Wicked Whimsy

by Lily Harper Hart

  Ivy snorted, genuinely amused. “I can see you’ve given this some thought. While a moonlit walk sounds romantic, I’m guessing there’s more to the request.”

  “There’s definitely more to the request,” Jack confirmed. “Once we’re down at the lake, I want to go skinny-dipping.”

  Whatever she was expecting, that wasn’t it. Ivy was agog at the suggestion. “Wow. You just had that one ready, didn’t you?”

  Jack shrugged, noncommittal. “I haven’t been skinny-dipping since I was a teenager and that was in a retention pond at a nearby apartment complex. It left a little something to be desired.”

  “I’ve never been skinny-dipping.”

  Jack jerked up his head at the admission. “What? How can that be? You grew up with that lake right behind your house. It’s within walking distance.”

  “So?” Ivy was mildly uncomfortable with Jack’s stare and fought the urge to squirm. “I never skinny-dipped before. Get over it.”

  “Oh, this is awesome.” Jack’s enthusiasm threw Ivy for a loop. “Are you really telling me that your first skinny-dipping experience is going to be with me? I think that’s the best thing I’ve heard all day.”

  Ivy’s lips curved down. “Why do you say that?”

  “Because I like sharing first experiences with you and I plan to be the only guy you ever skinny-dip with. That’s ever … because we’re getting married. I will be the only one.”

  “Yes, but how is that fair for me?” Ivy challenged. “You’ve skinny-dipped with other women. It’s not the same for me.”

  “I did skinny-dip,” Jack conceded, his smile turning rueful. “I did not have a woman with me when it happened.”

  “But you said … .”

  “I said that I hadn’t skinny-dipped since high school and I did it in a retention pond,” Jack clarified. “I didn’t say I was with someone. For the record, I tried to talk my girlfriend at the time into doing it, but she didn’t like the idea. She thought the water was dirty.”

  “So … you went by yourself?”

  “It was hot.”

  Ivy pressed her lips together to keep from laughing at Jack’s response.

  “Go ahead and giggle.” Jack poked her side. “At the time I thought I had the worst luck. Now I think it was a sign from God.”

  “That you’re not cursed?”

  “Maybe.” Jack ran his hand over her hair to smooth it. “I like the idea that it’s something we can do together and that neither of us have ever shared the experience with anyone else.”

  “You’re kind of schmaltzy sometimes. Has anyone ever told you that?”

  “Nope. I don’t care either.” Jack pressed a soft kiss to the corner of her mouth. “Now I can’t wait for it to get warm enough for us to do this. A couple weeks, right?”

  “At least June.” Ivy couldn’t help but smile at his enthusiasm.

  “Either way, I’m looking forward to it.” Jack gave her another kiss. “In fact, I’m so looking forward to it I’ll even eat your feet mushrooms tonight. I don’t care how gritty they taste.”

  “Oh, wow. The power of true love,” Ivy teased.

  Jack grabbed her around the waist and wrestled her to the mattress as Ivy giggled. “And don’t you forget it. How about I give you a little preview? We’ll pretend we’re skinny-dipping in the shower.”

  “I’ve had worse offers.”

  JACK AND BRIAN’S FIRST stop of the day was to talk to Dr. Wayne Jordan. He served as Melanie Masters’ doctor toward the end of her life and there were enough questions surrounding Melanie’s ailment that the two police officers believed it bore further investigation.

  If Jordan was surprised by the request, he didn’t show it. Instead he ushered the two men into his office and poured coffee before settling down to business.

  “I guess I’m not sure what you expect from this conversation,” Jordan hedged. “Mrs. Masters has a right to medical privacy even in death.”

  “I understand that,” Brian said, leaning back in his chair. “The thing is, we’ve got a murder and we can’t quite wrap our heads around motive. We understand you never came up with a cause of death for Melanie Masters.”

  “That’s not entirely true,” Jordan hedged. “We knew her cardiovascular system was under duress. While we don’t have a definitive reason, her heart simply stopped working the correct way and we couldn’t fix the problem.”

