“Great!” she said, shooing Kenny toward the room. “I wouldn’t take too long though. He’ll be here soon. You don’t want to miss it. It’s going to be great.”
I walked toward the front door.
“Oh! And I need you to sign some papers. You don’t want us to have to blur your face. You can be the local color. I think I have a spare mic. And don’t be late! It will be the most dramatic—”
I slammed the door behind me.
* * *
A rough gust of cold air whipped my hair back from my face as I hustled down the steps and veered off the gravel path, heading toward a foot trail in the trees.
It was only mid-afternoon, but the eerie gray light from the storm was making it seem much later. The wind had definitely picked up. In fact, it was almost strong enough to distract me from the anger simmering in my belly. Almost. This could not be happening. It just couldn’t. But of course it could … and was. This was typical mom behavior. She offered me the retreat! It was her idea! We had gone over the details a hundred times two days ago! But that didn’t matter. Nope. This is how it went with us. It was like we were riding a tandem bicycle through life, both of us trying to steer.
The loud crack of a tree branch snatched me from my thoughts. I skidded to a stop on the downward sloping trail, eyes snapping up. Nope. Nothing about to fall on my head. That was good. Huh, maybe an old forest wasn’t the best place to be in the beginnings of a storm. But I needed answers. And I needed them fast. Red was right. If this weather got any worse, nobody was getting off this island. I hurried as best I could down the trail, slick with icy mud and wet leaves. In fact, I should probably just call him for an evacuation now. That group back at the retreat didn’t seem like the roughing-it types.
This was not how this weekend was supposed to go!
Suddenly my foot slipped out from underneath me, sending my butt crashing to the ground.
I squeezed my eyes shut. Okay, that had hurt.
I took a deep breath as I let my hands flop to my sides.
What was I doing? This was a mess. Maybe I should just—
Another loud crack exploded above me.
Maybe I should just hurry the hell up before a tree landed on my head.
I shot to my feet and hustled the rest of the way to the small cozy cottage glowing in the distance. A moment later I was banging on its thick wooden door, knuckles aching from the cold. “Kit Kat? Tweety?”
Nothing.
I could see a light on inside. I craned my head back to the lake. Yup, their dock was in the water, boat tied to it.
I raised my fist to bang again when the door swung open.
“Oh, thank God,” I muttered.
The twins were the only other inhabitants on the island. They had to be in their seventies by now, but their zest for life could rival that of most co-eds on spring break. They drank, smoked, and generally found the daily lives of most people to be somehow hilarious. They definitely weren’t the types to, say, back down from a bar fight, but they would certainly be the ones to buy everybody, including those they were fighting with, the first round once it was done. They were also the closest thing my mother and I had to family around Otter Lake.
“Erica? What the heck are you doing out there?” Kit Kat said, brushing down her white permed curls. “Get in here.”
I stepped into the warmth of the cluttered but cozy cottage. Well, it would have been cozier if it hadn’t been for all the dead animals staring at me.
I took a good long look around. It had been awhile since I had been over to their place. Not much had changed. Their father had been a taxidermist, and the twins had held onto all his display animals … of which there were quite a few. But the dead animals weren’t the only collection in the house. They had an entire wall covered with black leather jingle-bell belts for horses and shelves upon shelves of clay jugs, which were quite possibly filled with moonshine. The place was still tidy enough that they wouldn’t quite be considered hoarders, but they were certainly skirting the edge.
Tweety came out from one of the back rooms, suitcase in hand. “Erica, honey, what are you doing here? We were just leaving.”
“I’m sorry,” I said, pulling off my hat. “Are you … where are you going?”
“Everglades. Our cousin is closing down his souvenir shop. We’re going to go help him out and warm our bones a little.” She dropped her oversized suitcase to the floor with a clunk. “I’ll bring you something back from his shop if you’d like?”
“Well, don’t go to any trouble.”
