Wicked Wishes (An Ivy Morgan Mystery Book 10)

by Lily Harper Hart

  “We don’t know that she’s a target.” Brian tugged on his limited patience. “In fact, we have to assume that Shannon was the target for right now because that makes the most sense.”

  “Except she was killed at Ivy’s house. Our house.” Jack quickly corrected himself. “Shannon might have been an accident.”

  “And if she was, we’ll figure it out. If she wasn’t, then we’ll figure that out, too. That’s what we do.”

  “Yeah.” Jack dragged a restless hand through his hair. “I don’t mean to be such a pain. It’s just … what if Ivy was the one out in the yard this morning?”

  Brian didn’t want to think about it. “She wasn’t. She’s safe. Max is with her. For now we have to focus on Shannon. She’s our victim. She’s our priority.”

  “I know.” Jack pressed the heel of his hand to his forehead. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to get all worked up. I just … love her.”

  Brian’s resolve weakened. “I know. I’m guessing someone loved Shannon, too. We know she lived in Alden. We need to find her next of kin, though. See what you can dig up during the drive.”

  Jack nodded. “I’m on it.”

  “HUH.”

  Jack paused in front of the cruiser and grabbed Brian’s arm before the older detective could knock on the door.

  “What’s wrong?” Brian knew Jack well enough to read the worry on his partner’s face.

  “The thing is, um, I think Shannon might have kept a few little tidbits to herself when it came to her personal life.”

  Brian was baffled. “I don’t know what that means.”

  Jack held up his phone so Brian could read Shannon’s fact sheet. “She wasn’t single like she let on.”

  “She was married?” Brian arched an eyebrow. “Wasn’t she flirting with Max left and right?”

  Jack nodded. “There was a lot of chemistry between the two of them.”

  “Well, maybe that was all an act.”

  “Or maybe her husband feels he had a reason to be jealous.”

  “Oh, so now you think Shannon was the target?” Brian made a tsking sound with his tongue. “Make up your mind.”

  “She never mentioned she was married.” Jack refused to be embarrassed about his change of heart. “There has to be something up with that.”

  “Or maybe you just never asked.”

  Jack tilted his head to the side, considering. “No. Whenever Shannon saw Ivy and me together she made a big deal about wanting to find what we had. It was too purposeful to be accidental.”

  “Oh, that right there was profound,” Brian drawled. “The thing is, there could be an innocent reason for Shannon to act the way she did.”

  “And what reason is that?”

  “Maybe she wanted to keep her personal life personal.” Brian was matter-of-fact. “Maybe she put on a bubbly persona to engage clients. A decorator is like a real estate agent. They’re always on. Maybe her way of being on was to gush over you guys because she knew it was what you wanted to hear.”

  “Why would we want to hear that?”

  “Because you’re so wrapped up in each other that you can’t see anything else.” Brian squared his shoulders. “Either way, we have a husband to notify and we need to watch his reaction. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves, huh? That’s not generally how good police work is done.”

  Jack made a face. “I know how good police work is done.”

  “Then act like it.”

  VICTOR HUGHES WAS CONFUSED when he first opened the door. He assumed Jack and Brian were there to ask random questions about the neighborhood – the young men living across the street threw the occasional party, after all – but when it became clear the police officers had another purpose, he fell apart.

  “You’re sure?” Victor sat at the kitchen table, his eyes vacant, and shook his head. “There has to be a mistake. What you’re telling me … it doesn’t make sense.”

  “I’m very sorry.” Brian kept his voice even. “We’re sure. In fact, your wife was doing some work at Jack’s house.” He gestured with his thumb. “Jack knew her and we both saw the aftermath of what happened.”

  “Jack.” Victor rolled the name over his tongue. “You’re the Jack who is engaged to Ivy, right?”

  Jack nodded. “Did Shannon mention us?”

  “She talked about you all the time.” Victor’s voice was dull, as if he were clawing through a mud pit to make himself heard. “She liked you a lot. She said you were funny and that you guys always made her laugh. She was having a good time working on your house.”

