Scene of the Crime: Black Creek Read online

  Then there was the issue of the physical contact with Mick throughout the afternoon and evening. It had been difficult. Each touch of his hand had evoked memories of what they’d shared that single night six months before.

  She didn’t want to think about that night, when for a brief moment in his arms she’d finally felt at home, that she was where she belonged. It had been a feeling meant to fool her, to beckon her to let down her guard. And that would be a huge mistake.

  It had taken her years to recover from the chaos of her childhood. She now lived her life by her terms, and those terms had already chased one man away from her. She had no intention of attempting anything with any other man. It would simply be a heartbreaking mess, and Cassie hated messes.

  Even now, knowing that Mick’s shorts and flowered shirt were in a pile at the end of the bed, made her just a little crazy. She’d asked him before he’d fallen asleep what the plans were for today and he’d told her they’d play it by ear.

  Play it by ear. She didn’t like to work that way. She wanted specific plans, a timeline of how the day’s events would unfold. She liked schedules and spreadsheets, and she had a feeling both were totally alien to Mick.

  He would be the worst person in the world to fall in love with, and that’s why it was dangerous for her to remember that night, those moments when she’d felt so right in his big, strong arms.

  Knowing that any more sleep would be impossible, she slid from the bed and padded into the bathroom for a quick shower. The brisk spray helped to slough off any drowsiness that might remain from her nearly sleepless night. She had to be alert, on top of her game today.

  At least she hadn’t had one of her nightmares, the ones that woke her up weeping. That would have been beyond embarrassing. It would have made her look weak, and that was unacceptable. She’d been weak as a child but she would never be weak again.

  Remembering the heat from the day before, she dressed in a pair of tailored navy shorts and a light blue short-sleeved button-up blouse. As she opened the bathroom door the scent of freshly brewed coffee filled her nose.

  Mick was up, still clad in his boxers and T-shirt, rich, dark, slightly curly hair tousled from sleep and a lazy smile on his lips as he gestured toward the coffeemaker on the dresser. “Good morning.”

  “Good morning,” she returned, trying not to notice how utterly hot he looked fresh out of the sheets. It should be against the law for a man to look like he did at this very moment.

  “Coffee is made. Enjoy a cup while I shower and then we’ll talk about the day.” He disappeared into the bathroom and Cassie reminded herself to breathe.

  She poured herself a cup of coffee and carried it to the front window. Would today be the day that they caught the killer’s eyes? She took a sip of the warm brew in an effort to banish the chill that seeped through her body at the thought.

  Yet wasn’t that exactly what she wanted? The sooner they caught the killer’s attention, the faster this assignment would be over and she and Mick would once again go their separate ways.

  It had been two weeks between the two murders, so if the killer was on that kind of time line, then he should be ready to kill again at any time.

  The rising sun shot splendid colors across the eastern skies and for a moment she was caught up in the beauty before her. She imagined that Black Creek had been a picturesque little town before the honeymoon madness had taken over.

  She turned away from the window, remembering the Stop the Madness storefront they’d seen the day before. She certainly didn’t have to look far for the shorts Mick had worn the night before. They were still on the floor next to the bed.

  She set her cup on the coffee table and walked over to Mick’s shorts and plucked them off the floor. She grabbed the flyer he’d stuck in his pocket, then neatly folded both shorts and shirt. She laid them on the dresser next to the flat-screen television and quickly made up the bed.

  A few minutes later she unfolded the flyer and sat on the love seat to read what it was all about. She’d just finished looking it over when Mick came out of the bathroom on a breeze of steam and with the scent of clean male, shaving cream and a whisper of spicy cologne.

  His denim shorts showcased the slim but strong length of his legs and the short-sleeved chambray shirt exposed his amazing biceps and emphasized his broad shoulders. He glanced at the bed and then at her. “You know the maid would have done that.”

  “I know, I just don’t like to look at an unmade bed.”

