A High-End Finish(85)

I pointed toward the steps. “She’s tied up in one of the caves. The tide is coming in. Hurry!”

He took off on a run just as Whitney’s shrill scream filled the air again.

Eric reached his hand down over the edge. “Grab my hand.”

“Penny, take his hand,” I begged her.

“Let me go,” she cried. “I’d rather die than go to prison.”

“Don’t be an idiot!” I yelled.

She glared right at me. “No way am I going to live the rest of my life in a ten-foot cell with someone called Big Beulah.”

I could see her point, but she didn’t have to die to prove it. Her hand slid down the long blades of thick grass.

“She’s letting go,” I screamed.

“Oh no, she isn’t,” Eric muttered tightly.

Just as Penny released her grip on the elephant grass, he snagged her wrist and hauled her up the cliff in one smooth motion.

“Wow,” I said. He’d lifted her as if she were a child. Now, those were some serious muscles.

Eric scowled. “No way am I having another dead body on my hands.” He turned to a waiting officer. “Cuff her.”

It was poetic justice that Penny would have to suck it up and play nice with Big Beulah after all.

A few minutes later, Tommy arrived at the top of the stairs holding his terrified, wet, and exhausted wife in his arms.

“Is she all right?” Eric asked.

“She will be,” Tommy said grimly.

“Ambulance is right behind us.”

“Thanks.” Tommy walked away, clutching Whitney for dear life.

“Are you all right?” Eric asked me.

I pushed back my hair. “Yeah. A little shaken up and smacked around, but I’ll be fine.”

“You look different. Your hair is straight.”

I’d forgotten. “Yeah.”

He touched the neckline of my wrinkled, grass-stained red sweater. “That’s a pretty color on you.”

“Thanks. I always like to dress for these outdoor events.”

He choked on a laugh, then shook his head. “You scared me—you know that?”

“I scared myself.”

“I’m glad to hear it.” He pulled me close and held on. “Don’t do it again.”

It took me a few seconds to get over my surprise, but then I wrapped my arms around his waist, feeling warm and comfy in his embrace.

“I’m going to give it another minute or five,” he murmured in my ear. “And then I’m going to start yelling at you for disregarding my orders.”

I smiled and breathed him in. “I can live with that.”





Chapter Sixteen


Two weeks later, things in Lighthouse Cove were settling back to normal.

Conversations no longer ceased when I walked into a room. People didn’t stop to stare at me as I strolled down the sidewalk. My bike was repaired and tidied up and ready to ride again. I wasn’t having nightmares about people chasing me with oversized pink tools anymore.

There had been a few surprises, like when Tommy and Whitney came to my house to personally thank me for following Whitney’s car out to Barnacle Beach. Tommy raved on and on about my foresight and courage. I was about to suggest a group hug when Whitney put things into perspective for me.

“You probably think I owe you my life,” she said evenly, “but don’t hold your breath waiting for me to do your laundry or something.”

Yeah, I would’ve told her the same thing.

I never heard a word of thanks from Jennifer Bailey, and that was fine with me. But just to set things right, I let Whitney know that Penny had threatened to sneak into the hospital and put Jennifer out of her misery forever. If I hadn’t stopped her on the cliff’s edge, she might’ve carried it off. So Jennifer knew she owed me big-time. And that was satisfying enough for now.

Eric told me that as soon as Jennifer came out of the coma, she pointed the finger at Penny as the person who tried to strangle her.

Eric also let me know that before I’d called him from Barnacle Beach, he had already narrowed his search down to Penny and was on his way to take her in for questioning when he got my phone call.

He came by my house a few days after Penny was carted off to jail. It was a sunny afternoon so I poured iced tea for us both and we sat in the wicker chairs on my front porch.

“I realized that Penny was lying,” he said, “after I checked out what she told you about her fear of cops.”

“Oh, right. The night I had dinner with her at the pub.”

“Yes. She completely fabricated that story about the cop shooting one of the tellers at her old bank.”

“I’ll bet she made it up on the spot to keep me from guessing the real reason why she didn’t want you to sit with us.” I shook my head in disgust. “She must’ve had a hard time keeping all of those lies straight.”

“That’s how a lot of criminals get caught,” Eric said.

We talked for a while longer and I realized I was growing more comfortable around him every day. It was nice. Such a difference from the first time we’d met at a crime scene and he’d taken me in for questioning.

I smiled and sat back in the cushioned chair, studying his muscular arms and big strong hands as he sipped his iced tea. And that’s when he informed me in no uncertain terms that if I ever pulled something like I did at Barnacle Beach again, he would toss me into a jail cell for my own protection.