Scene of the Crime: Return to Bachelor Moon

“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.