Haven of Nightmares (Littlemoon Investigations Book 5) (38 page)

“Good for you,” Roman stated. “As for the gym, you must really like it. Look at those arms. Are you trying to make the rest of us men look bad?”

He laughed. “I was a pipsqueak all my childhood. I needed to make a change.”

“So, you got married?” Mattie asked as she placed a sandwich down in front of them and then returned with soup. “Anyone we went to school with or from town?”

He shook his head as he took a bite of the sandwich. “No, you wouldn’t know her, and hey! This is good! I was so glad you called. I was starving.”

She took her seat beside Roman. When he kissed her on the lips, she wanted to melt. When he slid closer, placing his body right beside hers, her heart swooned.

So, this was what contentment felt like.

“Me too,” Roman stated. “How’s your brother doing? I hear he’s a doctor.”

Roman started digging for details.

When in Rome…

It wasn’t as if he could avoid his second nature. Sue him. He was a reporter at heart. There was nothing wrong with getting information beneath the guise of socializing.

He had a job to do, and Harrison didn’t seem to see that he was pumping him for details.

He’d apologize later.

Yeah, when this case was solved.

“He’s doing really well! He recently got out of med school, and he’s settling into life. Who would have seen that one coming? He barely survived Remington. Now he’s married, and he and his wife are starting to try to have kids. He loves podiatry. I bust his ass every second I can.”

Roman laughed, making mental notes of everything the man was telling him.

“Has he lived here the entire time?” he asked. Roman was doing the math in his head, trying to pinpoint the killings on that time frame.

“No, but he would come back to see Suzie. She works here.”

“Suzie?” Mattie asked, trying to help Roman dig. “Did we go to school with her?”

“Nah, she came from a normal family, unlike all of us. She’s not from money, and she’s probably lucky. She’s the normal one.”

Then he paused, turning his focus toward the woman. “I heard about your dad, Mattie. I’m sorry. That’s tough.”

She thanked him.

It was hard, but what was she supposed to do?

At that point, she was doing everything in her power not to think about her sister in the morgue, handling a burial, and dealing with the other mess.

“Your mom moved away, didn’t she?”

“Yeah, not long after he died. She’s happy now, so that’s all that matters.”

He was glad to hear that.

For a couple of minutes, they enjoyed their lunch. Finally, Roman had more information he needed. “I think I saw Blake Lyons yesterday. Is that possible? Is he still around?” he inquired, hoping the bluff opened the conversation.

Harrison chewed. “Yeah, it is. Oddly enough, he stuck around after he was kicked out.”

“Really?” Mattie asked.

“Yeah, he’s been here a while.”

Roman was hoping the man would give him a little more, but he didn’t.

When his phone chimed, he practically jumped up. “Crap! I’m late. The little woman will have my ass in a sling if I don’t get that grocery list handled. I have to go. Are you sticking around?” he asked. “We can get together and have dinner. My wife would get a hoot out of our old stories. Don’t tell her anything bad!” he warned, “or I’ll kick your ass.”

Roman raised his hands in surrender. “No way! I’m afraid of you now,” he teased.

They all stood.

“I missed you, Harry. I’ll call you before we leave. I want to catch up.”

He heard the
‘we’
and wanted to know.

“Mattie is going with you? Are you two getting hitched? I can’t help but see the irony in that.”

Roman went red. He didn’t know how to field that question. It wasn’t exactly something they’d discussed, and he wasn’t sure what Mattie thought.

Hell!

He wasn’t sure what he thought either.

“Um.”

Mattie took control. “Yes, we are. As soon as we get out of here, we’re going to get married,” she stated. There was no way she was letting him go. Her heart had finally found him again, and she was willing to fight for him.

Roman stared at her.

What could he say to that?

“Yeah, what she said.”

Harrison patted him on the back. “Oh, and by the way…you have weirdos watching the place. When I pulled up, they were taking pictures.”

“It’s the newspapers and local stations. Ignore them. We do.”

He laughed. “Dude, who has time for the news? I’m working on my body!”

Roman escorted him out. When he returned, Mattie was cleaning up the dishes.

“Hey! He was just like in high school,” she stated. “It’s good to see some things don’t change.”

He didn’t reply.

“Roman?”

When she turned, he was standing there and staring at her. “Did I say something wrong?”

The question was semi-rhetorical. Oh, she knew why he was staring at her like that.

“You just told my oldest friend we were getting married. I’m a little surprised.”

“Well, we are.”

Again, he stared at her. Did she just say it again? His heart was pounding, his palms were sweaty, and he didn’t know what to think.

Well, that wasn’t true.

He thought she was rushing into something that she wasn’t prepared for at all. He was a mess.

They were…a mess.

Mattie didn’t give up. “I’m telling you that’s what’s going to happen. Now, if you want me to ask, I will.”

She dropped the dishrag and moved to stand in front of him.

“Roman, will you marry me?”

His mouth actually fell open.

