He was dressed in a black woolen peacoat, long gray scarf, and a black-billed cap with earmuffs, pulled all the way down to his dark eyebrows, so it hid his unruly mop of black hair. As she drew near and came to a stop close by, he glanced warily about, as if he were about to come under attack, his bright blue eyes flicking from side to side before alighting on her again. “There’re a lot of people out today,” he said, settling deeper into his winter coat. “Colder weather’s coming in.”
“So I’ve heard. I haven’t seen you around much lately, Judicious. Has everything been going okay?”
“There’s a lot been going on,” he said, “so I thought you should know.”
“What?” Candy felt her sense of dread returning. “Does it have anything to do with Solomon?”
“Maybe. That’s the thing—I don’t know for sure. It’s just a feeling I have.”
Candy shivered. It always meant trouble when Judicious had a feeling. As a young man he had taken a mystical journey to Tibet, where he’d spent the better part of two decades sitting on a mountaintop, exploring the mysteries of the universe. Now he was back in Cape Willington, where he lived by himself in a small log cabin on a forested patch of land at the edge of town.
Several of her previous encounters with Judicious had come at opportune times, when she’d been deep in the middle of mysteries. His sudden appearance here, now, out in public, seemingly with a message for her, made her feel even more strongly that something was up. “Have you heard from Solomon? Is he okay?”
“I can’t say for sure.”
“Do you know where he is?”
Judicious looked back over his shoulder, to the west. “He’s somewhere in the woods.”
“Yes, but where?”
He pondered the question, his eyes distant, watching. “I don’t know for sure. I have a feeling he’ll contact you when he’s ready.”
Conversations with Judicious were always a little odd, but for the most part she’d become used to them. Still, she wished he were a little less cryptic and a little more forthcoming. “Judicious, is there anything specific you can tell me about Solomon? Is he injured? Is there something I can tell the police to help them find him?”
Judicious was silent for a long time as he watched the activities in the park. He seemed fascinated by everything around them. “The police won’t find Solomon unless he wants them to,” he said finally. “Right now, it seems he doesn’t want to be found. And that’s a significant point, isn’t it?”
Candy felt another chill go through her as she focused her gaze on him. “What are you saying?”
Judicious answered her question with a question. “Why does Solomon feel the need to hide?”
“I don’t know. Why?”
A trace of a smile crossed Judicious’s face. “Think about it. Why did he come running out of your woods?”
She saw what Judicious was getting at. The obvious answer quickly came to her. “Because he was afraid of something.”
“Yes, but what?”
“The body,” she said at once. But she sensed there was something more. Solomon had acted scared, as if something had spooked him. But what could it have been? What had happened in those woods?
Candy lowered her voice as she leaned a little closer to Judicious. “What do you think is going on?”
He shook his head. “As I said, I don’t know for sure. But I have a feeling the answers are all around us. You just have to find them. You’re a detective, Candy. You’ve proved that before. You’ll know where to look, if you think about it.” He pointed with his head over his shoulder, in the direction of Blueberry Acres.
Candy knew exactly what he meant. “The woods.”
His gaze shifted to her briefly, then back toward the crowd surrounding the ice sculptures. “There’s something else you should know. It’s not just me. The sisters feel the same way. They’ll tell you all about it. Listen carefully when you talk to them.”
“The sisters? Talk to who?” She felt her frustration rising. “Judicious, isn’t there anything else you can tell me? Something that would help me figure out what’s happening?”
At that, he gave her a melancholy smile. “I can’t walk the path for you. You have to discover the answers for yourself. But you’ll be fine. Trust your instincts. Yours are very strong, if you haven’t noticed.”
He did something with his left eye that might have been a wink; it went by so fast Candy couldn’t be certain. She heard a shout behind her and turned back toward the crowd. The workers were gathered around one of the ice mountains—the one that would soon become a dragon—and were cheering about something. After watching them for a few moments, she realized what was happening. They’d put the last block into place. The forklifts were powering down. A mini celebration swept through the crowd.
Wanda Boyle was at the center of the scene, snapping photos with a small digital camera, like a seasoned pro.
She’s right where I should be, Candy thought as a strange feeling swept through her. She realized that Wanda was moving in on her territory, and that her place in town was in danger of being usurped.
She knew she should probably be upset about that, but instead she just shook her head and sighed. You have to give the woman some credit, Candy thought with grudging admiration.
“I’ve got to get back over there,” she said as she turned back toward Justice. But he was gone—as she should have expected.
She scanned the park and thought she saw his black peacoat disappearing between the trees. A moment later any remaining sign of him was blocked by a group of oncoming tourists excited about the events going on in the park.
Judicious had said his piece and made an inconspicuous exit—again.
And once again, he’d left her with more questions than answers. She put her hands on her hips and let out a breath. “Okay, so… can anybody tell me what that was all about?” she said to no one in particular.
Strangely enough, she received a reply. “Talking to yourself again?”
