Playing with Fire (24 page)

“I’m sure he wasn’t.” Griffin snorted. “You’re giving him the biggest headache he’s had in a long time.”

“Something’s not right here.” She swallowed the last of her iced tea then rolled the glass against her forehead. “There are just too many unanswered questions floating around. Like, was my father’s death an actual suicide?”

“Don’t get carried away, Cassie, seeing bogeymen where there aren’t any.”

“I’m not,” she insisted. “I know my father was very depressed after…what happened…but I never could see him killing himself. It just didn’t make sense, no matter what my mother said. I told the chief I’d pick up the report on Wednesday. I’m sure he wanted to object, but he couldn’t very well refuse me.”

“We have a lot to check out,” he agreed, “and we need to do it carefully and quietly. You can’t charge around anymore with a big sign on your forehead. If someone out there killed your father as well as Diane, he won’t hesitate to get rid of you, too.”

Cassie shivered as a sudden chill raced over her. “You know, everyone seems to want you and me to leave town. Do you have that feeling?”

He laughed. “Hell, they’ve been wanting me to leave for years. That’s nothing new.”

“I want to talk to you about something else, too,” she said, being careful with her words, “and I don’t know if this is the right time or not.”

“You look like I might bite you. Why don’t we go sit outside?” He stood up and took her hand. “It’s always easier to talk in the dark.”

When they were sitting in the lounge chairs, hands linked in the space between them, she asked, “Were you serious when you asked me to marry you?”

His fingers tensed on hers. “I thought I made it pretty clear I want the whole ball of wax. You, a home, kids. I thought you understood that.”

“I needed you to say that again,” she told him. “Because that means we’re partners in everything, right?”

In a moment, he was beside her on the edge of her chair, his hands on her shoulders, his mouth hard on hers. “Damn straight. But I remind you I have precious little to offer you,” he told her after he raised his head. “I have plans but haven’t quite figured out how to make them all happen yet. As long as you’re with me, you’ll be an outcast here. But I love you, and I want to marry you.” He moved back to his own chair. “So, what’s this all about?”

She drew a deep breath and let it out. “If we sell both houses and you sell your business, we’ll have a nice little bundle of cash. I told you my mother had two good-sized annuities my father left her. I cashed them out, and the money’s already in the bank.” She watched him with intensity, gauging his reaction. “I want us to buy the land you showed me and the nursery. You know how much is there. We’ve got enough cash that, by the time we combine everything, we’ll be free and clear of debt.”

She sat very still, waiting for him to say something. Anything. For a long moment, she thought he might get up and leave. Had she offered too much, too soon? Hurt his pride in some way?

“I can’t take your money,” he told her at last. “I’d feel bought and paid for.”

“That is just so ridiculous,” she exploded. “Why did you take me out there if you didn’t think it was something we could share? Answer that for me.”

When he just sat in the dark, saying nothing, she sat up, spitting fire. “You aren’t
taking
anything. This is for both of us. Let me be part of this, please. Knowing we’re doing this together will make everything else we have to do that much easier. Please, Griffin.” She clenched her teeth so hard, waiting for him to speak again, she thought her jaw would break. “We’re either together or we’re not. Here’s your chance to show me you meant what you said. We can do this. Together.”

He rubbed his forehead. “I do want us to have a life together. I’m just not used to this. You know that.” He pinned her with an intense look in his eyes. “But your name goes on everything, too. Whatever we do is for both of us.”

“If we’re getting married, I guess
so
.” She moved to his chair, leaning close to him, and hugged him. All of a sudden, she felt more lighthearted than she had since they’d gotten back. “It will make leaving this town a reality.”

“But I have something I want to do first,” he told her.

“What?” She scrunched her eyebrows, puzzled.

“You’ll see. Tomorrow.” And that was all he told her.

The moving van arrived at Griffin’s house the next day, and the men stacked all of Cassie’s cartons in the garage.
Not much to show for six years
. She shook herself. Her life wasn’t in the past but in the future with Griffin.

