Page 235 of It Happened on the Lake

“Like thieves sneaking into the night,” Marcia had complained as they’d loaded both cars before driving south to California.

“I remember.” Levi set the box on a side table and opened the flaps to peer inside. The first item he retrieved was the necklace. He held the chain suspended by one finger, the diamond dangling and winking in the lamplight. “He gave this to you?”

“Yes.” She remembered that hot summer night all too clearly. The thrill of Chase’s vows of love, the pain of Evan’s death.

Levi was frowning. “It belonged to my grandmother, and it went missing. Mom went out of her mind looking for it.” His eyebrows slammed together as he thought. “I remember her and Dad fighting about it and tearing the house apart. He accused her of being careless and losing it. She insisted it had been stolen.” He bit his lip. “I’m pretty sure they made an insurance claim for it.” He fingered the diamond. “And Chase had it all the time?”

She shrugged. “I guess. It was kind of like a pre-engagement thing. He gave it to me in the summer before our senior year.”

“He stole it.” Levi was shaking his head. “That son of a bitch stole it and let Mom freak out. What a shit.”

She remembered Chase had cautioned her not to wear it except when they were alone together. At the time she thought it was romantic, but now, belatedly, she realized he was just covering his tracks. Another disappointment.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered, and it wasn’t just about the necklace. The doorbell chimed before she could say anything else. “To be continued,” she said as she headed to the front door.

Her nerves were raw and she didn’t want any company. She had enough to deal with as it was, and she figured only two people would be showing up on her doorstep unannounced, the first being Beth who had called several times, pushing Harper to fix the place up and sell. The second was Rhonda Simms who had left several messages on the phone insisting that Harper would want to add her “unique perspective” to the next installment of her series about Lake Twilight.

But Harper was wrong.

Neither woman was waiting for her on the other side of the door.

Instead she found Rand Watkins.

DetectiveRand Watkins.

His expression was grim, lips flat in a beard-shadowed jaw, troubled eyes meeting hers in the window.

It was obvious he hadn’t come bearing good news.

Chapter 59

Rand shouldn’t have been surprised to find Levi with Harper at the Dixon estate.

Hadn’t they always been linked in one way or another? Hadn’t they been childhood friends? Gone through school together? Even come to his house together looking for Chase on the night he disappeared? The two of them had always shared a unique connection.

And right now it was more evident than ever.

From the moment Harper opened the door, he noticed the wariness in her eyes and a tightness in the corners of her mouth. Everything about her exuded tension.

“Levi’s here?” he asked.

“Yes.”

“Good.”

She raised an eyebrow at that, and he explained, “I need to talk to both of you.”

“Guess you’re in luck,” she said, but he knew she didn’t mean it. Her gaze was too guarded. Whatever he’d walked in on, it was private and intense. And he was an interloper. Excluded.

Well, too bad.

She led him into a massive room in the back of the house filled with antiques and eclectic furniture from days gone by. He’d been here before, but not for years. Tonight there were no cats slinking through the shadows and only a few of the myriad of dolls he remembered. The whole house seemed somber and drab. Without the energy that had filled this home when he’d been here as a kid, visiting Evan.

Levi was standing near the windows, and he, like Harper, seemed wound tight.

Rand didn’t care. Too much was at stake.

“What’s going on?” Levi asked, looking from Rand to Harper.

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