Page 36 of Last Resort

Erik resisted the temptation to jog the rest of the way. When he got to Nolan Resort Real Estate, a late-model, midnight blue BMW sat at the curb. Erik admired the pricy sports car and bet it was a rental.

Carr’s here. Trying to make an impression.

Erik weighed his options. If Ben was already talking with Carr, Erik was too late to pass along a warning. Then again, Ben’s years as a cop meant he was street-savvy enough not to let anything important slip, and Carr didn’t have a reason to get violent.

He decided to bide his time and slipped into the coffee shop across the street where he had a good view of the real estate office front door.

“The usual?” Katie, the barista asked when Erik walked in. He and Ben were regulars.

“Make it two, please.” Erik kept his attention on the office.

“Did you and Ben get a sexy new car?” she asked as she pulled the shots.

Erik laughed. “Nah. Not our style, although it’s pretty. Must be some New York hotshot on vacation.”

“Yeah, we get plenty of those, although not so much in the off-season,” she agreed. “Ben’s a good-looking guy. When are you gonna lock that up by putting a ring on it?”

“We just moved in together,” Erik joked. “I’m working up to it.”

Steam hissed as she made the lattes. “Just looking out for you two. You gotta move fast when the right one comes along.”

Erik paid for the drinks and took a seat by the window, biding his time. Fifteen minutes later, a man who resembled Carr’s photo emerged, dressed in a sport coat and dress slacks. He hustled down the steps, got into the car and drove away. Erik thought he looked tense, and not completely pleased.

“Hey, got time for coffee?” Erik asked Ben when his call went through. “I’m across the street.”

Minutes later, Ben joined him. “You must have ESP. This is exactly what I needed.” Ben took a sip of his drink.

“I can’t blame this one on a vision—it’s Jaxon’s fault.” Erik filled Ben in on his conversation.

“Were you here in time to see Carr? What did you think?”

Erik nodded. “I thought he fit Jaxon’s description to a ‘T.’ How about you?”

Ben sat back, cradling his take-out cup in both hands. “Carr wanted to make an impression that he was important. The way people who aren’t usually act.”

Erik chuckled, knowing what Ben meant. “What else?”

“I’ll confirm this with Cole, but Carr made it sound like he heard about Raines from the cops. Although as a nephew it’s odd that he’d be on paperwork—especially since Raines vanished for twenty years. Carr had to have been fairly young when Raines went missing.”

“I wondered about that. Maybe they tracked Raines to a sister who’s deceased, and found the son.”

“Maybe, but I think it’s sketchy.” Ben paused for another sip. The blissful expression and happy murmur he made sent a rush of heat to Erik’s groin.

“Keep your mind out of the gutter,” Ben teased. “We’re in public.”

“You just seemed to need some alone time with your latte,” Erik joked back.

“I’ll take you up on ‘alone time’ later,” Ben promised.

“So what happened when Carr showed up?” The more Erik thought about the whole situation, the fishier it seemed.

“He showed up looking and acting like an entitled jackass and said he was there to claim his dead uncle’s property,” Ben replied. “I asked him for ID, tried to figure out how he knew about Raines’s death, and did my best to stall while Jenny checked out his license and address. That part, at least, was legit.”

“And?”

Ben shrugged. “I told him that I couldn’t just hand things over without talking first with the police. They released the apartment as a crime scene and let us box up Raines’s things, but they still have whatever they took when they were here. Plus I want to make real sure they’re actually done with everything before I let some New York douchebag just walk off with everything.”

They finished their coffees and headed back to work, promising each other to be extra careful.

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