Carly Phillips: Under the Boardwalk

“What world do you live in?” Ariana asked, in shock at her mother’s way of thinking, although considering everything, she really shouldn’t be.

“I beg your pardon, young lady, but what’s so wrong with believing in love at first sight? I know I felt it for your father and him for me. And Zoe thought Alec Damon was a handsome scoundrel.” Elena scowled a bit. “I’m not sure I liked the idea of a scoundrel, but then the right woman can always train a man.”

Ariana ignored her mother’s philosophical musings. Love at first sight didn’t happen to most people, or the divorce rate wouldn’t be as high as it was. “Do you think Alec Damon had something to do with Zoe’s disappearance? Is that why you don’t want me to go to the casino?”

Elena shrugged. “I really don’t know what happened to your sister.” She swallowed as her voice cracked with emotion. “Zoe had worked at Damon’s for about five weeks. Between the two of us, we’d paid off the loan. Zoe knew that but continued to go there every day, so I thought my plan was working and she liked this Mr. Damon. Not that she ever admitted as much to me. No, my Zoe wouldn’t give me the satisfaction of discussing her social life.”

Ariana nodded. “Zoe kept to herself. She valued her privacy.”

“As do you, moving so far away.” Elena shook her head, obviously frustrated. “Anyway, she went to work one day and no one’s story is consistent after that. Her car was left in the parking lot and she’s been missing,” Elena said on a wail of despair. “And I don’t want to see my other daughter walk into danger.”

Since Ariana couldn’t promise her mother she wouldn’t be doing just that, she settled for calming her. “I want you to go lie down. Don’t worry yourself sick. I’ll just see what I can find out and I’ll be careful doing it.” Ariana placed a hand around her mother’s shoulders and led her out of Zoe’s room, which had too many memories and was only upsetting her.

“Exactly what are you going to do?” her mother asked.

Ariana forced a smile. “Nothing for you to worry about, I promise.”

“But Zoe was the tougher twin, the one who could handle herself in most any situation, and even she obviously couldn’t best this Mr. Damon. What makes you think you can, my sweet Ari?” As Elena lifted her gaze, concern and the worry lines in her forehead made her seem older than usual like someone carrying more of a burden than her normal, carefree self.

Elena’s distinction between the twins merely strengthened Ariana’s resolve not to let her sister down. “Because you need me to handle him and so does Zoe. If I can hold my own with a roomful of cocky college students, I’m sure I can deal with Mr. Damon, too.”

She wasn’t as certain about Quinn, the sexy man with many secrets who believed she was on her way back to Vermont. She’d just have to do her best to stay under his radar during her trip to Damon’s tomorrow night.

Quinn had agreed to meet his partner at a Dunkin’ Donuts an hour outside of Ocean Isle. Connor Brennan took a bite of a donut and chased it down with a swig of coffee before wiping the sugar off his mouth with the back of his hand.

Watching Connor chow down on donuts, Quinn groaned. “You do realize you’re reinforcing a bad cliché about cops?”

Connor balled the napkin he hadn’t used and tossed it into the trash, then shrugged. “Who cares? As long as my stomach’s happy, I’m happy.”

Quinn leaned back against the sticky seat and laughed. “You always did make your stomach a priority.” He’d met Connor when they were seventeen, two unwanted boys sharing their last foster home.

“And you were always willing to help me.”

Connor, with Quinn as lookout, had stolen food, not for himself and Quinn, but for the younger kids in the house. Quinn, Connor, and a revolving door of other kids had all lived under strict and irrational rules. While watching the clock tick down toward their eighteenth birthdays and freedom, the two older boys had done what they could for the younger ones before getting out.

“We make a damn good team. Then and now.” Connor grinned, flashing the killer smile women loved and the one that covered all the pain he didn’t want the world to see.

Quinn agreed. The other man was the brother Quinn never had.

“So you had a close call today, huh?” Connor asked.

Just thinking about Ari being shot at made Quinn break into a sweat. He nodded. “The twins looked enough alike to nearly give me a heart attack. And apparently someone else thought they’d seen Zoe, too.”

Connor muttered a curse. “Well, we’d better make sure Zoe doesn’t find out about her twin’s arrival and do something to complicate this mess even more.”

“Agreed.” Quinn wrapped his hands around the warm coffee cup. “So what’d you find at the pier?”

Connor’s dark gaze settled on Quinn. “Right after your call, I sent a team to the area of the shooting. They came up empty. The wind and sand blew away any evidence.”

“Damn.” Quinn curled his hand around a plastic fork and twirled it in his palms. “Then we just assume it was one of Damon’s men who thought they saw Zoe and took a shot.”

“But once he saw you tackling her, he probably realized something was off and ran.”

Quinn nodded. “Damon believed I followed orders and killed Zoe. He still believes it.”

Which was why Ari’s presence in town was so dangerous to her and to the investigation. “I assume you covered your ass with Damon today?” Connor asked.

Quinn nodded. “First thing I did after driving Ari home was to let Damon know Zoe’s twin paid her family a visit-and left again. So if someone who answers to Damon made the same mistake I did and thinks Zoe’s alive, Damon will correct them.”

Connor let out a slow whistle. “The good professor nearly tossed two years’ worth of undercover work down the drain.” He shook his head. “So tell me,” he said, the laughter in his voice signaling a fast change of subject, “is Ari as sweet looking as her sister?”

“She’s sweeter.” The words slipped out before Quinn could censor them.

“In what way? Sweet ass? Sweet cheeks?”

“Sweet Lord,” Quinn said, rolling his eyes. He hated hearing Ariana Costas reduced to a piece of eye candy, but damned if he’d give Connor the ammunition to rib him for the duration of this case. “She’s exactly like Zoe,” he lied.

Connor’s fathomless stare told Quinn he didn’t believe him for a second.

“And I made her swear she’d go home.”

“Think she’ll listen?” Connor asked.

Quinn nodded. “Without a doubt. She didn’t strike me as headstrong like Zoe.” Instead she was softer and more vulnerable.

And the fact that Zoe had faked her death, no matter how noble the reason, would hurt Ari. Normally Quinn lied without blinking, but he hadn’t been able to forget the pain in Ari’s eyes or the hope he’d seen when he’d admitted her sister was alive. He didn’t want to be around when Ari found out the disappearance was a deliberate hoax. Ari would probably want to kill her sister all over again, unlike the rest of her eccentric family, who’d probably applaud the charade.

Zoe had once regaled him with stories and just the thought of their strange, large family made Quinn, the poster child for a dysfunctional childhood and solitary living, break out in hives.

He shuddered and, after a quick glance at his watch, turned his attention back to Connor. “So what’s happening on your end?”

“Just some basic bartending. Nothing out of the ordinary. Unless you count one pain-in-the-ass waitress,” Connor muttered.

“Is Maria still busting your balls?”