More Than Cookies (The Maple Leaf Series)

by Christine DePetrillo

  He looked at her for a moment longer then went into the dining room with Myah.

  Sage busied herself, cutting up fruit and making coffee, while Ian and Myah sat at her kitchen island bulleting her with questions. Everything from what she was like as a child to how old she was to whether she liked cats or dogs better. It was a rigorous interview, and she hoped she answered to their satisfaction.

  A soft knock at her front door had Myah hopping off her chair and yelling, “I got it!” She stopped short of the door though and turned back to Sage. “I mean, is it okay if I get it?”

  “Absolutely.” Sage waved to the door. “Go for it.”

  As soon as the door opened, Myah squealed and ran to Ian who immediately scooped the child into his arms.

  “What’s the matter, panda bear?” he asked.

  “There’s a huge doggie at the door, Gramps! HUGE!” Myah hid her face against Ian’s T-shirt.

  Sage unfastened the child from Ian. Not an easy task as Myah’s fingers were clamped extra tight on her grandfather. “That’s a perfectly tame coyote, Myah. She’s as gentle as a kitten.”

  Myah’s body slowly relaxed and she peeked at Poe who hadn’t strayed from Rick’s side at his command. “It won’t eat me?”

  Lily barked out a laugh. “Honey, that’s exactly what I thought when I first met Poe, but Sage is right. This coyote would rather snuggle with you than taste you. Trust me.” She kneeled down next to Poe and ran her hand along the coyote’s back. “Come here.”

  Sage shot a glance to Rick who had the world’s biggest smile on his face. Not too long ago he’d had to introduce Lily to his coyote using the same methods. Lily had been terrified of Poe, but gradually she’d come to see how harmless his pet was.

  Slowly, Myah shuffled her feet until she was behind Lily. “Are you sure it won’t eat me?”

  “Positive. Here. Put your hand out like this.” Lily held her hand out and Poe sloshed a big kiss along her fingers. “See. I’m soaked, but otherwise perfectly unharmed. You try.” She gently took Myah’s hand and brought it close to Poe’s nose. The coyote sat and sniffed Myah’s hand with minimal interest.

  Myah giggled and pulled her hand away a little. “That tickles and its nose is cold.”

  “Here’s what she likes best.” Rick got to his knees now beside the coyote and proceeded to rub her ears.

  Poe’s eyes narrowed to slits and a low, satisfied noise rumbled in her throat. She sank to the ground and rolled to her back, her stomach exposed. Rick ran his fingers over the coyote’s belly and Myah inched closer to the animal.

  She put her palm on Poe’s stomach and rubbed back and forth, a slow grin spreading across her lips. The coyote batted a playful paw at loose strands of Myah’s hair.

  “See,” Rick said. “Poe likes you.”

  “She does?” Myah sat back on her heels and looked at Rick.

  “Definitely.”

  “And she didn’t try to eat me.” Myah kept petting Poe as Lily and Rick got to their feet.

  “Nope,” Rick said. “She doesn’t like the taste of little girls.”

  Myah giggled and Sage enjoyed the sound. She had a feeling the girl didn’t giggle much while she was under Witchy Ex-wife’s watch. Like, when Witchy Ex-wife was actually watching the kid and not abandoning her.

  “Okay, let’s get going on this pancake emergency.” Lily rubbed her hands together.

  “I brought the syrup.” Rick waved a bottle of Stannard Pure Vermont Maple Syrup made fresh from his own trees.

  Soon, the kitchen was filled with the smells of pancakes and syrup and coffee. Myah had dragged a chair over next to Lily at the griddle and had a ball flipping leaf-shaped pancakes. Ian had fallen in love with Poe, and the coyote appeared to be just as smitten. She followed Ian every time he brought something from the kitchen to the dining room.

  “I always wanted a coyote shadow,” Ian said.

  “She senses something good about you,” Sage said.

  “Nah.” Ian scratched between Poe’s ears. “She just knows I’m going to be the one to drop the most food.”

  As everyone was sitting down at the table, the doorbell rang. Again, Myah raced to the door to answer it. Again, she stopped herself. “Sorry. No one ever visits at Mommy’s house.” She looked down at her sneakers—pink ones with neon green laces.

  “No need to apologize, Myah.” Sage grabbed her hand and led the child over to the door. “At my house, you answer the door all you like.”

  Myah peered up at Sage. “I hope it’s Daddy. I miss him.”

  Sage smoothed Myah’s hair and whispered, “Me too.” He’d been with the police for a long time. Too long maybe.

  The doorbell rang again followed by a “Sage, we can see you standing there.”

  “You’d better open it,” Sage said to Myah. “It’s my mommy.”

  Myah pulled at the end of her T-shirt as if making herself presentable. She opened the door and Joy’s mouth dropped open.

  “Okay,” she said slowly, Hope standing next to her with a matching shocked expression.

  “Didn’t expect a kid to answer the door,” Hope said.

  “Where did you get a kid?” Joy asked.

  Sage put her hands on Myah’s shoulders. “This is Myah Finley, Orion’s daughter.

  “The dude we found here?” Hope asked.

  “That’s the dude.” Sage nodded. Had that only been a few days ago? Seemed like eons. So much had happened since then.

  “Well, hello, Myah,” Joy said, extending her hand. “I’m Joy, Sage’s mom and this is Hope, Sage’s sister.”

  They all shook hands.

  “We’re having pancakes. You want some?” Myah asked.

