“That’s all of it, as least as far as I know,” Brian confirmed. “I’m sure you think I should’ve done something to ensure that Maisie and Ava ended up in jail – at least for a weekend or something – but ultimately I did what I thought was best for Ivy.”
“I know that and I’m not sure I would’ve done anything differently in your position,” Jack said. “She would’ve been embarrassed. The whole town would’ve found out and taken sides. Since Maisie and Ava were popular, they would’ve won the popular vote with the teenagers.”
“So … what’s wrong?”
“Max.”
Jack’s one-word answer took Brian by surprise. “Max?”
“She didn’t tell Max because she was embarrassed and Max came home gushing about that pageant and she’s still bothered by it,” Jack explained. “She doesn’t want to be bothered by it. She’s furious at herself because of it. She’s still massively annoyed, though.”
“I don’t think anyone else ever told Max either.”
“He doesn’t know. I asked him.”
“So how can she be angry with Max given that fact?”
“She knows it’s not rational and yet she can’t stop herself,” Jack said, licking his lips. “I want to help her, but I’m afraid I’ll take over if I’m not careful. I need to give it some serious thought.”
“You can’t fix things between them. It’s not your place.” Brian was being pragmatic even though he knew it would irk his partner. “You’re her fiancé but he’s been her brother a lot longer. You need to stay out of it. They’ll fix things on their own.”
“I know that but … she’s miserable.”
“And you’re miserable by proxy,” Brian noted. “I get it. I sympathize. You still can’t do it. Stay out of it.”
“I’ll give it some thought.”
“You’ll give it some thought and then ignore it,” Brian lamented. “I see where this is going. Just remember that I warned you and if it blows up in your face, I don’t want to hear about it.”
“Duly noted.”
THE GIRLS ARRIVED ON time for their dress rehearsal, Ivy going through a mental list to count no-shows. She came up with three right away: Sadie, Peyton, and Mackenzie.
“Do you know where the others are?” Ivy asked after stopping Bridget Sizemore before she could join the practice.
Bridget shrugged, seemingly uninterested. “No. I didn’t know I was supposed to be watching them.”
“You’re not,” Ivy said, forcing a smile. “I was just curious.” She sidled over to Hannah, who appeared to be showing great interest in one girl’s evening gown, and forced herself to remain light and calm as she spoke. “Hannah, can you run practice this morning?”
“I thought we were doing a dress rehearsal,” Hannah said, straightening.
“We are. I thought it couldn’t hurt to run through the opening number a couple of times, though. Some of the girls are at a disadvantage because they only learned the routine yesterday.”
“Oh, well, that makes sense.” Hannah shrugged. “I can definitely run through it again. I think it’s a great dance. It’s just … I think a couple of the girls are missing.”
“I noticed that, too,” Ivy said. “I’m going to try and track them down. They’re probably out at the festival and got distracted or something.”
“It is a full day of it,” Hannah agreed. “They probably got distracted by boys. I’m not much older than them and it still happens to me.”
Ivy smirked. “I’m a bit older than you and it still happens to me. I get it.”
“Yes, but you’re going to be married to the hottest guy in town,” Hannah noted. “You don’t look at boys. You’ve got a man.”
“I happen to agree, but make sure you don’t say that in front of my brother,” Ivy instructed. “He won’t take it well if he finds out you think Jack is hotter than him.”
“Oh, Max is plenty hot, but there’s something hotter about a man who wants to make a commitment,” Hannah said. “You got lucky.”
“I think that almost every day now.”
JACK AND BRIAN MADE sure that Aubrey’s parents were locked inside her room, the blinds closed, and then headed toward the nurse’s station. They’d purposely picked a room at the corner of the hallway, one that was set away from the hustle and bustle of the floor, to entice their would-be killer. They’d also borrowed a deputy from the local sheriff’s department to masquerade as a nurse at the central station.
“Your name is Amanda, right?”
The woman nodded. “That’s right.”
“We’re going to be hiding in the room across from the one we set up as bait,” Jack supplied. “We have cameras inside and one of our officers in the bed. She’s going to be facing away from the door so she’s not readily identifiable. If someone comes up and asks for Aubrey’s room, you give them the one at the end of the hall and then radio us. We’ll take it from there.”
“I understand.” Amanda, who looked to be in her late twenties, let loose with a sunny smile. “This is kind of exciting.”
“I don’t know about that, but it’s what we have to work with,” Jack said.
“No, it’s exciting.” Amanda wrinkled her nose as she smoothed her flaxen hair. “I’m not even upset it’s happening on Valentine’s Day weekend. Maybe after we’re done we can get a drink or something. I mean … if you have time.”
Jack was caught off guard by the invitation. “Oh, well, thank you. I have plans for this evening, though.”
Amanda didn’t bother to hide her disappointment. “Oh, that’s too bad.”
Brian snorted. “Oh, geez. It’s like I’m partnered with George Clooney or something.”
Jack made a face. “What is that supposed to mean?”
“Wherever we go, the women throw themselves at your feet. It’s disturbing.”
Amanda’s eyes fell, embarrassment coloring her cheeks. “I’m sorry.”