Candy twisted around. Maggie had come up behind her.
“Oh, hi, Mags. No, not really. There was someone here a few moments ago—though not right then, when I said that last sentence. I suppose I was alone then, wasn’t I? So yes, the answer to your question is yes, I was talking to myself. But not the whole time.” She paused and made a face. “I don’t suppose that makes any sense, does it?”
Maggie tilted her head. “You know, strangely enough, in a Candy Holliday sort of way, it does. If you were anyone else, I’d recommend a really good psychiatrist. I’d even call and make an appointment for you. But given what’s happened around here the past few years, I’ve learned to avoid snap judgments. So I’m willing to give you the benefit of the doubt.”
Candy drew her head back. “Wow, good answer. But I’m not sure if I should be impressed or depressed.” In a lowered voice, she added, “Do I really sound that crazy?”
Maggie laughed. “Maybe just a little, but around here I don’t think anyone will notice. So what’s up?”
Candy shook her head. “You know, I’m not really sure. But it looks like we’ve got another mystery on our hands. And that’s what’s got me worried.”
Maggie gave her a sympathetic smile and pointed with her eyes to the inn off to their right. “How about a glass of wine, and we can talk it over?”
Candy clapped a hand on her friend’s shoulder and looked around for Ben. “You’ve been reading my mind.”
Eight
“So you think it’s happening again?” Maggie asked.
Candy took a thoughtful sip of her second glass of white wine. She’d just told Maggie about her encounter with Judicious, and she needed a few moments to formulate an answer. Finally she let out a tense breath. “To be honest, yes. I’ve been trying hard all day not to overreact. I mean, that’s the smart thing to do, right? To try to keep a level head about all this? But after talking to Judicious, I have to agree with him.”
“What do you mean?”
“Maybe he’s just lost,” Maggie said, trying to be helpful.
“Maybe. Or maybe he really is in trouble. Maybe, like Judicious said, someone’s after him. Maybe he’s hiding out in the woods, afraid for his life. Maybe he’s injured and needs our help.”
“And we’re sitting here drinking wine,” Maggie said, looking down at her glass.
“Exactly. The truth is, if Judicious thinks something’s up, it’s hard for me not to believe him. He’s essentially corroborating Solomon’s story. And you know what that means?”
“What?” Maggie asked.
“It means Solomon was right—there really was a body in the woods.”
That seemed to surprise them both, and they sat for a few moments in silence as the other guests in the inn’s lounge moved obliviously past them.
After walking over from Town Park, they’d settled into a corner booth and ordered glasses of an aromatic Chardonnay from Washington State. Ben had not yet arrived, but that had given the two of them a chance to talk about the day’s events.
“So,” Maggie said, trying hard not to sound too ominous, “what should we do about it?”
“I think,” Candy replied, “that we need to be proactive rather than reactive.”
“Meaning?”
“Meaning we need to search the woods ourselves.”
Maggie’s eyes went wide. “You’re not thinking of doing it right now, are you?”
“No—much as I’d like to. But it’s too late in the day. By the time we got out there it’d be starting to get dark. We wouldn’t have enough time to conduct a thorough search. Tomorrow, maybe, depending on what happens.”
“We?”
“What?”
“You said, By the time we got out there.…”
“Oh yeah, I guess I did. Well, I don’t think I should go alone. That would be irresponsible, right, given what we might find? So I thought about you—”
“Me?” Maggie squeaked, both excited and scared at the same time.
“—but I figured you’re probably working all day tomorrow, aren’t you?”
Maggie just as quickly deflated. “Oh yeah, that’s right, I am. Darn, I always seem to keep missing out, don’t I? Because it really would be fun, you know—tramping around the woods all day, freezing my toes off, looking for a crazy old hermit and a dead body, catching a cold, being bedridden for days or weeks, maybe dying of pneumonia. But, you know, good times.”
“That’s such a gracious way of putting it,” Candy said with an admiring smile.
“It is, isn’t it? It’s one of my skills, you know—being able to quickly summarize your little mysteries.”
“Obviously you missed your calling. So, anyway, I figure I need to take someone who’s the outdoorsy type, someone who’s got decent survival skills and knows how to find his way out of the woods if we get lost. That’s why I’m going to ask Ben to go with me.”
Now it was Maggie’s turn to give her friend a knowing smile. “You know, that’s not a bad idea. It’ll be nice for you and him to get out and do something—spend a little time together. If I didn’t know better, I’d say you’ve been planning this.”
“Actually it’s a spur-of-the-moment kind of thing, but it seems like the most sensible approach. If we should happen to run into any trouble with Solomon, or whoever’s chasing him, or whatever it is that’s out there in the woods, at least I’ll have Ben there to get us out of a jam.”
“Think he’ll go for it?”
“I think so. He sounds just as worried about Solomon as I am.”
“Well, it’s a good plan… as long as he shows up.”
Candy checked her watch and glanced at the door. “Hmm, you’re right about that. I wonder what happened to him.”
