Cut and Run 08 Ball & Chain (19 page)

Ty came out of the game room with a huge smirk on his face. It immediately put Zane on edge.

“What?” he asked, almost afraid to get an answer.

“I’ll tell you after,” Ty promised with a passing pat to Zane’s stomach.

Zane gave him a sideways glance as he headed for the door. Ty made his way to the lounge area where Kelly was sitting with the four other children who were on the island for the wedding, all kids of Ty’s cousins. Amelia was on Kelly’s knee. Kelly and Ty had been entertaining them during the interviews, telling them campfire stories and doing magic tricks. Both men were exceptionally good with the young ones, but then Kelly should be since he worked at a camp for at-risk youth.

When Zane stepped into the game room, he was nervous for some reason. As soon as he saw Nick, though, the nerves vanished. He was sitting on a stool behind the wet bar, his nose and forehead pressed to the polished wood, his hands flattened to the bar top like he’d just bashed his face into it.

Zane smiled, understanding Ty’s smirk now. Nick picked his head up and stared at him.

“I’m sorry,” Zane said immediately. He sat opposite Nick.

“I’ve never had to interrogate him before. Only ever seen it from the other side.”

Zane bit his lip. “I can’t imagine.”

“He accused me of police brutality.”

Zane finally gave in and chuckled.

Nick just shook his head.

“Do you want to take a break?”

“No, you’re one of the last five on my list,” Nick said. He was flipping through his notes, looking for a blank page. He started talking before he landed on one. “Do you remember seeing anyone on the beach last night during your walk?”

“Yeah, we passed a couple walking, a guy and a girl.”

“Would you recognize them?”

Zane shrugged. “Maybe. I didn’t, though.”

“They weren’t any of the guests or staff?” Nick asked.

“Not that I’ve seen, no. But I haven’t seen everyone.”

Nick handed him the iPad and brought up pictures he’d taken of each person he’d questioned. He tapped the screen. “Start flipping through those for me, see if you recognize anyone.”

Zane took the iPad.

“What can you tell me about them?” Nick asked.

Zane shrugged and began to flip through the photos. “They were both still dressed up from the party. Both fairly young. The guy was possibly blond, the girl maybe had dark hair, it was hard to tell because there was no moon. The girl had an accent.”

Nick raised an eyebrow at that, looking hopeful for the first time. “What kind?”

Zane winced. “I’m not sure. It sounded sort of like a mix, or maybe like she had a problem with her palate. Ty could probably tell you.”

Nick smiled wryly. He rubbed his eyes with the heels of his palms, then nodded like he was giving himself a pep talk to continue. “Did they say anything to you?”

“Not directly, no. They were talking about walking on the beach not being romantic because it made their calves hurt.”

Nick stopped writing and simply peered at Zane for a few moments, letting the silence stretch. Zane fought not to shift in his seat. Finally, he couldn’t handle the scrutiny any longer and said, “What?”

“You should probably know,” Nick started, sounding uncertain. “Ty couldn’t tell me a damn thing about these people.”

Zane frowned, confused.

“Couldn’t even tell me what color hair they had. Didn’t mention the accent. Didn’t give either man or woman a second glance.”

Zane smiled when he realized Nick’s point. Ty had always had straying eyes, and that had never bothered Zane. Hell, he did too sometimes. There was nothing wrong with looking at a beautiful person. But out there last night, holding Zane’s hand on the beach, Ty hadn’t noticed a thing about two possibly attractive people other than the fact that they were walking by.

“Yeah, grin all you want, but these two people might be our doers.”

“Seriously?”

Nick tapped his notes. “None of the other statements account for them. Did you leave your room last night, after Ty fell asleep?”

Zane frowned at the sudden change in questioning, but he nodded. “Well, not the room. I went out on the balcony at one point. I couldn’t sleep.”

“What time was that?”

“Anywhere from four to just before the sun came up. I’m not sure.”

