Skeleton's Key (Delta Crossroads Trilogy, Book 2) (34 page)

“I’ve never opened it. I have tripped over it a couple of times. Landed face first and got a mouth full of grass. Was awesome.” Cage was losing patience.

“We found some more goodies tossed at the bottom. Took a while to get them out.”

Cage nodded politely and waited for the hammer to drop.

“They were in the same kind of black trash bag we found with the bodies. Can you guess what they were?”

He could–he wasn’t exactly a rookie cop. But he damned sure wasn’t going to admit that to Landers. Cage shook his head.

“Another heavy black coat. Size 3x. Deerhide gloves, too.”

“Huh.” So the killer had only buried one set of items with the victims. Why? Did he find the others after he finished the graves? Run out of space?

Landers’s grin stretched across his entire face. “My reaction exactly. And I knew I had to bring you in right away.”

So Gina likely had no idea Cage was here. Good. Means she might still have some sense.

“I’m not sure what you want me to say.” Cage played along.

“I’d like you to say you threw them in there after you killed those men. Make this easy for me.”

Cage smirked. “But I cannot tell a lie.”

“You’ve been lying since we discovered the bodies.” Landers dropped his efforts at pleasantries. “And wasting this county a lot of money. Why don’t you try doing the right thing and tell me the truth?”

“You’re right. It’s time I admit it. I was a shitty caretaker. Whatever happened at Ironwood probably happened on my watch. Right under my nose.”

Landers scowled. “You won’t be so cocky when the forensic evidence comes back and links you to these men. We’ve got fibers. A hair. It’s being tested.”

“Any idea when the results are coming? Because I’d love to get you off my back.”

“By the end of the week, I’m told.”

Cage stood. “Perfect. Did you need anything else?”

“Sit down.”

“I feel like we’ve been here before,” Cage said. “You don’t have anything but muddled circumstantial evidence.”

He wouldn’t have been surprised if steam burst out of Landers’s ears. “In the meantime, you might want think about what you’re going to do when the forensic evidence doesn’t match me. Have you done any checking into Ben Moore? Or found out who the second victim is? Talked to their friends and families?

“Of course we have. In fact, Gina’s doing that right now.”

“But you just want to pin this on me. Why?”

“I don’t like you. And you’re a logical choice.” Landers’s gaze ping-ponged between Cage and the door. “And I’d like to go out on a closed note.”

“Go out?”

“Early retirement. End of the month.” Landers’s jaw actually quivered. Cage realized the decision hadn’t been the investigator’s. He’d heard rumors of department cutbacks, but this was the first casualty. “So I’d like to close this case.”

“By railroading me?” Cage rested his hands against the back of the wooden chair, shaking his head. “You’re a better cop than that.”

“I’m not railroading you. I honestly believe you had something to do with this.”

“I’m sorry to disappoint you.” Cage headed for the door, the skin on the back of his neck burning under Landers’s angry gaze. “Since you didn’t ask, no, I never saw anyone else on the property. But we knew people had been tramping around in there before I became caretaker. I thought I had the place locked down, but apparently I didn’t. And Ben Moore admitted to Dani he knew the grounds very well. You need anything else, please, give me a call.”

Cage let the door slam behind him without looking back.

*     *     *

Jaymee sent Dani
home. The evening rush hit the restaurant, and there was nothing either woman could do until Cage called. Nothing but sit and wait and try not to let the rising gorge of impending panic choke her.

So she waited. Curled up in the comfortable recliner in Magnolia House’s front room, the ceiling fan spinning, she waited. Minutes ticked by and stretched into an hour and then two. Jaymee called twice, but other than that, Dani’s phone was silent.

Why hadn’t Cage called? He’d need a ride from the station.

He’d been arrested. She was sure of it.

Unable to sit any longer, she meandered through the house, taking a mental inventory of all the things Jaymee could do in order to bring Magnolia up to par with a showplace like Oak Lynn. Dusk approached, and beyond the thick cloud cover, a faint glow of orange signaled the transition to a muggy night.

