Storm Surge (27 page)

Muffled footsteps fell on the runner as someone strode to the end of the hall and returned, pausing outside her door. She lifted the phone in her hand, preparing to dial the police. Abruptly, the wood beneath her ear vibrated. She jerked her head back as the knock repeated.

“Who is it?”

“It’s Dan, Paige. Let me in.”

Paige switched on the nearby lamp and unlocked the knob. Before she could turn it, Dan had done so and stepped inside. Paige glanced into the hallway, looking for Liam.

“Where is he?”

“He’s not with me, Paige. Liam Gray has been arrested.”

“No.” Even though the room was empty now, she kept saying the word into the quiet, over and over. Liam hadn’t done those things. He hadn’t been involved. Her ability to judge a man’s character was not so fucking impaired by the upheaval of her childhood that she couldn’t recognize the fundamental qualities of a criminal.

Paige punched the pillow with her damaged hand and gave a little cry. Then she proceeded to swear profusely.

Liam had been charged and brought for arraignment before the district magistrate. Dan had made sure to tell her the conditions of his bail. No contact with her at all.

“You’ll have to stay here for now,” he’d said. “You can’t return to the cottage with him right next door, at least not before the hearing. To be honest, I’d like you to head back home tomorrow bright and early. There probably will be no need for you to testify. He confessed to everything. It was Liam in your cottage, like I thought. Not Raleigh.”

“But Raleigh—”

“They were working together, Paige. Whether to frighten you off or to find out what you remembered, I don’t know.”

“Raleigh broke into Liam’s place. What about that?”

“A ruse? Retaliation of some sort? I don’t know. Raleigh’s always been a loose cannon. When he went away years ago, the town thought they were well rid of him. Apparently not.”

“And you’ve known more all along than you’ve ever told me.”

“I’m sorry, Paige. I’m…I’m sorry.”

Hours later, sleep eluding her, Paige threw herself face first onto the bed, still too angry, too shocked and disbelieving, for tears. “Fuck,” she said for the hundredth time. Poor Liam, his hair would stand on end at the words coming out of her mouth. But he wouldn’t hear them. Not ever again. In a sane world, she should be relieved by that knowledge, but all she discovered was an extraordinary, deep sorrow. After only a handful of days of knowing Liam, the thought she’d never speak with or see him—a man who’d been charged with having a hand in terrorizing her—left her empty and hollow. The world wasn’t sane. No, it was not. But the idea of Liam doing this thing ventured into a realm she couldn’t recognize.

“Or maybe it’s just a case of ‘like mother, like daughter,’” she said, tossing the pillow to the foot of the bed. But though Debra Waters hadn’t been a good wife, she’d been a loving mother. Paige belittled her mother’s memory with her lack of understanding. As Liam had said, she needed to forgive. Did that sound like the words of someone intent on harm?

Paige rolled over and sat up, reaching for her vibrating phone. She stared at the text from Liam with her heart sinking into her stomach, and then it split in two.

* * * *

Liam threw items of clothing from his dresser into a duffel bag on the bed. He’d opened the windows and lifted the shades to let the cool, moisture-laden air circulate through the house. Anyone in the dark outside could see him, but he didn’t care. In fact, that was the point.

Every few minutes, he paused to listen. The house was quiet tonight. He used to believe the spirit inhabiting the house was Alice, but recently he’d begun to realize guilt fostered that belief. Alice wouldn’t follow him here, to a place she’d never known, and she certainly wouldn’t be separated from their daughter. Whoever it was had gone silent, as if waiting. It shouldn’t be long. If spirits could be disturbed by changes in a home, like renovation, how much more disruptive would the reckoning of a sudden, heartbreaking truth be?

Leaving the bedroom, Liam went to his office and dumped his paperwork and discs into a second duffel bag before slipping the laptop into its carrier. He had to make this look good. Like he meant it. Straightening from the task, he listened again. The stairs creaked, first one, then the next. Several after were silent until the top two, which made the slightest noise as if pressure had been carefully applied. Pretending he hadn’t heard, Liam slid the handle of the computer bag over his shoulder and called Shadow’s name as he approached the door. The start he felt at finding someone standing right beyond the threshold wasn’t feigned, despite knowing he was coming.

“Going somewhere, Gray?”

