Page 4

COULTER

A va threw herself into our dad’s arm, sobbing at the news.

My heart ached in my chest as I forced another swig of beer.

After a few minutes she wiped her eyes, struggling to compose herself.

She turned toward the front door with the determined look I knew my sister for.

“Kylie would have wanted us to try to find some joy today. We should go inside and open our gifts.”

“Yeah, she always put everyone else first,” I said with a sadness so heavy I thought it might swallow me.

Another memory of Kylie flooded my mind, the first Christmas she was in college at UM and home on break.

She’d surprised me with a dawn fishing trip, and we’d fought tarpon for hours.

We’d laughed so much, and came home full of stories of the big ones that got away.

I’d been dreading our first Christmas without mom. I could never have imagined losing someone else so soon. We trailed inside after Ava, settling into our individual perches around the small living room .

Ava pulled a few brightly wrapped gifts from under the tree.

Dad shook a box and grinned at the rattle as we all pasted on smiles. “Did you put pea gravel in it to throw Trevor off?” He smirked at my sister.

“I would never do such a thing,” Ava said with false innocence. She was the queen of decoys. Last Christmas, she’d wrapped a watch for Dad in a giant box with a big hunk of driftwood.

Dad returned the package to the pile. “I suppose we’ll just leave his presents under the tree until he can get here to open them.”

Ava gave him a look that resembled my mother when she scolded him. “You know, now that Trouble’s getting married, you’re going to have to get used to him spending some holidays with Corinne’s family. They’ll be over later this afternoon.”

My father laughed. “I know. As long as they bring that grandbaby by here at least three times a week, I won’t complain.

” My baby brother’s big surprise that his girlfriend was pregnant and they were planning to get hitched had taken some of the sting out of not having Mom with us last night.

I was grateful now that Waylan had kept the news of Kylie to himself until this morning.

Dad handed Waylan a small box. “This one’s for you, Waylan.”

“You didn’t have to get me anything.”

“Ellie always did.” My dad winked at his best friend, who had held a special place in my mother’s heart .

“Makes you wonder why God takes the good ones and leaves scoundrels like us, doesn’t it?

” Waylan said with sad eyes. He set the package down to fish his buzzing cell phone from his breast pocket.

“Sheriff Bennett here,” Waylan held up a finger as he answered his cell, mouthing Sorry .

“Hey Louis, what’s up?” His brow crinkled.

“I’m here with him now.” He nodded, one eye squinting.

“Okay…. Can’t this wait until tomorrow? It’s Christmas for Christ's sake... Seriously? … Alright. Got it. Yeah, I’ll tell him.

Thanks.” He ended the call and took a deep breath, his gaze turning to me.

“That was the deputy down at the station. Seems like Detective Pierce wants to talk to you. Today.”

“What’s she want to talk to me for?” My heart pounded in my chest as I glanced around the room for support.

“I mean, I haven’t talked to Kylie in months!

” My father’s and brothers’ faces mirrored my concern.

The Rodman bloodline was strong. Not only did we look alike, none of us could mask worry worth a damn.

Waylan was cool and collected though. “Then that’s what you tell her, son. She probably caught wind of your history with Kylie and wants to ask you about it.” He shook his head and scoffed, “I hate this on Christmas Day. We can wait until after you open gifts if you want.”

I shook my head, setting the gift I’d chosen to open first aside. My hand trembled. I didn’t want to have to relive my history with Kylie right now. It hurt too much. But I didn’t feel like I had much choice. “You guys can go ahead without me.”

“Don’t be silly,” Ava smiled. “We’ll wait. ”

Reef echoed her encouragement. “Maybe Trouble will be finished with his fancy brunch out at Paradise Key by the time you get back and we can all be together.”

“Alright,” I nodded to Waylan. Let’s get this over with then.”

He stood up wearily, hitching up his belt and smoothed down the buttons of his shirt over his modest beer belly. “I’m sorry, Coulter, it shouldn’t take long.”

I followed him out to his cruiser, my heart filling with dread.

I hadn’t dated anyone seriously since Kylie gave me the ring back almost six years ago, probably because the wounds of our breakup still festered.

I had loved her completely. “You don’t have to be sorry, Waylan.

I’ll do anything I can to help find out what happened to Kylie. ”

Waylan held the door to the station open for me. “Come on back.” He waved me around the unmanned reception counter.

