The Unrelenting Tide (Islands of Intrigue: San Juans - Christian Romantic Suspense) (5 page)

“At first I found the things he did humorous. The whole crew joked about it and would place bets on when and where the next gift would show up and what it would be. But after awhile, it really started to bother me. Still, I brushed it off, because a lot of the other actors said those types of things just came with the territory.” She shrugged. “I tried to go along with the fun.”

“Did you go to the police?”

She snorted. “Yes. But he was always careful. Never any fingerprints or DNA on anything he left. The few times he was caught on camera he wore large sunglasses and a baseball hat. And, as far as I know, I never actually saw him in person.”

She paused, fidgeting with the Kleenex in her lap, and he forced himself to stay on his end of the couch and wait for her to continue.

“He started leaving me voice mails from pay phones. Asking me to go on a date with him.”

Carcen’s fists balled into hard knots.

“I, of course, had no way to answer him. Not that I would have said yes, anyhow. But then he started threatening my sister. And one day a box labeled “bomb” was left on our doorstep. It was just an empty box, but he knew where we lived and I was terrified for her life. We each packed a couple bags and left in the middle of the night; left everything behind and moved to a new apartment.” She swallowed hard and her hands trembled to the point that she clenched them in her lap.

Carcen couldn’t stay seated, any longer. He stood and paced across the room and back. “But he found you again?”

Studying the shreds in her lap, she pressed her lips together and nodded. “We wrapped the shoot for
Genesis
and then I was offered the female lead in
Surf Justice
. I almost didn’t take the job because it required me to be gone from my sister so much. But then…two weeks after we moved my sister … she was in a car accident.” A sob escaped. “Her brake lines had been cut. She went through a stop sign and was hit by a city bus. She didn’t make it.”

His eyes dropped closed and he rested his fist against his lips. “Dev, I’m so sorry.”

“That was when I decided the only way to escape him was to die. I accepted the role on
Surf Justice.
It involved a lot of flying back and forth to Hawaii. One day there was a private plane that crashed into some cliffs. The pilot and passenger on board were charred to ashes. It was providence. My agent paid off the coroner and we leaked a report that I’d also been on board.”

She’d been through so much, and at such a young age. What must she have been feeling? What he wouldn’t give to be able to go back and shoulder all of the pain etching her features. “What made you pick San Juan Island as your new home?”

She shrugged. “John, my agent, had a friend from high school who owned a place up here that he wanted to rent out.”

“Then you met Kent.”

She nodded and fresh tears began to fall.

“Did he know? The truth about you?”

“Yes.”

Hurt surged through him. He and Kent had always shared everything with each other. “He never told me.”

“He wanted to, but I begged him not to. I was still terrified and wanted as few people to know the truth as possible.” She looked up at him. “It wasn’t that I didn’t trust you.”

He nodded. “I understand. And I know Kent loved you very much.”

“I loved him too. I really did. And it wasn’t just because he made me feel safe.” She pulled out another Kleenex. “After Kent’s… After that day, I would have run again, if not for Marissa. I was sure he’d found me again. But I didn’t know how I would start over somewhere when I knew no one, had a newborn, and would need a job and a place to live. Then when nothing else happened, I thought maybe it really
was
just a robbery gone bad. But lately…”

The way her voice trailed away, snapped his full attention to alert. “Lately, what?”

She shrugged. “Things have been happening.”

“Things?”

Her hand waved, as if to brush away the concern in his question, but she didn’t meet his gaze.

The bottom dropped out of his stomach. He waited brows arched.

“Little things, like I was sure I’d left my book on the nightstand by my bed, but then I found it on the kitchen island. I just thought Marissa must have moved it, but she said she hadn’t touched it. Then yesterday, one of the planters out on the deck was tipped over and the dirt scattered everywhere. Marissa isn’t strong enough to do that, but…I figured it was likely some neighborhood kids. Scotty Jones lives just one road over.”

“But you had suspicions, didn’t you?” He felt sick. Why hadn’t she come to him?

Her gaze flickered over his and then down to the carpet with a barely perceptible nod.

“What happened today?”

A look of such guilt crossed her face that he balled up his fists and shoved them into his armpits. He wanted to punch the wall at the thought of anything happening to her or Marissa. Instead, he remained silent and still, waiting for her to answer.

She scooped a hand back through her hair. “This morning, I woke up thinking I heard someone in the house. But I couldn’t find anyone so I assumed it had been a nightmare. I locked away my pistol—”

“You—” He shook his head. “Nevermind. Go on.”

“But when I got out of the shower, the drawer was open. The gun hadn’t been touched though, and again I couldn’t find anyone in the house. So I thought I was imagining things again.”

“He was in here? This morning?
While you were in the shower
?”

She nodded and visibly shuddered. “I think so.”

“That was before I got here to get Marissa. And you didn’t tell me.” Disappointment coursed through him and swift on its heels came stark fear. What if something had happened to her? Or to Marissa?
She trusts me so little
?

“I thought—I didn’t…like I said, I thought I was just imagining things.”

He shoved a trembling hand over his head. “You mean you
hoped
you were imagining things.”

A long pause stretched before she tipped her chin toward the floor in a barely perceptible nod.

He suppressed a growl of frustration. “I ought to handcuff you and haul you down to the jail for your own protection.”

She rolled her eyes at him, but when he noted the quavering of her fingers, his anger softened. “You said the guy in California left you voice mails…. This guy was saying something to you when I got here. Did his voice sound the same as before?”

Her fingertips rose to her temples and she rubbed small circles. She shook her head. “His voice… I don’t know. It’s been years. But the words…” Her gaze connected with his, full of misery and stark terror.

“What?”

