Like Honey (15 page)

A
wakened out of a sound sleep, Jennifer felt like she was still dreaming. The landscape took on a surreal quality as she stood in her driveway and watched the rescue workers load Liam's body into the ambulance. A thick fog was finally lifting as the sun began to rise. Police and reporters were scattered over her property, and Gray, who was by her side at one point, disappeared when Kasey showed up. Where were they?

Someone handed her a cup of coffee just brewed in her office. “Thank you,” she said to the female uniformed officer.

“You're welcome. Come now,” she said. “Come inside and let's have a chat.”

The woman spoke with a thick brogue. She was small, blond, and petite, not at all what you'd expect of a police officer. But she had a no-nonsense quality to her.

Jennifer followed her into the office.

“Now then,” she said. “You knew Liam. He worked for you. You dated him—”

“Briefly. I mean we went on one date. It didn't work out.”

The officer wrote something in her little notepad.

“It was a big mistake,” Jennifer went on. “I never should have said yes. I mean he's an employee. I don't know what I was thinking.”

The woman looked up from her note taking and tilted her head. “He was a good-looking man. You're single. I don't see the problem with it. But what happened that night? Anything? What made you realize it was a mistake?”

“He was a bit grabby with me. A little too aggressive,” she said, shoving aside her utter embarrassment.

“Ah, yes. I've heard that about Liam Grady. We grew up together.”

“You must have known my husband then,” Jennifer said without thinking.

“I didn't know Ren well. He went to a private school, y' see. But I did know him.”

“Did Liam leave a note or anything? I mean I hate to think that—” Jennifer began.

“Listen, it's not your fault. A man who is well is not going to kill himself over a woman,” she said, and tapped her pen on her notebook. “And it's pretty clear it was a suicide.”

“I see,” Jenifer said. Still the queasiness she felt was not going away.

“Do you run background checks on your men?”

“Well, the Gradys came with the place. I didn't hire them.”

“I'm not talking about them. Aye. I know them all well enough,” she said, rolling her eyes. “I'm talking about Grayson McGhilly.”

Jennifer's stomach twisted. “I called his references,” she said. “Is that what you mean?”

“Well, yes. But there are databases and so on that list specific criminal activities like pedophilia, for example. Do you ever bother with those—like doing a criminal background check?”

Jennifer nodded her understanding, then shook her head. “No, I am more concerned with skills and knowledge. In Gray's case, he has top-notch beekeeping skills, and that's what I needed.”

She muttered something under her breath, slapped shut her notebook.

Was Gray hiding something from her?

Just then a senior officer came into the office. “Gleason, you're needed back at the office.”

“Yes, sir,” she said, standing, still looking like she wanted to say something else.

Jennifer said, “Do you have something you want to say?”

She looked at the other officer, dropped her eyes, and said, “No. Take care of yourself is all.”

She walked out of the office, leaving Jennifer alone with her coffee.

Did Gray have something to hide? Of course, everybody had secrets, but what was his? Besides Kasey?

She tried not to acknowledge that she was stewing about Kasey being here right now. What was she doing? “Comforting” Gray?

She took another sip from her coffee. Nice and hot. Poor Liam. How hadn't she known that he'd been so ill? Yes, he was a little aggressive with her, like he had no idea how to seduce a woman, then he acted strange that day in the beekeeper's cottage, then he tried to strangle her . . . but to actually kill himself? It didn't add up. All those acts were against others, not himself. What happened for him to turn his anger inward?

A commotion erupted just outside her office door. Jennifer arose and went to see what was going on. She opened the door. Liam's mother stood in the center of a circle of police officers who were wrangling something away from her. A shotgun!

Jennifer's pulse quickened. A shotgun?

Finally an officer took the gun; the female officer who chatted with Jennifer wrapped her arms around Mrs. Grady and started to lead her away. But she turned and looked at Jennifer. A haunting, but penetrating look.

“Was she going to shoot someone?” Jennifer said to no particular person.

“Aye,” an officer said, looking at her. “I believe that would be you.”

Great. It was the second time in a matter of weeks that a Grady had tried to kill her. She took a deep breath and decided it was time to call Sanj. His security team had kick-ass investigation skills, and while she hated to ask for help, she was losing her patience. She had a business to run.

 

“Why didn't you call earlier?” Sanj asked after she told him her whole story.

“I thought I could handle everything. And hiring Gray helped for a while, but he's been distracted,” she said.

“We'll check him out, too,” Josh said. “My guess is that he isn't quite who he appears to be.”

Josh was Sanj's assistant, who was a private investigator. The man worked magic on occasion. He and Jennifer never got along, and she was surprised he was being so helpful.

“We'll do some checking and get back with you,” Sanj said. “In the meantime, please be careful.”

Jennifer sat back in her chair and tried to calm the butterflies in her stomach. Josh was a bit of a smartass, but his skills and intuition were kick-ass. If he thought Gray might not be who he says he is, then her earlier suspicion was on target. Gray had a secret. And it was a big one.