Still no word from Cage.

She couldn’t wait any longer. She would call the police station and demand answers.

The sound of the front door opening rolled through the house. Jaymee must have left early. Good. At least Dani wouldn’t have to wait alone.

“Dani?” Cage’s voice soothed the raging worry. “You here?”

Her bare feet thudded on the gleaming oak floors as she hurried to the foyer. Without stopping to think, she flung herself into Cage’s arms.

“Why didn’t you call? You said you’d call, that I’d pick you up. I’ve been waiting! I thought they’d arrested you!”

Cage pressed a finger to her lips. “Slow down. I can’t understand you when you talk that fast.”

She took a deep breath. “Why didn’t you call?”

“I’m sorry. My phone died, and I decided to walk. Needed to clear my head.”

“What happened? Is the evidence bad?”

His smirk didn’t reach his tired eyes. “No. Landers was fishing.”

Dani listened in shock as Cage told her about the items tossed into the well. She didn’t understand how he could be so calm.

“Someone tried to frame you.”

“Looks like it. And someone strong enough to open that well. Not sure Lee could pull that off.”

“Ben Moore could.” Dani tasted acid with the words. “But why bury the bodies at Ironwood? With the dog tags, you’d still have been a suspect.”

“Maybe he sees it as some sort of screwed-up poetic justice. As revenge, since he knows how I feel about the history of Roselea.”

“And why not put all the clothing in with the bodies? Why separate them?”

Cage shook his head, a lock of hair falling into his eyes. “I have no clue.”

She almost didn’t want to share what Nick had found out. Cage would want to go after Ben right now to clear his name, and she wasn’t sure that was a good idea. They needed a plan.

But she’d never been very good at hiding her thoughts. Cage slid an arm around her.

“What is it?”

She spoke quietly. “Nick found out that if Ben Moore can get me to sell Ironwood, Norton Investments will make him a partner in the resort they intend to build.”

Cage’s face went still. He closed his eyes and then opened them again. “He’s sure of this?”

“Yes.”

“All right, then.” He got to his feet. “Time to go see Ben Moore.”

Dani jumped up and grabbed his arms. “You can’t just go over there and start making accusations. And none of this means he killed anyone.”

“Doesn’t matter. He’s trying to use you, and that ends tonight.”

“Nothing good will come of you barging into Oak Lynn and confronting him. Besides, what will Grace think? She might not agree with what he did, but he’s her son. You don’t want to upset her like that.”

The muscles in his arms twitched. Dani moved her hands along his biceps, across his broad shoulders, and brought them to rest on his cheeks. She brushed her thumb across his lips. “But if you stay here with me…”

She didn’t need to say anything more. Cage’s mouth crashed against hers, hot and demanding. Her hands threaded through his wavy hair as he grabbed her thighs and hefted her into his arms. Between kisses, she managed to gasp the location of her bedroom.

Cage took the stairs two at a time, his face buried in her neck. The guest room door was open, and he kicked it shut before depositing her on the bed. Eyes hooded and face bright with need, he crawled on top of her.

Dani hadn’t been with a man in a long time–she wasn’t one to jump into bed after a few dates. But she welcomed Cage with wanting arms, legs going around his waist to pull his body closer. She wanted to know everything about him at once. Did he like a rough touch or a soft, delicate stroke? Was he loud? Would she be too loud?

Somehow, her shirt came off, and then his. Pants soon followed. Heart pumping fast enough to rob her breath, hands grasping, reaching, whispering her need for him, she pulled him closer.

His mouth and hands trailed over her warm skin, his fingers soft despite their calluses. She clung to his broad shoulders, lost in his closeness. And still, he wasn’t close enough.

“Dani.” His moan was laced with more than lust, more than yearning, more than pent-up desire.

And when he was ready, there was no preamble, no teasing. He entered her slowly, and she cried out his name. Her fingernails dug into his back as they moved as one. He knew her as though they’d always been together, knew where to touch and how to make her plead for more.

