Slow Summer Burn: A Loveswept Contemporary Romance (29 page)

“Wonderful!” Nigel said, looking like he was in heaven.

“I’m so thrilled for you, Nigel.” She turned to Bran. “I’m sure you’ve realized that once my uncle gets fixated on something, he becomes rather obsessed.”

“Fortunately, it’s an obsession I share.”

She grinned. “Then it’s a match made in heaven.”

“I assure you that Mrs. Weld is only too happy for me to have found a partner in crime. She much prefers her book and bridge clubs to hearing me talk nonstop about the
Lorelei
.”

“Whereas I don’t mind a bit,” Nigel said.

When Cameron laughed, she noticed Julie out of the corner of her eye. “Oh, I’ve been terribly rude. Nigel, please let me introduce you to my friends. This is Julie Kensington, Star Harbor’s doctor.”

“A pleasure,” Nigel said, taking her hand and giving her an elegant little bow. “Are you, by chance, the doctor who found one of the keys from the
Lorelei
?”

“The same,” Julie said. “I found it behind my office. Since you’ll be in town for a few days, perhaps you’d like to stop by to see the spot. That is, if it would be of interest to you.”

“Oh, yes,” Nigel breathed, glancing at Branford. “Bran, what do you say?”

“It would be of significant interest,” Bran said. “Significant indeed.”

“Wonderful,” Julie said. “Just stop by my office on Front Street during business hours.”

Cameron beamed, and made a mental note to thank Julie later. “And Lexie, you remember.”

“The woman who found the first key. And who makes the fabulous French toast,” Nigel said, his eyes lighting up.

Lexie’s mouth twitched. “It’s well past breakfast time, but I’ll see what Buster and I can do for you. I can also show you where I found
my
key if you two would like to join me in the root cellar before dinner. I wish I’d thought of asking you when you were here last time,” she said, giving Julie a smile.

Nigel placed a hand over his heart and gave her his most sincere look—the look that had graced the pages of too many gossip magazines. “I shall worship you for all eternity.”

Lexie actually blushed. “You don’t have to go that far,” she said.

“The third key was found in the cellar of the Star Harbor Inn, right where you’re staying,” Cameron said. “I can ask Avery Newbridge to let you have a look so you can examine all three places for yourself.”

“That would be outstanding,” Nigel said. “Then we can integrate our findings into our essay.”

“You’re writing an essay?”

“Yes. Bran and I have decided to collaborate on our research. We’re going to join forces for study, scholarship …” Nigel trailed off, a gleam in his eye.

“And an underwater exploration!” Bran said. “I finally get my treasure hunt. Nigel and I are well matched, academically and financially. He’s the perfect teammate for this expedition, and we’d never have gotten together if it weren’t for your suggestion, Cameron.”

“I was glad to be of assistance, but everything stemmed from Julie, Lexie, and Avery, who found the keys to begin with.”

“Ladies, thank you for letting me keep them for so long,” Nigel said.

“My pleasure,” Julie said.

Lexie nodded. “Same here. Gentlemen, would you like to see the spot now?”

“Yes, please.”

“Come on. It’s this way.”

Nigel and Bran followed Lexie through the kitchen door. The root cellar was accessible only from the back alley, so Lexie would take them out the back entrance.

When they were alone, Cameron slowly eased back into the booth and took a sip of tea. Julie just looked at her and cocked her head.

“Are you doing all right, Cameron?”

Cameron nodded. “Yes. Yes, of course. Just tired, I guess.”

“You know I’m here for you, whatever you need.”

“I appreciate that, Julie. Truly.”
These
were her real friends, aside from Cici, of course. Not the people she mixed and mingled with at society affairs who cared more about what designer she was wearing than about the success or failure of her business, or what books she liked to read, or how happy she was. Her Star Harbor friends worked hard, they played hard, and they cared about her. And she cared about them, too.

Especially Val. He was working harder than she’d ever seen him, but she didn’t mind. She worked a lot too, and she admired his drive. Plus the fact that he encouraged others to achieve their full potential was more than attractive—his brothers were case in point.

He’d rearranged his life to spend as much time in Star Harbor as he could, and she could understand why. Star Harbor wasn’t just a place where he kept his boat. His family and friends were here. It was his home and always would be.

