Guarding Your Heart, page 22
The on-site security employee stopped her just as Sophie was about to drive onto The Dunes Resort. Rolling down her window, she called out, “Do you need me?”
The smiling woman nodded as she walked over to Sophie’s car. “Good morning, ma’am. Ms. Ventura said she had tried to call you, but your phone must have been turned off. She wanted me to let you know that she’d like you to come to her office as soon as you get here today.”
Because her phone had been blowing up with messages from friends checking on her, Callan had turned the sound down. Plastering a smile on her face, she nodded and thanked the woman. Just as she was about to roll her window up, she asked, “I was wondering if everyone gets stopped coming and going out of The Dunes if they don’t have a residence or employee sticker on their car.”
“Oh, yes ma’am. We keep a log of everyone coming and going. Those who come to play golf. Those who come in to eat at the restaurant. They’re the only ones who are allowed to be on the resort, other than residents and employees. But of course, there are also tradesmen and delivery men all the time. The Dunes Restaurant gets deliveries every day, of course.”
Thanking her, she rolled her window up and headed toward the resort’s offices near the restaurant and pro shop. Entering the building, she could already hear the raised voices coming from Carlotta’s office. Sighing, she hesitated before going in, listening to the conversation.
“It has to be a random hunter. Who else could it possibly be?” Roger groused.
Carlotta was heard next, saying, “All I know is that I want this kept out of the media. I’m calling Sophie in as soon as she gets here to let her know that I don’t want her talking to anyone. The last thing we need is for this to get out and have Southern Living Magazine cancel the photo shoot!”
“That’s rather callous, isn’t it?” Ann asked.
“Well, it’s not like she got hit by the stray bullet,” Carlotta said in return.
Deciding not to put off the inevitable, Sophie knocked before pushing open the door. Forcing her lips to curve into what she hoped was a smile, she said, “Hello, everyone. I’m sorry I’m a little late, and I do apologize for having turned off my phone.”
“Not at all, not at all!” Carlotta gushed, hurrying over on her high heels to grasp Sophie’s hands. Squeezing them almost painfully, Carlotta continued, “We just wanted to see how you were. We were all so, so worried.”
A soft snort came from behind, and while Sophie did not turn around, she was sure it came from Ann. She did catch Carlotta’s narrowed-eye glare shot toward someone behind her, but it was quickly replaced by her smile again.
Leading Sophie over to a chair, she said, “We just wanted to assure ourselves that you were fine and that this unfortunate incident was not going to interfere with the work you were doing for us.”
“I was certainly shaken yesterday, but I’m fine and ready to finish everything so that we’ll be ready for the photo shoot in two weeks.”
A huge sigh of relief audibly left Carlotta’s lungs as she plopped into a nearby chair. “Oh, my dear, I’m so pleased to hear you say that.”
Roger, coming around from the side, patted Sophie’s shoulder and said, “Carlotta speaks for all of us when she says that we are very pleased that you are uninjured and can continue to work. Of course, we would like to avoid any negative publicity. I hope that it doesn’t sound too callous for us to ask that the incident be kept as quiet as possible.”
Holding his gaze, she said, “I haven’t spoken to any media about what happened, but surely you realize that it is a police investigation.”
Roger’s brow lowered as he appeared to consider her words carefully. Travis and Sue, neither having spoken so far, gave each other a long look, but she was unable to attach any meaning to it. Ann stood suddenly and pronounced, “I have a restaurant to run.” She cast a look over her shoulder as she was walking toward the door and said, “Glad you weren’t hurt.” With that, she left the room.
Travis stood, shaking his head, and said, “The last thing we need is the police swarming all over the golf course. I warned Chief Evans yesterday that I didn’t want his officers stomping all over the greens.”
He stalked out of the room as well, and Sophie had to hide her grin at the idea of Travis thinking that he was going to tell Mitch how to do his job.
