Eclairs and extortion, p.5
Eclairs and Extortion, page 5
“Stay with me. Ethan will want us to steer clear of the site so we don’t contaminate it.”
He nuzzled her chin as if to say he wouldn’t dream of disturbing anything, and she slipped a finger under his collar, not allowing him the chance.
If she’d learned anything from their forays into cases with the sheriff, it was to not damage any evidence. Maybe "learned" was a strong word, but she was getting better at being careful. Which unfortunately meant that she’d had several opportunities to get it right.
Sitting as still as her cat would allow, it seemed a very long time before she heard a sound to her right. Her watch showed it had only been fifteen minutes.
“We’re over here!” she called.
Ethan immediately appeared between the trees, and Big Red wriggled with more fervor. He wanted to say hi to Ethan, and while Maddie was delighted that her two men were so close, she was sure that the sheriff would be focused on the body before a friendly cat.
Ethan smiled gently from across the small glade, and despite the gruesome reason for them being in the secluded area, her heart danced a fast salsa the closer he got. She stood, holding on to her heavy handful, expecting a kiss hello. But right behind Ethan came Deputy Jacobs wearing a mischievous expression. She simply gave them a weak smile, hoping to hide her disappointment, then pointed toward the body.
“Over there. Like I said, he’s definitely dead.”
“Any idea who it is?” Ethan asked, scoping out the area as he moved carefully forward.
Maddie shook her head. “I didn’t look any closer than his hand, and that was only to check for a pulse.”
“Then how do you know it’s a man?” Deputy Jacobs rubbed Big Red between the ears and tried not to grin when the cat nudged him for more.
“Look at the size of that hand. Unless it’s a female weightlifter, I’m picking it’s a male,” Maddie told him, tamping down a measure of pride that she’d noticed this small detail.
Ethan leaned down to the hand and with a pencil moved some of the vegetation behind for a better look at the body it was attached to. “You’re right. It’s a man. Late thirties—maybe early forties. He hasn’t been here too long by the looks of it. The broken branches are still green. I wonder what he’s pointing at.”
The three of them followed the direction of the finger, but it was toward a boulder and more brambles. A siren sounded in the distance.
“That was fast. The paramedics were out on a call when I rang, so I assumed they’d be a while,” Deputy Jacobs told them.
Maddie shrugged. “It’s Monday. The crew generally take people who can’t get there under their own steam for their doctors checkups and hospital visits. I guess they thought this is more important.”
“Mmmm.”
Ethan was back to studying the body, which Maddie still wasn’t able to see, no matter how much she craned her neck. With the men here it felt okay to be curious. Besides, this wasn’t their first time in a similar situation. She blanched at the thought of this becoming a habit.
“Was he killed here?” she asked.
“We don’t know he was killed,” Deputy Jacobs said over his shoulder, then to Ethan, “I’ll go show them where to come.”
Maddie put Big Red on the ground but held on to his collar. “Surely, to be buried beneath carefully placed greenery indicates he didn’t put himself there?”
Ethan snorted. “You’re getting a little too good at this.”
Maddie wasn’t offended. With the cases she’d been involved in over the last year, she’d found out a great deal about murder, which admittedly sounded weird in her head.
Her grandad had passed down a heavy dose of curiosity and that wasn’t all. Busy with the secret service until he retired, he’d taken time to teach her self-defense and to guard against jumping to conclusions, because things were often not as they seemed. Gran had seemed oblivious to most of his training, but lately it appeared she’d simply turned a blind eye to all but the ones she found most troubling.
Shooting rabbits was necessary on a farm, and Maddie was a crack shot. She could also get herself out of most knots and handle a knife. These were things she didn’t brag about, and when finding herself knee-deep in a case, she’d employed several tactics to keep herself and those she loved alive. It also appeared that Ava was fully aware of the extent of his teachings.
Ethan pulled out gloves from one of the many pockets of his uniform and slipped them on. From another he extracted a small camera and proceeded to take pictures from different angles, moving branches to do so.
