Burned by Her Devotion (Rogue Vows Book 2) Page 4

  She leaned over to pick it up, but Seth snatched it off the floor.

  He smiled, a devilish light shining in his green eyes.

  What is he up to?

  “I wish I could have given you a real honeymoon like Stevie and Zane are taking,” he said.

  “Ours was fine,” Carly said, still suspicious. “We had fun.”

  They hadn’t had much money and they’d been saving to buy a house. She’d already been three months pregnant with Brianna. But they’d been young and in love. Where they went on their honeymoon hadn’t mattered to her at all.

  “We went camping, and it rained all week.” Seth ducked into the shower. Washing the soot and blood off his skin took two minutes. He stepped out and dried off, then rubbed the towel over his short blond hair.

  Smiling, Carly remembered the many hours they’d spent in the tent, rain drumming on the canvas, the smell of damp forest, swimming in the cool river between rain showers. “As if you wanted to spend much time outside of our tent anyway.”

  “If you really remember, I wasn’t too picky about privacy. And neither were you.” Seth laughed, wrapping the towel around his hips. “Now I’d be happy to have you all to myself for an entire afternoon.”

  “I’m sorry. I know we don’t get much privacy.” Guilt swamped Carly. Her mother and younger brother lived in the main house, and it seemed as if someone else was always visiting.

  “It is a busy place.”

  “You’re happy here, right?” she asked.

  Seth smiled at her. “As long as I’m with you, I’m happy.”

  Which wasn’t quite the answer she’d been hoping for.

  “Brianna will be occupied with the pony all day.” Carly wiggled her eyebrows at him. His muscles rippled as he stepped into cargo pants and tugged a T-shirt over his head. Definitely no need for her to drool over any Hollywood actor. Not with Seth around.

  “You’re killing me. I am so sorry I have to work.” He fastened his pants. Despite their lighthearted banter, he was moving fast, obviously in a hurry to get back to the search.

  “A manhunt is a pretty good excuse. And we both know that no matter how hard we try, our jobs will interfere with our plans now and again.”

  Seth threaded his belt though the loops on his pants and attached his holster and handcuffs.

  Carly’s cell phone rang. She glanced at the display. “I have to answer this. It’s Heidi’s house.” Carly pressed the phone to her ear. “Hello.”

  “Carly?” Hysteria edged Heidi’s voice. “I went upstairs and she wasn’t there. I can’t find her. I can’t find Alex.”

  “Are you sure?” Carly tensed.

  “She isn’t anywhere,” Heidi cried.

  “All right. Call the police. I’ll be right there.” Carly didn’t bother to tell her friend to stay calm. When Brianna was in danger, calm hadn’t been possible. Carly ended the call.

  “What’s wrong?” Seth reached up, retrieved his gun from the top of the armoire, and secured it in its holster.

  “I have to go. Alex Sykes is missing.” Carly shed her clothes faster than Seth had. She showered off the barn dirt and jumped into clean jeans and a T-shirt at record speed. Thinking of the dense forest behind Heidi’s house, she pulled on socks, grabbed her hiking boots, and shoved her folding knife into her back pocket.

  “What happened?” Seth asked.

  “I don’t know. Heidi was pretty upset.”

  “Maybe she just went outside,” Seth offered.

  “I hope so.” Carly tied her laces and stuffed her cell phone into her pocket. “That poor kid has been through enough.” She stopped. “What if Cyndee came back for her, Seth?” The thought made Carly sick. “That woman tried to kill three men yesterday morning. She almost killed our daughter.”

  Carly breathed through a mental image of Brianna trapped in a smoky building. That could happen to Alex. “She should be locked away.”

  And frankly, as civilized and understanding as Carly tried to be, she could summon no forgiveness for the woman who’d endangered Brianna.

  Seth picked up his phone. He opened a message and showed her two grainy pictures of Cyndee Sykes. “These were taken about two hours from here.”

  “How could she leave without her child?” Carly asked.

  “Honey, you are transferring your own emotions onto this woman. You put Brianna first. Of all people, you should know that not all parents do that.”

  So why does it still shock me?

  “Cyndee put our daughter in danger. I don’t know why I’d thought she’d treat her own any better.”

