Scene of the Crime: Black Creek Read online

  “If you want to start screwing up the whole Honeymoon Haven madness, the best way to do it is to start offing honeymooning couples.” She wasn’t sure if it was the right motive for the murders, but at least for now it was a working theory.

  “I definitely want to check out that organization, and I’d like to somehow get a list of the people who belong to it.”

  “But I thought we were supposed to leave the investigating to Sheriff Lambert and his men. We’re just the bait.”

  “But we aren’t brainless bait and I don’t intend to be completely blindsided by whoever decides to come into our room to kill us.”

  “So, we’re investigating bait,” Cassie said with an edge of excitement. This was what she did. Her job was what filled her life and gave her purpose.

  For the next thirty minutes they talked about their plans to meet as many locals as possible, particularly those who were outwardly averse to changing the name of the town.

  “It’s a shame to waste these,” he said as he gestured to the strawberries. He slid partially out of the water to sit next to her on the little bench inside the pool.

  Acutely aware of his wet thigh against hers, the heat of him warming her more than the water, she fought the impulse to scoot away from him.

  He picked up one of the strawberries by the stem and held it up to her lips. “Go on, take a bite,” he said. “You never know who might be watching us at this very minute,” he murmured, his lips separated from hers by the mere width of a chocolate-covered strawberry.

  Cassie hated the fact that her heart suddenly raced and she wanted both to escape him and fall into him. She took a bite of the strawberry and as she swallowed the sweet morsel, his lips suddenly covered hers.

  No, her brain cried, but her mouth wasn’t listening to her brain. The kiss scorched through her with the fiery heat she remembered from kissing him before. It was only when he touched his tongue to hers in an effort to deepen the kiss that she pulled away, irritated with him and equally irritated with herself.

  “I think you’re taking advantage of this whole situation,” she said. She stepped out of the pool, grabbed her towel and wrapped it around her, somewhat comforted by the cover.

  “Maybe just a little,” he agreed good-naturedly. He popped a strawberry into his mouth and then chased it with some of the champagne.

  “I think I’ve had enough spa time,” she said as he got out of the pool and grabbed the second towel.

  “Our time in here is just about up anyway.”

  “I’m going to sit in the sauna for a short time, so I’ll meet you in the lobby in twenty minutes,” she said as they parted ways at the dressing rooms.

  “Twenty minutes,” he agreed.

  Cassie’s lips still burned from his hot kiss as she grabbed her locker key and dropped her tote bag on the wooden bench just outside one of the saunas. The bag held only her hairbrush, so she wasn’t worried about anyone stealing it. Besides, at least for now, she was the only person in the dressing room.

  She rarely got a chance to sit in a sauna, although she worked out as regularly as she could at a health club near her apartment. She entered the small wooden enclosure and sat on the bench inside.

  No matter how hard she tried not to think about it, that darned kiss played and replayed in her mind. The fact that he’d admitted he was taking advantage of the situation only made it more outrageous. And yet he’d tasted so good.

  Just like she’d remembered. Just like she’d dreamed about for the past six months. No matter how hard she’d tried in the past couple of months, she hadn’t been able to forget the way his lips had played on hers as he’d made love to her. Mick McCane might make her half-crazy, but the man definitely knew how to kiss.

  She shifted positions and tried to shove all thoughts of Mick out of her mind at least for a few minutes. The heat inside the sauna felt intolerable, and her body quickly became bathed in a layer of perspiration. Breathing was difficult as the high humidity pressed tight against her chest. She’d never been in a sauna that contained this kind of intense heat.

  She leaned her head back, thinking once again about the most recent kiss and the fact that Mick seemed reluctant to leave their past alone. It was probably all about his ego, she told herself. Mick wasn’t the kind of man who would be kicked out of a woman’s bed after lovemaking. Yes, it definitely had to be a male ego thing. He needed to make sure his charm and ability under the sheets hadn’t been what had caused her unexpected reaction.