“Oh, I don’t care about that,” Brian said, waving off the girl’s apology. “I’m used to it. You’re wasting your time, though. This one is so taken he should wear a sign around his neck.”
“You’re married?” Amanda cast a surreptitious look at his naked ring finger. “I didn’t realize.”
“Not yet,” Brian replied. “He’s engaged, though, and he’s so sickeningly schmaltzy with his woman that I kind of want to pop him in the face sometimes, especially since I’ve known his fiancée since she was about five.”
“Do you have to spread my private business everywhere?” Jack asked as they moved down the hallway. “That was an overshare.”
“Everything you and Ivy do is an overshare,” Brian countered. “Speaking of that … what are you doing tonight?”
“I’m taking her to Bellaire for some nice Italian. I keep forgetting that the diner has exactly one dish she can eat for dinner.”
“Maybe she should stop being a vegetarian.”
“Or maybe I should take her out to more than one place,” Jack said, holding open the door to the room that would serve as their hideout before pressing the button on his radio. “Okay, everyone is in position. Open up the floor to visitors. We’re ready.”
“WHAT ARE YOU doing out here?”
Max met Ivy in front of the hot chocolate stand, a knit cap pulled over his ears and a curious look on his face.
“What are you doing out here?” Ivy shot back, annoyed.
“I’m late heading to the barn,” Max replied, refusing to let her draw him into an unnecessary fight.
“Oh, well … it’s fine. Hannah is running through the opening number with them again until I can get back for the dress rehearsal.”
“I’m surprised you left them at all. I thought for sure that you would be watching them like a mother hen overseeing her flock.”
Ivy made an annoyed face patented by sisters the world over. “I am not a mother hen.”
“No, but you’re good with them. You listen to them. You talk to them. Those are things Simone nev
er did.”
Ivy rubbed her gloved hand over her forehead. “I don’t want to talk about Simone.”
“I think we need to.”
“Max … .”
“No, you need to listen to me for a change,” Max barked, causing Ivy’s shoulders to jerk due to his forceful tone. “I know you’re upset. I didn’t really understand why you were upset until … well, until I called Mom last night.”
Ivy averted her gaze, her cheeks burning from something other than the cold. “You called Mom?”
“I did,” Max confirmed, choosing his words carefully. “I needed to know what I was missing, because I was pretty sure I was missing something. She didn’t want to tell me. In fact, she refused to tell me. Finally Dad had to get on the line and he told me what happened.”
“He shouldn’t have done that.” Ivy was mortified. “We all agreed to keep it a secret, to put it behind us.”
“I didn’t agree to that.” Max felt tears burning at the back of his eyes as he tried to maintain control of his emotions. “I love you, Ivy. You’re my sister and I’ve always loved you. You should’ve told me what happened, though.”
“It didn’t matter.”
“It obviously mattered,” Max gritted, his temper coming out to play. “If I’d known … .”
“What?” Ivy challenged, raising her eyes. “What would you have done? They were minor girls who got off on bullying people. I usually didn’t care because I was out of their line of sight. Things happened … things got out of control … but they’re long over and done now.”
“You still should’ve told me,” Max complained. “I would’ve stood with you.”
“I know you would have, but that wouldn’t have changed anything.”
“Ivy, you let me come home and go on and on about how hot Maisie and Ava were in that pageant,” Max reminded her. “You didn’t stop me. You didn’t say a word to stop me.”
“I couldn’t. I didn’t want to think about it. I didn’t want to remember it. I still don’t.”
“Pretending it didn’t happen doesn’t fix anything,” Max charged. “You need to tell Jack. Once you do, it’s all out in the open and you can put it behind you. I’ll be with you, if you want, when you do. I know it bothers you to think about, but Jack wants to know.”
“Jack already knows.”
Whatever Max was expecting, that wasn’t it. The oxygen whooshed from his chest. “Since when?”
“Since last night. He beat it out of me.”
“Obviously not literally,” Max said dryly.
“No, not literally,” Ivy agreed. “In fact, he did very little prodding. He simply said I wanted to tell him and I realized it was true. I told him. It’s done. Let it go.”
“I’m not sure I can do that,” Max argued. “I understand now why you didn’t want me to date Simone. It was bad enough that Ava and Maisie were in on it, but Simone was an adult at the time. She should’ve known better.”
“She’s a terrible person. She always has been.”
“Yeah, well … I’m still going to want to talk about this at a future time. I know you’re dealing with other stuff right now and you want to let it go, but we’re going to talk about it.”
“I just want to put it behind me, Max.”
“Yeah, well, I want to talk about it and then take revenge on Maisie, Ava, and Simone.”
“Revenge?” Ivy cocked an eyebrow, intrigued. “What kind of revenge?”
“I don’t know, but I figure we’ll have fun planning it. It can be a brother and sister thing.”
For the first time in days, Ivy felt as if the distance between Max and herself was lessening. “That sounds fun.”
“I agree.” Max took them both by surprise when he pulled her forward and gave her an awkward hug. “I’m sorry.”
“You don’t have anything to be sorry about. I should’ve told you back then.”