Sue walked over, and with a curt nod toward Sophie said, “Seems like you keep managing to be where you shouldn’t be. Hopefully, now you’ll stay in the main house or the condo and finish your job.” Having said her piece, she walked out of the room, leaving Sophie with just Carlotta and Roger.
Looking back at those two, she stood and said, “If there’s nothing else, I’m going to get back to work. I’m going to start out at the condo and make sure that it’s ready. I’ll spend the afternoon at the main house if you need me.”
Stepping out of Carlotta’s office, she walked down the carpeted stairs but halted before turning the corner, hearing voices once again. Tired of eavesdropping on conversations, she could not deny that the fear from yesterday had not left her. Still cautious, she hovered near the bottom step, listening to two females. She thought it was Sue and Ann but could not be sure.
“I’d be careful if I were you. You seem rather blasé about the whole thing.”
“And you seem rather jacked up about it. I wonder which of us looks more guilty?”
The voices faded away, and Sophie leaned back against the wall, her hand clutching the banister for support. Inhaling deeply through her nose, she let it out slowly, willing her nerves to steady.
As she moved around the corner, she heard Roger and Travis’ voices coming from an alcove near the men’s room.
“It’s getting too hot here,” Travis said.
Roger replied, “Just hang on. Once the hype is over, we can keep doing what we were doing, and no one will be the wiser. It’s been working for us, and it’ll keep working for us.”
“You’d better be right. There’s a lot riding on this.”
“Are you threatening to leave?”
“No…no, I don’t want to. I’m too involved.” A heavy sigh was heard. “But I’m tired of hiding all the time.”
Backing away from the corner, Sophie headed out a side door. Hurrying to the parking lot, she climbed into her car and backed out of the space. As she drove down the road she glanced into her rearview mirror, seeing Travis standing near a golf cart, his eyes pinned on the back of her car.
30
Callan watched the proceedings with great interest. Having been part of cooperative missions between multiple agencies numerous times, he was used to these types of meetings, but having his friends take the leadership roles was different.
The inside informant at Chambers Seafood had given the formation to Colt that there was a small-time fisherman from the tiny town of Manteague, so their group now included Wyatt Newman, its Police Chief.
Essentially, they had all the pieces of the puzzle with the one exception of who was receiving the illegal crab meat from the fisherman, dropping it off at The Dunes, and transporting it to Chambers.
“What a complicated puzzle this is to unravel,” Grant complained. “It seems to me that the easiest crime to commit is one where very few people know about it, have their hands in it, and therefore are less likely to get caught.”
Mitch replied, “It’s no different than running drugs or guns that come into our country. There are multiple people involved all along the way. Everyone’s got a stake in the pipeline continuing, and everyone only knows their part. The people working on the ship have no idea what they’re doing or why they’re doing it. They’re just told to cook crab. The next person is just told where to deliver it, without know who’s picking it up.”
“The Manteague fisherman was an old friend of Chambers, who fell onto bad luck and needed money. Again, he did as he was asked, got paid decently, and never met up with the next person in the chain,” Wyatt added.
“So why add in someone else to the mix?” Callan asked. “Wouldn’t it have been easier for the fisherman to just take it directly to Chambers and not risk another drop-off? And why The Dunes Resort? There are hundreds of little inlets that he could have taken it to.”
“My guess is that The Dunes Resort golf courses, which are isolated and empty at night, provided a certain security. No one was going to be around, so he didn’t have to worry about being seen,” Mitch said. “If he’d unloaded any of the illegal crab at an actual dock or harbor, he could have been seen.”
Shaking his head, Callan surmised, “If he hadn’t dropped that one bag and the pickup person not notice it, they could still be getting away with it.”
“Crazy as it seems, Sophie stumbling onto it is what’s allowing us to break open this case right now,” Colt said.
Callan looked across the room, receiving rueful expressions from Grant, Ginny, and Ryan. With a slight chin lift for their acknowledgment of his girlfriend being a necessary catalyst in the case, he turned his attention back to Mitch. “Okay, what’s the plan?” he asked.
