Gull Harbor (10 page)

He shrugged. “I didn’t think Maria would volunteer.”

“Thanks, Max. Really.” She grabbed his hand, pulling him toward the front door. “Let’s go.”

“Do you think I could take a shower first?”

She rolled her eyes. “Fine. Be quick, though.” She looked down at her own clothing, wincing as her neck creaked. A pair of shorts now covered her bottom half, but she was still in the rumpled tank top she’d been wearing the entire eventful night. “I guess I could use a fresh shirt.”

“I’ll toss you down a towel and you can make it into a nice dress,” he called playfully as he bounded up the stairs.

Chapter 13

“
Afuera
is ‘get out’ in Spanish,” Claire explained to Dan as he approached her table with his perpetual coffee pot. Her gaze flicked from her computer screen to the sidewalk beyond the diner’s windows, where Max paced in the morning sunshine with his phone to his ear.

“Nice,” Dan said with a frown.

“Well, I did ask her what she wanted me to do,” she said with a forced laugh. “Not that she understood me, of course. But now everything will be different.”

“How? Did you learn Spanish overnight?”

She sighed, tapping on her keyboard. “No. But I’m making progress. Remember the whole Han Solo mystery? I’ve already figured that out. ‘Solo’ means ‘alone’ in Spanish—and the entire phrase was
dejame solo
, which means ‘leave me alone.’” Turning the screen toward him, she clicked on the icon to play a voice saying the phrase.

“Another warm sentiment,” he replied.

“Well, I can’t blame her. Something terrible happened to her in that house, and she’s been trapped there for who knows how long. And no one can help her because of the language barrier.”

“Are you sure she wants to be helped?”

Claire nodded firmly. “If she didn’t, she would have moved on already.” She took a sip of coffee and murmured appreciatively. “I looked up
Barracuda
as well—it’s the same word in Spanish and English. But I’m not really sure how the boat plays into all this. For Maria to have shown it to me, she had to have seen it. I hope that’s not what got her into trouble,” she added with a shudder.

“I don’t like the sound of that one bit,” grumbled Dan. He drifted toward the next table, greeting Max as he returned to his chair opposite Claire.

“Did you take care of whatever was stressing you out?” she asked.

Max pressed a button on his phone and set it down. “Sort of. Every summer, I provide an internship for a student majoring in restaurant management.”

“That’s nice of you.”

He shrugged. “It helps me, too—I get an assistant for the summer at a reasonable price.”

“So there’s a problem with your intern?”

“Not exactly. I usually have them start on July first, but I just told this year’s intern I need him immediately. He said the earliest he can get here is Friday.”

“Friday, as in tomorrow? It sounds to me like he’s being pretty reasonable, if this is a last minute change.”

The muscles in his jaw twitched. “I know. But that doesn’t help me tonight. I can’t be at the restaurant all night and also keep an eye on you. Unless you’ll stay at my place tonight?” he asked hopefully.

“Not a chance. I’ll be here until I’ve translated everything I want to say into Spanish. And then I’ll be at the house. Maria and I have lots to talk about,” she said as she reached for her spiral notebook. “Besides, once we get our communication issues worked out, there shouldn’t be anything more to worry about.”

“Claire, she tried to burn your house down last night. Until I’m convinced she’s done with the hostilities, I’m going to worry about you.”

“She was scared,” Claire pointed out, shifting uncomfortably under Max’s sharp gaze.

“Well, that makes two of us.” He drummed his fingers on the table. “I guess I’ll just have to come over after I close the tavern. Do you have an extra key?”

Her mouth dropped open. He certainly has a lot of nerve, she thought to herself. Folding her arms across her chest, she cocked her eyebrow at him. “I’m sorry, who are you again?”

“I’m your self-appointed guardian. At least until the danger is over.” He held out his hand expectantly.

“I don’t have an extra key with me,” she said triumphantly, as if that fact was somehow a point in her favor.

“Leave one under the mat. I’ll get there as soon as I can.” He stood up, grabbing his phone. “I have to get to the tavern. I left in a rush last night after I got the call about the fire.”

