Hot Pursuit (Jupiter Point Book 5) Page 19

  "What? But the sheriff's department asked us to—"

  "This has nothing to do with the opioids. This is about the story you should have turned in last week. The one I had to assign to someone else because you refused to do your job."

  Her heart turned over in her chest. "What are you talking about?"

  "The Robert Knight cold case story is going on the front page this Sunday."

  "No. You can't do that."

  "Of course I can. It's already done. Fiona made it nice and big."

  Her blood froze. "Cancel it. Please, I beg you. We can find a different story. That family deserves so much better than a Fiona hit job."

  He smirked and got to his feet. He was such a weenie, with his little bow-tie and that self-righteous smugness he always exuded.

  "Douglas, you're being an utter asshole!" she snapped. "If you don't do the right thing, I'll…I'll quit."

  Snorting, he glanced down at her. "Don't bother. I've had enough. You're fired."

  24

  "Where's your new girlfriend?" Aiden asked as he and Will lingered by the drinks table at the Knight and Day Grand Opening the next day.

  Suzanne had planned the party and had done a magnificent job. Bunting hung from every corner of the hangar, which was filled with banquet tables and chatting guests. A big cake in the shape of a knight chess piece took up an entire table. Balloons shaped like airplanes floated above the real planes, which sparkled outside in the thin October sunshine.

  Aiden looked good, his hair in a spiky bedhead cut. He wore cargo shorts and a t-shirt with dancing tacos on it—an item he hadn't owned when he'd left Jupiter Point. Aiden had always been a sweet-natured kid. After the trauma of the murder, he'd gotten quieter for a time, less bubbly, but he still had an innocence about him that Will would die to protect.

  "She's not my 'girlfriend.' What am I, a teenybopper?" He grinned at his youngest brother, who squinted at him.

  "You look…uh…different."

  "I shaved extra close for the party. Cut my hair."

  "No, it's not any of that. You look…happy. Must be thanks to your new girlfriend."

  Will rolled his eyes and gave in. He didn't want to deny that he was head over heels for Merry. Last night, she'd texted him the information about Jernigan making that call to the newspaper, then told him she was tired and going to bed early. Another lonely night without her. "Just don't use that word around her. She's particular about words, being a writer and all."

  "I can't believe you're dating a writer. Wasn't your last girlfriend a tattoo artist?"

  "I support the arts," Will said dryly.

  Aiden snorted and sipped from his beer bottle. Will still wasn't used to the sight of him drinking, and technically, nineteen wasn't legal, but try telling a Knight brother that. The older brothers had all been sneaking into bars by the time they were sixteen.

  "What about you? Any girlfriends in the works?

  A self-conscious expression stole across the kid's face. "Sort of. Not exactly."

  Will didn't have time to work out the meaning of that answer. Suzanne was alighting before them like a sunny blond stork.

  "Everything looks great," he told her. "Like the real deal."

  "You bet it's the real deal. I'm so excited about your flight tours I can hardly stand it! I've started mentioning them in my pitches to honeymooners and people are going crazy for them. You're going to be booked to the gills."

  "Not me," he reminded her. "I'm going to be busy arresting bad guys."

  Suzanne glanced at Aiden. "Hi there, Aiden, I almost didn't recognize you. So grown up! How's school?"

  "It's good. Real good. I like it."

  "Awesome. Hey, have you guys seen Merry? I thought she was going to be covering this event for the paper. But then that maniac Fiona started asking me questions."

  Will shook his head. "I thought she was coming, but I haven't seen her."

  "I'm sure she'll be here any minute." Suzanne gave them both a hug, then moved on to deal with a punch crisis.

  Will pulled out his phone and checked his text messages. He hadn't received anything from Merry since last night's text about Jernigan. She hadn't called either. He shot off a quick text to her. Party is starting. You coming?

  She didn't answer right away, so he turned back to Aiden. "Back to that 'sort of, not exactly' answer. Anything you want to add to that?"

  "No," Aiden said forcefully. "And it's going to stay that way."

  Will stared in shock at his brother, who was usually the most mellow kid in the world. "Ooookay."

  "And don't push me."

  "Uh-huh."