“It’s no trouble. He’s got a ton of crap.”
“Okay,” I said slowly. “Thanks.” This was becoming a really, really strange day.
“It’s just for a week or two,” Kit Kat said. “Until we’re sure this winter is over. Maybe you could keep an eye on the place for us?”
I nodded. Spring and fall were tricky times when you lived on a lake. If you wanted to stay the winter, you had to hunker down with supplies until the lake completely froze over—then you could go back and forth by snowmobile. But it wasn’t exactly what I would call comfort living. Even my mom wasn’t above renting in town for a couple of weeks here and there or going on yoga vacations. The twins would never admit it, but I couldn’t help but wonder if island living was getting a bit rough for them.
“Okay, well, I won’t keep you,” I said. I was just wondering if you guys had heard from my mom.”
“Wasn’t she supposed to be leaving for Arizona this morning?” Kit Kat asked.
“No, no,” Tweety said, looking at her sister and tapping the side of her head. “Remember she got that call? Emergency family retreat?”
Her sister squinted back at her.
Tweety looked at me, jerked a thumb at her sister, and said, “I’m going to have to put one of those If lost please return to address labels on her, the way her mind’s going.”
“What are you talking about? You never told me you talked to Summer yesterday.”
Tweety’s face dropped. “I didn’t?”
“No.”
“Ha! Better get me one of those labels too.” She turned back to me. “Anyway, they were willing to pay big, big bucks to have the retreat for the night, but she, uh…” She paused for a moment, grimacing slightly. “She didn’t know if she should do it. Said something about promising the retreat to you?”
“Yeah. Well, I guess she made up her mind.” I planted my hands on my hips and shook my head. “So, what? I mean, she didn’t still go to Arizona, right?”
Tweety squinted, deepening the wrinkles around her eyes. “I don’t know, come to think of it. She did say they weren’t interested in mediation. They just wanted the lodge. But I can’t see her leaving the retreat with strangers. Was her boat there? Maybe she needed supplies?”
“That’s what I thought, and, no, the boat’s not there,” I muttered. “But does she even have it in the water yet?” My mother, like many of Otter Lake residents, stored her boat at the marina for the winter.
Tweety squinted even harder, all of her features nearly disappearing into the folds of her skin. “I … don’t know. She was going to, but I don’t know that she did because of the Arizona thing.”
I threw my hands in the air, shaking my head.
“Well, if I had known you were coming over to play twenty questions, I would have prepared.”
“I’m sorry,” I said quickly. “I’m not mad at you guys. It’s just tonight was supposed to be…” I shook my head again, letting the thought trail off.
“Oh,” Kit Kat said knowingly. “Tonight you were going to bring the Sheriff in.”
“Take him downtown,” Tweety added.
“Put the screws—”
I put up my hand. “Please stop.”
“I thought he dumped you?” Kit Kat asked.
I sighed. “He didn’t … well, he did,” I said, looking up directly into the eyes of a weasel sitting on a bookshelf. He was judging me too. I could tell. “But there’s a wi
ndow. I just need to, you know … I was thinking maybe if I…”
“Just stop, honey,” Tweety said with a pat to my shoulder. “You’re going to hurt yourself.”
“Yeah, you’re going all red,” her sister added, swirling a finger around my face.
“You can use our place if you like?”
“Thank you,” I said, looking around again, startling just a little when I caught a glimpse of the screeching falcon about to descend on me. “Maybe. But I should probably make sure the people at the retreat are okay. And—”
“What, the stuffies don’t scream romance to you?” Kit Kat asked dryly.
“Why do you guys keep them?”
“Well, it doesn’t seem right just to throw them out,” Tweety said, gesturing to the silently hissing fox at her side. “What do we do with them? Do we give them a burial? Put them in the compost? Somebody wanted this fox to last.” She poked at one of its fangs.
“Yeah,” I said slowly. “Somebody … probably not the fox.”