“Every message that man left me ended the same.”

Carcen tipped his head, waiting for her to go on.

Her eyes closed and her throat worked. “‘You’ll never be able to run far enough to get away from me, my love.’” The words emerged on a choked whisper, the rote way she enunciated them making him realize they were indelibly etched in her mind. “And today…” she bit her lower lip, pinning him with a glance, “he was whispering the same exact words. I don’t think the police ever released that information to the public. It was him, Carcen. It had to be the same guy.”

The strength left his legs. Sinking down next to her on the couch, he studied her profile. Brown curls teased pale cheeks. Long eyelashes framed blue, red-rimmed eyes. If he had lost her… He swallowed hard and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. “Dev…”

Chapter 6

Devynne allowed herself to lean against him for a moment, but then she stiffened. “I need to call a locksmith. I know you caught him but… he must have had a key. Could he have had accomplices, do you think?”

“We’ll question him carefully first thing tomorrow. Meantime, I don’t plan to let you stay here alone. We need to go to my place so I can get some clothes. I told the guys I would take some vacation days.”

She jolted off the couch. “I-I’ll be fine. We’ll just—He’s caught, right? Everything will go back to normal, now.”

“Let’s hope so, but for the next few days, I need you to let me know if anything, and I mean
anything
, strange happens. We may need to put a protective detail on you. And until we’re sure you’re safe, I don’t want you to be anywhere alone.” Steel laced his tone.

“Carcen,” she scrambled for anything to convince him, “I can’t have you staying here! It wouldn’t be a good example for Marissa!”

“I didn’t mean I’d stay in the house. We can go to a hotel, or I could sleep up in your guest house where I’m only a phone call away. Mom and Dad’s place is also an option.”

She snorted and massaged her temples. Carcen’s parents only had a one bedroom cottage. And a hotel was out of the question – too expensive, plus she didn’t want Marissa worried and wondering why her world had turned topsy-turvy.

Folding her arms she stared through the blinds Carcen had opened earlier. The wind had picked up and the waves rippled pink under the setting sun. Could her years of terror finally be over?

Not too far out the lights of a trawler at anchor glimmered off the water.

She shivered. Even now, was someone out there on a boat watching her? She jerked the blinds closed.

Her hands trembled and she clenched them tight, tucking them under her arms as she paced the room. Constant fear had kept her company for so many years. But now freedom tantalized on the horizon and she worried it might dissipate like morning mist on the sea.

If the stalker was convicted, she’d be free to raise Marissa in a home full of peace and happiness, not terror and suspicion. Yet, what if he escaped? Or was exonerated? This man who had taken everything she held dear? And… if Carcen got involved….

She glanced at him. One arm draped along the back of the couch, he studied her. He’d been here for her every moment since Kent’s death. Stepped in as a father figure to Marissa. Made sure all the repairs around the place were taken care of. Served them as needed and without question. They wouldn’t have made it without him.

She swallowed. “Carcen, I don’t think I could handle it if anything happened to y—” Her gasp chopped off the last word.

Had she really let that slip out?

She whirled toward the kitchen, face heating. “Fine. Let’s go get your clothes. I’ll call a locksmith on the way. You can stay up in the gues—”

The warmth of his hand settled over hers stilling her progress just as she reached for the back door. Slowly he pulled her toward him. Her eyes widened and her heart hammered.

The hungry look on his face was unmistakable and a whole different kind of terror raced through her. She hadn’t meant for the declaration to slip out. Couldn’t deal with any of this right now.

She shook her head. “Carcen…”

The corner of his mouth ticked up and his eyes softened as he laid a finger across her lips. “You can’t go running through doorways ahead of me. At least not till we find out more about this guy. You’re going to have to think differently for a couple days.”

Yes, thinking differently was a very good idea right now. She swallowed and dipped her chin to let him know she’d heard him.

He glanced down the length of her, his mouth hitching a couple degrees more. “You might want to get your shoes.”

Shoes were also a good idea. She nodded again.
Pull it together, Devynne
.

Carcen walked Devynne to the front door of his parent’s house the next morning. He leaned one hand against the siding and looked down at her. “I’ll be back as soon as I’m done with the interrogation.”

She nodded. But when he pulled away and she turned to face her in-laws’ door, dread formed a hard knot in her middle. She was exhausted. She hadn’t slept well the night before with Marissa out of the house. And to top things off, she hadn’t been here in over a year and a half. Last time had been for just a few minutes two Christmases ago. The visit was bound to be awkward and guilt-ridden. What would they say if they knew she was likely the reason their son had been killed?

With a fortifying breath, she pressed the doorbell.

The minute Jackie Lang opened the door and locked eyes with her, tears pooled on her lower lids. She pulled Devynne across the threshold and into her embrace. “Oh it’s so good to see you!”

“Mama!” Marissa dashed toward them from the kitchen and flung her arms around Devynne’s neck.

“Hi baby.” Devynne clutched her close, pressing her face into the cascade of brunette curls. Marissa tolerated this for only a couple seconds before she started squirming. Devynne blew a raspberry against her neck, eliciting a loud giggle.

“I missed you last night. Did you have fun?”

“Yeah! Uncle Cawce’s boys winned and then Gwandpa took me to ice cweam. And I got bubble gum kind.” Brown eyes danced from mother to grandmother and back again.

Devynne smiled and tousled her mop. “I’m glad you had fun. We aren’t leaving just yet, but Uncle Carcen will be back to get us after a bit, so I need you to run make sure you have all your stuff together, okay?”

Marissa laughed. “I only have my PJs, Mama.”

“Right.” Devynne met Jackie’s amused gaze before turning back to her precocious four-year-old. “So it won’t take you long to get things together, will it?”