Scene of the Crime: Return to Bachelor Moon

She’d just about reached the part of the walkway that was closest to the pond’s edge when the sound of rustling in the brush behind her stopped the bullfrog’s song.

She had no chance to turn, no time to process that danger was coming before she was shoved from behind with enough force that she flew forward and was weightless for an instant—airborne—and then she plunged into the pond.

Headfirst she went down...down, with no idea how to get up.

Chapter Three

Although it was relatively early, after the short night before, Gabriel had told both Jackson and Andrew to head to bed and get a good night’s sleep, as he intended to do himself. He was certain the next day would be a long one, and he wanted them all to start out rested.

He stripped down to a pair of boxers and then opened the window, despite the air-conditioning that kept the room cool and pleasant. Since the age of seven, Gabriel had always kept his bedroom window open, never knowing when he might need to make a hasty escape from a raging drunken father.

Certainly more than once throughout his childhood, he’d used the window to flee the wrath of George Blankenship. Like Marlena’s, Gabriel’s mother had abandoned him and his father when Gabriel had been seven. She’d left him in the hands of a brutal man who’d either beaten him half to death for unclear reasons or ignored him until Gabriel was old enough to exit and never look back.

He’d lived on the streets, worked a hundred different jobs, and waffled between a life of crime and a life of investigating crimes. He’d finally managed to make his way through college with a criminal justice degree and a minor in psychology, and that’s when the FBI had brought him in as a profiler.

He loved his job and he was good at it, but this particular case already had him frustrated by the lack of leads. The bank records had shown no red flags either in the personal or business finances. The email accounts showed no threats or unusual activity. So far he and his team hadn’t spoken to anybody who didn’t admire or like the family.

Granted, they were still in the beginning stages of the investigation, but he knew that, in many disappearances, within the first couple of hours, the taken were killed.

What he didn’t know yet was who had been the intended target. Was it Sam, and his wife and stepdaughter were merely collateral damage? Was there something in Daniella’s past that might have brought this on?

He turned off the light in his room and got beneath the lavender top sheet, his mind whirling a million miles an hour. There had to have been more than one person involved; otherwise how was it possible for a single individual to neutralize three people and get them out of their home? And Marlena had heard nothing, which meant either she was lying or whoever had come in and taken the three people had done so relatively silently. How was that possible with a seven-year-old little girl in the mix?

The sound of a splash came from outside the window—a loud splash. Must be a fish the size of a minitorpedo, he thought. A thrashing noise followed, and then a faint cry.

Definitely a female cry. Marlena had told him she was going out to get some fresh air. Who had made that splash? Had it been a fish, or her?

Gabriel bolted up from the bed and flew out of his room. He stumbled down the stairs two at a time, his heart surging with adrenaline as he remembered she couldn’t swim.

As he flew through the lower level of the house and into the kitchen, he noted that Marlena’s door to her rooms was open, as was the back door.

He burst out into the hot night air and again heard a splashing and a frantic cry from the pond. By the time he reached a vantage point where he could see the water, the moon glittered down on the smooth surface.

He frowned. Had he only imagined the cries? Had he fallen asleep in bed and not realized it, dreaming that Marlena, who couldn’t swim, was somewhere in the pond?

As he stared at the water, it bubbled and rippled and then Marlena’s pale face broke the surface. Panic etched her features as she managed a single cry before sinking beneath the surface once again.

He raced to a place where he could dive from the short wooden dock into the pond. He hit the water, grateful that it was as warm as a bath, and swam quickly to the place where he had seen Marlena go down.

Diving underwater and opening his eyes, he realized the murky water made it impossible for him to see anything. So he used his hands and legs to search for her, hoping he wasn’t already too late.

How long had she been in the water? He surfaced, drew a deep breath and then went under a second time, his heart pounding frantically.

He swam all around the area where he’d last seen her, his arms outstretched before him. Where was she? Had she already succumbed to the water?

Sharp relief soared through him as he managed to snag an arm. The relief was short-lived as she grabbed hold and frantically wrapped around him like a leech, sinking them both deeper into the water.

Her arms clung around his neck, and in her panic he knew that, if he didn’t break her hold on him in some way, they would both drown.

He fought with her, fought for both of their lives and finally managed to wrangle her around the neck and pull her up. They broke the surface of the water, gasping for air, and she immediately tried to crawl onto him to escape a watery grave.

“Marlena.” He spewed her name along with a mouthful of water. “You need to calm down. I’ve got you. Just relax and let me get us to shore.”

Still she clung to him, attempting to climb his body with hers as her eyes glowed the iridescent green of a wild animal in the moonlight.

“Marlena!” He managed to dog paddle and grab her by the shoulders, thankful that he was a strong swimmer and a much bigger man.