It took everything she had not to laugh. He looked like someone knocked him off his feet. He looked horrified, scared, and shocked all at once.

Well, that was her plan.

She lost him once, so Mattie wasn’t losing him again. You only got so many chances in life. Here was her last shot at happiness, and Mattie wasn’t going to let it go by. If he wasn’t going to ask her, well, she was going to take the wheel.

“I want to spend the rest of my life with you. I want you to be my wife,” she teased.

He closed his mouth.

She grinned. “Can I wear the pants in the family?”

His heart was thundering in his chest. Roman couldn’t believe this was happening.

Mattie had just proposed.

“I think you proposing to me, and telling people before we even discuss it means you do.”

She paused.

That caught her off guard.

“Wait! Are you upset that I asked? Was I being too forward?”

He was so caught off guard. Roman didn’t know what to think.

Then it hit her.

He didn’t ever intend to marry her.

She’d made a huge mistake.

Her only recourse was to back up.

“Oh, I see. You’re not ready. I get it.”

“Mattie.”

She didn’t reply. It was time to make a retreat and save what was left of her dignity. She’d just declared the ultimate love for a man, and he was horrified.

It was time to escape.

Heading down the hall, Mattie needed to get away from him. She wanted to be sick. This had been her one chance, and it blew up in her face.

Ouch.

A part of her waited for him to follow, reassuring her that there was some sort of mistake.

Only, that didn’t happen.

When she heard the garage door opening, and then closing as he drove away in her car, Matilda had her answer.

She’d screwed up.

Big time.

She had scared away the man she loved and had blown that one shot.

Lesson learned.

Only a little too late.

       
         
* * *
  L   i   t   t   l  e  m  o  o  n  * * *

He watched Roman Remington leaving her house. Sitting across from her place, he was able to get a good view of them. They arrived together, but he was leaving alone.

He didn’t know if he should follow him, or stay there.

Was he coming back?

Was he finally leaving?

He needed him to leave town so life could go back to what it was supposed to be.

Only, it didn’t look like that was happening.

He made up his mind.

He was going to follow him, and then have a talk with the woman he loved. She had to help him figure all of this out. What they needed was a plan.

There had to be a way.

This disaster wasn’t working, and he wanted everything to go back to what it once was.

Calm.

Peaceful.

The five years after the last sacrifice were supposed to be joyous, prosperous, and happy.

With Roman in town, that wasn’t going to happen.

The man was trouble.

Something had to be done, and fast.

       
         
* * *
  L   i   t   t   l  e  m  o  o  n  * * *

When Tori came out of the building, she was smiling. Julian knew right away that she’d gotten them something good. As they hopped in, she kissed him on the mouth.

She didn’t hold back.

“Holy shit, Victoria! What the hell was that?” he asked.

“I hit the mother lode.”

She told him everything. When she got to the last part, his eyes went big.

“The killer didn’t poach at this school?”

She shook her head. “It wasn’t random. Those girls walked right into this. When they broke into Remington, they marked themselves. He took them there.”

Julian whistled.

“This makes it easier.”

“It does. We need to grab the student files of everyone who went missing. This is in there. This case, unlike what we thought, isn’t going to be some random thing. This killer hunted here. He’s still here.”

It looked like that séance was on.

“Let’s check in with our team and see what Justin has found. We’ll get this started and work on the staff at Remington too.”

That was a damn good idea.

Pulling out his phone, Julian called his twin. “Hey, bro, tell me you have something.”

Justin laughed. “Jules, you have the worst timing in the world.”

Uh oh.

They didn’t like the sound of that.

“What?”

Where did he begin?

“Kane called in hysterics. Christina’s water broke. Finally, it’s time. At this very moment, he’s running around like an expectant father. He called three times. He kept hitting redial instead of the doctor’s number.”

Tori laughed. “It’s a good thing Christina is calm. If not, this would be a mess.”

“I know, right? Then, as soon as I hung up with him, the phone rang again.”

“Who was it?”

“Beau.”

Tori tensed. “Are he and Nyx okay?”

“They had an intruder.”

Tori wanted to be sick. “What?”

“Someone vandalized their apartment. The place was trashed. Someone wrote
‘betrayer’
all over their walls with anything they could get their hands on.”

That told them exactly who it had been.

Damn it!

“It had to be Shelby,” Julian stated.

“That’s what Beau said. He didn’t want to worry you since you’re carrying this case alone right now, but he and Nyx moved upstairs and into your place. I thought it was best if we put him somewhere safe. If she’s turned on him, she’s off the reservation.”

Justin was right.

Tori and Beau’s egg donor was losing it. She was desperate, and wanted them to hurt.

“He tried to play it down, but he looked pretty bad. I mean, his mother…”

Yeah, she got it.

“Okay, so it’s under control?” Julian asked. “We’ll help clean the place up.”

“I tried to get the police involved, but they told me
‘good luck’
. There are no security cameras, no way to prove it was her, and our suspicions aren’t enough.”