Deception (5 page)

Rolling her shoulders, she winced. She’d better get that ibuprofen. She’d be sore for sure tomorrow. A bath might ease her muscles, too. She cranked on the hot water in the tub, letting it run over her fingers.

A large thump at the door almost had her pitching face-first into the bathwater. Had Dylan forgotten something?

She rushed to the door and pulled it open, Dylan’s name on her lips. The word died away on a hitched breath.

There was nobody at the door, but whoever had knocked left her a present—a doll. She’d never liked dolls, even when she’d been doll-age appropriate.

She stooped down to snatch the toy from the cement and gasped. This was no ordinary doll. Someone had cut the photo of her out of the paper and glued it over the doll’s face, and added one more touch…a needle through the doll’s heart.

Chapter Four

Mia clutched her hand to her heart as if she felt the prick of the needle. Stepping back, she banged her elbow on the doorjamb, and pain radiated down her arm. Her gaze darted back and forth along the cement walkway through the bushes.

“Peter?” Her voice broke, and she cleared her throat. “Peter, is that you?”

A rustling of bushes answered her, and beads of sweat broke out on her forehead despite the cool breeze from the ocean. She backed into her room and slammed the door. She scraped the battered chain into place, twitching the curtains at the window for a final peek outside.

Coward.

If Peter thought he’d be getting any more money out of her by playing childish games, he’d better put away whatever it was he’d been smoking.

Pinching the doll by the leg, she dangled it in front of her face. The other soft limbs flopped up and down, and the doll’s blue gingham skirt slipped over its head, the head with Mia’s face pinned to it. She’d seen these dolls before. An artist up the coast made them and sold them to shops in the neighboring towns.

Lots of people had them, but Peter would’ve had to buy the doll here in Coral Cove. It would be easy enough to track that down and nail him. She didn’t know if he’d broken any laws by dropping a voodoo doll on her doorstep…but Dylan would know.

Her gaze slid to the telephone by the bed. She knew he was off duty, but police chiefs in small towns like Coral Cove never went off duty. Someone at the station could rouse the chief.

She shook the doll again and then dropped it on the table by the window. She couldn’t go running to Dylan every time someone yelled
boo
in her face. She’d played that game enough when they were kids, just to see Dylan come running to her rescue.

But she didn’t play games anymore. She’d learned her lesson. The last game she’d played had been bringing Raoul to Coral Cove with her, knowing Marissa wouldn’t be able to resist his boy-model good looks and sexy accent. Look where that had gotten her.

Saddled with a house she no longer wanted and estrangement from her twin. Surely the only price she had to pay was Marissa’s estrangement…not her death.

She shivered as her gaze glanced off the discarded doll, limbs askew, needle through her heart.

Surely not death.

* * *

T
HE NEXT MORNING
, Mia followed up with the rental car company after Dylan’s report of the accident the night before. Their solicitousness made Mia’s teeth ache, but an agent personally delivered a fresh car to the Sea View Motel.

Driving into town, Mia stomped on the brakes a few times just to test them out. She didn’t have her driver’s license, but she figured Chief Reese would show some understanding.

She pulled into a public parking lot and fed some quarters into the meter. Emerging onto Main Street, she scanned the storefronts, looking for the little touristy knickknack places.

Mia stepped into the first one, the bell on the door dancing in a frantic jingle as she swept into the shop. A tidy woman with a long gray braid down her back looked up from her dusting.

Her ready smile faded and she pursed her lips. “Can I help you?”

Great. Seemed her reputation preceded her everywhere. She may as well have a bull’s-eye painted on her forehead.

She practiced her sweetest smile. “Hello, I was wondering if you could help me out.”

The woman grunted.

“Do you carry these dolls?” Mia marched forward and thrust the floppy doll, picture on its face and needle in its heart, under the clerk’s nose.

The woman jerked back and took a sharp breath. “Is this some kind of joke?”

“Yeah, apparently on me.” Mia waved the doll. “You know what kind it is…Cassie’s Creations.”

Wiggling her fingers, the clerk reached out her hand. “Let me see that. I do carry some of Cassie’s Creations.”

