word he spoke filled her more and more with concern. She’d like to believe that no innocent person was ever sent to prison for a crime not committed, but she’d watched enough television to know that simply wasn’t the case.
She’d had the means and the opportunity to kill Jason Worthington. More importantly, if she told them that he was acting weird and she’d been frightened of him, then she also had what could be defined as a motive.
“Okay, give me another alternative,” she finally said.
“What I recommend is that both of you stay here until we have more information to make some reasonable decisions,” Troy said. “The news reports of the murder have been sketchy at best up to this point. It’s only been a couple of hours since the body was found, but needless to say because of the Worthington name, things are going to move fast.”
Caylee looked at Micah, who returned her gaze with those pale blue eyes that revealed nothing. “Did you meet Jason’s father, Grant?”
“No, there was no reason for me to meet him. Jason and I were just casually dating,” she replied.
“And you always agree to go off with a man you’re casually dating for a weeklong vacation?” Micah asked.
It was obvious by the tone of his voice that he either didn’t believe the story she’d told him or he didn’t like how she conducted her life. But she didn’t care what Micah Stone thought of her or her story. She just wanted this nightmare to end.
“This was my first time to agree to a vacation with a man I was dating. Trust me when I say it will definitely be the last time,” she replied.
“Look, I know it’s been a long night,” Troy said as he got up from the table. “Why don’t we all get some sleep. In a couple of hours we’ll have more information and we can decide what should be done then.”
Luke stood and covered a yawn with the back of his hand. “Why don’t we plan on meeting back here around noon?”
Caylee wanted to tell them both to sit back down, to solve this mess right here, right now instead of leaving her alone with Micah, who looked none too happy with the situation.
She remained seated at the table as Micah walked his two partners to the front door. Staring out the window into what was left of the dark night, she thought of the moment she realized she’d needed to escape from Jason.
He’d had her model the wedding gown in his suite of rooms. It had been the last thing she’d wanted to do, but had capitulated in order to keep the peace. After all, Jason was her ride back to the States. As she’d walked into the room his eyes had lit with a fervent light of desire that had pushed her over the edge and made her realize the relationship was going to end badly.
She’d had a feeling that Jason was a man accustomed to getting his own way and it was about to get ugly. She certainly didn’t know him or love him enough for a commitment. She hadn’t even wanted to sleep with him.
When she’d gone back to her suite of rooms to change, she’d gone directly into her bathroom and it was there she’d decided not to waste another minute. Every internal alarm she possessed was screaming at her to run, to escape. So she’d gone out the bathroom window.
And now he was dead and she was in trouble.
She looked at Micah as he entered the kitchen. “There are three bedrooms. You can pick where you’d like to sleep.”
“I don’t know if I can sleep,” she replied. “I keep going over everything in my mind, trying to figure out what I should have done differently.”
“I suggest you try to get some rest. I have a feeling things are only going to get more stressful from here on out.”
“I should call my family,” she said thoughtfully.
“No phone calls tonight,” he said firmly.
She straightened in the chair. “But, they’ll be worried about me.”
“They’ll just have to stay worried for now,” he replied. “If it was just you here I wouldn’t give a damn who you called, but I’m in this mess, too, and I don’t want a slip of your tongue to allow anyone to figure out where we are, so no calls tonight. Now I’ll show you the bedrooms.” He looked at her expectantly.
She got up from the table. The wedding gown felt as if it weighed a million pounds. “I don’t suppose you have a pair of jeans and a T-shirt in my size hanging around.”
“No, but I can probably find you a T-shirt and a pair of sweatpants in my size,” he replied as they walked through the living room and down a hallway.
“Bathroom is there,” he said, pointing to a doorway on the right. She peeked in to see blue towels and a matching shower curtain. “Bedroom one, two and three.” He pointed to each of the next three doorways.
She walked into the nearest one where there was a double bed, a dresser and nothing else. “This is fine,” she said, suddenly more weary than she’d ever been in her life. She sat on the edge of the bed. “If you could just get me those clothes, I won’t bother you anymore.”
He nodded and disappeared from the doorway. It hadn’t taken her long to realize that Jason was a man who liked to get his own way and she had a feeling Micah Stone was cut from the same cloth. Well, he’d know soon enough that she was a woman who wasn’t pushed easily.
He returned with a black T-shirt and a pair of gray jogging pants. He also brought with him a length of rope. “I figured you could use the rope as a belt. I doubt you’ll be able to keep those pants up without one. There are new toothbrushes under the sink in the bathroom. Feel free to use anything else in there that you need. I’ll see you when you wake up.”
He left the room and closed the door behind him. She got up and locked the door, although she had a feeling if Micah wanted to come back inside, no simple lock would keep him out. Still, pressing the button on the doorknob gave her a small sense of control.
Control. She nearly laughed at the idea as she unzipped the hateful gown and stepped out of it. The laughter never materialized, and instead tears burned hot in her eyes.
What a mess. Agreeing to go off with Jason had been uncharacteristic of her, but he’d been charmingly insistent and she’d been too long without both a vacation and a boyfriend.
She pulled on the T-shirt over her bra, instantly engulfed by the fragrance of Micah’s faint cologne, a clean scent mixed with a bit of spice. She found it oddly comforting as she pulled down the bedspread and crawled beneath the sheets.
That was her last thought before sleep overtook her. When she woke up, sunshine danced into the nearby window, and by the cast of the sun she figured it must be late morning.
Surely by now the authorities in Fortuna would have caught Jason’s killer and her name would be cleared. She could go home, get back to work at the store and put this entire nightmare behind her.
She got out of bed and pulled on the jogging pants, finding them ridiculously big, but certainly better than the damned wedding gown. Using the rope as a belt, she managed to secure them around her waist, then she opened the bedroom door and peered out into the hall.
The
