Blaze of Winter: A Loveswept Contemporary Romance (28 page)

“Sir? Sir! You can’t go in there, sir! Please, sir, come back!”

Theo burst through the doors to the Urgent Care ward, ignoring the pleas of the physician’s assistant who was chasing after him. Where was she? He didn’t trust Cole’s explanation of what had happened, and a call to Avery’s cell phone had gone straight to voicemail. He was getting more frantic now. He quickly scanned the corridor. No Avery.

“Sir!” The poor assistant was getting desperate, but he didn’t care. He turned the corner and came up short just before he rammed into Julie Kensington.

“Theo?” Julie looked startled. “What are you doing back here?”

“Avery,” he bit out. “Where is she?”

“Not here,” Julie said firmly, taking him by the arm and leading him away from the physician’s assistant, who finally seemed to be calming down. “I’ll take you to her.” Thankful for the fact that he’d always been decent to Julie in high school, and even more thankful that she was now a doctor who had hospital access, he let her lead him down the corridor, through some double doors, and into a different wing. “Kate’s doing well, so they transferred her to the general ward. Avery’s keeping her company. She’s fine. Just so you know.”

The tightness in his chest abated somewhat, but he wouldn’t be fully satisfied until he saw her.

“There she is,” Julie said, discreetly pointing down a long hallway toward a bench. She gave him a little pat on the back.

“Thank you,” he said to Julie before making a beeline for Avery, who sat slumped with her hands clasped in her lap. She looked so small. Small and sad. The thought of her feeling even a little bit miserable made him feel downright awful. He strode the length of the hallway as quickly as he could, sat down right next to her, and wrapped his arm around her shoulder.

Avery took one look at him and her face crumpled. “Oh, Avery,” he said, enveloping her in a hug. He just let her cry, stroking her back and hair. Just let her get it all out, every wrenching sob, every hot tear. She kept everything bottled up so tightly, it was no wonder that she needed to explode. When she finally pulled away, her eyes were red and her face was blotchy.

She tried to avert her eyes from him, but he gently tipped her chin up. “You never need to hide from me. I’m here for you.”

When she spoke, her voice was surprisingly even. “Seeing Wanda again was such a shock. I—I couldn’t believe how bad she looked. How far she’d fallen. And I kept thinking about Mia and how she must have died. Alone. And if not scared, then strung out and out of her mind. I found her body, you know. She was late for our appointment, so I went to the housing center to get her. I found her on her back, eyes wide open. She’d had a seizure, passed out and choked on her own vomit. It was,” she paused to swallow, “it was the most horrible thing I’ve ever witnessed in my life. On top of that, I felt like such a failure. What I had to give wasn’t good enough. And to think that I might have failed Wanda, too? What if she hadn’t broken into Kate’s place? What if she had died alone in the woods or somewhere in the cold snow where no one would have found her until spring? Oh, my God …” She choked a bit as her voice rose and fresh tears fell. Theo didn’t say anything; he just held her tightly and let her compose herself. After a few moments, Avery swallowed and continued.

“With Kate being ill on top of everything else, it’s all been a bit much for me to handle. When it was just the cancer, I could deal with it. It’s the unknown that makes me crazy.” She shook her head. “I thought getting away from Boston would help me figure out whether I could do this job. Give me some distance. Can I be a successful social worker or can’t I? But things are
just as confusing here, especially with you.” A little tear made its way from the corner of her eye down her cheek.

Theo wiped it away and kissed her. “Our relationship is the last thing you should be confused about.”

She looked up at him doubtfully. “Is what we have a relationship?”

“Of course.” He brushed her lips with his, and then looked her dead in the eye. “Don’t second-guess us. I want to be with you, Avery. Do you understand?”

She stared back at him for a long time before glancing away. “Well, I’m second-guessing every interaction with Wanda, that’s for sure,” she said finally, giving a sweet little hiccup. “The fact that I almost lost another client? Let’s just say it hasn’t been good for my confidence.”

“Think of it as an opportunity to make things right,” Theo said.

Avery blinked rapidly. “I—I never thought of it like that. It’s rare that anyone gets a second chance at anything, let alone something this important.”

“See? You’re already looking on the bright side.”

She snorted and wiped her nose. “The bright side to drug addiction. Just great.”

