Against the Tide (17 page)

“I know none of this is what you wanted to hear,” Nick said a little more gently, “but if you care about this woman as much as I think you do, you need to figure out what the hell is going on. Get me something I can use.”

Rafe thought of the night he'd spent in Olivia's apartment. He'd gotten up early and padded around a little on his way to make coffee. It occurred to him now that he hadn't seen a single family photo in the house, nothing on the walls, nothing on the tables. Getting DNA off a Coke can or something would be easy enough, but a photo . . . ? Probably not.

More and more, he was thinking witness protection. Maybe that was how she knew all those police terms.

“Thanks, Nick. I'll get back to you.”

“Like I said, be careful.”

Rafe hung up the phone.

Chapter Nineteen

Liv left Khan in the yard behind the café and went in search of Rafe, heading first to the harbor across the street. Everyone was gone from the
Scorpion
by the time she got there. Mo had gone back to check on
Sea Dragon
and was now ambling along the dock in her direction.

Liv smiled. “Hey, Mo. Everyone's gone from
Scorpion
. I'm looking for Rafe. Do you know if he went home?” She didn't want to call him. She would if she had to, but she would rather talk to him in person.

“I was checking on my lady. Rafe left with Cassie and Lois, took them back to Cassie's house. The man takes his responsibilities real serious-like. With Scotty gone, he wants to make sure Cassie's okay.”

She should have figured that. “Thanks, Mo.” She started to turn away.

“I'm headin' there myself. You want to go over together?”

“Sure.”

They walked to the house side by side, talked about the memorial service, how nice it had been, about the weather and how Scott was resting now in exactly the place he'd want to be. Then they fell silent, each lost in his own thoughts.

Once they reached Cassie's little wood-frame house, they split up, Mo going over to speak to Lois, Liv stopping to hug Cassie, then giving Lois her condolences. Olivia greeted some of the people she knew from the café, then walked into the backyard, where Cassie had told her she could find Rafe.

She found him seated at the picnic table and sat down on the bench across from him. For the next few minutes she filled him in on her trip to the motel, talking to the men, catching a glimpse of someone else. From that point, the conversation didn't go quite the way she'd planned.

“Have you lost your mind?” Rafe thundered, shooting up from the bench across the table. “What in the name of God possessed you to go back to that motel by yourself?”

She'd been afraid he'd be upset. It was the reason she hadn't wanted to have this conversation over the phone. Rafe was protective by nature. Still, she hadn't expected him to explode.

“I didn't set out to go there, it just sort of happened. I was jogging and I wound up close by, saw the motel sign, saw the Jeep, and figured the men would likely be in their room. I had my stun gun and I was with Khan, so I figured I'd be okay.”

“You carry a stun gun?”

“Well, yes, when I'm running or off someplace by myself. I thought the men might tell me something they wouldn't tell you.”

“Why, because you're a woman?”

“Men being men, I thought if you weren't there looking like you wanted to bash in someone's head, they might open up, give me something we didn't know about what happened the night of the murder.”

“I swear to God, Olivia—”

Liv shot up off the bench, marched around to confront him. “Don't you swear at me, Rafe Brodie!” He was madder than he had a right to be, and now she was angry herself. “I can go anyplace I want—anytime I want. You don't own me!”

Rafe caught her shoulders, forcing her to tip her head back to look at him. “We're supposed to be working on this together. What you did put you in danger. That isn't going to happen. I won't let it. You do what I say or—”

“Or what?”

His jaw hardened. “Or I swear I'll lock you in my bedroom and keep you there until this is over.”

“Try it and I'll just climb out the window.”

“Fine, then I'll tie you to the bed, and believe me, a sailor knows how to tie a knot you won't get out of.”

She arched an eyebrow. “Is that another of your fantasies?”

Amusement began to crinkle the corners of his eyes. She could feel his anger draining away, along with some of her own. His sexy mouth edged up. “Actually, it is.”

A little sliver of heat moved through her. Oh, dear God! She wanted to stay mad at him, she really did. “You are the most irritating man.”

