Her grip tightened on the phone until her knuckles ached. “The Arts Council?”
“Yeah. Are you familiar with it?”
“She’s on the board.” Her mind was already a million miles away.
“Listen, we’re getting ready to take the MMR out to shake the dust off her,” Brick said. The Mackinac Marine Rescue was a thirty-one-foot rescue boat operated by the island and crewed by a team of volunteers. “How about we swing by, and the kids can wave from the boardwalk?”
“That’s sweet of you. They’d love that,” she said. “I’ll talk to you later.”
“Remi.”
“I’m okay. I’m fine. We’ll talk when you come home…to a full house.”
He sighed, and she knew he hated leaving her upset.
“Brick. I’m okay. I’m just worried.”
“I know.”
“Thanks for letting my sister stay. I love you.”
“I love you, too,” he said, his voice low. “We should be out on the water in about half an hour, okay?”
“We’ll be looking for you.”
She disconnected and thumbed to her call log.
“Raj? I need a favor.”
“Alessandra, how’s the new piece?” he bellowed.
“Stop trying to get attention and start paying attention. I have an emergency, and you’re the only one who can help.”
“Tell me more,” he said around what she assumed was a mouthful of party appetizers.
“Camille Vorhees is there. I need you to get past her security and give her your phone.”
“No way, man. I just got it last week.”
“Not to keep. To talk to me.”
“That’s a stupid idea. I don’t know what went down with you two because you won’t tell me, but there’s no way this is going to do anything good for your rep.”
“I don’t care about my rep or how many cocktail shrimp you can fit in your mouth at once—”
“Actually, it’s sushi.”
“I need you to do this for me.”
“Fine. But if I get punched out by Mount Saint Helens in a suit for my troubles, you’re subletting your place to me.”
“Yeah. Fine. Whatever. Just do it. And be cool. Try not to get punched for once in your life.”
“Whatever.”
Remi gnawed on her thumbnail and waited as she listened to the background noises of a typical fundraising event. Just like one of the dozens she’d attended with Camille.
“Camille!” she heard Raj say. Her heart started to pound. This was the closest she’d been since the hospital. The sound was muffled, and she couldn’t make out anything that was being said.
Nearly a minute went by. Long enough for Remi to feel like she was going to barf.
“Hello?”
Relief crashed over her like a tidal wave. “Camille?”
“Remi? What are you doing? This isn’t safe.”
“I know. I just. Are you okay? Do you need help getting out?”
“I’m flattered,” Camille said brightly. “I’ll be happy to make an introduction between you and the designer.”
“Is your security there?” Remi asked.
“Yes, of course,” Camille said.
“I don’t know how to reach you. I’m on Mackinac. Warren said if I didn’t stay away—”
“My husband certainly appreciates your support.”
“How do I get you out?” Remi hissed.
“I need a moment,” Camille said to someone else, and Remi could imagine her friend pulling the Ice Queen routine with her security. “Remi, you can’t do this. You can’t make any kind of contact. It’s not safe.”
“You need to get out. Come to Mackinac. We can keep you safe. We can figure out a way to nail him for the accident. I know he’s hurting you again.”
“Hurting me doesn’t earn him a lifetime behind bars,” Camille whispered.
“Then what would? There’s got to be something. Give me something to look into and get the hell out of there.”
“Warren and I appreciate your generosity,” she said a little louder. “He’s looking forward to re-election. I’ll give you back to Rajesh now.”
And with that, her friend was gone.
Twenty minutes later, Remi stood behind her niece and nephew on the boardwalk that overlooked the lake as Brick and his crew maneuvered the Marine Rescue closer to shore. The kids, still a little unsteady from Kimber’s announcement that they’d be staying with Uncle Brick and Aunt Remi for a bit while their mom and dad figured some things out, waved.
A glum-looking Mega plopped his butt on the boardwalk and leaned against Remi’s legs.
The feeling that she’d just made a very dangerous mistake clung to her like a fog.
When Brick lumbered through the front door at midnight, she was waiting for him.
“What’s wrong?” he demanded, not bothering to shed his coat. “What happened? Are the kids okay?”
Remi swallowed. “I think I fucked up.”
He gripped her shoulders, ice in his eyes. “Talk.”
To his credit, Brick restrained himself—barely—from murdering her while she explained.
He had his back to her, his hands on hips. She watched his shoulders rise and fall with the breaths he took to calm down. And for some reason, it made her feel safer.
“Remington, what you did was…” His voice was deceptively calm.
“Stupid and irresponsible. Believe me, I know. But I talked to her, Brick.”
He turned to face her when her voice broke, his jaw tightening when he saw her face.
When he traced a thumb over her cheek, she nuzzled into the touch. He hissed out a breath. “I hate how you can make me feel like strangling you and holding you at the same time.”
“I’m sorry. I’m scared, Brick. She sounded…I don’t know. Resigned? Like there wasn’t any fight left in her.” She broke away from him, but he caught her wrists and pulled her back into his heat, into his hard body.
“Tell me again what she said. Exactly what she said,” he ordered.
44
The first ferry of tourists at the end of April usually brought a sense of jubilance. However, this year, it had Brick staring grimly at each passenger as they disembarked. He’d kept vigilant watch as the ferry lines began their regular runs again, bringing freight, supplies, and seasonal workers back to the tiny island.
Warren Vorhees’s face, one he’d never seen in person, was emblazoned in his brain. Trouble was coming. He could feel it in his gut. Knew Chief Ford sensed it, too. She stood next to him, her face impassive as always as she watched a family of four disembark for a chilly day of fun.
Brick envied them. Wished he could be escorting Remi out to her pick of restaurants that were now opened.
But circumstances being what they were with danger lurking nebulously just off the radar, he could only keep her close and wait.
Less than a week after Remi’s ill-conceived call to Camille, security footage of her attacking Warren in the hospital was leaked to the press.
The entire story had blown up again, the flames fed this time with quotes from the Vorhees.