Mia happily relinquished the squishy doll, wiping her hands on the seat of her white slacks after handing it over.

The woman flipped the doll over and pulled up her skirt. She pushed her glasses up her nose, bringing the doll close to her face. “Yep, it’s Cassie’s and we do carry these.”

“Do you have any?”

“You want another one?”

“I’m trying to find out who bought this one.”

“I sold out at the end of the tourist season a few weeks ago.” She straightened the doll’s skirt and handed it back to Mia. “You might try May’s Place across the street. She carries them, too.”

Mia tucked the doll under her arm, careful to avoid the end of the needle. “Okay, thanks for your help.”

“So what are you going to do with it?”

“Probably take it to the police.”

The woman rolled her eyes. “Not the doll, I’m talking about Columbella House.”

Mia paused with her hand on the doorknob. “What would you like me to do with it?”

“I’m not sure, but you need to take care of that mess.” She puffed at a strand of gray hair that had come loose from her braid. “Maybe the whole thing should’ve burned down in that fire earlier this summer. There’s bad karma when a place is acquired through nefarious methods.”

Mia’s heart flipped. Did this woman know what Mia had done to obtain the house? “Nefarious methods?”

“I’ve heard stories about your great-grandfather, and I didn’t even grow up here.”

“Don’t believe everything you hear.”
Because sometimes it’s worse.
“You have a great day.”

Mia snapped the door harder than she’d intended, anxious to escape any more accusations. She spun around on the sidewalk, head down, intent on reaching the next store, and collided with a solid shoulder.

She’d know that shoulder anywhere.

“Dylan!”

He caught her arm. “What’s your hurry? Did you just rob Sadie’s place?”

She shoved her arms behind her, the legs of the doll tapping the backs of her thighs. “Ah, no. Just looking around.”

He cocked his head, his eyes unreadable behind his dark sunglasses. “In a touristy knickknack shop?”

Shoving out a breath, she whipped the doll from behind her back and jiggled it in front of Dylan. “Someone left this on my hotel doorstep last night.”

“What?” He snatched the doll from her and poked at the needle with his fingertip. “Does your soon-to-be ex practice voodoo?”

“Not that I know of, but Peter showed only his good side before I married him.” She jerked her thumb over her shoulder at the shop. “I was just checking in there to see if someone matching Peter’s description bought a doll recently.”

“And now you’re going across the street to check the other shop?”

“That’s the plan.”

“I’ll come with you.”

Mia was hoping he’d say that. She might get a better reception with the chief of police by her side.

As they crossed the street together, it seemed like half the pedestrians crisscrossing Main Street had a word or a smile for Dylan, their new chief of police. They barely gave her a glance. It was like the living embodiment of
Beauty and the Beast
…only she was the Beast.

The owner of the next shop had propped open her door, and Dylan gestured Mia through first. The woman behind the counter started gushing before they took two steps inside.

“Chief Reese—I can’t tell you how good that sounds—what can I do for you today?”

“Good morning, Ellen.” He tugged the doll out of Mia’s hand. “Have you sold any of these lately?”

“There’s a pin in that doll.” The woman pursed her lips and her right eye twitched.

Did she assume Mia had defaced the doll? Mia took a breath, but Dylan stilled her with a glance from his blue eyes.

“Exactly.” He placed the doll on the counter like it was an injured patient. “That’s why we need to know who bought it.”

Ellen nudged the doll with the back of her hand. “I had three of these in stock and I sold two this summer. The most recent one to a man, said he was buying it for his daughter.”

With her heart pounding, Mia scrambled through the big canvas bag she’d grabbed to substitute as a purse today. She dragged out a dog-eared photography magazine and flipped to the page with the creased corner with the article about Peter. Flattening it on the counter next to her voodoo-doll likeness, she jabbed at a picture of Peter. “Did this man buy the doll?”

Ellen smoothed the picture with her thumb. “I can’t tell. I don’t think so.”

“But it could’ve been?” Mia pushed the magazine closer to Ellen just in case.

“I suppose so.” She shrugged. “What’s this about, Chief Reese?”

“Someone making threats against Ms. St. Regis.”

“Why? You haven’t decided what you’re going to do with Columbella House yet, have you?” Ellen narrowed her eyes.