  “Mostly because you had no idea what the problem was, right?” Brian queried.

  Jordan ran his tongue over his teeth as he debated how to answer. Jack could practically read the agitation rolling off the man’s shoulders.

  “We’re not trying to blame you for this,” Jack interjected, taking Jordan by surprise. “We don’t think you were remiss or somehow missed something. We’re trying to understand what happened.”

  “We certainly don’t blame you,” Brian agreed. “Abraham Masters was shot and killed on our turf. We can’t seem to find a motive. His son has been left an orphan and all this happened a year after Melanie Masters died under mysterious circumstances. We’re simply trying to figure out what’s going on here.”

  Jordan relaxed, although only marginally. “I understand you’re dealing with a difficult situation. I heard the story about the shooting two days ago. I didn’t even realize that it was Mr. Masters until someone mentioned it last night. Did he survive the injury for more than a few minutes?”

  “No.” Jack shook his head, understanding what the doctor was asking. “He didn’t suffer. There was no saving him. He died quickly.”

  “That’s too bad.” Jordan rubbed the back of his neck as he shifted in his chair. “I’m not sure what I can tell you.”

  “We’re looking for observations,” Brian said. “We know it’s not scientific and we’re not asking you to testify in court. Still, we’ve heard a few things. How would you describe Abraham’s relationship with his wife?”

  “He seemed to dote on her to some degree,” Jordan replied without hesitation. “He was engaged with her medical care, asked the appropriate questions, and sat with her when she was feeling poorly.”

  “That’s it?”

  Jordan held his hands palms out and shrugged. “What else was he supposed to do? This was not a situation where he could jump into the thick of things and serve as her doctor. We worked hard to come up with a diagnosis. We honestly believed we could save her if we simply discovered what was causing her symptoms.”

  “Did you ever narrow it down?” Jack asked.

  “I don’t know.” Jordan took on a far-off look as he flicked his eyes to the window next to his desk. “It bothered me more than I want to admit that we couldn’t find a cause. We checked her heart and lungs. We ran endless tests, to the point where her insurance provider was giving us grief about the cost of the tests.”

  “That seems … cruel,” Brian muttered.

  “I don’t know that I would use that word, but it was annoying,” Jordan said. “That didn’t stop us from running the tests. We were convinced that we would find an answer and save her.”

  “Obviously that didn’t happen.”

  “No. She was sick but stable for a long time and she was perking up a bit,” Jordan explained. “She wasn’t exactly what I would call strong, but she wasn’t weak either. We were going to upgrade her and start a series of flushes for her system when she crashed again. This time she was sicker than ever and we knew we wouldn’t be able to bring her back. She was simply too weak.”

  Jack rubbed his forehead as he considered the statement. “And you don’t know what caused her to crash?”

  “No. We have no idea. One minute we were telling her husband and son that she was getting better and the next we were desperately trying to keep her from slipping away. It was the oddest thing.”

  Brian cleared his throat, his discomfort obvious. “Did you ever consider that she might have been poisoned?”

  Jordan didn’t so much as blink at the question. “Of course. We ran all the standar
d panels. We came up empty. Something was killing her but, if it was poison, it was something we didn’t know to test for.”

  “Well, that answers that question.” Brian slid his eyes to Jack. “I thought maybe if the affair rumors were true that there was a possibility that Abraham was poisoning her to get her out of the way.”

  “You heard rumors that Mr. Masters was having an affair?” Jordan asked, furrowing his brow. “May I ask where those rumors came from?”

  “Melanie Masters’ sister,” Brian answered. “She seems convinced her brother-in-law was running around on her sister.”

  “She’s not the only one who believed that,” Jordan said. “A couple of the nurses swear they saw him with a woman in the parking lot. Who that woman is, I can’t say. They didn’t recognize her.

  “As for how Mr. Masters was with his wife, he seemed to genuinely love her,” he continued. “I know that some people are good actors and whatnot, but he seemed to be devoted to her and I could tell the fact that she was so ill was ripping him apart.”