I followed him through the open office, past several empty cubicles toward a deputy who popped to his feet when he caught sight of us. “Merry Christmas, Louis,” Waylan said. “I have Coulter here to see Detective Pierce. Where is she?”

“Right here, Sheriff.” A pretty brunette appeared from the hallway, a serious look on her face. “I didn’t expect to see you here today.” Her deep blue gaze swung to me. “You must be Coulter Rodman?”

“Guilty,” I joked, but regretted it immediately. That was not a word to joke about with the detective investigating your ex-girlfriend’s death. “I mean, yes, I’m Coulter.” I shifted nervously. “What can I do for you? ”

“Follow me. I just want to ask you a few questions.” She turned on her heel and headed down the hallway.

I glanced at Waylan, who held out his hand, motioning me to follow her. I entered the small interrogation room and sat in the chair across from her. Her brow hitched as she watched Waylan sit in the chair in the corner. “Somehow it still surprises me almost every day just how small this town is.”

“That’s an understatement.” I forced a chuckle.

“I didn’t realize you and the Sheriff were close or I’d have called him myself,” she said, openly sarcastic.

I laughed nervously. “Waylan and my dad grew up together back in the old days, when Smuggler’s Cove was still full of smugglers.”

“I see,” Detective Pierce said without even the faintest sign of amusement at my attempt at humor as she thumbed through the papers in the folder on her desk. She looked up and said matter-of-factly, “I presume you’ve already heard about the drowning yesterday then. How did you know Kylie?”

My skin started to feel damp, my nerves heightening under her steely blue gaze. “We grew up together,” I said as steadily as I could.

“When was the last time you saw her?” She watched my reaction.

“A few weeks ago?” I tried to remember the exact day. “I’m not sure. I saw her at Lorelei. She was at work.”

“So that was the last time you spoke?” she probed, and it felt like she was searching for inconsistencies in my story.

“I didn’t speak to her then,” I clarified, taking a deep breath. “She was working. I was eating. I saw her from across the restaurant.” I cleared my throat, a knot forming in my stomach.

The detective pulled a paper from the stack and placed it on the table in front of me. “Well that’s strange. It looks like your number was one of the last to contact her yesterday.”

I stared at the print out of screenshots of the text messages. “I didn't speak to her, I texted her. And as you can see, she didn’t answer my last couple of texts.”

“The ones where you said you needed to see her in person?” She leaned forward, eyes boring into mine.

“Those are the ones.” I could feel Waylan’s eyes on me and I hesitated to meet them. “I’d been trying to talk to her, in person.”

“Why’s that?” Detective Pierce asked.

“If you have the texts, you already know, don’t you, detective?

” I sucked in a breath, trying to quell my nerves.

“Kylie texted me a few days ago to tell me that she’d gotten engaged.

I wanted to clear the air.” The truth was I’d wanted to talk to her in private to know that she was sure about marrying this Jake character whom she barely knew.

Waylan chimed in, with surprised eyes. “Clear the air?”

“After I heard Kylie was getting married, I wanted to wish her well. Let her know there were no hard feelings.”

The detective's eyes narrowed. “Why would there be hard feelings?”

“Because I was engaged to Kylie, briefly. A long time ago. I wanted to tell her that I was happy for her. ”

Her serious stare stayed fixed on me. “You needed to do that in person?”

“I wanted to do that in person,” I said, resenting my trembling voice. “But I never got the chance.”

“When did your relationship with Kylie end?” the detective asked coldly.

I felt embarrassed to admit it since I hadn't had another real one since. “Six years ago.”

“And did it end on good terms?” Detective Pierce asked without a morsel of emotion.

“Do they ever end on good terms?” I glared, but she just stared back at me, stone-faced. “She broke off our engagement after less than a month,” I added, to show just how insignificant my relationship with Kylie had been.

“And you’d been together for how long?”

I bit my lip that threatened to quiver and then sucked in a breath through my nose, pretending to think of my answer. “Since we were kids…nearly ten years.”

She jotted something on her yellow notepad. “Why did she end it?”

I laced my fingers together in front of me on the table and squeezed, directing my anger there so it wouldn’t come out in my words. “Gee, well, I suppose she didn’t want to marry me.”

“And just a few days ago she told you that she was marrying Jake, after only dating him for six months. That must’ve made you angry,” she said, somewhat empathetically, but I got the distinct impression she was trying to trick me into saying something that she wanted to hear .