licks and purrs. It felt lovely, but her brain wouldn’t turn off, no matter how much she wanted it to. Even this room, her first sanctuary when she’d moved to Blue Lake, now had uncomfortable associations.

Daniel had made love to her here. That was one part of the equation that just didn’t add up, something she had not told the deputy. Why did he have to seduce her? To say he loved her and wanted to try to have a real relationship with her? Sure, guys liked to score, and some of them lied to do so, but it didn’t make sense. How could Jane say yes to that part of the plan? And when had Daniel become such a convincing actor?

She sat on the bed, disrupting Mama and the kittens, who all began grooming themselves as if nothing were amiss. What she needed to do, if for no other reason than her foolish pride, was to confront Daniel. She had to know, had he been the one to hurt Jane? She quaked at the idea.

She put on some makeup and did her hair. Daniel would regret messing with Eva Delacroix.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

After Bob told Daniel what had transpired that morning, he didn’t stop to charge his phone. Eva was at the sheriff’s anyway filing a report. Instead he went straight to Jane’s to confront her. It would take two minutes and then he’d call Eva.

He wished he had not gone to Port Huron last night. But it was fine. Or would be. He could fix this. He’d do anything for Eva. After he was finished with Jane, she would pay. She’d committed bank fraud. That had to be at least a felony.

He pulled his car into Jane’s driveway, got out and slammed the door hard. He felt like he had too much angry energy. He had to be careful not to do anything stupid but to calmly tell Jane that this was the end of her life as she knew it.