Shadow scooted out from behind the desk and ran past Regan Raleigh’s legs, heading full tilt for the landing.
Good boy
, Liam thought.
Get as far from this house as you can tonight, buddy.

“Yeah, Raleigh, I am. I believe the term is ‘jumping bail.’”

“I heard you got popped. Good man.”

“Paige had already figured out there’d be no charges short of a confession, so I provided it. The ploy worked. You got what you wanted.” Liam yanked the duffel from the floor and pushed past Raleigh, returning to the bedroom.

Coming into the room behind him, Raleigh laughed. Liam continued to pack.

“I’m surprised you didn’t figure out it was me sooner,” Raleigh said.

“What makes you think I didn’t?” Liam didn’t look back. He listened, though, closely, for any sign the man had moved nearer.

“You surprise me. Never figured you for a loyal soldier.”

“Threatening me didn’t matter. The fact you threatened Paige did.”

“Now, Gray, did I actually use her name?” Raleigh drawled.

“You didn’t have to. I’m no fool.”

“I can see that. And your next step?”

“What do you mean?”

“Think you can kill me?”

“Why would I bother?” Liam zipped the bag shut and straightened, looking around the room as if to make certain he hadn’t missed anything.

“Because you’ve been fucking the bitch.”

Liam didn’t miss a beat. “Not anymore. You know that information you were looking for? I got it. It’ll protect me, and it’ll protect her, long after I’m gone. What Paige saw that night is written down and notarized, waiting in a sealed envelope for delivery to the police if anything happens to either one of us.”

Raleigh came into the room, walking in a wide circle, eyeing Liam’s belongings with mild curiosity. Liam could see the man’s mind wasn’t on anything in front of his eyes. Except Liam. The bastard was sizing him up. “Then why haven’t you given the envelope to the cops yet? Something like that would have been good leverage, rather than confessing to this other business. Why didn’t you point the finger in my direction?”

Liam shrugged. “Because no one knows you’re here. It would be like pointing fingers at a ghost. And I just want to be done.”

Regan turned his head aside, coughing into his shoulder. He smelled, Liam realized, like alcohol. Not a good sign.

“So, you’ll leave her,” Regan said, “just like that.”

“That’s the plan. After the job.”

“After the—” Regan laughed again, so hard he staggered sideways against the doorjamb.

“Yeah, the job. I’m going to need the money. You said you wanted the load out before dawn with the storm coming up the coast. You haven’t time to waste, and I just want to put all of this behind me.”

Regan straightened, his pale eyes glittering in the lamplight. “You want in, you’re still in. I’m short a man. And then what? You’re really gone? Leaving her behind without a backward glance?”

“What do you think? She’s not going to want me back, thanks to my confession.”

“Maybe I’ll take her on myself then.”

Liam bent to adjust the zipper on the duffel bag, hiding his face. He couldn’t be sure Regan wouldn’t read his expression. “Doubt it. She knows now what you did to her mother.”

“She doesn’t have to be willing, Gray. You know that.”

Liam kept himself from taking a deep breath, giving his emotions away. He tossed the second duffel beside the first in the middle of his unmade bed and turned. “Was that really blood on the card with the rose?”

“Yeah, stroke of genius, that.” Raleigh held up his hand, wagging his middle finger. “Paper cut on these rough old hands. Couldn’t resist.”

“Your intent was only to scare her away? If you’d only ignored her, you would have been better off.”

“Needed her away from here, though, didn’t we? Besides, it was fun.”

Fun.
Liam’s gut clenched. “I tried to get her to go back home. She wouldn’t listen.”

“Not surprising. She thinks she’s in love.” The man started chortling again. “And the end game? Well, you’ve changed that now, haven’t you?”

Liam’s eyes narrowed. He knew better than to believe the bastard was giving in this easily. Liam needed a little more time, that was all, and he hoped he’d bought it. He couldn’t count on any more than that.

“Fuck you, Raleigh. Let’s get this over with.”

He took a few steps into the hallway and turned in front of the bathroom door, waiting for Raleigh to exit the room. After a moment, the man sauntered out with a jerk of his thumb over his shoulder. “Had her in there once, I did. Edwin’s wife. Right here in his bed. She was too scared to say no.”

Liam stayed quiet, his teeth grinding together. From the corner of his eye, he glimpsed the attic door swing open several inches. He looked away. “Last job, and I’m gone.”

Raleigh nodded. “Yeah. Last job.”

