Second Nature (Crimson Cove Mysteries Book 2) Read online

  Lindsey smiled wide. “Yeah, I mean, in the city maybe.”

  I cocked an eyebrow, wondering if they meant New York and what the chances were of actually running into each other.

  “I mean, maybe I’ll see ya at a coffeehouse.” Lindsey laughed, making even less sense. “If you work at one.”

  It was just getting more and more uncomfortable, even for me.

  “Right. Take care. And if you are walking by coffee shops look in and see if I’m there.” Coffee Shop Girl’s voice trailed off as she realized what she was saying, “’Cause I have to have a job to pay for school.”

  “Right.” Lindsey nodded eagerly. The rambling and senselessness was aggressive.

  They stared at each other for a full minute before Coffee Shop Girl turned and smiled at me. “Nice meeting you.”

  “You too.” I started backing up, hoping they wouldn't get their awkward on me and waved, confused by the whole thing. Especially considering I hadn’t met her, not formally.

  Lindsey paused and then waved and walked to the door with me. Her face was the color of the trees outside.

  We took our drinks and walked out to the cars. “So, what was that?” I gave her a side-glance and a grin.

  “Nothing.”

  “Didn't look like nothing. Looked like you were crushing hard there. Was that what Sage was talking about when you guys got into the fight?”

  “What?”

  “Emo Coffeehouse Whore?”

  “No.” Lindsey sighed and squeezed her eyes shut. “It wasn't like that.”

  “Okay.”

  She stopped and nodded, with her eyes closed and her face pinched. “It was totally like that. I thought maybe and then I knew no. But I still sort of think she’s pretty, and I wonder if she thinks something or if it’s all nothing.” She opened her eyes. “Does that even make sense?”

  “It makes perfect sense. I know what you mean.”

  “Like how you love Ash?” Her mocking face became something of confusion. “Is that Vince?”

  I followed her eyes to the silver car next to us. “Did you invite him too? I thought he was with his dad.”

  “No, I didn't invite him. He must be stalking my cell phone again.” She said it like she was annoyed but not angry. Being stalked was becoming old hat for her. But there was no fighting the look on my face. The way he watched her so intensely and the stalking would have been hard for me to endure.

  “Ladies.” He climbed out, pulling off his sunglasses and grinning. The sunlight glinted off his handsome face, taking away the wickedness I knew lurked in him. It always vanished when he saw her. His look explained the stalking. He was always relieved to see her—maybe relieved she was unscathed. His affection for her changed the way he looked, maybe even acted.

  Without her, he would have always been skeezy Vincent Banks, king of the nasty and disgraceful.

  But when he was with her, all the low-life nonsense washed away, and I saw what she saw. He lost the Banks in him and became just a regular guy.

  “Miss me?” He cracked more of a Vincent grin. He was cleaned up from the surfer bum he had been all summer. Now he was polished and shaved with his hair cut and styled and his shoes so shiny his grin could be seen in them for miles.

  “No,” she teased back.

  “Liar.” He strolled over, taking her latte and sipping it, his eyes darting to mine. “Hello, Lainey.”

  “Vince.”

  She narrowed her gaze, watching him drink her coffee. “Fine, I’ll go get another one.”

  His grin was back instantly. “I prefer cappuccinos to lattes.”

  She scratched her nose with her middle finger and walked back inside, leaving us alone.

  “What were you doing for your dad?”

  His eyes drew down on mine. “What?” He didn't understand the question.

  “Linds said you weren’t coming for coffee because you were doing something for your dad.”

  “Not so much for him but to him.” He paused, making me think he might lie, but he didn't. “I was trying to get into his vault.”

  “No luck?” I didn't need to ask. I knew the answer.

  “None. We have the key but not the code. It’s getting boring actually.”

  “What did you figure out about the cleaner? Linds said that our dads all know him. What did he do for them?”

  He swallowed hard, licking his lips and chuckling softly. “I don't know.” That was an obvious lie.

  “You’re lying.”

  “I can’t tell you.”

