Maple Syrup Mysteries Box Set 2: Books 4-6

by Emily James

  He set the clump of damp paper products on top of the picnic table and moved his onion rings around in the paper wrapper, not eating them any more than I was.

  My chest grew so tight I couldn’t breathe. He was nervous.

  “We haven’t been dating long. I know most couples move slower.” He folded an edge of the paper like some weird greasy origami. “But I want us to consider the job and make the decision together. If you don’t want to move back to DC, then I don’t want to accept a job there.”

  The tension I’d been holding inside disappeared. He wasn’t breaking up with me. He was making serious future plans.

  Moving back to DC is exactly what your mom wanted you to do, a niggling voice in the back of my head said. That’s a big coincidence.

  I shoved the voice aside, but it popped back up again. My mom wouldn’t have… I shook my head. Yes, yes she would have. She wanted me to move back to DC, and calling in some favors to get Mark a job there wouldn’t be beneath her. My parents were master manipulators.

  “Does that head shake mean you don’t want to consider moving back?” Mark asked.

  Crap. I needed to pay attention to him right now and deal with my mom later. Even if she had arranged this opportunity for Mark, it sounded like a good one. We’d be silly to turn it down out of spite or pride, especially if it was something he wanted.

  We—that idea sent a shiver through my belly. “It means I don’t know. I hadn’t thought about…us living anywhere other than here. Fair Haven feels like home to me in a way that DC never did.”

  “For me, too. When I was in New York, I missed Fair Haven. But I loved the work I was doing.” Mark slid an arm around my waist and eased me closer. “The man who contacted me said we didn’t need to decide right away. He also offered to fly us out there to see the facilities and meet the rest of the team first.”

  I’d been about to rest my head on his shoulder. I straightened instead. “Us?”

  Mark’s Adam’s apple careened up and down in his throat. “I told him I had a girlfriend who I was hoping would soon be my fiancée”—his voice cracked on the word—“and that I couldn’t make the decision without her.”

  My mouth went so dry I had to swallow twice before I could be sure my tongue would work. I could have used a swig of my soda. That felt a lot like… “Was that a proposal?” Stupid me. It had been a proposal to go to DC and help him make his decision, and that was definitely not what I needed clarity on. “A marriage proposal.”

  My voice squeaked so high I could have posed as Minnie Mouse. Heat burned into my cheeks. If that wasn’t what he meant, I was going to feel like such an idiot. He’d said someday, after all. Not today.

  The urge to bury my face in my hands or run away and hide in my car was almost more than I could stand. Why did I have to be so pushy?

  Mark shifted to face me, putting a little space between us. He took my hands in his. “I’d planned to do it with a diamond ring rather than onion rings,” he tilted his head in the direction of our now-cold lunch and gave me a grin that reminded me a lot of a nervous teen asking a girl out for the very first time, “but it is if you think you might say yes.”

  I definitely would say yes.

  I tried to speak, but nothing came out. It was like someone had cut my vocal cords. I nodded my head instead.

  He brought his hand up to my cheek. “Yes, you might say yes, or yes, you are saying yes?”

  “I am saying yes.”

  15

  We decided not to tell anyone until he could get me a ring. Considering that my excitement was almost matched by my anger at my mom for her possible meddling, it wasn’t going to be as hard as it would otherwise have been to keep it a secret from her.

  Since Mark and I went to The Burnt Toast for pastries to celebrate, it was evening before I got back to my house. By the time I took my dogs out for an extra-long walk, I’d managed to avoid my mom for most of the day.

  The rebellious child that I’d never been allowed to be had reared up inside me. I didn’t want to talk to her. A large part of me wanted Mark and me to go to DC and not tell my parents we’d been there. I was tired of being manipulated.

