Page 1 of Dangerous December (Northern Pines Suspense #8)

Beth Carrigan took a last glance at her cell phone, shoved it into her pocket, and heaved a sigh.

The first crisp October weekend in Agate Creek, Wisconsin usually brought crowds of tourists from Chicago, Minneapolis, and all parts in between.

It didn’t bring unexpected calls from Washington, D.C., California, and the Henderson Law Office. Calls that now had her stomach doing crazy cartwheels.

What on earth was she going to do?

But everything will be fine, Lord. It’s going to be fine, right? She surveyed her bookstore, breathing in the beloved scents of books, dark-roast coffee, and apricot tea.

She walked to the back, where her friends were already settled in an eclectic mix of comfy upholstered chairs and rockers.

Their voices fell silent as three pairs of worried eyes looked up at her. Their concern was so palpable that she forced herself to dredge up a nonchalant smile. “How’s the coffee? Is it better this time? I bought a new fair trade brand and—”

“The question is, how are you? ” Olivia Lawson, the oldest book club member at fifty-six, had been a professor of literature at an exclusive private college in Chicago. She’d walked away from the city rat race and moved to Agate Creek to teach at the community college.

Her eyebrows, dark in contrast to her short, prematurely silver hair, drew together in a worried frown. “Did that banker deny your loan application again? I’ve never liked him very much.”

“No news.” Beth closed her eyes briefly for a quick, silent prayer over the vacant building next door, where she hoped to open a gift shop and provide space for a youth center on the upper level. If she could get a loan.

Keeley North, owner of an antiques shop a few blocks away, snorted. “If it’s those vandals again, we should march over to the sheriff’s office and make sure he takes things seriously this time.”

Despite her worries, Beth smiled.

Blond, blue-eyed, with an effervescent sense of humor that belied her bulldog tenacity, Keeley was loyal to a fault.

Beth could easily see her backing the sheriff into a corner until he called in the National Guard to help him. “Not the vandals again. It’s...well, a little more complicated than that.”

“If this is a bad time, we can all leave, dear.” Olivia frowned. “Unless, of course, there’s something we can do to help.”

For years, they’d been meeting twice a month on Saturday mornings, an hour before the store opened.

The five members had been friends in good times and bad, and though Hannah was away helping with family problems in Texas, Beth knew she could count on every one of them for support and the utmost discretion.

Still, she stumbled over her thoughts, trying to frame her news in the best light.

“My mother called. She’s taking the scenic route from California and will arrive next weekend. For two whole weeks. ”

Usually, she arrived wanting to revamp everything in Beth’s life, but she hadn’t sounded that upbeat and energetic on the phone.

Sophie Alexander, the youngest of the group at twenty-nine, slowly shook her shoulder-length auburn hair. “Last time, you said she rearranged your furniture and every cupboard in your kitchen. You were frazzled for a week trying to find everything again.”

“Believe me, if Mom just upends my house and bookstore again, I’ll be thankful. But—” Beth took a deep breath. “That second call was from Dev. He’s coming back on Monday and plans to be in town for a week.”

Olivia’s mouth dropped open. “Your mother and ex-husband. In the same town.” She paused for a moment, then tilted her head and angled a speculative look at Beth. A smile tugged at the corners of her mouth. “He called to say he’s coming. Interesting.”

Beth winced, trying to hold back the painful memories of the day he’d said he wanted to end their marriage...and the even more painful memories of what happened later.

“His call was unexpected. We haven’t spoken since he came back for his mother’s funeral six months ago.”

Keeley frowned. “I know it was a funeral and all, but he barely acknowledged you.”

That much was true. It had been hard to control her hurt and anger during that brief encounter.

Beth shrugged. “Well, I’m sure he won’t be in town long this time either, before he heads right back to the Middle East...or wherever he’s stationed. That was the drill throughout our marriage, and I’m sure he hasn’t changed.”

Sophie shuddered. “This should be interesting.”