Nick’s expression remained neutral. “Did you see or hear anything? Notice anything unusual?”

“I don’t think so. The storm was going pretty hard at that point.”

Nick gave a curt nod and lowered his head. He stared at his notes for a few more seconds, and then glanced back up, narrowing his eyes. His voice was lower when he spoke. “The storm was going?”

Zane raised both eyebrows. The more he saw of Nick’s professional façade, the more impressed he was. As a rule, federal agents didn’t often get along with police detectives. Their turf war had been turned into something of almost mythical proportions, and was often furthered by strutting and bragging and bickering when they were forced to collaborate. Rookies bought into the rivalry and perpetuated it. Zane had worked with quite a few detectives he enjoyed, but he’d also been forced to deal with more he absolutely hated.

He kind of wondered what it would have been like to have met Nick on a job rather than through Ty.

Nick put his pen down, staring at Zane.

“What?” Zane finally asked.

“Where’d you get your time from?”

“What?”

“You said it was after four,” Nick reminded him. “How can you be sure if you didn’t know the exact time?”

Zane shrugged, beginning to blush. “I . . . you can’t tell Ty this.”

Nick nodded solemnly.

“I remember rolling over at one point and looking at the clock. It was 4:20. I found it funny.”

Nick blinked rapidly, his mouth going harder.

Zane sniffed. “Are you laughing at me?”

Nick rubbed his fingertips over his lips and shook his head, but when he glanced back up he was sniggering softly. He cleared his throat and schooled his features. “Okay. So it was after 4:20.”

“Yes,” Zane grunted. He crossed his arms, blushing harder.

“How bad was the storm when you went out there?”

Zane exhaled slowly, rubbing at his neck. “It was bad. I’m not surprised a tree took out the boathouse. I mean, it was raining sideways and the wind was howling. It was, um . . . it was beautiful.”

Nick sat motionless, his green eyes on Zane, his face expressionless. Finally, his gaze drifted upward and he seemed to be staring at the ceiling over Zane’s shoulder.

“O’Flaherty?”

“How did that broken watch make it through a storm like that?” Nick asked.

They sat in silence, staring at each other, both stumped by the question. Nick rested his chin in his palm, tapping his lower lip with his finger. “It couldn’t have.”

Zane shook his head. “The pieces would have been washed away for sure. The gears probably inundated.”

“Someone killed him around midnight, then went back after the storm was gone and smashed that watch. Why?”

Zane sat frowning at Nick, trying to come up with a reason why someone would do that. “I’ve got nothing,” he finally admitted.

“We need to look at that watch again.”

Zane nodded. “I’ll go with you as soon we’re done.”

“Yeah.”

Nick shook off the mystery of the broken watch and proceeded to ask Zane a few questions about the party, approaching several things from different angles in an attempt to jog details loose from Zane’s memory. He seemed tired, though, and Zane could see his fingers trembling almost imperceptibly.

Nick was almost done with his questioning when the door burst open and Kelly barged into the room. Nick and Zane both stood.

“Sorry, just be a second,” Kelly said to Zane, and he made a beeline for Nick behind the bar. He grabbed him before Nick could say anything, and kissed him.

Zane’s mouth fell open, and he sat back down hard as he watched. Kelly pulled away from the kiss, leaving Nick wide-eyed and speechless. “Ty told me what you said. Love you, too.” He kissed him one more time for good measure, then turned with a nod to Zane and left the room.

The door shut with a muffled click.

Nick stared at the door as Zane stared at him. When Nick finally glanced at him, still looking stunned, Zane pointed a finger at him and shouted, “I knew it!”

Nick emerged from the game room after half a day of interviews, looking ragged and irritable. Ty felt badly for him.

The wedding party and staff had mostly dispersed, the latter going back to work, the former enjoying what was apparently a rare sunny day on the island. There was a pool in one of the wings Ty hadn’t explored yet, a sulfur spring somewhere on the island, and he’d heard people talking about badminton and croquet. There were rumors of a movie room somewhere, too, and tonight’s big event included a screening of something. Ty had a feeling he’d be skipping that in favor of other endeavors.

