Twilight at Blueberry Barrens (Sunset Cove #3)(68)

Wang took a sip of his water, then set the glass back on the table. “You should understand that I loved Melissa. I intended to marry her. If I’d had to kill Heath to have her, I would have done it. But it wasn’t necessary. She was also pregnant with my child.”

Drake clenched his fists at the man’s casual threat. “You are the father of that baby? How do you know?”

Wang took a sip of his tea. “Heath was out of town on business when Melissa conceived, and she and Heath had been sleeping in separate bedrooms for a while.”

“How long did Heath know?”

Wang’s dark eyes were grave. “He found out just before they came to Maine. She’d saved the positive pregnancy test to show me, and he discovered it hidden in her dresser.”

Drake winced at the thought of his brother’s pain. “Yet you still believe he didn’t kill her? Why?”

“He was a good man. I tried to bribe him, you know. He refused. But my outfit isn’t the only organized crime working in the city. Heath was on the trail of another one he thought had set me up. I think he might have found out the truth and was killed.”

“What other outfit?”

Wang pressed his lips together. “I have yet to find out which one.”

“Did he know she planned to take the girls to China?”

“She wasn’t going to do that. We talked it over, and she agreed to leave them behind with him.”

“Her partner found the plane tickets.”

Wang shrugged. “Purchased before our decision was made.”

Drake knew when someone was lying, and he had the strong sense that Wang spoke the truth. “Was the target Melissa or Heath?”

“I suspect Heath was the initial target, and Melissa was collateral damage. I could be wrong. It’s possible Melissa was targeted to hurt me, but I don’t think so. I’ve been trying to get hold of Heath’s external hard drive, but I can’t find it. Maybe you can.”

Drake ran through the possible places where he might find the hard drive.

“Do you know where it is?”

“I might.” Drake reached for his cell phone and called his uncle who owned a storage company. Some of Heath’s things were in storage there.

*

The waves rolled onto the rocks, then receded to the vast blue of the sea. Kate stood on a spit of land in Sunset Cove with the girls and Jackson and breathed in the tang of the salt air. Lobster boats bobbed in the distance, and she heard the hum of fishing boats. She glanced back at the pink granite steps leading to the hotel. She’d thought Drake would be back before she took the kids to the water, but he hadn’t returned, so she left him a note. Her nerves hummed with her need to know the reason for his somber expression when he left to meet whoever it was down in the restaurant.

Claire and Luke were going to come over and take Kate and the girls for a ride any minute. She hoped Drake got here in time to join them. She zipped her Windbreaker. It was a good thing they’d all dressed in jeans. A chill wind rolled in off the sea, and it would be even colder out on the water. She heard her name and saw Claire wave in the distance as Luke’s boat approached. It would be a few minutes before he docked.

She turned back one last time and saw Drake wave from the steps. She waved back. “Here comes your uncle.”

“He would have been disappointed not to go on the boat ride.” Emma pulled her hand from Kate’s and went to peer into the shallow depths of a tide pool. “I see a crab!” Phoebe ran to join her, and neither girl left their entranced observation at the water’s edge when Drake reached Kate’s side.

His smile didn’t reach his eyes. “Glad I caught you in time.”

“What’s wrong?”

He glanced at his nieces, then took Kate’s arm and moved a few feet farther away. “Chen Wang came to see me.”

“The killer?” No wonder he seemed distracted.

He shook his head. “That’s the thing—he came to tell me he wanted to help me find the murderer. He claims he didn’t do it, that he loved Melissa.” Bending his head closer to her ear, he spoke more softly. “I got the autopsy last night. Melissa was pregnant.”

Her eyes filled with tears. “Oh no!”

“Wang says she was pregnant with his child. And maybe she was. Heath was out of town a lot several months ago.”

Kate put her hand on his arm. “Do you think he’s telling the truth?”

“I think he might be. He’s a snake, no doubt about that. But he seemed genuinely distressed by Melissa’s death, and he wanted vengeance.”

“What about Heath? Did he know?”

Drake let out a long sigh. “Yeah. And those plane tickets I found? They were supposedly purchased before they decided to leave the girls with Heath. I’m not sure I believe that.”

“Did he have any idea who might have killed them?”

He dropped his arm around her waist and hugged her to his side. “He thinks it might have been a rival organized-crime group. There are several in Boston. He says Heath had a big knot on his head, and Melissa was choked by a left-handed man. I stopped by the room to look at the autopsies again, and he’s right. I couldn’t bring myself to study them very closely last night. Heath was right handed, so that’s a clear sign Heath didn’t do it. I need to talk to the sheriff about it.”