  “What about Josh?” Jack asked. “How was he with his mother?”

  “Needy,” Jordan answered immediately. “He seemed intent on keeping his mother’s focus on him. He didn’t want to leave at night, insisted on being close to her. It seemed he was unnaturally attached to her.”

  “Or that he worried someone was going to hurt her,” Jack mused. “Maybe he wanted to stay close because he thought his father was poisoning her.”

  “Why wouldn’t he say something if that were true?” Jordan challenged.

  “Because, if he thought it was his father, his loyalties were probably stretched,” Brian offered. “My guess is Josh had his suspicions, which is why he wanted to stick so close to his mother. He definitely knows more about what happened to his father than he’s letting on.”

  “Do you think he talked someone into killing his father?” Jack asked, his mind working overtime as he ran the scenario through his head. “Josh might have loved his father, but if he blamed him for his mother’s death, there’s a possibility that he somehow talked someone into stepping in and doing something.”

  “How could a kid do that, though?” Brian challenged. “I mean … he’s a kid. No matter how upset he is, I can’t see an adult taking up his cause without some sort of proof. And, if he had proof, why not give it to the police? I simply don’t understand.”

  “I’m not sure Josh understands what he’s feeling,” Jack noted. “He’s gone through a lot. We need to figure out if Abraham was really having an affair. That would give him motive to kill his wife.”

  “But how would he kill her without setting off the poison panels?” Brian asked.

  “Oh, that’s not as hard as you think,” Jordan answered for Jack. “Certain things are caustic and they don’t show up on our standard panels. We ran several specialized panels, too. I’ll double check again so I can refresh myself on her levels, but I don’t believe anything stood out.”

  “Well, we need to figure it out.” Brian was firm. “I want to make sure that boy isn’t a target. That means we need a motive for Abraham Masters’ murder. Cheating on his dying wife seems as likely a motive as anything else.”

  “Then we should get on it.” Jack pushed himself to a standing position and smiled at Jordan. “Thank you for your time. We might be in touch again.”

  “I will go through Melanie’s records this afternoon,” Jordan promised. “I’ll see if I can find something that sticks out. I was fond of her. She was a nice woman. If I can help you solve the mystery of what happened to her, I’m more than willing to put in the time.”

  “Thanks for that. We might need those answers before this is all said and done.”

  Eleven

  Max found Ivy rummaging through her purse when he let himself into the cottage shortly after ten. He expected her to meet him on the front porch – they were both excited to get some morel hunting in – but she barely looked up when she heard the door open.

  “If you expect to win the competition by looking in your purse, you’re going to be sucking my dust all day,” Max teased.

  “What?” Ivy lifted her eyes and frowned. “Oh, no. I’m just trying to figure out what happened to the money I had in here yesterday.”

  “It’s missing?”

  “It seems to be.” Ivy thoughtfully tapped her bottom lip. “I told Dad to get money out of my wallet for lunch at the nursery yesterday, though. Maybe he forgot to put the money back when he was done.”

  “That doesn’t sound like Dad,” Max argued. “In fact, I’m surprised he even took your money at all. He usually likes to be the provider.”

  “Yeah. I had Josh, too. Maybe he didn’t have enough to cover all of us.”

  “Maybe.” Max remained unconvinced. “Do you want me to call him?”

  “No.” Ivy shook her head. “I’ll see him at the nursery later. I’ll just ask him then. It’s not a big deal. It was only fifty bucks. I’ll just run to the ATM when we’re finished.”

  “You mean when I’m finished wiping the floor with you,” Max corrected, causing Ivy’s eyes to narrow.

  “Oh, you know what?” Ivy got to her feet and left her purse on the dining room table. “Bring it on. I’m going to make you cry when I’m finished with you.”

  Max snorted. “Oh, puh-leez. I’m going to beat the pants off you … although not in a yucky way because you’re my sister and I just realized that came off grosser than I thought it would.”