Amelia and the other Grady kids had all been carted off to the pool by the grandparents and one very disgruntled Snake Eater. Ty and several of the others were loitering around one of the many lounge areas in the great hall. Zane and Marley King, Emma’s cameraman, were involved in a pretty hefty game of chess. Livi and Emma were playing some sort of game they both had on their iPhones, competing for high scores and alternately trash-talking each other and giggling. Deuce and Kelly had drifted away, their heads bent together in a conversation Ty was pretty sure someone should arrest them for having. Take Deuce’s medical-grade weed and grow it with Kelly’s homemade mountain blend, and they could probably occupy small countries with it.

Two of the Snake Eater bodyguards, a Korean of very few words named Riddle Park and a wiry blond named Solomon Frost who never seemed flustered by anything, had been drawn to the crowd, too. Ty had sat talking with them about their adventures for a while. They were essentially mercenaries, but they were interesting men and they’d led interesting lives. By the time the interviews were all over, Park and Frost were trying to recruit Ty into their company, and they were giving it a pretty good sell.

At one time, Ty would have made a perfect mercenary.

When Nick approached, they all halted their activities and watched him expectantly. Deuce and Kelly wandered back over, and everyone was silent, watching Nick.

“So,” Ty finally said after the silence had grown awkward. “Do we talk about your findings and suspects, or do we talk about the more important matter of you and Kelly banging?”

Nick pointed his notepad at Ty. “And there it is.”

The others laughed, and Kelly came over to wrap his arm around Nick’s waist. Nick pulled him closer to hug him. Ty couldn’t help but grin. He was a little thrown by it, he would admit. And he had decided to deal with the horrifying realization that two of his closest friends were now fucking each other by just not ever accepting the fact that they were. Problem solved. But that aside, Nick and Kelly had always been affectionate with each other, and had always loved each other. This wasn’t so huge a step.

As long as Ty didn’t think about them fucking, it was all good.

There was a clatter from the side table where Zane and Marley were playing chess, and Ty glanced over at them.

Zane was peering under the table. “Shit, sorry. I didn’t realize it was under there.”

“Don’t worry about it, man, it’s a tough old bastard,” Marley said as he bent to pick something up. Marley was an easygoing guy with the beginnings of dreadlocks and a perpetual smile. He was wiry and athletic, with the long, lean body type Ty associated with surfers. The flip-flops, cargo pants, and graphic tees he always wore reinforced the image, and his pockets seemed to be loaded down with all kinds of tools and miscellaneous bits. Plus, he was kicking Zane’s ass at chess. Ty liked him.

He sat back up cradling a large camera, patting its side like a baby. “You’re okay.”

Zane was smiling, but as Ty watched, he saw an idea strike Zane like it had physically hit him. Zane leaned forward and pointed at the camera. “Have you been filming with that?”

“Yeah, I got most of the party last night. Little bit of scenery this morning. I was going to go through it tonight, put some B roll together.”

Zane turned to Ty, his eyes wide.

Marley glanced between them, frowning. Then it dawned on him why Zane would be interested, and his face split into a huge grin. “Maybe it recorded something important, right?”

“Wow, if we’d thought of that five hours ago that would have been nice,” Nick grumbled.

Emma hopped up from the couch. “We’re on it!” she said, tapping Marley on the shoulder. “Want us to look for anyone who looks like a rock-bashing psychopath, right?”

“Ideally, yeah,” Ty told her. “Find anything of Milton you can so we can track his movements.”

“There’s a movie room,” Livi told them. She stood as well. “I think you can attach your camera to the equipment and watch the footage on the big screen. I’ll show you where it is.”

The three of them headed off, Marley lugging the camera on his shoulder.

“What are the odds he caught the murder on camera while he was eating or something and we can all go back to being common wedding guests?” Zane asked under his breath.