Grave Discovery

by Lily Harper Hart

  “I’m sure that’s easy for you to say now that you’re living my dream,” Monica said. “That’s not really the point of the story, though. After you left I was convinced that all Nick needed was time. So I watched him. He moved from one woman to the next, never bothering to look over his shoulder to see me waiting, and instead plowing forward.

  “At first I was really upset that he didn’t consider dating me,” Monica said. “Then I was glad he didn’t because I realized he was sleeping his way through the entire state as a way to forget you. I was hopeful that he would snap out of it when he realized you weren’t worth it.

  “After a few years he graduated from the academy and came back to live in Blackstone Bay full time,” Monica said. “I thought I would finally have my chance. I was working as a secretary at the bank at the time, and he came in once a week and I always went out of my way to talk to him. He, of course, treated me like I had lice and couldn’t get away from me fast enough.

  “That’s when he started his six-month cycle and I watched the women he paraded in and out of town with a lot of interest,” Monica said. “He was like a robot. He took the women out twice a week, had sex with them whenever the mood struck, and then dumped them as if he had a date circled on his calendar for when they expired. It was quite frustrating.”

  “You could’ve asked him out,” Maddie suggested. “Sitting around watching him for years and not saying anything probably made him uncomfortable.”

  “Probably,” Monica agreed. “I couldn’t see that then, though. With each new woman I realized that I was never going to get a chance because he didn’t really care about anyone but you. I’m not sure when I realized it, but at a certain point it became obvious he was waiting for you to come home. No one else would do.

  “That’s when I decided I had to make a change in my life,” she said. “I knew I was never going to get Nick Winters. I’d dated throughout the years, of course, but I didn’t want anyone but Nick for the long haul until it became apparent that I could never have him. I decided to move on and find someone of my own.”

  “How did that go?”

  “It went well at first,” Monica answered. “I found I loved being in a relationship. The problem was, apparently I wasn’t the perfect girlfriend because they kept dumping me. The first one said I was needy. The second one said I was too remote. The third one said I just wasn’t the right one for him.

  “Every relationship I had I adjusted my behavior to make sure I was giving the man exactly what he wanted, although it was hard to stay ahead of that and every time I slipped and showed them who I really was, I got dumped,” she said.

  “There might be a lesson in that,” Maddie said dryly. “Did you ever consider being yourself and letting them fall for the real you?”

  “That’s what I tried with Nick,” Monica said. “You saw how well that worked out for me.”

  “You can’t base your life goals on a crush you had in high school,” Maddie said. She was starting to think Monica wasn’t just a murderer, but mentally unbalanced, too. That would make her doubly dangerous. “Everyone has unrequited crushes in high school. You can’t blame Nick because he didn’t return your feelings.”

  “Oh, I don’t blame Nick,” Monica said. “I blame you. I think you cast a spell on him.”

  “Nick and I have been best friends since we were five years old,” Maddie said. “That turned into love before either one of us admitted it. I didn’t cast a spell on him. It just happened.”

  “You probably don’t remember this, but I was downtown the day you and Nick ran into each other after being apart for ten years,” Monica said. “I saw the way he looked at you. The minute he saw you he was in love again. How else do you explain getting him to move in with you after only dating for … what … two weeks?”

  “We may have only dated for a little bit, but we were committed the moment we got together,” Maddie argued. “Nick doesn’t have anything to do with what you’ve done here, Monica. Blaming him is … beyond ridiculous.”

  “I just told you that I’m not blaming him,” Monica said. “Can’t you hear?”

  “I don’t think blaming me is going to get you very far either,” Maddie said, deciding to change tactics. “Tell me about your relationship with Rick. How did you two meet?”

  “It was at the sports bar out on the highway,” Monica replied. “I’d taken to going there on Sundays during football season because I thought that would be the best time to find a man. I went through two of them before I decided to rethink my strategy.

