Page 24 of Betrayal In Calusa Cove
“I never saw this,” Fletcher said. “I never knew he was struggling like that. I mean, my folks told me he was distant the last few weeks before his heart attack, but I honestly had no idea.”
“I didn’t either,” Baily said quietly. “He was always...steady. Resilient. At least, that’s what I believed.”
Fletcher closed the notebook slowly. “He believed in Ken until he couldn’t. That much is clear. And Ken let him down.”
“But why?” she asked. “Why would Ken push him into a loan that didn’t exist? One that was tied to payments I’m still making. One that put me in this mess.”
“I don’t know.” Fletcher met her eyes. “But it lines up with the stories about the money. The missing loan. The pressure your dad was under.”
“And then he died,” Baily whispered. “And this is what gave him that heart attack. It’s what killed him.”
Fletcher wrapped an arm around her shoulders. “I’m not going to stop digging until I have all the answers.”
She cried softly. “I feel like I’m drowning.”
“We’re going to figure this out,” Fletcher promised, holding her tighter. “For him. For you.”
The old bedroom—soaked in memories, decorated in outdated colors and thick with the past—suddenly felt more like a crime scene than a sanctuary.
And Fletcher knew this was only the beginning.
Baily glanced down at her fingers intertwined with Fletcher’s. Things were moving fast between them. Too fast. It didn’t matter that he’d been her first love.
Her only love.
They’d spent more time broken up than they had as a couple, and for some reason, she believed that should matter.
But her heart told a vastly different story.
As they strolled down the shell path that led from his house back toward the marina, she did her best to put all the thoughts of their latest discovery in a corner of her brain.
Her brother hadn’t been the man she’d believed he was, and deep down, she’d known that to be true but hadn’t wanted to face it. Perhaps it would’ve been easier had he not died in action. Not died a hero.
Not died at all.
But he had.
He’d also left her with more questions than answers.
The moonlight danced on the water, crickets chirped in lazy harmony with the distant hoot of an owl somewhere deep in the mangroves. It would’ve been peaceful—should’ve been peaceful—if her mind hadn’t been a storm.
“You remember when Silas caught us skinny-dipping in Lester McCurdy’s pool?” Fletcher asked.
Baily snorted. “Which time?”
He laughed. “Right after my seventeenth birthday. He threatened to call your parents and tell them all about it. I was terrified. It was bad enough that my grandma was living with us at the time and would catch you sneaking in, tiptoeing up the staircase, and slipping into my bedroom. She used to wiggle her finger under my nose, while giving me a lecture on the birds and the bees, and tell me I better not get you pregnant.”
“I got a few of those lectures from your grandma, and she even once slipped me a box of condoms.”
“At one point, I had so many, I used to think, even for a horny teenager, I’d never be able to use them all.”
“You certainly tried.” She grinned. “You spent the next month after Silas caught us mowing his lawn to buy his silence and avoid your grandma’s questions. I wondered why you were being so nice to him.”
“I still think he got off on that,” Fletcher muttered. “Told every guy in town I was his ‘personal landscaping technician.’”
They were still chuckling when they reached the marina.
The laughter died the second Baily’s gaze locked on the door.
