Deception (22 page)

Then he kissed her mouth and covered her body with his. No tricks. No schemes.

Dylan had come to her at last.

* * *

T
HE NEXT MORNING
Mia woke up to the sound of the shower. She had to get going and set her plans in motion—all of her plans. She hated leaving Kayla, but Dylan was right. She needed her parents right now. She’d get in touch with the Rutherfords today and arrange to have Kayla airlifted to Arizona. Then she’d finalize some of the forms Dirk had given her to convert Columbella into a park. Last on her list was getting a flight back to New York. After the night she and Dylan had shared, her fears about leaving him seemed ridiculous. They belonged together. Why hadn’t they realized that sooner?

But the years apart had made them an even better fit. Dylan had been too perfect for her, had taken himself too seriously. She was sorry for his experience with the Lords and Melody’s death, but it had made him realize that people were flawed. She was flawed. That judgmental side of him that had always scared her off had mellowed.

She’d learned from her mistakes, too. Life was not one big joke. Some games had consequences.

The bathroom door opened with a whoosh of lemon-scented steam and Dylan emerged with a towel wrapped around his waist. “Did I wake you?”

She stretched and swung her legs over the side of the bed. “Yes, but I need to get up. I have a busy day ahead of me.”

“Which includes getting on a flight to New York.”

“Realistically, I don’t think that’s going to happen today, but maybe tomorrow.”

“That will give me a chance to take the day off work tomorrow and drive you up to San Francisco.”

Planting her feet on the floor, she said, “You don’t have to drive me up to the city.”

“Yeah, I do.” He ran a hand through his wet hair, and it curled at the ends. “Leave your rental car at the same office where you got the replacement, and I’ll drop you off at the airport.”

“You have to work today, and I have to get some stuff done.”

“Just tell me where you’re headed at all times, and I’ll arrange to have someone tail you.”

“You’re going to get in trouble using the Coral Cove police force as a private security agency.”

“Nobody has to go out of his or her way. It’s a small town. What are your plans?”

She held up her hand and ticked off her fingers. “I’m going to the hospital to visit Kayla and set up air transport to take her to Arizona. I have to drop by City Hall and turn some forms over to Dirk. I’d like to go back out to Columbella and finish my inventory. I can’t trash the entire interior. There are some one-of-a-kind items out there.”

Dylan twisted his lips. “That’s all doable, but I don’t like the idea of you out at Columbella again.”

“You can send me with a police escort.” She waved her hand. “I’ll be fine.”

“Maybe I should teach you how to use that pepper spray.”

She cleared her throat, which still burned. “I did use it correctly. The wind blew it back in my face.”

“You have to angle away from any breeze.”

“Yeah, like that’s what I was thinking when confronted with that knife-wielding maniac.”

He strolled to his dresser and pulled out a pair of boxers. Keeping his towel in place as if she hadn’t already seen it all before, he struggled into his boxers.

“Nothing about the stranger seemed familiar? The way he moved, carried himself, shoes?”

“I guess I’d make a terrible witness, but all I saw was the knife.”

“That’s really common. Once someone pulls out a weapon, that’s all the victim notices.”

She straightened her shoulders and marched to the bathroom. “I am not a victim.”

Later that morning, true to his word, Dylan followed her back to the Sea View and waited while she changed clothes. Then he followed her back to town and joined her on the sidewalk in front of City Hall.

He reached around her and plucked a newspaper from the stack in the wooden kiosk. He held it up in front of his chest, and Mia read aloud, ‘Demolition for Columbella House.’

She smacked the paper. “Oh, that’s not sensational at all.”

Dylan turned the paper around. “At least he added the bit about the park beneath the headline.”

“So neither side is going to be happy with me.”

“Ha! When did that ever bother a St. Regis?
Regis
means ‘king,’ right? The St. Regises have always been masters of their own destinies.”

She jerked her thumb over her shoulder. “Okay, I’m going to meet with Dirk right now. It should take me a few hours if you’re keeping tabs.”

“I’m keeping tabs.” He folded the paper and handed it to her. “Let me know when you’re done with Dirk. Hospital after?”

“Yes, I called earlier. No change for Kayla, but she’s not any worse and there’s definitely no damage to her organs.”

