Carrie’s cheeks filled with color as Melanie furrowed her brow.
“Wait ... what?” Melanie shifted her gaze to the woman sitting to her right. “What is she saying?”
Maddie’s hand flew to her mouth. “Oh, dear. Was I not supposed to mention that? I assumed you knew.”
“Knew what?” Melanie’s voice took on an edge. “What are you talking about?”
“I ... um ... .” Maddie made a big show of taking a step back from the bar. “I thought this was something the three of you were working on together. I wholeheartedly apologize.”
“You apologize?” Melanie was on her feet so fast it caused Nick to climb out of his chair. He was prepared to throw himself on the woman if she made a move for his wife.
“I didn’t realize it was an issue,” Maddie offered. “I just assumed ... .” She focused on the assistant, who looked as if she wished she could find a hole to crawl into. “I’m so sorry.”
“No, you’re not,” Carrie snapped. “I think you got exactly the reaction you were hoping for. I’m not an idiot.”
“Don’t yell at her,” Maude chided. “It’s not her fault. It sounds like you were keeping a secret from this one. That’s on you guys, quite frankly. It’s not Maddie’s fault.”
“Oh, shut up, you old bird,” Carrie snapped. She heaved out an exaggerated breath and focused on Melanie. “We were going to tell you.”
“Tell me what?” Melanie was furious.
“Your mother and I had been discussing the best way to go with the brand moving forward.” Carrie licked her lips, clearly readying herself for an explosion. “She decided that I might make a better fit. I wasn’t certain how I felt about it and wanted to wait until we could discuss it together. I guess now that’s never going to happen.”
Melanie was deadly quiet for a long time and then she slapped her hands on the bar. “Do you think I’m an idiot?” She extended a warning finger toward Carrie when the woman opened her mouth to respond. “Don’t bother answering. I know exactly what the two of you were planning. If you think I’m going to sit back and let you take this from me, you’ve got another thing coming.”
Suddenly, Carrie was the picture of innocence. “I would never willingly take anything from you. How can you even suspect I would want to hurt you? You’re like a sister to me.”
“Oh, stuff it.” Melanie was clearly enraged. She downed the rest of her beer and slammed the glass on the countertop with enough force the sound echoed. “I think we should have a talk outside.”
“Of course. I ... of course.” Carrie watched the other woman storm out of the saloon with a blank expression on her face. Her eyes were glittery slits of hate when she turned them on Maddie seconds later. “Did you get the reaction you were looking for?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Maddie replied, using her best “little girl” voice. “I just assumed ... .”
“I’m not an idiot,” Carrie snapped. “Don’t you think that poor woman has been through enough? Her mother was just murdered. Now you’re poking her to get a reaction. You’re not even smooth about it. I mean ... that was amateur hour.”
Maddie’s expression didn’t change. “I’m truly sorry you’re upset.”
“Whatever.” Carrie drained the rest of her beer and headed toward the door. Her steps were much slower and more deliberate, as if she was resigned to stepping in front of a firing squad.
Boone was coming through the swinging doors as she slipped out. He looked curious as he followed the woman’s departure but wisely kept his mouth shut until he was certain she was out of earshot. “Do I even want to know what’s going on with her?” he asked finally.
“Probably not,” Cooper replied, his eyes drifting to the sheriff. “Where have you been? I expected you more than an hour ago.”
“I’ve been running the names supplied by the organizer,” Boone replied, accepting the glass Maude handed him with a smile. “This isn’t alcoholic, is it? I’m on the job.”
“It’s just beer,” Maude replied. “That doesn’t count.”
Boone opened his mouth to debate the point and then shrugged. “Good enough for me.” He took the spot between Cooper and Nick. “We managed to track down everyone on the list ... except one person. Does anybody want to guess who?”
“The assistant,” Maddie and Hannah said at the same time, laughing as they snagged gazes.