“I don’t know why he bothered to let me know he’s coming.” Beth managed an offhand smile. “But it’s a blessing to know in advance. With luck, I can make sure my mom and I don’t run into him, and all will be well. I doubt he’ll be out and about much.”

A hush fell over the group. “Is—is he all right?” Keeley ventured after an awkward pause.

“He mentioned a shoulder injury—enough to land him at Walter Reed for a few weeks. He’s on medical leave.”

“When I provide physical therapy following shoulder replacement surgery, I tell my patients it can take a good six months to heal. And almost a year to feel normal. But a contaminated battle wound would be so much worse—and there was probably far more damage in the area.”

Olivia’s brow furrowed. “Will he end up with a medical discharge?”

“I asked, but he vehemently denied it.”

Beth felt a twinge in a small, scarred part of her heart as she recalled just how dedicated Dev was to military service. Nothing had mattered more to him. Not his family, certainly not her. “He...sounded awfully touchy when I asked.”

There’d been a time when she would’ve given anything for him to come home for good.

But those romantic feelings were long gone.

Now she felt only sympathy for a man whose entire adult life had focused on covert operations he could never discuss.

If he had to leave the service, she could imagine how difficult the adjustment would be.

Olivia shook her head. “That has to be tough.”

“Definitely, but he’ll have options once he takes possession of his inheritance. His parents bought up a lot of cheap property long before this town became such a tourist destination. They owned this entire block, and I can only imagine what it’s worth now.”

She hesitated before continuing. “The other call a few minutes ago was from his family’s attorney, reminding me to attend the reading of the will.”

“The attorney called you? ” Sophie’s soft green eyes filled with worry. “Why?”

“I’m sure it’s just a formality. Dev is their only heir.”

“Wow. It sure took a long time to settle things.”

“Apparently, Vivian was very specific about wanting both of us present, even if it meant a long delay because of his overseas assignments.”

Just the thought of that meeting gave her jitters.

Without any warning, Dev had ended their marriage. And he’d left her to face the worst experience of her life alone.

She’d prayed hard, trying to forgive him. Maybe she had, but seeing him again would reopen those wounds.

He had made it plain during their divorce that he’d never again live in Agate Creek. Would he callously decide to terminate her bookstore lease so he could sell all of his parents’ property to the highest bidder?

If he did, she’d lose her home on the second floor and her livelihood.

Her customers and the members of the book club were like family to her, and she’d lose them as well if she couldn’t find another affordable location in this town.

Which wasn’t at all likely, given the explosion in property values here over the past five years.

The bitter end of their marriage made it all a distinct possibility.

Keeley sat forward in her chair and shoved a strand of gleaming, honey-blond hair behind her ear. “Now, that’s intriguing. You need to be there for the reading of the will, but yet you’re divorced?”

Fourteen months and two weeks, to be exact, though she’d never admit to being so aware of the time frame.

“Maybe she left everything to you!”

“And not their only child? No way.”

Keeley’s irrepressible grin matched the sparkle in her eyes. “Maybe she wanted to divide it up.”

“I’m sure she wasted no time amending her will after our divorce. She always thought he’d married down the social scale and way too young, even though he was twenty-one. “

“She sounds like a peach.”

“Honestly,” Beth said with a rueful laugh, “she was probably right on both counts.”

“Well, he was lucky to find someone like you,” Sophie said staunchly.

“My own mother wasn’t any happier about our marriage, believe me.” Beth shrugged. “I’ll show up for the reading. Then I’ll slip away so Dev and the lawyer can get down to business. If I can just get past this next week, everything should go back to normal. I hope.”

Dev wearily dropped his duffel bag at his feet, fished a key out of his pocket, and opened the front door of the empty Walker building to look inside.

The massive limestone walls of the two-story structure had stood solid and uncompromising for well over a hundred years, home to everything from a turn-of-the-century wood mill, to a medical office, and finally the law offices of a long-departed attorney and his partners back in 2010.

This one was at one end of a block-long row of four large buildings his parents had owned, which all backed up to Agate Creek.

The middle two buildings had been leased as storage for the past few years, though one was now empty. The bookstore was the only busy commercial establishment left at this end of Hawthorne Avenue.