“That’s good news. Before you know it, you’ll be visiting her in Arizona, or a more likely scenario is she’ll be hitting you up for a place to stay in New York.”

“She won’t have to hit me up.” Mia tucked the paper into her bag. “She’ll be a wealthy young woman in her own right.”

“Don’t overwhelm her, Mia. Sometimes riches don’t do anyone any good.”

“And sometimes they do a lot of good, like right now. I’m going to arrange air transport for her with a nurse onboard.”

He kissed the top of her head. “Sounds like a good use for your dough. Keep me posted. I’m going to get you out of this town tomorrow.”

He waited in his squad car at the curb until she entered the building.

Dirk rose from his chair when she walked into his office. “Whew, I thought you were going to keep this plan under wraps. Since the
Coral Cove Herald
hit the stands, my phone’s been ringing nonstop.”

“That intrepid reporter, Jimmy Holt, got hold of the story and ran with it. Are the calls positive or negative?”

“About half and half, which just goes to show you, you can’t please all the people all the time.”

She dropped a stack of papers on his desk. “Let’s go through what I need to sign, since I’m leaving for New York tomorrow.”

“So soon?” He frowned and spun the stack around to face him. “I guess we can do a lot of this long-distance.”

“It’s not safe for me here. Someone is a little too invested in the fate of Columbella. I was attacked last night in the hospital parking lot.”

Dirk drew his glasses to the tip of his nose and peered over the top. “Are you kidding?”

“Deadly serious. I think the same person might be behind the poisoning of my niece.”

“That’s nuts. Then that same person killed Hank the homeless guy?”

“Exactly.”

“The chief better get on the ball then. Our previous chief had a lackadaisical air about serious crime in this town, and we gave him the boot.”

“I thought he took a job elsewhere.”

“He took a job elsewhere because he was so unpopular here.” Dirk thumbed through the forms and pulled one from the stack. “Sign here, too.”

She snatched a pen from the holder shaped like a fish and scribbled her name on the line where he was tapping his finger.

He slid open a file drawer to his left and pulled out another form. “You need to sign this.”

Mia scanned the form while Dirk tapped his pen on his desk blotter. “The mayor should be happy about this,” he said.

“Tyler? I thought he and his wife were in the renovation camp.”

“They are, but he’d like to see more parks in Coral Cove. He mentioned it to me once when he talked about what he’d do if the house ever came to the city.”

“Why would the house go to the city?” Mia bit the end of the pen and squinted at the small print on the form.

“I hope you’re reading these forms better than you apparently read your grandfather’s will.”

She jerked up her head. “Huh?”

“In the event of your death and no other direct St Regis descendants, which means offspring belonging to you or Marissa, Columbella House goes to the city. I’ve seen the documents.”

“Really?” Mia initialed the bottom of the page and flipped it over. “But Tyler wants it to be a park?”

“He mentioned something like that.”

Mia signed the back of the form and slid it across the table. Dylan had asked her who got the house if she died an untimely death. If the city got it, that wouldn’t do one person any good, would it?

She spent the next hour and a half with Dirk and left him with her email address and all possible phone numbers.

He walked her into the hallway where Tyler was just coming out of his office.

He saluted. “Hey, Mia, are you finalizing the deal to turn Columbella House into a park?”

“Not quite final yet, Mayor, but the wheels are turning.” She tilted her head toward Dirk. “The city planner here told me you were interested in turning Columbella into a park.”

“More greenbelt for a city is always good.” He turned to Dirk. “Can I have a minute, Dirk?”

“Sure. We just finished.”

The two propped up the wall while they put their heads together, and Mia pulled out her phone and pressed the key for Dylan’s cell.

“Okay, Chief. I’m done at City Hall and I’m going to head over to the hospital.”

“Are you satisfied now that you can do
everything
long-distance?”

She whispered into the phone. “We can’t do
everything
long-distance.”

He chuckled. “I meant the plans for Columbella House.”

“Oh, that. Yeah, we’ll get it done.”

“Good. Don’t leave City Hall until you see a squad car coming down the street. Officer Baxter is on patrol today, and he could use a run down the highway to the hospital.”

“Got it. I feel like the queen or something.”

“You’re
my
queen, babe.”