  She gasped for a breath. This didn’t feel right. Realizing the sauna was far too hot, too humid for her to handle, she got up and pushed on the door to exit.

  It didn’t open.

  She pushed again, putting her shoulder into it and still the door didn’t budge. What the heck? Was it somehow stuck? She pushed with all the force she had, but the door remained closed.

  She fought against a sense of panic as the tiny room felt too hot to bear. “Hey! Hey, somebody help.” She banged on the wooden door, but knew that there had been nobody else in the dressing room and she doubted her voice would carry outside of the dressing room area.

  Her chest ached as she continued to draw in what had to be near-scalding air. She banged again on the door, yelling for somebody, anyone to come help her, but there was nobody, and after several moments of frantic banging she had to sit, her breaths coming in painful gasps.

  Hadn’t she read someplace about people dying in saunas? Her heart and lungs felt as if they were working triple-time just to keep her breathing.

  The heat seemed not just to surround her but rather to consume her. She tried to get up once again to bang on the door but her body felt boneless and instead she leaned her head back and tried to keep breathing.

  Chapter Five

  Mick stood beneath a cool spray of water in the shower of the men’s dressing room. He’d forgotten just how shapely Cassie was until he’d seen her in that bathing suit. She’d been stunning, and memories of how she’d felt naked in his arms, how she’d responded to his caresses, had dashed through his head. It had taken all his self-control not to respond to both the memories and the sight of her.

  That kiss. He stuck his head under the water, allowing it to sluice over his face. He shouldn’t have kissed her, but she’d looked so pretty and he’d wanted to so badly. It had definitely been a mistake, because he wanted to do it again…and again.

  There was no question that she had major obsessivecompulsive issues, most recently displayed by her need to have the day’s activities scheduled to the minute. It only made him want to dig deeper into her psyche and find out where she had come from, who or what had shaped her world.

  In his household with his three older sisters there had rarely been a schedule, it had been living by the seat of the pants and rolling with the punches. That had certainly helped shape who he had become and how he dealt with the world around him. It was also what he believed helped to make him a good agent, the ability to change course, to go with the flow and make snap decisions without looking back.

  He got out of the shower and dressed, knowing that if she said she’d meet him in the lobby in twenty minutes she’d be there. Not nineteen minutes, not twenty-one minutes, but precisely twenty.

  He pulled on his dry clothes and then grabbed his swim trunks, wrung them out and left the dressing room. He not only liked looking at Cassie, but he also found her intelligent and stimulating. Her mind was quick and he liked that it challenged him to keep up with her.

  And her lips had been pillowy soft against his and had tasted of strawberry and chocolate. He had to stop thinking about it, otherwise he’d need another cold shower before they left the building.

  Tim greeted him as he stepped into the lobby. “Hope you two enjoyed your visit here,” he said.

  “We did, the waters are amazing.”

  Tim smiled easily. “And they are supposed to have medicinal healing properties.”

  “So, business is good?” Mick asked.

 
“Business has never been better. The best thing that ever happened to this town was Mayor John Jamison coming up with this whole honeymoon idea. You honeymooners sure saved my bacon. I was about to go bankrupt a couple of years ago.”

  “But I couldn’t help but notice there’s a movement against renaming the town,” Mick said.

  Tim’s smile instantly turned into a scowl. “Derrick Black has divided the town with his nonsense of wanting to keep things the way they were. He’s forgotten that half the businesses in this place were dying when we were just Black Creek…not even a dot on a map.”

  “So I’m guessing you’re Team Honeymoon Haven.”

  “All the way,” Tim replied.

  Mick looked at his watch. According to the time Cassie should be walking into the lobby at any second. Of course, they hadn’t gone so far as to synchronize their watches. He smiled as he considered that it was probably just an oversight on her part.

  He looked back at Tim. “It must be nice for you to have your son working here with you in the family business.”

  Tim snorted. “Jimbo would rather be out drinking with his buddies or chasing skirts than doing any real work. Kids today, they just want everything handed to them.” He shook his head. “You and your bride, you planning on having kids?”