  The next morning, I took care of Velma and Toby, and went to town before my mom was even out of bed. I left her a note that I was going to The Sunburnt Arms to drop off the fresh maple syrup candy samples I’d made Saturday afternoon. The fact that my mom’s recipe worked perfectly was about as satisfying as eating a plate of sand until I realized that she’d inadvertently helped me in the business she so desperately wanted me to leave behind. With all that had happened, Mandy missed her re-order date for her mints, which had left the window open for Sugarwood items despite the delay.

  My phone rang as I was paying for a coffee at The Burnt Toast. Elise’s name popped up on my screen.

  I slid my finger across the screen, and I instinctively opened my mouth to blurt out our news. I stopped just in time.

  “We got the voicemail message off Vilsack’s phone,” Elise said. “Do you and your mom have time today to take it to Alice Benjamin and confirm that it matches the voice of the man she spoke to? Since she was probably the last person to speak to him before he died, we need to make sure it was him. If it wasn’t, she could potentially voice ID our murderer should we catch him.”

  I slurped my coffee. Even though it was Elise and not Mandy calling me this morning, I still needed caffeine before I could be expected to think clearly. Though I had to admit I’d been sleeping a lot better since the support group meeting. “Did the techs send a list of the incoming and outgoing calls too?”

  “Yeah. I’ll be going over the list today. The roommate’s list of the women Vilsack dated was nearly useless. The few he knew were only by first name. He did say if we showed him pictures, he might recognize them, but Vilsack generally went to their places rather than bringing them back to his.”

  “I’ll call Alice Benjamin to set up a meeting.”

  Then I’d take it to Alice alone, but Elise didn’t need to know that. She’d ask why, and I might not be able to explain it without spilling my new secret. Mark came to me first with the news of the job offer, so his family likely didn’t know yet. It wasn’t my place, even given my friendship with Elise, to tell them he got a job offer that might take him away from them again.

  “Did you check Tim O’Brien’s second alibi?” I asked. “Mandy called me again on Saturday, and I want to be able to set her mind at ease if she brings it up today when I see her.”

  “The apartment building keeps the recordings for two weeks, so they still had the one from that night. He went in when he said he did and didn’t come out until the next morning. He couldn’t have done it.”

  Elise gave me Alice Benjamin’s number and disconnected. I dialed it before starting my car.

  I could tell by the sound of her voice—like she was speaking from down a tunnel—that she was also driving.

  “I’m already on the way out to my next sample site.” The tick-tick of a signaler carried through my speakers from her end. “I’ll text you the GPS coordinates. I’ll be there for the next hour or so.”

  Having to meet Alice gave me a good excuse not to linger at The Sunburnt Arms. I was almost afraid of what Mandy might have come up with today. She really should take that vacation her sister kept pushing for. A little time away to relax would do her good.

  An email from Elise with the recording attached showed up on my phone as I was walking through the doors of The Sunburnt Arms.

  No one staffed the front desk. Instead, a tiny bell perched on the ledge, with a handwritten sign saying Ring for Service. The murmur of voices drifted down the hallway from the direction of the breakfast room, so I bypassed the desk. This time of day, Mandy would still be serving breakfast, which meant she’d be going back and forth between the kitchen and breakfast room. She didn’t need me calling her away from that when I could as easily walk back to the kitchen and deliver my package.

  I peeked in the breakfa
st room door as I went by. About half the tables were full, but Mandy wasn’t there.

  The kitchen had a swinging door, so I didn’t bother knocking. Mandy, Susan, and Becky all leaned over the counter, four sheets of paper spread out between them.

  I cleared my throat. “I brought the candy samples.”

  Mandy looked up, but her smile was distracted. She waved me over. “We’re going over the resumes we’ve gotten so far for a new desk clerk. I figured if we all read them, we could avoid hiring someone who’d bring more trouble on the place.” Mandy swiped up a sheet and held it out to me. “A lawyer’s eyes would be helpful too. You’ve seen more criminals than the rest of us, I’m sure.”

  I’d been around more criminals than anyone should be, and not just during my time as a lawyer. I set the box beside the papers, but held up my hands in a blocking motion. “I can’t stay. I’m meeting with Alice Benjamin in a few minutes.”

