by Tegan Maher
He rolled his eyes. “Heaven forbid that happens. Let’s do it.”
With that, he pulled his phone from his pocket and called in the troops.
So much for our romantic getaway.
5
Because we were so far out in the boonies, it took Hunter’s crime guys almost an hour to get there. While we were waiting, he called Harry to let him know what happened and also contacted Peggy Sue to see if she could nail down who owned the property.
While he did all that, I tried to immerse myself in the novel I’d brought but ended up playing my various phone games. I figured the vacation was over, so there was no need to continue my self-imposed gag on electronics. Since we were in the sticks, there were only a handful of Pokemon and Wizard’s Unite traces out, so that took all of five minutes before my brain was sucked back into reality.
“I’m sorry this happened, and it sucks that we didn’t even get through our first night,” Hunter said, pulling me into a hug.
I smiled against his chest. “It’s not your fault, unless you snuck around at some point and killed him yourself. And I’m sorry, too. Maybe when the wedding’s over, we can go away and just lock ourselves on a cruise ship or something.”
He shook his head. “Nope. A deserted island. No people, which means no interruptions, and nobody can get dead.”
“Gallows humor. I like it.” I knew he was trying to distract me from the body that was lying just feet from us, but it was hard to ignore.
“What about the woman he was with?” I asked. “Where was she? We’re not close to any cabins, so it seems strange that he would have taken a walk this far by his lonesome.”
I gave him a once-over, careful to avoid his eyes. If I had to guess, I’d put him in his thirties, and he was in great shape. Dark hair, tanned, no jewelry other than a wedding band. Aside from that, he was wearing a black tank top, red swimming trunks, and leather flip-flops.
I pointed to his feet. “He wasn’t out for a run, or even a serious walk. It’s a solid half-mile to the nearest place, if I’m remembering the area right.”
Hunter pressed his lips together and furrowed his brow. “No, as a matter of fact, I don’t even think he was killed here. There’s no blood underneath him, and there should be a lot of it. He was shot in the chest.”
I hadn’t even thought of that, but he was right. The only blood I could see was on his shirt. We began looking for tracks, but we’d been so long without rain that the clay was packed and hard. On top of that, there was a layer of leaves over that portion of road that would make it difficult to see anything at all even if they were there. Sussing that would be a project for his crime scene guys.
The sound of twigs snapping under tires let us know the team was there. Thankfully, we were on an access road. Even though it was narrow and overgrown in a lot of places, it was a much better scenario than if we’d found the body in the middle of the woods. Of course, if we were right and the body’d been dumped there, the killer would have made a better choice to go a little farther into the overgrowth.
Hunter dove into cop mode and began motioning with his hands, directing the SUV-turned-ambulance to the body. Jim, our crime scene investigator, jumped out of a black pickup that followed the ambulance in, and his trainee, Ritchie, climbed out the passenger side, a camera around his neck.
I greeted everybody then just did my best to stay out of the way. I toyed with the idea of going back to the cabin but figured I’d just go crazy and want to be back where the action was.
While Hunter did his thing, I dropped the tailgate on Jim’s truck and pulled my book from my backpack. Surprisingly, I was able to fall into the story a little and jumped when Hunter laid his hand on my shoulder.
“We’re about to wrap it up here. Peggy just called me back. It seems the property we’re on right now belongs to Vince Murphy.”
That threw me because Vince Murphy had a farm on the other side of the county. I’d gone to school with his girls, who’d opened up a little bakery. In fact, they were the ones making Anna Mae’s cake. Small world? Nope. Just a super small town.
“I didn’t realize Vince owned property out here,” I said. “His property’s over on the other side of town.”
He nodded. “I thought so, too. He inherited twenty acres over here from his mom’s family and built some cabins on it. He rents them out as rustic vacation getaways.” He put that in quotes. Though I hadn’t known Vince owned property over here, I knew of several other people who did exactly that. Since this side of the county was heavily wooded, the land was mostly used for hunting and recreation.