She swatted me on the arm.
I smiled. “Okay, well, thanks. You’d better get going before the weather stops you. Actually … wait. Do you guys think you could give me a lift into town?”
“Sure,” Tweety said. “We could use someone to carry our bags.”
* * *
After hiking the twin’s bags across half the town, we parted ways at their friend Alma’s house. She was taking them to the airport. I fended off the invitation to pop in for tea, wished them a good trip, then spent another five, ten minutes making them promise not to bring me a souvenir alligator head home. I left the house still unsure if they really got that I meant it.
I hurried my way into the main part of town, wanting to stop in at every little shop and home I passed along the way. My ear lobes were so cold it felt like they might snap off any minute. One old house in particular caught my eye because of the sign out front. MRG Properties. Huh. So that’s where they had set up shop. The brick house had been a flower store when I was a kid, but I guess it was now the temporary home of the real-estate developer that was transforming Otter Lake from a quaint small town to a cottage playground for New Hampshire’s rich and famous … well, maybe just rich.
Last I heard, the company had put a temporary hold on all developments, given their connection to the murder and attempted murder that had occurred in Otter Lake last year. Well, I guess they weren’t really connected per se. In fact, truth was, for a little while there, I may have been responsible for casting a wee bit of suspicion on their in-town representative, Candace. Which may have been a teensy bit motivated by the fact that I thought she was dating Grady. But it turned out Grady totally thought she had done it too—which, really, you know, shows how much we think alike.
I hurried past the house just in case Candace had decided to come back to town. We had left things on kind of an awkward note. I had apologized to her a couple of times on social media because she had blocked my number from her phone, but I gave up after a while. Really you can only be declined as a friend so many times before you have to accept that a person just doesn’t like you.
I hustled on, blowing some air over my thinly gloved hands before shoving them deeper into my pockets. Man at this rate, by the time I got to the sheriff’s department, my nose would be running uncontrollably and my lips would be too numb to talk.
This day sucked.
And, of course, the instant I had that thought, the engine of what sounded like a monster truck roared behind me.
My eyes jumped over to the camouflage-painted beast rolling up to my side. Hmm, this didn’t seem promising. Nope, especially not with that flag depicting the naked silhouette of a girl holding a shotgun hanging on the back window. Maybe if I just kept walking—
“Yo, Erica.”
Nope.
Chapter Four
What now?
The passenger-side window of the truck rolled all the way down, releasing a tangy combination of nicotine and some other smoke, most likely of the make your own variety.
I blinked past the cloud, waving my hand in front of my face.
“Weasel?” I shouted before snapping my mouth shut. I mean, it was one thing to call a guy Weasel in high school because, well, he looked a lot like a weasel—actually, nope, it probably wasn’t okay then either. “I mean, Dave! How are you?”
“I’m good. I’m good,” he said scratching the sparse stubble on his chin. You’re looking—” He was cut off by the hand of the driver pushing him against the seat, so he could lean around, and …
Nuts.
Well, this was going to be awkward.
“Jake,” I said weakly. “Hi.” I tried to pop some fingers up in greeting, but they were having none of it.
Jake Day. Cousin of Laurie Day. The woman I had helped put away for murder last summer.
He tossed me a casual nod, but his eyes felt very heavy on my face. “I’ve been hoping to see you around town, Boobsie.”
I clicked my tongue. “Yeah, I don’t go by Boobsie anymore.” I probably could have made that sound more indignant if I hadn’t just called a grown man Weasel.
“Really?” Oh boy, there was no hiding the nasty undertone in his voice. “I still like it. Fits.”
I sighed as my eyes darted up the sidewalk. I should just keep walking. I mean, Weasel—again!—Dave, was a harmless enough guy. I didn’t want to be rude to him, but then again, I had never been fond of the company he chose to keep. See, he had always been a little like one of those feeder fish that follow sharks around, and Jake was definitely a shark. Actually, no. That was insulting to sharks. Jake was a jerk. Through and through. He was the kind of guy back in high school who would hit on another guy’s girlfriend right in front of him just to try to start a fight. He was missing a couple of his front teeth as a result—probably had taken a lot more though. Somehow, I was getting the impression that not much had changed.