  “Why?” Dear God, what did they do?

  “Because”—he took another big drink from the latte—“the less you know, the better. We already have things to worry about. The first being, who the killer is. And will Crimson Cove Inc. be able to sell that last group of lots, now that the real estate here has tanked a bit? Will your dad and Lindsey’s get into shit for leaving death threats on a dead man’s cell phone?”

  I flinched. “Don't tell anyone that.”

  “I won’t. But trust me, that old stuff has nothing to do with this. Believe me when I say, those old secrets are buried so deep they don't stand a chance at ever walking around again.”

  “That sounds like a famous line from a horror movie where the bad guys always come back and the buried secrets rise from the grave.”

  His face lost the humor it had only moments before. “These secrets won’t ever come back. Whatever and whoever this is, it’s something else. It’s not tied to Crimson Cove as much as it is the residents. I think someone brought it here.”

  “You think it’s tied to Rachel then?”

  “Don't you?”

  “I don't know. The person who tried to drug Linds and me was wearing exactly what Sierra had on. So clearly someone was stalking or watching Sierra. Then someone did stalk Linds in her own yard. We all got the white roses for the funeral. Yes, it started with Rachel, but we are all being dragged into it. We’re the ones possibly being framed for murder.” I looked down. “You saw the photo of all of us around Rachel and Sage. It looks bad.”

  “Is it possible Rachel brought this down on us?”

  “Anything is possible.” I winced. “Except Ashton, he’s innocent. I know that.”

  “I agree. Total subject change. Now that it’s just you and me and these filthy hippies here, I have to say I find it comical everyone thinks it’s Jake you’re into.”

  “What?” My mouth started to go dry. “What do you mean?”

  He leaned in, whispering, “Oh I know your dirty little secret, Lain, about Ash.”

  “There’s no secret. He’s my friend’s brother, and I need to clear his name. He’s innocent. It’s the right thing to do.”

  “So he can come home, and you can stare at him again from the corners?”

  My heart ached as I contemplated lying, but it was a nice idea, being able to admit it to one person. “Maybe.” I sighed. “Stupid, right?” Something clicked as I recalled the one and only person I had ever confided in about this. “Did Lindsey tell you?”

  “No. She didn't need to.”

  I sighed. “Don't tell anyone.”

  “I won’t. But he might notice when you rescue him.”

  “I guess, but I don't care if he doesn't notice me, and maybe he won’t know it was me that helped him. It’s not about that.”

  “You think I don't understand you, but you’re wrong. I know you just need to be near him, even if he doesn't see you. You see him, that's what matters.”

  “Yup.” It was the most pathetic thing I had ever admitted, and I hated that it was Vincent I was saying it to. But then I lifted my eyes and noticed the way he looked at Lindsey as she walked to us with another pumpkin spice latte. He did understand. He might have been the only one. He hid it well, but he knew. “I’m just grateful you care that there is a killer on the loose. I can’t seem to get Lindsey to focus on it, and Andrew is over it. Jake would help if I had directions for him, but I don't.”

  “And the girl
s don't want to acknowledge any of it. Our parents are being so overbearing none of us have any free time.”

  “I know.” He nodded and smiled at Lindsey as she pulled a second cup from behind her back and an amused look crossed her face.

  “You thought I never got you a coffee, didn't you?”

  He laughed and shook his head, taking his coffee and sliding an arm around her waist. “Thank you.”

  “Why do you two look so serious?” She sipped her latte.

  Vincent rolled his eyes. “Perhaps because a psycho killer is hunting us all.”

  “Right.” It came out snarky, but I was getting tired of how none of them wanted to talk about it anymore.

  “Not this again.” She rolled her eyes.

  We’d made the pact on the beach to end it, a blood and Grey Goose pact, and none of them had stuck to it. The day after we got the threatening text from Rachel’s phone we had to go for a brunch. We were all forced to go. It was an emergency meeting for the parents, due to the voice mail left on Mr. Henning’s phone by my father, right before Mr. Henning died. And the fact the killer had said phone.