  “Tell me what you know about her.”

  Carly recalled the little information she had about Cyndee. “She has a record in California for stalking and small-time arson. Chase had a restraining order against her. She moved around a lot. So far I haven’t been able to locate any family. I spoke to the social worker assigned to Alex’s case in Los Angeles. She didn’t remember the girl, and the case file had no real information in it. Cyndee relocated whenever anyone questioned her activities.”

  “Let’s hope that’s exactly what she did this time.” Seth paused. “I don’t like that Toby Black and Alex Sykes are both missing.”

  “Me either.” Carly hoped and prayed that Alex had simply gone outside without telling Heidi. Alex was thirteen, and she wasn’t accustomed to close adult supervision. Her mother had left her on her own much of the time.

  Seth leaned over and kissed her. “Be careful.”

  “I will.”

  When she pulled away, he tugged her back and wrapped his arms around her. “I love you.”

  Carly rested her head against her husband’s chest for one long minute. “I love you too.” Straightening, she reached up and cupped his jaw. “You watch your back too. I don’t ever want to live without you again.”

  “Back atcha, babe.”

  Carly watched him go, then left the cabin and climbed into her Jeep. She stopped at the main house and went inside. Brianna knelt on the sofa in front of the window, her elbows propped on the back as she stared through the glass at the long driveway.

  “I’m sorry.” Carly sat next to her daughter. “I know I promised to be here when the pony came, but I have to work.”

  Brianna tore her gaze from the window for a split second. “It’s all right. Grandma and Uncle Bruce are here.”

  “Hey, Carly.” Bruce stepped through the doorway. Instead of his usual board shorts and bare feet, he wore athletic shorts and shoes.

  “Where were you?”

  “Out running.” He shrugged.

  “Since when do you run?” Despite her shock, Carly was pleased that her brother was exercising. His brooding worried her. Maybe his depression had turned a corner.

  He ignored her question. “Do you or Seth need help today?”

  “No, but thanks.”

  Something sad flickered in Bruce’s eyes. “Are you sure? I know these woods as well as anyone.”

  Bruce was the youngest of the four Taylor siblings and was regularly teased about his lack of employment. Playing in a band a few nights a week didn’t pay anyone’s bills. Though all the Taylor siblings possessed unusual musical talent, Bruce had been the only one to follow his heart and talent into the music business. But he rarely showed interest in his music now. He’d been injured in an accident and his girlfriend had been murdered back in December. Since then he’d been withdrawn with everyone except Brianna. Yesterday’s wedding reception was the first time she’d seen him play with his band in a long time. Bruce had recovered from his physical injuries, but Carly feared the damage to his heart had left deep scars.

  “I appreciate you staying with Brianna and Mom today. I feel better knowing you’re here.”

  “I’ll do anything for Brianna, you know that.” Bruce nodded, but his lips were pressed as tight as a clenched fist. She could count the number of times he’d smiled since December on one hand. Could he be happy again? “I just wish you would all stop treating me as i
f I was damaged goods.”

  “I’m sorry if we do that,” Carly said. “We love you.”

  Bruce sighed. “I know.”

  Brianna, intent on watching the road, barely noticed when Carly gave her a goodbye kiss on the head.

  On the way out of the room, she hugged her brother. “Tell Mom I left?”

  “Sure.” His return embrace was distracted, and Carly made a mental note to make time for a heart-to-heart with her brother. But for now she returned to her car and drove toward Heidi’s house.

  As much as she wanted Alex’s disappearance to be a big mistake, deep inside she knew Heidi wasn’t the hysterical type. Chances were, Alex was gone.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  “How many suspects do we have in addition to Josh and Spider?” Leaning on his parked car outside Nell’s small grocery, Seth selected a drumstick from the bag Phil offered him. Seth had missed breakfast, and the crispy batter melted in his mouth.

  “Two people who were close to Chase.” Phil handed him a takeout cup of coffee. “Chase’s ex, Jenny Blair, and his agent, Aiden Tierney, both came to town after Chase’s death.”

  Seth flipped through the case file Phil had picked up at the police station. Seth had read through Zane’s notes the night before, but he hadn’t memorized every detail.