“No, the assistant was easy to track down,” Boone replied. “She has a record, by the way. Petty larceny and retail fraud.”
Cooper frowned. “I’m surprised Velma decided to groom a woman with a record as her successor.”
“She might not have known about it,” Boone replied. “Carrie was a minor and her records were buried under seals.”
“And yet you found them,” Hannah noted.
“I’m an industrious guy.” Boone winked at her. “Carrie isn’t the one I was talking about, though. That honor would go to Cadence.”
Maddie made a face. That wasn’t the name she expected him to utter. Technically, she didn’t know who she thought he would point his finger at. Cadence was low on the list, though. “Really?”
Boone nodded. “She’s not who she says she is. I have a deputy scanning the fingerprints we collected last night after everyone left the saloon for the seance. He got a hit about an hour ago.”
“Oh, I can’t wait to hear this.” Cooper leaned forward. “You only build things up like this when it’s good.”
“You know me well,” Boone agreed. “It seems Cadence Carpenter’s real name is Roseanne Goodman. She was last known to be living in Florida. Then her roommate went missing — under very strange circumstances, mind you — and after one round of questioning, Roseanne disappeared. The locals have been looking for her ever since.”
“Did they ever find a body?” Nick queried.
Boone shook his head. “No, but the apartment they shared wasn’t far from a few alligator-infested swamps. The cops there are working on a theory that a body will never be found.”
“Well, that’s very interesting,” Cooper noted. “We should probably find Cadence and have a talk with her.”
Boone bobbed his head. “You read my mind.”
17
Seventeen
They hit Main Street as a group, eyes peeled for Cadence.
“Do you see her?” Hannah asked, slowly scanning each face for the one she was looking for.
Cooper shook his head. “Was she here when you guys walked up?”
“I don’t know. It’s not as if we were focused on her. We had information to share. She wasn’t part of it.”
“Right.” He popped his lips, as was his habit when antsy. “Where would she go?”
“It’s not as if we know her,” Hannah pointed out. “She hasn’t garnered a lot of attention for a reason. She’s been annoying, not murderous.”
“None of them have been overtly murderous,” Boone pointed out. “Technically, for the record, we don’t know that she’s guilty.”
“She has a record, though,” Hannah argued.
“A record doesn’t always indicate guilt,” Nick interjected. “Her motive seems shaky to me.”
“Except you saw the way she took over the seance,” Maddie noted. “She wants to be in charge.”
“So do a lot of people, Mad. Is that need enough to kill someone over?”
“Maybe there was more going on than we realized,” Cooper suggested. “Maybe Cadence had ties to Velma.”
“The only people who would know are the ones we just chased out of the saloon,” Nick noted. “I’m pretty sure they’re not going to be keen on the idea of helping us now.”
“Yeah, well ... hindsight.” Cooper managed a grin that was more grimace and raised his hands. “We’re going to need to search the town. We also need to call whoever is managing the lift at the bottom to see if Cadence is already down the mountain.”
“What if she is?” Maddie queried. “What happens then?”
&n
bsp; “Then I take over the investigation and Casper Creek is essentially cut out,” Boone replied.
“That doesn’t seem fair.” Maddie jutted out her lower lip. “We’ve been involved from the start. We can’t quit before the end. That’s just ... un-American.”
Nick’s lips quirked as he regarded her. “Un-American, huh? Good grief, I love you, Mad.” He pulled her to him and pressed a kiss to her forehead. “You’re not helping with the search, though.” He added the second part in a soft voice, as if he thought he might be able to slide the edict past her without notice.
Maddie’s eyes widened to comical levels and she openly glared at her husband. “Excuse me?”
“You heard me.” Nick refused to back down. “You can’t chase a potential killer in your ... condition.”
That was the final straw. Maddie, who was notoriously even-tempered, lost it. “I’m not pregnant!” She yelled it so loudly a myriad of heads in the center of town snapped in her direction.
