Dangerous Waters (9 page)

Furlong checked his enormous watch. “I’m going to take a crack at them before I go.” He looked excited, like a little kid who’d been promised candy.

Holly climbed to her feet. She wasn’t worried about Finn, but if Furlong handled Edgefield wrong, they’d never get another ounce of cooperation out of him. The guy would end up in an asylum.

“You stay here, Rudd. I’ll take Corporal Messenger to give her some experience.”

“Corporal Messenger is welcome to tag along, sir, but as primary, I insist on being there too.”

There was momentary silence.

Jimmy Furlong had a reputation for not being pushed, but a murder investigation was conducted by a group for a reason—to stop tunnel vision and make sure the information was properly disseminated. After a long moment, he nodded, and she had to wonder if it was because of her father or because it was the right choice.

Regardless, she wasn’t being left out of the loop.

They strode down to the dock, and Furlong commandeered the local water taxi to ferry them straight across the inlet. “Who the hell builds a town with the sea splitting it down the middle with no bridge or road access?” he complained to no one in particular.

The guy driving the taxi said nothing. Holly had noticed the locals growing more and more taciturn. Maybe everyone who lived here hid a secret. It would make investigations difficult if not impossible, if they remained so closemouthed. Unless they could crack someone into a confession.

On the other side of the inlet Furlong hurried off with Messenger in tow while Holly paid the fare. “Thanks.” She smiled.

She looked up and there was Finn Carver leaning against the dive shed doorway, wearing a dry suit stripped to the waist and watching her closely. The sight of that muscled chest stirred things Holly wasn’t prepared to deal with. There was something about him that appealed, not just good looks, but the way he handled himself. She wasn’t one to bend the rules. Being off limits should have been enough to drown the little yearning noises her body was making. But instead, they were getting louder. Given that her last mistake was already stalking her career, she couldn’t afford another one. She jogged up the steep gravel path to catch Furlong. He was rattling the front doors of the marine lab, but they were locked.

“Edgefield lives in a house just down that path.” She pointed down a trail that ran beside the marine lab.

Furlong was pissed but trying hard not to show it. He strode off, making Messenger trot to keep up. Holly pinched her lips tight. She was allowed an opinion, but obviously she wasn’t allowed to openly argue with the team commander. She should have known better.

One more hour and he’d be gone. Hold that thought. It couldn’t be soon enough.

The three of them trekked along the path, down some stone steps to a low, modern-looking building. Furlong pounded on the door, and after a few moments, a weary-looking Edgefield emerged in a pair of blue-striped pajamas. His eyes were instantly drawn to her even though Furlong was the one talking to him.

“Thomas Edgefield?”

Thomas rubbed his eyes beneath his glasses and tilted his head to meet Furlong’s purposeful stare. “What can I do for you?”

“We have some more questions for you.”

Edgefield laughed self-consciously. “It can’t wait until I’m dressed?”

“It’ll only take a moment.” Furlong brushed him aside and entered his home without being invited. Edgefield looked at her and Corporal Messenger. “You’re like buses. Wait a lifetime for one and then three show up at once.”

Corporal Messenger gave him a sweet smile. Holly kept her expression neutral. Furlong was on the warpath; she was going to have to watch her step.

“You know Sergeant Rudd.” Furlong stood impatiently in the hallway, ignoring the man’s outstretched hand. “This is Corporal Messenger, and I’m Staff Sergeant Furlong. I’m in charge of this investigation.”

Edgefield shot a look at Holly, which she ignored. He nodded politely, his shoulders gaining that slightly hunched appearance, his hair sticking out at Einsteinian angles. They followed him into the front room, which had huge floor-to-ceiling windows with an incredible view of the Broken Islands all the way across to Ucluelet.

“Please, sit down.” The professor sat heavily in an armchair before a fire that burned in the hearth.

She and Corporal Messenger both sat cautiously on the edge of a sofa.

Furlong remained standing. “Why didn’t you mention the beating that happened two years ago?”

Edgefield blinked like an owl behind wire-rimmed specs. “I didn’t mention the time I broke my ankle tripping over a pair of rubber boots either.” His voice sharpened. “Because I didn’t think it would be relevant.”

“We decide what’s relevant, not you.” Furlong’s attitude was grim and threatening. He was playing bad cop but without any real direction. Holly believed in leaning on a suspect when the evidence backed them up, but it was dubious with a person this unstable.

“Tell me what happened when you were attacked,” Furlong ordered.

Edgefield leaned back in his chair. His skin had taken on a scarlet tinge. Embarrassment? Shame? High blood pressure?

A voice startled them all.

“He can’t tell you.” Finn Carver strode quickly into the room. “He doesn’t remember anything.” He’d stripped off the dry suit and pulled on jeans and a faded T-shirt that said TRUST NO ONE. “He walked down to the bar one night and someone beat the living shit out of him. He has no recollection of the event itself. The cops failed to collect evidence at the scene or in the hospital. No one was ever caught.”

Finn was insinuating, not for the first time, the RCMP was incompetent. Holly bristled instinctively, and yet so far they had failed to do much for Thomas Edgefield.

“Mr. Carver, you weren’t invited to this interview.” Furlong looked at him long and hard. “I suggest you leave.”

Finn walked over to an easy chair and flopped into it. “You weren’t invited either, pal, so unless it’s a formal interview I’m staying. If it is formal then Thom isn’t saying another word until his lawyer arrives.”

“Lawyer?” Thom blinked.

“Is that right? Makes it look like he has something to hide.” Furlong moved toward Finn, trying to get into his head. If Finn lashed out in any way, Furlong would take him down. Holly couldn’t take her eyes off Finn’s expression. She willed him to keep his cool, but he wasn’t the slightest bit intimidated by the team commander. He leaned back, closed his eyes, and stretched out his feet.