“What were you doing here? It’s a little off the track for your walks.”
Maddie watched everything he did with interest. “Big Red led me to the body. I don’t know how he knew about it.”
“Animals can smell things and sense things we can’t.”
“And he’s particularly clever.” Maddie nuzzled the ginger fur.
Ethan crouched lower. “Ah.”
“What is it?” She craned her neck this way and that, trying to see around him, but she was too far away.
“The back of his head has a massive gash. Although, there’s not a great deal of blood here.” Ethan sounded puzzled.
“Which indicates the murder happened somewhere else and the body was dumped here at a later time,” she stated.
When Ethan wasn’t totally quiet, he tended to talk to himself, which gave Maddie the opportunity to pump him for information he’d be more guarded about when others were around.
“Yep” was his offering as he checked pockets.
“Any ID?”
“Nothing.”
Maddie glanced around her. “I wonder where the murder weapon is. The killer would hardly bring it with the body, would he?”
“Hardly.” Ethan stood, frowning as he scoped the area, picking up a couple of rocks and replacing them carefully. “There’s nothing here, but it could have been dropped somewhere further away. Or the incident didn’t happen here at all. Anyway, here’s the paramedic.”
Maddie knew that look. Ethan had said as much as he cared to. He had a lot to think about, and she didn’t want to distract him. But before she went, she wanted to see the dead man’s face, which would be covered as soon as Ethan gave the word to the paramedic.
Climbing on the log, she let go of Big Red, who bounded over to Ethan and rubbed against his leg. Guiltily, Maddie managed a quick look while Ethan was detained. The man was dark-haired—cut short, twigs stuck to it. He wore jeans and a dark sweater that looked well made. That was all she got before Ethan’s raised eyebrow meant she was out of time.
“I’ll see you later?” she asked hopefully.
“I wouldn’t count on it, but I’ll try.” He offered a small smile before greeting the paramedic who was carrying a board for the body.
Maddie nodded at the man, who shook his head at her in wonder. She guessed her presence was getting to be a regular occurrence at this kind of thing, and that made things a little awkward.
Calling Big Red, she made a wide berth of the area. Deciding she wasn’t capable of focusing on the cooking class scheduled for tonight, she would ring her students and postpone until tomorrow. If she could, she would have moved it to next week for a double class, except that was the week of Gran’s birthday. There was slim chance of it going ahead, but if it did she’d have too much to do.
With the body being moved and no one paying him any attention, Big Red was happy to leave with Maddie. They walked swiftly back to the bakery, and Maddie rang her students straight away, careful to evade the exact reason for the postponement. Everyone was happy to come on Tuesday apart from Nora Beatty, who could be difficult at the best of times.
Maddie sighed with relief after her last call. Hopefully, by tomorrow things might be clearer about the dead man, and the town would rest easy again, because they would surely all know by morning.
Speaking of which, Ava and Gran had been together for a good part of the day, and Maddie thought that was probably long enough. She set off again with Big Red, who never liked to be omitted from an outing, especially ones to the cottage.
Chapter Seven
Ava sat on the edge of Grandad’s recliner by the front door, looking ready to bolt when she saw Maddie coming up the path.
Maddie nodded, scraping her boots on the spikey hedgehog boot cleaner situated at the door. The grass had been damp at the park, and anyone with common sense would do likewise so as not to incur Gran’s wrath by mucking up her floors or carpets.
“Hello, Madeline.” Ava startled Maddie with the cool greeting and by following her into the utility room.
“Hello, Mom.”
“Busy day?”
Well, this was awkward, but at least her mom was trying to converse. Only, Maddie was also out of practice. “Very.”
“Where’s the boyfriend? He seems as infatuated with you as he was when you were teenagers, and I assumed he’d be with you every minute of the day.”
Maddie's skin prickled, undecided whether her mother was attempting conversation or being deliberately insulting. “He’s on an important case. I imagine he’ll be involved with that for most of the evening.”
“An important case? In Maple Falls?” Ava laughed shrilly.
