Wicked Haunts (An Ivy Morgan Mystery Book 12)

by Lily Harper Hart

  Jack forced a tight smile. “We’ll do right by her. We’ll figure out what happened here.”

  “I know you will. I’m going to head back down to the truck for a few minutes. I just ... need a little air.”

  They were outside so there was nothing but air, but Jack understood what was bothering her. If Janice was dead, where was Phoebe? And why was her purse discovered in the woods so close to the house they shared?

  “I’ll be down there in a few minutes,” Jack promised. “We’ll figure it out. We won’t stop until we do.”

  Three

  Brian Nixon, Jack’s partner on the Shadow Lake Police Department, arrived quickly. He spied Ivy sitting on the ground near Jack’s truck, gave her a cursory glance, and then headed straight for his partner.

  “What’s wrong with Ivy?”

  “I happen to think she’s perfect,” Jack said dryly, causing Brian to roll his eyes.

  “You’re a sap where she’s concerned, there’s no doubt about that. You’re such a sap it’s sickening. She’s usually in the thick of things when a body is found, though. You generally have to warn her to stay away.”

  “She’s had a long day.” Jack longed to join her by the truck but he had a job to do, and he was nothing if not diligent. “Janice Green is dead on the floor inside.”

  Brian peered around his partner’s shoulder. Given the angle, he couldn’t see anything, but Jack wasn’t known for being theatrical (other than when he was fretting over Ivy) so the senior detective knew what to expect. “Why were you even here?”

  “Ivy and I went for a hike in the woods. She got new boots, which turned out to be a total waste of money because she’s going to have blisters the size of my hands on her feet for the next few days. Anyway, we were taking a rest when I noticed an old shack in the woods. Ivy mentioned something about Max telling her it belonged to a witch. I was going to check it out, but Ivy found a purse in the underbrush before I could.”

  Brian furrowed his brow. “A purse? I know the place you’re talking about. It used to be a regular party spot. The kids forgot about it a few years ago. It’s a pain to get to.”

  “Well, we checked inside the purse and it belongs to Phoebe Green. We were bringing it to the house, which is how we found Janice. As for that shack no longer being a party spot, I wouldn’t say that. There’s a bunch of discarded beer cans and other garbage behind what’s left of the house. Most of it looks fresh. Either it was rediscovered or ... .”

  “It was never really abandoned,” Brian finished. “Okay. Can you tell how Janice was killed?”

  Jack shook his head. “She’s obviously dead, though. I’m not sure for how long. I would say more than a few hours, less than a week. That’s my best guess. We’re going to need to make entry to get a better picture. I figured we would wait until the medical examiner got here so they could do that bug analysis thing they do without our interference.”

  “I don’t have an issue with that,” Brian said. “It’s just ... where is Phoebe? If her mother has been dead for days, how is it that she hasn’t noticed?”

  Jack had been wondering that exact thing himself. “I don’t know. I think that’s what Ivy is worried about. If Janice is dead inside, and Phoebe’s purse was found abandoned at a local party spot, what does that mean for her?”

  Brian caught on relatively quickly. “Ah, geez. You’re worried she’s dead inside, too, aren’t you?”

  “I’m worried. Maybe not that she’s dead inside, but that doesn’t seem out of the realm of possibility. I’m worried that she might be in trouble and we have no idea how long she’s been gone or what happened to her.”

  “Well, then we need to get inside.” Brian was grim as he turned his attention to the van pulling into the driveway. “Here’s the medical examiner. Let’s see what we can find, shall we?”

  IVY REMAINED IN HER SPOT on the ground. She told herself it was because she didn’t want to infringe on the investigation, but that wasn’t true. She felt overwhelmed, as if the weight of the world was suddenly resting on her shoulders, and she had no idea why.

  She watched Jack converse with Brian before they forced the front door for the medical examiner to enter. The two police officers waited on the porch until the medical team cleared the way for them to enter, allowing Jack to send Ivy one more worried look before disappearing inside.

