Broken Beginnings: A High Heat Small Town Romance Suspense (Citrus Cove Book 1)

I HEARD Haley scream right as I walked out the doors and took off running. My heart pounded as I sprinted across the parking lot, reaching for her as I made it to her car.

Fuck.

She screamed the moment I touched her, but I turned her around, gripping her shoulders. “It’s me, Hal. It’s me.”

Every muscle in her body was tense. She threw herself into my arms, burying her face against my chest. My gaze fell on her cherry Corvette and on the damage that someone had inflicted.

And the body in the front seat.

“Fuck,” I breathed, shock settling in. Haley clung to me, a broken sob leaving her.

“She was at the bar,” Haley cried. “She was at the bar. She told me you were a keeper. Now she’s dead. Why is she in my car?”

I drew in a breath, forcing myself to stay calm. Someone had been murdered right here in my parking lot, their body shoved in my girlfriend’s car. This was a nightmare.

“Everything alright?” a stranger called.

I glanced over my shoulder at them. “Go inside and get Hunter if you can.”

The man nodded and jogged toward the winery. I held on to Hal as I pulled my phone out of my pocket, calling the police station. My eyes never left the body in the front seat. It was dark in this part of the parking lot, but I could still see her expression, lifeless but frozen in terror.

That could have been Hal.

My blood chilled.

“Are you calling the police?” Haley whispered.

“Yes,” I said.

She nodded, her sniffles quieting.

The line answered, a familiar voice. “Police Department⁠—”

“Alexa,” I said. “We have a problem at the winery.”

“First of all, Harlow, you should call me Officer⁠—”

“Someone’s dead.”

“Fuck,” she growled. “God damn it. My night was looking like it was going to be easy, but nope. I’ll grab the sheriff and call others in. Don’t touch them. Don’t move anything. We’ll be right there.”

The call ended, and I shook my head. I sometimes questioned the benefits of being in a small town, but at least I knew that the entire department would be here within a few minutes.

“Hey!”

I glanced over my shoulder as Hunter and Colt ran up.

“Y’all okay?” Colt asked, grabbing my shoulder. Haley peeled away from me, her expression pained. Colt’s eyes flashed to the car and then to the woman. “Holy fuck,” he breathed out, paling.

Hunter slowed to a stop next to us, his expression becoming unreadable. “That’s Darlene Abbott. She’s a teacher at the elementary school. Fuck.”

A solemn silence settled over our group.

It wasn’t supposed to be like this. Not in a place like Citrus Cove. Nothing like this ever happened here before.

Haley shook her head, tears streaming down her cheeks. I pulled her close again, not wanting to let her go.

Not wanting the killer to get to her.

Her arms wrapped around my waist. I closed my eyes, breathing in. Breathing out. Steadying myself. I needed to be strong for her right now.

“We’ll shut down the bar,” Hunter said, “Sammy is wrapping up a few things and can help. While y’all were busy earlier, it died down quite a bit, so it should be quick.”

I nodded. “I think that’s for the best.”

“Do you want me to stay with y’all?” Colt asked.

“No,” I said. “We’ll be right here. Go ahead and help get everyone out.”

Colt nodded. He and Hunter both jogged back toward the doors. Like Hunter said, most of the parking lot had cleared out now. There wasn’t anyone parked near where we stood.

“I can’t believe this,” Haley whispered.

“I know, baby. I can’t either.”

“He’s haunting me. Someone’s dead now because of me.”

“No,” I said, grabbing her shoulders. I made her look up at me, holding her teary gaze. “This is not your fault. None of this is your fault. You’re just as much a victim as she is. Okay?”

“He’s watching me. I knew that, but I still came out tonight and… what if he hurts someone else? What about you? What about your family? What about Honey and Sarah and the kids? If something happened to any of you, I would never forgive myself.”

“Nothing will happen to us.”

“You don’t know that,” she whispered. Her brows drew together, her head shaking. “You can’t promise that. Something could happen to any of us.”

The sound of her phone receiving a text interrupted what I wanted to say. I felt a chill up my spine as she fell silent.

“Let me see your phone,” I said.

She reached into her bag and pulled it out. I took it, looking at the screen.

Unknown: Do you like my gift? It should have been you. 

Every part of me wanted to respond. To tell them to fuck off. To tell them I would stop them.

“It’s him, isn’t it?” Haley whispered.

“Yes.”

“Let me see.”

She snatched the phone away before I could tighten my grip. I watched as she read the message, her expression becoming unreadable.

I hated this. I hated seeing the way her shoulders slumped as she looked back at her car. I hated knowing that I couldn’t do anything to make it better at the moment.

