“I can’t keep track if I’m coming or going right now,” Nick admitted. “Things keep shifting from one direction to the next. One minute we have a clue that makes Rick Johnson look like the guilty party. The next minute we have a clue that makes David Bennet look like the guilty party.
“The real problem is that I’m not sure either of them is guilty,” he continued. “If that’s the case, that means we’re barking up two wrong trees and the culprit is literally getting away with murder while we twiddle our thumbs and look like idiots.”
“Wow, your head is in a great place,” Christy deadpanned.
Maddie sympathetically rubbed Nick’s lower back, causing him to groan while she shot Christy a harsh look. “Don’t push him,” she said. “He’s got a lot on his mind.”
“What about you?” Christy asked. “You look tired, too. Were you at the department all night with him?”
“I had other stuff going on,” Maddie said. “Andrea Johnson’s ghost showed up, and that was on top of Cassidy being on the front porch when we got back from our swim. Let’s just say it was a really long night and leave it at that, shall we?”
“No way,” Christy said, hopping up on one of the island stools and patting the kitchen counter. “That’s way too much gossip to pass up. I have no idea where to start.”
“Shouldn’t you be helping Maude with her act?” Nick challenged.
“She’s out in her apartment taking a bath,” Christy replied. “She needs to make sure she shaves her bikini line so her outfit doesn’t offend anyone at the pageant.”
Maddie’s mouth dropped open as horrified realization washed over her. “You can’t be serious.”
Nick barked out a hoarse laugh. “Oh … my … I’m going to go blind from that visual.”
“I tried to talk her into a more modest costume, but she absolutely refused once she saw the one she picked out,” Christy explained. “She says it’s a beauty pageant and her legs are her best feature. She’s determined to show them off.”
“You’re going to have to arrest her for indecent exposure, Nicky,” Maddie said. “We’re going to be on the evening news. I can see it already.”
“That had better not be a psychic flash,” Nick chided. “If it is, we’re all coming down with cholera and locking ourselves in the house for the night. I don’t care if I have to handcuff Maude to the stairwell.”
“Listen, she’s really excited about this,” Christy said. “You two need to make sure you’re there. She won’t say it, but she would be crushed if you missed it.”
“Oh, I’m going to be there,” Nick said. “I don’t want to be the only one in town who misses the story of the year. I don’t want to be stuck saying ‘I wish I’d been there’ when everyone is still talking about this next summer.”
“We’ll be there,” Maddie confirmed. “She’s my grandmother. I love her. I really do appreciate how you’ve been there for her this week, though. I dropped the ball on that one. She needed me and I’ve been too caught up with ghosts to even think about what she’s been doing. I’m a rotten granddaughter.”
“Mad, your grandmother is always up to something,” Nick countered. “You can’t keep up with all of it. I know you feel guilty, but Maude understands. She doesn’t have your gifts, but she knows you can’t ignore a spirit who is suffering. All will be forgiven as long as we see the show.”
“I agree,” Christy said. “Tell me about the ghost, though. She’s obviously talking and remembering things. Can’t you just ask her who killed her?”
“She’s not there yet,” Maddie answered. “She remembers some things, but other things are still blank. She was floating for two months. She had no idea how long she’d been dead. She’ll get to where she needs to be, but it might take a little more time.”
“Where does that leave your investigation?” Christy asked. “Everyone in town thinks David is guilty. They’re all telling stories about knowing he was nefarious, even though none of them have a legitimate one to tell because the guy has never hurt anyone.”
“We need to find Andrea’s car,” Nick said. “I think that’s going to be a big clue if we can track it down. Other than that, I think we’re stuck waiting until Andrea remembers what happened to her.”
“Then what are you going to do?” Christy pressed. “You can’t call Andrea into court to testify on David’s behalf.”
