Chapter 20

Roy stepped out of the cabin when he saw Jenny drive up. He had spent the entire morning with Isabelle and then sent her to bed for a nap. Despite her initial complaints, she fell fast asleep within only a couple of minutes. Cabin life was doing her some good.

He waved to Jenny as she stepped out of the car. As she approached, he could sense that things had not gone according to plan.

“Well, how did it go?” he asked gently. “Did you see him?”

“Oh, I saw Joey alright. We had a good talk.”

She smiled gratefully. Roy was glad she’d had a good talk with her brother and that they had no doubt mended bridges that had been broken for a very long time.

“That is great news. You've been gone a while.”

“I was only allowed an hour.”

“Well, we knew he wouldn’t make it easy.”

“I think he’s smarter than we give him credit for.”

Jenny hooked her arm through Roy’s and led him down to the lake.

It was mid afternoon, and the air was beginning to chill. The summer days would soon be coming to an end, and autumn would be taking over.

“What makes you say that?” he asked.

“When I was leaving the station, he stood outside and waved good bye. It was weird. It felt like a threat. Like he was letting me know he had his eyes on me”

“He’s just trying to intimidate you. He’s afraid, because he doesn’t know if we have any real evidence to support Joey’s wrongful arrest. And if we do have something, he has no idea what it is.”

Jenny was glad to have Roy on her side. He had a knack for putting her at ease.

“So what happened after you left the station?” Roy said, urging her to continue.

“I went to the local liquor store. I wanted to find out more about the blue wine bottle used in the fire.”

Roy suddenly became tense.

“I saw Cartright leaving the store as I was arriving. He had one of those brown, paper, liquor bags in his hand. He looked around as if he didn't want to be seen and then went up the street to his car.”

“Rosaceae,” Roy murmured.

“What's that?”

“The name of the wine in the blue bottle.”

Roy nodded when she stopped to look up at his face, her hand clenched tightly around his thick biceps.

“It’s a family of roses. Chief Miller from the Ombrea Fire Department called while you were out. I had him check out the blue glass fragments at the scene, and they were a match.”

“That’s good news. Except,” she paused, “when I went into the liquor store, the owner was super friendly and helpful until I mentioned the wine in the blue bottle. Then, he became agitated and I felt as if he wanted me out of there. He said he had never stocked it there.”

“That is odd behavior for Lawrence. He's always willing to order something he doesn't have on hand.”

“I asked him if I could do that. He shouted at me that this wasn’t New York, and if I wanted wine like that I should get out of town immediately.”

Roy frowned.

“And you say Chief Cartright had been in there only minutes before you arrived?”

“He was just leaving before I headed in. Why? Do you think he might have said something?”

“Intimidated Lawrence into lying through his teeth?” Roy said. “I do think he’s capable of that. I just know he is involved somehow. We just need to find out how.”

“How are we going to do that?” Jenny asked as they resumed their walk. “We could search his house to see if we can track down a similar bottle of wine? But we risk getting charged with B and E.”

Roy shook his head.

“We have to go back to the beginning and figure out what we might have missed.”

“The crime scene? The house is a disaster, Roy. It's not safe to go back there.”

“Only the ground floor was damaged,” Roy reminded her. “The second floor is still standing and was in relatively good condition when I was there last. I’ll run it by Adam Miller, but I don't see it being a problem as long as I leave things as they are.”

“But you said already that there wasn't much to see.”

“There wasn’t, but I might have missed something.”

There was no way of talking Roy out of it. He was going to search that master bedroom until he found something.

“I've got to do it, Jenny.”

God, she wanted him in that moment. His determination and his passion were such a turn on. After their discussion this morning, she knew she couldn’t make a move, but that didn’t mean she wouldn’t be all over him if he started something.

“Okay, but you have to be careful.”

“Of course.” He loosened his grip on her to bend down pick up a shiny, flat pebble from the beach. He stood back up to skim it across the water. The surface rippled as the stone bounced toward the horizon and eventually sank into the icy depths of the lake.

“I'll be back before you know it.”

“You better be.”

Jenny reached up and kissed Roy on the cheek, his stubble scratching her soft lips. She moved her hand to his lower back and massaged him affectionately. For one, long moment, she thought she had made a horrible mistake. He didn't move or speak.

Finally, he reached out to find her hand. She felt a deep sense of relief as he held it tightly in his own. It seemed they had made it past their disagreement from earlier in the day. Maybe this was heading somewhere after all.