“Not yet.” Mia picked up the doll and shook it. “But stunts like this are not going to win me over.”

Dylan thanked Ellen and steered Mia out of the store. He faced her on the sidewalk. “Are you going to confront Peter about this?”

“Of course. I’m not going to allow him to play games like this. The prenup he signed is ironclad.”

“Why’s he fighting it now? Greed?”

“That and—” she smacked the rolled-up magazine against her palm “—the fact that his business is failing.”

Dylan pushed up his sunglasses and rubbed his eyes. “Mia, Mia. The things you get into—nothing’s changed.”

A lot had changed.
Mia studied Dylan’s strong hands and his square, resolute chin. She’d never take him for granted again. She’d grown up in the shadow of this boy becoming a real man, and she hadn’t met a real man since she’d left Coral Cove.

She smiled at her reflection in his dark glasses. “I’m not as wild as I used to be—I promise.”

“You haven’t been in town two days and ex-husbands are leaving creepy dolls on your doorstep and your car is careening off a cliff.” He snapped his fingers. “That reminds me. Your purse and laptop case were thrown clear of the car when it crashed. My guys recovered them and I have them at the station.”

She clapped her hands. “That’s the best news I’ve had all day…that and the rental car company’s willingness to deliver a new car to me.”

“Do you want to walk to the station with me?”

“Absolutely.” She took his arm, her fingertips pressing against the solid muscle beneath his khaki uniform shirt. “Walking with you is like being under this protective umbrella.”

“You feel like you need a protective umbrella?”

“Yeah, from all the slings and arrows being sent my way from the good folks of Coral Cove.”

He bumped her shoulder. “You’re being paranoid. Like Ellen said, you haven’t indicated which way you’re leaning on a decision for Columbella.”

“I’m going out there today. I already called the electric company to have the electricity turned on.”

“Do you want me to go with you?”

“Can you?” She squeezed his arm. “You’re not busy?”

“This is Coral Cove.”

She snorted. “Tell that to Chief Evans, the guy who just left. Murders, suicides, kidnappings. I think there’s been more crime here this past summer than all the years your dad was chief.”

“Weird, huh? And all of it ending up at Columbella House. That’s what has people on edge about the house.”

“I don’t blame them. What did you call it earlier? A magnet for crime? Even before this summer, it was a magnet for a whole lot of other things.” A tremble rolled through her body and she jostled closer to Dylan.

He charged through the doors of the police station like he owned the place. Hunching over the front desk, he called out, “Hey, Clark, do you have Ms. St. Regis’s stuff from the car crash?”

An officer came out from the back, hugging a gray bin to his chest. “Got it right here. You’re one lucky lady.”

“Don’t I know it.”

He placed the bin on the counter and slid it toward her. The odors of gasoline and burning tires wafted from her purse and laptop case.

“Ugh. I hope the contents are salvageable because I’m going to have to throw these bags away.”

“Do you want me to take those to your car and then follow you over to Columbella?”

“I don’t want to take up your time, Dylan, if you have other work to do.”

“I’ve been meaning to go out there anyway—a couple of things I wanted to check out.”

Dylan shoved the bin into her trunk and closed it with a snap. “If you need help retrieving anything on that hard drive, let me know. There’s a guy in town, a teacher, who’s good with computers.”

She leaned against the car door with her hands grasping the door handle behind her.
He must think I’m still a total ditz.

“I appreciate it, Dylan, but you don’t have to hold my hand every step of the way. Believe it or not, I actually live on my own and manage to eat and pay my bills and everything.”

As soon as the words were out of her mouth, she wanted to bite her tongue. Two red spots stained his cheekbones, and his jaw tightened.

“Just trying to help out.”

Pushing off the car, she grabbed his forearm, her fingers slipping up his sleeve to caress the mysterious tattoo.

“I’m sorry. I sounded ungrateful. I just want to let you know I’m not that silly girl who used to run to you for help killing a spider…or to tell some overeager teenage boy to back off.”

His lips quirked up at one end as he stepped away from her touch. “Guess I’m still overprotective. Do you still want me to meet you at Columbella?”