Expert Witness: A Romantic Suspense Novel (28 page)

“Jordan.” Chase almost choked on her name. His throat was so dry.

“Yeah, and her testimony must’ve been pretty persuasive.”

“Did you find any mention of Derek in the press reports?”

“He was in his early twenties at the time. Brother was fifteen years older than he is. Defense tried to argue he’d been a caretaker for Derek with Mom having a long history of substance abuse, but it was given very little weight. The two hadn’t lived at the same residence for most of their lives.”
 

Chase exhaled. The more he heard, the worse it got. “No way this is a coincidence. He’s been planning his revenge for a long time.”
 

“Yeah, seems like it. But we’ve got him now. What’s next?”

Good question, considering Derek was probably in the same town as Jordan as they spoke, and because he’d been clueless, he was still hours behind him. “Leave it to me for now. If I need anything else, I’ll call.”

Chase could feel the anger building as he hung up. Derek had posed as her friend all this time while, in reality, plotting to do God knows what.
 

He tried calling her again, though he knew the attempt would be fruitless. Wherever she was, she either didn’t hear or couldn’t answer her phone. Even with the information he had now, the pieces didn’t all fall together. If Derek was intent on hurting her, why had he stopped Rigdon
when he’d attempted to follow through on the hit? He was certain Derek had been racing out of town to find Jordan, but what was he planning on doing? Up until now, his threats had consisted of scare tactics that could’ve led to fatal consequences, but no outright attempts to directly harm her. He didn’t have all the information he would’ve liked, but he had enough to know that he had to do something else to intervene before it was too late.
 

He asked his phone to connect him to the Bay County Sheriff’s Office. After going through dispatch, he was able to talk to one of the supervisors on duty. The officer was more than helpful when Chase explained the situation, and a squad car was dispatched to the condo to check on her. He was glad for the intervention, but he wanted to be there to check on her himself, to make sure she was safe and the creep wasn’t anywhere near her.
 

A short time later, he received a call back from the police department.
 

“Hello, sir. This is Jason from the Bay County Sheriff’s Office. I wanted to follow up and let you know we did go to the address you provided, but there was no answer at the door. Didn’t hear anything from inside the condo, and no lights were on in the front room. Nothing suspicious. It appeared that no one was there. Waited a few minutes to see if anyone would show, but no one did. I’ve been dispatched to another call now, but I’ll be glad to swing by again later if you still have concerns.”

“Thanks, man. It’d be much appreciated.”
 

He wondered again where she was. It was getting dark soon. Would she still be on the beach this late? Was Derek there with her? For the thousandth time since he’d turned around, he wished his specialty BMW included an option to convert to air travel. Though he was making good time, Derek had a significant head start on him.
 

§

 
“Excuse me. How much farther is it to Gator Lake?” Jordan asked a couple of guys as they loaded their surfboards into the back of a pickup truck.
 

One with blond, shaggy hair answered her. “Follow the path down a ways and around the bend. It’s not that far. Park’s closing soon though, if you drove.”

“Okay, thanks.”
 

Luckily, that wouldn’t be a problem for them. She looked around for Derek, who was several feet behind her, bent over his shoelace.
 

“Hey, it’s already dark. We’d better move fast. I don’t know if the lake is lit or not.” She waved at the truck as the surfers left the parking lot.
 

Derek jogged to catch up with her. “Sorry. Must be getting used to the laidback pace of this town already.”
 

They traveled down the path until several signs let them know they’d arrived at Gator Lake. A lookout point at the edge of a wooden dock loomed in front of them, and they trekked over to it. There was a bench built in to the perimeter, but she didn’t take a seat. She could tell, even in the darkness, that the best vantage point would be standing. The moon was out in full now, and she strained to see any movement in the lake.
 

“It’s so nice out here.” She looked over at Derek. “I wish I’d gotten off that rock a little sooner so I could’ve seen the lake during the daylight.”

 
“Well, it seemed like you were enjoying lounging on the rocks. Besides, if you would’ve left sooner, I may not have found you out here.” His gaze never left the lake as he answered.

She smiled. “True. I still can’t believe how we ran into each other out here, of—” A splash near the water’s edge stopped her in midsentence. “Derek,” she whispered, “do you think that was a gator?”
 

“I don’t know. I’ve never been anywhere where gators were likely to pop up.” He walked up behind her. “How deep do you think the water is? It’s hard to tell now.”

An involuntary shiver ran down her spine. Though it had cooled down some since the sun had set, she wasn’t cold. Maybe it was the potential proximity to gators she couldn’t quite make out in the darkness. “I don’t know. I didn’t read anything about that.” She crossed her arms in front of her and rubbed her arms.
 

“Wonder how many gators are in here?” he asked.
 

“Not sure on that one either. But I doubt we’ll get any answers tonight. It’s too hard to see them. And only being able to hear them is making me a little jittery.”

“Yeah.” He paused for a second. “After everything you’ve been through lately, you’re probably more—”

Headlights lit them up from behind. Then a park ranger approached them. “Hey, folks. Park’s closed for tonight. If you drove, gate’ll be locked soon.”

Jordan smiled at the ranger. “Thanks. We walked up from the beach. But it is getting pretty dark. I don’t think we’ll be seeing much now, so we’ll probably head back that way.”

“I’ll be glad to give you guys a lift back to the beach side.”

Jordan and Derek both spoke at the same time.
 

“That’d be great.”
 

“We’ll be all right.”

She looked back at him. “It’s still a bit of a walk back to the condo. It might be better if we catch a ride partway.”