  From then on every day had been filled with events.

  At half of our scheduled events, Vincent and I had been on Lindsey duty. She’d been a hot mess since the killer locked her in the pool house so she drank too much too often.

  Sage cried all the time, and when she wasn't crying she was manic. Her highs and lows were spastic and uncharitable. When she was happy she hit on Vincent any time Lindsey wasn't looking. When everyone was looking, she hit on Jake. When she was sad she moped and said weird things that didn’t make sense.

  The chances of her being the killer crept into my mind more than anyone else.

  Sierra got drunk and high and slept with everyone she could.

  Rita was the only one who had held it together, but then again we didn't know what to expect from her.

  After not hearing anything in weeks, we all started to slip back into our regular mode.

  Lindsey and Vincent were together all the time.

  Sage was hanging with Rita and Sierra.

  And I played WoW and did my corkboard.

  “You girls have upped your prescription meds or something. Haven’t you?” Vincent shook his head.

  “No. I just think Sierra might be right. Maybe this is sort of over now. I mean, the killer hasn't been in contact with any of us and no one else has died. He said there was a pattern, and we haven’t seen anything that links Rachel and Mr. Henning together. I think it’s over.” Lindsey lifted her cell phone, her eyes filling with desperation. “We haven’t even been getting messages. I want it to be over.”

  It was Vincent’s turn to roll his eyes. “Have you never heard of the calm before the storm? This is far from over. That's a dangerous way to think, princess. We weren’t prepared when Rachel got killed. We fell into a trap. Now someone has a photo of you and your friends with a dead girl the moment she died. And your dads left threats on a phone the killer took from the other dead person. Maybe that's the pattern.”

  “He has a point.” I nodded.

  “No! You guys need to think about this from a rational standpoint. It’s possible he did what he came here to do and he left. I mean, he could be back at college. He could have just wanted to kill Rachel and try to lead us all to think it’s something else. He might have even just wanted Andrew’s dad dead and Rachel was a great diversion. Maybe it was a hit. Maybe he came here to do a hit on Andrew’s dad, but Rachel and him ended up hooking up, and she found out why he was here. So he killed her so she couldn't warn Mr. Henning.”

  “Like the mafia would do? A hit on Mr. Henning?” Vincent lifted an eyebrow.

  “I mean, it could be mafia. But maybe it’s more than that. Maybe it’s a conspiracy against the wealthy—”

  “Oh stop.” Vincent lifted his hand. “All we need to know is that there is a person who has done terrible things and has proof of us doing terrible things, and is coming after us. Any other opinion is foolish. Before you start listing conspiracy theories and providing examples of how they fit into this moment—”

  “She’s not there yet. She’s at pacing and running through the worst-case scenarios,” I pointed out.

  Lindsey gave us both a look as the steam faded from her rant. “I don't do that.”

  “Okay, you don't. Anyway, the fact the killer hasn't contacted us doesn't mean someone hasn't died. It just means that maybe someone we don't know died. Maybe the missing link between Mr. Henning and Rachel has died.”

  I couldn't help but nod along with Vincent. “He’s right. Just because the death hasn't happened here doesn't mean it didn't happen somewhere else.”

  “That’s a lot of double negatives.” Lindsey frowned at me, completely deflated. The crazy had slipped away in the reality she was facing. “I don't want to think about it that way. That shows this is still going on, and we aren’t ever going to see an end anytime soon.” She turned and looked around us. “I like the idea that maybe he just wanted to scare us into thinking he was coming for us so we wouldn't look for him—rather than the likely possibility he is watching all of us now.”

  Her words made the breeze colder and my skin feel like it was crawling off my bones.

  “Someone is watching us.” Vincent nodded at the girl—Coffee Shop Girl with the lip ring. She was trying not to be noticeable as she sipped her latte and had a smoke, but her heavily lined eyes darted to us, particularly to Lindsey.

  Lindsey waved, offering a smile. It was very obvious what had happened between them and how the girl still felt about Lindsey. But the moment Lindsey turned back to Vince it was shockingly clear how she felt about him.