  “She was a lovely woman.” Jack felt lame offering up such an empty condolence. “She didn’t really talk about you to us, though. We were surprised to find out she was married.”

  “Yeah, she pretends to be single for work.” Victor remained lifeless. “It helps with the male clients. They prefer someone they can flirt with.”

  “That didn’t bother you?” Brian asked gently.

  “It did at first, but she was so happy doing the job that I let it go. Some women would only hire a married decorator so Shannon did her best to read a situation going in. Most of the time she defaulted to being single, though. It wasn’t a big deal. It’s not like she cheated on me with her clients or anything.”

  “Uh-huh.” Brian cleared his throat in an attempt to get Victor to look at him, but the man remained focused on nothing. The veteran police detective worried the man was going into shock. “How were things in your marriage otherwise?”

  “Good.”

  “No fights?”

  The question finally penetrated Victor’s fog-fueled brain. “Wait … do you think I did this?”

  “That’s not what we’re saying.” Brian held up his hands to placate Victor. “We’re just trying to understand why someone would go after Shannon. She’s not the type of person who incurs enemies.”

  “No, she definitely didn’t have enemies.” Victor rubbed at the back of his neck as he tried to focus. “She was kind … and sweet. She volunteered at the homeless shelter over in Traverse City almost every week.”

  “She did?” Brian leaned forward, intrigued. “How did she get involved in that?”

  “Through a guy she met when she decorated his house. He talked us into going once and Shannon fell in love with helping people. She knew representatives on the shelter planning committee and got involved. She was there whenever her schedule allowed.”

  “Okay.” Brian and Jack exchanged weighted looks. The shelter was a place she might have attracted unwanted attention. They didn’t bring that up now, though. “We’re going to need you to go through Shannon’s schedule for us. We need to go through the past few days point by point. Perhaps something that seemed innocuous to you will stand out to us.”

  Victor immediately started shaking his head.

  “You’re not going to help us?” Brian was stunned.

  “I am going to help you.” Victor choked on the words. “I need to see my wife first, though. I need to call her mother. I need … to make sure this isn’t a dream.”

  “Of course.” Brian felt guilty for pushing the man too fast. He was obviously distraught and confused. “We’ll help you with that. Do you want to call Shannon’s parents first, or your own?”

  Six

  Ivy was a mass of nerves as she paced the cottage. She walked back and forth for a minute and then returned to the big bay window at the front of the house to stare at the medical examiner’s team. The state police tech team had already come and gone, taken a bevy of photos, and then disappeared without saying a word.

  She was frustrated.

  “This is ridiculous!”

  Max sat in his favorite living room chair and flipped through one of Jack’s fishing magazines as he kept one eye on the television and the other on his manic sister.

  “I agree,” he said after a beat. “I can’t even keep up with all the cast changes on The View any longer. Who is that woman?”

  Ivy narrowed her eyes to blue slits. “Wh
o cares?”

  “If you don’t care, why did you comment?”

  “I was talking about that!” Ivy gestured wildly toward the front of the house. “That’s what is ridiculous.”

  “Are they doing tricks?” Max was a master at driving his sister mad. He figured irritating her was better than letting her dwell on her dead friend, though. He was willing to take one for the Morgan team. “I’ve always wondered if they have special skills. Like, I don’t know, maybe they dress up like clowns on weekends and juggle.”

  Ivy was at the end of her rope. “I will kill you if you say another word.” She realized what she said when it was too late to take it back and was appalled. “I mean … that was a horrible thing to say. I didn’t mean that.”

  Max took pity on her. “I know you didn’t mean it, Ivy. Don’t get all crazy or anything. You’re too tense. You need to take a seat and chill.”

  “Chill?”

  “That’s what I said.”

  “I can’t chill. There are four people in the yard looking at a dead body. She’s still out there in the middle of the driveway, for crying out loud. That can’t be normal.”