“We get them, even here,” Maddie replied stiffly.
“Nothing much happened when I lived here, although I did hear that you and the sheriff are involved in cases on a regular basis.”
It almost sounded like a question, and Maddie had that premonition of dread she often associated with her mom. “I wouldn’t say it was a regular occurrence.”
“But you do spend a lot of time together? Any wedding bells in the air?”
“Mom!”
“What? A mother can’t ask a simple question about the boyfriend’s intentions?”
Gran was setting the table for dinner. “Stop teasing her, Ava. You gave up rights to know what Maddie is up to when you left her behind. She’ll tell you when there’s something to tell.”
Ava threw herself onto a chair, almost overbalancing, and just missed Big Red with a flailing leg. Maddie wasn’t sure if her mom was simply mad at Gran or embarrassed about her near miss but now she was red-faced and ornery.
“Can we just have one conversation without you bringing up the past?”
Gran nodded. “One day. When you’re not bringing the past home with you.”
Immediately Ava was contrite. “Look, I didn’t mean to bring any trouble your way. Usually I can handle things for myself. This is different.”
Gran added water glasses. “We know, and we forgive you, dear.”
“Forgiven, but not forgotten?” Ava mused.
“That’s about it. Why don’t you tell us about your husband instead?” Gran took the seat next to Ava and nodded for Maddie to sit opposite them.
Ava gave them a nervous look, then sighed. “William is wonderful. He has many important acquaintances around the world, but he keeps a low profile because he’s a quiet man and doesn’t like too much fuss.”
Hearing sincerity and affection in Ava’s voice caught Maddie off guard. “Didn’t it occur to you to invite Gran and me to the wedding?”
Ava’s eyes widened. “What for? You’d have hated it. Both of you.”
Gran tilted her head. “I don’t know why you’d think that. We might have liked to decide for ourselves.”
Ava snorted. “It was in Las Vegas.”
“Oh.” Gran grimaced at the idea.
“Exactly. Not really your thing, is it?”
“I’m sure it didn’t have to be there. Especially if your husband is the quiet type,” Gran insisted.
Ava shrugged. “It was a spur of the moment thing. William is busy, so we took the opportunity when he had to go there for business. That way we didn’t have to invite his family either. They were certainly more upset than you two.”
Her mom might be playing this down, but a frown marred her brow, and Maddie’s curiosity overcame her shock. “Why would your marriage upset them?”
“Because of me. I’m nothing as far as his brother is concerned. White trash. They think the marriage was all my idea and that I coerced William into it.”
Gran’s breath whistled out and she slammed a hand on the table. “You are not white trash. We are not white trash.”
Ava held up a hand. “Okay, so those words were not exactly spoken but I knew what Nicholas was thinking.”
“We’re hardly poor either,” Gran added stiffly.
Ava snorted. “You can’t possibly compare the two lifestyles.”
“I don’t know what you mean by that, but it makes no difference,” Gran protested. “We have everything we need.”
“Besides, what does it matter how much we have in the bank?” Maddie asked.
“It matters a great deal to Nicholas. He doesn’t want William attached to someone who has no money and appears to be a gold digger. And now I can’t reach him or Jerry.” Ava bit back a sob and made a big deal about checking for something in her bag.
To give her mother a moment, Maddie looked out the dining room window to the large garden where Laura was weeding. A thought swirled around her head and settled heavily on her heart.
“How tall is William?”
Ava had always stated that she liked tall men—it was a deal breaker as far as she was concerned, but this was not the real reason Maddie asked. The John Doe at the park hadn’t appeared to be very tall.
“About our height, or marginally taller. Maybe five eight.” Ava’s lips trembled.
Maddie couldn’t help grimacing. “Would Nicholas ever hurt his brother?"
Ava’s attention refocused, and her voice was harsh. “William wouldn’t even think about the possibility. I have my suspicions, but why do you ask?”
Gran leaned forward and looked deep into Maddie’s eyes. “You know something. Or something’s happened.”