“Relax, I’ve got you.” He spoke the words slowly and breathed a sigh of relief as he managed to roll her over onto her back. With his arm under her chin, he kept her face well above the water and moved her toward the shore.

Once there, they collapsed side by side on their backs in the dewy grass, drawing in deep gasps of air. By the time he caught his breath, he realized she was crying and shivering, obviously chilled despite the warmth of the night air that surrounded them.

He got to his feet and pulled her up. “Come on. Let’s get you inside and dry.”

She continued to weep and shiver as he slung an arm around her shoulder and led her inside. He walked her through the back door to her private quarters and into her bathroom. Spying a stack of towels neatly folded in an open cabinet, he grabbed one for himself and then turned to where she stood as if shell-shocked.

“Marlena, get out of those wet clothes, and then we’ll talk,” he said. He grabbed a second towel and forced it into her hands and tried not to notice that the wet blouse clung to her like a second skin, emphasizing her breasts and taut nipples.

He turned and left the bathroom, grateful that his boxers were navy and not white. He dried off, wrapped the towel around his waist and sat on the edge of the sofa, waiting for her to emerge from the bathroom.

He needed to find out how a woman who told him she couldn’t swim, who obviously had a healthy respect for the water, had wound up in it, nearly drowning.

Had she somehow slipped and fallen into the water? Misstepped in the darkness and wound up sliding down into the pond? There was no question in his mind that if his window hadn’t been open, if he hadn’t heard the splash and her faint cry, she would have drowned.

After several long minutes, she came out of the bathroom clad in a long pink robe and using a towel to work the last of the dampness from her hair.

Gabriel was shocked by his visceral reaction to her. She looked stunning, and he was grateful for the heavy drape of the towel over his lap, for his body had reacted automatically to the sight of her.

Thank goodness the drama hadn’t drawn anyone else’s attention. If one of his partners were to walk in right now, the situation definitely looked compromising, as if he and Marlena had taken a tumble into her bed and then showered off afterward.

She walked to the rocking chair and sank down. Dropping the towel she’d used on her hair onto the floor next to her, she looked at Gabriel. Her eyes began to fill with tears. “I would have died if you hadn’t been there. You all would have found me floating in the pond in the morning.”

The tears that had shimmered and threatened on her long eyelashes fulfilled their promise, and she hid her face in her hands as she rocked back and forth and cried in earnest.

Obviously it had been a traumatic experience for her, Gabriel thought and wondered if he should just leave her alone to deal with the aftermath.

She looked like a woman who needed to be held, who needed to be assured that everything was okay, but he remained firmly seated on the sofa, unwilling to be that man for her.

He told himself it was simple curiosity and nothing else that kept him here in her room after the drama was over. He wanted to know how she’d wound up in the pond.

Finally her tears ebbed, and with a final swipe of her cheeks, she dropped her hands to her lap. “How did you know? How did you know I was in the pond and needed help?”

“I had my bedroom window cracked open and heard a splash and then a faint cry.”

“Thank God you heard me.” She shivered as if, despite her long robe, there was a core of icy coldness inside her that prevented her from getting warm. “I don’t think I could have made it another minute if you hadn’t appeared when you did.”

“What happened? How did you wind up in the pond?” Gabriel asked, and was suddenly aware of his own bare chest and legs as her gaze swept the length of him, and then quickly moved up to meet and hold his stare.

“I was walking on the path, trying to clear my head. I reached the end and was on my way back when somebody came out of the brush and pushed me hard enough to throw me into the pond.” She shivered, more violently this time, as if the full implication of what had just happened to her had been suddenly realized.

Gabriel sat up straighter on the sofa, a thrum of adrenaline rushing through him. “Somebody pushed you? Are you sure it wasn’t some sort of animal or something? Did you see who did it?”

“Do I think a crazed raccoon or a big bear suddenly rushed out and pushed me?” She shook her head, as if his question was ridiculous. “It was definitely an animal of the human kind. I felt his hands on my back, and, no, I have no idea who it was. It all happened so fast.”

Her eyes darkened and enlarged. “Somebody tried to kill me, Gabriel. Somebody shoved me off the path and into the water and knew that I would drown.”

Gabriel’s heart sank. Was she right? Had this been a potential murder attempt, or had it been some sort of weird mistake? Was this somehow tied to the mysterious disappearance of the Connelly family, or was it something completely unrelated?

Time would hopefully answer all those questions. He withheld a deep sigh as he knew this merely complicated what was already a complicated enough situation.

* * *

WATER, WATER EVERYWHERE and not a breath to take. Marlena shot up in bed, gasping for the air she hadn’t been able to draw in the nightmare she’d just suffered.

A glance at her bedside clock let her know she’d overslept by half an hour, having forgotten to set her alarm the night before.