“No, but she might be able to point us in the right direction,” Nick said. “Once we know who killed her, we’ll be able to focus on that person and gather evidence. We need the car first and foremost. We need Andrea to remember, too. If not, I’m really worried we’ve locked up an innocent man.”
“It will all work out,” Maddie said. “I know it will. You can look for the car and I’ll try to find Andrea again. Maybe we’ll luck out and she’ll remember today.”
“Whatever happens, make sure you’re not late for the pageant,” Christy warned. “Maude has been practicing answers for various questions, and when you see her evening gown you’re going to … .”
“Laugh?” Nick supplied.
“Maybe,” Christy hedged. “She does look like a queen in it, though. I think you’re going to be pleasantly surprised.”
“I promise I’ll be there,” Maddie said. “My grandmother has never once let me down. I won’t let her down.”
“None of us will,” Nick said. “We’re a family. We’re in this together.”
19
Nineteen
Maddie was just finishing getting dressed for the day when Christy knocked on her bedroom door.
“There’s someone downstairs to see you.” Christy’s face was unreadable.
“Is it a vampire?” Maddie asked, going for levity. “Don’t invite him in if it’s a vampire. I don’t think I can take that on top of everything else.”
“It’s Chelsea Johnson,” Christy said. “She looks like she’s been crying.”
Maddie knit her eyebrows together. “Okay,” she said, moving toward the hallway. “I would’ve thought she’d be happy about the arrest. She’s been bucking for David to get taken into custody for days.”
“Sometimes, when you get what you want, you realize that it’s not the thing you really wanted after all,” Christy said sagely.
“You’re a very smart woman, Christy Ford.”
“I already knew that, but thank you for the validation,” Christy said, smiling.
Maddie descended the stairs quickly, finding Chelsea fingering Maude’s magic props with an odd look on her face.
“Hey, Chelsea.” Maddie greeted the girl with a warm smile. “What’s going on?”
Chelsea jerked her head up. “I … what is all this stuff?”
“My grandmother is running for the trout queen title at tonight’s pageant,” Maddie explained. “This is her … um … talent.”
Chelsea pressed her lips together and Maddie couldn’t tell if she was trying to keep from laughing or crying.
“Do you want to go for a walk?” Maddie asked, playing a hunch.
“Sure,” Chelsea said. “I don’t want to bother you if you’re busy, though.”
“I’m not busy,” Maddie said. “Christy is in charge of Granny’s pageant platform. As long as I’m back in time for the show, I’m good to go.”
“I have everything under control here,” Christy said. “I promise Maude will be buffed to within an inch of her life so you can look her over and ‘ooh’ and ‘ah’ and make things right before the show tonight.”
“Thank you,” Maddie said, opening the front door and waiting for Chelsea to go through it. Once they were on the front porch, Maddie directed the teenager toward the woods on her right. “There’s a nice meadow over here. I pick flowers there a lot … although it’s so hot that they’re wilting these days.”
“You spend time in a meadow?” Chelsea asked, falling into step next to Maddie. “Do you hold hands with your boyfriend and skip while singing, too?”
Maddie smirked. She didn’t blame
Chelsea for being dubious. “Sometimes,” she said. “We mostly like to picnic and watch stars at night.”
“People talk about you guys in town,” Chelsea said, following Maddie through the trees. “People love to gossip about you. Does that bother you?”
Maddie pressed her lips together and considered the question. “It bothered me a great deal when I was your age,” she admitted. “People always thought I was weird. Nick was my best friend back then – that was long before we started dating – and I never felt comfortable in my own skin.”
“How come?”
“It always seemed like people were looking at me,” Maddie said, pausing as they moved into the meadow so she could pick a blue flower. “At first I thought it was because I went through a really awkward phase when I was in middle school. Of course, everyone went through awkward phases at the same time, so that wasn’t it.
“Then I just thought I was weird and freaked people out because I was different,” she continued. “I’m not sure when I realized they were looking at me because I was with Nick, but at some point I became aware of it and the knowledge felt heavy on my shoulders.”
