The Masked Man Part 7

Coffee breaks over, the bakery started to clear out. Except for the man at the table by the window-and the deputies sitting in a back corner.

She glanced toward the window, still surprised by her reaction to him. Hadn't she known she wouldn't be the same after making love to that man last night in the cottage?

She returned her attention to the deputies as she neared their table. Why were they here? Maybe they'd brought some good news. She was tired of running scared, waiting for them to arrest her for Trevor's murder. She was tired of feeling helpless.

And if it was bad news? Well, then, she'd find her mystery lover or the other Scarlett. Or both. And if that wasn't possible, she'd have to find Trevor's murderer. Whatever it took to prove her innocence.

She wondered if she should get a lawyer, then vetoed the idea. She had nothing to hide. Not anymore. She'd bared her soul to the deputies after baring everything else last night to a total stranger.

She put the two black coffees on the table, then the cinnamon roll, and sat down, aware of the only other customer watching her. "You wanted to ask me something?"

MAC FINALLY GOT his heart to settle back down. He couldn't believe her reaction. Or his. Coming here had been beyond stupid. It was almost as if she'd known on some level who he was.

He took a bite of the cinnamon roll. It was amazing. So was Jill Lawson. He knew he should just leave. He'd found out what he'd come for.

She was bruised, but all right. Better than all right. He'd been worried last night when he'd parked on a street by her apartment and seen lights on and the sheriff's department cars parked right outside.

There was no doubt that she was under a h.e.l.l of a strain, but she seemed to be holding up all right. He picked up a newspaper from one of the other tables and pretended to read it as he picked up what he could of the deputies' conversation with her. Just as he'd suspected, her apartment had been broken into the night before.

But he was shocked to hear that the burglar had still been on the premises when she'd returned and that she'd fought him off. That explained the bruises. He swore under his breath. The burglar must have been after Pierce's d.a.m.ned coins and thought Trevor had hidden them in Jill's apartment. Until the coins were found, Jill Lawson was in danger, just as he'd suspected last night. The reason he'd spent the night in his truck outside her apartment.

He glanced at her. She was adorable, no doubt about that. Slim but nicely rounded in all the right places, a body he knew intimately and a face that reminded him of angels, as corny as that was. She had dark-lashed, intelligent brown eyes that complemented her apparent strength of character.

He watched her, impressed. He'd already found out that she'd started the bakery right out of college and had made a real success of it. He could understand why. This cinnamon roll was like none he'd ever tasted. But she also had to be a d.a.m.ned good businesswoman.

The emotions she evoked in him, however, came from some deeper place. It wasn't just her looks or her success. This woman had touched him.

He closed his eyes, letting the bite of cinnamon roll melt in his mouth, shocked at the sensory effect it had on him. Just as Jill did. What was it about this woman? She had captivated him in the cottage last night with a single kiss, but her cinnamon rolls could bewitch a man in ways he hadn't even dreamed.

He opened his eyes with a silent curse. What was he going to do about Jill Lawson? This mess had him between a rock and a hard place. He couldn't very well tell Jill about the coins without jeopardizing his nephew, let alone taking the chance that the sheriff would find out that Pierce had stolen the coins to start with.

d.a.m.n, what was was he going to do? he going to do?

"MS. LAWSON, we spoke with several of Trevor Forester's neighbors," Deputy Duncan said quietly. "They told us about an argument you and Mr. Forester had a week ago Sunday."

She stared at the deputy. "I didn't see Trevor a week ago Sunday."

"Ms. Lawson, the neighbors saw you leaving after the argument with Mr. Forester," Samuelson said.

She tried to contain her anger. "No, what they saw was a woman driving my red Saturn. Obviously Trevor's other other fiancee. The same one he rented the Scarlett O'Hara costume for at Guises and Disguises." fiancee. The same one he rented the Scarlett O'Hara costume for at Guises and Disguises."

"Yes, we know that Trevor rented a Rhett Butler and a Scarlett O'Hara costume-and so did you," Samuelson said. "Trevor didn't pick his up."

"But someone picked up the other set," she said.

"Yes. The clerk recalls you picking up the costumes and discussing who was going to pick up the other Rhett Butler," the deputy said.

She shook her head in disbelief. "I only picked up the one costume. The clerk is mistaken."

"That is possible," Duncan acknowledged. "She admits she was busy with all the costume rentals because of the Foresters' big party."

"We searched the cottage," Duncan continued. "There was no ring or anything else of yours that we could find. Nothing that would indicate you had a liaison there last night. The bedsheets and cover weren't even wrinkled."

"We never made it to the bed," she said, her voice falling. "Someone took my ring and my underwear. That should tell you something." But what? Had her mystery lover taken the items? Why would he do that except to cover up what had happened there? She felt heartsick and changed the subject. "What about my car?"

Duncan shook his head.