I raised a brow. “How many cabins are there?”
“Seven total. He put them in a little cluster, but he asks guests to use the road to get to the river rather than cutting across properties like us locals do.”
I huffed a breath out through my nose. “Apparently they didn’t bother to read the rule book.”
He pressed his lips together. “I don’t think these are tourists. Vince said he rented three out to groups of locals who were doin’ the same thing we are—just getting away for the week. Since they’re all from around here, they may have felt it was okay to take some liberties.”
“I assume he keeps books, then? Can we at least narrow it down?”
He nodded. “From what he told me, the unlucky guy in the body bag is Curtis Boyd. He and his wife Valerie have a place in town, and they paid with cash. Aside from that, Vince didn’t know anything about them.”
“Well, that’s a start, anyway,” I said. “What about Peggy Sue? She knows pretty much everybody.”
Peggy was his right-hand woman at the sheriff’s office. Not only was she an administrative assistant extraordinaire, she also managed all the clerking business for the county. She’d lived in Keyhole all her life, so in addition to the cold facts about taxes, birth, marriage, divorce, and death that she picked up at work, she also knew everybody personally from church, social stuff, or the local gossip mill. He referred to her as his secret weapon.
“I haven’t talked to her, and now she’s gone for the day. It’s getting late, and I doubt we’re gonna get to talk to too many people anyway.”
Kyle, one of Hunter’s deputies, approached. “Sheriff, it’s almost seven o’clock. Why don’t you go ahead and stay out here for the night? Don’t cut your vacation short until tomorrow. There’s nothing you can do tonight, anyway. I can handle the paperwork, and JC and I’ll go talk to his wife.”
He glanced back and forth between us, his brown eyes warm. He was young but competent. Kyle was born and raised in Keyhole and joined the force after doing four years in the Army. He’d quickly moved up the ranks to be one of Hunter’s best cops.
Hunter rubbed his jaw, then looked at me. He wasn’t good at handing over the reins but that was mostly because when he’d first taken the job as sheriff, the force had been full of rotten apples left over from the previous administration. Since then, he’d cleaned house and had finally gotten to a place where he had good people working under him.
“You know what? I’m gonna take you up on that.”
My eyebrows about shot off the top of my head. I figured he’d take a pass on the offer, but I have to admit, I was happy about it. We were both sorta control freaks, so I was glad I hadn’t put any money on it.
Kyle grinned ear to ear and gave a sharp nod, and it was obvious from his posture that he barely avoided snapping his heels together and saluting. “Good, sir. You won’t regret it. Enjoy your evening, both of you.”
I slipped my arm around Hunter’s waist and smiled up at him. Yes, there’d been a murder—again—but this time, we weren’t going to let it turn our lives upside down. At least, not until tomorrow.
6
Hunter and I went back to the cabin and cooked steaks, and though he tried to relax, his heart just wasn’t in it. Not that I could blame him. He took his job seriously, and one of his citizens was dead. He finally gave up and spent some time making phone calls.
After doing that for an hour, he puffed his cheeks and blew out a breath as he joined me on the couch where I was flipping through channels. “Kenny says he talked to them earlier and that they seemed to be getting along. Happy as clams.”
Kenny was Hunter’s friend from Indianapolis. He’d moved here a couple of months ago when he’d taken a game warden’s job and was enjoying the heck out of it. Rather than driving a squad car around a big city looking for crime, he was spending his days outdoors protecting nature. It was a much better fit for him. He’d also rented Hunter’s house, so he’d become another staple in our little crew.
My lips curved into a small smile, and I squeezed his knee. “Have you learned nothing of livin’ in the South, sweetie? Most of us are raised not to air our dirty laundry in public. We can be all sweet and lovey-dovey in public, but once the front door is closed, bam! A fryin’ pan to the back of the melon. Or, in this case, a bullet to the chest.”