  “Interesting reading?” he asked as he walked over to the coffeemaker and poured himself a cup of the brew.

  “These people are definitely resisting changing the name of the town,” she said, far too conscious of him as he sank down next to her on the love seat, which seemed to shrink with his presence. “And guess who the president of the movement against the name change is? Derrick Black, great-great-grandson of the founder of the town.”

  He raised one of his eyebrows and took a sip of his coffee. “Sounds like somebody we should meet,” he said as he set his cup down close to hers on the table. He grabbed one of the fat muffins from the basket and unwrapped it. “Eat up, we shouldn’t be seen outside before nine or ten this morning.”

  “Why not?” she asked curiously. It was only a little after seven now. Why not get a jump on the day? “Haven’t you heard the old adage about early birds and worms?”

  Once again one of his dark eyebrows rose as a provocative grin curved his lips. “We’re newlyweds, Cassie. We’d linger in bed, maybe share a little morning delight before heading out to see the sights.” He set the muffin down. “Want to share a little morning delight with me, Cassie?”

  “Don’t be ridiculous,” she replied, and then blushed as she remembered that there were extra ears in the room, that the agents in the next cottage could hear whatever they were saying.

  Mick laughed good-naturedly. “Have a muffin and relax,” he said. He leaned closer to her. “But sooner or later we’re going to talk about what happened six months ago,” he whispered.

  “There’s nothing to talk about,” she whispered back. “And now the subject is closed.”

  For a long moment his green eyes held hers, and in their depths she saw questions, questions that she had no intention of ever answering. She broke the eye contact, picked up her coffee cup and got up from the love seat.

  She didn’t look at him until she reached the window. “So what are the plans for the day?”

  He picked up his muffin and took a bite and shrugged. “I figured we’d just kind of hang loose and see what sounds good. We’ve got a list of places where the murdered couples went and we need to work in one or two of those.”

  A familiar edge of anxiety fired off in Cassie’s brain. “I’d rather we have a more definitive plan for the day. What time do you plan for us to leave here this morning and what, specifically, do we have on our agenda?”

  He looked at her as if she were a creature from outer space, the same way Glen had looked at her at the very end of their relationship. It made her feel abnormal, as if there was something wrong with her.

  “I’d forgotten that about you,” he finally said. He took another bite of his muffin and chewed, his gaze thoughtful as it lingered on her. “Is this some kind of weird control issue that you have?”

  “Of course not,” she scoffed, and smoothed her hands down the sides of her shorts. “I just like to know how to mentally prepare for the day,” she countered.

  “Why do you need to mentally prepare for a day of hanging out in a honeymoon town?”

  “I just do, okay? So can you humor me in this and give me some specifics?” She tried desperately to keep the anxiety out of her voice.

  He popped the last of the muffin in his mouth and followed it by a drink of coffee before replying. “Okay, we’ll leave here around nine and the first thing on our agenda will be a visit to the local spa. A little soak and relaxation sounds like the perfect way to start the day. After that I’d like to check out
the Stop the Madness headquarters, and by that time it should be lunch.”

  She nodded, the knot of anxiety in her chest slowly ebbing away. “And after lunch?”

  Mick pulled from the paperwork on the table the list of activities the murdered couples had done before they’d been killed. “We can either lounge around by the pool or visit a couple of the shops that are on this list. By then it will be dinnertime at the Wedded Bliss Buffet and Grill.”

  “Thank you,” she said as the last of her anxieties vanished.

  “Do we need to do this each morning?”

  “It would make me feel better,” she admitted.

  “Okay then. Now why don’t you tell me about what you read in that flyer?”

  For the next thirty minutes they talked about what they’d learned so far about the small town of Black Creek aka Honeymoon Haven.

  Cassie ate one of the muffins and then peeled an orange as they dissected the original murders and speculated on how long it would take for them to gain the killer’s attention.

