“That won’t be a problem.”
“Great,” Brewer said, inclining his chin in Dakota’s direction to indicate that one of the uniformed officers should collect him. “Out of curiosity’s sake, what about the reading upset him enough to come back and attack you?”
Crap on a flattened clown. I was hoping I could gloss over that part of the story. Because I had no idea where Debbie was, or how she’d react, I couldn’t risk lying. I might not be able to get to her in time to modify her memory. I had no choice but to tell the truth.
“I told Debbie that marrying Dakota would be a mistake because he would hurt her,” I explained, choosing my words carefully. “I could see that he wasn’t a nice man by the way he interacted with her. He talked down to her and she seemed frightened of him.
“She said her mother insisted she see a psychic before agreeing to marry anyone, so she came to me,” I continued. “I didn’t like what I saw when I looked at him, and that’s exactly what I told Debbie.”
That wasn’t technically a lie. It also wasn’t entirely the truth. Brewer didn’t need to know that, though.
“Okay,” Brewer said, pressing his lips together as his gaze bounced from face to face. “If I have further questions I’ll stop by tomorrow.”
“We can’t wait,” Nellie said, licking his bone to make sure he’d sucked the last bit of meaty goodness from it. “Who wants s’mores?”
I ignored the question and remained in my seat until I was sure Brewer was out of earshot. Then I slapped Nellie’s bare knee as hard as I could. “You eat like a pig.”
“You also flashed your underwear, and once Brewer realized what he was looking at he couldn’t avoid staring at you,” Kade said, chuckling. “That was a great story, by the way. Do you think he’s going to buy it?”
“I’m not sure,” I admitted. “Dakota won’t break. His memory is modified forever. I planted a suggestion that he admit to murdering the cat in about two hours. I figured it was a little too obvious if he did it here.”
“Assault and animal cruelty are going to get him only a few years,” Kade pointed out. “If he really is a murderer, shouldn’t we do something else to stop him?”
“He’ll never go to trial,” I answered. “He’s going to get shivved in county lockup. He’s weird in normal circles, but he’s going to be downright hated in criminal ones. He won’t fit in, and they’ll kill him for being different. He’ll spend a few weeks in lockup before that happens.”
“Well, I can’t say I’m sorry to hear that after what you told me,” Kade said. “You’re lucky to be alive. You know that, right?”
It wasn’t luck. “I know,” I said, shifting my attention to the table. “I cooked. I think it’s only fair you guys clean up.”
Kade lifted an eyebrow. “That’s it? That’s all you have to say?”
I shook my head. “I’m going to take a bath while you do that. I’ll meet you in bed for my massage in a half hour.”
Kade sighed. I could tell he had a hundred questions – and maybe a few comments regarding what happened – but he wisely let both go. “I’ll be there with lotion and my magic fingers.”
“That sounds great,” I said, hopping to my feet.
“That sounds dirty,” Luke corrected. “We all know you’re not getting dirty yet, though, so ultimately the entire thing becomes boring.”
“You make me tired,” Kade muttered, grabbing Luke’s plate. “You know that, right?”
Luke bobbed his head up and down. “I do know that,” he said. “I also know you won’t risk being mean to me as long as I have the cheerleading photos.”
“You’ve got me there,” Kade conceded.
Crap. I was going to need an extra-long massage to eradicate this ridiculous day.
16
Sixteen
“You’re up early.”
I struggled to a sitting position the next morning, taking a moment to clear the crusties from my eyes and focus on Kade as he handed me a bag of McDonald’s breakfast takeout.
“I didn’t want to wake you,” Kade replied, dropping his shorts (but unfortunately leaving his boxers in place) before climbing back into bed with me. “I thought I would surprise you with breakfast after your traumatic night.”
We hadn’t talked about it. Not really, at least. I knew he wanted to get everything out in the open, but thankfully he refrained from pressing me on the issue the last night. The light of a new day was a different story.