  “The first guy broke up with me because I questioned him about flirting with a co-worker,” she continued. “I explained that I wasn’t spying and it was an accident when I followed them to lunch one day, but he didn’t believe me. The second one got angry when I started leaving panties in his car and his wife found them.”

  Maddie stilled, dumbfounded. “You didn’t think the fact that he was married and hiding it from his wife was a dead giveaway that maybe he wasn’t the one?”

  “That was just a problem for another time,” Monica explained. “I needed to get him to fall in love with me first. Then I planned to cement the relationship with a baby. I knew he’d have to leave his wife after that.

  “It doesn’t matter anyway because that guy broke up with me because he said I was psycho,” she continued. “Like it’s my fault his wife is nosy and goes through his things. That’s just … ridiculous.”

  Something about the situation was ridiculous, but Maddie was fairly certain it wasn’t this anonymous wife. “You still haven’t told me how you settled on Rick.”

  “Oh, right,” Monica said, happily returning to her story. “I was ready to give up on the sports bar when Rick came in one day. He was unhappy. You could see it on his face. I positioned myself on the stool next to him, and we got to talking.

  “I decided to play it cool with him and it took three weeks of talking before he told me his story,” she continued. “It was frustrating because he was married – and I swore off married men unless they were really rich and easily manipulated – but he also told me he was getting divorced. I saw that as an opening.

  “We started dating, and it was going really well at first,” Monica said. “He found me charming and delightful. I didn’t once slip and forget the part I was playing and I was sure he was falling in love with me. Then I overheard him arguing with Andrea one day and knew she was going to steal my life from me.”

  “You … bitch,” Chelsea hissed, taking an aggressive step toward Monica.

  Maddie held her arm out in front of Chelsea to make sure she didn’t cross the invisible line into imminent danger. Monica was still far enough away to run – or at least put a piece of garage machinery between them – if need be.

  “You found out that Andrea was petitioning for sole custody of Chelsea in her divorce documents, didn’t you?” Maddie asked, things snapping into place. “You knew that she was putting pressure on Rick to break up with you and he was considering it because he wanted to keep seeing his daughter.”

  “Oh, well, give the girl a gold star,” Monica sang, wriggling her hips. “You’re smarter than I thought, Maddie. I have to give you credit for that one. Yes, though, I found out that Andrea was trying to submarine me. She didn’t even have the grace to stab me in the chest. No, she had to sneak around and stab me in the back.

  “I thought she wasn’t going to be a problem because she was eager to divorce Rick, just like he was eager to get away from her,” she continued. “When Rick told me that she was demanding he break up with me if he wanted to keep seeing Chelsea I knew I had to act.

  “I gave her the respect she didn’t show me and confronted her about what she was doing,” Monica said. “She didn’t even bother denying it. She said I was a phony and fraud and she didn’t want me around her daughter. I just … lost it. I picked up the knife from the counter and stabbed her in the middle of her own kitchen.”

  “That blow wasn’t enough to kill her, tho
ugh,” Maddie supplied. “She was still alive and you knew you were in trouble. You could’ve taken her to the hospital. It wasn’t premeditated. Why didn’t you?”

  “I was not about to give up the life I worked so hard to get because Andrea Johnson was a bitch,” Monica replied, her tone carefree, as if she was discussing a grocery list instead of murder. “I had to finish the job. I didn’t have any options.

  “She begged for her life,” she continued. “She said she wouldn’t tell what I did and she’d change the paperwork, but I knew she was lying. It was much easier finishing than it was starting. I have no idea why, but it’s true.”

  “I’m going to kill you!” Chelsea shrieked, racing forward. Maddie managed to wrangle the girl to her side by sheer force of will, offering her a small head shake to warn her off regarding her plan of action.

  “You have to understand that I didn’t want to do any of this, Chelsea,” Monica said. “Once she was dead I found myself in real trouble. Luckily, you were off spending the night at some friend’s house so I had enough time to clean up the mess and load her body into her own car. Of course, then I had another problem. I had no idea how to get rid of the body.”