She drew in a breath, prepared to argue. But the truth was she’d be glad for his company. “Okay,” she said, admitting defeat.

He leaned over and dropped a kiss on the top of her head. “Be careful.”

Keeping her gaze on the screen, she mumbled a response. What on earth was happening between them? She shook her head to clear it. It was time to focus on Spanish. Catching her bottom lip with her teeth, she struggled to think of something she would want to say to Maria.

She was typing
my name is Claire
into the translation program when Dan appeared at her side. “So,” he said with a knowing grin. “You two certainly seem cozy.”

“Well, apparently we’re not enemies anymore.” She moved her laptop over to make room for the plate of fruit in Dan’s hand. “But he still hasn’t explained why he left me that way in college.”

Dan rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “I’ve known Max a few years now. He’s a stand-up guy. I’m betting he had a good reason to do something like that to you.” With a nod, he left her to her work.

“That’s what I’m afraid of,” she said under her breath as she scribbled words into her notebook.

****

Sweat pooled under Gary’s arms as he stalked around his apartment. His stomach churned uneasily. It was probably side effects of the OxyContin. He should really back off the merchandise.

But he couldn’t stop worrying about this Claire Linden situation. Not that he believed in ghosts. If she thought she was talking to spirits, she probably had a drug problem of her own. He was more concerned with her interest in his business.

The bitch was running around town asking questions about him, telling people she was an old friend of his. What was her game? Nausea rolled through his belly and he eyed the kitchen cabinet.

I’ll just take two so I can calm down.
He tossed a pair of blue tablets into his mouth and chased them with a slug of warm beer. Grimacing, he returned to the small living room area and picked up his phone.

He dialed Jake’s number as he shook out a cigarette. There was no harm in just asking for an update. He sucked in the smoke as he waited for his former associate to pick up.

“Hey,” answered Jake.

“Can you talk?”

“Sure. What’s up?”

Gary exhaled a lungful of smoke. “That’s what I want to know. Have you heard anything else about the nosy-ass bitch living in my house?”

“Actually, the fire department was called out there last week. She had a kitchen fire in the middle of the night. Officially she left something burning on the stove—but everyone’s saying the ghost set it.”

“The ghost set it,” Gary repeated with a snort. “How convenient.”

“I know, right?” agreed Jake. “People will believe the dumbest shit.”

“You got that straight.” Pulling his damp shirt away from his skin, he walked over to the fan that rattled in the window. “Listen, this whole thing’s got me nervous. Do me a favor and see what else you can find out.”

“About Claire?”

Gary rolled his eyes.
What an idiot
. “Yes, about Claire,” he said through gritted teeth. He brought the cigarette to his lips, willing his voice to stay casual. “Even if it’s some ghostly bullshit, I still want to hear about it. Keep me in the loop.”

“You got it, bud.”

His head was pounding. He lit another cigarette and stretched out on the couch. Whatever Claire was up to, Jake would do his best to find out. Jake wasn’t all that smart, but he was loyal. And he’d had enough sense to call Gary and let him know what was going on in the first place.

No one, not even Jake, knew what had happened in that house. The obvious exception was Maria, but dead people didn’t talk. There was nothing to worry about. If Claire knew what was good for her, she would stay out of his business. He’d left Gull Harbor and abandoned his family home just to be safe. He wasn’t about to let some psychic detective screw things up for him now.

Chapter 14

The afternoon sun bounced off the black paint of Max’s truck as it sat in her driveway. Claire pulled up beside it with a shake of her head. He certainly wasn’t shy about using his house key. Cutting the engine, she tried to suppress a smile as she gathered her bags.

Truthfully, she was glad he was here. She felt like she had hardly seen him in the past week. Now that Maria was being cooperative, he’d stopped sleeping on her couch. And while she spent her days at the diner, translating phrases, he was busy training his intern at the tavern. With Independence Day around the corner, summer was in full swing, and the town’s population seemed to increase daily.