“Thank you,” I said, accepting the steak and egg bagel from him as I scanned his face for signs of anger. If he was truly upset I figured he wouldn’t climb back into bed with me. Sure, nothing ever happened in the bed but sleep when we were together, but I still took it as a good sign. “If you want to yell … .”
“I’m not going to yell,” Kade said, retrieving his own breakfast sandwich from the bag and handing me a hash brown. “I am curious about why you didn’t tell me what was going to happen when you saw me on the midway before heading to your trailer, though.”
I wondered when that would come up. “I wasn’t sure you’d figured that part out yet,” I admitted ruefully. “I … knew he was coming. I also knew he wasn’t a threat. I didn’t want to risk a big crowd in case he didn’t approach me.”
“Listen, I don’t want to tell you how to live your life because that doesn’t seem fair, but … I hate worrying about you.”
His admission touched me, and caused discomfort to roll through my stomach. He was kind and sweet, and I was keeping a big secret from him. “Had I thought Dakota was going to be a threat I would’ve taken backup,” I said, licking my lips. “I knew he wasn’t a threat. I don’t have a death wish, if that’s what you’re worried about.”
“I’m not worried about a death wish,” Kade said. “I’m worried that you’re so used to taking care of yourself that there are times you forget you have someone to help you, and that may result in you getting hurt.”
“He never got close to me.”
“No, but I’ve already seen you get hurt and I don’t want to see it again,” Kade said. “Whatever you’re thinking, I’m not angry. I think you handled yourself pretty well. You’re tough and strong. Heck, you’re pretty amazing.”
He couldn’t have said anything better. “Thank you.”
“I absolutely love the fact that you stabbed him with a peeler,” Kade added, grinning. “I’m just sorry I missed it.”
“Yeah, well, hopefully you’ll be able to see it when it happens a second time.” It was a lame joke but it had the intended effect because Kade chuckled.
“I’m looking forward to that,” he said. “Now, eat your breakfast. You need your fuel.”
“Oh, yeah? What are we doing today?” I asked, unwrapping my breakfast sandwich. “You’ve clearly got a plan.”
“I wouldn’t call it a plan,” Kade clarified. “We are going to take a walk, though.”
“On the wild side?”
Kade snorted. “You’re in a playful mood this morning,” he said. “I would like to take advantage of it – and shut Luke up – but we have other things to worry about.”
His words sent a little thrill through me. That’s when I realized he was just as nervous and worked up over the situation as I was. We were living under a microscope with everyone watching our every move. It was a lot of pressure. “I’m not worried about that,” I said, surprised to find I really meant it. “You were right. We don’t need to rush things. I’m happy with breakfast in bed.”
“That’s good,” Kade said, pressing a quick kiss to my cheek before focusing on his sandwich. “After breakfast, though, we’re heading into the corn.”
“I … why?”
“Because the scarecrow is back,” Kade replied grimly. “I saw it when I parked.”
“Oh.” I wasn’t sure what to think of his scarecrow theory, but he was right. We had to check it out. It would be a lot less scary to do during daylight hours. “I guess we should eat up then, huh? We have a lot going on
today.”
“We certainly do,” Kade agreed. “We have to check on a possibly evil scarecrow, run the circus, dodge curious undercover cops who I’m sure will be checking us out, and then I need to see those photographs Luke has of you in the cheerleading uniform.”
Crud. I should’ve known he wouldn’t let that go. “I’ll wow you right now if you forget about those photographs,” I offered.
“I love the sound of bribery in the morning. It won’t work, though.”
“I figured it wouldn’t,” I grumbled. “I had to try.”
“Eat up,” Kade said, patting my bare knee. “You have a really long day ahead of you.”
That didn’t sound good.
“IT LOOKS like a normal scarecrow.”
I studied the straw man with detached interested while Kade got unnaturally close so he could give the purported murdering monster a thorough once over. He was intent on his task, his hands insistent as they roamed the black pants, flannel shirt and burlap bag covering the scarecrow’s head. He reminded me of a noir-ish private detective. All he lacked was the fedora and well-gnawed toothpick.
