Red Ochre Falls (16 page)

“Mattie,” he leaned
into me and whispered. “Do you want to talk about this?”

“Which part?”

“All of it.” He
tightened his hand around mine. “I didn’t mean for it to happen like this. You
just looked so sad, I couldn’t help myself. I didn’t want you hurt.”

“I—I—think
some air would be good.” But I couldn’t move.

His breathing
quickened. He scooped me up out of the chair and led me through the back hall
and out the door.

The wind gusted and
forced air into my lungs. It might have knocked me over if Garrett hadn’t been
holding me steady. “Can you breathe?”

I took several deep
breaths. “It’s okay. I feel better now.” I breathed in and out for a few beats
and smiled. “I usually do around you.”

“Mattie,” Garrett
beamed and set me down carefully. He looked conflicted, but overcame it and
settled his hand comfortably around my waist. My heart raced being this close
to him—staring at his gorgeous blue eyes and wild hair.

We locked
eyes—and felt the soul lasers, cutting away fear and reticence. Garrett
pulled me tighter against him. He leaned in, gently brushed his hand across my
cheek, and touched his lips to mine. I put my hands around his neck to pull him
closer, if it was even possible then he opened my mouth with his.

Our kisses
intensified as I ran my hands up into his hair. When he reached my neck, I let
out a little moan. He pressed himself against me and kissed me so deeply my
entire body shook. Then he stopped. He looked at me for a moment, gave me
another soft kiss and grinned.

“Just checking to
make sure you could breathe normally.”

“All clear here,” I
croaked. “Why did you stop there?”

“Like I said
before, I didn’t mean for it to happen like this. I just can’t help myself
around you.”

“I’ve got no
complaints.” I smiled.

He came close and
my temperature rose several degrees again. This time, he left some space
between us. “I want to do this the right way,” he said urgently.

“Oh, you’re doing
it right,” I giggled.

“Not what I meant.”
He sounded flustered. “Let me take you somewhere—”

Just then, an
unmarked cop car pulled up and stopped near us. Cal got out and walked directly
over to us. He looked mad—all crossed arms and anger—and I wondered
if he was about to ticket us for kissing in public. Maybe not. After analyzing
his expression, it looked nothing like I’d seen before, and I’d seen his
serious cop face. You know, when we went in to discuss Chloe’s case and he gave
me ‘the talk’ about domestic abuse—this was worse. He stared at us intently.

“I gotta call about
a threat made here last night.”

My heart sank, my
face flushed, and I stood there dumbfounded. I was brave enough to look Garrett
in the eye, but only for a second.

“Mattie?” Garrett
and I both knew he wasn’t here last night, so he looked to me for an
explanation.

“What?” I shrugged,
and tried to play it off, but then I huffed and got on with it. “Okay, I got a
threatening call last night. Not totally unheard of in this business, right?”

“I heard it was
more than a call,” Cal retorted.

Garrett’s eyes were
still trained on me, indicating he wanted the whole explanation.

Oh! You didn’t
want me to skip over stuff; you wanted to hear about everything. Right. Silly
me.
The voice in my head could be
pretty sarcastic every now and then.

“A guy called. He
told me to stop asking questions, or else. Then he left some dead roses on the
porch.” I gave them the short version, but that along with my plastered on
smile did nothing to fool the two men staring me down. I was in big trouble.

“How come I gotta
hear about something like this from those guys?” Cal said sternly, and he
pointed to the Davis and Sons Funeral Home.

“Look, I didn’t
want to trouble anyone with it this morning. It would have come up,
eventually.”

Hurt and anger
flashed across Garrett’s face. With his eyes still on me, he asked Cal about
the call. “Who called it in?”

Cal didn’t want to
answer Garrett. I tried to wish myself out of this situation, but it didn’t
work. I pushed my shoulders back and stood straighter.

