Secrets Resurfaced by Dana Mentink

Author:Dana Mentink
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2020-03-05T16:27:08+00:00

THIRTEEN

A cold weight settled in Dory’s chest even as her lips still tingled from Chad’s kiss.

Ivy and I don’t need you. She regretted having to say it, but she could not allow Chad to delude himself into pretending they could be a couple because she’d had his child. It would only lead to resentment in the end. Better to go it alone than to enter into a relationship born of duty or guilt.

The rotten thing was that she couldn’t escape the strange emotions that had started prickling to the surface the moment she’d seen Chad back at the canyon. She had the sneaking suspicion she might even be falling in love with him all over again. No, she thought, biting her lip. Those feelings were smoke from a long-ago fire, memories of an intense relationship, her first love.

That was why her heart beat faster when he was near. Sentimentality about the past. Again she thought of the kiss, and her somersaulting senses refused to be still. How was she going to navigate the parenting waters with a man who evoked such confusion in her? “One thing at a time,” she mumbled savagely.

Chad spoke from behind her. “What did you say?”

“Nothing.” She opened the door to a small, windowless storage room no bigger than a walk-in closet. Tucked inside were two upright drawers filled with older files. Though Dory had eventually convinced her father to transition to a computer, Pete Winslow kept his old-school setup. The tight space required them both to crowd inside and all but close the door to open the file drawer.

She located the one she needed, the file Angela was eager to see, as well.

Jaggert, R.

Opening the manila folder, she scanned the contents while Chad eased closer. His shoulder touched hers and again her pulse ticked up a notch.

Blinking hard, she refocused, resolved to solve the case before her emotions got any more muddled.

She thumbed a page. “Here’s the invoice for the fishing excursion. It confirms that Angela booked the trip for Blaze. There’s no mention of Mary joining in, except for a handwritten note at the bottom indicating she arrived at the last minute, paid cash.

“It squares with what Angela told us, but then again, it could support Blaze’s story, also. If Angela somehow arranged the accident to kill Blaze, she would have made sure her sister was not aboard.”

Chad frowned and traced a finger along the paper. She tried not to register the clean smell of soap that clung to him. “Angela said Blaze caused the sinking in order to kill his mother. Maybe he persuaded Mary to join him at the last minute? I still don’t see how the thing could have been done.”

Chad was reading ahead on the next page. “There’s the information about the blood alcohol levels and such, and Dad’s testimony that all he’d drunk that day was coffee from his thermos.”

The thermos had never been recovered.

“How would he not have tasted the alcohol?”

Chad sighed. “Vodka doesn’t have a strong taste and my dad drinks coffee dark enough to peel paint, plus he adds sweetener and cream.

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