  Mandy’s hand clenched around the resume, crumpling it. “Do you think she had something to do with it after all?”

  Too bad my legs weren’t long enough to kick myself. I should have said I had a meeting or something equally generic. Who knew what cockamamie theories—as my grandmother would have called them—Mandy would come up with now about what had happened. I’d end up getting calls from her at three in the morning if I wasn’t careful since Alice Benjamin was still staying at The Sunburnt Arms.

  “The police are confident Alice Benjamin had nothing to do with it, either as a potential suspect or as an intended target. She’s perfectly safe to have here.”

  Mandy nodded in a way that said I’m not sure I’m convinced, but she let it drop.

  I backed toward the door before she could come up with anything else. “I’ll see you later. Let me know how you like the candies.”

  “I will.” She dumped the resume back on the counter. “We need to get back to feeding guests and cleaning the rooms anyway.” She made a shooing motion at Susan and Becky as if they’d been intentionally lollygagging.

  I ducked out the door and scurried for my car. The end of this case couldn’t come soon enough. I wanted to go back to when Mandy was my friend that I talked books with.

  The road to the coordinates Alice had given me was busier than most of the others leading into and out of Fair Haven. Signs along the way pointed to designated fishing spots and docks to rent boats. Even though it was still too cold to swim in the water, it seemed like it was plenty warm enough to take boats out onto the lake.

  I turned off the road where the GPS told me. The area was basically a pull-off rest area with a gravel parking lot, two picnic tables and a port-a-potty along the trees’ edge, and a pretty view of the lake, but no beach. A car that must belong to Alice was the only one in the parking area, sitting right along the water line. I parked beside it.

  Alice didn’t seem to be anywhere around. I peered into her car to be certain. It was empty. “Ms. Benjamin?”

  “Down here,” a disembodied voice came from the direction of the water.

  Unless Jesus had returned and had asked her to walk on water the way he had Peter, I had no idea how she was down there. Had she fallen in? A sign next to the railing specifically warned about a steep drop-off and deep water.

  I jogged toward the edge and leaned on the wooden guard rail, trying to get a look at where she’d called from without tumbling over. I wasn’t coordinated enough to trust myself without some sort of support. I’d likely go headfirst into the water.

  The rail swayed underneath me, and I stumbled back. That thing wasn’t secure enough to keep anyone from falling in. The county should replace it, or they could face a lawsuit.

  I wrapped a hand around the signpost and craned my neck again. Alice squatted on top of a large rock, her magenta rubber boots a splash of bright color against the surroundings like they’d been manipulated by a skilled photographer.

  She capped a plastic tube, tucked it into a nylon case, and stripped off her latex gloves. She looped the case around her back, leaving her hands free. “I’ll be right up.”

  She was a braver woman than I was to go down there in the first place. I tightened my hold on the sign post. It’d be too hard to explain to my mom and Mark if I ended up in the water. “Aren’t there easier spots to take samples from?”

  Alice scaled the ledge like she was a professional rock climber. “The easy-to-access spots are shallow water. I took samples from a couple of those locations, but I also needed deep-water samples as well.”

  Clearly there was more to checking for harmful algae than I’d realized. Alice hopped over the rickety railing, and I gratefully moved back from the edge.

  “What happens if you find toxins?”

  “We’ll have to close the beaches down until our team can resolve the issue.”

  The timing couldn’t have been worse with tourist season just around the corner. Every business in Fair Haven would take a serious financial hit if the beaches were closed. I sent up a quick prayer that Alice’s tests would come back clean.

  “I’m sure you didn’t come here to ask me about algae, though.” Alice clicked open her car and motioned for me to climb into the passenger seat. “So what’s this all about?”

  Even though my questions shouldn’t take long, I slid into the car with her. The noise from the road could interfere with her ability to listen to Bruce Vilsack’s voice on the recording, and her car helped dull the outside noises.

  She placed her sample case on the backseat and swiveled to face me.