  In truth, as much as she loved him, Ivy was happy for the reprieve. She needed to think, although why that seemed so important given the current circumstances was beyond her.

  Once she was certain she was alone, she pushed herself to her sore feet, making a groaning noise as pain shot through her heels. She hated showing weakness in front of others — especially Jack, because he took it to heart — but she was fine being a hypochondriac when left to her own devices.

  “The blisters will probably get infected and my feet will fall off,” Ivy griped, moving up the driveway. She walked so slowly that she was surprised she managed to cover any ground at all. “That would be just my luck. That’s what I get for believing internet reviews. I’ll never walk normal again.”

  As if to prove a point, Ivy leaned forward and rested her hand on Janice’s Lexus, relieving some of the pressure she felt on her heels. The moment her fingers touched the smooth exterior of the vehicle, a hundred different images invaded her mind.

  Ivy gasped as she tried to absorb what she was seeing, her breath coming in short bursts and a myriad of images and voices played out in her head. Everything overlapped, making for a jumbled mess, and she slowly sank to the ground as she tried to grasp what she was seeing without screaming.

  FROM INSIDE THE HOUSE, Jack watched the medical examiner’s team work. He was curious about their findings. After a cursory search of the house, Brian and Jack felt comfortable saying Phoebe wasn’t there. It was a mild relief — finding her dead would’ve only compounded things — but the fact that she was still out there, perhaps in trouble, worried them both.

  “Can you give us a time of death?” Brian asked Mary Peebles, one of the assistant medical examiners who just happened to be on call for the county.

  “You know that’s not how it works,” Mary chided, shaking her head. “I need more time.”

  “Give us a ballpark,” Brian insisted. “Her daughter is missing. We need to know what sort of timeframe we’re dealing with if we expect to find her.”

  Mary lifted her eyebrows. “Are you considering the daughter a suspect or a victim?”

  “Both until we know better. We don’t know if she’s in trouble or caused trouble. We’ll approach the situation as if she needs help to start. Still, we need a time of death.”

  Mary licked her lips as she regarded the body. “I’m going to say this happened about seventy-four hours ago. That can and probably will change by several hours. This house is cool, which means the air conditioner was running. That helps. It doesn’t look like there’s a large insect infestation.”

  “Joy,” Jack muttered, shaking his head. “What about cause of death?”

  “She’s got bruising around her neck, which suggests she was strangled. We’ll see if we can find any usable prints or maybe even a handprint impression, but I wouldn’t hold my breath. Because her body has been here so long, decomp is pronounced. It won’t be as easy to do either of those things as it would’ve been if you found her sooner.”

  “We didn’t know to look,” Jack said dryly, earning a stern stare from Brian as the older detective grabbed his partner’s arm and tugged him toward the door.

  “We thank you for your expert opinion and stellar work, Mary,” Brian called out. “You have no idea how much we appreciate your diligence.”

  Mary merely snorted in reply.

  Jack waited until they were on the front porch to voice his concern. “Three days. She’s been dead for three days. Where the heck is Phoebe?”

  “I have no idea. I don’t even know much about the kid. We need to let Mary finish her work and then search the house. We should probabl
y contact Janice’s ex-husband, too. There’s always the chance that Phoebe is staying with her father.”

  “Well, if we’re going to start interviewing people, I should probably get Ivy home,” Jack noted. “I ... .” He broke off when he realized she was no longer by his vehicle and instead resting on the ground next to Janice’s Lexus, her eyes squeezed shut. She was white as a ghost. “Ivy?”

  Even Brian, who often thought Jack was utterly ridiculous when it came to his future wife, was concerned as he descended the steps and rushed in Ivy’s direction. “Is she okay? What’s wrong with her?”

  “I don’t know.” Jack dropped to his knees and pressed his hand to Ivy’s forehead. She was warm, like worrisomely so, and his initial instinct was to get help. “I’m taking her to the hospital.” He moved to slide his arms under Ivy’s legs so he could lift her, but the feisty woman whom he’d given his heart to was clearly listening because she slapped his hand away and opened her blue eyes.

