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He’d tried not to think about the boy’s fate. If Beckett had harmed him . . .
Hez started walking toward the cemetery entrance as fast as his unsteady legs permitted, and she fell into step beside him. “I’ll call Hope as soon as I can get to a functioning phone. She might know who to trust in the Pelican Harbor Police Department, and if she doesn’t—”
Savannah gasped and grabbed his arm. “Simon!”
Hez followed her gaze. Simon lay on Ella’s grave. There was a package of candy on his chest.
They rushed to the grave, calling Simon’s name over and over. Relief flooded through Hez when the boy opened his eyes and sat up. The candy slid off his chest as he got to his feet.
Savannah gathered their nephew into her arms and held him tight. Hez squatted down to get a closer view of the candy. Justin’s peanut butter cups. The same candy that lured Ella to her death.
* * *
Moonlight bounced off the white gravestones and illuminated the bizarre scene they’d found. Savannah couldn’t let go of Simon. He clutched her and sobbed with his face pressed against her. She wept, too, as she patted his back to try to comfort him until his shakes stopped and the sobs turned to hiccups. His hair smelled of mud and rain, and he shivered with the cold wind penetrating his wet clothes.
When his grip loosened, she pulled back with her hands on his shoulders and gave him a gentle shake. “What were you thinking going to Beckett’s? You have to stop running off, Simon. You’ll be the death of me. These guys aren’t playing around!” She took off Hez’s jacket and wrapped its warmth around the boy.
Simon pulled away and wiped his dirty, tear-streaked face on the arm of Hez’s jacket. “I have to help my mum, Aunt Savannah. I thought he might tell a kid something he wouldn’t say to someone who could get him in trouble.”
Hez stepped closer and put his hand on the boy’s shoulder. “What do you remember, Simon? Did he answer any of your questions?”
Savannah’s first instinct was to protect Simon from being interrogated right now, but she pressed her lips together and let Hez handle it.
Simon crossed his arms over his chest. “I pounded on his door. When he opened it, I asked why he had framed my mum. He just stared at me and had this creepy grin. He said, ‘You don’t know anything, do you?’ Then he waved at someone behind me. A guy in a ski mask picked me up and carried me to a van. He poked a needle in my arm, and I woke up here.”
Simon shuffled his feet and looked down at a crunching sound. The bag of peanut butter cups was half under his left shoe, and pieces had spilled out of the crushed packaging.
Savannah bent down and grabbed it. “Where did you get this?” The sweet scent of the candy made her want to gag, and she dragged her thoughts away from the horrible memories.
Simon stared at the bag in her hands. “It’s not mine. I’m allergic to peanuts.”
“It was on your chest when we found you,” Hez said.
Savannah’s mouth went dry as she stared at the candy before she raised her gaze to lock with Hez’s. “Who have you told about the candy?”
He shook his head. “No one knew. I mean, when the police showed up, I mentioned Ella had probably been headed for the candy when she fell in the pool, and they jotted it down. Did they ask you about it?”
“They never really said anything about it when they followed up with questions. So who else knew?”
Hez took a step back. “You’re saying someone left the candy here as a warning?”
A glance at Simon’s curious face made Savannah check her initial response. “I don’t know what it means.”
But she knew. They both did. Beckett was warning them that if they poked around, Simon might die. But how did Beckett know Ella had likely gone after the bag of candy? It wasn’t something she’d talked about with anyone other than Hez. Not ever—even to Nora. Even she and Hez hadn’t discussed it much after a couple of early fights about who left the bag where it would tempt Ella. Neither of them remembered leaving the bag out there by the pool.
So how had Beckett found out?
Hez exhaled. “Maybe a snitch in the police force gave him the file.”
It would make sense, but it was a cruel thing for Beckett to reference. It showed her the true depth of his depravity. They were up against a monster.
Chapter 38
Hez needed to be mentally sharp, needed it more than he’d ever needed it in his life. Savannah, Simon, and Jess all depended on him outsmarting Beckett and his cronies. But Hez’s postconcussion brain fog was so bad, he couldn’t outsmart the lock screen on his office computer. He struggled with it for twenty minutes, until Simon looked over his shoulder and told him he had caps lock on. Hez had promised to keep the boy continuously in sight today, and he was glad he had.
When Hez finally got into his computer, he couldn’t find his investigative file. He initially thought the problem was his inability to focus, but after a dozen fruitless searches, he realized the truth: His files had been erased. Everything related to the murders, the artifact smuggling, and the university’s finances was gone. The online backup was missing as well. All the pictures Savannah had sent him had vanished, too, so he had no proof that there had ever been extra boxes in the warehouse or that Erik Andersen was in possession of a looted artifact. They were back to square one. Maybe even further back than that.
Hez groaned and leaned back in his chair.