“Why?”
“It was like everyone thought we belonged together and I believed there was something wrong with me because we weren’t together,” Maddie replied. “I didn’t think he would ever have feelings for me the way I wanted him to have feelings for me.”
“He does now,” Chelsea pointed out.
“He did then, too,” Maddie said. “I didn’t realize it. I was too … caught up in what I was feeling to give what he was feeling any consideration. I think you might be going through something similar.”
Chelsea frowned. “What do you mean?”
“Christy said you looked like you’d been crying when you arrived at the house,” Maddie replied. “After the way you reacted to David Bennet, I would think you would be happy with his arrest. Something tells me that’s not what you’re feeling.”
“How did you know that?” Chelsea looked awed.
“Christy told me,” Maddie admitted, smirking as Chelsea’s face fell. “I’m not magic, Chelsea. You’re going through something that a lot of people would have trouble facing if they were in the same position.”
“Oh, yeah? What’s that?”
“You got what you wanted only to realize it wasn’t what you really needed,” Maddie supplied. “You thought David Bennet getting arrested for your mother’s murder was going to make everything better. Instead, you woke up and found that you’re still angry and upset.
“The thing is, those feelings aren’t associated with David,” she continued. “They’re tied to your broken heart, and your heart is broken because you lost your mother.”
“Part of me thinks I shouldn’t miss her as much as I do because she’s been gone for months,” Chelsea said. “When I think about her, though, I feel like I’m going to be swallowed whole by my anger.”
“I get that,” Maddie said. “I think when she was missing, you told yourself it would be easier if she was dead because that meant she didn’t abandon you. The worst thing in the world is to feel unwanted.
“You knew something was wrong, though,” she continued. “You knew that your mother loved you too much to walk away. When you found out she was dead, you probably felt guilty for wishing her dead. Am I right?”
“No one should wish their mother dead,” Chelsea said, her voice barely a whisper. “I wished her dead so many times over the past few months I’ve lost count. What kind of person does that make me?”
“That makes you human,” Maddie replied, not missing a beat. “My mother was wonderful, and yet there were times when I was a teenager I wished I was an orphan. My mother died, too. I regretted every one of those thoughts.
“The thing is, I knew my mother loved me and that I loved her,” Maddie said. “Your mother knew you loved her, and she loved you more than anything. You were in a tough position and you did the very best you could.”
“But I can’t tell her how sorry I am for what I thought about her,” Chelsea pointed out. “She was dead the entire time and I hated her because I thought she left me. I can never take that back.”
“I read a story in the newspaper once about parents who lost their child when she was young,” Maddie said. “She was kidnapped from the street and they held out hope for twenty years that she was still alive. They believed it. They thought they were going to find her.
“When the mother died, the father did an interview on the anniversary of his daughter’s abduction and said that not knowing was worse than knowing, and he was convinced that not knowing was what killed his wife,” she continued. “Two years later his daughter’s body was found in a shallow grave less than two miles from his house. Do you know what he said then?”
Chelsea shook her head, entranced by the story.
“He said he was wrong,” Maddie explained. “He said knowing his daughter was dead was worse than not knowing because it eradicated hope. He died a year after that and there was another story. It was heartbreaking all around.”
“You’re saying that it was okay to be angry because I still had hope my mother would come home,” Chelsea surmised. “When I found out she was dead, I didn’t have hope.”
“And that’s why you were fixated on revenge,” Maddie supplied. “The thing is, even if we find out who killed your mother beyond a shadow of a doubt, you’re still going to be angry and sad, Chelsea. Those things only get better with time.”
“Do you think David Bennet killed my mother?”
“I honestly don’t know. I wish I could tell you otherwise, but I … can’t.”
“But he had her wedding ring,” Chelsea pressed. “Why would he have her ring if he didn’t kill her?”