I took a step back from the truck. “Well, it’s been nice seeing you guys. But I have to get g—”
“My mom just visited Laurie a week or two ago up in state.”
I slowed my walk but didn’t quite stop. “Uh-huh.” That really didn’t feel like a comment that wanted my input.
The truck rolled beside me.
“Not really having a good time there.”
“I wouldn’t think so,” I muttered, stepping over an icy puddle.
“Especially tough considering she’s innocent.”
Okay, that stopped me in my tracks. “You know she confessed, right? And held a bunch of us at gunpoint?”
“Yeah,” he said, before biting his lip roughly. “I heard your story.”
“No, she’s right,” Dave, the feeder fish—nope, still bad—said. “I heard it from Freddie too. He—”
Jake pushed him back against the seat again.
“Easy, Jake! I didn’t mean anything by i—” This time Dave was cut off by the flag hanging against the back windshield, falling on his head.
“Again?” he muttered, pushing it up off his head. “It’s always doing that.” He swiveled in his seat, trying to reattach it, but Jake snatched it away. “Leave it.”
“You know what?” I said, jerking a thumb down the sidewalk. “I gotta go, and you guys really seem like you have enough going on here.”
“Yeah, sure,” Jake said revving the engine. “But you might want to watch your back, Boobsie. Not everybody in town is happy with you and Freddie sticking your noses into other people’s business.”
I stopped to look him in the eye again. I guess my expression had the effect I was going for because Dave shrank back into his seat. “What exactly do you mean by that, Jake? Is that like some sort of threat?”
He didn’t flinch. “Threat? I would never threaten the sheriff’s girlfriend, but … oh, that’s right.” He snapped his fingers. “He dumped you, didn’t he?”
He threw me one last nasty smile before speeding away, leaving me standing in a cloud of exhaust.
I puffed
some air out in a full-body scoff—which nobody was really around to appreciate—then shook my head. Some things never change, I thought, stomping my way back down the street. I mean, I guess I should have been … what? Intimidated? But really, Jake was just a bully. I didn’t think he meant to accomplish anything by this little conversation other than to have a story of how he shook up Erica Bloom to tell his family. And who did he think he was driving around in that ridiculous truck?
I fumed my way all the way to the sheriff’s department. Amazing how a little anger will put some pep in your step. I wasn’t even cold anymore.
As I climbed the steps to the building, my heart sank.
It was packed.
And by packed, I mean not one, but two extra officers were talking with Rhonda at the front desk. That was two more than usual, and that had to mean that they were preparing for the storm—which also meant that the odds of my evening going as planned were even slimmer than they were an hour ago when I discovered my mom’s lodge full of people.
And that was pretty slim.
Any other day, under any other circumstance, it wouldn’t have been a big deal. We could have just postponed to another night. But the amount of convincing it took for me to get Grady to agree to this night, well, it made me think he’d use this delay as a reason to call the whole thing off, and that was not happening.
I hustled up the stairs of the building, the glowing yellow lights welcoming me inside, but before I could even reach for the glass door, I saw deputy at large Rhonda Cooke’s head whip around. The look on her face was enough to make me second guess putting my hand on the handle.
I stared at her a moment, trying to figure out exactly what her expression meant. Surely it didn’t mean what I thought it did … and if it did, surely it couldn’t be meant for me? I took a quick glance behind me to see if anyone else was standing there.
Nope, no one there.
This was weird.
Rhonda and I were friends.
I put my hand back on the handle and swung open the door. She was probably just on high alert because of the storm, and—
“Don’t you even think about it!”
Snowed In with Murder Page 3