Deception (11 page)

Have a care now how you answer.
How much should he reveal?

Meral put her hand on Buck's cheek and forced his face toward hers. “Now you leave him alone,” she said, but Buck's gaze never left Colin's. It was clear the man had not been happy to see him. Didn't want him on the boat. Why not?

“The mayor trusts me to follow my instincts,” Colin said. That should be answer enough.

And then a slight curve came to Buck's lips—that smirk again. A challenge?

A tingling sensation crawled over Colin. He knew that smirk. What good was he if he couldn't remember?

He'd been right to resign from his job and come, of that he had no doubt. When he'd walked into the hall and caught that feral look in Buck's eyes as the man had looked at Jewel, he'd known.

Maybe on this yacht Jewel would finally tell him what she hadn't been willing to share so far. But he had to keep his heart out of it and use his head at all times.

He thought back to the cell phone call he'd received from the mayor right before boarding the yacht.

“Chief Winters, I don't accept your resignation.”

“Excuse me?”

“I know what I said in the heat of the moment, but despite our recent troubles, I don't believe we'll find a better man for the job. So I'm going to give you the time away you need. I'll hold down the fort while you're gone, so to speak. I'm not sure whether to tell the boys you're on a covert mission or that you've taken some time, but just do me one favor.”

“What's that?”

“Get this guy, Colin. You return with our murderer, and that'll save me a lot of explaining.”

Jewel returned, and they finished the rest of the dinner talking about the Alaska scenery.

Stella approached the table and removed their plates, then Meral and Buck excused themselves to go for a walk on the deck.

Colin was left alone with Jewel at the table. A candle burned in the center. While planning ahead for this adventure, he'd known he would be thrust into a romantic setting, and this certainly fit the bill. He just had to remember that it was set against a murderous backdrop. Still, no matter how he mentally prepared himself, he hadn't fully grasped how much being here with Jewel would impact him. Jewel, with her ash-blond hair and striking, lovely hazel-green eyes that shined with a soft inner light had Colin struggling to breathe.

Being here with her like this without reaching over and grabbing her hand, touching her face, reaching out to hold her, might be the most difficult thing Colin had ever done. Jewel was so beautiful. If they let their hearts have free rein, she could be all he wanted. He never doubted that.

But danger lurked on the yacht with them. Whether that danger had anything to do with Jewel's attacker remained to be seen. But he could feel it, sense it. Now that he let himself feel again and listen to his instincts, that danger reading was off the charts.

Focus, man. Focus.

He cleared his throat and tensed, forcing a harsh expression that felt completely wrong for the moment. “Now that we have a moment alone, I want to thank you for covering for me. I meant to...well... I meant to talk to you first and get myself an actual invitation.”

“I guess I should have invited you. I didn't think it was appropriate. Or that you could leave your job.”

Oh yeah. That. If she only knew.

“So why
did
you come?” In her eyes, he thought he saw that she was searching, wanting to know a deeper truth. One he couldn't admit.

“The reason you gave them. I'm not leaving your side until this is over.”

“But how will you catch my attacker if you're on the boat with me?” An odd look washed over Jewel's face, and the moonlit sparkle in her eyes vanished.

“I thought getting away was the answer, but as soon as you made plans to leave, I realized that your attacker might follow you. I'm going to keep you safe just like I said.”

She scoffed a laugh like she didn't believe him. Didn't trust his ability to protect her.

Or was it that she knew he didn't have all the information?

“What haven't you told me, Jewel?”

“I haven't told you thank you.” She smiled. “I'm glad you're here.”

Jewel stood and moved to the rail to look out over the waters of the Inside Passage. He followed her and leaned against the railing next to her.

The only thing to make the moment more perfect would be to see the aurora borealis.

Yeah. This was definitely the hardest thing he'd ever done. Beautiful woman at his side on an amazing Alaskan cruise, and his senses were heightened to her every breath, her every look, her every smile, her shimmering gaze. But not fifty feet from them stood a dangerous man. Colin didn't want Buck to be her attacker. But he also wanted to catch the person who'd tried to kill Jewel and had succeeded in killing Jed.