“Tom Sanderson, the fisherman from my neck of the woods,” Wyatt began, “has agreed to assist us, and we’ll approach the DA for a lesser sentence based on his cooperation. He’s told us of the next drop-off, which is supposed to be tonight. He’ll take the bags we give him and do everything he was supposed to have done as though he was delivering the real items.”
Colt said, “I’ll have some officers watching Chambers Seafood in case something goes wrong on your end and the person slips past the net Mitch is setting up. That way, if nothing else, we can get them when they make the delivery to Chambers.” Shooting Mitch a grin, Colt added, “Not that you’re going to miss them, man.”
The group chuckled before Ryan took over the explanation. “The VMP will be in boats stationed around the inlet. We’ll monitor when Tom goes in and make sure he’s with us when he comes out. We’ll also note anyone else who happens to go in and out by boat.”
Jeff said, “I’ll have my team further out in the water, also monitoring anyone else who might try to get in or out. We’ll coordinate with the VMP to make sure the water area is covered.”
Callan turned his attention to Mitch, waiting to see what the BPD would be doing.
“We’ll work in conjunction with Colt’s deputies to assure that we have enough manpower on the ground. Right now, Ginny, still assigned to light duty and promising to obey that policy, has agreed to coordinate between the various agencies that are going to be involved this evening. Burt, Lance, Grant, and I, along with several of Colt’s deputies, will be on the ground near the small dock where the drop-off is to take place, as well as stationed at the entrance to The Dunes.”
Callan understood the magnitude of such an inter-agency mission but wondered where Jeff was going to assign him. Being out on the water had always been where he wanted to be, but now he chafed at the idea that he would not be closer to the action, wanting to see the arrest of the person who had shot at Sophie. So lost in thought, he almost missed Jeff addressing him, until Jeff called out his name a second time.
“Yes, sir,” he said hastily.
“You’re off duty tonight,” Jeff announced.
Blinking, he repeated, “Off duty?”
“You weren’t on the schedule to work tonight anyway,” Jeff said. “While I would never question your professionalism, I don’t see any reason to call you in for tonight.”
He held his Chief’s gaze for a moment, understanding what Jeff was telling him. His boss knew that he would want to be closer to the action. Fighting back a grateful grin, he simply offered a chin lift and said, “I appreciate that, sir.”
Mitch turned to him and said, “Since you’re going to be off duty tonight, maybe you’d like to hang out with Ginny?”
The sun was hanging in the early evening sky, but Sophie was still at the design house. Callan was working late, her parents were at a town council meeting, and she was at loose ends. Wandering through the massive, now-beautifully decorated house, she smiled as she moved from room to room. All the furniture was in place. All the pictures had been hung. Decorative dishes filled the glass-front cabinets in the kitchen. The floors were polished, and the rugs gave the rooms warmth. The linens on the beds and in the bathrooms pulled together the colors of her pallet.
On either side of the fireplace were tall vases filled with dried cattails, seagrass, and pine branches at the base of the arrangements. On the dining room table was a wide centerpiece created from sprigs of rhododendron surrounded by a base of pinecones. Small touches of the Eastern shore’s nature were evident in each room.
The house was huge and elegant, a design that she was immensely proud of, but not home. Her small apartment in Richmond came to mind, but it was not home either. Not anymore. As the certainty of that realization settled firmly in her mind, she placed calling the landlord on her list of things to do the next day to let him know she would not be returning.
“So, I’m moving back to Baytown?” She asked the question aloud even though she was speaking to herself. She often found that hearing her own thoughts made it easier for her to untangle the ones that did not make sense. Having said it aloud, she waited to see her own reaction.
A slow smile spread across her face at the thought of calling Baytown home again. Her design business was already being run out of her apartment, therefore it would be easy to run it from Baytown. Her brow furrowed slightly as she thought about the travel involved when she was setting up a design in someone’s home.
