All the Wicked Ways

by E. M. Moore

  I closed my eyes. Jackson shot me a confused glance before he answered. “It’s not looking good. Usually people who want the cause of death just want the insurance payout.” He turned to Dezi. “Did you get the answer from the insurance company on the benefactor? Eliza Penn seems to think that Hannah Sparks is due to make bank. Probably why her lawyer has been calling.”

  “I’ve got someone on it. We’re waiting on a call back.”

  So, Mrs. Paladino might be right after all. If Hannah thought she was going to be inheriting money from Victor’s death, that could be our motive. Things were starting to line up now. Hannah locked him in the freezer, knowing he would die. She wanted him to die so she could be with her boyfriend and because she was going to be getting insurance money when he passed away. Some people were so heartless.

  “Maddie, did you need something?” Jackson asked.

  I stood from the seat. Before I could say anything, Dezi said, “Don’t forget you got Daisy Lambert coming in later, Jackson. About Victor.”

  I smiled at them both. “Well, I guess you’re busy. I won’t bother you.”

  Jackson’s eyebrows furrowed. “You’re not bothering me. What’s up?” He looked at Dezi hesitantly who automatically sat back in his seat and became preoccupied with his computer. Jackson moved closer, dropping his voice. “What I said yesterday still stands. You know you can talk to me whenever.”

  I nodded. “I know that. It’s really nothing.”

  Next to me, Mrs. Paladino gave me the look of all looks, then she poofed out.

  “If you’re sure?” he asked.

  “Yes, I’m sure.”

  I looked over my shoulder as I made my way out of the police department. Jackson already had his phone to his ear, probably calling Hannah’s lawyer back. Yes, I could’ve handed him the evidence, but then again, Jackson was always telling me to worry about my own business. Plus, I really had no idea how to explain away the fact that I had a picture of Hannah Sparks kissing her biker boyfriend. Since Jackson needed to concentrate on Victor Paladino’s death, and not on his dead best friend’s girlfriend and her ongoing witchy problems, my cell phone stayed in my pocket.

  Chapter 7

  My mind was so preoccupied on the way back to work, I forgot to stop at the Danvers to get my jacket and instead, went right back to the library without even eating. Luckily, I always kept food in my office for times like these. I cooped myself up in my office, ate goldfish and fruit snacks, and looked at my elevator fundraising binder. We were $500 shy of getting the elevator. All in all, everything was going really well, but I couldn’t help the disappointment that showed through, making me put my head down on my desk. $500 shy. I certainly could put in for it myself, but it had become a matter of pride. I wanted to say I, Maddie Styles, raised enough money for the library myself. I didn’t want to say, ‘Oh yeah, we got all the money and then I put the last $500 in.’

  No. This was a testament to my progress as a librarian. This would be the mark I left if Mrs. Adams decided she wanted to revoke my contract after the first year was up. I needed to fundraise the last $500. The online fundraiser had been bringing in monies every day, but that had slowed to a trickle. At this point, it would take another few months to raise the rest of the money. Worst of all, the mobility-impaired patients were stuck on the first floor still. It wasn’t fair to them. I needed to fix this, and soon.

  There was a soft knock on my door. “Come in,” I called.

  Mrs. Ward walked in, her head lowered. “Just heard from Jackson. I hear you went over there for lunch.”

  Usually a revelation like this would’ve at least put a smile on her face, but not today. She was reserved, and quiet, and I’d forgotten to ask Jackson about that too! “Not for lunch. I just happened to stop over there during lunch. He was too busy though. This Victor Paladino case has him all wrapped up.”

  Mrs. Ward came in further, closed the door behind her, and sat in the chair opposite me. She stared down at her hands in her lap then raised her gaze to mine. “I hope you know I only push because I care. Jackson told me you wanted to pay for your own bid last night on account of me making him bid for you.”

  I was already shaking my head. I really didn’t want to get into this with her. “It’s okay.”

  “No, it’s not okay. It’s not okay because you think the reason why Jackson bid is because of me when it wasn’t. I’d only asked him to continue bidding, which I realize now wasn’t that smart. He couldn’t really bid against himself, now could he? You two are the most important people in my life and I’d like to see you both happy. I don’t think it’s any secret I think you would be happy together, but it’s really none of my business. As Jackson keeps reminding me. I’m sorry if I hurt you at all, Maddie. I’ll try to mind my own business from now on.”

