Chapter 15

Wyatt stood outside the interrogation room while Noel and Tom spoke with Stephen Villalobos, the man who’d been driving the car when it went into the building. This was the third interview in as many days, and Wyatt was weary of the man’s lies.

Tom and Noel had run down one of the people Villalobos had identified yesterday, and the two stories didn’t match up. Wyatt just needed Villalobos to confess.

“Mister Villalobos,” Noel said, unbuttoning his jacket as he sat down. “We talked to the owner at the diner on Palm. He said you were there with Bella. Several times.” Tom sat too, slower, and with his eyes never leaving the suspect’s.

“Tell us what happened with her,” Tom said.

“I’ve told you already,” Stephen said. “We were just friends.”

“Why’d you drive into the building?”

“There was a dog, and I swerved to miss it, and after that, the car just went crazy.”

He’d been saying that since the beginning, though no one had seen a dog at the scene. Wyatt also needed the report back on the vehicle to see if something had been sabotaged or wrong with the car while Stephen was driving it. He couldn’t imagine that to be the case, but he wasn’t one to make conclusions without facts. Even then, he liked to think through every scenario. There was nothing more dangerous than thinking he knew the answer to something without doing the work.

The interview continued, but it wasn’t anything new. Wyatt retreated to the back wall and leaned against it, keeping one ear on the conversation but really, his mind had moved on to another problem.

Deirdre.

And he hated categorizing her as a problem. He was the one that had blown things up between them, but she was the one who wasn’t ready this time. She’d all but admitted it a couple of nights ago when he’d stopped by her house.

They’d gone to Bora Bora’s last night, but the tension between them had been sky-high, and Wyatt hadn’t known how to break it. He had no plans to see her that evening, and neither of them had texted that day either.

Wyatt had been trying to think of something they could talk about. Something to bring them together again. He picked up his phone and tapped a few times to get to their text string.

He had something he could tell her, but he didn’t want to do it over text. He liked the ease of modern technology, and how it made detective work easier, opened up new avenues for cold cases, and made communication faster.

But he thought it also made things less personal. And Wyatt wanted personal with Deirdre.

Lunch today?

He sent the text before he could change his mind.

The door to the interrogation room opened, and Tom and Noel came out. “Sorry, Chief,” Noel said.

“Lawyer?” Wyatt asked.

“Yep.” Tom nodded as he went past.

“Let’s keep him as long as we can,” Wyatt said. “Does he have a name for us?”

“Nope.” Noel handed him the case file, but Wyatt didn’t open it. The detective secretary would call for a public defender, and they could take hours to show up. Maybe Mr. Villalobos would feel like talking then.

Wyatt went back to his office, catching sight of Norma arranging a new vase of flowers on her desk. “Who’s that from?” he asked. “Rick?”

“That’s right.” His secretary beamed at him. “It’s our anniversary next week.”

“So he started early.”

“He’ll do something every day this month,” Norma said. “It’s our anniversary month.” She finished with the last lily and sat down. “The Harrison kid was found,” she said. “The mother called in a few minutes ago.”

“Good news,” Wyatt said. He’d survived Halloween with only two missing children reports, and they were both accounted for now. And there hadn’t been any incidents during the parade, and he had officers out all over the bays to make sure yards and streets were clean or getting cleaned up.

Wyatt hated Halloween, and he went into his office and closed the door. He didn’t like how every little stressor at work bothered him when he wasn’t happy in his personal life. The past several weeks with Deirdre had made the job easier, that was for sure, and he practically lunged for his phone when it chimed.

Sure, Deirdre had said. And I need to meet with Norma this afternoon, so you could give me a ride.

Sounds good. Wyatt leaned back in his chair, satisfied that they’d had a normal conversation. He managed to get some work done, emails answered, and new cases assigned before he left for lunch.

Deirdre had already arrived at Mama Chu’s when Wyatt got there, and he leaned down and kissed her quickly as he joined her at the table. “Hey,” he said, smiling. “It’s great to see you.”

She didn’t seem as withdrawn today as she had yesterday, and Wyatt was counting that as a win. “You too.”

“My mother asked about Thanksgiving again,” he said, picking up the menu. “What do you think?” He’d asked her to go to Thanksgiving dinner with him, at his mother’s place. His two siblings would be there too, and she wanted to have a full house. Since Christine’s death, Wyatt had been spending all major holidays with his mother, and he wasn’t sure what to tell her. Deirdre didn’t have any family she could visit, and he’d invited her to spend the holidays with his.

Deirdre had said she wanted to think about it, and that was before what had happened at Your Tidal Forever a couple of days ago.

“Yeah,” Deirdre said, giving him a smile. “We can go.”

Relief spread through Wyatt, but he didn’t feel quite out of the woods yet. “Great.” He looked up as the waitress approached. They put in their orders, and Wyatt looked at Deirdre again. “I have something I want to talk with you about.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah.” Wyatt studied the table for a moment. “I’m thinking about retiring.” He looked up, feeling a mixture of things. Selfish. Vulnerable. Like he could really use a friend.

“Wow, really?” Deirdre reached across the table and took one of his hands in both of hers. Wyatt further relaxed with her touch. Maybe they really were okay. “Do you not like your job?”

“I like it,” he said. “I’ve loved it. I just think it might be time.”

“And what are you going to do?” she asked. “You’re not even forty-five years old yet.”