“You’re pretty cute.” The words were out of my mouth before I realized how sappy they sounded.
Kade shifted his eyes to me, surprised. “Where did that come from?”
“I thought it, so I said it,” I replied. “I don’t have much of a filter sometimes. Don’t let it go to your head.”
“That’s what I like about you,” Kade said, sighing as he tugged on the scarecrow’s shirt. “You’re right, though. This is just a scarecrow. It can’t be what chased you the other night.”
“It is weird that it went missing, though,” I said, glancing around. “I wonder why.”
“I think we’re about to find out,” Kade said, drawing my attention to a spot over his right shoulder. When I shifted to see what he gestured toward I found a burly man in overalls heading in our direction. “Do you think that’s the farmer?”
“I think he’s either the farmer or a worker,” I replied. “I’m honestly glad to see him, though.”
“Why?”
“Because I find it weird that we haven’t seen him yet and that he couldn’t be bothered to come out when a dead body was found on his property.”
“That’s a fair point,” Kade conceded. “I’m sure the cops went to the house to question him. They probably had him busy there for hours. He might not have had the chance to check out the area.”
“He hasn’t been out here at all as far as I can tell, ” I said. “I haven’t seen anyone in this area since the cops left.”
“Except you … alone … in the middle of the night.”
“Oh, let’s not argue,” I pleaded. “We’ll have plenty of time for that later when you try to wrangle those photographs from Luke.”
“I’m not wrangling anything, honey,” Kade said, plastering a bright smile on his face as the farmer approached. “Luke is going to willingly give them to me.”
We’d just see about that. “Hi,” I forced out, keeping my voice friendly as the big man closed the distance between us. “We were just taking a look at your scarecrow here. We’re with the circus. We weren’t doing anything wrong.”
“Take it down a notch,” Kade murmured. “You sound a little defensive.”
I ignored him. “I’m Poet Parker and this is Kade Denton.”
The man stopped about five feet from us, his brown eyes leery as he looked us over. He spent a little extra time checking out my legs, which unnerved me. I couldn’t decide if that was because he was a pervert or because the body discovered on this man’s property was missing legs. Neither was a comforting thought.
“I’m Burt Young.” The man heaved out a sigh as he introduced himself and wiped the back of his neck with a well-worn red bandana. “I figured you were carnies.”
Well, that was insulting. “We’re not carnies,” I corrected. “We’re with the circus.”
“I don’t see how that’s any different,” Burt said. “Why are you trespassing on my property?”
“We wanted to check out the scarecrow,” Kade answered, resting his hand on the back of my neck as he rubbed slow circles into the tender spot above my spine in an effort to calm me.
I hate when people call us “carnies.” It’s insulting and rude … and coming from a guy who looked as if he could double as a Deliverance extra, it was also rich. What? That wasn’t derogatory. Oh, shut up.
“We thought there might be something weird going on with him,” Kade said, choosing his words carefully. “He wasn’t here the other night.”
“He?” Burt arched an eyebrow that had more in common with a spark plug than anything tweezers had ever touched. “You know that’s some straw in a pair of pants, right?”
“I do,” Kade gritted out, clearly annoyed. “I just … is there a reason the scarecrow went on vacation?”
That was an odd way of putting it. “We’re concerned that someone might be messing with you – and us by extension – because we’ve had a few instances of trespassing after dark,” I interjected, causing Kade to lift his sculpted eyebrows. “We’re just looking after everyone’s best interests.” It was a lie, but I didn’t think admitting something chased me in the cornfield – something Kade was convinced was a possessed scarecrow – would do us any favors.
“Well, I can’t say that surprises me,” Burt said, rubbing his stubbled chin. “We’ve had a fair bit of trouble ourselves. I think someone is squatting somewhere close, but for the life of me I can’t figure out where.”
Now we were getting somewhere. “Why do you think that?”