Gabriel had stayed in her room until she’d finally calmed down. He’d asked several questions about her brush with a watery death, trying to jog her mind into remembering any sound, any scent she might have sensed from the person who had pushed her off the walkway. But she remembered nothing—only the shock and horror of hitting the water and sinking.

What she did remember this morning was how utterly hot Gabriel had looked wrapped in a towel. His broad chest had been sprinkled with just enough black hair to be interesting, and his taut abs had been more than amazing to look at.

But what was really important here was that somebody had tried to kill her last night...or had he?

There was no question that something had bumped or pushed her into the pond, but had it simply been a figment of her imagination or some sort of mistake, and whoever was responsible had run away, afraid of what he’d accidentally done?

Maybe it had been one of the drifters who occasionally showed up at the bed-and-breakfast looking for a free handout of money or food. Or maybe a local fisherman who had planned to secretly fish in the private pond and had been startled by her presence.

She finally got out of bed, and after a quick shower, refused to dwell on the horror of the night before. In the light of day, she decided that it was probably just some weird circumstance, and she’d been the victim of a sort of hit-and-run accident.

She couldn’t imagine anyone wanting to intentionally harm her, but she also didn’t plan on taking any more nightly walks alone.

When she left her rooms, she smelled fresh coffee. She entered the dining room to find Andrew seated at the table, a cup of coffee and a plate of leftover biscuits from the morning before in front of him.

“Hope you don’t mind that I helped myself,” he said.

“Not at all,” she replied as she poured herself a cup of coffee and joined him at the table. “Sorry I overslept.”

“Not a problem,” he replied easily.

She and Andrew had only been talking for a few minutes when Gabriel and Jackson joined them. “Can I get you something to eat?” she asked, half rising from her chair.

Gabriel motioned her down. “Sit and enjoy your coffee. We’re heading into town this morning to have a talk with Sheriff Thompson. When I spoke to him yesterday on the phone, I told him I wanted to get the lay of the land here before contacting him face-to-face.”

“Jim’s a decent man, and maybe he knows something I don’t know about Sam and Daniella,” she replied.

“Maybe, although he hasn’t shared anything useful with us yet. I got the feeling when I spoke to him yesterday that he’s still hoping this is a voluntary disappearance and not a crime,” Gabriel said.

Marlena shook her head. “There’s no way Sam and Daniella would let the people who love them worry about them for this length of time.” A new rivulet of fear swept through her for her friends. The only way they wouldn’t contact anyone was if they couldn’t.

“We have their cell phones in our possession and will be checking any calls that come in, and also looking at those they received before they went missing. Are you going to be okay today with us gone?” Gabriel asked as the other two agents headed for the front door.

She frowned. Last night felt like a nightmare, and even in the light of day a shiver tried to take possession of her, but she shrugged it off. “I should be fine. I’ll lock the house and just let in the people I know and trust.”

“Have you thought further about anyone who might want to cause you harm?”

He’d asked the same question the night before. “I can’t imagine,” she said, giving him the same answer. “Maybe I just freaked out a drifter who was hanging around and he accidentally shoved me as he ran away.” It sounded lame, but it was the only rational explanation she’d managed to come up with. “Whatever happened, I’m sure it was an accident and whoever was responsible was afraid of getting into trouble.”

“Why don’t I give you my cell phone number, so if anything comes up, you can call, and we can get right back here?” he suggested.

She smiled at him gratefully. “Thanks. Just let me get a piece of paper to write it down.” She hurried into the kitchen, grabbed a notepad then returned to the dining room and wrote down the cell number he gave her.

“We should be back by dinnertime,” he said as she walked with him to the door. His gaze held hers for a long moment. “Don’t hesitate to call if you need me...us.”

As she watched him head to the car where the other two agents awaited him, she decided that maybe Gabriel Blankenship wasn’t so bad after all.

She locked the door behind him. Despite what had happened the night before, she felt no real danger directed specifically at her. Still, better to be safe than sorry.

She was back in the kitchen when Cory knocked on the door, eyeing her quizzically through the glass pane. She hurried over and unlocked it to allow him and John to enter.

“Why the locked door?” Cory asked as he sat at the table in the kitchen. John sat next to him. Most mornings the two of them showed up for breakfast, but it was usually Daniella who did the cooking and serving.

“I had a little unexpected encounter with the pond last night.” She explained what had happened, and both men looked at her in stunned surprise.

“Thank God one of those agents managed to get to you,” Cory exclaimed.

“I didn’t know you couldn’t swim,” John added. “Do you have any idea who might have pushed you?”

“Not a clue,” she replied, not wanting to think about how close she’d come to death. “I imagine you two are looking for something to eat. Why don’t I whip up a quick batch of pancakes?”

“Sounds good to me,” John replied.

As she got out the ingredients to make the pancakes, the three of them talked about the pizza place where the guys had gone the night before, the weeding that needed to be done and the continuing mystery of the Connellys’ disappearance.