At that thought, he sighed.

After the reading of his mother’s will, he would need to make some hard decisions about the family home and these properties. And he’d need to do it fast before he shipped out to the Middle East again.

But what would happen to Beth’s beloved store if he sold out? He knew she couldn’t possibly have the money to buy it. If the new owners offered to lease it, it could end up far beyond her means.

He took a step into the empty building and surveyed the trash, old lumber, and crumbling boxes that had accumulated inside over the years.

During some of his long, cold, and deathly quiet nights on recon missions since his mother’s death, he’d sometimes let his mind wander back to these buildings.

Since this one had been vacant for a few years, would it even attract buyers?

Yet it seemed like a perfect location for a fine restaurant, or an upscale clothing store of some kind.

Or even better, a high-adventure sporting goods store, with kayak and canoe rentals handled at the walk-out basement level, where customers could launch a few yards from the back door.

Surely the increasing adventure-based tourism in the area would draw buyers with something like that in mind.

He stifled a flash of regret at imagining the place belonging to someone else. Still, he certainly wasn’t planning to stay in town, much less start a business.

Sentiment wouldn’t pay the real estate taxes at the end of the year or the cost of ongoing upkeep.

Selling it to the right buyers could even bring more traffic to this secluded street and help Beth’s bookstore in the process, which would all be for the good.

Running a hand over the rough stone walls, he tried to force her from his thoughts, but her image stayed there—wounded, vulnerable, betrayed—with shock and pain in her eyes when he’d demanded a divorce and then walked out of her life.

Maybe he could finally absolve some of his own guilt if he were to set a rock-bottom price and a no-interest payment contract, to ensure that she could buy her beloved building. He owed her that and more for how badly he’d treated her.

If she was even willing to talk to him about it. He had no doubts about her reaction when they met face-to-face at the lawyer’s office.

Her formal, distant words of sympathy at his mother’s funeral marked a chasm between them that would never heal.

He’d be lucky if she even showed up. But what did he expect, after what he’d done to her?

She was a forever kind of woman. She’d deserved so much more than being married to someone as damaged as he was.

At the oddly magnified sound of approaching footsteps, he lifted a hand to adjust his new hearing aid and froze, his senses still hyperalert as he fought back a flashback to mortar fire and an explosion of rock and steel.

For a split second, he couldn’t draw breath in that choking dust.

Felt the searing pain.

And stared in horror at the crumpled bodies—all that was left of his squad.

They’d been his buddies for the past ten years, and the only family he knew beyond the parents who’d estranged themselves from him so long ago.

That he’d been the only one left standing, with non-mortal wounds and hearing loss, filled him with renewed guilt and sorrow every single day.

He forced himself to relax and look over his shoulder, and found Nora Henderson sauntering toward him with a briefcase in one hand and a stack of manila folders held in the crook of her other arm.

She nodded toward the law office across the street. “Mondays are usually quiet, and I finished with my previous appointment a little early. If you’re ready, come on over.”

“And Beth?” The name felt soft and sweet, like the woman herself, and he found himself reining in emotions he’d thought long dead.

The attorney shifted her load and snagged a cell phone from her briefcase. “We definitely need her, too. I’ll give her a call.”

“Can I ask why she has to be there? I thought everything was settled during our divorce.”

A flicker of a smile touched the older woman’s lips as she veered away to cross the street. “I’m simply following your mother’s instructions,” she said over her shoulder. “She was always remarkably specific, you know. See you in a few minutes?”

Memories swamped him as he watched the attorney walk away.

Remarkably specific.

Now that was hitting the nail square on the head, he thought with a hollow, silent laugh.

His parents had planned every step of his education, no matter what he’d wanted, right down to where he would go to college for premed, the GPA he had to earn, and which medical school he would attend.

They’d brooked no arguments. Hadn’t listened. Within their social circle, they’d been lauded as model parents.

When he’d run off after the first semester to join the military, it had been as much an escape as it was a career choice.

And his father had never spoken to him again.