Felicity refused to rise to her nephew’s bait. “I’m not saying it’s your fault. I’m saying you have different outlooks on life. I see why Ivy is angry. I also see why you’re sick of having to live your life to Ivy’s lofty standards.”
“I … what?” Max was confused.
“Before, Ivy was always alone and you thought you were doing her a favor when you dropped in to hang out or just talk to her,” Felicity said. “You love your sister dearly, but you gave up a lot of your freedom to be what she needed you to be.”
“I don’t understand why that matters.”
“It matters because she doesn’t rely on you like she used to,” Felicity explained. “It has to be hard. One minute she was your biggest priority and the next minute Jack was swooping in and stealing her heart.”
“You make it sound kind of gross when you put it that way,” Max hedged. “It makes it sound like I was hot for my sister.”
Felicity chuckled, genuinely amused. “You’re a charmer, Max. You always have been. You know that’s not what I was referring to, though.”
“So … what were you referring to?”
“Your life is limbo right now and it’s not entirely your fault. You did what was right for Ivy, and you did it for a long time. It wasn’t always good for you because you didn’t ever date anyone seriously, or even consider doing it, for that matter.
“I think you didn’t do it because you knew it would be too hard on Ivy,” she continued. “You thought Ivy would never find someone to love. When Jack came around, you were excited. It wasn’t just for her, though, it was because you saw possibilities for yourself.”
“Ivy was hardly helpless,” Max scoffed. “She didn’t need me to do everything for her.”
“She didn’t, but you did. You couldn’t help yourself. You’re a good guy and that’s how you roll.”
“And now you think I have my nose out of joint because Ivy and Jack are happy?” Max was affronted. “What kind of man do you think I am?”
“The best kind,” Felicity replied. “You took care of your sister. You loved her. You put your life on hold. Of course, I think Ivy was often a convenient excuse for you. You didn’t want to settle down and you told yourself it wasn’t necessary because she needed you.
“Now she needs Jack and you’ve been left to your own devices and you’re starting to realize it might be time to look at your own future,” she continued. “It’s fine to do that. You don’t need to hurry, though. You don’t need to force yourself to date the wrong woman simply because you think you should be in a relationship.”
“That’s not what I’m doing,” Max protested. “I … just kind of liked her. That was before she acted the way she did with Ivy, though. I didn’t mean for dinner last night to happen the way it did. She blocked me in.”
“Then grow a backbone.” Felicity patted Max’s shoulder. “You’re a grown man. Act like it. It’s not a crime to use the word ‘no.’ Also, while we’re at it, you and Ivy need to make up.”
“Why are you telling me?”
“Because, in this particular case, you’re the one in the wrong.”
“She needs to apologize, too,” Max groused. “She’s not innocent.”
“She will apologize. You need to do it first, though.”
Max rolled his neck until it cracked. “I’ll consider it.”
Felicity’s eyes twinkled. She knew he would do more than that. “You do that.”
Sixteen
With little to go on other than their guts, precious little evidence flowing their way, Jack and Brian decided to take the morning and go to Traverse City. Aubrey remained in the hospital, still showing signs of improvement, but she wasn’t conscious. The police detectives were at a point where any information could be important, though, and they decided their next step was interviewing Aubrey’s parents.
“How was Ivy after the incident last night?” Brian asked from behind the steering wheel as he navigated through traffic. “She looked like she was about to pop a cork when I left.”
“She wasn’t happy, that’s for sure. We talked through it, though.”
“Talked or kissed?”
Jack smirked. “A little of both. She’s fun when she’s angry at someone besides me.”
“You guys are kind of sick,” Brian noted. “Of course, you haven’t been engaged very long and I remember how it was when I first got engaged. Even though we’d been dating for a time, I couldn’t quite keep my hands off my future missus.”
Jack sent Brian a dark look. “That was an overshare.”
“So is your entire relationship with Ivy from my point of view. You forget, I knew her when she was little. To me, she’ll always be that sweet kid helping her father plant trees and bushes every summer.”
“I didn’t know she did that.” Jack shifted his lanky body to get more comfortable. “How come she spent all of her time working instead of playing?”
Brian shrugged, noncommittal. “I don’t think she had a lot of friends.”
Jack’s heart pinged at the simple comment. “No. She’s told me that herself. Sometimes I don’t think it bothers her. Sometimes I think it bothers her a great deal. She’s something of a mystery.”
“She’s something of a loner,” Brian corrected. “She’s always been a loner. Other than Max, she never spent a lot of time with people her own age. That all changed when you showed up.”
“So … I’m kind of like her knight in shining armor, huh?” Jack thought back to the tiara he told Ivy to claim before leaving the barn. “Or, rather, king in shining armor.”
“I can see your mind just went to a filthy place and I don’t like it,” Brian warned. “Your ego is already puffed out enough, but you’re right. You made things better for her. In fact, I didn’t even know things weren’t great for her until I saw you together.”
“What do you mean?”
“She smiles all of the time now. I’m not talking those forced fake smiles she used to whip out whenever she was in town either. I’m talking about the real deal. When she sees you, when you lean in and whisper whatever deviant thought you’re currently holding, she lights up. You make her happy.”