He watched Buck with Meral in the shadows at the bow. What a strangely precarious situation he was in now. Here to protect Jewel from a killer while he protected himself from Jewel.

God, You have a way of testing us, putting us through trials to make us stronger. But right now I feel weak. And maybe that's Your plan. But doesn't mean I have to like it.

And he didn't like this familiar feeling. Like he was right back where he had been before, trying and failing to protect a woman he cared deeply about from a man set on killing her.

And this time, they were all together like one happy family on the boat ride of their lives.

ELEVEN

T
he room was spacious, but Jewel still felt trapped. Jewel sat up in bed against a couple of pillows and held another wrapped in her arms as if it could protect her.

How was she supposed to get any rest on this opulent yacht in this crazy situation, which was both dangerous and awkward? It was as if she had jumped from the proverbial frying pan right into the fire. And not only where her life was concerned. When Colin had showed up just in time to fend off the strange vibes coming from Buck, her heart had been instantly in jeopardy.

More pressing was her physical being—her life. Every creak of the boat, every sound, had her on edge. She couldn't possibly close her eyes, much less sleep.

Colin was down the hall in his room, but he might as well be back in Mountain Cove for all the good his presence would do if she were attacked. She still ached from the previous attempts on her life.

Oh, God, what was I thinking to do this
?
Is Buck the man who attacked me or not?
She couldn't decide. Her imagination was working overtime.

Except. An image projected across her mind.

The way Buck had stood there in the hallway, his wide stance. Hadn't she seen that stance before—above the water on the ledge?

Jewel climbed from bed. Standing, expanding her lungs would help her catch her breath. But after several tries she realized she was hyperventilating. Breathing too hard and fast and getting too much oxygen. She'd never experienced this before. Her life had never been pushed so close to the edge. Though she didn't have a paper bag to breathe into, she could use her hands. She cupped her palms over her mouth to balance out the oxygen with carbon dioxide.

A sound from the hall drew her attention.

She stood still, listening.

Footfalls?

Her doorknob twisted quietly.

Though her door was locked, the fact someone wanted in still terrified her.

Lord, help me!

Jewel ran to the table next to the bed and grabbed the gun she'd brought on board with her bag. She wrapped her hand around the cool plastic of her 9-millimeter pistol, hoping it would reassure her. But any reassurance was lost with the thought that her attacker stood on the other side of the door.

Trying to get into her room.

But she must face him head-on this time. She hurried to the door that had no peephole. “Who's there?”

She might as well face him and get it over with.

“It's me.” Colin's voice was soft.

What is he doing here?
She cracked the door. “You scared me to death.”

“You look like you're still alive to me.”

“What are you doing?”

“I'm sorry to scare you. I was checking your door to make sure it was locked. Now get some sleep.”

She swung the door a little wider and stuck out her head to look in the hallway. “I'm having some trouble with that.”

“That's understandable after what you've been through. But I told you I was here to protect you, so that's what I'm doing. It's no different than me staying at your B and B, if you want to think of it that way.” He cracked a half grin, then his gaze dropped. “I'm glad it's not your policy to shoot first and ask questions later. I'm glad, too, that you brought your own protection.”

She lifted the Glock, trusting the feel of it in her hands. “Don't worry. I know how to use it. I can take care of myself.” But she wasn't feeling secure. Wasn't feeling it at all. The thought of facing off with another human being and shooting him wasn't appealing in the least, even if it meant putting an end to her attacks.

Jewel opened her door wider. “Come in, so we don't wake the others.”

He hesitated, something raw anchored in those starkly blue eyes, then shook his head. He wasn't coming into her room. He either didn't trust himself or he didn't trust her.

Her heart did a somersault. He was rugged and handsome and a protector all wrapped up in one way-too-appealing package. And he'd assigned himself as her personal bodyguard. Something inside told her he wouldn't be here if it wasn't much more than police business. If it wasn't personal to him.

“So what? Are you planning to stand guard outside my room all night, then?”

“If that's what it takes.”

The disquiet in his eyes tugged at her heart. She reached out and pressed her hand against his cheek, feeling the stubble there. A current surged up her arm. Mistake. It had been a mistake to reach out, but she couldn't seem to pull her hand back. She was enjoying that slow hum in her belly entirely too much.