He reached up and gently touched her cheek. “I couldn't handle it if something happened to you, darlin'. Promise me you won't do anything like that again.”

She thought of the woman he had loved and lost, understood that he couldn't face losing someone he cared about again. “I knew it was stupid the minute I knocked on the door. I'm sorry.”

Rafe slid a hand behind her neck, dragged her mouth to his, and kissed her, a different sort of kiss this time, filled with a trace of worry mingled with relief. When he let her go, there was something in his eyes, but it was an expression she couldn't read.

“I'm sorry, too. I shouldn't have yelled at you.”

“No, you shouldn't have.”

“Probably won't be the last time. I can be a little overprotective.”

She laughed. “A little?”

He shrugged. “I had three brothers. I was the oldest. I guess that's where I got it.”

“It's not such a bad thing.” How long had it been since anyone had wanted to protect her?

“No?”

“Just don't get carried away.”

Rafe flashed one of his devastating smiles. “I'll do my best, darlin'.” Her stomach dipped at the endearment, the way it always did when he said it that way.

“Now, one more time, let's go over what happened after you got to the motel.”

For the next few minutes she filled in the details. Told him how Wong had been friendly but Nevin had been nasty and rude. She ended by talking about the third man in the room.

“I just got a glimpse, but I'm pretty sure I saw someone.”

“Pretty sure?”

She sighed. “I can't be certain. It happened so fast. He was more a shadow than anything.”

“What did this shadow look like?”

“I don't know. A good-sized man, I'd say. Bigger than Wong or Nevin.”

“If he was actually a man and not just a shadow.”

“Yes. What do you suppose he was doing there?”

“No idea. I didn't get the impression these guys knew anyone in town.”

“Should we tell the police?”

“Tell them what? That we were snooping around again, bothering the tourists? I'm surprised they haven't already warned us to back off. They will if we press too hard.”

“That's what I was thinking.”

Rafe looked around the backyard, but they were the only ones left outside. “You ready to go?”

“I didn't want to come in the first place. I knew I should, but I just wanted a break from the sadness, you know?”

“I know.” Slinging an arm across her shoulders, he led her back through the house. Some of Cassie's girlfriends were cleaning up the mess, so Liv was able to leave without feeling guilty.

“You walk down?” Rafe asked.

“Yes, with Mo. I guess he's already gone.”

“You can ride back with me.”

She nodded.

They climbed into his pickup. As he drove toward the café, he didn't ask her if she wanted to come home with him. He just kept driving toward his house. When she realized the direction he was headed, Olivia sat up a little straighter in the seat.

“Rafe, I can't . . . not today. I need some time by myself.”

He turned to look at her. “I know what you need, baby. Sometimes the best way to be alone is to be with someone who cares about you.”

She didn't have the strength to argue. Or maybe she was beginning to trust him. Leaning her head back against the seat, she didn't tell him to turn around, and Rafe didn't take her home.

 

 

Lying spoon-fashion on the sofa, Rafe's arm draped over Olivia's sleeping figure, he kept her tucked close against him, letting her fall more deeply asleep.

Gently, he eased himself away and quietly got up from the couch. Disappearing up the half flight of stairs to the linen closet in the hallway, he dragged out a blanket, went back down and unfolded the blanket over Liv. He knew she'd thought he expected to have sex when he brought her home with him, but that wasn't what she needed. At least not tonight.

Like everyone who had cared for Scotty Ferris, Liv was grieving. Today had been physically and emotionally draining for all of them. For him sex would have been a comfort, but Liv needed something else. Instead of the bedroom, he'd led her over to the sofa and turned on the TV.

He owned lots of DVDs. He was a bachelor. Sometimes after a long day at sea, or during a freezing winter storm, he enjoyed watching a movie.

He pulled open the cabinet next to his big fifty-two-inch flat-screen and began to scan the boxes. “So what's it going to be? A Bruce Willis marathon?
The Matrix
trilogy?
Wolverine
? I've got
Star Wars
,
Star Trek
, got some Jason Bourne. I've got
Harry Potter
and some other fantasies, but I'm not really high on that stuff.”