“I thought you were trying to refrain from puffing out my ego.”
“I am.”
“What you just said makes me feel like a king, and not in the way you think,” Jack said. “I’ve only known Ivy to be one way. Sure, we both fought being together at the start, but we were still drawn to each other. I don’t like the idea of her being lonely.”
“She wasn’t lonely,” Brian clarified. “She was a loner. There’s a difference.”
“How?”
“Ivy has always been one of those women who is comfortable in her own skin. I like that about her. She’s not always trying to be something she’s not, or impress people. She just … is.”
“I like that about her, too. That’s what attracted me to her.”
“And here I thought it was the fact that she was mouthy and beautiful.”
“Don’t get me wrong, I noticed those things right away, too. It was what I found inside that captivated me, though. She’s funny. She has a good heart. She’s playful and energetic. She’s also perfectly happy with a book and a blanket in front of the fire. She doesn’t need constant attention. She’s fine doing things on her own. Heck, sometimes I wish she’d ask for help more often. The other day I found her trying to carry a box that must’ve weighed seventy-five pounds up the stairs by herself. She’s a complete person, though. She’s completely unique, but complete.”
“Oh, you’re so far gone it’s sad.” Brian’s tone was light and full of teasing. “I think you’re a good match, though.”
“I know we are,” Jack confirmed. “That being said, I was absolutely stunned when I found out she was in that pageant as a kid. Not only was she in it, she tried to win it.”
“She didn’t try to win because she wanted to be queen of the festival. She tried to win because Maisie and Ava were alwa
ys little jerks.”
“It seems age hasn’t mellowed them at all,” Jack noted. Ava, the police chief’s daughter, worked in the office and she was always hitting on him. At first Jack thought it was because he was the new guy in town and pickings were slim. Actually, that was exactly why Ava started flirting. She moved things up a notch when she found out he was dating Ivy. Ever since the engagement became public, she’d been downright desperate in her attempts to get him to look her way. “I don’t get Luna, though. I would think the last thing she wanted was her only daughter in a beauty pageant.”
“Because she’s so hippy-dippy?” Brian asked, grinning as he pictured Ivy’s bohemian mother. “I don’t think she realized what would happen. Heck, none of us realized what would happen. We should have. Ivy is competitive by nature. I think it comes from spending so much time with Max.”
“Ivy has been a bit … evasive … when it comes to relating exactly what happened at that pageant,” Jack noted. “She only says she didn’t want to be in it, Luna made her, she decided she needed to win it because she hated the people she was competing against, and that she dropped out hours before the pageant. She also said it caused a rift with Max for a bit of time. She’s never told me exactly what happened.”
“I think that’s between you and her.”
“Come on. Tell me.”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“Because, if Ivy wants you to know, she’ll tell you,” Brian replied. “Personally, I don’t think she’ll want to tell you out of embarrassment alone. If she does, though, I’ll be really impressed.”
“Why?”
“Because, to my knowledge, she’s never talked about it again,” Brian answered. “Luna and Michael never bring it up. Max doesn’t either. Maisie and Ava don’t bring it up because of … well … the thing.”
“Oh, see? You have to tell me now.” Jack was positively salivating. “What did my beautiful bride-to-be do?”
“I’m not telling. That’s between you and her.”
Jack pursed his lips. He was a patient man. He could wait until Ivy was ready to tell him on her own. Of course, he was also a determined man. “I’ve got twenty bucks that says she tells me before Monday.”
Brian looked Jack up and down for a beat and then shrugged. “I can always use twenty bucks. You’ve got yourself a deal.”
JANET DANIELS LOOKED like a woman on the verge of a collapse when Jack and Brian met her outside Aubrey’s room. The shadows under her eyes were big enough to hide in, and even though he didn’t know her well, Jack was certain the woman was about to pass out. Apparently his partner agreed.
“Sit down, Janet,” Brian instructed, grabbing the woman by the arm and leading her to a chair in the small waiting area across from the nurse’s station. “When was the last time you slept?”
Janet laughed hollowly. “What day is it?”
“You need to rest, keep up your strength,” Brian chided. “You’re going to need your strength when Aubrey regains consciousness.”
“If she regains consciousness.”
Brian sat for a beat, unsure what to say. Finally, he went with his gut. “I believe she’s going to wake up. I talked to her doctors. They’re hopeful. They’ve managed to reverse some of the organ damage and flush her system. I have faith she’s going to be okay.”
“I know you’re right. It’s just … so much.” Janet swiped at an errant tear on her cheek. “Her father is in with her now. We try to keep someone in with her at all times so, when she does wake, the first face she sees will be a friendly one.”
“That sounds like a good plan,” Brian said. “You need to get some rest, though. You need it for yourself as well as Aubrey.”
“I can’t rest until she wakes up. I just … can’t.”
“Okay, well … you still need to take care of yourself,” Brian said. “We’re not here to take up much of your time, but we thought we should touch base. What can you tell us about the days leading up to the incident?”
“There’s not much to tell.” Janet rubbed the palms of her hands over her knees as she tried to get comfortable. “It was a normal couple of days. Aubrey had school and she couldn’t stop talking about the pageant.”