  “I’m starting to think it might be time to start drinking,” Max suggested. “If you drink enough you won’t care what they’re doing out there.”

  Ivy openly glared at her only sibling. “You make me ridiculously tired sometimes. You know that, right?”

  “I’m well aware.”

  “At least you’re not a complete idiot.”

  “That’s what it says on my business cards.”

  “ARE YOU GOING TO call Ivy and tell her what we found out?” Brian asked as he parked in front of Shannon’s quaint design office. He was already exhausted and it wasn’t even lunchtime yet. Helping Victor deal with his grief turned into a gut-wrenching affair he didn’t want to revisit anytime soon. He was keen to change the subject, and if that meant giving Jack a nudge to go nuts about Ivy, he was willing to do it.

  “I don’t know.” Jack looked as tired as Brian felt. “I don’t know what to say to her. Just because Shannon never told us that she was married, that doesn’t mean that she did something wrong. I don’t want to send Ivy on some long-winded rant and leave Max to deal with it.”

  “I would think that is the perfect job for Max.”

  Even though he was worn out and unbelievably sad Jack mustered a smile. “I’m going to leave it be, at least until we talk to Shannon’s co-workers and get a better picture of the marriage.”

  “I think that’s wise.” Brian opted for honesty. “For the record, though, I think I believe the guy … at least right now. He seemed genuinely distraught and confused.”

  “Yeah. It’s hard to fake emotion like that. He’s either wrecked or deserves an Oscar.”

  “I guess we’ll find out more inside. Victor said Shannon went into the office at least three days a week. You must have talked to the owner at some point. Is he the one who sent Shannon out, or did you go to her right from the start?”

  “He sent her out.” Jack searched his memory. “We came to the office and met with him. I remember Ivy wasn’t a fan.”

  “How come?”

  “She said he was smarmy, although I didn’t get that. I think she simply wanted a woman to work with because she thought it would be easier. I didn’t care really. I just wanted her happy.”

  “I think you probably would’ve cared if a strange man was in your house eight hours a day while you were at work,” Brian pointed out.

  “I guess. Still, Ivy isn’t the cheating type. I would never worry about that. Cole Priestley – that’s his name – is the owner and he’s in his early forties and seems knowledgeable. That’s honestly all I remember about him.”

  “Well, I guess we’re about to find out if he’s more than that. You might have lucked out getting Shannon as your designer.”

  “We probably did,” Jack agreed. “Shannon didn’t luck out, though.”

  “Nope. Not even a little.”

  THE OFFICE ASSISTANT, PAIGE Bennett, barely cleared five feet. She was tiny, cute as a button, and she cried so hard her entire body shook when Brian informed her of Shannon’s death.

  “There has to be a mistake.” Paige let loose with a series of sobs that were so loud they echoed throughout the small room. “You made a mistake. You should check again.”

  “We didn’t make a mistake.” Jack kept his voice gentle as he took a seat across from Paige’s desk. “I knew Shannon personally. She was working on my house.”

  “Jack Harker?” Paige lifted her chin and gave Jack a lingering look. “You are as handsome as she said.”

  Jack opened his mouth to speak and found he couldn’t find the appropriate words. Luckily Brian slid in and smoothly took the conversational reins.

  “You shouldn’t say things like that to him,” Brian teased lightly. “His ego is already bigger than his head.”

  “Oh, I didn’t mean that in a bad way.” Paige had the grace to be abashed. “She never said that in an inappropriate way. She only said that she really liked you because you were completely devoted to your girlfriend – who I guess is going to be your wife because you bought her a really pretty ring that Shannon said was out of this world – and that you were even more handsome because you loved your fiancée so much.”

  Jack indulgently smiled. “I do love Ivy. We know Shannon wasn’t being inappropriate.”

  “Oh, Shannon was inappropriate all the time.” Paige appeared to be the sort of person who spoke before she thought, which made her a godsend to those in law enforcement. “She said stupid things every single day when she was here. She just never said them about you.”