  “Eventually,” Mick replied, ignoring the sharp pang that pierced through his heart whenever he thought of having a child of his own. “But we’re in no hurry.”

  “That’s right, enjoy yourselves a long honeymoon phase before starting a family.”

  Mick checked his watch again. It had been well over twenty minutes since they’d parted at the dressing room doors. Where was Cassie? He knew it wasn’t in her to take extra time to primp, especially knowing he was waiting for her.

  “You’ll spend half your life waiting on her,” Tim said, obviously noticing Mick checking his watch. “That’s part of our job as a husband…hurry up and wait.”

  Mick forced a laugh, but with each minute that ticked by a growing anxiety twisted in his stomach. “I think I’ll just go knock on the door,” he told Tim when thirty-five minutes had passed and she still hadn’t appeared.

  “Suit yourself. There are no other couples here at the moment. We usually get most of our business in the afternoons and evenings.”

  Mick heard the words as he hurried down the hallway toward the women’s dressing room. Maybe he had Cassie pegged all wrong, he thought. Maybe she wasn’t as much a stickler for time as he’d thought.

  No, that wasn’t right. He already knew her personality well enough that he knew with a gut certainty that she wouldn’t keep him waiting this long. Something was wrong.

  Something was definitely wrong.

  His heart beat quickened as he reached the dressing room door. “Cassie?” he called, then banged on the door with his knuckles. He was vaguely aware of Tim appearing just behind him.

  “Cassie, are you in there?” He waited another minute and there was still no reply. “Cassie, I’m coming in.”

  He pushed open the door and stepped inside, taking a moment to orient himself to the layout of the large area. The shower wasn’t running and there was no sign of Cassie. He checked each dressing cubicle, a new sense of panic firing off as he saw her tote bag on a bench and her clothes neatly folded in one of the dressing rooms.

  Her things were all here…but where was Cassie? A new panic seared through him. He raced to the shower to see if maybe she’d slipped and fallen and somehow knocked herself unconscious, but there was no body on the tiled floor.

  A faint knock came from one of the saunas and Mick raced back toward it and tore open the door to see Cassie slumped against the wall, her entire body drenched and her eyes reddened and wide. The only sound was that of her labored breathing. “Mick,” she finally managed to gasp.

  In two short strides he was inside and lifted her into his arms. Hot. So hot. Not just the sauna she’d been sitting in, but her skin felt like it was in flames.

  He carried her to the bench nearby. “Get me some water,” he yelled at Tim, who immediately disappeared.

  “I’m okay,” Cassie said, her voice a weak whisper. “I just needed out… I needed to get out.”

  “Don’t talk,” he replied as she leaned heavily against him. She remained on his lap only a short time and then moved off to sit next to him on the bench. At least she was well enough to do that, he thought.

  “I couldn’t get out. I pushed and pushed on the door but it wouldn’t open,” she said. Her face was red, and even though he expected her to protest, Mick kept an arm firmly around her shoulder, as she looked too weak to sit upright without help.

  By that time Tim had returned with a bottle of water. He handed it to Cassie, who unscrewed the top and tipped it to her lips. She drank greedily as Mick watched worriedly.

  The sauna door had opened easily for him. Was it possible the intense heat had simply made her too weak to get out? “Are you all right?” Tim asked with obvious concern. “Can I get you something else?”

  “No, thanks. I just want to get out of here,” Cassie said after finishing the water. She got to her feet, slightly unsteady and Mick rose to grab her by the elbow.

  “Are you sure you’re okay? Maybe we should call a doctor,” Mick said worriedly.

  Cassie waved away the idea. “I’m fine.” She forced a smile as if that alone would reassure him, but it didn’t. “I just need to rinse off in the shower.”

  There was no way Mick intended to leave her alone again, at least not until he’d figured out exactly what had happened in here.

