Twilight at Blueberry Barrens (Sunset Cove #3)(28)

Drake couldn’t hear the children any longer, and he assumed Kate had taken them down to the water at the back of the property. He forced himself to reach for the next-to-last sheet of paper. It appeared to be a log of text messages. He caught his breath when he recognized the originating number on the cell phone. Why would Heath get a log of Melissa’s text messages? As he scanned the messages, the pieces fell into place.

Melissa had been having an affair with Wang.

The list of times and meeting places was extensive and included expensive hotels like the Ritz-Carlton and the Mandarin Oriental. Could this be why Heath hadn’t backed away after realizing what kind of man he was defending? Maybe he wanted to take down Wang instead of defend him. And it might have led to his death. Had he confronted Wang and the man decided to eliminate the problem?

But why kill Melissa too? Maybe she’d learned something incriminating, and Wang had to silence her. Was Heath just collateral damage? Drake leaned back against the sofa and exhaled. He had to think this through and make no assumptions. Melissa could have been the target all along and not Heath.

But why would sweet Melissa have gotten involved with such an evil man? He couldn’t wrap his head around the thought of her with Chen, especially after reading files detailing all the man’s crimes. This put a different twist on the deaths out on that rock. And he had to find out what happened.

He glanced at the clock. He’d promised the girls he’d design a new decoding puzzle, so he grabbed some paper and wrote out the simple code they were used to, then spelled out clues for them to find some new stuffed animals he’d hidden for them. For good measure, he created two more puzzles for them to decipher when they got bored.

He rubbed his forehead when a dart of pain throbbed. He was finding it hard to balance everything he had to do.





FOURTEEN


A familiar wave of failure welled in Kate’s chest as she looked at the harvestless fields. The barren red plants broke her heart.

Emma stooped and touched a leaf on one of the plants. “Where are the blueberries?” She stopped and waved at her uncle who was picking his way through the red fields.

Kate beckoned him to join them. “Don’t bother being careful. The plants are useless. You can’t hurt them much.”

Drake’s broad shoulders cast the plants in shadows where he stood. “They look nice.”

“Looks are deceiving. I didn’t have the money to rent honeybee hives. I hoped there would be enough bees around to have a decent crop, but it didn’t happen. There are a few berries.” She knelt and moved some red leaves so Drake and the children could see the tiny blueberries. “Not enough to even harvest though.”

Phoebe danced from one foot to the other. “Can we eat them?”

Before Kate could answer the little girl, Drake held out two candy bars. “I brought you each a Snickers.”

Kate frowned. “It’s too close to dinnertime for candy. The blueberries are a better snack.” She plucked a handful and put them in Phoebe’s palm. “Go potty. We’ll wait right here for you.”

Phoebe popped them in her mouth, and the swipe left a blue stain around her lips. “Okay. Be right back.” She ran toward the cottage.

Drake’s somber expression darkened as he lowered his hand to his side. “The candy bar has nuts.”

“And sugar and hydrogenated soybean oil.”

“You’re going to control their every bite of food?” His tone left no doubt about his opinion on that.

“Sugar is bad for them. Very bad.” She shook her head as he lifted a brow her way, unwrapped a candy bar, then took a big bite. “And for you.” She turned her back on him and knelt to look at the plants. “Want some blueberries, Emma? Pick all you like.”

Emma brushed away the leaves and found a handful of berries for herself. “Why are they so small?”

“They’re wild blueberries. We call them lowbush. They grew here by themselves. Taste them and see what you think.”

Emma popped several in her mouth, and her hazel eyes widened. “They’re really good. Way better than a Snickers bar. Can I have more?”

“You can have all you can find.” Harvesting these few tiny berries wouldn’t be worth the work, but they’d have enough to enjoy for a bit.

Emma grabbed another handful. “Why do you grow blueberries if it’s so hard?”

Kate opened her mouth to reply, then closed it. Why did she? Tradition and family expectations mostly. “My mother grew up helping her parents on a barrens, and she wanted me to learn to do it too. My father bought these fields for her, and it’s been my life too.”

“Do you like it?” Juice dribbled down Emma’s chin.

Did she? Kate flicked her gaze to Drake, and she found him watching her with a taut expression. He’d been acting funny ever since he got out here too. His shoulders were tense, and he held his mouth in a flat, hard line. She wanted to ask him what was wrong, but it wasn’t appropriate with Emma there.

She knelt beside the little girl and dug around a blueberry shrub. “This is how blueberries spread. This is a rhizome, kind of like a runner. It makes a clone blueberry and spreads out to make more and more.”

Emma straightened. “Uncle Drake always said I was Mommy’s clone, but we didn’t know what it meant. It sounded good though, and I was glad.” She glanced up at her uncle.