“Derek. Derek
called it in because he was here.” Then I thought about how it sounded and
corrected myself. “After it happened. And just long enough to make sure the
place was secure.” And to have some ice cream, and try to kiss me, but there
was no way I was telling that to Garrett right now, or maybe, ever.

Dark clouds hovered
above us—the sun had disappeared behind the mass. A wind swirl rattled
the trees and carried Garrett’s scent my way. I inhaled his warm blend of
masculinity and passion.

A minute ago, we
couldn’t keep our hands off each other, but now seemed so far away from then.
Now, I was in big trouble. I wanted to explain, but figured it might just make
things worse. Instead, I waited for his response then anxiously waited some
more.

Garrett had me
locked in his sights, but his eyes wouldn’t divulge his thoughts. I tried to
look innocent, which I mostly was, except for the part about not saying
anything. Guilty by omission, I suppose. Why hadn’t I told him about last
night’s threat? Was I too preoccupied to bring it up, or was I afraid of what
he’d do when he found out the scary Hulk-man was still after me? Or could it
have something to do with Derek? The answer was all three.

Just when Cal
couldn’t take the silence any more, and started to speak, a sleek blue Cadillac
screeched to a halt near us. Tess got out and bounced directly over to Garrett.
She tried to lace her arm through his, but he shrugged her off.

“What are you doing
here, Tess?” Garrett asked brusquely.

“I figured we could
pick up where we left off last night,” she answered, all shmoozy standing right
across from me in her barely there sundress and heels.

“Last night?” I was
the one in trouble, but I couldn’t help but sound accusatory.

“Yeah. Didn’t
Garrett tell you?” She acted like I should know something so obvious.

My mood could
change quickly, especially when people copped an attitude. This was one of
those times. My mood wasn’t great, but Tess’s arrival was like pouring gas on a
fire.
 

“He’s been so busy,
I guess it just slipped his mind.” I batted my lashes at her then eyed Garrett.
Cal cleared his throat, and tried to hide a smile. We waited for an answer.

Garrett put his
hands up, like a perp. “It’s not at all what you think, Mattie.” He tried to
reach for me, but I moved.

“You have no idea
what I’m thinking,” I fired back.

“You haven’t told
her what we talked about?” Tess saw our friction as an opportunity to sweeten
her voice and inch closer to Garrett. If she got any closer they’d be
conjoined. Seriously!

“I shared my notes
with Garrett.”

Really? Is that
all you shared with Garrett last night?

“I told her—”
Garrett started.

“Did you tell her
my theory?” Tess sounded enthusiastic.

“I hadn’t gotten to
that part yet.”

My fury simmered, but
a new theory could be good news. No telling what it might be, but anything was
better than nothing. Right? I forced myself to suck it up and listen to what
Tess had to say. Cal crossed his arms. Maybe he was skeptical too.

“Chloe didn’t do
it,” Tess said.

Hallelujah!
Finally, she believed it wasn’t suicide! Now let’s get the report changed and
tell Chloe’s mom!

“At least not on
her own,” Tess added.

I stood silent.
Okay, thought that part was obvious, but the way she said ‘not on her own’
sounded wrong.

“Tess thinks she
had help,” Garrett said.

“Wait? What?!” I
stammered. The ‘help’ meant something other than murder. Garrett stood still
even as my fists clenched. Cal stepped back.

“I read the notes.
Tess thinks someone helped Chloe kill herself. But, she has no evidence to
prove it.”

Unbelievable!
The hope bubble burst, and I was back to thinking
Tess wasn’t being totally honest with us.

“Ridiculous!” I
shouted. I didn’t care how badly we wanted each other, or even that he was the boss,
Garrett and everyone here was going to get a piece of my mind.

“This is absolutely
crazy! First, Tess tries to convince us Chloe was doing drugs, and now, Chloe
had help to end her life?” I had no patience, and no reason not to lunge at
Tess and do some damage, except I didn’t need to fight that way—and there
were still so many questions that needed answered. “Why?” I asked Tess.
“Chloe’s ascent to stardom in the legal world stressed her out too much?”