“If anyone can see it, you can. Channel that passion into helping Wanda.”
And into me
.

“I’ll try. I need Kate to get better, too.”

“She will. She’s being taken care of by the best,” he said. “You’re not alone in this. Don’t forget that. Let others in to help. Let
me
in.”

She was silent, her head resting on his shoulder. “Theo?” she finally said, not raising her head.

“Yeah, Avery?”

“Thank you. I didn’t realize until now how much I needed you here.”

Her heartfelt words humbled him. For one of the few times in his life, he was at a loss for words. Instead, he simply enveloped her in his arms and pulled her to his chest.

CHAPTER 24

To Avery’s surprise—no, make that shock—the rest of her day went smoothly. It had started out so terribly, but things had gone uphill after Theo had shown up at the hospital.

Carla had arrived right on time, at noon. It was a relief to have an extra pair of hands on board, and it had made the check-in process a cinch. She and Carla had briefed the guests on the situation, and thankfully no one seemed concerned. Avery wanted to chalk that one up to the Christmas spirit. They all appeared to be nice, normal people—not one obvious lush or mobster in the bunch.

Now teatime was approaching, and Avery had just finished preparing the tray of goodies. She slowly walked down the corridor to the parlor, holding the big tray steady. The last thing she wanted was for the teapot and Lexie’s delectable pastries to fall on the floor. She reached the room without incident and arranged the tea things on a table before turning to look out the window. The afternoon had shaped up to be sunny and clear, with a light wind forming small whitecaps in the harbor. Star Harbor looked gorgeous, decked out in all its holiday finery, and even Avery could see why people would be drawn here at this time of year.

When she’d first arrived back in Star Harbor, she’d seen the place as a sleepy, isolated hamlet where nothing much happened and everyone knew too much about each other’s business—the worst of both worlds. She’d been so narrow-minded that she hadn’t actually appreciated how much the town had to offer. She’d thought of it as a punishment of sorts to be here. As if on cue, a gust of wind blew outside the parlor window and some snow fell off the roof in a gorgeous, shimmery curtain.

She smiled. The little town’s physical beauty was just one of the things she’d grown to appreciate. Thanks to all of the fun group events, such as the tree lighting and ice-skating on the
pond, she was actually beginning to like winter. And she didn’t even mind the town gossip mill that much anymore. After all, being in such a small community had its benefits, and getting personalized assistance from friends and neighbors was just one of them. Julie had managed Aunt Kate’s care beautifully, coordinating seamlessly between her oncologist and the urgent-care physicians at CCH. And Cole had certainly helped her out this morning. Wanda wouldn’t have hurt her, but Avery might not have had the wherewithal to arrange for the proper care as fast as he had. She owed him some serious thanks. Yes, there were definitely some benefits to be had living in a town like this. Theo was right—she wasn’t alone here.

Just then, Cole strolled into the parlor. He’d spent the whole day checking out the cellar with his team and Val’s. To Cole’s credit, he’d kept his word about being discreet. None of the new guests had complained about any noise, so she figured she was in the clear. Cole was dressed in his uniform, and though it was slightly dusty, its effect wasn’t diminished. He looked big, powerful, and in charge.

“Hi, Avery,” he said. “Can you spare a few minutes? I want to show you something.”

“Sure,” she said, following him back down the corridor and trying not to stare at his gun holster. Guns made her nervous, no doubt about it.

They stepped out the back door, Cole solicitously helping her down the staircase and into the cellar. Adjusting her eyes to the gloom, she followed him over to the weird wooden wall. Hank, also in uniform, was crouching by the wall, packing some heavy-duty flashlights into a large duffel bag. Val was there, too, dressed in jeans and a Henley. He had his BlackBerry in one hand and one of those fancy, lighted notepads in the other, and he was looking back and forth between the two. Both men greeted her as she approached, but they quickly returned to what they were doing.

The wall had been broken apart, and beyond it all she could see was darkness.

“What on Earth?” she said.

“There was some kind of door with a hidden latch, but we only realized that once we’d busted it open,” Cole said. “Not the most elegant solution, but it got the job done.”

Avery squinted into the black hole beyond the wall. “What’s in there? It isn’t just storage space, is it?”