Marlena liked John. The dark-haired man had an easygoing temperament and had bonded instantly with the younger Cory and kept him busy working by his side on the grounds.

After the two had finished their breakfast, they left by the back door, and Marlena relocked it after them. For the remainder of the morning, she busied herself upstairs, making beds and freshening the rooms where the agents were sleeping.

She immediately knew that Gabriel had slept in the lavender room. As she plumped his pillows and straightened the spread, she smelled his cologne and was surprised by the tiny ray of heat that fired up inside her.

There was no question that she was physically drawn to him, and there was also no question that she had no intention of following through on that attraction. The most important thing right now was that he stay focused on finding Sam, Daniella and Macy.

When she’d finished upstairs, she returned to the kitchen to start a large roast cooking for dinner that evening. An hour or so before mealtime, she’d add in potatoes and carrots.

During the slow months of July and August, Pamela was scheduled to clean two days a week, Mondays and Wednesdays. Since it was Saturday, Marlena would take care of the daily duties to keep the place in shape. Even though Daniella was gone and there were no guests, Daniella would want the routine of maintaining the bed-and-breakfast to continue.

Marlena sank down at the kitchen table with a cup of coffee, her heart crying out for answers. Where were the Connellys? Nobody would ever make her believe that they’d just walked away without a word to anyone.

Daniella was living her dream, loving a man she’d never expected to find, working in this business that had been her desire since she’d been in high school and raising her daughter in the cocoon of family love. No way would Daniella willingly leave her life behind.

Marlena nearly jumped out of her chair as a loud rap sounded on the front door. Her nerves were on edge. Even though there were no guests scheduled, that didn’t mean someone couldn’t show up.

She relaxed as she approached the front door and saw Thomas Brady on the other side, his pleasant features radiating concern for her. She unlocked the door, and he instantly pulled her into his big arms.

“I just heard about the Connellys,” he said as he continued to hold her. “I was working out of town for the past couple of days and got back home only an hour ago.”

She was grateful when he finally released her and sat on the sofa in the great room. “How are you doing? Is there something I can do to help? I heard you’ve got a couple of FBI agents staying here. Do they have a theory on what happened?”

Marlena waited until he’d run out of breath to begin to answer his questions. “I’m doing as well as I can, although I’m terribly afraid for the family. There are three FBI agents staying here, and, no, they don’t have a clue yet as to what happened and who might be responsible.”

“I don’t like the idea of you being here by yourself, especially with nobody knowing what happened to Sam, Daniella and Macy,” Thomas said. He leaned forward, his brown eyes earnest. “You should move in with me. You would be safe under my roof.”

“You know I’m not going to do that,” she said softly. “Besides, I just told you there were FBI agents staying here. I also have Cory, so I’m definitely not by myself. Now tell me about the job you just finished.”

Thomas was a local carpenter who not only did renovation work but also specialized in spectacular decks and patios. His skills often got him work in the larger cities in the state.

As he told her about his latest job in New Orleans, she listened absently. She had known for some time that Thomas had a thing for her. They’d even gone out on a couple of casual dates.

Sam and Daniella hadn’t thought the carpenter was good enough for Marlena, but they didn’t have to worry because Marlena knew her future wasn’t with Thomas. She just couldn’t seem to make Thomas understand that.

She enjoyed his company as a friend and thought he was a nice man, but she had no romantic feelings toward him at all. She’d told him that a hundred different ways over the past month or so, but he was still a frequent visitor and a man who obviously didn’t take no easily. He seemed to think that, if she just spent enough time with him, he could change her mind about their relationship.

He couldn’t. She’d rather be alone than be in a relationship without real passion, without true mutual love. Been there, done that, and the results had nearly destroyed her.

As he rambled on, Marlena realized it was the first time that he sat in the house with her. Normally Sam made it uncomfortable for the man to be anywhere but on the porch when he came to visit Marlena.

Thomas was a big man, with wide shoulders and thighs the size of tree trunks. Physical labor had given him the muscles of a bodybuilder, but he had always been gentle and soft-spoken when around her.

He had to have known that Sam and Daniella didn’t approve of him. They hadn’t hidden the fact that they thought he was all wrong for her.

Her heart began a slightly faster unsteady beat as she stared at the man on the sofa. Was he so obsessed with her that he had removed the people who disapproved of him? Left her alone in the house and frightened, hoping he could step in and be her support, the man she turned to in her need?

Ridiculous, a tiny voice whispered inside her. You’re looking for a bad guy in a friend who has never shown any violent tendencies, a man who has never pushed you to accept any unwanted advances.

Still, she was grateful an hour later when he finally left with the promise to check in with her soon.

Maybe it was time she moved up her schedule for leaving Bachelor Moon.

And maybe it wasn’t such a bad idea to mention Thomas’s name to Gabriel.

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