  “I’m not going to the hospital.”

  “Oh, yes you are.” Jack was firm. “You’re burning up.”

  “I’m sitting in the sun.” She inclined her chin to the sky. “I don’t exactly handle heat well. You might not remember that because we were just starting to date last summer and I was adamant about making sure I didn’t look goofy so I avoided high sun times so you wouldn’t think I was a wuss. Now I don’t care about looking goofy, though.”

  “You never look goofy.” Jack was sincere. “You’re pale, though, honey. I mean ... scary pale.”

  “I have to agree with Jack on this one.” Brian hunkered down so he was at eye level with Ivy. “What are you even doing over here? If you needed a break from the sun you should’ve climbed into Jack’s truck. I’m sure he would’ve left it running for you if need be.”

  “It wasn’t the sun. At least ... I’m not sure it was really the sun.” Ivy looked uncomfortable as she shifted on the ground. “My feet hurt.”

  “I heard.” Brian pressed his lips together and made an expression that was hard to read. “I don’t understand what that has to do with you being on the ground.”

  Ivy turned rueful. “I was walking toward the house. I’m not even sure why. My feet hurt, though, and when I reached out to catch myself on Janice’s car I saw ... I heard ... .” Ivy wasn’t sure how to explain the visions. Brian was aware she’d been going through a metamorphosis of sorts — he’d been front and center for a few of her magical displays — but what she saw in her head when she touched Janice’s vehicle was beyond that.

  “What did you see, honey?” Jack prodded.

  “I don’t know. It was Janice. I know that. She was yelling at someone, very upset. She kept saying how she got zero respect and no one cared about her feelings. It was a lot of ranting. It was hard to make out, because there was a lot of screaming, though, and it didn’t sound like angry screaming. More like … ‘I’m dying’ screaming.”

  Jack instinctively reached out and smoothed her hair. “Okay, well, what did you see? You said you saw things.”

  “Janice in the house. Janice yelling. Something happened where she was moving fast, kind of running through the house. I think I would have to see her hallways to be certain, but that’s what I feel. She was running ... and she said she was sorry and would never do it again.”

  Jack and Brian exchanged weighted looks.

  “Did you see who was chasing her?” Brian asked finally.

  Ivy shook her head. “No. It was hard for me to make out what was happening. I’m sorry.”

  “Don’t apologize.” Jack practically dared Brian to admonish her with a single look. “You’re doing your best. You’ve given us something we didn’t already have.”

  “Like what?”

  “Yeah, like what?” Brian echoed.

  “Like the fact that Janice clearly knew her killer,” Jack replied, matter-of-fact. “You said she was apologizing, that she said she wouldn’t do it again. That suggests she knew her attacker.”

  “I’m more interested in figuring out where Phoebe is,” Brian admitted. “I don’t know her well — my kids were older than her — but she never seemed like a problem child. In fact, she was always pleasant and nice ... unlike the teenagers she hung around with.”

  “You mentioned her father,” Jack prodded, his hands busy as they attacked the kinks in Ivy’s neck. He was eager to make her as comfortable as possible. “What’s the story behind the divorce? Was it amicable? Were they at each other’s throats?”

  “It was about five years ago, maybe six,” Brian answered, searching his memory. “I don’t remember it being loud and confrontational. That simply wasn’t Janice’s way. She seemed crushed when Brad told her he wanted to separate.”

  “How do you know that Brad asked for the separation?”

  “Because Brad was the one having an affair,” Ivy volunteered, memories sliding around in her mind and clicking into place. “I remember now. It was a big deal because Brad left Janice for her best friend, Nikki Dillon.”

  Brian nodded in agreement. “Janice held her head up high as long as she could — and she was much more stoic than I would’ve managed if I was in her position — but everyone in town was talking about what happened. Nikki and Janice were best friends, constantly together, and then suddenly Brad was moving out of the house he shared with Janice and into the one Nikki owned.”

  Jack made a face. “I would imagine that happens fairly often. I mean ... it’s bad ... but it’s not unheard of.”