“Cole and I checked it out,” Val said. “It’s a pretty large chamber, maybe sixty by forty. About twenty feet in on the left, there’s a small passageway, which we’re fairly sure leads all the way to Star Harbor Point. Stored inside the chamber was about a thousand kilos of what we believe is mephedrone, laced with oxycodone, packaged and street-ready. Each unit was packed into drums, which were obviously used to transport the drugs. We’ve taken those away already, but the drug runners have left a lot more stuff behind.”

“Kate doesn’t know about this,” Avery said quickly, wanting to make it clear that her aunt shouldn’t be in any trouble. “She told me she hasn’t ever tried to access this part of the cellar.”

“You sure? Seems like someone’s been on this side of the wall recently.”

“That was me. I was down here last week to find the Christmas lights. But the cellar door had been left unbolted,” she said, thinking aloud. “At the time, I didn’t think much of it. In fact, I just assumed Kate had done it, but she hasn’t been in the best of shape recently, so I doubt she would have even tried to open those heavy doors on her own.”

“Hm,” Cole said. “Interesting. We’ll definitely have to ask her some questions. When she’s well enough to talk to us, that is. Mostly we’re interested in the history of this place, who she bought it from, that kind of thing.”

Avery let out a sigh. “Okay. I get that people were using this as a hiding place, but why were we hearing all of those weird noises up in the Inn? I thought the cellar was a completely separate, unconnected chamber.”

“As far as we can tell, there’s some ductwork back there that goes up into the Inn itself, which is probably why you’re feeling the drafts and hearing the banging. Everything echoes, and
I know you’re well aware that if someone’s making noise down here, you can hear loud, hollow noises even on the third floor of the building,” Cole said.

Avery blushed, remembering what she was doing the last time she was on the Inn’s third floor. She hoped the three men couldn’t see her in the dim light. “So what do you need from us at the Inn?” she asked, trying to get her mind back on track.

“We aren’t equipped for any further exploration this afternoon. But we’ll need to come back with our gear and send some folks back here to pick up the rest of the drug runners’ paraphernalia. Val needs to report back to his team and get a few more men for follow-up. As long as you to agree to make the cellar available to us when we need access, we won’t need to keep bothering you every time we need to get in here.”

“Of course,” she said. “Like I said before, we at the Inn will fully cooperate with any investigation.”

“Good,” Cole said with satisfaction.

Val lifted his head. “The DEA thanks you for your ongoing cooperation,” he said before peering at his BlackBerry once again.

“We’re going to seal this back up,” Cole said. “We don’t want anyone going in. Or coming out.”

Avery swallowed. She hadn’t even thought of that. Sure, they’d caught one group of smugglers, but what if there were more? She was almost afraid to ask. “Cole? Do you think that other drug runners will come back?”

“I don’t know,” he said bluntly. “I hope not, but I can’t make any guarantees. I think you’ll be safe, though. Word has probably gotten out that the group at the Point was arrested. I’m running point for both the Sheriff’s Department and the DEA on this incident. If you hear or see anything, call me immediately. Here’s my cell phone number.” He handed her a card.

“Okay. Thanks. Ah, before you close it up for now, can I take a look?” she asked, indicating the dark area.

Cole raised an eyebrow. “You sure you want to?”

“Yes,” she said firmly. She owed it to Kate to see exactly what they were dealing with.

“Well, it is a crime scene.” He paused and looked thoughtful. “But the way I see it, it’s on your aunt’s property and you have a right to know what’s going on. You can come back with me. Just don’t touch anything. Hank, give the lady a flashlight.”

Hank flicked on a large high-beam lantern and handed it to her. When she stepped into the previously hidden part of the cellar, she was immediately hit with a wave of dank, chill air that smelled faintly of the sea. Like the rest of the cellar, it had a dirt floor, and from the looks of it, the walls were made of dirt, too. “Wow. It’s a bit moister in here,” she remarked.

“Probably because it’s connected to the ocean,” Cole said, stepping in behind her.

“Weird. Which way is the passage?”

“Over here,” he said, shining a flashlight to the left. Avery followed him step for step. Even though Hank had given her a powerful beam, she could still see only about ten feet in front of her. “Here’s the entrance. Like I said before, we believe it leads to the Point. Hank and I got about thirty yards in before we hit a locked iron gate. That’s one of the reasons I can’t give you a clear answer about the drug runners returning. We’re bringing in some tools to crack it tomorrow morning. You want to take a look?”