  "Or argue. I'm not changing my mind. Just give me some space for once."

  Whoa. Something was definitely up with Aiden. Will held up his hands in an I'm-not-armed gesture. "Stand down, kiddo. It's your life. Just here to help. And repeat the condom lecture if necessary."

  Finn Abrams, one of the Jupiter Point Hotshots, and his fiancée, Lisa Peretti, strolled up, arms wrapped around each other. "Just in time for the condom lecture," said Finn, laughing. "This ought to be good."

  Will had gotten to know Finn and Lisa pretty well during the search for Lisa's attacker earlier that year. They'd fallen in love during the drama, and both of them had been radiating happiness and joy ever since. If he didn't like them both so much, it would have been annoying.

  "I'm going to go talk to Ben," Aiden said. "He better not mention condoms." And he slouched away toward their two brothers.

  "Thanks for coming." Will shook Finn's hand, while Lisa gave him a little hug.

  "Congratulations," said Finn. "Great party, great project. As soon as we both have a break in our schedules, we're booking a flight. I want to show Lisa what the wilderness looks like from ten thousand feet."

  "Talk to my brothers. They're in charge around here. I'm still in the crime-fighting biz."

  "For which we're very grateful," said Lisa.

  A few more of the Jupiter Point hotshots joined them—Sean Marcus, Josh Marshall, Rollo Wareham. They all looked rugged, sun-browned, and exhausted from the long fire season.

  Since he was next to the drinks table, he handed out beer bottles to the weary firefighters. "Run out of wildfires?" he asked them mildly.

  "Mandatory two day rest," Sean told him. "We've been working our asses off."

  "We should be asleep right now," Josh agreed, "but we wanted to check out your chopper. That's a sweet piece of machinery there. Can't wait to see that bad boy in action. I mean, hopefully we won't need it," he added quickly. "Not hoping for disaster, just—shit, I'm tired."

  The biggest hotshot, Rollo, gave Josh's shoulder a comforting squeeze. Rollo had recently left the hotshots to help out his family's banking empire. Will wondered if he knew the Merriweathers.

  Then he wondered if all thoughts led back to Merry.

  Josh was moaning slightly. "Rollo, you ought to moonlight as a masseuse. Swear to God. You'd make a killing."

  "Those hands are mine, all mine." Brianna popped up next to Rollo and wrapped her arms around his waist. He lit up like a Christmas tree and dropped a kiss on her vivid red hair. "Great party, Will. Hey, have you seen Merry?"

  "No." Will was starting to wonder why everyone was asking him. "I guess the paper sent someone else."

  "Boo. I loved that other story she wrote about you guys."

  "She did a good job. She's always does." He heard the pride in his voice. Everyone else did too. They all stared at him, and he felt himself turn a little red. "Uh, I mean, hey, she's a good reporter, that's not news."

  Josh gave him a knowing grin. Sean winked one weary green eye at him. Rollo lifted his eyes to the ceiling, whistling innocently.

  Will's phone beeped, thank God. He grabbed it from his pocket and saw a text from Merry.

  I'll be at the party a bit late. I have to tell you something. You and your brothers. Are you all there?

  Instantly he forgot about everyone else in the place, the hotshots, the party guest
s, everyone except Merry. Yes, he texted back. Is everything okay?

  See you soon, was her only answer.

  When he looked up, the hotshots were observing him with worried looks. "Something wrong?" asked Sean.

  He looked at Merry's text again. It sounded so serious, so unlike her. Most of her texts had emojis and lots of exclamation points.

  He cleared his throat. "Look, go ahead and enjoy the party. Have you tried the Knightini? It was Suzanne's idea. It's a martini with…something…" He trailed off, unable to think about a cocktail when something was clearly going on with Merry.

  The group of hotshots and their significant others exchanged glances.

  Finn squeezed his shoulder. "Okay, man. Let us know if you need anything." He jerked his head toward the others, and they all trooped away, with Lisa giving him one last worried smile over her shoulder.

  Will took a moment to collect himself, then strode toward his brothers. Tobias and Ben were working the Jupiter Point crowd like pros, showing off the planes, telling stories from their military days, talking up the business.