“True,” he replied, his tone wry as he leaned his head back against the sofa. “Kenny said she seemed sweet if a little shy. He’s a great judge of character—almost as good as you, even without magic—but he’s not used to the folks around here. Plus, no matter where you’re at, people with huge secrets can hide them long enough to talk to the law for ten minutes.”
I scooched over and snuggled into the crook of his arm. “Some people only show you the face they want you to see. You never know. Maybe she got tired of him leaving the toilet seat up or squeezing the toothpaste from the middle. Or maybe he was cheatin’. Wouldn’t be the first time a spouse got fed up and loaded up the shotgun. Shoot, sometimes I’m flat-out shocked it doesn’t happen more often. I’ll go as far as to say there are a few situations where I’d almost encourage it. You know, if murder wasn’t wrong and illegal and stuff.”
He twisted his head around so he could look me in the eye. “You’re a little freakin’ terrifying, you know that?”
I winked at him. “I do know that. But you’re safe … for now. Just keep it in mind as we get older. When it comes time, don’t leave your dentures layin’ around. I already know it’ll be a pet peeve. I don’t want to see your chompers smilin’ at me on the counter when I’m drinking my OJ in the mornings.”
I laughed at his appalled expression.
“People do that?” he asked. “Like, right on the kitchen table?”
I shrugged. “I’ve seen it and worse.”
He shook his head as he pulled me close. “Noted, then. No dentures in the kitchen if they become a thing. For either of us. Back to the murder, though, I agree that we’re gonna have to do some digging on the wife. She’s the obvious suspect.”
I kissed him on the chin. “Yuppers. And I know just the place to start. Well, two places. You start with Peggy Sue, and I’ll head to Coralee’s. If we don’t find any dirt between the two of them, there’s probably none to find. If we get anything good, then we’ll be forearmed when we talk to her.”
He took the remote control from my hand and settled back into the couch. “Sounds like a plan for tomorrow. Let’s try to enjoy at least the last few hours before we dive headfirst back into reality.”
“Deal,” I said, pulling the afghan over us.
We were up bright and early the next morning despite having been up late. The Reeds didn’t have a Keurig, but they did have a super nice coffee press, which was probably even better. I’d brought caramel mocha, our favorite flavored coffee, and it was delightful prepared that way. At least we’d get to enjoy one morning of front porch sittin’.
We sat on the front porch in the rockers and drank our coffee, trying to get as much as we could out of the short time we had left there.
“It’s a shame we can’t come straight back here if this ends up being open and closed,” I said as I blew across the top of my coffee. “I know you have your thing in Atlanta next week, but it would be nice to come back here.”
He pushed the rocker with his foot and just stared at the scenery for a moment. “I know. I feel guilty saying this, but for personal reasons, it sucks this happened. I was really looking forward to unwinding a little this week before we head into the next month.” He shifted his gaze to me. “You should come to Atlanta with me. We could sight-see and stuff when I’m not at the conference.”
I waved him off. “I have a ton to do here after the wedding. I need to get that vanity sold, and it’s gonna take some time to put the wedding stuff to bed. I’ll have to return tables, make sure everybody got paid … it’s gonna take a couple days, at least.”
The idea of going away with him did have some appeal, though. And I liked Atlanta, or at least certain parts of it. Maybe I could at least join him for the last few days, or we could tack an extra day or two onto his trip and make it a real vacation.
Hunter lifted a shoulder. “We’ll figure it out when the time comes.”
I could tell he was doing his best to relax, but he wasn’t doing much of a job. He fidgeted every few minutes and kept glancing toward the truck.
I smiled. “We’ll finish our coffee and get going. Thank you for trying, though. I know it was hard for you to stay last night, but there’s no need to linger this morning.”
He cast me a guilty glance, his mouth turned up into an apologetic smile. “I’m sorry, Noe. I know I haven’t exactly been present. I’ll make it up to you.”