“S
o what would lead the man to kill himself?” Gray said.

“He just must have been ill. It could have been anything,” Kasey said. “But how does it play into everything else going on?”

“Or does it? Might not have anything to do with any of it.”

Gray was sitting at his table, drinking coffee, while Kasey was pacing. She looked out the window. “It seems like the police are gone,” she said. “Looks empty out there. Let's go down to the site. Might be something there the police have overlooked.”

Gray gathered himself. He didn't really want to go back. It was unsettling to come upon a dead body like that. Not that it hadn't ever happened before—but it was just the whole night. He'd lost the intruder. He was focused on finding that person; he was in a goddamned mausoleum. Okay. So it creeped him out.

“Gray?” Kasey said on the way to the mausoleum. “What were you doing in Jennifer's room?”

“I was just checking on her. I told you. I had this feeling . . . I don't know, call it intuition.”

An uncomfortable pause ensued. She was trying to read him. He knew that look. Trouble is, she knew him so well that she knew his poker face.

“She never woke up?”

“No, she didn't stir,” he said, and looked away.

They left his cottage and started the trek to where he had found Liam's body.

“And you came down this way . . .” she said as she walked down the hillside. He was following her now.

“I followed boot prints. There,” he said, passing her. “There's one.”

“You're right. It's small. A small guy. Or maybe a woman.” She crouched down and took a better look.

“A woman?” he said. “I hadn't thought of that.”

She snorted. “Of course not. In your world, women are just for fucking.” She stood up.

Gray felt as if he'd been kicked in the gut.

He stopped, turned around, and looked her in the eye. “That's not true. I loved you. I loved everything about you, including your brain.”

A momentary look of vulnerability crossed her face. “Better not discuss it,” she said. “Not now. It's over.”

They walked down to the edge of the section of property where the garden and crypt were. It was well tended and charming. A squared-off formal section surrounded by boxwoods, with roses and lilacs planted all around.

“Just lovely,” she said.

“This is where Jennifer comes almost every day,” he said. “She sits on that bench.”

“Really? Every day? Wow. She is devoted to her dead husband.” Gray's heart slipped to his stomach.
Jealous over a dead man? Get a grip.

They searched around outside for a few minutes and couldn't find anything out of the ordinary.

Then they walked inside.

“I came in here, as I said, and sort of looked over everything in here. It seemed like the prints led me here, but nobody was here. That's why I started looking for a back door.”

“And you found it,” she said.

He nodded and led her to it. As much as they searched, they didn't find anything. “Well, that led to nothing,” she said as they walked back to the cottage. “I better get going. I'm hoping to hear from my genealogist today. And I want to touch base with the coroner.”

“Careful, don't blow your cover,” he said.

“Don't worry,” she told him. “I've done this a few times.”

She slipped into her rental car and drove off. He stood and watched, then turned to go back to his cottage. He needed a shower and more coffee. He'd like to go back to bed—if he thought he could sleep, he would have tried. Then, he needed to talk to Jennifer. As far as she was concerned, of course, he still had a job to do. He wondered about the Gradys.

He took a long shower and stepped out to his phone buzzing.

“Yes,” he said.

“I've got news,” Kasey said.

“Already?”

“I overheard a conversation and verified it,” she said. “Liam Grady was not a Grady.”

“What? What was he?”

“I'm not certain, but the allusion was that he was a D'Amico. I'm checking into that.”

“The plot thickens.”

“Yes, and one more thing. We've received an alert this morning.”

“What kind of alert?”

“Someone is checking into your background.”

“Really? Who could that be?”

“Evidently you've stepped on someone's toes. Does the chief here know about you?”

“Yes, of course. Who else would be checking on me? Surely not Jennifer; she's already hired me.”

“Well, who else could it be?” Kasey said after a pause. “Have you done anything . . . suspicious?”

“No, I, ah, well, I need to think about this. I've just gotten out of the shower and was getting ready to head up to the office. I'll feel out the situation.” Would Jennifer be checking him out? Odd. He thought she really liked him. What could he have done to set off her suspicions? Besides sleeping with her and then his “girl” showing up? That kind of thing happened all the time. That would not warrant a criminal check.

She didn't know that he was in her room last night. All she knew was that he had gone walking and found Liam. Why would that have concerned her?

He shrugged it off. It must be someone else. Which concerned him even more. They were stepping on toes. If his suspicions were well founded, the organization running the contraband was getting impatient and wanted to not only get rid of Jennifer, but also to kill him.

J
ennifer walked.

It was the only thing she could do.

When she sat at her computer and tried to work, distraction took over and she found herself staring out the window. Her mind was spinning. Liam. Gray. And Mrs. Grady.