“I don't know how you can watch over me 24/7,” she said. The hitch in her voice told more than she wanted to reveal. “You have to rest, too.”

He stepped back, forcing Jewel to drop her hand. His move had been intentional, and she was grateful. What had she been thinking? She couldn't think at all when next to him anymore.

“No one camped outside my room at the B and B, and I'm safer here than I was there.”

“That why you brought the gun? You believe you're safe now?” It was rhetorical. He was making a point. “Good night, Jewel.”

“Good night.” She closed the door and pressed her back against it.

* * *

He hadn't expected Jewel to answer, because he'd seen the truth in her eyes and in her actions. They were both dancing around that truth, because Jewel was unwilling to tell him. But now he had confirmation from her that he'd been right to come. He'd been right to listen to his gut if even Jewel thought she wasn't safe on this yacht with her sister and brother-in-law.

And he knew to be even more vigilant. He kept his door open. Sat in a chair and watched the hallway, his eyes on Jewel's door.

Come on, Buck, make a move. Make a move while I'm here so I can catch you and put you away. So I can stop the attack and prevent more. Make a move so we can all get back to our lives. So I can get back to thinking about something besides Jewel Caraway.

But nothing happened during the night. Buck made no move to attack Jewel.

Colin joined the group for breakfast and downed enough coffee to make an elephant jumpy. He thought Buck had wanted to fish for halibut, but the yacht cruised toward a new destination that only Buck knew—a surprise, he'd said.

Doubts suffused Colin's thoughts. If he was the attacker, the killer, then Buck had successfully stayed two steps ahead of Colin all this time. Jewel was right. Colin couldn't maintain this pace. All he could do was bide his time for Buck to make a mistake or for something else to come through. Something like his memory finally clicking into gear and telling Colin why the other man seemed so familiar. He knew the man from somewhere, and suddenly he'd showed up here and Jewel was attacked, her life threatened. Colin didn't believe in coincidence.

Jewel's attacker had a partner, a woman. As Colin watched Meral chat with Jewel, he couldn't reconcile that fact with what he saw and knew of Jewel's sister. Meral couldn't be the woman who had rammed Jim Humphrey's monster Suburban into Jewel's Durango. So who could the accomplice be?

Stella refilled his coffee mug, poured more orange juice for Meral and Jewel. The cool breeze picked up and the tablecloth fluttered. Jewel's hair whipped across her face. She tugged it back behind her ear, looking as though she hadn't slept better than Colin, but she kept up a good front for Meral's sake.

Captain Mike chatted with Buck at the rail, while Gary, the deckhand, manned the helm. Colin had seen Captain Mike come and go from Mountain Cove with his chartered cruises, and the certified Coast Guard Master and his crew were not suspects in Colin's mind.

His phone buzzed in his pocket. They must have been passing through limited cell-tower service. He tugged it out to see he had three texts. Two from David, who was just checking on them. The other from his friend and forensic artist, letting Colin know that he would start working on the sketch of Buck. The text had been sent last night.

Colin had asked him to take off fifteen or so years and remove the beard and wrinkles and extra weight, since most people thickened even in the face as they aged. He hadn't met the man while in Alaska, he didn't think, which meant he had to have run into him while in Texas. Taking those extra years off the sketch might trigger Colin's memory.

He jammed his cell back in his pocket, felt his gun under his jacket, though he made no attempt to hide it. Then realized the yacht had stopped.
The Alabaster Sky
anchored in the waters just off where the Bledsoe Glacier terminus met the water.

A loud crack resounded.

Meral jumped up. “Would you look at that?”

They all rushed to the rail.

“That's called calving,” Gary told them. Apparently he was not only a deckhand but an ecologist, and could serve as their tour guide when possible. “When ice breaks from the terminus, the end of a glacier, and falls into the water. That's when it's called an iceberg.”

They watched in silent awe as ice broke away and fell into the channel water.

After a few minutes, Buck put his hands on Meral's shoulders. “We've got all day to explore the glacier, ice caves and waterfalls. I hope that won't be too uncomfortable for you, Jewel.”