“He says that your mother took the ring off on their third date as a symbolic gesture and left it on the restaurant table,” Maddie answered. “He took it because he thought she might change her mind. When he started dating Cassidy, he hid it because he didn’t want her to get the wrong idea. He says he wanted to figure out a way to get the ring to you.”
“Do you believe him?”
“I … don’t know,” Maddie said, struggling to find an answer that would make Chelsea feel better. “I think that story is plausible. No matter how I try to wrap my mind around it, I can’t come up with a motive for David to kill your mother.
“Granted, I don’t know him well,” she continued. “He was ahead of us in school and I spent years away from Blackstone Bay. No one I’ve talked to has mentioned any stories about him losing his temper. He doesn’t paint a murderous picture.”
“You think it’s my dad, don’t you?” Chelsea looked frightened to hear the answer.
“I haven’t really talked to your father, so I can’t answer that,” Maddie said. “The brief conversation we had at the police department the night you were arrested led me to believe he was worried about you. I can say he clearly loves you, and that makes me like him.
“On the flip side, he’s dating Monica Gardner, and that woman is a snake,” she said. “He might be mentally deficient if he thinks she’s a good girlfriend.”
Chelsea snorted and then dissolved into giggles, taking Maddie by surprise. “Do you know Monica?”
“We went to high school together.”
“You obviously didn’t like her,” Chelsea said dryly. “I don’t like her either.”
“Is she mean to you?”
“She pretty much ignores me,” Chelsea replied. “She only cares about my dad. I’m fine with that. I don’t want to be her friend … and I certainly don’t want her acting as if she’s my mother. I don’t think my dad really likes her anyway, so it’s not going to be important over the long haul.”
“Why don’t you think your dad likes her?”
“My mom and dad were different people,” Chelsea explained. “They thought I didn’t notice how much they disliked each other, but I always saw it. I still wanted them together. I couldn’t help it.”
<
br /> “I think that’s normal for all children.”
“When my dad started bringing Monica around, I hated her on sight,” Chelsea said. “I think Dad just liked that she listened to him and wanted to do the same things he wanted to do. Mom never wanted to do the same things. They were always fighting and screaming at each other. I just … Monica is easy – in more ways than one – and that’s all my dad can handle right now.”
“I think you’re very wise,” Maddie said, instinctively pushing Chelsea’s hair away from her face. “The thing is, I don’t know if David Bennet is guilty. Nick doesn’t know either. The biggest thing bothering both of us is that we can’t figure out what happened to your mother’s car.”
“Why is that important?” Chelsea asked.
“Everyone kept telling you that your mother left town and you were the only one who didn’t believe that,” Maddie responded. “Have you ever asked yourself why everyone else believed it?”
“I … .” Chelsea broke off, her mind clearly busy.
“Think about it,” Maddie prodded. “Your mother was found very close to town. She was dead the entire time she was gone. That would seem to indicate she never left the area. So what happened to her car?”
“Holy crap! You’re right,” Chelsea said. “This place is too small for her car to sit parked on a street for two months and have no one notice it.”
“Exactly,” Maddie said. “I think someone is either hiding her car in a garage or dumped it in the woods somewhere. The problem with dumping it in the woods is that there are a lot of hikers and campers in this area during the summer months. Someone could’ve easily found it. I think it’s in someone’s garage.”
“Can’t the police search every garage in town?”
“Not without evidence,” Maddie answered. “I’m hoping your mother will remember who killed her so we can focus on them.” She hadn’t meant to say the last part out loud, and Maddie realized too late that Chelsea had heard – and absorbed – every word.
“You really can see ghosts, can’t you?” Chelsea’s eyes were wide.
Maddie was caught. Her mother instilled the importance of keeping her secret from becoming common knowledge in her at a young age. That lesson almost cost Maddie a life with Nick because she was terrified he wouldn’t understand her abilities. She’d just gotten Chelsea to trust her. She didn’t want to risk losing her now.
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