A little earlier, when they’d found Ben in the park, he’d been standing apart from the crowd, off to one side by himself, deep in thought. After Candy had told him where they were headed, he’d agreed to meet them, but so far he hadn’t shown up.
“He must have gotten distracted,” Candy said, reaching for her cell phone.
“Sure he did, honey. That’s exactly what happened.”
“I’ll text him and see where he is.”
“That’s a good idea. I’m sure he just got sidetracked.” Maggie placed her chin in the palm of her upturned hand and watched curiously as her friend flipped open her phone and began to key in a quick message. “So how are things going with you and Ben, anyway?” she asked after a few moments.
“Fine.”
“You guys been doing anything… interesting lately?”
Absently, Candy answered, “Not really. He’s been tied up with work a lot lately.”
“So I’ve noticed. What’s he working on that’s so important, if I may ask?”
“He hasn’t talked much about it.”
“Isn’t that strange? He’s talked about everything else with you, hasn’t he?”
Candy glanced up at her friend as she punched a few more buttons. “What are you getting at?”
“Well, since last summer he’s been hanging out with you a lot, telling you all these things about his life and his family. But he hasn’t said much about his work, has he?”
Candy finished keying in her message and pressed the send button. As she slipped the phone back into her pocket, she squinted over at Maggie. “So?”
“So I’m saying that this sort of thing has been happening a lot lately. For the past few weeks you’ve been telling me he’s been distracted a lot. How many times has he canceled on you this month?”
Candy had to think about that. “Now that you mention it, there have been a couple of times—two or three, maybe.” She shrugged. “He’s a busy guy.”
“Yes, but doesn’t he seem busier than usual lately? When he comes in the dry cleaner’s, he barely talks to me. He seems like a different person.”
“He is a different person, after what happened last summer.”
“I know that, but something else has happened lately. I can sense it in him. He seems, well, more preoccupied than usual—if that’s possible. He mumbles a lot now—have you noticed that? And he walks with his head down a lot, like he’s looking for a lost fifty-dollar bill.”
Candy nodded but said nothing. She’d noticed lots of changes in Ben over the past eight months or so, and most had been positive. So when he’d become immersed in some new project, she hadn’t overreacted. She’d asked him about it a couple of weeks ago, and he’d told her vaguely what he was working on—something to do with the history of the town, he’d said. She hadn’t pressed him on it, and hadn’t thought much about it at the time, but she realized Maggie was right. Whatever he was working on, it was starting to occupy more and more of his time.
She was about to say something to Maggie when her cell phone buzzed. She fished it out of her pocket again.
Ben had texted her a message: Got held up sorry will touch base soon.
“Well, shoot,” Candy said softly as she closed the phone and tucked it back in her pocket. “It’s happened again.”
“Ben?”
“He got held up.”
“There you go.”
“But I thought things were going so well,” Candy said, a little bewildered at this most recent development. “He’s been hanging around the farm so much for the past six months that I thought things were starting to get…”
She let her voice trail off but Maggie finished the sentence for her. “Serious?”
“Yeah, I guess that’s the right word. Though I’m still not sure if that’s what either of us wants.”
“Girl, you and him need to have a heart-to-heart talk very soon and figure out what you want to do.”
“I thought that’s what we were doing.”
“Maybe he had a different reason on his mind for getting cozy with you.”
“Like what?”
“Maybe I should,” Candy said thoughtfully, trying hard again not to let herself jump to conclusions. But she couldn’t help wonder, in the back of her mind, if the events of eight months ago were somehow linked to the odd behavior she’d witnessed around town today.
Nine
It was near dark when they left the inn. They chatted as they walked to their cars, hunkered down in their winter coats against the chilling air. A brisk wind had kicked up, flicking ice crystals off the tops of snowbanks and tree limbs, whipping stinging white swirls at them. Candy angled her face downward and raised her scarf around her ears and the back of her neck as she waited on the sidewalk for Maggie to climb into her ten-year-old Subaru wagon. The car whirred to life, and Maggie waved and flashed a smile as she backed out of the parking space and started down Ocean Avenue.
Candy’s Jeep was only a few spaces away but she made no move toward it. With her hands stuck deep in the pockets of her coat, she turned slightly, her eyes following Maggie’s car as it rolled down the street, braking at the light, where several cars waited for it to turn green.
Candy let her gaze drift over toward Town Park, which had quieted down substantially, though a few couples and families lingered, illuminated by the lights strung from trees as they examined the mountains of melded ice that had risen in their midst, and pointed out the beginnings of the ice carvings.
As Candy shifted back around, raising her left arm so she could check the time, her gaze shifted as well, raking casually along Ocean Avenue.
Officer Jody McCroy stood halfway down the street in the halo of a streetlight, watching her discreetly, notebook in hand.
Candy felt her stomach tighten, though she did her best to hide her surprise. She didn’t want him to know she’d seen him. And she didn’t want to look too guilty.
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