  “Shall we take this conversation somewhere more private?” Vincent slid his sunglasses on again and got into his car.

  Lindsey sighed and nodded. “Okay. Meet at my place. I’ll message Sage, Sierra, and Rita and see if they want to come. You ask Andrew and Jake. We can go for a swim. I need my daily dose of pool house anyway.” She shuddered when she gave Vincent a look. He laughed at the way she was finally realizing the need to overcome her fear of the place the killer had once trapped her. Vincent forced her to go in there every day.

  “Okay.” Her house was better than mine any day.

  Chapter Four

  Slutty pots and kettles

  The cool water of Lindsey’s swimming pool wasn't as relaxing as I had hoped it would be. It was a bit chilly.

  And I realized when we got there we hadn’t taken our conversation somewhere else. We’d stopped it altogether. The moment we jumped out of the car it was as if the summer hadn’t happened at all. No one wanted to talk about what-ifs.

  Jake bounced the spongy pool ball off my head and grinned. “Why the long face?”

  I swam over to where he was and splashed him, not playfully. “You know why.”

  His dark-blue eyes shone with mischief. “Do I?”

  “Don't be obtuse.”

  “Did you just call me fat?” He winked and played at being dumb.

  “Yes.” I wondered if the comfort we had with one another was why everyone assumed I was into him. He was the person I always felt comfortable with. I wished I could talk to Ashton the way I talked to Jake.

  He swam at me, dunking me. When I came up he was closer, looking menacing. I faked right and swam left, but he grabbed my foot, dunking me again. I kicked at him, swimming hard for the wall.

  Jake laughed as I splashed him, again not playfully.

  “Want a drink, Lain?” He smirked and wiped his face.

  “No.” I scowled.

  “Not of pool water, I mean a soda.” He swam to the edge and jumped out, lifting himself with his massive arms. He was the thickest of our guy friends and the tallest. I had always seen him as something of a giant meathead but realized the goofy nature was an act. There was more to him than I expected, but he was the opposite of me. He liked being underestimated.

  When he got to the bar, he lifted a Cherry
Coke. I sighed and nodded, swimming to the edge to receive it politely after the merciless drowning I had endured.

  I spun in a circle, seeing Lindsey try to play with Vincent the way Jake had with me, but Vincent was stone-faced and annoyed. He was on my side, awaiting the next disaster, worrying and wishing everyone were taking things a little more seriously.

  But they were all playing and laughing.

  I had assumed Lindsey would be like me with it all, but she was trying very hard to enjoy her denial. Not that I blamed her.

  Her dad was potentially divorcing Louisa, her scheming stepmonster. She had a serious amount of PTSD from being in the pool house of doom. She was in love for the first time ever. And Sage’s eyes never left Lindsey and Vincent unless one of us noticed she was staring at them. We might be getting framed for murder. And her dad might be sharing that fate with us.

  Denial was exactly the reaction Lindsey should be having, even though I wished she wasn't.

  I didn’t want to be alone with Vincent as the only ones taking it seriously. It made all that much more work for me. I watched people watching them. I noticed for me and for all of them. And I knew Vincent did too.

  Jake handed me my Coke, still in the can and unopened, as he sat next to me and dipped his feet back in the water. “I am taking this seriously, Lain. I’m also just trying to enjoy my senior year. Last bit of freedom, ya know?”

  “I know.” I nodded, not mentioning that surviving senior year was more important.

  Sierra popped up out of the waves, spitting pool water at me. “Tell me you’re both coming to Rita’s tonight.” Her bright eyes darted at the two girls who had become thick as thieves. They giggled on the lounge chairs and made plans for the back-to-school party.

  Jake shrugged. “When don't I come to a party?” He didn't sound excited about it.

  I blew the pool water off the top of my can and opened it. “I guess. I don't know why we’re having a party when we should be strategizing and figuring things out.” I didn't want to go, but the text from my mom had pretty much sealed my fate. She was already picking out outfits and had the stylist coming to do my hair and makeup.