Resting his forehead against hers, his gaze never leaving hers, he brought her over the precipice once, twice, and finally, a third time before he succumbed.

They collapsed together, spent and sweating and satiated. She snuggled into the crook of his neck, kissing his jaw. “Aren’t you glad you stayed?”

D
ani slept peacefully
on his chest, but Cage lay awake, studying the pattern in the wallpapered ceiling. His thoughts were a swirling vortex, caught between the peacefulness of Dani’s arms and the irony of his sleeping with her in Jaymee’s house.

He’d barely thought to text his friend to let her know he wasn’t in jail before pulling Dani on top of him for a lingering second session. Jaymee didn’t cross his mind again.

Until now. It was almost nine p.m., and she’d be home any minute. He figured the least he could do was let her know he was staying over instead of just shacking up without a word.

Carefully, he slid from the warmth of Dani’s arms. His jeans were somewhere in the corner, his shirt over the back of the chair. He’d barely made it to the bottom of the winding staircase when the front door opened. He froze, shirt half on, pants still unbuttoned.

Jaymee stood framed in the doorway, the porch light silhouetting her in shadow.

He cleared his throat. “Better close the door before the mosquitoes get in.” He finished getting dressed and brushed his hair out of his eyes. “How was work?”

She dropped her purse on the floor and gave him a sly smile. “I’d say not nearly as fun as your evening’s been, Romeo.”

His neck and cheeks burned. “Cute.” He traced the pattern in the tile floor with his bare toes. “Sorry it happened in your house. But I didn’t really feel like going to my parents’.”

Jaymee burst out laughing. “Poor Cage. It’s fine, really. I’m happy for you.”

“Thanks.” There was really nothing else to say–their story, whatever it was, didn’t need to be written. “I’m lucky to have you as a friend.”

She patted him on the chest as she headed for the kitchen. “Some might say cursed.”

“That too.” He followed her. “Dani told me what Nick found out.”

“Sonofabitchin’ Ben Moore.”

“I want to go see him.”

“I’m sure. But you’re not.”

“Jaymee–”

She held up her hands. “No way. You’ve been lucky so far, but you set one of those ugly toes out of line, and Landers or Gina will find a way to lock you up.”

“Landers isn’t as sure as he says he is.”

“He say that?”

“In a roundabout way.”

Jaymee poured herself a glass of sweet tea. “Want some?”

“You know I don’t.”

“Right. Anyway, what good would confronting Ben do?”

“It’ll let him know we’re onto him. He thinks he can use Dani, and that needs to stop.”

“I don’t think she needs you to be her white knight. She can take care of herself.”

“He’s not going to get away with it.”

“Fine. Have your pissing contest after your name is cleared.” She set the tea down and gave him a hard look. “Dani was a mess when you got hauled in. Came into the damned diner near ready to pass out. Now how do you think she’ll be if you actually do get arrested, and over her?”

“Mad as hell.” Dani’s sleepy tone startled Cage. He turned to see her standing in the doorway in a long t-shirt and slippers. “Nick said he’d call Gina and tell her what he’d found out. Let her handle it.”

“Right.” He rolled his eyes.

“You said she was a good cop,” Dani said. “That she’d be fair and look at the evidence impartially.”

“You think she’s been doing that?”

“Yes.”

Jaymee made a soft sound in her throat, cocking her head. “I agree.”

“Excuse me?” Cage glared.

“Cage, she’s just following the evidence,” Dani said. “The confrontation with Robertson, the dog tags. You would do the same.”

Of course he would. He braced himself against the counter and stuck out his chin.

Jaymee laughed. “That means he knows he’s wrong. He’s done that since we were kids.”

He glared at her. “Shut up.”

Dani crossed the room to rest her hands on his chest. She stared up at him with soft eyes. “Be nice.”

“She started it.” He couldn’t move, lost in the way she looked at him.