  Guilt soured my stomach. A lot had been going on. With Mrs. Paladino’s frequent visits, I hadn’t been acting myself and in some cases, the exact opposite of myself. The anger I’d been giving off recently could be construed as me being upset with Mrs. Ward. That wasn’t true. Yes, her constant trying to force me and her son together didn’t make me happy, but it also didn’t make me mad. “Did Jackson call you up to tell you to apologize?”

  Mrs. Ward nodded as she stared on her lap.

  “I didn’t go over there about the auction, Mrs. Ward. Trust me. I went over there about the case.” Hey, It wasn’t exactly a lie.

  “The case? Why?”

  I shrugged, not wanting to tell her the whole story. I trusted Jackson with more about my witchy side than I did his mother. Mrs. Ward and I never talked about it. She liked it that way. Mrs. Ward had her own religious beliefs and though she didn’t ever try to force them on me or try to talk to me about my witchy side, I got the feeling that she wasn’t always entirely comfortable with what I was. “Nothing, really. I just kind of wanted to see where the case was at. I feel bad for poor, old Victor Paladino. He was a nice man. So many senseless deaths as of late. I guess I just feel like I want to help.”

  Mrs. Ward nodded knowingly. She sat up a little taller than me, a little more confidently. “I know what you mean. Jackson doesn’t understand it, though. He just thinks I’m being a nuisance, but what I really would like to do is help him. I know I don’t have a badge or a gun or anything that says I’m qualified to help with a murder case, but that doesn’t mean I don’t care. I can’t stand to see something go unanswered, or good people hurt. It’s in my nature. Much like you, I suppose.”

  I nodded slowly. It sounded exactly like me. “See, we have an excuse to talk about the cases with him.” I chuckled. “Most of the time, I feel like I’m annoying him more than not.”

  Mrs. Ward’s face turned serious. “You’re not annoying him, honey. Trust me. He was quite lost after Derek died and you were grieving separately.”

  A new wave of guilt washed over me. There was a time after Derek died that I didn’t want anything to do with his best friend still alive. It hurt too much to see him. When I saw Jackson, I thought of Derek. And the last thing I wanted to think about was Derek being dead. It took a long period of time for me to replace his death with good memories, and come to terms with the fact that he was now gone. Thankfully, I was mostly past that now. Seeing Jackson didn’t remind me of Derek, or if it did, it reminded me of the good times with Derek. I pulled my hands through my hair. “I know I haven’t always been the best with that. I suppose one day I should apologize to him.”

  “No need for that. He knows. And, I really don’t think he minds when you ask him questions. He cares about you, Maddie. He really does.” She bit her lip and then quickly rose from her chair. “I guess I’ll see you out there.”

  She left the room and I returned to perusing my elevator binder. Though I was trying to brainstorm new ways to come up with money, I kept thinking about the conversation I’d just had with Mrs. Ward. With every day that she and I talked about Derek, it hurt even less. Jackson was lucky to have her for a mother.

  I jotted d
own a few more ideas, spent some time at the reference desk, and called it a night. Since I’d forgotten to grab my jacket during lunch, I headed for the Danvers now. It was late afternoon, just prior to the time where the Danvers might get busy for dinner. Hopefully I’d find someone to be able to take me backstage to get my jacket I’d left on the chair.

  I walked in, letting old world Salem swallow me. Glass chandeliers, the beautiful wallpaper, and ornamental rugs. I walked up to the front desk and explained my situation. As I was talking however, I heard Jackson’s voice in the back. “Detective Ward?”

  He turned toward me, almost quizzically. Then, recognizing me, he gave me a small wave.

  “Ah, it’s our favorite librarian.” Noticing me, Mr. Danvers came out of the office and came right over to shake my hand.

  I smiled at them both as Mrs. Danvers was right behind him. “Has anyone found a jacket. I left mine backstage last night.”