  I pulled out my phone and queued up the recording. “We just need to confirm that the man in this recording is the same one you talked to on the phone when you called to change your booking.”

  Alice nodded, closed her eyes, and gave me a thumbs up.

  I tapped the play icon.

  “You’ve reached Bruce. Leave a message after the beep.”

  “That’s definitely the man I—”

  Something rammed into the car from behind.

  I flew forward. My shoulder smashed into the dash, and my head hit the windshield. Pain exploded everywhere, like I’d walked into a bonfire, and floating gray dots flooded my vision.

  The car tilted, nose-down.

  My last thought before everything went black was the knowledge that we were going into the water.

  16

  Frigid water rushed over my feet like a million needles stabbing me back into consciousness. Alice lay slumped across her steering wheel, motionless except for her breathing.

  I couldn’t have been out more than a few seconds because we were still above water.

  Partly. The floorboards of the car were filling up, and the water was almost to the window.

  Warmth trickled down from my forehead, beside my eye. Don’t think about it, I ordered myself. You pass out again, you die. Both of you die. You can do this.

  I grabbed the door handle and shoved. The door wouldn’t budge. We were already too deep, the water exerting more pressure on the door than I could overcome.

  Idiot. I knew better. I’d seen the episode of MythBusters where Adam tried to escape the sinking car. If I’d been able to try the door as soon as we hit the water, I could have done it. Now it was too late. I definitely wasn’t as strong as Adam. If memory served, he’d waited and been able to force the door open once the water reached his waist inside the car. But barely. And there was no way I could do it while also trying to drag Alice out with me.

  My only options were to open the window and haul us both out that way or wait until the car was fully submerged and flooded so the pressure equalized.

  Alone, I might be able to stay calm enough to wait and conserve oxygen and make my escape when the car filled with water. Assuming it hadn’t sunk too deep for me to make it to the surface. But an unconscious Alice couldn’t hold her breath at all.

  I had to get us out the window before the water reached it.

  The windows were automatic, and her keys weren’t in the ignition. They’d been in her ha
nd when she unlocked the car doors and we climbed in. She must have still been holding them when we were hit. They’d be in the water at her feet now. They were as good as at the bottom of the lake as far as finding them in time was concerned. The engine might already be flooded.

  The water had risen up my legs. Outside, it now lapped at the bottom of the window. My heart kicked up a notch, struggling in my chest, beating so hard it hurt.

  Dear Lord, please let her have one of those hammers specially designed to break window glass. My dad had given me one the day I bought my first car. Surely everyone had one.

  I threw open her dash console. The owner’s manual. Napkins. A plastic cutlery set. No hammer. I wrenched open the center console between her seat and mine.

  Jackpot!

  I grabbed the hammer and slammed the console shut.

  The water was above the lower edge of the window now. It’d rush in and drag the car down faster as soon as I broke the window. I had to have Alice ready to go out with me as soon as I broke the glass.

  I positioned myself into a half-sit half-squat on my seat, leaned over her back, and looped my arms under her armpits. I pulled her backwards so she was half on the console, half in my lap. She had to be mostly muscle because she was heavier than she looked. I was never going to complain about my thick biker’s thighs again—they were the only reason I was strong enough to hold us both in the position we’d need to be in to get out the window. I tightened my grip around her chest in a lifeguard hold.

  Deep breath.

  I smashed the window. Water poured in. I threw us into a backward dive and pulled as hard as I could with my free arm.

  The car dropped like a giant Kraken had a hold on it. Our feet barely cleared before the window went under.

  Instead of slowing down, my heart beat harder, louder in my ears than the sound of the wind and the water lapping around us. We were out of the car, but the shoreline along this whole stretch of the lake was steep. I was a biker, not a swimmer. My skills in the water were limited to vacations to Cape Hatteras on the Outer Banks and high school pool parties. I couldn’t support Alice and myself for a mile or longer in the hypothermia-temperature water until we found a beach.