It couldn’t keep going like this. Somehow, we had to catch the killer. I couldn’t let anything happen to her. I couldn’t let her end up like this woman.

My stomach twisted, fear rolling through me.

She was the woman of my dreams, and yet she was living a nightmare. A nightmare that I couldn’t stop.

The sound of shoes on gravel drew my attention. I looked back to see Hunter locking up the front doors. Colt and Sammy were already running toward us. The last few people straggled to their cars, getting in to leave.

“Hey,” Sammy said as he joined us. “Fuck.” His expression fell when he saw Darlene.

“We’ll need to look at the cameras,” Colt said. “Maybe they caught something. A face or car. License plate, maybe. We could at least see what happened with Darlene, maybe.”

“Maybe,” I said.

What I didn’t say was that I already knew the cameras didn’t reach this far, especially at night. In fact, this part of the parking lot was darker than I would have liked.

If the killer murdered her right here, more than likely, we would have nothing. No clues. No footage to find the criminal.

“We need more lights,” I said, glancing at Sammy.

Not like it mattered now.

Sammy grimaced. “This is terrible. Maybe we should go inside until the police get here. And where the fuck are they?”

“Alexa probably called the whole damn squad,” I sighed.

The four of us were silent for a moment, staring at the car.

Hunter joined us. “Everyone’s gone. I locked the front doors for now.”

“Thank you,” I whispered.

“Haley,” Hunter said. “How are you holding up?”

We all focused on her. She slipped her phone into her purse and pressed her lips together. “First, my apartment is ruined, and now my Corvette.” Haley sighed. “He’s taking everything from me. Soon, I’ll have nothing left. I feel like all of this is my fault. She didn’t deserve to die.”

The flicker of fear in her words enraged me.

“This isn’t your fault, Haley,” Colt said. “Do you want me to call anyone? Honey? Sarah?”

“No,” she sighed. “I’ll call Emma later. I don’t want to worry Honey. It’s late. And Sarah… can’t talk to me.”

Colt’s expression turned icy. “Right.”

Red and blue lights flashed down the road leading to us.

“About damn time,” I muttered, glaring.

We watched as a cruiser pulled in, skidding to a halt and kicking up dust. Several others pulled in behind them, and as I’d guessed, the entire department was here, along with an ambulance.

Bud got out of the car, regarding me over the top. “I should have known you’d be involved, Harlow.”

I resented that. It wasn’t like I was an actual troublemaker. At least not anymore. The only person in this town that I truly had it out for was David Connor.

Well. And now Andy. Andy had put himself on my shit list as of tonight.

“There’s a killer on the loose, Bud,” I returned, keeping my voice light and friendly despite the seriousness of what I said.

“Keep your voice down, god damn it,” Bud hissed, glancing back at the parking lot. The last car was already leaving but driving slowly.

“Rubberneck,” Hunter muttered.

“The whole town will know something’s going on by tomorrow morning,” I said. It was just the way it was.

Alexa got out of the cruiser with another officer, the two of them coming over to us. Our group took a step back to let the cops do what they needed to.

I took one last glance at Darlene and then slipped my arm around Haley. “I think we should move a little further away.”

“Why?” she whispered. “She’s still dead, even if she’s not in our sight.”

I winced.

I heard Bud cuss as he went to the Corvette, checking the body. “She’s dead.”

“No fucking shit,” Hunter hissed.

“Hey,” Alexa snapped, giving him a sharp look.

Hunter shrugged, his expression tense.

Bud came back over to us as other officers began to work. He stopped in front of Haley and me. “This your car?” Bud asked her.

“Yes,” Haley said, pulling away from me. “It is.”

“Any idea who could have done it?”

“Really, Bud?” I bit out. I didn’t fight to keep the edge from my voice. I was frustrated, and sheriff or not, I was going to make sure he knew that.

“Well, I’m asking because we got a call from someone saying you beat the shit out of them, Harlow.”

I ground my teeth, trying to keep my temper at bay. “Andy,” I growled. I hated that guy.

“This wasn’t him,” Haley interjected. Her voice had become eerily calm and strong, not a single word wavering. “It says ‘you’re next,’ which is exactly what the killer has said to me before. He must have done this to my car and then killed the woman. Or the other way around. Andy was rude to me earlier, but I don’t think he would have killed Darlene.”

I glanced at Hunter and Colt, the three of us wary.

“You don’t know for sure,” I said.

“Andy didn’t do this,” Haley insisted.

“We have to explore all the options,” Bud said, but he didn’t sound convinced.

The fact was Citrus Cove was currently home to a killer. And we didn’t know who they were or how to find them.