“Was it her idea or yours to join the pageant?” Jack asked.
“Definitely hers,” Janet replied. “I’ve never been one for pageants. She was excited about it, though. She liked the idea of riding on a float. I didn’t see the harm in it. It’s not my thing, but she’s a teenager. All the other girls were doing it so, of course, she wanted to do it, too.”
“We’ve been talking to some of the other girls and know that Aubrey was considered a frontrunner,” Jack said. “We also know the competition between the girls was sometimes fierce. Did she have problems with any specific girls?”
“I hate to keep using the excuse that she was a teenager, but that’s all I can come up with. All the girls were fighting. One day Aubrey would be best friends with one of them and the next she swore they were enemies. The whole thing was kind of dramatic.”
“Okay, but if she was complaining about the girls, she must’ve had words with them,” Jack pressed. “Do you remember what girls she was fighting with?”
“I know she had words with Sadie Graham, but as far as I can tell all of the girls had words with Sadie,” Janet replied. “She’s just like her mother, a real pain in the keister.”
Jack bit back a smirk, but just barely. “Anyone other than Sadie?”
“I think she fought with Mackenzie Sutton, but mostly because Mackenzie wasn’t taking the pageant seriously and that bothered Aubrey,” Janet said. “She also fought with Peyton Miller. Peyton was frustrated about being cut out of the competition – something I didn’t think that was right, mind you – and she tried to get Aubrey to drop out so she could have her spot.”
“We talked to Peyton,” Brian said. “She didn’t mention that altercation.”
“Do you blame her?” Janet’s expression was rueful. “Listen, I’m not going to make excuses for Aubrey. She was being something of a drama queen about this pageant. With Peyton knocked out, Aubrey was considered the frontrunner … whatever that means. Aubrey got all puffed out about it even though I thought it was ridiculous.
“Despite all that, though, I know Peyton,” she continued. “She’s been to the house on and off throughout the years. She and Aubrey have always run hot and cold. I doubt very much she’s capable of poisoning anyone.”
“We went through your garage and didn’t find any antifreeze,” Brian said. “We didn’t find any traces in the house either. The problem we have is that antifreeze can be purchased anywhere and you don’t need a license or anything to buy it. Anyone in close proximity could’ve poisoned Aubrey.”
“There’s also been another incident,” Jack added. “Someone slipped antifreeze into Mackenzie’s bottle, but she didn’t drink it because someone else noticed the color was off and knocked it out of her hand.”
“Well, that at least is a relief,” Janet said, pressing her hand to her heart. “If whoever is doing this is trying to knock out girls at the top of the pack, why would this individual go after Mackenzie? She’s not at the top of any list.”
“No, but it could’ve been an accident,” Jack noted. “The bottle might’ve been meant for someone else.”
“Oh, well, I didn’t even think about that.”
“I need to ask about Aubrey’s relationship with Simone Graham,” Brian said. “Some things have come to light about Simone’s actions – and we are looking at her as a suspect right now, although we don’t have any damning proof – and I was wondering if Simone said anything to Aubrey that might be of interest.”
“Simone Graham is pretty much the world’s worst person,” Janet said, straightening her shoulders. “I’m not joking. She is terrible. I wouldn’t put it past her to poison Aubrey.”
“Why do you say that?”
“It’s her attitude. She thinks that Sadie is somehow
destined to win the pageant. I don’t care who wins the pageant. I mean … I would’ve been happy for Aubrey if she won. It’s not some great accomplishment in my book, though. I would’ve been more proud if she put the same effort into her studies as she did pageant practice.
“The thing is, Simone wouldn’t stop talking to me as if Sadie was on the verge of curing cancer simply because she was participating,” she continued. “Simone made that pageant out to be something it wasn’t. She was almost manic about the whole thing.”
“I wonder … .” Jack mused to himself, shifting on his chair.
“You wonder what?” Brian asked, legitimately curious.
“I have an idea for something, but you might not be up for it, Mrs. Daniels,” Jack started. “If you’re not okay with it, just tell me. The fact that we’re dealing with so many suspects, though, makes me think we need to set a trap of sorts to flush out the guilty party.”
Janet leaned forward, intrigued. “What do you have in mind?”
“Yeah, what do you have in mind?” Brian asked, his tone reflecting suspicion.
“Well, we’ve been purposely vague about Aubrey’s condition,” Jack started. “What if we were to spread the word that she’s not only awake but wants to talk to us because she knows who poisoned her?”
“Oh.” Realization washed over Brian. “You literally want to set a trap.”
“I do,” Jack confirmed.
“How will that work?” Janet asked.
“Well, we’ll set up a fake room with a fake Aubrey, make sure that people know she’s awake, and then see who comes to pay a visit,” Jack replied. “We might get lucky and find someone really desperate to see Aubrey even if we put restrictions on visitors.”
“Would Aubrey be in any danger?”
“None at all.”
Janet made her decision on the spot. “Then let’s do it.”
“We’ll have to put the wheels in motion tonight,” Jack said. “That clears the way for the culprit to try to get over here early tomorrow.”
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