  “Yeah, yeah.” Ivy rolled her eyes and snagged the pillowcase from the counter. “Are you ready to watch me win?”

  “I’m ready to watch you whine.”

  “Then let’s do it. We don’t have all day. Some of us have work to do.”

  Max snickered. “I work harder than you do five days a week … and twice on Sunday.”

  “You don’t work weekends.”

  “You know what I mean.”

  “I do,” Ivy confirmed, bobbing her head. “I know that you’re an exaggerator of the highest order. It’s never more apparent than when you say you’re a better morel hunter than me.”

  “Oh, you’re going down.”

  “I guess we’ll just have to see about that.”

  BRIAN AND JACK LET themselves into the Masters’ house with the key Abraham had on his body at the time of his death. The house itself was a nondescript ranch. It matched all the other houses on the street and was eerily quiet when they entered.

  “What are we even looking for here?” Jack asked as he moved into the living room, frowning at how clean and sterile the house felt.

  “I don’t know that we’re looking for anything,” Brian replied. “We have to start somewhere, though.”

  “I guess.” Jack wandered over to look at the mantel above the fireplace. It was filled with framed photographs and Melanie Masters was the central figure in all of them. “Do you think Abraham put all these up to appease Josh?”

  “I don’t know.” Brian knit his eyebrows as he stared at the photographs. “It does seem like a bit of overkill, doesn’t it?”

  “By a longshot. Here’s one of her and the baby, though.” Jack pointed. “It looks as if she was in the hospital.”

  “There’s another one down here with her and the baby,” Brian noted, moving closer to the photo so he could study the image. “This one is here in the living room. She looks happy.”

  “She looks happy in all the photos. I’m guessing she was a happy person.”

  “Until she realized she was going to die.”

  “Yeah, well, I’m betting that wouldn’t make anyone happy.” Jack gave the photo in front of Brian another long glance before frowning and turning back to stare at the living room. “You know, I think Abraham Masters was something of a neat freak.”

  “What makes you say that?” Brian was genuinely interested as he surveyed the room with fresh eyes. “I guess everything in here has a place, huh?”

  “It doesn’t look like a home.”

  “I
don’t know what you mean by that. It’s clearly a home. Abraham and Josh shared it together.”

  “I know that,” Jack countered. “It’s just … look at the cottage. Ivy and I both live there, but it feels … different. It’s never neat. Er, well, I guess it’s neat when Ivy knows we’re going to have company. There’s always something that’s never put away, though.”

  “Are you saying that Ivy is a slob?”

  Jack scowled. “No. I’m saying that we live in that house together, so it feels differently than this house. I mean … this place is sterile. In our house, Ivy kicks off her shoes by the front door and sometimes they end up under the couch.

  “That evil cat of hers leaves hair all over the place and occasionally rips all the toilet paper off the roll and drags it through the house when he feels she’s not paying enough attention to him,” he continued. “There are magazines on the table, lotion-making stuff on the counter, and right now there are two pillowcases just hanging around in case she gets a yen to go morel hunting.”

  “Oh, I get what you’re saying.” Brian’s eyes lit with interest. “You’re basically inferring that there’s no life to this house.”

  “It doesn’t feel as if anyone lives here,” Jack confirmed. “What did the sister say? She said Abraham had certain ideas for how a wife was supposed to take care of a household. Apparently he kept that up himself after her death.”

  “Maybe the photos are a way to pretend he was mourning harder than he really was,” Brian suggested. “I mean … they are overkill. Maybe we should check the rest of the house.”

  “Yeah.” Jack rubbed the back of his neck, contemplative. “Let’s check Josh’s room, too. Maybe if there’s something in there that looks as if he might want it we can take it to him at the home.”

  “That sounds like a plan.”

  “Then, when we’re done with that, we’ll question the neighbors,” Jack added. “They might be able to give us some insight into Abraham and what he’s been doing since Melanie’s death.”

  “That sounds like an even better plan. Let’s get to it.”