Distinctly uncomfortable, Nick shifted from one foot to the other. The smile he offered the psychics was tight. “Hormones,” he offered lamely when they wouldn’t stop staring.
That seemed to be enough to placate the others.
“I can’t believe you just said that,” Maddie grumbled when Nick gently grabbed her elbow and prodded her back toward the saloon.
“Mad, I know you don’t want to talk about this right now — and I honestly can’t blame you because it’s going to mean a big change for us — but I truly believe you’re pregnant.” He said the last part as they moved to within hearing distance of Maude. “I will protect my family the best way I know how, whether you like it or not.”
“Oh, well, that’s obviously a great way to get her to agree with you,” Maude muttered, rolling her eyes. “Are you stupid or something? You can’t suddenly boss her around as if you’re the king and she’s the servant.”
Nick murdered Maude with a glare. “Last time I checked, you don’t have a say in this,” he snapped. “This is my wife ... and my child.”
“There is no child,” Maddie hissed. “I’m not pregnant. I know you’ve got it in your head that I am — and apparently you’re desperate for a child and I didn’t realize it and we’re going to need to talk about that when we get home — but you can’t just decide it without any medical backup.”
“You’re having morning sickness,” Nick argued.
“I got sick in the morning.”
“You’ve been sick more than once.” Nick refused to back down. “You’ve been sick so many times that I was trying to figure out a way to force you to the doctor.”
“You know, you have been sick a lot over the past month or so,” Maude noted. “It’s even more times than Nick realizes because you were sick when he was at work and you ordered me not to tell him.”
Nick’s eyebrows practically shot off his forehead. “You instructed your grandmother to lie to me?”
Maddie was caught off guard. “That is a gross exaggeration.”
He folded his arms across his chest. “Oh, really?”
Maddie loved her grandmother beyond reason, but she wanted nothing more than to crawl across the counter and strangle the older woman to within an inch of her life. “It was only a few times, Nicky.” She adjusted her tone. “It’s honestly not a big deal. There’s no reason to get worked up.”
Nick saw it differently. “How many times have you been sick?”
Maddie’s heart rolled at the betrayed expression on his face. “Just a few ... and I haven’t really been sick. It’s more that I’ve been ... nauseated. That’s not an illness.”
“How many times, Mad?”
“Eight times,” Maude volunteered.
“You were keeping count, were you?” Maddie challenged.
Maude nodded. “I was trying to figure out how to get you to go to the doctor. I suspected you were pregnant, even though it’s not what I want.”
“Why do you even care if it’s true?” Maddie challenged. “You won’t be able to hear a baby cry from your apartment.”
“No, but you’ll have less time for me.” Maude wasn’t the type to lie so she laid everything out, all the facts. “I like being the center of attention for at least one hour every day. If you have a baby, that will change.”
Despite his annoyance, Nick found his lips curving. “We’ll make sure you get your attention,” he promised. “While I don’t want to encourage bad behavior — or the urge to keep things from me — I would like to point out that you’ll be able to run roughshod all over town when we have a newborn. We’ll be too tired to care.”
Maude brightened considerably. “I hadn’t thought about that. Good point.”
Maddie rolled her eyes, frustrated. “I’m not pregnant!”
“I’m pretty sure you are,” Nick countered. “It doesn’t matter, though. You’re going to the doctor when we get home whether you like it or not. It’s happening. Period.”
Maddie was beside herself. “I don’t like you being so bossy.”
“I don’t like the fact that you were hiding being sick from me. We’ll talk about it later, though.” He moved closer and pulled her in for a hug. “I know you’re mad. I know you feel ganged up on. I’m sorry about that but ... I don’t want you joining in on the search. I think you should stay here with Maude.”
“And I think that cutting me out of this so late in the game is cruel and unusual punishment,” Maddie groused.
“I’m not cutting you out. I’m just utilizing our assets in the appropriate manner.”