Ethan wouldn’t be happy with her telling anyone about the body but Maddie could never lie to Gran. “I shouldn’t say anything.”
Ava also leaned toward Maddie. “Don’t hold back on my account. I’ve seen a lot of ugly. More than you can imagine. Tell me what you know, especially if it concerns my husband.”
The demanding tone should have put Maddie off, yet their whole relationship was dysfunctional, so when Gran nodded, and against her better judgement, the words slipped out. “A body’s been found.”
Blood drained from her mom’s face. “William?”
Naturally, that’s how it sounded and Maddie was annoyed with herself. “I’m not saying that, but do you have a photo of your husband?”
“To check in case it is him?” Ava demanded hoarsely.
“Actually, I’d like to see what my . . . stepfather looks like.” The words were unnatural on Maddie’s tongue as she willed her mom to calm down.
Ava twisted her hands several times before fetching her bag. A few seconds later, she placed a photo in front of Maddie. William looked nice. Dark hair. Round face. Clean shaven. Laughter lines around his eyes as he smiled at the camera.
Maddie shook her head in relief. “The man I found does look a little like him, but it isn’t William.”
Ava grabbed Maddie’s forearm, fingers digging into her skin. “Are you positive it’s not him?”
Seeing her mother so upset was a revelation and yet confusing. Ava wasn’t pretending. She truly cared for her husband, which went against everything Maddie knew about her. She was a love ‘em and leave ‘em kind of woman. Or so she’d professed to be, and the town had agreed.
Maddie peeled off the fingers, reminded gruesomely of the one in the woods. “I am. What does Nicholas look like?”
Ava’s eyes widened. “Similar to William. I mean, you can tell they are family but Nicholas is taller and thinner.”
Maddie shook her head again. “I don’t believe this man was tall, and he was quite stocky.”
Ava’s eyes widened. “This body—it looked like my husband, you say?”
“That’s right. Why?”
“I’ve been trying to get hold of William’s cousin. His phone keeps ringing but there’s no answer.” Ava paled again.
Maddie frowned. “What does his cousin have to do with this?”
Her mother resumed wringing her hands. “Marcus looks very much like William. Nearly as tall and stockier.”
Maddie gasped. “You think he might be the person we found?”
Ava trembled. “I truly hope not, but it’s possible. William asked him to bring me here, but I thought Marcus was now waiting in Destiny for William and Jerry.”
“You should come down to the station. Ethan will want to talk to you.” Maddie stood.
“The police station?” Ava trembled. “Do you think he was murdered?”
Maddie tapped her thigh. “I don’t honestly know and it’s probably too early to be certain. Will you come?”
Her mom frowned. “I suppose so. I just don’t like those places.”
“Our sheriff’s station is nice and friendly,” Maddie assured her, wondering how many times her mom had been through the doors of a police station.
Ava snorted, but stood and picked up her bag from a chair. Grateful for the easy capitulation, Maddie jumped up from her seat.
Gran interrupted. “Maddie will need to collect her car. Unless you fancy the walk?”
Ava raised an eyebrow. “Are you kidding me? The station is not that close. I’ll wait here.”
Maddie didn’t bother to answer. Kissing Gran, and with Big Red once more at her heels, she jogged back to the bakery. As soon as she got inside, she called Ethan while feeding Big Red. He was starving after his adventure, despite having persuaded Gran to give him a treat or two.
Then she thought about the dead man and that potentially a killer was in Maple Falls. Frustratingly, but not unusually, her call went to voicemail so Maddie locked up and headed out to the garage. Honey waited in her splendor. The old jeep was a high school graduation present from her grandad, who had lovingly taught her how to maintain the perfect condition she’d been in more than a decade earlier.
Maddie backed Honey out into Plum Place. Night was falling and shadows lengthened along the short drive. The huge maple trees all along the fence line of the paddocks stretched toward the middle of the narrow lane. A nervous person might think this ominous, but to Granddad’s credit, Maddie didn’t scare easily.
