“The clown jumped out of the trees,” Brandon said. “Miss Ivy hit him and tried to get away, but she couldn’t. She told me to run and find you.”
Jack was instantly alert as he craned his neck and searched for a glimpse of Ivy. He came up short. “Where, Brandon? You need to show me where.”
“Behind the greenhouse.”
Jack nodded and kept his grim smile in place as he patted the boy’s head. “Max, find your father and whatever men you can get and then head into the woods. Spread out in groups of two.”
“What are you going to do?” All thought of running off with Wonder Woman fled Max’s mind the moment he realized his sister was in danger.
“I’m going to find Ivy,” Jack said brightly, putting on a show for Brandon’s benefit before lowering his voice so only Max could hear. “And then I’m going to kill whoever would dare touch her. If she’s hurt … I swear … I will end whoever this is.”
“WHO ARE you?”
Ivy rubbed her wrist as she rested her back against a tree. She knew the woods behind her house better than anyone, but she’d lost her sense of direction in the darkness. She couldn’t be sure exactly where she was.
After grabbing her by the greenhouse, her assailant dragged her through the trees. She opened her mouth to scream at one point – convinced it was her only shot before he forced her away from the nursery grounds – but the man realized what she was going to do a split-second before she did it and clamped his hand over her mouth. All she managed was a small squeak.
The man stood about three feet away, his chest heaving as he glared at her. They walked at least a quarter of a mile in the dark. In the grand scheme of things, that wasn’t very far. Given the fact that Ivy was separated from everyone, though, it felt like a continent divided her from Jack.
“Don’t you know?” The man hadn’t spoken since grabbing her, so when he finally opened his mouth, Ivy was surprised.
“Why should I know?” Ivy asked. “You’re wearing a mask.”
“You’re psychic or something, though,” the man replied. “You see things. You saw inside of my head.”
Ivy wet her lips as she glanced around. The forest was eerily silent. If Jack was out searching for her she was certain he would make noise during the endeavor. He had no idea where she was, though. He was searching blindly in the dark. The odds of him finding her … .
“Aren’t you going to answer me?” The man adopted a taunting tone and drew Ivy’s blue eyes to his face. “Aren’t you going to tell me how you managed to crawl inside of my head?”
“Not until you tell me who you are.”
“And why would I want to do that?”
Ivy shrugged. “I don’t know,” she answered. “Perhaps you want to do it because you know this is your big chance to gloat. That’s the reason the killer reveals his identity in books and movies. We could treat it like a Scooby-Doo episode. That might be fun.”
Instead of laughing – or smacking her, which Ivy thought was a legitimate possibility – the man tilted his head to the side and studied her through the rubber clown mask’s eyeholes. It was a disturbing sight under the muted light.
“Who are you?” Ivy repeated, her heart rate escalating. She knew she should recognize the man, but it was as if she had a mental block. There was something so familiar about him … .
“Do you really want to know?”
Ivy bit her lip and nodded.
“Okay, but you asked for it.” The man reached for the back of the mask and pulled it over his face.
At first all Ivy could see was a mess of brown hair. Then, as he slowly lifted his chin, the features became clear. “Brad?” Of all the people Ivy envisioned being responsible for Jeff Johnson’s death, Brad Gardner was the last face she expected to see.
“Oh, what? Are you surprised?” Brad mocked, tossing the mask on the ground and smoothing his hair. “You’ve been in my head. How come you didn’t know it was me?”
Ivy had no idea how to respond. Technically, she had been in his head. She’d never been in there long enough to sniff out an identity, tough. “I didn’t purposely do that,” she said, choosing her words carefully. “It just happened.”
“Oh, it just happened? How did it just happen?”
“I have no idea,” Ivy answered honestly. “The first time it kind of happened was the day we discovered Jeff’s body in the maze. I touched his shoe and … went to a different place.”
Brad knit his eyebrows together. “Like where? Did you go to Hell or something?”