  “Why did you decide on the lighthouse?” Maddie asked, refusing to let go of Chelsea’s arm despite the teenager’s desire to break away from her so she could attack Monica.

  “No one ever went up there,” Monica said. “I figured she would go years without being discovered, and by the time people found her bones, they wouldn’t be able to tell how she died. That all changed when you happened across her body. I don’t suppose you want to tell me how you managed that, do you?”

  “Nick and I went up there for a walk and the door was open so we went inside,” Maddie lied. “We realized what we’d found pretty quickly. I guess you just had some bad luck there.”

  “I guess so,” Monica sneered.

  “Why did you hide the car here?” Maddie asked. “You could’ve gotten away with this if you found a better way to dispose of the car.”

  “I donated the car to my brother and he was supposed to have his moronic students tear it apart before the end of the school year,” Monica replied. “He said he didn’t have time and not to worry because no one would see it before this upcoming school year started. I guess he was wrong about that, huh?”

  “He knew you killed Andrea?”

  “I told him what happened because he didn’t want to take the car off my hands,” Monica explained. “I told him it was an accident and he knew it would kill our mother if I went to prison, so he agreed to dispose of it. He didn’t want anything to do with the rest of it, though, so I had to dump Andrea’s body myself. She weighed a ton. It took me two hours to drag her into the lighthouse and I had to take an hour-long shower when I was done to get all the blood off my clothes. I totally ruined my new boots doing it, too. They were cute and I got them on sale.”

  Chelsea made a sound in the back of her throat, as if she was a wounded animal, and Maddie tightened her grip on the girl’s arm to make sure she couldn’t break free. Monica stood next to the workbench as if she didn’t have a care in the world, but her hand remained resting on top of the hammer.

  “What’s your plan now, Monica?” Maddie asked. “How do you think you’re going to get away with this?”

  “I’m going to kill you and Chelsea,” Monica replied, not missing a beat. “Rick will be so lost once he loses his daughter he’ll have no choice but to pledge his love to me. I will be all he has left. Then, when I offer him a replacement child, he’ll be thrilled and we’ll have our own family. I’ll finally have my dream.”

  “And how are you going to hide our bodies?”

  “I’m not going to hide your bodies,” Monica said. “I’m going to leave them here. I figure there are plenty of suspects wandering around the school today. Heck, Marla is here and she hates you. Maybe I’ll luck out and get her arrested in the process.”

  “Nick knows we’re back here,” Maddie said, pushing Chelsea behind her and inching farther away from Monica. “He’ll be here any minute. I texted him.”

  “You texted him while he’s watching a loud pageant in the middle of a crowded gym?” Monica asked, nonplussed. “When do you think he’ll realize he got that text? I’m guessing it won’t be until long after you’re dead.”

  Maddie swallowed hard. “He’s on his way.”

  “How do you know that?”

  “Because I have faith,” Maddie replied. “He’ll always come for me. That’s just who he is.”

  “That’s cute,” Monica said. “I have faith, too. I have faith that he’ll finally be able to move on once your dead.” Monica tightened her fingers around the hammer and swung it in Maddie’s direction.

  Maddie was expecting the move so she wasn’t caught off-guard. She shoved Chelsea toward the open door with all her might as she sidestepped the blow. “Run!”

  Chelsea did as instructed, racing toward the door. She didn’t get a chance to go through it, though, because she ran into a wall of muscle instead. Nick Winters, his eyes flashing with fury, caught the teenager before she could flee.

  “Does someone want to catch me up here?”

  24

  Twenty-Four

  “She killed my mother,” Chelsea charged, her hair tangled as she tried to push it away from her face and urge Nick farther into the room at the same time.

  “Yeah, I got that part myself,” Nick said, pushing Chelsea to the side and stepping into the room. “Is that Andrea Johnson’s car?”