“Because there’s been some odd stuff happening,” Burt said. “Mama thought it might be ghosts or something, but I saw footprints in the dirt outside our house and no ghost left those.”
“How old is your mother?” Kade asked.
“I don’t live with my mother,” Burt said. “Mama is my wife. That’s just what I call her.”
That was even creepier than the scarecrow. “So you saw footprints outside the house,” I prodded. “What else happened that convinced you a squatter was around?”
“Little things,” Burt replied. “Oh, and the dead body without arms and legs. I knew I didn’t do that, so someone else has to be guilty, right?”
“Well, that would be my guess,” Kade hedged, clearly unsure how to proceed.
“Did you know Frank Ryland?” I asked, getting to the heart of the matter.
“Everyone knew Frank,” Burt said. “He was a jackass … but a genuinely nice jackass.”
Yes, I knew plenty of jackasses like that. Oh, wait, no I didn’t. “Do you know anyone around here who would want to kill Frank and dump his body on your land?”
Burt shrugged. “People kill for all sorts of reasons. I can’t pretend to know why Frank was killed.”
He was either being purposely evasive or accidentally obtuse. I couldn’t decide which. “You must have other suspicions,” I pressed. “Footprints are bad, and a dead body is worse, but there has to be something else making you think someone is squatting in the area.”
“There is,” Burt confirmed. “I heard someone screaming in the cornfield a few nights ago. If that’s not proof of someone squatting, I don’t know what is.”
I didn’t think that was exactly proof, but I wasn’t in a position to argue. “Do you think it was Frank?”
“The cops say Frank was in my field for at least a week,” Burt answered. “He could’ve been out here a month without me noticing. This time of year the watering is automated, so we don’t spend a lot of time looking around. We might not have noticed he was even out here until harvest season if you all hadn’t found him.”
“So if Frank wasn’t the one screaming, who was?”
“I have no idea,” Burt answered. “I’m pretty sure it was a woman, though.”
“Well, thank you for your time,” Kade said, slipping his arm around my waist. “We won’t bother you again. I just wanted to get a gander at
your scarecrow. I thought for sure he was staring at us the other night. I think we’re just on edge.”
“Oh, don’t worry about it,” Burt said. “People can think themselves into all kinds of things when something horrible happens.”
“Thank you for understanding,” Kade said, ushering me back toward the fairgrounds.
“You don’t have to worry anyway,” Burt added. “This scarecrow is new, so it’s not the one you thought was staring at you. Mama made him just last night.”
I stilled, frowning when I felt Kade’s body tense behind mine. “Why do you have a new scarecrow? What happened to the old one?”
“Someone stole it,” Burt replied. “That’s another reason I’m convinced someone is squatting out here. They probably wanted to do … sexual … things with it. I just wish I knew where they were hiding.”
“Thanks for your time,” Kade said, his hand insistent as it pressed against the small of my back. “I hope you figure out what’s going on.”
“WHAT do you think?”
Kade waited until we were a safe distance from Burt before asking the obvious question.
“I think that … .” What? There’s a possessed scarecrow running around killing people? We had no evidence of that. “I think there’s something odd going on here.”
“Oh, wow, how does that fence you’re sitting on feel on that scrawny behind of yours?” Kade asked, annoyed.
“My behind is not scrawny!”
“I’m sorry,” Kade said, holding up his hands. “That was mean. I happen to like your behind.”
“Whatever,” I muttered, increasing the space between us as I traipsed back toward the circus. “I don’t know what to think. It sounds as if someone is hanging around that guy’s house, maybe staring at Mama or something. If you ever call me ‘mama,’ by the way, it’s over.”
“I have no interest in calling you that,” Kade said, refusing to let me pout and instead grabbing my hand to keep me close. “If he’s right, though, it sounds as if someone is hanging around the cornfield and possibly living out here.”
“You’re convinced it’s a murderous scarecrow, aren’t you?”
mystic caravan mystery 02 - freaky lies Page 14