  When he reached his brothers, he waited for a break in their conversation with a small knot of women in cocktail dresses. They were all drinking Knightinis, which had little party sticks with mini airplanes instead of umbrellas.

  Knight and Day Flight Tours was going to be a huge success; he could feel it. And he was truly happy for them, for the Knight family, or what was left of it. Things were changing so fast. Aiden in college, Tobias and Ben starting a business. Meanwhile, he was the same old sheriff's deputy. An empty-nester at the age of thirty-two. Stuck in place, right where he'd been since the murder.

  Finally, they left. Ben stuck his hands in his pockets and squinted at Will. "This is supposed to be a party. What's with the sad face?"

  "Merry's on her way and she needs to talk to us. I don't know what it's about but I have a bad feeling."

  Tobias, who had crammed his broad chest into a suit jacket for the party, nearly ripped a seam when he shrugged. "Don't worry, bro. Four Knight brothers, all in one place. If we don't kill each other, we can deal with it."

  "And I get to meet the new girlfriend," grinned Aiden.

  But no one was smiling when Merry delivered her news. By the time she arrived, the party was winding down. She'd dressed for it anyway, in a little black dress with a patent leather belt. She looked gorgeous, but barely managed a smile when he introduced her to Aiden. They gathered in a corner of the hangar for privacy.

  "I came here to warn you all. I don't know how to say it, besides just spitting it out. The newspaper is running a story about your father and the murder case. I've been told it'll be in the Sunday edition. Tomorrow," she clarified, wincing. "I'm so sorry."

  Will experienced a surreal flash of dislocation, as if everything was shifting around him. He couldn't speak. Couldn't react. He felt frozen.

  "Why?" asked Tobias. That forbidding scowl would have scared off most women. "Why now?"

  "No real reason, except the new editor in chief wants it. It's Jupiter Point's only unsolved murder, and he thinks that's a story. I'm really sorry. I tried to stop it."

  "You knew?" The words came out of Will like a whiplash, without him planning to speak.

  She glanced at him, then down at the fuel-stained floor of the hangar. "He assigned the story to me. I was dragging my feet on it. I—I screwed up. I wanted to interview you all, if you were willing. I just—never figured out how to ask. He gave the story to someone else and it's already written and done."

  "The hell it is," said Ben sharply. "We'll sue. We'll hit back. They have no right to dig up our family history for what…sales? Ratings or whatever?"

  "We can't sue." Will cut him off in a savage tone. "It's not illegal to write a story about us. It's public knowledge. What is it, some kind of cold-case thing?"

  Merry nodded. He could tell she was miserable, but right now, he had no sympathy. She’d known it was coming and never said a word to him. That was the part he couldn't believe. "Why didn't you tell me before?"

  "I…I wanted to. But you never talk about what happened, and I kept hoping I could back-burner it, and…I'm sorry, Will!" She took a step backwards, her eyes wide and shiny with tears. "I'm so sorry, all of you. I have no idea what the story says, but I thought you should know it's coming. That's all."

  She whirled around and fled out of the hangar. Will stared at the empty space where she had been standing. He should go after her. Tell her not to beat herself up. Tell her it would be okay.

  But he still couldn't move.

  "Damn it," Tobias swore. "Right when we're opening the business, they pull this? That's fucked up."

  Ben paced around in a tight circle, his boots clipping the concrete. "There has to be something we can do."

  "There isn't," said Will tightly. "I'm familiar with the laws. They're probably just rehashing what was published at the time, since it's such a rush job. Merry would have done it better." He couldn't keep the bitterness from his voice.

  "It's not her fault, bro," said Ben.

  Will flung up a hand to stop him. He didn't want to hear that right now. Maybe it wasn't her fault. But she should have fucking told him.

  "Who's the new editor?" asked Tobias. "Maybe we need to pay him a visit."

  Will shook his head grimly. "I'm the acting sheriff, that can't happen."

  "Upholding the law is one thing, but this is our family," Tobias growled. "And this is bullshit."

  "Guys," said Aiden in a small voice. Everyone ignored him, each brother too caught up in the point they were trying to make.

  "You think we wouldn't be back on the front page if we did something stupid?" said Will hotly. "You can't trust reporters."

