Page 58 of The Summer that Changed Everything

She turned imploringly to her brother. “Reggie!”

“Stop it!” He shook her off before starting for the duplex as if he’d get his gun, after all.

He’d taken only two steps, however, when a cruiser pulled up behind Lucy’s car and an officer wearing the nametag M. Deacon got out. “Jesus, Reggie!” he said with a weary frown. “What is it this time?”

Reggie shook his head. “It’s nothing. I don’t even know why you’re here.”

“I’m here because we got a call that you’re disturbing the peace again, and it’s drifting toward violence.”

“It’s nothing. My neighbor calls you guys at the drop of a hat.”

“For no good reason,” Deacon said facetiously.

“For no good reason,” Reggie echoed emphatically.

The officer looked to the duplex next to Reggie’s, and for the first time, Lucy realized there was a woman who’d cracked open her front door and was watching them through it. “You the ‘anonymous’ caller?” Deacon yelled over to her, hooking his thumbs onto his duty belt.

The door opened wider, until they could see her face and a section of her robe-clad body. “No! I—it had to be someone else,” she exclaimed, her eyes round, but Lucy owed her success in poker to being able to read people. The woman was lying. She must’ve heard the argument, which frightened her so much she’d called the cops, but she certainly didn’t want Reggie to know it was her.

“Go back inside and mind your own business, Naomi!” Reggie called out, and she scrambled to do exactly that.

Deacon frowned but let Reggie’s response to his neighbor go as he looked between the four of them. “What’s happening here?”

“Nothing,” Lucy said. “We were just leaving.”

Although Ford allowed her to drag him to his vehicle, he yelled back, “Think about it, Reggie! We’re not giving up until we have the truth, so you might want to change the way you’re playing this thing.”

17

“What an asshole!” Ford was fuming as he paced in the living room of his family’s beachfront mansion.

Lucy appreciated all he was doing on her behalf—she’d never expected his support, especially to such a degree. But it was beginning to feel as if they were a team, and she understood the danger in that.

She stood at the edge of the room, waiting for him to calm down so she could tell him more about her visit with Vickie Zampino. Then she planned to leave. “He’s definitely reckless—and possibly dangerous,” she said about Reggie.

“That’s what scares me.”

She’d warned him not to go over there. “You should stay away from him.”

Pivoting at the window, Ford came back toward her. “He won’t attackme, Lucy. He’ll go for the easy target. And that’syou.”

He had a point, especially because no one would get upset or even be surprised if something happened to her while she was in North Hampton Beach. There would be a lot more questions asked if something happened to Ford.

“You’re taking a risk sleeping over at the cottage with the windows open every night,” he added.

“I know that,” she responded. “But it’s too hot to close them. I’ve tried.”

He stopped when he was only a foot away from her and drilled her with a pointed stare. “That’s not your only option, and you know it. You should stay here. There’s plenty of room for both of us. You can come and go without even having to see me if that’s what you want. But you need to take the precaution. It’s the only way I can keep you safe.”

Uncomfortable having him so close, she stepped back. “Once again, keeping me safe isn’t your responsibility.”

“Yes, it is,” he argued. “We’re going to get to the bottom of this, but giving itthatkind of commitment means making certain people mad, and when emotions run high and there’s a lot at stake... You can’t predict human behavior in those circumstances.”

“I never meant to drag you into this—”

“You didn’t,” he broke in. “I got into it on my own. But now that Iaminvolved, I’m determined. Will you work with me?”

She didn’t know what to say. Refusing would make her look unreasonable, possibly even foolish. He was offering her a place to stay where she wouldn’t have to stiffen in fear at every creak or bump in the night, wouldn’t have to be ready to jump up and grab the baseball bat. While she hated the idea of hiding behind him, he’d already explained that if she didn’t agree to stay at Coastal Comfort, she’d only make what they were trying to achieve that much harder. She didn’t even have a good excuse for refusing. A no would only indicate she was continuing to hold a grudge against him.

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