“No, of course not. It's a cruise to explore Alaska. I expected as much.”

Colin gauged Jewel's reaction to the news. She didn't appear troubled at thoughts of viewing a waterfall so recently after her fall, but he wondered if maybe she was quaking on the inside. She didn't look at him, avoiding making eye contact. Maybe he had his answer.

Was this all part of Buck's plan?

To lure them out into the wilderness and then act? What kind of policeman, what kind of person, was Colin to let him do it? Except Jewel had the right to make her own decisions, and Colin had no evidence to go on. Nothing he could use to accuse Buck and separate Jewel from her sister. All he could do was try to protect her, watch and wait.

He joined Jewel, Meral and Buck in gearing up to hike on the ice, though they'd wait to don crampons, if necessary, when they met with the official tour guide at the US Forest Service's Bledsoe Glacier Visitor Center.

Taking on his own tour guide role again, Gary explained about the region and the glacier before delivering them. Scratching his chin, he eyed them all, his gaze lingering on Jewel. “Glaciers and ice caves are part of the Alaska tour package, but you need to know up front the dangers. Glaciers are moving sheets of ice. They create the ice caves, and the very nature of that creation also makes them unstable. Translated—they're dangerous. Stay alert and follow the safety guidelines.”

Gary prepared to take them to shore. Buck and Meral climbed down the short ladder to the skiff. Jewel positioned herself to follow Meral down.

Colin grabbed her arm, stopping her, and pulled her close. “Jewel, are you sure about this? This will be a strenuous activity. You still have stitches. Bruises. And the waterfall. Are you ready to see another one?”

She pressed her hand over his on her arm. “I'll be fine. Really. If I get tired I can stop and rest. Worst case, I'll whine about it and you can escort me back. But I don't want to let Meral down if I don't have to. I know you don't understand.”

“How can I? You haven't told me much.”

Jewel frowned and started down again, but Colin didn't let go. “Did you bring your Glock?”

“Why would I? I have you to protect me.”

Colin released her to go to the boat and followed after her, his own weapon tucked within reach.

They met Preston Jenkins, the professional tour guide, at the center and geared up to hike across the glacier, wearing helmets, backpacks, crampons and carrying ice axes. Colin had lived in southeast Alaska for fifteen years, and he'd never actually hiked a glacier. His experience in this region usually involved getting in and out quickly in a helicopter when there was a need with search and rescue or recovery.

To his way of thinking, hiking a glacier was like walking on a different planet in a faraway galaxy. And he had absolutely no doubt that without Jenkins's skills, they would never have found the ice cave—there was no path that Colin could see.

But after four hours of the most difficult hiking he'd ever experienced, he knew he wouldn't have agreed to this if he'd realized the exertion required. Uneven steps, some places muddy and slippery, scrambling over rock and ice. Meral and Buck's tirelessness surprised him. He was more worried about Jewel with her injuries.

They approached the edge of the glacier on the far side and climbed down to dirt and boulders and pebbles. Jenkins announced that they'd reached the entrance to the cave and allowed them to catch their breaths. The glacier ice was gray and dirty and folded over into the ground, disappearing into an opening, a swirling hole that called them. Finding the cave had been like searching for hidden treasure, and even from the entrance, Colin could see on the inside it shimmered like a gem.

Jenkins led them on, and they followed single file into a whole new world—stunning and strange with cerulean and blue-green ice that had the appearance of glass-like transparent obsidian blooming above them. Colin stood in awe as he stared up at what looked like waves that billowed and rolled—the underside of a river that had been flash frozen.

He couldn't believe he'd lived near such beauty and had never before taken the time to see it. Rocks protruded from patches of ice where they walked. Colin stumbled but caught himself, which pulled his thoughts from the mesmerizing cave of ice and back to the dangers they faced—both from the environment and from the potential killer in their midst. Water trickled and dripped. The cave formed as the glacier melted. For the moment at least, Colin wasn't worried about Buck's intentions—he, too, stumbled around in the cave, head up, neck twisted, humbled by the sight if his reaction was anything like Colin's.