“I haven’t thought that far ahead.”

“Can you go back to being a detective? Do you have to be the Chief of Police?”

“I mean, people don’t usually go backward,” he said. “I don’t know. Maybe I just need a vacation. Maybe I’m fine.”

Deirdre cocked her head, studying him. He liked that she thought about things. That she didn’t just try to talk him out of it or accept what he said. “Maybe it’s something to think about,” she said. “Do you get a pension with the years you’ve put in?”

“Yes,” he said. “I have twenty-three with the state. I get a pension with that. And I can work somewhere else too, adding years as long as it’s within the state retirement system.”

“Like what?” She reached for her soda the moment the waitress set it on the table. Wyatt did too, taking his time as he unwrapped the straw and put it in his diet cola.

“Public school,” he said. “The state university. Prison system. Anything like that.”

“Prison system. Wow.” Deirdre looked at him with questions in her eyes.

“I don’t want to work in the prison system,” he said. “But maybe I could teach at the university or something. Criminal justice. Criminology. Law enforcement management. That type of thing.”

“Sounds like you have a lot of questions to ask someone,” she said.

“Yeah,” Wyatt said. “Anyway.” He blew out his breath. “What’s new with you? How’s your new bride?”

“Oh, she’s…” Deirdre laughed, and Wyatt felt even more tension bleed out of the air around them. “She’s excitable. She’s been saving for three years to hire us, and I sure hope I can give her what she’s dreamed of.” She glanced up as the food arrived, and their conversation lulled again.

“Excitable.” Wyatt chuckled and picked up his fork. “And what are you doing with Norma this afternoon?”

“Décor,” she said.

“Oh, boy,” Wyatt said. “Well, come see me if you have a minute.” He met her eye, and he had so much he wanted to say to her. “Okay?”

Deirdre smiled and ducked her head, and Wyatt thought they were going to be okay. “Okay.”

***

The weeks passed, and Norma got candy or jewelry or lunch or flowers every day in November, true to her word about her husband making it their anniversary month. Wyatt was tired just looking at all the gifts as they came in, and he couldn’t imagine planning something like that.

He and Deirdre seemed to be moving along, maybe at a slower pace than before, but things felt normal to Wyatt when they were together. She held his hand. She kissed him with the same passion as previously. They laughed together. They hiked though the weather was cooling and it rained sometimes.

Wyatt pulled up to her house on Thanksgiving Day morning, the sun shining though the air held a crispness now that it was almost December. He climbed the steps, but Deirdre came out before he could knock. She wore a dress that hung down to her knees and showed her legs, and Wyatt’s mouth went dry.

“Wow,” he said. “You look great.”

“Thank you.” She reached out and touched the top button on his shirt. Fire spread down his chest at the warmth in her fingers, but he didn’t move. “Is this a new shirt?”

“Yes,” he said. “I always wear a new shirt to my mother’s. Then I know it’s clean.”

Deirdre laughed, but Wyatt wasn’t kidding. “My mother, she’s…”

“You’ve told me about her,” Deirdre said. “I can handle it. I work with brides-to-be for a living.” She laughed. “Most of them are great,” she said. “So great. But I can handle a…prickly personality.”

“Let’s hit the road then. It’s over on the west side of the island, about an hour away.”

“All right, Chief.” She gave him a flirtatious grin and went down the steps. She could get in the Jeep herself, but Wyatt liked to be a gentleman and help her. Plus, that meant he got to stand close to her, smell that fruity perfume.

He closed her door and rounded the vehicle, taking a deep breath of the rain forest air. “You live on a beautiful part of the island,” he said as he climbed in.

“I agree,” she said. “The beach has its place, but I love being up in the trees more.”

Wyatt got them on the road, and they chatted about his daughter and her plans for the holidays as they drove the coastal highway. “The whales are back,” he said, turning the conversation to something else. “Have you been out on the speedboats to see them?”

“I didn’t even know that was a thing.”

“Oh, it’s a thing, and you can see some amazing animals,” he said. “I saw a blue whale shoot right out of the water last year.” He glanced at her. “Do you want to go?”

“Absolutely.”

“It’s quite the speedboat ride,” he said. “About five miles off the coast, at forty miles per hour.”

“So don’t do my hair,” she said. “Got it.”

Wyatt chuckled, so happy to be in the car with her. Celebrating the holidays with her. He wasn’t alone for the first time in four years, and it felt fantastic. He finally pulled up to a house that sat only half a block from the beach, and the sand seemed to have crowded its way all the way to his mother’s front porch.

“Here we are.” He peered out the windshield at the white house with green shutters and a matching green door.

“Did you grow up here?” she asked.

“No, Mom moved here after my dad died. They lived in Getaway Bay. I grew up there.” He looked at her. “You ready for this? I can practically hear the noise from here.”

“Two siblings,” she said. “A sister and a brother. With teenagers.”

“Loud teenagers,” he said, opening his door. “And the badge does nothing to quiet them.”

Deirdre laughed and joined him at the front of the Jeep. Melinda’s car was already in front of the house, as was Scott’s. So they were the last to arrive, and Wyatt would probably hear about that for the next year.

He opened the door and yelled, “We’re here,” over the noise at the same time he reached for Deirdre’s hand. All sound silenced, and Wyatt marveled at it. So that was how it was done.

Bring a woman home for Thanksgiving, and he’d get some peace and quiet.