She knew that Liam was troubled, that his death likely had nothing to do with her, but she couldn't help feeling a little guilty. Maybe she could have helped in some way. Agreeing to go on that date with him was not helpful. She found him physically attractive, but yet, she didn't feel enough chemistry with him. Chemistry; yes, that was lacking. And then there was his temper and a kind of mistrust in everything and everybody. He loved to talk about conspiracy theories, which bored her to tears.

Gray, on the other hand, never bored her. And there was plenty of chemistry. But there was also a girlfriend. With whom he appeared to be taking comfort after being shaken by happening on Liam's body.

She walked along the eastern ridge of her property and then dipped down the rocky hillside. There would be some honey here soon. Odd that she didn't hear any buzzing yet. She stopped to listen. Nothing.

She looked around. Was she where she thought she was? Over the months she'd taken a lot of long walks and occasionally had gotten lost. But no. She was where she thought she was. She walked around the old grove of evergreens and saw the hives. She blinked. Something was wrong.

She ran to where the hives still stood. No buzzing. No bees. Nothing. Her body reacted by shaking. When she pulled out her cell phone, she was shaking so badly that she barely managed to press in Gray's number.

The phone rang. His recorded voice came on the line. “This is Gray, leave a message and I'll get back to you.”

“Gray, it's Jennifer. Where are you? I'm over at the eastern hives, near the evergreen grove . . . and something has happened to the bees. I'll wait here for a while for you to return my call.”

She disconnected. Her heart was hammering so hard that she swore she could hear her blood rushing. She felt a throbbing moving through her body as she approached the hives to take a closer look. Dead bees were scattered everywhere. If the queen were still alive, Jennifer might be able to save her.

She slid out the panel, glistening with honey, to look for the queen. Gone.

What had gone on here? It was a cemetery of dried-up bee bodies.

She heard a crackling of a foot on twigs, a shuffling of feet. It must be Gray! She turned and saw nobody. But something odd caught her attention, a strange black flapping movement near the trees. She walked closer to it and gasped.

A blackbird had been nailed to the tree, and its blue-black feathers were blowing in the breeze.

Jennifer backed up from the bird and swallowed a sob. This was no bee problem. This was vandalism. Someone had killed her bees. Someone killed the bird to let her know that.

She made a sudden start for the house and safety. As she made her way to the ridge, the trees and rocks took on a menacing quality. The same ones she had just found a measure of comfort in. But now, she knew all the strange happenings going on since Ren died were not ghostly, and probably not all Liam, but she felt it in her bones that all of it was meant for her. Someone wanted her to leave. Or worse.

She gulped air as she hurried to get closer to the house. She now saw it at a distance. She also noted that Kasey's car was gone. Was Gray with her? Is that where he'd disappeared to? Still, why wouldn't he answer the phone?

She stopped walking and tried him again. Still the recording. She clicked the phone off and continued walking. The Scottish sky was getting gray but it was tinged in red and purple, with the clouds looming in gold colors. It looked surreal at times, the sky here. Sky. Here. Heart rushing. Pounding. Hills. Rocks. Trees. Home.

She was getting closer to her home and just starting up the hill to where Gray's cottage was.

She didn't really remember getting there. She just knew that she was pounding on his door and about ready to unlock it with her key when he suddenly opened the door, wet.

“You've got great timing, Jen,” he said.

This time, only a towel was wrapped around him.

“Sorry, I heard you pounding and didn't have a chance to get dressed. Is everything okay?”

There was just a towel. Just a towel wrapped around him.
She gulped air, tried to find words, as she took in the sight before her.

“I, ah, um,” she said, cleared her throat. “I tried to call.”

Tears streamed down her face. “Jennifer?”

“It's the bees, Gray, they are gone,” she said. She was cold and shivering now along with sobbing.

His arms went around her and held her. “Calm down,” he eventually said. “Come inside. I'll put the kettle on.”

She followed him to his couch, where she sat and sunk into the pillows. He placed a quilt around her shoulders. But she still shook with fear and shock.

“Jennifer, stay with me, I think you've had a bit of a shock.”

“Bees,” she said. Yes, that word. It was the right word. “The bees are gone. And there's a dead bird.”

“What? You're not making any sense.”

“I am making perfect sense,” she said after taking a few deep breaths, calming herself. “The hives on the eastern ridge are empty. I was just up there.”

“Empty?”

“Full of dead bees.”

He looked perplexed. “I was just there, was it yesterday? I think. It was fine. CDC doesn't set in that quickly. Nothing does.”

“Someone killed them.” Her voice was lower than it had ever been before. It was as if another person was speaking from deep in her center.

“What? Calm down.”

“No, Gray, I know it sounds crazy, but I was just there,” she said, and then explained what she saw.

He was dressed and out the door in no time, but first, he made her promise to stay there and finish drinking the tea he'd readied for her. He crouched down in front of her.

“I mean it, Jennifer, don't leave this house.” His voice was steady. Too steady. His eyes steely and expression cold. He terrified her. Fear sent pings through her brain, and she could hear her mother's voice:
You don't know this man at all.