And like that old adage, her heart was starting to feel the same way.

A few short months ago, she’d told Julie she couldn’t imagine giving up her Boston brownstone, and that she was renting a place in Star Harbor for the short term. That had turned out to be Hermione’s cottage, but what if she were to find someplace more permanent? What if—

An idea began to solidify in her mind.

“Julie,” she said. “What would you say if I were going to buy a house?”

“A vacation house?” Julie teased. “Where? Bermuda?”

Cameron shook her head. “I was thinking someplace closer. Like right here in Star Harbor.”

Julie gave her a big smile. “That sounds like an awesome idea.”

Cameron grinned back and forked a large chunk of lemon cake. “Yes. It really does.”

Chapter 29

Val was on Route 28, heading into Star Harbor. Man, he was glad to get back to town! He missed his boat and his brothers, but most of all, he missed his woman. It had been a long, tough week. Most of his time had been spent chasing down leads, doing paperwork, and getting all his ducks in a row for when they’d make the inevitable arrests of the players in the drug operation. The operation was so widespread, so pervasive, that as of today’s tally, he had 103 people on his arrest list, not including Congressman Kirkland.

The sting operation, still underway with his and Cole’s men under deep cover, had yielded the names of close to thirty pharmacists and doctors involved in the procurement of illegal narcotics used in the manufacture of the modified bath salts, not to mention the manufacturers, drug dealers, and money launderers who made an operation like this possible.

He’d been doing this job for a decade, but it never failed to amaze him how good people could go bad, especially when money was on the line. Those doctors and pharmacists had to know how many folks they were hurting by stealing these drugs and allowing them to be used for evil, but they did it anyway. He shook his head. There’d always be those who were ruled by things other than morality, but it didn’t make it any easier to stomach.

Right now, Jeff Tepper was preparing the multiple complaints encompassing each of the conspiracies that made up the drug operation. He’d also gotten the arrest warrants for most of the people they needed to bring in. Val had contacted seven different DEA offices and read in over two hundred agents to help manage the near-simultaneous arrests when the time came.

All this was good news, but they were still gathering the evidence to nail Kirkland. Since the party, the plane and the helicopter had each taken one-way trips into Canada, stopping near Perth and then continuing on to the Yukon Territory. Val had no idea what the aircraft were doing there. Thalia and Ellen were equally stumped. And they hadn’t figured out the strange IATA codes in the pilot’s log, either.

As far as ownership went, they’d been on the paper trail of that shell corporation for days, but as soon as they followed a lead, they would hit a dead end. Damn, Kirkland was a tricky devil!

As always when he was chasing a seemingly uncatchable target, Val had a flicker of self-doubt. He’d never let it bother him. Sometimes he went months, or even years, chasing a lead only to have it fade and die. But this was different. They were closing in on Kirkland; he could taste it. The DC team had promised him answers by the end of the day. If they played their cards right, they’d have the congressman and he wouldn’t know what hit him. But evidence came first, and until he had that, Val couldn’t—he
wouldn’t
—act. He was too experienced and he’d been working this case too long to not deliver on what he’d promised—the complete takedown of the entire operation.

A lot of different people owed him a lot of answers, and until he got them, he was stuck. So he’d cut out of work earlier than he thought he’d be able to do, one person on his mind: Cameron.

With every mile that passed, he was closer to her. He’d surprise her for dinner, then take her to the Schoolhouse to hang out with his brothers. And later, he’d spend the night showing her exactly how much he missed her.

He was about to call Cameron to check in when his phone rang. He punched it on.

“Grayson.”

“Valentine?” Hermione Alcott’s voice came through the line, though it sounded a bit choppy. “Is that you?”

“Hi, Hermione. You’re a tough woman to reach. I called you a week ago.”

“I apologize for not getting back to you sooner. Louis and I were in Saint-Tropez.”

“Ah.” He didn’t even want to know. “I was calling to follow up with you regarding the Kirklands’ house party last weekend. I assume your timely interruption wasn’t an accident.”

“How well you know me, Valentine. No, it wasn’t.”

“May I ask your source?”

“Higher than your pay grade. Or Colin’s.”
Interesting
.