  Maddie nodded as she slipped around the side of a table and put more distance between Monica and herself. “She hid it here because her brother was supposed to have his class take it apart and destroy the evidence. It has been here since she killed Andrea.”

  “That was a pretty good plan,” Nick said, his tone even and his face unreadable. “Too bad it didn’t actually happen, huh?”

  “My brother has always been an idiot,” Monica huffed, the hammer still gripped in her hand. She was about two feet away from Maddie and twenty away from Nick. She stood between the couple, although she didn’t exactly have the upper hand. “Well, this is a pickle, isn’t it?”

  “Not really.” Nick was calm, his police training taking over. “You’re going to put that hammer down and surrender. That’s your only option.”

  “And what if I don’t?” Monica challenged. “Are you going to shoot me?”

  “I’m not armed,” Nick replied. “It’s a pageant. I didn’t think I needed a gun … just ear plugs.”

  “Then I guess I’m the only one armed,” Monica said, swinging the hammer in front of her and jerking it suggestively in Maddie’s direction. “Do you think you can get to me before I hit Maddie in the head with this? I might still go down, but at least I’ll take her with me. After all the pain she’s caused me, I think she deserves it.”

  A nerve pulsed in Nick’s strong jaw. “I said I wasn’t armed. I didn’t say I came alone.”

  “What?” Monica was confused. Before she could turn around, though, Dale Kreskin moved into the space behind her and grabbed the arm holding the hammer. “Let me go!”

  Monica was caught, although she wasn’t ready to give up the fight. She struggled against Kreskin, but he was too strong and managed to dig his fingers into a pressure point on her wrist, forcing her to drop the hammer. It bounced against the floor with an eerie “clang.”

  Nick hurried into the center of the room, briefly locking gazes with Maddie before helping Kreskin subdue Monica. Once she was on her knees in cuffs, Nick finally turned his full attention to Maddie.

  “You’re in a lot of trouble, love.”

  Maddie’s smile dipped. “I … this wasn’t my fault!”

  “You were supposed to go backstage and then return to the pageant,” Nick said, his tone grim. “What happened?”

  Maddie launched into the story, uncomfortably shuffling each time Nick shot her a dark look. When she was done, her heart was racing and her stomac
h was tied in knots.

  “I honestly didn’t mean to do this, Nicky,” she said. “The opening act was going on and I thought we would be back before it was over. I didn’t know it would come to this.”

  “You’re lucky I had my phone on vibrate, Mad,” Nick chided. “I felt it buzzing in my pocket. You’re also lucky I knew Dale was going to be in the audience and decided to bring him in case we had to start gathering evidence. We heard you from the hallway and split up to take her by surprise.”

  “I … please don’t be mad at me,” Maddie said, her face contorting as she fought off tears. “I’m sorry.”

  Nick crossed his arms over his chest, torn.

  “Oh, show her your belly, son,” Kreskin teased. “We both know you’re going to do it and I won’t be able to stand it if you’re morose during our interview with Monica – and then later when we get to shove our arrest down the prosecutor’s throat.”

  Nick fought the urge to smile … and lost. He opened his arms so Maddie could step into his warm embrace. “You’re going to owe me a massage later, love,” he murmured into her hair, tightening his arms around her waist. “You’re lucky I can’t stay angry with you.”

  “I got lucky the day I met you,” Maddie replied, kissing his cheek. “You’re the best thing that ever happened to me.”

  “Ugh. I’m going to throw up,” Monica said, making a face.

  “Join the club,” Kreskin deadpanned.

  NICK found Maddie sleeping in the window seat when he got home shortly before midnight. The house was quiet, and even though she was alone, Maddie didn’t look unhappy in her slumber.

  Instead of trying to pick her up without waking her, Nick kicked off his shoes and rolled into the window seat so he could settle beside her. Maddie snuggled close the moment she felt his presence.

  “Did I wake you up?”