Carol called to tell her she had two showings she’d like to schedule. When would be good for her? Two possibles. Cassie crossed her fingers. They settled on Wednesday afternoon while she would be out.

“I’d be ecstatic if we got rid of this place that soon,” she told Griff that night. “Some people have fond memories of the house they grew up in. Not me. Good riddance, I say. So. How was your day?”

He grasped one of her hands and rubbed his thumb over her knuckles in a gesture rapidly becoming both familiar and comforting. “I took you at your word,” he told her. “I called the owner of the nursery and asked if we could come by and talk to him. I also called the agent listing that property.”

“And?” she prompted.

“We can go by and see both of them Saturday.” He looked hard at her. “You sure we’re not rushing this? I feel like we’re on a roller coaster.”

“It’s time to move fast. We spent the last six years standing still. We need to list your house and go about finding temporary quarters while we build our dream house.” She laughed. “That’ll give the town something to talk about.”

“Like they don’t have enough already.”

“Maybe if they talk enough,” she pointed out, “we’ll find out something no one wants to tell us.”

“Don’t hold your breath.” He snorted then reached into the pocket of his jeans. “But I have a requirement.”

“Oh? Does this have to do with the business you wouldn’t tell me about?”

“Everything to do with it. Close your eyes.”

“Why?”

He blew out a breath of exasperation. “Cassie, just for once, don’t ask questions and do as I say.”

She closed her eyes and, in a moment, felt him taking her hand and doing something with her fingers.

“Okay, open.”

Her eyes almost popped out of head at the sight of the solitaire diamond he had slipped onto her finger. “My God, this must have cost the earth.”

“I told you I had some money put away. I want to advertise what we’re doing to all of Stoneham. It’s very important to me that everyone know I love you and we’re making a life together.”

Cassie laughed. “This is better than an ad in the paper. But you shouldn’t have—”

His mouth closed over hers. “Yes. I should. I should have done it six years ago.” He searched her eyes. “Do you like it? If not—”

“Are you kidding? I love it.” She held her hand out so the moonlight could catch the sparkle.

“Maybe we should go upstairs and make this official.” His grin was wicked.

She was already ahead of him, stripping off her clothes as she moved through the house.

“Impatient, are we?” he asked, as he caught up with her.

“You bet.”

By the time they reached the bedroom, they were both naked. Tonight, they were too eager to take their time. The moment he lay down next to her, Cassie reached for his engorged shaft, stroking and pulling, the tip of her nail seeking the familiar slit in the velvety head. Thick moisture was already seeping from it. She loved the feel of the soft skin over the hard rod it covered and the heaviness of his balls as she reached down farther to cradle the sac in her hand.

“I’ll go off in a second if you keep doing that, sugar.” His voice was husky, strained with the effort at control.

“Good. That’s what I want.”

“But not until I’m inside you.” He lifted her legs over his shoulders and, as he had done the other night, spread the petal-soft lips of her labia as wide as he could. “Damn, Cassie, you’re cream is already so thick I can almost taste it. Your little puss is so pink and perfect. I could look at you forever, but right now I have to be inside you.”

His hands trembled as he rolled on the condom. Then, with one hard thrust, he filled her, the tip of his cock touching her womb. “Look at me, Cassie,” he commanded.

She opened her eyes, but they were so fogged with desire, he was a blurry image.

He pulled her tight against him, reaching down and exposing her clit, pinching it between thumb and forefinger. As he began the familiar dance, in and out, in and out, he rubbed the hot little bud faster and faster.

She writhed, unintelligible cries escaping her throat, her hands gripping the sheet. When her orgasm rolled through her, he let himself go, jetting every bit of his semen high up into her vaginal vault, tilting her to take all of it.

“Will we live to make it to the wedding?” she asked in a weak voice, all she could manage.

“I don’t know, sugar.” He still gasped for air. “But what a way to go.”

***

Wednesday, Cassie picked up the report on her father’s death from a reluctant and very irritated Barry Dangler.

“Cassie.” He wore a stern expression on his face. “I’ll tell you one more time. There’s nothing here you can do except stir up more trouble. This is a quiet town, just like when you grew up here. You make a mess here, people won’t forgive you.”

