Killer Summer by Lynda Curnyn (e book reading free .txt) 📗

afraid he might let me go, kissing his face, the hard planes of his cheekbones. His mouth.

God, I loved him. Probably too much for my own good, I thought, burying my face in his neck and curling deeper into his arms, relishing the feel of his heartbeat against my chest.

I wasn’t sure how long we stayed that way, linked in the ocean, rising and falling with the waves. Long enough for our heartbeats to slow.

Well, my heartbeat slowed. The sound emanating from Myles’s chest was getting louder, if anything.

Until 1 realized that whap, whap, whap I was hearing wasn’t coming from Myles.

“What the hell is going on?” Myles asked, looking up at the sky.

I followed his startled gaze to the helicopter hovering over the bay side of the island. I could just make out the lettering on the fuselage: S.C.P.D. As in, Suffolk County Police Department.

Chapter Forty-one

Sage

A friend in deed.

“Sage, you sure you don’t want to try just one?”

“No thanks, Jenny. I’m fine with my tequila,” I said, watching as my former housemate started pumping the handle on the keg of beer with everything she had. I was starting to wonder why I had stopped by the house I’d stayed in last summer. I guess I had been hoping to find some friends to hang out with, especially after realizing Zoe •wasn’t as much of a friend as I thought she was.

These friends weren’t any better, I thought, looking around at the small crowd on the deck, who surrounded Jenny as she held a funnel of beer over her next victim.

I mean, funnels? Come on. What, are we in college still?

Downing the rest of my drink, I was just about to make my way out of there when I was practically mowed over by a three-hundred pound beast of a guy wearing a Bud Lite T-shirt.

“Hey,” he said, loud enough to rouse the crowd from their drinking game. “The cops are crawling all over the dock. Some dude took a header off one of the boats. I think he’s fucking dead, man.”

Within moments, I found myself swept along by the crowd, which stampeded toward the walkway to the street. Not exactly swept. I was running right along with them, with something close to fear nipping at my heels.

By the time 1 got to the dock, saw the crowds swarming in front of The Inn and The Out and littering the bay front, my fear had turned into all-out panic.

I pushed into the crowd, fighting my way through as far as 1 could, until I came to a dead stop behind a huge hulk of a guy who blocked me from going any farther.

Turning to the woman standing next to me, I asked, “What happened?”

Her eyes were wide behind her rimless glasses. “They found a body floating in the water.”

“Do they know who it was?”

“I’m not sure, but I think it was the guy who works the docks? Thad?”

Oh, dear God. Not Chad.

Not… dead.

I was sitting alone in the darkness of the living room, having my fourth tequila drink of the night, when Zoe practically barreled through the sliding glass door.

“Sage?” she yelled breathlessly, heading for the bedroom.

“I’m in here,” I answered quietly.

“What are you doing sitting in the dark?” she asked, stepping back toward the living room and flicking on the light.

“Oh, God, Zoe, shut that off,” I said, shielding my eyes against the sudden brightness.

Ignoring me, she moved in closer, stopping just before the couch where I sat, and looked at me.“I guess you heard what happened.”

“What do you think?” I said, looking up at her. “Why are you wet?”

“I, uh, I went for a swim. How are you doing?”

Raising the glass to my lips, I said, “How do you think?”

She frowned. “Why are you here all alone? You shouldn’t be alone. Where is everyone?”

I shrugged.“God knows where Nick is. Probably down at the dock with the rest of the gawkers. Tom’s sleeping.”

“He doesn’t know?”

I looked at her. “What, I was supposed to wake him up to tell him somebody else fucking died?” Emotion clogged my throat, nearly overwhelming me, but I held fast.

Not that fast. “Oh, Sage, you must feel awful—”

“Like you care how I feel.”

Anger flashed in Zoe’s eyes. “Of course I care about you. I’m sorry about what happened tonight. I mean earlier. I made a mistake.”

“We all do, I suppose,” I said, turning to look out the sliding glass door.

“A big mistake, apparently,” she said.

Hearing the pain in her voice, I looked up at her again.

“I can’t help but think I’m somehow responsible. I mean, I spoke to Chad tonight. If somebody tried to kill him, it was because they thought he knew something. Something the killer thought he might tell me. Or the police.”

“Look, Zoe, I know you have murder on the brain, but Chad wasn’t murdered. I heard he hit his head on one of the masts on a boat he was working on and fell in.”

She shook her head. “That’s not what happened, Sage.”

I sighed. “Zoe, I’m in no mood for your theories tonight.”

“It’s not my theory. The police came up with this one all on their own.”

“What are you talking about?”

She blew out a breath. “I saw Jeff down at the dock. You know, that cop I went out with? Of course, he wouldn’t tell me anything. Especially not with Myles standing there.”

“Myles?”

She blushed. “That’s who I was, um, swimming with.”

I picked up my glass again, took a healthy slug.“I’m glad someone had a nice time tonight.”

“Sage, listen to me for a minute, would you? Jeff didn’t say much, but he did say it was no accident.”

I looked at her. “How does he know that?”

Zoe plopped down on the love seat across from me.“I have no idea. Maybe he has some evidence, but he certainly wasn’t sharing it with me.”

I studied her face, saw the mix of sorrow and confusion in her features. “Look, Zoe, this has nothing to do with you.