Steam practically hissed out of Furlong’s ears.

“We’re trying to figure out if Professor Edgefield had any enemies,” Holly put in, trying to defuse the tension.

“What difference does that make to your murder investigation?” Those eyes of Finn’s opened and raked her skin. “We all have enemies. We all have secrets, or haven’t you figured that out yet?” He climbed to his feet, eye-to-eye with Furlong as he delivered his coup d’état. “I bet even you and Sergeant Rudd have secrets.” Furlong opened his mouth and then shut it again. Fast.

Finn’s lips curled up into a mean smile and, for a moment, she thought he was going to drive his fist through Furlong’s face. Holly wanted to curl up on the spot. Embarrassment made her cheeks burn. Finn had used that private information to rein in Furlong, and to her it felt like the ultimate betrayal. “Just because you have secrets doesn’t mean you’ve committed a crime, now does it?”

Furlong shot her a look that promised retribution, and she set her teeth. She hadn’t betrayed a confidence,
he
had.

She decided to do her job. “So you have no idea who beat you up?” she said to Edgefield.

He shook his head. “Probably just as well because Finn would have torn them limb from limb.”

“Thom,” Finn reprimanded him softly.

Edgefield’s cheeks turned ruddy. “Sorry. I forget. I make these jokes and forget these people might actually believe me for once.” His face lost all expression. “All the times I’ve sent them positive proof people were lying about where they said they were when Bianca died and no one has ever done a damned thing.” He held her gaze and Holly had to look away.

“I’m very sorry for your loss, Professor.” This from Cpl. Rachel Messenger who sat quietly beside her. The rookie. The most professional officer here. “I read about the case in school, and it’s one of the things that inspired me to join the police force.”

Thomas blinked, clearly shocked. “Well,” he breathed out heavily. “Maybe you’ll catch some bad people and something positive will have come out of it in the end.” He rubbed the corner of his eye.

“Jesus.” Furlong rolled his eyes and then leaned closer to Finn. “Watch who you’re threatening, sunshine.”

Holly wanted to lambaste Furlong for how badly he’d handled this interview. But she couldn’t think of a single word that wouldn’t get her fired.

“You need to leave.” Finn’s expression was unruffled, but Holly sensed an anger so deep she could almost feel it searing her skin. He held the door wide open. Holly paused for a moment as she passed him. She held his gaze and spotted the submerged glitter in his blue eyes—disappointment? It shouldn’t have stung quite as much as it did. She wanted to be pissed. She wanted to say she was sorry. Instead she nodded and turned away. Concentrated on the job she needed to do before she could get the hell out of this creepy little town.

“Jesus, Thom, what the hell were you thinking, letting them in here like that?”

“They didn’t exactly give me much choice.” Irritation laced Thom’s tone.

“You’re the director of the marine laboratory. You
always
have a choice, don’t you forget that. Just because Holly looks like—”

“Holly?”

“What?” Finn asked, confused.

“Yesterday it was Sergeant Rudd. Now you’re on first-name terms? When did that happen?”

Finn stopped talking and regrouped. For all Thomas seemed out of it sometimes, he didn’t miss much. Finn had been furious when he’d overheard that asshole Furlong harassing him. He’d dealt with that sort of bully before, but physical violence wasn’t gonna work on a jerk with a badge. And he didn’t want to explore the unfamiliar feeling of jealousy that had taken root inside him because Holly had slept with the sonofabitch. She was gonna hate him for using that information, even though he’d been subtle.

“Just because
Sergeant
Rudd
looks like Bianca, don’t let it throw you off and make you say something stupid.”

“But I didn’t kill that diver. How on earth can I incriminate myself by talking to them if I didn’t do it?”

Finn checked his watch. He had five pupils down at the dock ready to do a dive off the pier.
Shit
. He didn’t have time to explain the twisted ways of the criminal justice system to a guy who already knew them inside out. “Just promise me next time the cops come calling you won’t say a word without Laura present.”

“Laura?”

“Laura Prescott,” Finn said impatiently. There was only one “Laura” in a fifty-mile radius.

“Laura Prescott the potter?” Thomas’s voice was plaintive.

He closed his eyes and counted to five. “She still has her legal license, and something tells me Byron Summers isn’t going to have much time for you after you suggested his daddy murdered your wife and child.” Finn stared hard at Thom. The man had alienated most of the town’s hundred and fifty inhabitants. “We’re a little short of options.”

“But
Laura Prescott
…?”

Finn tipped his head to one side to examine the man. “What the hell is wrong with Laura?”

“Nothing.” Thom bristled, but Finn knew him well enough to know something wasn’t right. Thom drew in a big breath into that skinny chest, but the bravado popped as soon as he met Finn’s gaze. He swallowed and looked away. “I barely know the woman.”

Then he got it. After all these years, Thomas had finally noticed another woman and it scared the crap out of him. Finn knew exactly how he felt.

He headed to the phone and wrote a number on a pad of paper beside it. He also wrote it on another piece of paper and jammed it into the top pocket of Thom’s pj’s. “You can use this as a way to break the ice.”

Thom pulled the number out of his pocket and stared at it. “She’ll just think I’m crazy, the same way everyone thinks I’m crazy. How come you know her number?”

Finn laughed. Thom was kind and patient and caring and loyal. He was also scalpel smart and clinically analytical. “You
are
crazy. You know I’ve always been good at memorizing numbers.”

“Yeah, but how come you memorized hers?” Thom was beginning to sound a little pissed.

Finn headed out the door to start work. “You’ll have to ask her, now won’t you?”