“It doesn’t really work like that,” Ivy explained. “It’s more like I went into a memory – or perhaps an echo of Jeff’s last moments. I didn’t see you, though. I didn’t feel you. I felt his pain. I think that’s what the burning sensation was anyway. I heard him crying, too. He didn’t want to die.”
“It’s kind of funny that you say that, because those were his last words,” Brad said, chuckling harshly. “He kept whimpering like a baby. I don’t want to die. I don’t want to die. He had to die, though.”
Ivy felt sick to her stomach thanks to Brad’s callous words. He was clearly a sociopath – and maybe even worse. He had no remorse for what he’d done. He almost looked as if he enjoyed doing it. “Why did he have to die?”
“Because I needed it to happen,” Brad answered. “Forget about that for a second. Go back to you and your … ability … to climb into my head. How did you do it?”
Ivy was frustrated by Brad’s refusal to give her a motive and his insistence that she could somehow control her newfound ability. “I don’t know how it happened. It just happened.”
“I felt you there,” Brad said. “I felt you crawling inside of my head. Did you know that would happen?”
“No.”
“Well, it did,” Brad snapped. “You were inside of my head and I wanted to scream. I could feel you in there … it was as if you were trying to crawl your way out.”
“But how did you know it was me?” Ivy challenged. “I didn’t know I was seeing through your eyes.”
“Because I could hear people talking to you,” Brad answered. “That day Jack and Brian came to the firehouse, I thought for sure they were there to arrest me. I had a dream earlier that day. I was killing Jeff all over again and you were watching.
“For some reason I knew it was really happening, though, and I still don’t understand why,” he continued. “I could hear Jack screaming for you. He was yelling your name. I later heard from people in town that you passed out when you saw Jeff’s body. Maisie said all of that really happened. That’s how I knew it wasn’t a dream.
“I knew then that I was in trouble,” he said. “Then it happened again that day out here. You were sitting in the woods and I was going to ask you about the dream. I watched you for a full day before then. I was hoping to be able to talk to you away from everyone else, but you were never alone. Well, you weren’t alone until you took off into the trees that one day. I was going to approach you then, but then I had this … flash … and I was in your spot looking forward. It confused me and I lost my chance because you took off into the woods.”
“I saw you the day you attacked Don Merriman in his garage, too,” Ivy said.
“Oh, I know,” Brad intoned. “You’re the reason he’s still alive. You’re the reason this entire plan is probably going to fall apart. You’re the reason I’m going to have to find a way inside of the hospital to kill him when no one is looking. That’s after I kill you first, though, of course. There can be no loose ends. My … friend … won’t stand for it.”
Ivy’s heart rolled at the words and she clenched her hands on top of her knees. “W-what?”
“Oh, you didn’t think I was alone, did you?” Brian barked out a demented laugh. “Oh, that’s cute. You did think I was alone in this. I guess you’re not as smart as you thought, huh?”
Ivy had no idea what he was talking about until another figure emerged from the shadows. She wasn’t expecting this face either, and whe
n it popped into view, everything in her head tilted.
“No way.”
Twenty-Three
“Why is she still alive?”
Karen Johnson kept one hand on her huge stomach and the other on her lower back as she glared at Brad. He didn’t seem surprised by her appearance, but Ivy felt as if her head was mired in quicksand as she attempted to wrap her mind around the new wrinkle.
“I wanted to ask her a few questions,” Brad growled. “I want to know how she’s been getting into my head.”
“I told you that was crap,” Karen snapped. “You’re imagining it because you’re feeling guilty or something. Calm down.”
“I’m not imagining it,” Brad said. “She just admitted to being able to do it. Tell her, Ivy.”
Ivy licked her lips. “Um … .”
“Yeah, I think he’s crazy, too,” Karen said. “If he’s trying to get you to admit that, go ahead and ignore him. I think he has residual guilt about killing Jeff or something. It’s making him a bit wonky.”