  “It’s bad in the city,” Ivy corrected. “In a town the size of Shadow Lake, it’s something you can’t escape from. I mean, Max is technically my best friend, but can you imagine if you left me for Max? None of us would ever be able to live it down.”

  Jack scowled. “Did you have to say that?”

  “Don’t be homophobic.”

  “Oh, I’m not being homophobic. Max is simply a pain in the butt. Everything I find adorable about you— every stray thought and ridiculous comment — is something that drives me crazy about him. Max and I would never survive a relationship. Pick a different example.”

  Ivy was amused despite herself and Jack found the fist wrapped around his heart easing as she mustered a genuine smile.

  “Fine.” She held up her hands in capitulation. “I won’t bring it up a second time. I was simply trying to explain why what happened was probably a bigger deal here than it would’ve been in the city.”

  “And I get it.” Jack rolled his neck until it cracked. “What happened after that? I mean ... obviously they got divorced. Did the husband marry the best friend?”

  Brian bobbed his head. “He did. He didn’t seem even remotely sorry for what he did. Keep in mind, Nikki was quite a bit younger than Janice but still about a decade older than Phoebe.

  “For her part, Phoebe, as I remember it, didn’t have anything to do with him after everything came out,” he continued. “She took her mother’s side. I think most kids would do that in the same situation.”

  “It might not even have been that she sided with her mother as much as she was mortified by what her father did,” Ivy suggested. “If my father did that ... nope. Never mind.” She vehemently shook her head. “If my father did that to my mother I would’ve set him and his new girlfriend on fire. It makes sense for Phoebe to have sided with her mother given the way Brad hurt her.”

  “That was five years ago, though.” Jack did the math in his head. “Phoebe would’ve been how old?”

  “A teenager,” Brian replied. “I think she was about seventeen or eighteen.”

  “Eighteen,” Ivy automatically answered. “I remember because, not long after the big split, I saw Nikki at the grocery store. Someone called her a whore — you know how that goes in a small town — and one of her excuses for doing what she did was that Phoebe was an adult and it wasn’t as if she stole a man away from a minor child. As if that somehow made what she did okay.”

  “So Phoebe is twenty-three,” Brian mused. “I guess t
hat fits. She was in college up until a few months ago, I think. She graduated.”

  “You know more about her than I do,” Ivy said. “We’re about six years apart, but it feels like a lifetime. We never talked or had anything in common.”

  “So, where should we start looking for her?” Jack asked. “Obviously we’ll talk to the father and former best friend — I’m sure that will be a lovely conversation, by the way — but after that we’re going to need some direction if Brad doesn’t know anything about his daughter’s current habits.”

  “Last time I heard, Phoebe still didn’t communicate with Brad unless she absolutely had to,” Brian said. “I don’t think that relationship thawed very much over the years.”

  “Definitely not,” Ivy agreed. “I think Janice was dating Ross Stewart, though. He’s the guy who recently took over as the bank manager.”

  “Really?” Brian was intrigued. “I didn’t know that.”

  “I saw them downtown a few weeks ago. They were holding hands and seemed happy. I’d forgotten Janice knew how to smile. The relationship might have been new — heck, it was probably really new — but they seemed to be getting along. I was happy for her because she’d been unhappy for such a long time.”

  “So we can talk to Ross Stewart, too,” Brian said. “That’s at least somewhere to start. We need to track down Phoebe’s friends as well. My guess is that she was out at that shack with them and left her purse, although the timing seems ridiculously convenient given her mother’s death.”

  “Yeah, that timeline isn’t going to make sense until we put everything together,” Jack said. “For now, we’ll start with the ex-husband. The ex is always a suspect. We’ll move our investigative circle outward from there.”

  “That sounds like a solid way to approach things,” Brian agreed. “We’d best get started.”

  Four

  Jack wasn’t keen on dropping Ivy at home. She was unusually quiet, contemplative. She seemed lost in her own head. He recognized he had a job to do, but he was leery about leaving her to dwell on the developments of the day.