Storm Surge by Celia Ashley Page B

mean that after you were at the door and before Liam came over, someone else came and went.” A light chill fingered its way along her nape.
    “That, too,” Dan agreed.
    “Why would someone come in here?” Paige heard the shrill intensity in her voice and knocked it back a notch. “I mean, does it look like a place where someone might be stashing big bucks?”
    “Nothing’s missing, right? Check your purse, now, will you?”
    Paige hurried to the bed. She yanked her bag from the headboard. Her wallet was still inside, along with the cash and all her cards. Her keys rattled, glinting in the light from the bedside lamp when she tipped the purse’s contents for a better look. “Everything’s here.”
    Dan shook his head. “Then I don’t know the answer. Use that lock, though, when I leave, okay? Lock it whenever you go out, even if it’s only to the water.”
    “What are you thinking?”
    “I don’t know what to think. Except that Gray guy is probably full of—”
    “No,” said Paige. “He’s not.”
    “Okay.” Dan started for the door.
    “Wait, you did have something to tell me. And not about keeping my door locked.” Paige started after him and paused. “Isn’t that why you came? Did you find out what happened with my father’s boat?”
    “Oh. Yeah,” said Dan, turning around. “Got anything to drink? Water? I’m a little dry after that run up from the beach.”
    Paige yanked a bottle from the refrigerator and twisted off the cap. She handed the water to him, lobbing the cap into the sink. “Go on.”
    He drank half the bottle down before answering. “Yes, your father’s sailboat went down in an unexpected storm. I’m digging into the details. Your father wasn’t alone when the ship sunk. He had crew members. All in all, there may be some things you don’t want to know.”
    “Like what?”
    “Drowning can be pretty gruesome.”
    “Is there something to mark his passing? Like the stone cross on the headland? His name’s not inscribed on the one here in Alcina Cove. I checked.”
    “I told you, Paige, I don’t know much yet.” Impatience roughened his tone. “It wouldn’t be, though, if he wasn’t living here anymore.”
    Paige lowered her lids, studying him from behind her lashes. “You’re not telling me everything. There’s more you know already.”
    Dan finished off the water and lowered the empty bottle to his hip. He exhaled through his nose. “One of the older guys at the station remembered something…about your dad. Remembered going out to your house.” He jerked his head toward Paige’s old home next door. “Responding to a call about a domestic dispute. Not the first time. Things were…not pretty. Your mom refused to press charges, though, and the responding officers left.”
    Paige stumbled over to the chair and lowered herself onto the hard wooden seat. Crap.
    “And nothing else? Nothing about any other kind of trouble?”
    Dan frowned, tilting his head. “What are you asking?”
    Paige shrugged. “Bea Hunt implied my father was involved with people she referred to as ‘objectionable,’ so I just wondered.”
    “I see.”
    “Plus my mom…she said some things before she died. I only want answers, you know?”
    “Sometime in the next couple of days, I’ll go down to the archived reports and see what I can find. If you want me to,” he added, taking a shuffling step toward the door.
    Compressing her lips between her teeth, Paige gave a quick nod.
    “You all right?”
    She nodded again.
    “I’m going to go. Lock the door behind me.”
    Forcing herself to her feet, Paige followed him and threw the deadbolt once he’d stepped outside. Eyeing the rumpled rug, she went over to the bed and yanked the heavy iron frame a few inches at a time until she’d centered a leg over the trapdoor. She threw herself belly first on the mattress, ignoring the sand spattering from her jeans across the coverlet. Dropping her head onto her folded arms, she began to