Liam didn’t much care for the way Raleigh uttered those three words, but he couldn’t change them.

* * * *

Paige crossed the porch, careful where she placed her feet. Storm clouds had begun to amass sometime overnight and, with the hour barely past four, the night remained dark as ink. A cool, damp breeze tugged at her hair, whipping loose tendrils into her eyes, while light rain clung like mist. Something bounded at her from the corner.

“Shadow!” Bending, Paige scooped the black cat up with one hand and tried the knob on the screen door with the other. Unlocked. So was the interior door. Paige walked into the unlit kitchen and lowered Shadow to the floor. Light filtered down from a room upstairs, lining the steps in the living room with a soft glow. Otherwise, the house was dark.

Had he already gone? Idiot. Such an action would only solidify a guilt that wasn’t his. Paige crossed the floor and climbed the stairs. Standing on the threshold to Liam’s bedroom, she studied the empty, rumpled bed, the drawers in the dresser hanging open, clothing obviously removed from them. In the office, she found the same conditions, drawers not fully closed, papers and laptop missing.

Paige’s shoulders dropped. “Liam, no.”

She was too late to stop him. Defeated and empty inside, Paige turned and headed back down the hallway. Two strides away from the door leading to the attic, she heard the feeble squeal of hinges and glanced back to see the door swinging open to reveal the darkened stairwell inside. She stopped. “Liam?”

Her question was followed by a sound in the bathroom that made her think of a struck match. She spun in time to witness the flare of white-gold light at the end of a cigarette and the face revealed behind it. The man puffed to get the cigarette going. Paige darted toward the stair head, but a stocky, balding man with a fierce tattoo the length of his arm already blocked her descent from the landing below.

“Hey, babe,” Raleigh said, coming out into the hallway behind her. “I see you got my message.”

She looked back. Regan Raleigh lifted his hand to reveal a cell phone cupped in his palm, her reply to Liam glowing on the screen.

Don’t leave me, Liam. Just don’t leave me. We’ll work this out together.

“Where is he?”

The man blew a perfect smoke ring into the air between them. “Gone. Just like he said.” He tipped the phone from side to side. “And you, of course, opted to go with him. After all, you loooove him. Stupid emotion, love. Fucking waste of energy.”

Paige glanced again into the ransacked bedroom. “Did you hurt him? Is he here in the house?”

Raleigh took a few steps closer and stopped at a point where she had to look up to meet his eye. Not far, though. He was nowhere near as tall as Liam. She could only hope the man was lying through his teeth. Unless Liam had been pounced on by more than one attacker, she felt confident Raleigh couldn’t have overpowered him. Not alone. Yes, now that she stood closer, she could see a definite swelling in Raleigh’s jaw and the beginnings of a black eye.

“He’s not in the house. He’s waiting for you…sweetie. I couldn’t very well leave him somewhere he could be found. Had to follow through with his bid for freedom, didn’t he? And you disappear with him. Simple.” He bent close. “We’ll have a little fun beforehand, though, won’t we?”

Paige drew a clenched fist. She kept it at her side, remembering the end result of the last time she’d taken a swing at him. Besides, the other man waited behind her. If she cooperated, she might find a way to help Liam. Patience had never been one of her virtues. It was time to establish that practice, if only for Liam’s sake. Wherever this man had taken him, she wanted to be there, too. Together they would—they would what? Probably both die.

“I’m not my mother. She was afraid of you.”

“You will be, too, before I finish.” He nodded to the man on the steps. Paige ducked away, up against the wall.

“What about—”

“The envelope containing the statement of what you saw on the beach sixteen years ago? Believe me, you’ll sign another saying it was all a lie to try and frame me because of this whole harassment thing they’ve charged lover boy with. If you don’t, you’ll just prolong the agony I’m going to subject him to before he dies.”

She had no idea what he was talking about, but she latched onto the fact that Liam lived. “Why do you want to kill him?”

He appeared affronted that she’d even ask. With a smirk, he took another drag on the cigarette. “Do I need a reason? He irks me.”

“I don’t believe you.”

“That he irks me? Why would I lie about that? He’s been working for me for six months now and has never shown an ounce of respect. I never quite trusted him. And I’ve dumped men in the ocean for less. As soon as he hooked up with you, though, I knew it was only a matter of time before he learned the truth about that night. That truth makes him a danger to me. Just like you.”