In her bones she knew she could make a difference here. All it would take was commitment to this place and these people. Her gaze slid sideways to Joe. It felt like a huge step but the right one.
Chapter 33
What was different about Torie this afternoon?
Joe sensed a freer spirit, a lightness in her manner. He wanted to hope it was because he’d told her he wanted to be wherever she was, but he might be reading too much into it. With the blue sky overhead and the tang of the sea in his nose, it would take a grinch not to enjoy the perfect afternoon with Hailey and Torie. Maybe she felt the same way.
Torie sat on a twisted tree on Driftwood Beach and studied the globe in her hands. “This one is beautiful so let’s put it on the beach somewhere. There will be a picnic here at dinner tomorrow, followed by fireworks from a boat out on the water,” Torie said. “The guests will be milling around for hours. I think we should put two here.”
“I saw your back go up at Rogers Glass,” he teased.
She flushed. “Was I too unkind?”
“Never. It’s not Amelia’s business how you use the globes. She was paid for providing them. It’s up to the hotel how to use them.”
She looked around. “Hailey, you pick out the two you want to hide and figure out where you want to put them. Make the hiding places fairly difficult.”
The kindness she showed Hailey touched him. She seemed to always be thinking of ways to please his daughter, something no dad could resist. And he had no intention of trying.
Hailey studied the available globes. “The green one will be harder to see, and I love the orange one. You think it’s too bright?”
“I think you can hide it well enough to mask the color,” Torie said.
His daughter picked up the orange one first and glanced up and down the beach littered with driftwood and seaweed. “What if I put it in the crook of a tree and drape seaweed on it? I could leave just a glimmer of color peeking through.”
“I’ll get the seaweed,” Joe said. “Since you hate to touch it.”
She wrinkled her nose. “It’s nasty.”
“I’m with you,” Torie said. “There’s nothing worse than feeling it wrap around your foot when you’re in the water.”
Hailey shuddered. “I always think it’s a sea monster come to drag me down into its depths.”
“Like Scylla,” Torie said. “Has your dad ever read you Greek and Roman mythology?”
She shook her head. “Who was Scylla?”
“A six-headed sea monster. It lived under a rock in the Strait of Messina.”
“Is that why you quote Latin all the time?”
“Our culture was built on the backs of the Greek and Roman civilizations that came before ours. There’s a lot of wisdom left behind by those kingdoms. And it’s just fun. Even if the stories aren’t true, they’re heroic and point to how we can have courage in the face of adversity.”
“Like when we lost our moms.” Hailey stared at the orange globe she held.
Torie draped an arm around her and hugged her. “You’re a wise little soul, Hailey. It took a lot of courage for us to go on, didn’t it? But we made it. All those hard trials make us better if we let them. And I love seeing how strong you are now. You’re a special girl.”
Joe’s throat thickened at the joy on his daughter’s face. Torie affirmed her in so many important ways. He’d thought he was doing a good job of raising her by himself, but there was a softness a woman brought to a relationship. Hailey was soaking it up like a dry sponge—and so was he. How had he forgotten how important that was?
He swallowed past the lump of emotion in his throat. “Where do you want me to hide the green one?”
Hailey pointed back toward the tree line near the parking area along the road. “Into the greenery a little. Not far. Just enough to blend in.”
“You’ve got it.” He carried the globe to where the sand ended and the vegetation began and nestled it into weeds and leaves. Stepping back, he could barely tell it was there.
Next up, seaweed. As he turned toward the crashing waves, he caught a glint of something metallic. He squinted in the sun and walked a few feet closer until he saw it wasn’t the bike he’d first thought it might be.
A diver propulsion device lay tucked into the vegetation. Someone had pulled boughs of pine atop it. If not for the care someone had taken to hide it, he wouldn’t have this tingle of trepidation down his back. It was an expensive piece of equipment too. Military grade. No diver would let this bring him to shore and then abandon it. At least no one he knew.
He looked up and down the beach, populated by a few families strolling the packed, wet sand. No one in a wet suit or carrying dive tanks. This wasn’t a great place to shore dive so he hadn’t expected to see any scuba divers, but the sea scooter wouldn’t likely be used for anything else.
His mind flashed to the hostile swimmers. Could it be related? His commander had said in times like this, there were no coincidences, but Joe stood frowning down at the piece of equipment.
Something didn’t sit right, and he couldn’t let it go. Chen needed to know about this.
* * *
“You ignored my text.”
Torie turned around at her aunt’s irate voice. Genevieve stood at the edge of the sand in her impeccable lavender suit and heels. The wind lifted strands of her blonde hair, and she smoothed it back into place.
“I did. I was given this task, and I’ll do it my way, not Amelia’s. She’s not a hotel employee and has no say in what we do with the globes. They’re hotel property now.”
Her aunt’s lips flattened, and her eyes narrowed. “Must you always make things so difficult, Torie? Just do what you’re told.”
Torie could only imagine her aunt’s reaction when she learned Torie was going to settle here and take over the hotel. The fireworks between them would continue until her aunt figured out who was in charge.
Torie glanced over to make sure Hailey was still out of earshot and saw the little girl wandering along the tree line with a globe in her hands. “Why have you always believed Mom’s death was a suicide?”
Her aunt’s gaze narrowed and her lips grew pinched. “I shouldn’t have said anything. It was all so long ago.”
Should she ask her about Lisbeth’s handwritten remarks and the note Torie had found in the safe?
“Lisbeth found a suicide note, but it’s not handwritten so I don’t know what to think. And Lisbeth mentioned you two had argued about it.” She paused and frowned. “Mom prided herself on writing personal notes. What could be more personal than a threat to kill herself? So why would she type it out? It’s strange.”
Her aunt’s face reddened, and she looked down, as if she couldn’t meet Torie’s gaze. In that moment Torie knew what had happened.
“You wrote my mom’s suicide note, didn’t you, Aunt Genevieve?” Torie reached into her bag lying next to a big downed tree and pulled out the original note. “Don’t lie to me. If I turn this over to the police, they will be able to match it to the paper you have always used. Did you actually kill her?”
Her aunt gasped. “I did no such thing!” She glanced from side to side as if searching for a way out, then her shoulders sagged. “It was an accident. Your mom was so angry when I told her about your dad’s mistress, and she attacked me. I-I just pushed her off me. She stumbled, and I tried to catch her.” Her voice quivered, and she reached a hand out toward Torie.