The sharp bang of a hammer drew her eyes up to the second floor of the house. She checked her watch as she crossed the yard; Max was apparently taking advantage of the lull between the lunch and dinner rushes to repair her window. Climbing the porch steps, she allowed her grin to break through. It would be so nice to have the cross breeze in her bedroom at night. And since things were going so well with Maria at this point, she was virtually certain her new window would remain in one piece.

She had learned so much about Maria in the past week, but progress was still painfully slow. Their method of communication was exhausting, both physically and mentally. Her head ached constantly from her efforts to remain open to Maria’s messages, and the language barrier hindered their exchanges. But even if the process was time-consuming, it was still exciting, and Claire bounded up the stairs to share her latest information with Max.

The whine of a power drill made her pause in the doorway to her bedroom. He probably knew she was home, but she didn’t want to startle him while he was working with such an evil-looking tool. She watched the hard planes of his back shift under his bare skin as he wrestled with the window.

Tingling warmth flowed through her as she fought the urge to cross the room and slip her hands around his waist from behind. What was wrong with her? She obviously craved more contact with living, breathing human beings. But attacking Max was not the answer.

“Hey,” she said softly.

He turned from the window. “You’re home.”

The genuine smile that accompanied his words made her pulse quicken. “I see you’ve been hard at work. It looks great.”

“I did most of the work this morning, after you were already gone. I just came by to finish this up while I had a chance. I hope you don’t mind.”

“Not at all. I really appreciate the help.”

He squeezed caulk into the edges of the window. “It’s no problem. I’ve had the window in my truck for almost a week, but today is the first day I’ve been able to slip away for any length of time. Hopefully soon the intern will feel more comfortable on his own and I’ll have a little more freedom.”

“That sounds great. I’m hoping once I solve this mystery, I’ll have more time to enjoy Cape Cod.” She dropped onto her bed with a sigh. “But it’s slow going,” she said, opening her spiral notebook. “I’ve been at this for a week, and all I really have is one page of facts. She doesn’t seem to want to talk about the bad stuff. Plus she wants to know about me, and I’m trying to answer all her questions so I can gain her trust.”

He returned the caulking gun to the enormous tool chest on her bedroom floor. “So, what exactly do we know at this point?” he asked, sitting down beside her.

His use of the word “we” made her heart swell with gratitude.
It’s just a random phrase,
she told herself. But it made her feel like he was still in this with her, even though the threat of danger was behind them.

She glanced down at the page. “Her name is Maria, obviously, and she’s sixteen years old. She died in this house. I think she was born in Mexico, or she had family in Mexico, or maybe both. She talks about them a lot. I’ve got ‘mother,’ ‘little sister,’ and ‘grandmother’ written down. It sounds like the grandmother suffered from cancer.”

He nodded, rubbing his palms on his faded jeans. “What else?”

“You’d think I’d have more,” she said, blowing out a frustrated breath. “But it’s taken a while for me to explain who I am and why I’m here.” She bit her lip, keeping her gaze on the notebook. “She did ask about you.”

“She did?”

Why had she even mentioned that? A flush crept up her cheeks as she chastised herself.
Too late to go back now.

“Well, she told me that she’d suffered in this house; it’s the reason she didn’t want anyone to be happy here. She turned over pictures so she wouldn’t have to see smiling faces, and she destroyed things to drive people away. Now she feels badly, I guess, since I’m trying to help her. She said she wants me to be happy.” Claire lifted her eyes to his. “She asked whether you make me happy or sad.”

Anguish darkened his features. “What did you tell her?”

“I haven’t answered her yet—I had to look it up.”

He cleared his throat. “And?”

“
Los dos.
Both.”

His arm curled around her shoulders. “Claire, I am so sorry I hurt you,” he said, his voice ragged with emotion.

She dropped her forehead to his chest. “I believe you.”

His other hand stroked her hair, and she stayed in his embrace while she battled back the tears. She focused on the comforting thud of his heartbeat as he ran his fingers through her loose curls.

“I missed you this week,” he murmured.

His breath in her ear sent a delicious shiver through her body. She couldn’t resist this anymore. She didn’t want to. “I missed you too,” she admitted, turning her face up to his.