She was grinning, he saw, for the first time in the last few days. It made his chest feel tight. He thought of the call from his brother, thought how he wished he didn't know now what he'd wanted to know before. He needed to do something about it, but he wasn't sure what, and he wasn't about to pursue the matter today.

He dug farther into the cabinet. “How about James Bond? I've got the whole collection. We can start anywhere you like.”

“I love James Bond.” She was looking at him with so much warmth, his chest clamped down again.

“You got it.” Rafe put on
Goldfinger
. Good a place as any to start. They watched a Sean Connery Bond, then moved on to Pierce Brosnan. They were just starting Daniel Craig in
Casino Royale,
when Liv fell sound asleep.

He'd just held her for a while, her back to his front, liking the way she fit against him so perfectly. Finally, he eased away, turned off the TV, and gently spread the blanket over her.

He had a couple of things to take care of. When he finished, he'd carry her upstairs and put her to bed, let her get a good night's sleep.

It was getting late but the sun was still shining. In the kitchen, he made the calls he'd wanted to make, starting with Ben Friedman. “Ben, it's Rafe Brodie. You got a minute?”

“Sure, Rafe, what's up?”

Rafe explained about the men at the motel and his misgivings. “There's something off about these guys. I need to know what it is. I'd like to set up some kind of surveillance, figure a way to watch them. To do that I'm going to need some help.”

Ben's tone changed. “You think one of those men killed Scotty?”

“I don't know. More likely they heard or saw something and don't want to come forward, but I want to be sure. You think you could keep an eye out during the day, keep me posted as to their comings and goings?”

“Are you kidding? If they had something to do with killing Scotty, they need to be in jail. I'll be on 'em like flies on bear scat.”

Rafe grinned. “Thanks, Ben.”

Next he called Sam King. Sam had been cleared by the police, who had verified his alibi for the night of the murder. He'd been aboard
Scorpion
that afternoon when Scotty's ashes were scattered. He'd apologized again to both him and Liv for his behavior the last couple of days and offered to help them catch Scott's killer any way he could.

“Sam, it's Rafe Brodie. Can you talk?”

“Sure, what's going on?”

Rafe filled him in on his theory. “I want to see what these guys are up to. I'm trying to put a surveillance team together. Ben's going to keep an eye on them during the day. Can you do a couple of hours at night?”

“You bet I can,” Sam said darkly. “Just tell me what you need.”

“I'll call you back.” Rafe hung up and phoned Zach Carver. The kid was only twenty-one, but Rafe was coming to trust him more and more. And though Zach and Scott hadn't been that close, mostly because of Jaimie, he knew Zach wanted justice for Scotty.

“Hey, Cap'n, what's up?”

“I've got something I need to do and I could use some backup.”

The smile went out of Zach's voice. “You got it. What do you need?”

Rafe explained again about the men at the motel, how he was trying to set up a surveillance team to see who came and went, trying to find out what the men were doing in Valdez. “I need enough guys to keep them covered twenty-four-seven. I'm going over there later to scan the area, figure the best way to keep an eye on them without being seen.”

The smile was back in Zach's voice. “I've got a better idea.”

“Yeah? I'm all ears.”

“We set up surveillance cams. I'm kind of an electronics geek. It's sort of what's happening in my generation.”

“I'm listening.”

“I've got all kinds of equipment. I use a lot of it in the wild, you know? Set up night-vision cameras to watch the bears come in to feed. Do some time-lapse on birds, watch the chicks hatch in their nests, stuff like that. I did a thing with eagles that really turned out great. It was hell getting up to the nest, but it was worth it. I put the camera up as a live feed on the Internet.”

“I'm likin' this.”

“Yeah, so you see where I'm going?”

“Oh yeah, I see. How long will it take to get this stuff up and running?”

“We can do it tonight, if you're game.”

“You bet I'm game. I'll pick you up at eleven. We'll start setting up as soon as it's dark.”

“I'll be ready. See you then.”

Rafe hung up the phone and called Sam back. “We're setting up cameras. Going over there tonight. Zach Carver's idea. It's kind of his hobby.”