  A moment later he waited just outside the tiled shower while Cassie stood beneath a stream of cool water. Meanwhile Tim checked the sauna door to see if there were any problems with it.

  “I can’t imagine what happened,” he finally said to Mick. “I can’t figure out why she couldn’t just open the door.”

  “Is there another way into this dressing room?” Mick asked.

  Tim frowned. “There’s a back door, but we usually keep it locked.” He left the sauna area and disappeared around the corner and when he returned his frown was even deeper. “The door was unlocked. Sometimes we get supplies through there and somebody forgets to lock up afterward. We had a laundry delivery this morning. I guess that’s what happened.”

  By that time Cassie had finished in the shower and had moved to one of the cubicles for dressing. It was obvious Tim was worried about repercussions, but Mick’s sole concern was for Cassie.

  “Needless to say, your spa time is on us today,” Tim said as they all walked back toward the lobby.

  “You definitely need to have somebody check the temperature in that sauna,” Cassie replied, her face unusually pale. “Something wasn’t right, it was too hot, too humid to bear.”

  “I’ll check it myself,” Tim said. “It’s Jimbo’s job to check the saunas and I’ll have his hide if he screwed something up. And I’m so sorry that your experience here wasn’t a pleasant one.” He looked genuinely distraught. “I hope you both will give us an opportunity to gift you with another spa time.”

  “We’ll have to see how our schedule goes,” Mick replied. He grabbed Cassie’s hand as they left the spa.

  “There’s no way we’re going to work in another spa time while we’re here,” she exclaimed. “I’ve had all of the spa I want for a very long time to come. Where are we going?” she asked as he guided her in the opposite direction of the Stop the Madness headquarters.

  “A change in plans,” he replied. “Yesterday I saw a little park and across the street from it was a deli. I’m thinking maybe a nice quiet picnic lunch in the park is just what we need.”

  She opened her mouth as if to protest a deviation from the schedule and then gave a slow nod of her head. “A quiet picnic lunch sounds perfect. It will give me time to process what just happened.”

  “We’ll talk about it in the park. In the meantime the most pressing issue is whether you want ham and cheese or something else.”
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br />   For the next few minutes they didn’t speak as they walked down the sidewalk toward the little city park. True to Mick’s words, a deli was just across the street.

  Inside the deli they ordered sandwiches, chips and sodas and then made their way to one of the picnic tables under several leafy tall trees.

  “Now tell me again exactly what happened in there,” Mick asked as he unwrapped his sandwich.

  “I got into the sauna and almost immediately realized it was too much for me. I pushed on the door but it wouldn’t open.” Her features showed the strain of that moment when she’d realized she couldn’t get out.

  “I pushed and pushed the door but it wouldn’t budge and then I started hitting the door and yelling for help, but nobody came.” He noticed her hand trembled as she tore the cellophane from her sandwich.

  What he wanted to do was pull her into his embrace, hold her tight until the trembling in her body stopped and the healthy color was back in her cheeks. But he didn’t do that.

  “Thank God you’re one for punctuality. I knew when twenty minutes had passed that something was wrong.” He gave her a wry grin. “You’re never late.”

  “Thank God you came to find me. I felt like I was dying in there.” She glanced up at the treetops, as if seeking some sort of answer that might be there. “It was like being inside a burning building.” She looked back at him, her eyes holding the residual traces of fear.

  “Is it possible you just got too weak to open the door?” he asked.

  Her eyes were darker than usual as she watched him. “No way, there was something or someone keeping me from opening the door. I finally had to quit trying to push it open because I was getting weak, but not initially. When I first tried to push the door open I was fine. I was strong, but whoever or whatever was holding the door closed was stronger.”

  The very idea of this incident being anything other than an accident horrified him. “Maybe Jimbo decided to make a little trouble for his father,” he suggested.

  “Very possible. Nothing else makes much sense,” she replied. “I will tell you this, the settings on that sauna were wrong. I’ve been in more than a few saunas, but nothing as hot as this one was.”