“Yeah, well, I’m still sorry.” Max released her and smiled, his eyes crinkling. “Other than looking for me so we can make up, what are you doing out here?”
“I wasn’t looking for you, although I’m glad we made up.” Ivy returned the smile for a long beat and then let it fade. “I’m missing three girls … and I’m a little worried.”
“Well, let’s see if we can find them,” Max suggested. “They can’t have gone far.”
“Unless one of them is at the hospital falling into Jack’s trap.”
Max realized what she was inferring right away. “Oh, well … I guess we’d better look then, huh?”
“That’s why I’m out here.”
“When I tell the story in the future, I’m going to change that detail,” Max said, slinging an amiable arm over her shoulders. “I’m going to say you were so broken hearted you couldn’t bear another minute without me.”
“You’re kind of a tool. You know that, right?”
“You love me anyway.”
Ivy thought about arguing, but there was no sense denying the truth. “You’re still a tool.”
“I can live with that.”
“WE’VE GOT A LIVE ONE.”
Jack and Brian were only locked in the room for twenty minutes before one of the uniforms in the hallway radioed in a tip.
“Report,” Jack prompted.
“We have an unidentified female at the nurse’s station,” the officer replied. “She’s carrying flowers and asking about Aubrey Daniels’s room.”
“Can you describe her?”
“She’s wearing a hat and scarf.”
“Inside? That has to be on purpose.”
“That would be my guess,” the officer agreed. “She looks to be slim with dark hair. That’s all I can tell you because I can’t see her face.”
“Where is her location?”
“She’s heading toward the room now,” the officer replied. “She’s almost at the door. She’s walking through the door. You’re good to go, we’ll continue watching the rest of the floor.”
“Let’s do this.” Jack pocketed the radio before striding out the door, Brian close at his heels. He walked directly across the hallway and opened the door to the dummy room, pulling up short when he caught sight of the woman approaching the bed. “Can we help you?”
The woman jolted at the voice, turning quickly and widening her eyes as they bugged out of her head.
“Simone,” Jack said, making a clucking sound with his tongue. “I guess I shouldn’t be surprised.”
“I was hoping you were better than this, Simone,” Brian said, disappointment and disdain positively dripping from his tongue. “I should’ve known better. You’ve never been better than this, have you?”
Twenty
“What are you doing here, Simone?”
Jack’s demeanor was calm, but his agitation level was through the roof. The story Ivy told him the previous night filled him with fury. It was bad enough Maisie and Ava were part of the shenanigans. They were children at the time, though. Simone had been an adult.
“I … um … came to see Aubrey.” Simone was clearly caught off guard, her face unnaturally white as she clutched a bouquet of cheap flowers to her chest with one hand and her purse to her side with the other. “I was her pageant coordinator, after all. Why wouldn’t I come to visit?”
“I’m kind of curious why you wouldn’t call first,” Brian said, causing Simone to shrink back when he shuffled closer. “I mean … I would think you would get permission from Aubrey’s parents before you stopped by. She’s extremely sick, after all.”
Simone made a face as Brian peered over the lip of the heavy purse clutched at her side. “What are you doing?”
“Just taking a look.” Brian was purposely bland and he reached into Simone’s purse before she could say anything, withdrawing what looked to be a syringe full of yellow liquid. “What’s this?”
Whatever color she had left – which wasn’t much – drained from Simone’s face. “You can’t just reach into my purse and take something out of it,” she sputtered,
flustered.
“Your purse was open and I saw the item in question on top,” Brian argued. “It’s my job to ask questions if I sense there’s going to be a problem, one that could result in someone getting hurt. Here’s the thing, Simone, I think you’re here to hurt someone and it’s my job to stop you.”
“You can’t possibly think that’s in my nature,” Simone complained, her eyes going wide when Brian lifted the syringe up to the light. “I … that’s not mine. It must have fallen into my purse.”
“That’s not likely, but we’ll certainly look in to it.” Brian pursed his lips. “We need to send this to the state lab. I’m going to bet it’s full of antifreeze.”
“What did you think, Simone?” Jack challenged, his temper coming out to play. “Did you think you could sneak in here, dose Aubrey, and then sit back and watch the doctors blame it on the previous poisoning if she died? Did you honestly think you would get away with it?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Simone whimpered, all signs of defiance vacating her eyes. “I just came to visit Aubrey.”
The decoy in the bed rolled over and gave Simone a bright smile. “Well, thanks for the visit,” the officer said, grinning.
“I think we need to have a talk,” Brian said, grabbing Simone by the elbow and leading her toward the door.
“I’m in no mood to have a talk,” Simone snapped, returning to reality. “I have to get back to Shadow Lake in time for the pageant. Sadie is competing.”
“We’re all going to return to Shadow Lake together,” Jack said. “You’ll be riding with us.”
“I am not talking to you without a lawyer present,” Simone argued. “It’s not going to happen.”
“You can call your lawyer from the station,” Brian said. “You are riding with us, though.”
“How do you think you can force me to do that?”
“Because you’re under arrest,” Brian said. “You have the right to remain silent … although, with you, I’m going to bet that’s impossible.”
Wicked Fun: An Ivy Morgan Mystery Books 7-9 Page 56