“Well, on behalf of my own team, I’d like to thank you for intervening.” He pulled onto Main Street and drove slowly through town.

“I like that girl. Always have.” Pause. “You know she’s way out of your league, dear.”

He laughed. “Try telling
her
that.”

“Good man,” she said. “When may I offer my congratulations?”

“I’ll let you know when I have news to report.”

“Always did play them close to your chest, Valentine.”

“Yes ma’am.”

“Well, again, I’m glad we touched base. Just wrap this up fast. Everyone’s getting antsy about Junior.”

“You mean Senior,” he said, checking right, then left at a stop sign before pulling through.

“No, Valentine. Junior. It was he I interrupted following Cameron into the airplane hangar.”

“
What?
” he roared, just as he reached Harbor Street.

“Oh, dear. I assume my handler didn’t impart this information to you.”

He clenched his jaw together so tightly he could have bitten through steel. “No.” Heads were going to roll as soon as he found out who was responsible for this serious lapse in protocol. “I don’t suppose you could tell me who your handler is.”

“Evan Joyner.”

“I don’t know him, but you can bet that I will soon.”
Focus, Val
. “So you’re absolutely sure it was
Junior
that evening.”

“Yes. The fact that you weren’t informed could mean another thing.”

“There’s a mole in the DEA.” And that
really
wasn’t good.

“Quite so. Looks like you have your work cut out for you.”

He thanked her and hung up before dropping a volley of f-bombs. It wasn’t Hermione’s fault this had gone down the way it had and there was no way he was going to unleash his anger on her. He pulled into his parking spot on the docks and called Thalia’s cell phone immediately.

“Rivera,” Thalia said, picking up after the second ring.

“We might have the wrong Kirkland, Thalia,” Val said.

“What? What are you talking about?”

In a few brief sentences, Val told her what he’d heard from Hermione. By the end of his spiel, Thalia was cursing too.

“We need to pull everything we can get on Junior. Phone records, travel plans—everything to reconstruct his timeline over the last year, year and a half. And pull Evan Joyner’s file. Find out who he reports to.”

“Got it,” she said. “I’m in the office. Can I tell Ellen?”

“Yes. I don’t know how far up the chain of command the mole has infiltrated, but I’d bet it’s pretty high. Anyway, if we can’t trust Ellen, we’re screwed anyway.”

“How are we going to figure out who it is?”

“I don’t know. I’ll think of something. Who knows? It could even be Hermione herself, telling us this info to throw us off the trail.”

“I hope you know what you’re doing, Val.”

He snorted. “Like that’s ever stopped me before.”

“Wait—I’m getting a call from DC right now. Hang on.” Thalia was offline, but in a few moments, she came back on. “You’re not going to believe this. The shell corporation angle? The FBI traced it to a lower-level DA employee. And guess whom he works with?”

“Junior Kirkland?”

“Bingo.”

Another thought entered his brain. “Junior could just as easily been using the Kirklands’ Star Harbor home as the congressman.”

“That’s true.”

Junior was looking more and more like a part of the operation but Val still wasn’t willing to give up the idea that the congressman was involved, too. “And those IATA codes—KIR and KIR2? I’ll bet KIR doesn’t stand for Kerry, Ireland. It stands for Kirkland!”

“They gave their private airfields IATA codes? These guys have the hugest egos ever!”

Forget about their egos, the Kirklands were finished. “Alert the team that Operation Clean Up the Beach is a go. We’re going to do all the arrests together, so no one gets tipped off. First to go down are Congressman and Junior Kirkland. They’re the biggest flight risks, and once we have them, we’ll hold them for twenty-four hours, keep it under wraps, and pick up everyone else at six A.M. tomorrow. Tepper promised me that with this information, he has everything ready to go from the prosecution’s side. All we need is to touch base with the other offices and we’re good to—”

“Val, wait—”

“What is it?”

“Your pager is going off.”

“The one for the alarm I gave to Cam Stahl?” He’d left it on his desk at the office.

“Uh-huh. That can’t be good.”

No. It wasn’t good.
At all
. “Hang on.” He pulled out his personal cell and dialed Cameron’s number. The call went straight to voicemail. “Trace the signal, Thalia.” Fear and adrenaline pumped through his body. “
Fast
.”