  He thumbed past the reports on Josh and Spider and stopped on an interview with Chase’s ex. Jenny Blair was the mother of Chase’s son, Brandon.

  “Why would Jenny want to spring Toby?” Seth asked. “She should want him in prison.”

  “Revenge? She was in love with Chase,” Phil said. “Seems to me that ten years is a long time to pine for a man she didn’t marry. Maybe she had some sort of fixation on him. Maybe she thinks prison isn’t punishment enough. Just because he confessed to killing Toby doesn’t mean he’ll get convicted of murder. Some reporter was speculating yesterday that he might only get charged with manslaughter. He could be sentenced to as little as six years.”

  “Her motive still seems thin to me, but the only way we’ll know is to talk to her.” Seth knew love was a powerful and sometimes irrational force. He went back to the file. “With the same reasoning, Chase’s agent would have plenty of motivation to get even with Toby. Chase was his biggest client. No doubt his death was a serious hit to Tierney’s income.”

  “Maybe he was mad enough to want Toby to pay for killing Chase.”

  “Or maybe there’s some other information we don’t have yet. This is already the strangest case I’ve ever worked. I’ll go talk to the ex.” Seth tossed the file into his car. “See if you can find the agent.”

  “Will do.”

  Seth slid into the driver’s seat and drove the two blocks to Miss Penny’s B&B, the Tall Tree Inn.

  He went into the inn. “Hello?”

  Miss Penny came out of the kitchen. Her white hair was wound into a tight braided bun, but her tall and sturdy frame belied her senior-citizen status. Once a schoolteacher, Miss Penny had never married. She’d retired a few years ago and opened the B&B out of sheer boredom. Her last name was Gray, but Seth had never heard anyone use it in the decade he’d lived in Solitude.

  She waved at him with a pair of glasses. “Seth, come into the kitchen. I have a new fried chicken recipe I’m trying out.”

  “You wouldn’t be trying to duplicate Nell’s, would you?”

  Miss Penny grinned over her shoulder. “I will figure out her secret ingredient before I die.”

  Seth followed her and stood in the doorway. “Is Jenny Blair still here?”

  Miss Penny stood over a plate of raw chicken legs on the table. Wire-rimmed glasses were perched on her nose, and she held a large index card in one hand. “She hasn’t checked out yet, but checkout is at noon.” Miss Penny glanced at her watch. Her mouth twisted with irritation. “Which was ten minutes ago. I’ll call her room.”

  “Thank you. I’m in a hurry.”

  “I suppose this is about that missing criminal.” She set down the index card and went to an old rotary phone attached to the wall. Lifting the receiver, which was bound to the base with an old-fashioned spiraled cord, she called Jenny and asked her to come downstairs to talk to Seth. After setting the receiver on the base, she returned to the table.

  Technically Toby wasn’t a criminal because he hadn’t been convicted, but Seth wasn’t going to argue with Miss Penny.

  “Was she here this morning?” Seth asked.

  “They had breakfast in the dining room at nine,” she said with a disapproving shake of her head. “City folks don’t like to get up early, I suppose.”

  The semi had run the deputy off the road a little after eight. The timeline didn’t give Jenny an alibi.

  “Are you sure about the time?” Seth asked.

  Miss Penny propped a fist on her hip and shot him a schoolteacher stare over the tops of her glasses. “I serve breakfast between seven and nine. If my guests want food, they get their butts out of bed and into dining room chairs between those hours. Miss Blair and her son arrived just as I was fixing to clean up.” Her face softened. “But the boy looked hungry, and she’d obviously been up crying all night, so I made an exception to my rule.”

  Miss Penny made very few exceptions to her rules. She waved at the doorway. “You can use the parlor if you want some privacy.”

  “Thank you, ma’am.”

  “She’d better check out soon or I’ll have to charge her a late fee.”

  Seth returned to the front room. Jenny came down. The young Asian woman wasn’t at all what he’d expected of the former girlfriend of one of the biggest stars in Hollywood. Petite and dressed in ordinary jeans, a tank top, and flip-flops, Chase’s ex was the opposite of a tall, leggy model.