“That is the biggest load of double-talk I’ve ever heard.”
Nick grinned. She wasn’t wrong. “Look at it this way, you could be in the best position of us all. While we’re out searching, it’s possible that Cadence could stroll through the door and fall right into your lap.”
They both knew that was a load of bunk. “I’m really mad at you, Nicky.”
“Well, I really love you.” He gave her a quick kiss and then separated. “Once this is over and we’re back home, we’ll start talking about names. I’m thinking Nick Jr. has a nice ring to it.”
Maddie rolled her eyes. “I think Thor sounds fun.”
Nick growled. “You know I hate kitschy names like that, Mad.”
“Why do you think I selected it?” She was determined to remain angry, but it was difficult given how earnest he was. Ultimately, she relented. “I’ll be fine,” she promised. “You have nothing to worry about.”
“Absolutely,” Maude agreed. “I’m in charge and I won’t let her act out.”
For some reason, the suggestion calmed Nick. “I think that’s a fabulous idea. I’ll be in touch. Just ... try not to hold onto your anger for too long. It’s not good for the baby.”
Maddie’s mouth dropped open. “I’m going to kill you.”
“I love you, too.”
NICK PAIRED WITH BOONE AND HEADED to the alley behind the saloon. Cooper and Hannah went in the other direction. The goal was to find Cadence. The first group to stumble across her was to contact the others.
Cooper and Hannah started at the top of the mountain, in the spot where the lift dropped off the guests. From there, Cooper radioed to the office at the bottom. Rick was on duty and the man picked up right away.
“What’s the traffic like?” Cooper asked, trying to keep things casual. He didn’t want to risk tipping off the staff that anything was going on. That made it far more likely that Cadence might find out they were looking for her.
“It’s light,” Rick replied. “Nobody has been up in the last hour. You said only those with the psychic group were to be allowed up the lift. I’ve turned away a few random people, explained we were closed for an event, and then gave them the discount tickets for tomorrow like you told me to.”
“That’s fine.” Cooper exchanged a quick look with Hannah. “Has anybody come down?”
“Like who?”
“Like any of the guests. Have you seen any of them leave?”
Since Rick was the diligent sort, Cooper had to believe he would catch any departures, even if distracted. There was nowhere to hide when riding on a lift. “I’m sure you didn’t. We’re just looking for one of the psychics. We thought maybe she slipped out when nobody was looking. It seems that’s not the case, though.”
“Do you want me to shut down the lift?” Rick sounded nervous. “I mean ... would that make things easier?”
“Um ... .” Cooper tilted his head, considering. “You know what? Shut it down for now. It shouldn’t be for too long. We just want to find this woman and talk to her. It’s not a big deal.”
“No problem. I’ll shut it down now. Just radio when you want me to turn it on again.”
“We’ll definitely do that.” Cooper stowed the radio in his pocket and focused on Hannah. “I don’t think she left.”
“So where is she?”
“I don’t know. We’re going to find her, though. I want you to stick close to me until we do.”
“That doesn’t exactly sound like a hardship.”
He winked. “We’ll see just how close we can get to one another later. For now, let’s start looking. She can’t have gone far.”
BOONE AND NICK HIT THE ANIMAL PADDOCK first. Tyler was outside with his goats and an excited Jinx, who yipped and frolicked as the goats chased him around a picnic table.
“I’m not going to feel sorry for you if those goats smack you in the behind, Jinx,” Tyler called out, his back to the approaching men. He seemed to be fixated on a piece of wood, to the point where he was oblivious to everything else around him.
“Tyler, you haven’t seen any of the psychics wandering around, have you?” Boone called out.
Tyler lifted his head, seemingly surprised by the sudden invasion. “I think they’re all down that way.” He gestured toward Main Street. “I thought they were doing readings on one another or something.”
True Grit Spirit: A Maddie Graves and Hannah Hickok Mystery Page 17