Page 141 of Sunset Beach
“Uh, Brice?” Jonah said quietly. “I caught a ride to the hospital with Corey, so my car’s still at Drue’s place. If it’s okay with both of you, I could hang there, on the sofa, in the off chance Ben does come back.”
“Great idea,” Brice said.
“Absolutely not,” Drue said. “I don’t need a babysitter.”
“Overruled,” Brice said, starting the Mercedes.
Traffic was nonexistent at that hour. Drue had almost dozed off when Brice’s voice, low and urgent, startled her awake.
“Will you answer one question? Honestly?”
She knew what the question would be, and was already dreading having to answer.“Yes.”
“What makes you think my oldest friend, and your colleague, is capable of blackmail? Of actually being complicit in the cover-up of a murder?”
Drue moaned. “Do we really have to hash this out right now?”
“Yeah. We really do. It’s bad enough that you thought I would do something like that. Jimmy’s like family, he’s like a brother to me.”
“Look. It was a mistake, a terrible judgment call on my part. It’s just that Zee gives off a weird vibe, you know? Always dressed in black. And he never answers a direct question. After Yvonne Howington walked into the office, I guess I became obsessed with figuring things out. I mean, we’re the Justice Line, right? So, where was the justice for Jazmin? And Yvonne and Aliyah?”
“You could have come to me with your suspicions.”
“I tried!” Drue said. “You told me bad stuff happens. You told me you’d done your best, butboom,case closed, next case.”
“And you can’t take no for an answer,” Brice said, giving her a sideways glance. “Never could.”
“And it turns out I was right. There was something there. Just… not what I expected. Or who I expected would be behind things.”
“But why blame Jimmy? What else did you have against him?”
Drue stared out the window. “It wasn’t just the Jazmin Mayes case. There was something else. Colleen Boardman Hicks.”
“That again?” Brice’s voice was sharp. “The woman’s been gone for forty years. What’s she got to do with Jimmy? Or me?”
“I don’t know, Dad. You tell me. Since we’re on the topic of honesty, can you honestly tell me she was ‘just a high school classmate’? And there was nothing going on between you? Can you explain why Mom kept a folder full of old newspaper clippings about Colleen Hicks’s disappearance all these years? Or why the official case file, which has been missing from the St. Pete Police Department since Jimmy retired, should turn up in the attic of Papi’s house?”
Brice turned his head and gave a meaningful glance toward Jonah, who, as it turned out, was out cold, asleep in the backseat.
“Okay,” he said finally. “Yeah. You’re a smart cookie. Like your mom. Ihad a thing with Colleen, for, like, six months. But I broke it off with her before she disappeared.”
“And Jimmy knew about the affair, didn’t he?”
“Yeah,” Brice said reluctantly. “He knew. He was there when the nightmare started. But I’ve got no idea how that police file got in your grandparents’ attic. And I don’t know, I swear to God, I don’t know what happened to Colleen.”
Before she could ask any more questions, Jonah yawned, loudly and theatrically, to announce that he was awake.
“We’ll talk about this later, okay?” Drue asked.
“Yeah,” Brice said wearily. “It’s a conversation I can’t wait to finish.”
He rolled to a stop in the driveway at Coquina Cottage. Jonah’s shiny black Audi was parked behind Drue’s white Bronco. Brice cut the engine and reached under the driver’s seat, bringing out a blue steel revolver.
“Here.” He turned, holding the gun by the barrel, offering it to the younger man, his voice somber. “You do know how to shoot one of these, right?”
“Dad!” Drue exclaimed, horrified. “What the hell?”
“It’s my old service weapon. Smith and Wesson thirty-eight Special,” Brice said calmly. “Jonah?”