“C’mon,” Tess spoke
up. “It makes perfect sense. She had a demanding job, relationship troubles,
and she’d been on pills. She might have wanted a way out. Maybe she turned to
someone for help.”

Standing still was
impossible. I shifted my weight from one leg to the other. My hands
automatically moved to my temples. I closed my eyes and tried to rub out the
nonsense for a few long seconds.

“Easy, Mattie,”
Garrett tried to calm me down. “This is what Tess thinks.”

I may have missed
the part where he emphasized what Tess thinks. Either way, I took exception to
the fact he hadn’t come right out and told me earlier. I also got mad that Tess
stood there so plain as day, after having spent some, or all, of last night
“discussing” ideas about my friend’s death with Garrett. Why not include me?
Didn’t I have a right to be involved? Or was something more personal going on
between them?

“It might be easy
for you to believe your ex-, but I don’t.” I was far from calm. “This feels
like a big cover-up, Garrett. You noticed a needle mark. Tess came back with an
answer that backed up her decision to rule Chloe’s death a suicide. When
questioned about the likelihood an “inexperienced druggie,” as Tess has
wrongfully labeled my friend, could inject her neck so precisely, Tess’s answer
is “someone helped poor Chloe do it.” I was over the top dramatic and whiny
when I said the last part.

“Mattie, you’ve got
it all wrong,” Garrett argued. “Tess was just making observations based on the
things she saw. If you had evidence of multiple prescriptions for treating
anxiety, saw the pills, and the needle mark, you might come to the same
conclusion.”

Was he really
sticking up for Tess? Of course he was. Why didn’t I see that coming?

“Listen, Garrett. I
respect your position, and your knowledge. You and Tess both have impressive
backgrounds, but you also have a history. Do you think, maybe, it’s clouding
your judgment?” I was angry, but tried to sound calm. Cal kept his eyes on us,
like watching a train wreck.

“That’s not fair,”
Garrett fired back. “There is nothing between Tess and me, and my judgment is
just fine. You need to listen.”

Tess shifted
uncomfortably at Garrett’s comments, but stayed close to him. I didn’t wait for
her to respond, even though she looked like she wanted to say something.

“Listen here,” I
waved my finger at the three of them. “Do you guys know why I’m so confident my
friend didn’t commit suicide? The same way I knew she wasn’t injecting drugs
into her neck. Because she wouldn’t!” I was agitated—shifting back and
forth waving my hands to make my point.

“While in college,
Chloe took a few of us to her older cousin Patrick’s lake house one summer.
He’d inherited property near Whitefish Point in Michigan’s Upper
Peninsula—one of the most beautiful places I’d ever seen.

Patrick and I spent
time partying and flirting. Things got a little crazy one night when everyone
was hanging out around the campfire. When I saw Patrick head into the house, I
waited a few minutes then followed him inside thinking we’d have some private
time.”

I eyed Garrett for
a second. He had a past and so did I, but it didn’t matter. Things needed to be
said so they’d understand; I continued.

“My stomach did
flips when he wasn’t in the living room. I proceeded toward the bedrooms. I knocked
and tried the handle of one door. Someone shouted ‘occupied’, so I moved down
the hall and opened the next door.

Instead of finding
Patrick, I found Tab. He was sitting on a bed with a needle in his hand. He had
just injected himself with what I later found out was heroin. Tab downplayed
the whole thing, told me things were cool, like it was no big deal. He even
asked me if I wanted to join him.

I told him ‘no
thanks,’ it wasn’t a good idea, and that he should get help—Chloe had
told us his brother was an addict—Tab didn’t seem phased. He got up,
walked over to where I was and tried to kiss me.” I had flashbacks from that
night and shivered involuntarily.

Garrett stared with
his jaw locked tight. Cal and Tess even watched intently. Everyone was listening,
so I kept going.