Dana Mentink - Seaside Secrets

“Go home, Ms. Gallagher. Leave the investigating to the cops.”

Torrey left.

She realized Dan was staring at her.

“You’re a private investigator?”

She smiled at the insanity of it. “Hard to believe a navy chaplain has a side job?”

He didn’t return the smile. “No, but it’s hard to believe that Guzman suddenly wanted to chat with a person he’s avoided all this time.” He pulled out his phone and typed something in.

“When did you send your last letter to Guzman?”

“It was an email. I sent it from my office account last month.”

“How’d you find his email address?”

She raised her chin. “I work at a PI firm, remember? We find things out.”

“Uh-huh.” He read the tiny screen. “And when did your family decide to put up their website listing you as an associate of the firm like it says here?”

She swallowed. “Last month.”

“So when you sent the email, he searched your name and it led him to Pacific Coast Investigations.”

“Sounds right. Lila knew he’d contacted an investigator.”

Dan pursed his lips. “Guzman’s into some kind of trouble, or he wouldn’t have run away after the fire.”

“He might have been worried since he’s got a past with the police, but he tried to help you rescue Lila—that has to show what he’s made of.”

“I’m just making an observation. Out of the blue, he asks you to come here, and then there’s an explosion that nearly kills a woman and might have killed you if you were any closer,” he added. “He takes off instead of talking to the police. That all seems a little strange to me.”

Though she didn’t say so, it seemed very strange to her, too. She felt suddenly bone weary and ready to drop. “I’m going to go to my hotel.”

“I’ll walk you back to your car.”

An explosion that nearly kills a woman and might have killed you...

This time, she did not decline his offer.

* * *

Dan insisted on checking underneath Angela’s car before she started it. There was no real reason to, except that his nerves were nagging him.

He gestured for her to roll down the window. “Where are you staying?”

“Blue Tide Inn.”

“Can I get your cell number? In case I hear any updates about Lila?” He was suddenly uneasy that she might decline.

After a moment’s pause she told him the number and then groaned. “My cell is in my jacket. I think it might have wound up going to the hospital with Lila. My car keys would have, too, if I hadn’t put them in my back pocket.”

“The hospital will keep it for you. I work there, or I did. I’m going to check on her tomorrow morning, anyway. I’ll ask about it.”

He felt her looking closer at him. “Don’t you work there anymore?”

He rubbed his neck. “On leave, like you. Taking some time off. Injured my hand.”

“Oh. The way you got Lila out of the car, I wouldn’t have guessed it.”

“A surgeon’s hands have to be better than good. The tiniest slip and someone’s dead.” The words came out harsher than he’d meant. Something in her gaze made him uncomfortable, as if she saw things under the surface, things he didn’t want anyone to see. “Anyway, I’ll get the phone back for you.”

“No need. I’ll do it myself.”

“Fair enough.”

He stepped back so she could drive away.

She turned to him. “Do you need a ride?”

“No. My house is right up the beach.”

She hesitated for another moment. “Dan, what I said before, about you being a coward. I’m sorry.”

“No need to apologize.”

“Yes, there is. You fought your way into a burning car to get Lila out. That’s courage if I ever saw it.”

He noted how the moonlight embedded sparks of light in her hair. “Oh, I don’t know. For some folks, just facing another day requires more courage than I’ve got.”

One more moment with her eyes locked onto his. Then she tucked her hair behind her ear and drove out of the parking lot. He watched until her car pulled out of sight. It was nearly nine o’clock. The crowds had dispersed, leaving only clusters of people sipping cups of coffee or walking down to the beach before heading home.

He took off at a slow jog, only two miles to his cottage. The term amused him. It was a dilapidated wood-sided claptrap, a far cry from the sleek five-bedroom house he’d owned before he’d gone to Afghanistan. He’d had visions of fixing the cottage up, restoring each warped beam and leaking faucet, but he hadn’t and it didn’t make much difference. The only thing that really mattered was the view from the sagging wraparound porch. The thundering of the Pacific beat a soothing rhythm day and night, steady, reassuring.

As he took the steps up to the porch, he said hello to Babs, the cat who had adopted him—or his porch, anyway. He spent a moment, as he always did, breathing in the grandeur of the ocean, which normally eased away all his troubles. God’s workmanship. Incredible. That was one thing about his time in the desert. Somehow it made all the colors of the world brighter, more vibrant, upon his return.

Tonight, though, he found that his mind was not clear and easy. He liked Lila, appreciated her calming way with patients and her gentle nature. If she was scared, he wanted to help. And then there was a certain navy chaplain. He flashed for a moment on her haunted green eyes, the deep green that reminded him of new spring leaves. He could not rid himself of the feeling that Angela Gallagher was in trouble.

* * *

Angela wanted to call home and talk to her family, to reassure herself that all was well. After the disastrous last year, her youngest sister, Sarah, was still healing from the car crash that had taken their father’s life. The killer who’d arranged it all would have murdered their sister Donna, as well, if God hadn’t intervened and sent coast guard rescue swimmer Brent Mitchell into their lives. Donna and Brent were enjoying their newlywed status, and her mother and sisters were busy tending to each other and the family business under the supervision of Marco, their longtime family friend. Maybe she could call Marco and tell him about all that had transpired, but he would be in a car speeding to Cobalt Cove in a matter of minutes, and she did not think she had the fortitude to handle a face-to-face with him.

She let herself into the small hotel room, decorated in soothing blues with a second-story balcony that looked over the front parking lot and out to the ocean beyond. She locked the door behind her, legs gone weak. Sinking down into a chair, she considered her options.

Go home, as Officer Torrey had suggested.

Stay and see if she could somehow locate Tank.

And then what? If he was a dangerous man, that plan would be just plain stupid.

“You’re committed until tomorrow morning, anyway,” she muttered to herself. There was no way she was going to leave Cobalt Cove without retrieving her cell phone and checking on Lila.

She wondered if she’d see Dan at the hospital. Her cheeks went hot as she considered what he must have thought after she’d bolted from the accident scene and hidden like a child on the beach. Yet his tone had not been condescending or pitying, the gray eyes gentle, or so she imagined.

With a sigh, she put the memory behind her and microwaved herself a cup of water, dunking in a tea bag before she opened the door to the balcony. The hotel phone rang and she answered it, gazing out at the sea, cradling the hot mug to her body with her free hand.

“Is this Angela Gallagher?”

“Yes. Who’s calling?”

“You know who.”

Her breath caught. “Tank?”

“Yeah. I need to talk to you.”

Her nerves were rattled. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”