Ivy couldn’t help but wonder if she wasn’t the one going around the bend. “But … what are you doing here, Karen?”
“Oh, geez, really?” Karen rolled her eyes. “Do you really want an explanation?”
“She was in my head,” Brad seethed.
Karen ignored him. “I guess you deserve it,” she said. “I am sorry about having to kill you, but we don’t really have a choice. Brad won’t let this whole ‘she’s eating my brain’ thing go. It’s so annoying.”
Karen spoke as if she didn’t have a care in the world, which only served to baffle Ivy even more.
“Brad and I are together,” Karen explained. “We’ve been together for over a year now. We’re going to run away from this hellhole town as soon as we can and build a life together. We obviously have to wait until people won’t be surprised by our relationship, but we’ve got it all planned out.”
“But … what about Jeff?”
“What about him?” Karen challenged. “Do you think that Maisie was the first woman he stepped out with while he was married to me? Don’t kid yourself. Jeff cheated on me every chance he got. Most of the time it was women he met at out-of-town bars, and he was only with them for a night, but I knew. He actually brought gonorrhea home once. He tried to tell me he caught it from a toilet seat. Can you believe that?”
There was a lot about this situation Ivy couldn’t believe. That was the least jarring part of it, though. “If he was cheating on you, why not just leave him?”
“Because I have no money or job skills and I didn’t have any options,” Karen replied. “That all changed when Brad and I hooked up. We started dreaming together and we figured out a way where we could get everything – including Jeff’s life insurance policy – so that’s what we decided to do.”
Things clicked into place for Ivy. It was still a sordid tale, but she understood it much better. “You lucked out when Jeff was so open about his relationship with Maisie, huh?”
“I really did,” Karen said. “Everyone knew he was cheating on me. Maisie made a perfect scapegoat. We had to make sure to kill Jeff when I was so big no one could ever believe I had a part in it, of course. That made us move up our timetable a bit.
“I was hoping she would get arrested for the murder, but that didn’t happen because Brad decided to get fancy,” she continued. “I told him to dump Jeff’s body in the Halloween display. Maisie was in and out of that thing for days and I knew she would be drawn into the investigation. I didn’t tell him to put it on the cross, though. He did that himself.”
“I thought it was cooler,” Brad protested.
“But that’s how the police knew it was a man who killed Jeff,” Ivy said, her mind busy. “A woman wouldn’t have the upper body strength to hoist him up there.”
“Exactly,” Karen intoned. “See, Brad. She gets it. Why don’t you?” Karen talked down to Brad as if he was a small child. He didn’t seem upset by her tone, though, which made Ivy realize it wasn’t a new thing. “Now we’re kind of stuck because Maisie can’t be a suspect and we need someone else to take the fall for Jeff’s death.”
“But … what about your father?”
“He was supposed to be the next scapegoat,” Karen said. “We were going to blame him and fake a suicide. He saw Brad, though, and he tried to run. Brad had no choice but to attack him. We couldn’t really pretend it was a suicide after that.”
“He’s your father, though,” Ivy said. “How could you kill your own father?”
“You’ve met him,” Karen said. “He’s a jerk. He’s always been a jerk. He’s never cared about me. The only reason he’s been hanging around now is because he wants a piece of the life insurance payout. Of course, I have to get the payout for that to happen.”
“The insurance company won’t release the funds until you’ve been cleared in Jeff’s death,” Ivy surmised. “That won’t happen until someone else has been arrested and charged.”
“And convicted,” Karen said. “I was hoping that faking my father’s suicide would cut through all of that messy red tape. He’s still alive, though.”
“Just until I can get into the hospital,” Brad said. “I’ll make it look like a suicide, baby. I swear.”
“How is that going to work?” Ivy challenged. “He clearly didn’t attack himself in the garage. People know that.”
“Yes, but we’re going to make sure Dave Johnson goes down for that,” Karen said. “He’s always hated my father. People will believe he went after my father as some form of payback because he believes my father killed Jeff.