  At a few minutes before nine she grabbed a tote bag she’d carried in her suitcase and placed a bathing suit and a hairbrush inside it. She’d bought the turquoise one-piece bathing suit the evening of the day she’d discovered she was coming here.

  Since she hated the water, she didn’t swim and hadn’t owned a suit. When she went to the store her intention had been to buy a basic black, but the beautiful turquoise had caught her eye.

  At exactly nine o’clock she stood at the front door and watched as Mick dug around in his duffel seeking his bathing suit. “I thought I left it in here, but I can’t find it. Maybe I put it in one of the drawers with my underwear,” he muttered as he abandoned the duffel bag and moved to the dresser.

  Cassie fought the impulse to roll her eyes. First thing on the agenda and they were already going to be late. Typical Mick McCane.

  “Aha,” he exclaimed triumphantly as he pulled out black swim trunks with a red stripe down either side. As he approached where she waited he held them out toward her. “Mind putting it in your tote?”

  She did so and then he opened the door and they were off. “I hope tonight is the night,” she said as they stepped into the warm morning air. “I hope he comes after us tonight and we can wrap up this whole operation.”

  “It will happen when it happens.” He slung his arm over her shoulder.

  She stiffened at his close physical proximity and she knew he felt it. “I know, I know, relax,” she said as she drew a deep breath and attempted to do just that.

  He smiled at her, a genuine warm smile that shot a starburst of heat through her veins. “You’re doing fine. Just act like you like me and don’t hate me and everything will go smoothly.”

  “I don’t hate you,” she replied as they hit the sidewalk that would lead them to the spa.

  “You want to talk about it now?” he asked.

  “About what?”

  “About what happened between us when we finished up the last case we worked together?” His arm around her shoulder seemed to tighten a bit.

  She immediately tensed once again. “There’s nothing to talk about. We slept together and then we got on with our lives.”

  He released a low rumble of dry laughter. “I have to tell you, I’ve never been kicked out of a woman’s bed so unceremoniously. And you didn’t just kick me out of your bed. You kicked me to the curb in front of your house and completely out of your life.”

  “I might have overreacted a bit,” she admitted. “I just knew I didn’t want a relationship and you’d made it clear you weren’t looking for one and I felt like the whole thing had been a big mistake. Now, can we move on? Besides, the issue really had nothing to do with you, it was my problem.”

  “You want to talk about this problem?” he asked.

  “No,” she replied firmly. She didn’t want to go into all the reasons sleeping with him had been a mistake. She wasn’t willing to give up those pieces of herself to anyone.

  Thankfully they were silent until they reached the spa, where they were greeted by a man named Tim Majors who introduced himself as the owner of the establishment.

  Tim was a big man with a burly build and dark eyes. Although his smile appeared genuine as he told them about the natural hot springs that were reputed to have magical healing powers, Cassie noticed that the smile that curved his lips didn’t quite ease a distracted darkness in his gaze.

  “We have a public area where people can swim and relax, but most of our honeymooning couples prefer to choose a different experience in one of our eight private spa rooms.”

  “That’s what we want, right, darling?” Mick said as he pulled her close against him.

  She murmured her assent and Tim nodded. “Great, we’ll set you up for an hour in the Safari Room.” He turned and yelled over his shoulder. “Jimbo, we have guests.” He turned back to look at them. “My son. He helps me out around here.”

  A big, lumbering teenager appeared at the desk. Like his father, he had dark eyes, but unlike his father no hint of a smile attempted to curve the sullen downward tug of his lips.

  “Jimbo, please take our guests and show them to the dressing rooms and then escort them to the Safari Room. Make sure everything is ready for them there.” Tim’s voice held a definite tone of frustration and firm authority with his son.

  Jimbo nodded. “Follow me,” he said to Mick and Cassie. The big young man didn’t speak again until they reached two doors, one marked Men’s Dressing Room and the other with a sign that indicated it was the women’s.