  “Well, I guess that’s good.” Jack exchanged an unreadable look with Brian, unsure how to proceed. “The thing is, someone went out of his or her way to kill Shannon. We need to know if she had any enemies, maybe even old ones that she might have mentioned to you.”

  Paige’s tears dried up as she wrinkled her nose. “Are you saying she was murdered?”

  “We told you she was shot.”

  “Yes, but … I thought that was some tragic hunting accident or something,” Paige supplied. “I didn’t think that meant she was murdered. Are you being serious? I mean … is this real? Was Shannon murdered?”

  “Yes.”

  “Wow.” Paige leaned back in her chair and let her arms flop over the wooden arms of the rather rigid antique she was forced to sit in. “I mean that is just … wow. I’ve never known anyone who was murdered. I can’t believe I finally do. That’s just wild.”

  Jack absently scratched his cheek. “Yes. It’s wild.”

  “It’s definitely wild,” Brian agreed, amused despite himself. “It’s also a problem because we need to figure out exactly why she was killed. You don’t have any theories about that, do you?”

  “Me?” Paige widened her brown eyes. “Why would I have theories?”

  “You worked with her,” Brian prodded. “You were friends. She must have told you something about her life.”

  “Oh, well, I guess she did.” Paige tilted her head to the side, her brown hair fluttering thanks to the heating vent located directly above her desk. “I knew Shannon – we worked together for two years – but I don’t know that I would say we were friends.”

  “Did you dislike her?”

  “Oh, no.” Paige vehemently shook her head. “I liked her a lot. She always had good gossip and she gave me her expensive purses when she was done with them. She was awesome.”

  “Awesome, huh?” Jack was becoming progressively more uncomfortable with the conversation with each passing moment. “How was she awesome?”

  “Well, for starters, she was a size four and she’s been out of high school for at least ten years. That makes her somehow magical in my book. Like, I don’t know, maybe she was a witch or something.”

  Jack tamped down the urge to snap at the woman. She was vapid and oblivious – there was no doubt about that – but he doubted very much that sh
e was purposely mean. At least he hoped that was true. “So she was thin? Is that what you’re saying?”

  Paige rolled her eyes, catching herself halfway through the gesture when she remembered she was dealing with police officers. She collected herself quickly and turned serious. “She was really thin … and fashionable … and she had a keen eye when it comes to design. That’s what Mr. Priestley always said anyway. I was interested in eventually becoming a designer and he told me to watch and learn from Shannon.”

  “Is Mr. Priestley here?” Jack asked.

  Paige shook her head. “He’s out of town at some vendor thing.”

  “Where?”

  “New York. It’s basically an excuse for a bunch of designers to stay in a ritzy hotel and get drunk. That’s how he described it. Then you meet a bunch of vendors – like carpet and appliance dealers – and you chat and see if you like each other. The companies offer deals and you agree to throw work their way for the deals.”

  “And he’s in New York?” Jack pressed. “Are you sure about that?”

  Paige nodded, solemn. “He left two days ago. He’s called into the office twice to see how things were going, but he keeps the calls short. He seemed really busy, as if he was attending a bunch of meetings.”

  “We’re going to need to get in touch with him,” Brian said. “Do you have a cell phone number?”

  “I do, but he doesn’t like me to give it out. I’m supposed to collect the client’s information and have Mr. Priestley call them back.”

  “I understand that.” Brian had infinite patience when necessary and it was on display now. “These are not normal circumstances, though. His employee is dead. Murdered, actually. That means we have to talk to him and it needs to be done right away.”

  Paige exhaled heavily. “Okay, but if I get in trouble, I’m going to be really mad at you.”

  “I understand and accept your terms.”

  Paige dug in her desk for a pen and jotted down a number on a sheet of paper. She was hesitant as she passed it to Brian. “Do you really think someone targeted Shannon just to kill her?”