  Mrs. Danvers’ smile lit up her face. “Someone found it this morning. I’d been waiting for someone to ask about it. I put it in the Lost and Found. I’ll go get it.”

  I thanked her as she walked down the hallway that led to the back of the hotel. Mr. Danvers lingered in the back where I saw Jackson, Katrina, Katrina’s boyfriend, and yes, even Mrs. Paladino. No one else could see her as she hovered in the air around them, making sure she was right in the middle of everything. Whether she had yet to notice me or not was unclear since she made no inclination toward me.

  “So tragic about Victor Paladino, isn’t it?” Mr. Danvers asked as he followed my stare. “They’re going to look at the cameras that we have inside the hotel. I sure hope they find something. It’d be nice if this is all just a misunderstanding and old Victor died of natural causes. Detective Ward doesn’t seem to think so, but one can hope, can’t they?”

  “Yes,” I replied. “Sometimes all we have is hope.”

  He smiled and watched on as I did. Kevin, Katrina’s boyfriend, was manning the controls of the computer, pointing to the screen and showing Jackson different things. Mr. Danvers shook his head in awe. “Thank God for Kevin, huh? I’d be lost without him. I’m so happy we hired him as our computer guy. If he weren’t here, I’d have no idea how to show Jackson the cameras. Katrina knows a little, but not as much as her boyfriend.”

  Katrina put her hand on her boyfriend’s shoulders and then walked out as Mrs. Danvers came up to me, my jacket in hard. I thanked her again, then lingered as Katrina walked up to her parents. “I’m going back to my office. Kevin seems to have it under control. I’d like to do some invoices before I head out for the night.” Noticing me, she smiled. “Hi, Maddie.”

  “Of course, dear,” Mr. Danvers said. His daughter kissed him on the cheek, then moved around him to make her way to her office. As she walked past, the purse she carried slipped out of her hands and fell to the floor, the contents spilling out everywhere.

  Mr. Danvers chuckled, “Always clumsy.”

  I immediately kneeled down to help Katrina pick up her purse. Jackson was right there, too. I picked up a bunch of credit cards and handed them to her. Jackson also picked up a few things and gave her a curious look as he handed them back to her.

  She smiled tightly. “Thank you both.”

  As she walked away, Jackson put his hand on my shoulder and led me further down the hall. I waved to Mr. and Mrs. Danvers and let Jackson lead me away. “Fancy seeing you here.”

  “Nothing fancy about it, really. I forgot my jacket last night so I decided to pick it up.”

  Jackson shrugged, then he didn’t say anything. He stared off in the direction Katrina went. I guessed this was the day for the Wards to be acting a little weird.

  “I’m surprised to see you here though,” I offered, following Mrs. Ward’s advice and talking to Jackson about the case. “I thought for sure you’d be interrogating Hannah Sparks by now.”

  He rubbed the back of his neck. “Turns out Hannah has an alibi for the time we believe Victor was locked in the freezer. Of course, her alibi is a six-foot biker with tattoos she tried to keep secret. We’re looking into the cameras now. If we can put her at the scene, or someone else, the case will be much better off.”

  An alibi. I doubted Mrs. Paladino was happy about that. “But if Hannah has an alibi, who else could’ve wanted Victor dead? He was such a nice man.”

  “I’ve told you before, people kill for the most stupid reasons. Who knows? I wouldn’t be surprised if someone’s motive nowadays is he looked at me funny.”

  “That’s a very pessimistic view to have.”

  “I know. I can’t help it sometimes though. From these past few months alone, it’s easy not to have the best outlook on life. In this case, we haven’t completely ruled Hannah out. She’s aware she’s a person of interest and isn’t allowed to leave Salem for the time being. Throughout it all, she’s still insisting that we come up with a cause of death soon. We’ve got to get our hands on Mr. Paladino’s will to see if she is in fact the sole benefactor of any money that Mr. and Mrs. Paladino had.”

  “That’s going to make Mrs. Paladino mad.”

  His eyebrows furrowed. “That’s going to make her mad? Don’t you mean something like, ‘That’s going to make Mrs. Paladino turn over in her grave?’ She is dead, you know. I highly doubt she cares one way or the other anymore.”