Another little piece of her heart melted. “I’ll call you after my next stop.”

She waved to Dirk and Tyler and stationed herself on the sidewalk. Two minutes later, a police car rolled around the corner. She held up her hand and made for her car. She tossed her bundle of papers in the backseat, snapped her seat belt and pulled away from the curb, the patrol car tailing her to the highway.

Fifteen minutes later when she cruised into the hospital parking lot, a chill snaked through her body. Dylan had sent an officer over this morning to see if she could find any more evidence at the scene of the attack. Since he hadn’t mentioned a word about it over the phone, Mia assumed the cop hadn’t discovered anything new.

She parked and Officer Baxter remained right beside her, his engine idling. He crawled behind her until she got to the hospital doors. Leave it to Dylan to put a twenty-four-hour watch on her.

She took a deep breath and closed her eyes.
Happy thoughts. Happy thoughts.

She went up to the third floor and stopped by the nurses’ station. “I’m back. How’s she doing?”

Geri came from the back, carrying a tray with pills on it. “I’m so sorry about last night. That’s just creepy that someone would use my name to lure you out here and attack you.”

“It’s not your fault. The person on the phone didn’t even give her name. I just assumed it was you. I guess I was so anxious for good news about Kayla.”

She set down the tray. “She’s doing well. She stirred a little bit this morning.” She glanced over her shoulder and held her finger to her lips. “Don’t tell Dr. Fitzwilliam I said this, but I think she’s going to come out of this soon.”

“I hope so, but I have to go back to New York tomorrow. I’m making arrangements to have her taken to Phoenix by helicopter.”

“Oh, you’re going to deny us the pleasure of being with her when she wakes up?”

“Her parents are in Phoenix. They’re worried sick.”

“You’re a good aunt, Mia, and I think it’s great what you’re doing with that creepy old house. Even a restoration won’t get rid of the ghosts out there.”

“You think there are ghosts?”

“Absolutely.”

“Well, hopefully they won’t haunt the park.”

“They’ll disappear once you demolish the old place. Maybe all the spirits will escape out to sea.”

Mia raised her brows. Nurse Geri must’ve been a good customer of Rosie the fortune-teller.

“Let’s hope everyone is as happy as you to see that house and land become a park. Can I see Kayla now?”

“Go right in. I’ll send Dr. Fitzwilliam by when he gets a moment so you can discuss her needs with him and give him the Phoenix hospital info.”

Mia walked down the corridor and pushed open the door to Kayla’s private room. The flowers she’d brought the day before emitted a luscious scent that blotted out the antiseptic hospital smell.

“Good news, Kayla.” Mia dragged a chair to the side of the bed. “You’re going home to your parents.”

She smoothed her hand across Kayla’s cool forehead. “But you’re not getting rid of me that easily. I’ll be keeping tabs on you, and I’ll pay for your college. I’ll buy you that car. I’ll do everything my sister would’ve done for you. She’d be the perfect mom for a teenage girl. Because wherever she is, I’m sure she never grew up.”

Mia’s voice caught and she covered her mouth, turning away. She had to stay positive for Kayla.

“Your friends are still here, too. They’ll come and visit you when they get back to Phoenix. They’re going to cut their road trip short.”

Amid Kayla’s steady breaths, she released a soft sigh.

Mia’s heart jumped and she scooted her chair closer to the bed. “Kayla? Can you hear me?”

Kayla’s lashes stirred on her cheeks, and another sigh escaped her lips.

Mia jumped from her chair and it clattered to the floor. She tripped to the door and gripped the doorjamb as she arched into the hallway. “Nurse, nurse! Dr. Fitzwilliam!”

Nurse Geri strode down the hallway, her sneakers squeaking on the floor. “What is it?”

“It’s Kayla. She’s stirring. She made a couple of noises. She almost opened her eyes.”

Geri brushed past her and picked up Kayla’s wrist. Then she hunched over her patient and pushed up one of her eyelids, shining a small penlight into her eye.

“Looks good. I’m going to get Dr. Fitzwilliam. Keep talking to her.” She hurried from the room.

Mia righted the chair and drummed her fingers on Kayla’s arm. “Keep it up, kid. We’re all waiting for you on the other side.”