  “When you’re finished changing just wait here and I’ll take you to the Safari Room,” Jimbo said.

  “So, you work here for your dad?” Mick asked.

  Jimbo scowled. “Yeah. I thought I was heading out of this hillbilly town to college, but business has been so busy here my dad decided he needed me.” He gestured toward the doors to the dressing rooms. “I’ll be back in just a few minutes for you.”

  Cassie exchanged a glance with Mick as Jimbo lumbered back down the hallway. “Nice welcoming committee,” she said as she tossed Mick his swim trunks.

  “We’ll talk later,” Mick replied and then disappeared through the door.

  The ladies’ dressing room was huge, with a tiled shower area, two small saunas and a large steam room. Cassie entered one of the small changing cubicles and undressed. She tried not to think about the fact that within minutes she’d be half-naked with Mick.

  At least the suit she’d bought was a one-piece, she thought as she pulled it out of her tote and stepped into it. Instantly she realized she should have tried it on at the store. What had looked modest on the rack looked anything but on her body.

  The sides were high cut, exposing far too much of her thighs and derriere, and the neckline plunged downward to display an abundant amount of her breasts.

  “Too late now,” she muttered to herself as she neatly folded her clothes and put them into a locker. She slipped the locker key into the tote bag and then stepped outside of the dressing room door where Mick and Jimbo awaited.

  Mick’s eyes widened in obvious appreciation at the sight of her and she glared at him, daring him to make any kind of comment whatsoever. He simply grinned to show he’d gotten the message and then they followed Jimbo to their private spa room.

  The Safari Room was exactly like it sounded, with wallpaper that looked like an African landscape, a large wooden sculpture of an elephant on a display stand and a lounging chair big enough for two in a leopard print.

  The small pool in the center of the room bubbled and steamed and filled the air with the faint scent of sulfur and lavender. A tray with glasses of champagne and chocolate-covered strawberries sat on the edge, along with two large bath towels in the same print as the lounger chair.

  “Enjoy,” Jimbo said, although it was obvious his heart wasn’t in it, and then he left the room and closed the door behind him.

  “After you,” Mick said and gestured to the pool.
>
  “I think I’ll just sit on the side and dangle my legs,” she replied.

  “I suppose you don’t want me to mention how slamming hot you look in that bathing suit,” he said as he eased himself down into the pool.

  “I’d rather you not,” she replied as she sat down and slipped her legs over the edge into the hot water.

  “I suppose you’d rather talk about the fact that Jimbo isn’t a happy camper working for his dad.”

  “I just wonder how unhappy he is,” she replied. She wished he could get off the bench seat and sink all the way under the water instead of giving her a perfect view of his bare, muscled chest and his six-pack abs. “He’s a big guy, it would be easy for him to shove his way through a door.”

  “You should really get in, this feels amazing.” He closed his eyes for a moment and released a deep sigh. The only sound in the room was the bubbling of jets beneath the surface of the water.

  This all seemed like such a waste of time. How could a killer see them inside this private little room? What was the point of the two of them being holed up here all alone? He didn’t even act like he wanted to talk about the crimes.

  “Relax, Cassie,” Mick said without opening his eyes. “We’ve been in town less than twenty-four hours and I can feel the tension to get the job done coming off you in waves.”

  “I’m not used to sitting around and doing nothing,” she replied.

  He opened his eyes. “It might look like we’re doing nothing, but we’re doing exactly what we’re supposed to be doing. Don’t forget that it’s possible at one of these places where it feels like we’re just wasting our time, our killer could be sizing us up and making plans for the night.”

  “Jimbo goes to the top of my suspect list,” she said, and finally decided to lower herself to sit on the bench just under the surface in the water. As long as it didn’t go up over her head she was fine.

  There was no question the hot water relaxed muscles she hadn’t realized were tense. The strangely scented liquid felt like silk on her lower legs and thighs.

  “It makes sense that somebody from the Black side committed the murders,” he said.