“But lots of people travel in their work.” Hearing those words aloud, she considered the population just across the Chesapeake Bay. The Hampton Roads area was comprised of Virginia Beach, Norfolk, Chesapeake, Newport News, Hampton, Portsmouth, and Suffolk, with a total population of close to two million people. “Just in this area alone, I wouldn’t have to travel far.”
Now, with those words ringing in her ears, her smile widened. The thought of her and Callan staying together, building a home near their family and friends filled her heart. “And if he should take a job with the Marine Police? Can I handle the risk of his dangerous job?” She waited for a moment to see her reaction to those words, but only peace settled around her. “Ginny and Brogan. Tori and Mitch. Jillian and Grant. They make it work.” Smiling, she acknowledged, “And so can I.”
Clapping her hands, she twirled around in the massive living room, her heart lighter than it had been in years. Wishing she could talk to Callan, she knew that he was working late.
A knock on the front door startled her, and unable to keep the glee from filling her at the thought that he may have gotten off work early, she ran through the foyer and threw open the front door.
She blinked in surprise, seeing Ann standing on the front stoop of the house. She glanced around, checking to see if anyone else was with her, but it appeared Ann was alone. “Ann? Uh…hi.”
Still wearing her chef’s coat, Ann tucked her hair behind her ears and said, “Hi.” She smiled, or at least Sophie thought it was a smile, considering it looked more like a grimace.
Uncertain why Ann was there, she asked, “Is everything okay? Is there something I can do for you?”
Shifting her weight from foot to foot, Ann gave off the appearance of being nervous. “Not really. I was just walking around and saw all the lights on here. When I saw your car, I figured you were inside.”
Still uncertain as to the reason for Ann’s impromptu visit, she cocked her head to the side and asked, “Um…did you want to come in and look around?”
Still shifting on her feet, Ann nodded. “Sure. If it’s not a problem.”
Opening the door wider, Sophie stepped back, and with a sweeping gesture of her arm invited the other woman in. “It’s no problem at all. The design and decorating are ready for the magazine shoot. I was actually wandering from room to room, checking on everything. I’d love to show it to you.”
For the next thirty minutes, she escorted Ann throughout the rooms in the house, happy for the appreciative murmurs that came from her. Ending in the kitchen, she could not help but grin as Ann’s hands trailed reverently over the chef’s grade stove, double ovens, and stainless sub-zero refrigerator.
“Looks real nice,” Ann said. “I don’t know anything about house design other than kitchens, but I can tell this is beautiful.”
Warming to her rather closed-mouth visitor, Sophie replied, “Thank you. I’m glad to see that the house, especially the kitchen, meets your approval. I consider that high praise indeed.”
Jerking her head around, Ann suddenly asked, “Would you like to have dinner? The evening service is just getting ready to get started at the restaurant.” Shrugging, she said, “I know I should already be there, but the prep work was done, and I felt like I needed a little fresh air. Unless you’ve got other plans, you could try our special for tonight, on the house.”
She opened and closed her mouth a couple of times, stunned at the invitation that was as impromptu as Ann’s visit. With no other plans for the evening, she nodded, the idea of a chef-inspired dinner sounding wonderful. “Sure, I’d love to. Let me grab my coat and purse.” Suddenly thinking back to something Ann said when she first arrived, she asked, “Did you say you were out walking this evening?”
Shoving her hands into her pockets, Ann nodded. “Yeah. Helps me think.” Shrugging, she added, “I don’t usually do it right before the supper service, but for some reason tonight, I just felt the need to get out of the kitchen for a bit.”
Certainly understanding the desire for enjoying the sunset and the evening on the shore, she said, “We can take my car.”
They piled into Sophie’s car, but as she turned the ignition, only a rumbling sound could be heard. Trying several times, she sighed heavily. “I can’t believe it’s not starting. I know it’s an old car, and I really should have had Jason take a look at it, but it was working fine when I came here today.”