“As if I’d care,” she retorted. “All I’ve gotten from anyone in this town since I got back is grief of one kind or another. Well, everyone can go to hell. Someone’s covering up something, and I’m going to find out what it is. If you won’t do your job, I guess I’ll do it for you.”

Dangler threw up his hands. “Have it your own way. Just don’t forget, I warned you.”

She stomped out of his office, seething.

At home, she found a note Carol had left for her on the kitchen counter.

“I may have some good news. Both women want to see the house again, with their husbands. Saturday’s convenient for them, if it’s okay with you. Call me.”

Good. Maybe someone will make an offer
. She called Carol and told her Saturday would be fine.

“I’m keeping my fingers crossed,” she told Griff when they met at his house later. “We can go take care of business that morning.”

He kissed her forehead. “Let’s hope.”

After dinner, she took the box with all the papers from her father’s desk, the folder with the police reports, and her laptop and set everything on the kitchen table.

“What’s that?” He looked at the sheet of paper she was studying.

“The report on my dad. I want you to read the one on Diane. Can you do it?”

His mouth tightened, but he nodded.

The information on her father’s death was just a single page. James Fitzgerald had been found in his car at Stoneham Municipal Park about eleven o’clock at night, reeking of scotch, with a revolver still in his hand, and a bullet hole in his head. Everyone knew he had been very depressed over Diane’s murder.

They had found no bloodstains except his. There was gunshot residue on his hands plus a bullet hole in the window on the driver’s side. The police on the scene, however, had surmised that on his first try her father had lost his nerve and jerked the gun away. Case closed.

“You know, there’s another explanation for this scene.” She leaned back and pushed her hair away from her face. “Someone else could have shot him then fired a bullet through the window to get the residue on his skin.”

Griffin scratched his head. “Wouldn’t they have opened the window first?”

“Maybe.” Cassie shrugged. “Or maybe they were just sloppy.”

“But I ask again. Six years later, where do you start?”

She looked at the report, brows drawn together. “I don’t know. I have to think about that. But my reporter’s nose tells me there’s something rumbling underneath all this.”

“Reporter’s nose, huh?” He chuckled. “If it’s half as nice as the rest of your body, I’ll follow it anywhere.”

She threw a pencil at him, grinning. “Did you get anything from the sheet on Diane?”

He scowled. “Not anything new.” Then he snapped his fingers. “Wait. Remember I told you she had this kind of purse she always kept with her? The one that wasn’t with the things Dangler has? That nobody found in the park, or anywhere else?”

Cassie nodded, waiting.

“Just now I remembered how she looked when she left. She grabbed her keys off the hall table, but Cassie?” he leaned forward, intent. “She didn’t have that purse with her.”

“Are you sure?” A tendril of excitement curled through her. “You’re not mistaken? Think again. It’s important.”

“I’m sure. Positive.” He described again everything she’d been wearing, the keys in her hand, but
no purse
.

“What about her driver’s license?” Cassie persisted. “Money? Anything like that?”

He shook his head. “I don’t know. I’ll have to think again. But she didn’t have that purse with her. That’s for sure.” He sat up suddenly. “You know what that means, don’t you?”

“It’s still in your house,” she whispered. “Hidden somewhere. We’ve been going about this all wrong.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, I don’t think what we’re looking for is in my parents’ house.” She stood up, dumping everything into the box on the table. “Come on. Let’s go see what we can find.”

Once at his house, they stood in the foyer just looking around.

“Where do we even start?” she asked him.

“We need to do this in methodical fashion,” he said. “Go through one room at a time. Cover every inch of it. We can’t do all the rooms tonight, so let’s take the logical ones first.”

They began with the living room, seldom used so an obvious place to stash something. With no results there, they moved on to the dining room, and, last, the little room Griff used as an office. Nothing.

“She wouldn’t put it in my office, anyway,” he said. “Too much chance I’d find it.” He pulled Cassie against him, rubbing her back. “Let’s go to bed, sugar. We’re both too tired to do any more good tonight.”