Derek hesitated. “Fine by me. Just wanted to make sure you got to see everything you wanted to.”

“I think I’ve seen about all I can at this hour.” She directed her attention back to the ranger. “We’ll take you up on that ride.”

“It’s a nice night to walk. The temperature is perfect now,” Derek commented as they made their way back down the beach, leaving the grounds of the state park behind them.
 

“Yeah, it’s great without the humidity.” She could still feel the wind through her cover-up dress she’d worn over her swimsuit, but the chill from earlier at the dock had left her.
 

It was darker next to the ocean away from the lights of the beachside condos and businesses. She slipped her sandals back on. No sense stepping on a washed-up jellyfish or a piece of broken glass.
 

“Actually, it’s great with the humidity too.” She smiled. “I mean, the trade-off is worth getting sticky and hot. When we first came here, it wasn’t much of a choice, with everything going on. But surprisingly, coming here ended up being much more than an escape from the situation. It helped me to regroup…relax again.” She stopped herself before getting into details about her time with Chase. It was still so new that she hadn’t even told Karen yet.
 

“So you weren’t worried at all while you were here? That he would find you?”
 

She contemplated his question for a moment. It was hard to answer without revealing more than she was ready to. In truth, she’d been on edge. Though, looking back, it had more to do with the events that had led up to their trip here. She wasn’t sure how much time it would take to recover from the attack and everything that had followed, but putting her anxieties from what had happened aside, she’d felt safe once they’d gotten here. “Not really. You guys were the only ones who knew we were here, and Chase was careful to make sure we weren’t followed.”

“Yeah, I guess it’s lucky he stepped in when he did.” His tone was tinged with sarcasm.
 

Though his words were appreciative, his nonverbal communication suggested anything but. For the second time that evening, she wondered what he was thinking. She reflected back to his comments on how much this had affected everyone. Maybe he was still processing like she was.
 

“True. I owe Mike one for sure.”

Coming up to a narrow passage between two condos, Derek pointed out a public beach access sign. “On the way in, I saw a little bar not too far from here. Let’s stop and have a drink before we get back.”

With more illumination from the surrounding structures, she saw that the passage led to a road. “How far is it?”

“Not far at all. It looked like a dive from the outside, but the parking lot was full. Come on. We’ll give it a try.”

She surveyed the distance ahead. They weren’t far from the condo now. A few minutes’ walk at most. And she wasn’t tired, thanks to the long nap she’d had earlier. She debated whether or not Chase would be worried. Derek had reminded her that he’d know they were together. Besides, with Buckman in jail, there was really no cause for concern.
 

“I can tell I’ve almost convinced you.” Derek nudged her in the direction of the entryway with his shoulder.
 

She changed her course, heading toward the path he’d showed her. “Okay. Let’s check it out. But I don’t want to stay too long.”

“We won’t. A couple of drinks and we’ll get you back, safe and sound.”
 

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Chase pulled into the parking garage and scanned the area for the rental car he he’d reserved for Jordan. Sure enough, it was parked right where it’d been earlier. There was no indication she’d driven anywhere. He parked his SUV and walked toward the rental. After punching in the code and looking inside, he saw she hadn’t even taken the keys out. Now, he was sure she hadn’t driven anywhere.
 

His feet pounded on the pavement as he jogged over to the elevator. The sheriff’s office had said that no one was there the last time they’d checked, but maybe she was back by now. She’d been planning to go down to the beach today. However, it had been dark for hours now.

He cautiously approached the condo but heard nothing to indicate that anyone was inside. The combination to the front door was fresh in his head, and he didn’t bother to knock. The best thing that could happen right now was for her to be irritated because he’d abandoned social convention and barged in on her. Worst case, he’d have the advantage of surprise on his side if Derek was in there with her.
 

His breathing was controlled as he entered the condo and methodically searched the rooms. This he could do. Being miles away, with no choice but to drive, had almost killed him. Each room was dark. There were no signs of any type of struggle.
 

In the master bedroom, the sheets were still a tangled mess. His thoughts flitted back to everything they’d shared that morning, but he didn’t afford himself the chance to think long about it. When he had her safe with him again, he’d let go. Until then, he had to compartmentalize; it was the only thing he could do.
 

Returning back to the main living area, he noted the blanket folded carelessly on the end of the couch. Had she fallen asleep? Walking over to the couch, her cell phone sat resting on the table. The screen indicated that she had numerous missed calls, mostly from him. Well, that explained why she hadn’t been answering his calls.
 

He scanned the room, trying to find any other clues. Nothing else was amiss. It looked as if she’d left the phone behind when she’d headed out.

Not wanting to waste any more time, he rushed out of the room and headed down to the beach. Wherever she was, she hadn’t driven, so that meant she was somewhere on foot. He made his way down to the shoreline, but he wasn’t sure whether to go right or left when he got to the ocean. The lights from other resorts dotted the coast in either direction. Finally, he turned in the direction that led to the quieter side of the beach that ended at a state park. In the midst of the darkness, it didn’t seem like the logical choice, but if it had still been light when she’d left, then she was probably heading away from the more populated area. At least, he hoped so.
 

He walked for several minutes with no trace of her. Beginning to doubt his choice of direction, he strained to see farther when a light from a fire flickering up ahead captured his attention. With any luck, whoever had built it would still be around. Sure enough, as he got closer, he noted the flames were coming from a fire pit settled on the raised deck of one of the beachfront homes. A lone figure was seated next to it.