“Who?”
“You’re not going to like it. It’s Dan Erickson.”
Serena slapped the stone wall with her hand. “Are you kidding me? Dan Erickson? Is K-2 out of his mind? No way he brings Dan back. I’m going to call him and get this stopped.”
Maggie took hold of Serena’s arm. “Wait. Don’t do that. Interfering with K-2 will only make it worse. Look, Dan’s the former county attorney. Regardless of what we both think of him, he’s obviously qualified to do the job. Plus, everybody knows he hates Stride, so no one is going to think the chief is doing Stride any favors. That’s why he wants him.”
Serena shook her head in disgust. Dan Erickson.
Even hearing his name brought her back to the worst winter of her life. As county attorney, Dan had hired Serena to pay off a blackmailer who had unearthed the dirtiest secrets of Dan’s personal life. But the blackmailer had come to town with motives of his own, and Serena had nearly died at his hands in a fish house out on a frozen lake. Her body still carried the memories of that torture.
She kicked up one of her bare calves that was mottled with discolored white streaks where she’d been burned by fire. “See those scars? I have those scars because of Dan Erickson.”
“I know that, Serena. I know.”
“You slept with him. Does K-2 know that?”
“No, and he’s not going to, because if he finds out, he’ll take me off the case, too. And we need me on the inside, where I can keep an eye on Dan. He’s going to try to take down Stride if he can. I need to be able to stop him.”
Serena stood up in frustration. “I can’t be here anymore.”
“Don’t go yet. I get it, you have every reason to be upset about this. It pisses me off, too. But the only thing we can do now is find a way to have Stride’s back during the investigation. That means I need to know what he’s hiding. You can find out for me.”
“I won’t betray him.”
“You’re not betraying him. You’re helping him. Stride didn’t kill Ned Baer, Serena. Of course, he didn’t. But you think that’s going to matter to Dan if he sees a way to pin this on him? Look, Stride may not be the one who pulled the trigger, but he must have a pretty good idea who did. That’s why he’s not talking. He’s also a pigheaded son of a bitch who wouldn’t say a word, even if he ends up being the one to take the fall.”
Serena stared at the ground. “I told you, no promises.”
“I understand.”
“I’ll do what I can. If there’s no other way to protect Jonny.”
“Absolutely,” Maggie told her.
“Keep Dan Erickson away from me. Otherwise, you may have another murder on your hands.”
Maggie grinned. “Got it.”
Serena marched toward her Mustang, ignoring the rain that washed over her. She tried to push aside her furious emotions and her bad memories and focus on the only thing that was important. Stride.
She knew that Maggie was right.
Jonny knew something about Ned Baer’s murder. That was obvious. His subconscious had been taunting him with dreams about it, even before Ned’s body was discovered. The only reason for Stride to lie was because he was covering for someone else, and Serena didn’t need to talk to him to know who that was. There was only one person he’d still feel an obligation to protect after all this time.
His ex-wife.
She’d been in those dreams, too. Like unfinished business.
Serena had never met her. She’d avoided her for years, because she felt guilty about being the other woman in breaking up a marriage. Even a bad marriage. Serena had fallen in love with Stride, and Stride had fallen in love with Serena, but the reality for both of them was that he was still married when that happened.
She couldn’t put it off any longer.
It was time for her to confront Andrea.
7
“I’m telling you, this is a million-dollar idea,” Curt Dickes said to Cat. “It’s big. The biggest thing I’ve ever come up with. Colleen thinks so, too.”
Cat lay on a blanket stretched across the rocks at the Deeps. A few lingering raindrops broke through the tree branches and landed on her bare skin. She closed her eyes and said, “Uh-huh.”
She didn’t care what Curt’s new girlfriend thought about anything, and she didn’t want to hear him talking about her. She’d invited Curt to hang out specifically because he’d told her that Colleen had an art class on Monday evenings. So it was just the two of them near the river. She’d worn her sexiest bikini, the one Stride and Serena didn’t know she had. The tiger print cups barely contained her breasts, and the cool air had worked its magic on them. The bottom was a black thong that flashed her cheeks to the world. She knew she looked hot, but Curt had barely given her the once-over before he started talking about his latest get rich quick scheme.
“Don’t you want to hear about it?” he asked her impatiently.
“Uh-huh,” she said again.
“Eyes... on... Duluth,” Curt said, pausing dramatically between the words.
“What?”
“We build one of those big wheels. You know, like they have in London and Las Vegas. We put it over in Bayfront park. Can you imagine the tourists, Kitty Cat? Everybody will come to see it! This will be like the biggest thing in the whole Midwest! Suck it, Chicago!”
“Yeah, but doesn’t Chicago already have one of those things?” Cat asked.
“I don’t know. Whatever. Maybe they do. Anyway, it will definitely be the biggest thing in Minnesota.”
“But those things cost like millions and millions of dollars to build,” Cat pointed out. “Where are you going to get the money?”
“Oh, don’t worry about that. I figure the business community will get on board, big time. The state, too. And the Indians, I mean, think of what it will do to the casino traffic. I just have to sell them on the idea and let them take over. They can do the rest. But I’ll keep the rights to the name and sell all the merch. T-shirts, magnets, snow globes, you name it.”
“Eyes on Duluth?” Cat asked.
“Exactly.”
“Nice to know you’ve got your eyes on something,” she murmured.
“What?”
“Nothing. Hey, if it’s your project, why don’t you name it after yourself?”
“After myself?” Curt said, looking puzzled. “Like what? What would you call it?”
“How about the Big Dickes?” Cat announced, giggling uncontrollably.
She expected Curt to laugh, too, but instead his face twisted into a sour expression. “I’m serious about this, Kitty Cat. This could be my big break, and all you can do is make fun of it?”
“I’m sorry,” she said, although she was still laughing. “Really.”
Curt lay back on the blanket with his arms behind his head and stared at the sky. He refused to look at her. When she propped herself on one elbow and reached for his hand, he pulled it away. For a scam artist who liked to think he was cool, Curt was actually pretty sensitive.
“Come on, Curt, I said I’m sorry,” she repeated. “It sounds like a great idea.”
His head turned. “You really think so?”
“I do.”
“You’re not just saying that?”
“I’m not. Eyes on Duluth. That’s a moneymaker.”
He scrambled to his feet on the rocks. “I know, right? It’s huge!”
Curt wandered to the edge of the cliff and peered down at the rapids of Amity Creek, which roared through the narrows below them. He wore a black muscle shirt — although he didn’t have much in the way of muscles — and a baggy yellow-striped swimsuit that hung to his knees. His feet were bare. He had tattoos over most of his body, and his straggly black hair fell below his shoulders.