Calvin made coffee while she relayed what had happened. They informed her that Maggie was fine and had lost her phone in a restaurant moments before the call was made to her. She was so worried about her agent that an officer was sent to pick her up and bring her back to spend the night in Bella’s guest room.
Was the killer stalking her manager now? What did he hope to gain? Maybe another way to get to her? Was she next on his list?
When Maggie walked in the door behind a larger male officer, Bella wrapped her arms around the woman and cried. “I thought…” she said into the woman’s shoulder.
“Shh, honey, I’m right here. I’m okay,” Maggie said and then started crying with Bella.
Her apartment was turned into a makeshift operation headquarters. A cup of coffee was handed to her, but since it was now past one in the morning, she sat on the sofa, propped up against Calvin and fell asleep.
When Calvin shifted to answer his phone, she jolted awake.
“Easy, it’s your brother.” He waved the phone.
She rested back as he handed the phone to her.
“Bella?” Ben’s voice sounded even more worried than it had when she’d talked to him shortly after the news broke of Michael’s death.
“I’m okay,” she sighed. “There are about a dozen police in my apartment.” She glanced around and realized some of them had gone and only three were left. “Maggie’s here sleeping in my guest room.”
She glanced down the hallway where Maggie had disappeared earlier.
“My god, you scared us.” Ben sighed. “Let me talk to Calvin.”
She yawned and handed the phone over.
She didn’t really pay attention to their conversation, since she was still half-asleep, but when she felt Calvin stiffen and sit up, she focused.
“I think you should tell the police here what you just told me,” Calvin said and glanced back at her. “Hang on.” He stood up and walked over to the officer who had been left in charge after the captain had left hours ago. “Bella’s brother has a possible lead.” He handed the man the phone.
“Calvin?” Bella stood up and moved over to him.
“Do you remember Eddie Simons?” he asked her.
She thought about it and shook her head no. “No, should I?”
“He worked at the resort. You went to school with him.”
“Worked?” She felt her knees go weak.
“Easy, it’s not that…” Calvin held her. “He’s been MIA since we left. I guess since I’ve been gone, no one informed Ben that he hadn’t shown up for work. They figured the kid had just gotten another job.” She relaxed slightly. “Well, when Ben found out yesterday, he did some research. Since he went to Brighton with you...” Bella remembered the guy now. He’d been her waiter that first day she’d arrived and a few times after. A shiver ran up her spine remembering how he’d acted around her. “Ben remembered the kid had been a troublemaker when Ben was dean of the school during that time. Eddie had been valedictorian of your class.”
She nodded. “I remember now.”
“Well, on a hunch yesterday, after finding out that he’d been MIA, Ben sent Brock over to his parents’ place. Since the kid had been working at the resort, he’d mentioned how his folks had been away on vacation. No one seemed to question him. You know how it is… small towns.”
She nodded and felt her stomach roll. “And?”
Calvin glanced at the officers as they continued to talk to Ben as they typed the information down.
“Brock found the older folks in the freezer along with Fredrick Stafford. The folks had been dead for around six months and, well, Fredrick disappeared… the day after he got arrested at the resort.” Bella’s knees folded and Calvin carried her to the sofa. “Easy,” he said to her and a glass of water was shoved in her face by the female officer.
“Drink this,” she said.
Bella drank it down and closed her eyes. “Why me?” she asked.
“Brock says there was a shrine built for you in his house. He’s infatuated with you. It appears it started back in school. He left notes everywhere about killing his parents because they wouldn’t let him go to California to be closer to you.” Calvin’s hands tightened on hers. “They have proof that he drove out here during the time your place was broken into. But then, he’d gotten a call from his neighbors who were worried about not seeing his folks around. He had to come back to Silver Cove. He got a job at the resort to be close to your brother. They think he killed Stafford out of rage because of that fight you witnessed. We have him. Now we know who he is.” He smiled weakly up at her.
She didn’t feel any safer now. Instead, she played back all the times she’d talked to him that first week she’d been at the resort. Each time, she had been so focused on Calvin she had barely given the guy any notice.
Then she stilled and gasped. “I’ve seen him here a few times.” She shook her head. “I didn’t even…” She closed her eyes. “He has a face that I just… seem to forget.”
“Where?” Calvin asked.
She thought about it and tried to remember each time she’d caught the thin, pale-skinned, dark-haired man looking at her. She listed the few places, including the coffee shop down the street.
“So, he’s close,” the officer said.
“His poor parents,” she said when the police got back to work searching for their new target. Calvin’s phone was handed back to him and he talked briefly to Ben before hanging up.
“Ben’s getting us tickets to head home tomorrow. You can reschedule any interviews.” He pulled her into his arms.
She nodded in agreement. “I’m so tired.” She sighed. “So weary of running and hiding.”
He sighed and glanced over her shoulder. “We’re heading in to get some rest. If you hear anything… knock.”
The officer nodded her head and waved them off.
She lay on the bed and sighed as he wrapped his arms around her. “Turn it off for a few hours,” he told her. “I’m right here.”
She slept without dreaming, thankfully. When she woke, Calvin’s arms were still wrapped around her, holding her.
“Feel better?” he asked. The fact that he sounded as if he hadn’t slept had her glancing at him.
“I do. Did you get any sleep?”
“A few hours,” he admitted with a smile. “I could go for some breakfast and coffee.”
She nodded and stretched. “Shower, then food.”
She could hear Maggie down the hall talking to someone and laughing.
After taking a quick shower and spending a few minutes to fix her hair and makeup, she felt like attacking the day.
When she stepped out into the living room, she hugged Maggie again and took the coffee mug offered and the large bacon-covered donut.
“I had this sexy beast run down and get us some donuts and coffee.” Maggie patted the shoulder of the larger officer who had brought her to her apartment yesterday. The man blushed quickly as he laughed.
Bella smiled at how cute the couple looked and instantly could feel the chemistry between the pair. She was happy to think about that while she ate instead of her own problems.