"When you find it, you'll find this other woman." Right now it was the only lead Jill had to the other Scarlett. That and the woman's voice.

"We have deputies looking for your car," Samuelson said. "If it's out there, we'll find it." He leaned toward her. "Come on, Ms. Lawson, stop wasting our time. You weren't in the lake cottage making love with some complete stranger last night. You went to the island to see Trevor, didn't you? What happened? You had a fight? You'd found out about this other woman."

Jill tried to keep her voice down. "If I had killed Trevor, do you think I would be stupid enough to say I was making love to a stranger in the lake cottage right after?"

"People tend to not think things through when they're under a lot of stress," Duncan said. He sighed. "The problem we're having here is that you seem to think you need an alibi, and quite frankly, you came up with one that only makes you look even guiltier."

MAC TOOK THE LAST BITE of his cinnamon roll, mentally kicking himself for coming here. Out of the corner of his eye, he watched the discussion between Jill and the deputies heating up and caught enough of it to deduce that the deputies thought Jill murdered Trevor Forester.

It hadn't dawned on Mac that she might need an alibi. He swore under his breath. He was her only alibi? Great. The problem was, he couldn't tell the deputies the truth for several good reasons.

Which meant Jill Lawson was on her own with the authorities. At least for the time being. It also meant he had to stay out of her sight. He didn't think it would take much for her to realize he was the man from the cottage last night. Little more than another accidental touch could trigger it.

But Mac was more worried that if he spent any time around her, he wouldn't be able to help himself. He'd do something stupid like confess all. Or worse, kiss her again, and he feared where that would lead.

He stole a glance at her, jolted again by just the sight of her, let alone the memory of the two of them last night in the cottage. He felt like a schoolboy. What the h.e.l.l was wrong with him?

Worse, he found himself wis.h.i.+ng Trevor Forester was still alive so he could kick his sorry a.s.s. For cheating on Jill. For ever being her fiance in the first place. For putting her in this position-and Mac, as well.

He couldn't believe what a jacka.s.s Trevor Forester had been. This morning Mac had checked out the engagement ring Jill Lawson had thrown at him. He'd found faint initials on the inside of the band. They appeared to have been filed down, making him even more suspicious about where Trevor had gotten the ring. Mac remembered what Pierce had said about suspecting Trevor Forester was the burglar who'd been robbing area houses.

He suspected, like Pierce's coins, Trevor had stolen the ring.

Mac had sent a description of the ring to an old friend of his, Charley Johnson, at the Kalispell Police Department, to see if the ring came up on any stolen-property list. From what Mac had learned at the bar last night, Jill and Trevor hadn't been engaged long and there'd been no recent burglaries. If the ring was stolen, then it could mean that Trevor Forester had been a thief for some time.

Not that any of that helped Mac figure out what Trevor might have done with the stolen coins. If the burglary was more than two months ago, the coins could be anywhere.

What bothered Mac was that it appeared someone thought the coins were still in Bigfork. Why else had Jill's apartment been hit last night?

"Everyone knows you and Trevor weren't getting along," one of the deputies said, his voice carrying. "You said yourself you were going to break off the engagement."

Jill had planned to break her engagement to Trevor before before she'd come to the cottage? she'd come to the cottage?

Mac tried not to take too much pleasure in that. He kept reminding himself that what happened last night could never happen again.

He watched her worry her lower lip with her teeth, making him unable not to recall her mouth on his. Jill Lawson was a dangerous woman. Smart, pretty, competent, s.e.xy, independent-the kind of woman a man could fall in love with, the kind who made a man think about settling down, something Mac had no intention of ever doing. Not again. Jill Lawson was the ever-after kind, and Mac hated Trevor Forester for having somehow gotten this woman to love him.

"Can I get you more coffee?"

Mac looked up to see a girl with green hair holding a coffeepot.

"No, I have to get going, but thank you," he said, aware that the girl had seen him watching Jill and the deputies. "This is the best cinnamon roll I've ever eaten. Please give my compliments to the baker."

"You got it," the girl said.

Mac slipped a generous tip under his cup, feeling the girl's gaze on him. He couldn't come back here again. It was too dangerous.

But he hated like h.e.l.l to leave the deputies badgering Jill. He hated like h.e.l.l to leave her alone. He feared that the man who'd searched her apartment last night hadn't gotten what he'd been looking for. That meant he'd be back, and that meant Mac would be spending his nights watching her apartment.

In the meantime he had to concentrate on finding the coins and Shane during the daylight hours. Once Pierce had the coins again, Jill would be safe. Then if Jill still needed that alibi... Mac told himself he wouldn't let her go to jail-if it came to that. d.a.m.n, but he hoped it wouldn't.

As he rose from his chair to leave, the bell over the door jangled. A thirtysomething, dark-haired man burst into the bakery and made a beeline for Jill Lawson.

