25. Reylor

Chapter 25

Reylor

V ictor Drake, the owner of a nearby B&B, looked up as I ran toward him, claws popping from the ends of my fingers.

He yelped and dropped his saw, and it rattled on the wooden platform at his feet. With a leap, he landed squarely on the patio and started racing toward the path leading along the side of the building.

Strangely enough, a hoe Hannah must’ve left leaning against the back wall earlier toppled away from the building, clattering on the start of the path.

Victor tripped over it and fell forward, landing hard on his hands and knees. His groan rang out. Before he could scramble to his feet, I was on him, taking him down to the crushed stone walkway in a tumble of limbs.

I wanted to rip him apart for causing Hannah so much pain and distress, but the local law enforcement frowned on something like that. And with Katar away with Bailey and their soon-to-be-born youngling, he didn’t need the headache of bailing me out or standing up for what most would view as inappropriate actions.

So I hauled him to his feet and lifted him off the ground by the front of his shirt.

As Hannah hurried over to join us, her phone already in her hand, Victor’s feet flailed in the air. She dialed. The police picked up, and she explained what happened.

“Detective Carter will be here soon.” She tucked her phone into the tiny purse she’d brought that matched her black heels. Those heels had haunted me all evening. I’d pictured a thousand ways I’d like to see her move in them, a thousand more ways I’d adore removing them from her feet, plus a thousand more ways I’d like to be with her while she wore them—and only them. All that had been put on hold due to Victor but I welcomed the chance to end this horrible situation for Hannah.

We said nothing as we waited for the police to arrive, and it wasn’t long before sirens rang out, silenced when a vehicle pulled up to the curb out front. Detective Carter hurried down the path and over to join us.

Only then did I lower Victor to his feet.

“I can’t believe you did all this,” Hannah told him sadly. “I thought we were friends. We exchanged recipes. We talked about sharing overflow guests.”

“I’m not sharing guests with you,” Victor snarled.

Detective Carter had his phone out and was feverishly taking notes of the conversation.

“There’s no room in this town for two B&Bs,” Victor said. “You were going to ruin my thriving business. Of course I had to make sure that didn’t happen.”

“I believe you’ve said enough.” Detective Carter pulled cuffs out of his back pocket and held them up. “Will you come along peacefully, or do I have to use these?”

Victor huffed. “You don’t have enough on me to book me for anything. Anything, I say!”

“I’m sure we caught it all on camera.” I pointed to those I’d mounted. “As soon as you leave, I’ll email you the footage,” I told the detective.

“Wonderful.” Detective Carter grabbed Victor’s upper arm. “Seems to me we’ve got enough to charge you with a few crimes. What do you think your rep in town will be after word of this gets out?” He urged Victor along the path. “Folks around here frown on a person trying to ruin someone else’s business.”

“You’ve got nothing,” Victor shouted as they continued down the walkway. “Nothing!”

Hannah sagged against my side. “I can’t believe it was Victor all along. He’s made it so hard for me to get my B&B ready to open. All that useless vandalism. He gave me a big heartache, all because he saw me as competition when there truly are enough customers for both of us. Sure, there are other B&Bs in nearby towns, but our buildings are on the water. That alone draws people from all over the country. Even from out of the country. We could’ve both been successful. Instead, this is going to damage his business. I’ll recover, but I doubt he will.”

“You’ll press charges,” I said.

“Of course. He cost me considerable money and time. Maybe for restitution, he can be made to pay me back for all that. I’m sure the insurance company will go after him, regardless. I’d rather they did that than raise my premiums.”

“You can notify them tomorrow.”

She nodded, and her gaze fell on the hoe. “Did you notice that the hoe jumped away from the wall of my building and conveniently fell in Victor’s path?”

“I did.” I walked over to look at the ground where the hoe had been leaning, but I didn’t see how it could’ve pretty much leaped away from the building, let alone fallen in Victor’s path about five feet away. Returning to Hannah, I studied all the windows, though the perp had been caught, and I could finally relax my guard.

There . . . On the third floor. Was that someone peering through the glass?

I blinked, and they were gone, but that wasn’t good enough for me.

“Inside,” I barked, taking her hand and urging her to the locked back door and into the kitchen. “Lock all the doors and stay inside this room.”

“What’s happening?” she cried out, her voice edged with fear.

“Maybe nothing and maybe . . .” I left her, bolting from the kitchen, down the hall, and up three flights of stairs. When I reached the top, I ran to the room where I’d seen the shadow and flicked on the lights. They bathed the newly renovated room, but though I scoured the suite, I found no evidence anyone was there.

Hannah arrived as I was sighing with irritation.

“You didn’t lock yourself in the kitchen,” I ground out.

“I’m perfectly capable of dealing with whatever this is. I keep telling you that. What do you think I did before you came into my life?”

I wiggled my spine, loosening my tension. “You’re right. I’m sorry. You’re more than able to handle anything. But I thought I saw someone up here, though it must’ve been my eyes playing tricks on me.”

“Oh.” She peered around before advancing on the small table near the door. “What’s that? I’ve never seen it before.” A gold ring set with garnets sat on the smooth wooden surface, and she lifted it, tilting it to study it in the light. “This wasn’t here earlier. As I finish each room, I furnish it with the essentials, but I’d never leave something like this on a table. I bet if I went to the attic and to the jewelry box I saw one time while looking for a lamp, there’d be one less piece of jewelry inside. Not that I’ve done an inventory or anything like that, but you know what I mean.” A smile grew on her face. “This is a sign from Justin.” She squinted at the ceiling. “Thank you for helping us with Victor, Justin. I bet you anything he knocked the hoe into Victor’s path, making him trip.”

I didn’t believe in ghosts.

I didn’t.

But . . .