  “Where’s Brandon?” Seth asked.

  Jenny stiffened and crossed her arms. “I told him to stay upstairs.”

  The mention of her son had put her on the defensive. Seth softened his approach. “I’m sure he’s been through enough.”

  Sniffing, Jenny nodded. “He loved Chase. It’s going to be hard for him to accept that his father is dead.” Her eyes filled with bright, angry tears.

  Hard for Brandon or Jenny?

  “Sit down.” Seth herded her toward a pair of Victorian-looking chairs.

  She eased into one, still on edge. “Is this about Toby going missing?”

  “You’ve heard?” Seth sat across from her and tried to summon some patience, which wasn’t easy in the middle of a manhunt.

  She nodded. “It was on the news.”

  “Have you had any contact with Toby since he confessed?”

  She shook her head, her lips pressed into a bloodless line, as if trying to compose herself enough to verbalize her answer. “I spent most of yesterday in our room.” She dragged in a long, wheezing breath. “Those photographers were everywhere, and I couldn’t pull myself together enough to drive home.”

  “Were you shocked that Toby killed Chase?”

  She shuddered and plucked a tissue from a box on the end table. “At first I couldn’t believe it, but then I remembered all the fights Chase had with Toby and Josh and Spider. Chase was impulsive and immature.” She blotted her eyes, then stared at the crumpled tissue in her lap.

  But she’d loved him.

  “Is that why you didn’t marry him?”

  Jenny lifted her eyes. Fresh pain filled them, along with a gleam of anger that she quickly blinked away. “I didn’t marry him because he never asked.”

  “I’m sorry.” Seth meant it. The more he learned about Chase Ryan, the less he thought of him.

  “Chase sent money.” Jenny crumpled the tissue again and reached for another. She was trying hard to act meek and sad, but Seth sensed underlying resentment. Years’ and years’ worth. “He called to talk to Brandon every week.”

  “Have you seen Josh or Spider since Toby was arrested?”

  “Yesterday,” she said. Her lips parted as if she wanted to add to her answer, then her mouth closed, settling back into that u
nyielding line. Whatever she was thinking, she’d clearly decided to keep it to herself.

  “How are they coping with the news that Toby killed Chase?”

  “They’re devastated.”

  “By Chase’s death or Toby’s confession?” Seth asked.

  She hesitated before saying, “Both. I’ve known them all since we were teenagers.” She paused, staring down at her hands. “I can’t believe Chase is dead any more than I can believe that Toby killed him.”

  Yet both of those events happened.

  “Is there anyone you know who might have wanted to get their hands on Toby?”

  Jenny’s brow puckered. “Aiden Tierney has a temper and zero impulse control. I remember Spider telling me about the anger management classes Tierney was forced to take after he rammed another car blocking his way in a parking lot. When I saw him on Friday, he was freaking out.”

  Freaking out enough to kidnap Toby in anger?

  “Tierney was Chase’s agent?”

  “Yes, and Chase’s death might bankrupt him. Tierney has expensive taste.”

  “Mom?” Brandon stood at the bottom of the steps.

  “Hi, honey.” She forced a smile.

  “What’s wrong?” Brandon’s gaze shifted between his mom and Seth. The kid didn’t seem as upset as his mother did.

  Even if Jenny wanted his killer punished, Seth couldn’t believe she was responsible for running two police cars off the road. She seemed too passive. She’d put up with Chase’s bad behavior for years. Had she finally snapped?

  But there was something she wasn’t telling him. She was pointing the finger at Tierney, but did she really suspect Josh or Spider? Maybe both of them?

  “Nothing’s wrong. The detective had a few follow-up questions before we left town.” She stood. “We’re done now. Are you finished packing?”

  Brandon nodded.

  “Then let’s get our bags.” She turned to Seth. “Goodbye, Detective.”

  “Thank you.” Seth left the inn.

  He put the key into the ignition and started the engine. The door to the B&B opened and Jenny and Brandon came out. Jenny had a rolling suitcase. The boy half dragged a duffel bag across the porch. They headed across the gravel lot to a Ford sedan that sat in the shade of some pine trees. Jenny stopped halfway across the lot. Seth followed her gaze to the car.