“Pht,” I said, flapping my hand at him. “Somebody’s dead, and you’re good at your job. You don’t have to apologize for that. I’m proud of you, and besides, I’m anxious to get back and talk to Coralee. By now, the news has circulated, and she’ll have some thoughts on it.”
He pushed to his feet and bent to kiss me on the top of my head. “You’re amazing, you know that?”
I gave him a lopsided grin as he pulled the screen door open. “Of course, I know that.”
After he went in, I sat and enjoyed the quiet of the morning. A deer edged into the clearing, oblivious to my presence as she grazed on the juicy grass that wasn’t present deep in the woods. Since there weren’t people here all the time, the yard was likely part of her regular stomping grounds. The scene was so peaceful that I about jumped out of my skin when a sharp voice exploded beside me, followed by the appearance of the bossy woman yielding it like a sledgehammer.
My post-living Aunt Addy hovered beside me with her hands on her hips, shimmering with what I’d come to recognize as irritation. “So, somebody gets killed and you don’t think to holler at me?”
I held up a hand. “One, it just happened yesterday, and two, you were hangin’ out with Dixie-freakin’-Carter for Pete’s sake. I figured you’d skin me alive for interrupting that ghostly meet-and-greet.”
For the first time, I noticed her usual jeans and flannel were missing. Instead, she was wearing a hunter-green pantsuit and beige pumps. That was about as dressed up as I’d ever seen her. She was even wearing makeup and had a few ringlets hanging loose around her face. So, meeting Dixie Carter was what it took to get her into dress clothes post-death. “You look great, by the way.”
She swooped a little closer and gave me a once-over. Irritation shifted to worry as she took in the scrapes and bruises Aurora’d magicked up for me. “Thanks. You look like crap. What happened. You okay?”
I told her the story, and her face puckered in anger. “Why, that spiteful old bat. She only did that cuz she could. No way would anybody on the council have given you guff for usin’ your magic in that situation. You wait til I get my hands on her. She already don’t like me much, and I aim to remind her why.”
Auntie and Aurora did have a rocky relationship. My mom and aunts had been the ones to help found the local council, and Addy never had a problem setting them straight when they toed over the line of what the original purpose was. Power corrupts even the best of people, and though my family had declined official positions, they had stepped in a few times over the decades to remind the board what was what.
I shrugged as I took a swig of coffee. “To be fair, it does help
with the believability factor. The bikes were messed up, and if we came through without a scratch, it would have been suspicious. At least she kept it superficial. And they did warn me never to use that gift.”
She huffed, but her expression relaxed some even though she didn’t uncross her arms from where they rested on her ample, translucent bosom. She knew I made valid points even though she didn’t share my opinion that it was stupid to have a gift and not use it even in life-or-death situations.
I shifted the topic back to safer ground. “And I’m sorry. I didn’t intend to leave you out of the whole murder thing. If you hadn’t come back today, I would have yelled for you. We’re just heading back into the fray now, so as long as you know about the murder, you’re no further behind than we are. We don’t even know anything about him yet other than that he and his wife were here on a stay-cay and were apparently getting along well.”
She gave me that satisfied grin she reserved for when she one-upped me. “Then I’ve got some info for ya. They live in the apartments over on the East side. One of the buildings Marybeth bought. I heard they had a huge argument out front of the courthouse a couple days ago about her parents. Sounds like he didn’t care much for her mama and was not pleased she was comin’ for a visit.”
I rubbed my chin in thought. “Kenny said they looked to be gettin’ along when he saw them yesterday, but you know how that goes. Maybe they made up.”
Addy pinched her lips together for a minute, thinking. “That’s the kinda thing that don’t tend to go away overnight. Could be they were just avoiding airin’ their laundry.”
I absorbed the info about the fight and tucked it away for later. Maybe he’d laid down the law about her mom coming to visit. We didn’t know anything about the dynamics of the relationship, so for all we knew, he was a controlling jerk. Could be, she got tired of him pulling the strings and decided to slip out from under his thumb by putting a bullet in him, but that seemed a little extreme.