“See, we’re going to set it up so that it looks like Dad killed Jeff and Dave went after Dad as revenge,” she continued. “It’s pretty much foolproof. Well, except for you. I have no idea how we’re going to explain you. Brad refuses to move forward until you’re out of the picture, though. He thinks you’re haunting him.”
“She is!” Brad was beside himself. “Tell her you’ve been in my head, Ivy.”
Ivy decided to lie on the spot. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“I told you,” Karen said, puffing out her chest in a haughty manner. “You imagined it. Now she has to die for nothing. She had no idea it was you.”
“You don’t have to kill me,” Ivy suggested. “You can just leave me out here – maybe tie me to a tree or something – and make your getaway.”
“I would love to do that because I genuinely like you, but it’s not possible,” Karen said. “We can’t leave town until I have the life insurance money. That’s weeks – if not months – away. Plus, I’m going to pop out this kid any day now. That really cuts down on our traveling options.”
The baby. Something occurred to Ivy when she thought about the baby. “The baby is Brad’s, isn’t it?”
Karen nodded. “Jeff and I barely had sex. He had way too much of it with other people. Still, when I realized I was pregnant, I had to sleep with him again to buy time. That really sucked, by the way. I had to get him drunk and everything.”
“It sounds horrible,” Ivy deadpanned, rolling her neck until it cracked. Her butt was starting to go numb from the cold ground beneath her. “How did you even get this far out in the woods in your condition?”
“Far?” Karen made a face. “The road is right there.”
Ivy followed the direction she pointed with her eyes. It took her a moment to realize they’d traveled much farther east than she realized. The road that led to the nursery was right there … which meant the parking lot was probably only a quarter of a mile away. If she could get to her feet and run … .
“I won’t say anything,” Ivy promised, dragging her eyes back to Karen. “Please don’t kill me. I don’t want to die.”
The simple declaration triggered something in Brad … and it wasn’t good. “Don’t say that, you witch! I told you that’s what Jeff said right before I killed him. I don’t ever want to hear that again.”
He waved his knife around for emphasis
and Karen grabbed his wrist to make sure he didn’t inadvertently catch her with the tip.
“Calm down,” Karen soothed. “She’s just trying to rattle you. Take a deep breath. We’re almost out of this. It will just be another minute or two and then we can go. I promise everything is going to be okay.”
“But she’s lying,” Brad said. “She has been in my head. Tell her you’re lying, Ivy!” When Brad swiveled, he found Ivy was on her feet and moving away from the tree. She was quick and silent with her movements, and the realization that she was running away from him was almost too much for Brad’s fragile mind to bear. “Ivy!”
“Get her!” Karen screeched. “She’ll ruin everything if she gets away.”
Brad crashed through the trees as he followed Ivy. It wasn’t easy for her to run in the dress, but ironically enough, the slit made it so she could pump her legs without risk of tripping. She kicked off her shoes so she could increase her pace without slipping or sliding. She felt the cold seeping into the soles of her feet – along with a million hard edges and branches – but she pushed the pain out of her mind as she raced for the clearing on the other side of the trees. She was almost to the open air, where she was convinced someone would see her, when an arm snaked out from the last row of trees and grabbed her.
Ivy lashed out, slapping the hand away. She opened her mouth to scream, Jack’s name on the tip of her tongue, but a hand clasped the back of her head and Jack’s mouth covered hers in an effort to silence her.
“It’s me, honey,” he whispered, holding her up as she sagged against him. “I have you. I … love you.”
Ivy heard the words but barely registered them as she gripped the front of Jack’s costume. “It’s Brad and Karen. He’s coming.”
“I hear him,” Jack soothed, pushing Ivy behind him. “Stay here a second.”
“But … .”
“Stay here,” Jack repeated. He remained calm as he hid in the shadows.
Wicked Fog (An Ivy Morgan Mystery Book 6) Page 19