"I heard you think Jill killed Trevor Forester," the man said loudly. He was about Mac's height and size, his tanned arms corded with muscle, his face lined with squint lines from the sun. A man who worked outdoors.

"Excuse me, but this is sheriff's department business," the larger of the deputies said, getting to his feet.

"Oh, yeah? Well, I'm here to tell you Jill couldn't have killed Trevor," the man said. "She was with me last night. In the lake cottage." The man looked at Jill and added, "Making love."

Chapter Six.

Jill scrambled to her feet. She was shaking her head, staring at Arnie Evans, telling herself it wasn't possible. "Arnie, don't make things any worse by lying."

"Could we discuss this in private in your apartment?" Duncan suggested. "Mr. Evans, if you'd please hold down your voice until we can go upstairs."

Jill glanced up. The man who'd been sitting by the window was standing next to his table, staring at them as if in shock. She couldn't blame him, given what he'd just overheard. "Yes, my apartment." She glanced at Zoe, who also looked stunned.

"Take care of closing up?" Jill said.

Zoe nodded. "Should I call...someone?"

"I'll be fine." Not if Arnie had been her mystery lover.

Zoe nodded, big-eyed as they left for Jill's upstairs apartment.

Once upstairs Arnie sat in one of her overstuffed chairs, looking bashful and shy as he glanced around. Duncan put the cus.h.i.+ons back on the couch and sat down. Samuelson leaned in the doorway to the kitchen, watching them all.

Jill didn't want to sit. She wanted to pace. But she made herself take the other chair, the one farthest from Arnie, as if that could somehow distance her from his...story.

"Are you telling me that this isn't the man from the cottage?" Duncan asked her.

Oh, G.o.d, I hope not. "It can't be." "It can't be."

"She didn't know it was me," Arnie said sheepishly. "She thought it was Trevor. Okay, maybe I let her think that. When I came up with the idea to dress in the same costume as Trevor, I thought it would be fun. I didn't mean for it to hurt anyone."

Jill wanted to pull the floor over her head. Arnie Evans. Since kindergarten, Arnie had been Trevor's shadow and her tormentor. Whatever Trevor did, Arnie tried, usually failing badly. When he hadn't been emulating Trevor as a boy, he'd been throwing worms at Jill or putting gum in her hair or pus.h.i.+ng her down in the playground.

Jill had learned to avoid Arnie.

As they grew older, Arnie had done poorly in school, not gone to college, ended up in construction and now had to work for a living with his hands-all just the opposite of Trevor.

What had always amazed her was that Arnie and Trevor had been such good friends. She suspected, knowing what she now knew about her former fiance, that the reason was because Trevor loved being idolized. Trevor used to say that every man should have a friend like Arnie-and then he'd laugh.

While Arnie hadn't taunted or teased Jill as an adult, she'd felt that he was jealous of her relations.h.i.+p with Trevor. And when she was around the two of them, she had felt like a third wheel. She knew that Arnie would do anything for Trevor. Anything.

"He's lying," she said. Oh, please, let him be lying. Oh, please, let him be lying. She could never have been seduced by Arnie Evans. And yet, physically, he She could never have been seduced by Arnie Evans. And yet, physically, he could could have been the man. He was about Trevor's height, but then, so were a lot of men. He'd worked construction since he was young and he was strong, lean and solid, just like the man from the cottage. have been the man. He was about Trevor's height, but then, so were a lot of men. He'd worked construction since he was young and he was strong, lean and solid, just like the man from the cottage.

Even Arnie's stupid explanation for why he was wearing the same costume as Trevor made sense, if you knew Arnie.

Why was Arnie doing this? "He has has to be lying." to be lying."

The deputies questioned him about the time, the storm, power outage, everything. Arnie, to her horror, seemed to have all the answers.

"What name did you rent the costume under?" Duncan asked.

Arnie shrugged. "Trevor rented it. I knew he had an extra Rhett Butler costume on his hands. That's how I came up with the idea."

"Arnie was Trevor's best friend!" Jill cried. "That's how he knew about the extra costume. I'm telling you, he's lying. How did he even know I needed an alibi? Don't you see? He must have heard all this from his cousin who works at city hall, right next to the sheriff's department."

Duncan looked at Jill as if she'd lost her mind. Here was a man ready to provide her with an alibi, and she was doing everything in her power to challenge it.

"Is there any way you can prove you were the man with Ms. Lawson in the cottage last night?" Duncan asked.

Arnie nodded and pulled the silk bra she'd been wearing last night from his pocket, dangling it before them.

Jill was going to be sick. And just when she thought things couldn't get any worse.

NO WAY! Mac couldn't believe what he'd overhead just before the deputies went upstairs with Jill and the man she'd called Arnie. Arnie Evans, the deputy had said.