  "Guys," Aiden said. Again, no one paid attention.

  "Oh, that's rich. Aren't you sleeping with one?" Ben laughed with no hint of humor.

  "So?" Will barked.

  "So she came here to warn us. I think we can trust her."

  "Guys," Aiden shouted. "Stop it! I have something to say."

  Shocked, they all snapped their mouths shut and stared at Aiden. He looked nervous now that he had everyone's attention, but he squared his shoulders and carried on. "Maybe this is a good thing."

  "What?" The chorus of whats made him fall back a step.

  "How could this be good?" Will asked, trying his best to stay calm. "Do you remember what it was like when we were in the papers before? It finally feels like people have forgotten and now they want to dig it up again."

  "Maybe I don't want to forget!" Aiden burst out. "We never talk about it. We might as well not have had a father. Yeah, someone murdered him. But isn't forgetting as bad as murdering?"

  Will's throat closed up, preventing so much as a grunt from coming through. Silence fell across the hangar. Outside, he heard the clink of caterers cleaning up the remains of the party and voices calling goodbye.

  "The first class I signed up for at college was Psych 101. Because I always knew it wasn't right to never talk about him. Or Mom and Cassie."

  "But that's how we roll," said Tobias. "We eat like savages, we fight like wildebeests, we ignore problems until they give up and go away." Obviously, he was trying a little humor, but all it earned was a disgusted shake of Aiden's sun-streaked head.

  "That's stupid. Problems don't just go away. I'll give you my notes from Psych 101."

  Tobias shook his head, looking appalled at the very thought.

  "Maybe this newspaper story will actually make us talk about them. Talk about Mom and Dad and Cassie. Maybe it's a good thing."

  The wistful pain in Aiden's voice made Will's stomach twist. All this time, Aiden had been holding on to this need? And keeping quiet about it? He stepped closer to his brother and touched his shoulder. "You never said anything."

  "Because it's like the no-man zone. You just don't go there. Like Merry said. No wonder she didn't tell you until now."

  Will thought of the stricken expression on Merry's face wh
en she'd fled the hangar. And he hadn't done anything—he'd just stood there and let her go.

  "Listen, I need to go after Merry. What do you all say we call a family meeting about this?"

  "A family meeting?" Tobias snorted. "The Knight brothers don't do family meetings."

  "Why not? We're a family, aren't we?" Sternly, he looked from brother to brother. Tobias and Ben could mock if they chose to. But if Aiden wanted to talk, goddamn it, they were going to talk.

  No one objected beyond a skeptical raised eyebrow from Tobias.

  "Family meeting it is. We'll have a Sunday barbecue tomorrow. We good?" He looked at Aiden. The hope in the kid's face made his heart burn.

  "Better go find Merry," Ben reminded him. "If you fuck things up with her, I might disown you."

  25

  Fired. Fired. The thought was so shocking that the words kept repeating in the back of Merry's brain. Even while she took care of business—cleared her stuff from the News-Gazette office, met with Human Resources, dressed for the party, made her confession to Will and his brothers—the impossible reality mocked her in an endless loop. Fired. You're fired. Fired.

  The only thing that broke the fog was the expression on Will's face as he lashed her with that question. You knew?

  Why hadn't she said something earlier? Maybe she could have stopped this disaster. She could have protected those four brothers. Even though they were all big, strong warrior types—except maybe Aiden—a father's murder cut to the core. And now they'd have to relive the entire thing.

  And she could have stopped it. Now, she could do nothing but watch it happen. Because she was fired.

  Literally, she didn't know what to do with herself. Without her work, what was she? Maybe she should have taken a vacation sometime in the past eleven years. It would have been practice for unemployment.

  When she got back from Knight and Day, she wriggled out of her party dress and pulled on her comfiest yoga pants.

  Yoga. She'd have lots of time for yoga now. She could become an expert yoga person.

  Except she got bored halfway through class.

  And she couldn't afford to stay unemployed. She still owed for her student loans and had maybe two months' rent in the bank. Maybe the community college would hire her full time. Or maybe she should look for a job at another paper. Leave Jupiter Point. Leave Will.