  That’s where he’d be wrong. I chastised myself anyway. I didn’t need to be talking as if Mrs. Paladino was still around. “Semantics,” I said, rolling my eyes at him.

  “Hey, usually you’re the one who’s all about semantics. I’m merely pointing it out.” Jackson needled me with his elbow. “I get that this stuff gets you down, Mads, but really, let me deal with it. You do your librarian thing. Since you’re not directly involved in this one like you’ve been the other two cases, I know you’ll feel better if you just stayed out of it. I’m not trying to be mean, I’m really just trying to look out for you.”

  Stay out of it? I wished that was possible. Even now I could see Mrs. Paladino hovering over the burgundy carpets, making her way toward me. She did not look happy, most likely she’d heard the part about Hannah having an alibi.

  “Yeah, taking a break would be nice.” Although impossible. “Thanks, Jackson.”

  Mrs. Paladino skirted around Jackson as he strode away. “I still think she did it.” That was the last thing she said before she poofed away again. I wish I had that ability. I would put poofing right up there with flying about now. If I could poof, I’d poof myself away whenever I saw Mrs. Paladino.

  Chapter 8

  No kidding, as soon as I walked into my apartment, my jacket in my hand, my cell phone rang. It was Jackson. “Hello?”

  Jackson sighed on the other end of the line. I stooped down to pet Maxie and listened to him stew without saying anything. Finally, he took a deep breath and started. “I know I just told you to stay out of everything, but I have a favor to ask. The Danvers gave me the footage from the hotel. I guessed it was Kevin’s time to clock out and God forbid anyone realize I have a murder investigation to run, and I can’t take the time to figure out this stupid equipment. Since Rich is serving time in jail, and of course it was Rich’s company who put the system in, I was wondering if you would come down to the station and help me.”

  He talked so fast I could hardly keep up. I could tell it killed him to ask me for help, especially since he did just tell me to say out of it, but since Jackson never asked me for anything, I had to do it. “Sure. Would you mind if I brought Maxie? He’s been in the house all day and I feel bad leaving him again.”

  “No, bring him. He’ll be good company. Most everyone’s gone from the station.”

  I ruffled Maxie’s fur. “Great. See you in a few.”

  I walked Maxie along the wharf for a couple minutes, letting him do his business before putting him in the backseat of the car. He always loved car rides. What he hated, however, was the harness I made him wear. He’d much rather sit in the front seat with me. I used to le
t him until I watched an exposé about how often animals got hurt when they rode in the front seats with their owners. Halfway there, I looked back at him in the rearview mirror. He looked so miserable I had to stifle a laugh bubbling up through my throat. “We’ll be there in a sec, Maxie. Don’t you worry. We’re going to see Jackson.”

  Maxie turned his head to ignore me, but I still saw a small smile that came to his face as his tongue rolled out of his mouth. For whatever reason, he really did like Jackson.

  As usual, going anywhere within Historic Downtown, I was there within a few minutes. I extracted Maxie from his restraints, leashed him, then walked right into the police station. Jackson was in his office, slamming the mouse around. I heard his cursing as soon as I walked in the door. “Hey now,” I called out. “Maxie has sensitive ears. He’s young, you know.”

  Jackson groaned in frustration. “I’m so sorry to bring you into this, Maddie. Really. I just can’t waste the time figuring out how to use this. I figured you’d be able to go through all the footage I need to look at quickly.”

  I shut the office door behind me and unleashed Max. Jackson went right up to Maxie and snuggled him as I maneuvered around them both to sit in the driver’s seat. There was nothing like being in front of a computer with a mouse in my hand. I had the answers to all the world’s questions right at my fingertips. You just had to know how to find them.

  Since we were on a time crunch, I didn’t bother explaining to Jackson how I got the video footage playing. All I asked him was what times he wanted and which camera angles. It turned out Jackson was curious as to which employees were working that night and who had access to the freezer and when.

  Sure enough, right around the time Jackson had thought something would happen, Mr. and Mrs. Danvers left the front desk and could be seen walking down the hallway. However, we couldn’t find them on another camera angle. They just were gone, nowhere. Five minutes later, Katrina Danvers also left the front desk area and we couldn’t pick her up on the other angles either.