  “Only if they’re Lily’s,” Hope and Joy said at the same time.

  “They are,” Lily called from the kitchen. “Get ’em while they’re hot.”

  Hope and Joy came inside, and after being introduced to Ian, they sat at the dining room table with everyone else.

  “You two know just when to arrive,” Rick said.

  “We have a nose for this sort of thing.” Hope helped herself to a nice stack of pancakes.

  Sage filled Myah’s plate and held the syrup over the pancakes. “Do you like a little syrup or a lot of syrup?”

  Myah picked up her fork. “A lot.”

  “I like this kid,” Rick said, winking at Myah.

  Before digging in, Myah looked over her shoulder toward the front door.

  Sage followed her gaze. “Do you want me to try calling your dad?”

  Big blue eyes got bigger and bluer. “Yes, please.”

  “You guys eat,” Sage said. “I’ll be right back.” She pushed away from the table and went into the kitchen. She found her phone only to hear it chiming with a message.

  With a few taps, Orion’s voice filled her ear.

  Sage, I’m heading to the police station for “further questioning.” I called Adam to get Ian and Myah in a little while. Thank you so much for taking them while I deal with this bullshit. It’s a lot of work knowing me, isn’t it? I promise to make it up to you. Often. Later.

  Make it up to her? That could get interesting. She wanted to call him and say she’d be more than happy to hang on to Myah and Ian for as long as necessary, but figured he’d better concentrate on his situation.

  The sooner he resolved this mess, the sooner he’d get to that making up part he’d mentioned.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Orion sat in an office at the St. Jamesbury police station feeling more and more like a low life though he hadn’t done a damn thing wrong. He would have preferred to be at the Danton police station but, due to recent budget cuts and the retirement of Avaline who basically ran everything, the smaller police department neighboring St. Jamesbury had been absorbed into the larger department. He knew all the people on the Danton police force, but none of their familiar faces happened to stroll by. Instead, Sencotte and Landis had escorted him into some detective’s office and had disappeared
, saying the case had been handed over to someone else.

  Is that a good thing?

  He wasn’t sure. Generally speaking, any trip to any police station was not on his list of great ways to spend an afternoon, especially when the possibly of being with Myah and Sage existed. Clearly, being with them would trump any experience he could encounter in his present location. He was so grateful Sage had taken Myah and Ian, but he couldn’t help worrying about his father and daughter worrying about him.

  Where the fuck are you, Adriana? And why is your car in my driveway?

  He couldn’t for the life of him imagine what was going on. None of it made sense. He was about to puzzle through it again when the door behind him opened.

  “Mr. Finley?” a male voice asked.

  “Yes.” Orion turned around to see a face he did recognize.

  “You were at Sage’s,” the man said immediately.

  “I was.” Orion couldn’t believe his luck today. He didn’t remember breaking a mirror or walking under a ladder or crossing paths with a black cat, but that guy who’d come to Sage’s house right before they were going to… have some fun… stood there in the flesh.

  The man’s mouth turned down in a scowl. “You’re friends with her, Mr. Finley?”

  “I’d like to think so, yes.” Orion knew a squaring off when he smelled one. Watch what you say, he reminded himself, because he really wanted to tell this guy to take a leap off the nearest mountain peak.

  “Hmm, I would have figured Sage had more sense than to get involved with someone like you,” the man said.

  Glancing to the name plate proclaiming the desk as belonging to Detective Scott Henrison, Orion said, “Look, Detective, I haven’t done anything wrong. I merely picked up my daughter when she called and said my ex-wife hadn’t come home. What was I supposed to do?”

  “Call the police, perhaps?” Scott sat at his desk and powered up his laptop.

  “I did call the police, but they said my ex-wife hadn’t been missing long enough yet for them to do anything.”

  “I see.”

  Orion knew Scott didn’t see at all. “I would never take Myah illegally. I’m filing for a modification to the custody agreement through all the proper channels. I have a lawyer. I wouldn’t risk doing something to hurt my chances of seeing my daughter.”

  “Doing something like making sure your ex-wife couldn’t come home to her daughter might seem like a good idea to a man in your situation.” Scott leaned forward and rested his chin on his fist.

  “I didn’t do anything to Adriana. I have no idea where she is.”

  “And what about her car, Mr. Finley? How did that come to be in your driveway this morning?” Scott squinted at Orion as if trying to see beyond his facial expression.

  “I don’t know why her car is in my driveway. It wasn’t there last night. I didn’t hear it arrive either.”

  “No doubt because you were involved with some other female company.” Scott tapped a few keys on his laptop. “Officer Landis reported you walked with a slight limp. Are you injured?”

  Orion pulled up the right leg of his shorts to reveal the bandage. “I was shot in the thigh by some hunters while marking trees on my property. It was an accident.”

  “I see,” Scott said again, and those two words were quickly becoming Orion’s least favorite.

  Scott opened his mouth to say something more, but he shut it when his phone beeped on his desk. Holding up a finger to Orion, he picked up the phone and said, “Henrison.”

  He listened for a few moments. “Okay, send him in.” He hung up and stared at Orion. In intimidation? It wasn’t working.

  A moment later, the office door opened again, and Jack Benson strode in.

  “What is the meaning of this?” He sat beside Orion and set his briefcase down on the floor at his feet. “I’m Attorney Jack Benson. Sorry, I’m late.” He turned to Orion. “I went to your house first then figured you ended up here.” He faced Scott again. “Mr. Finley has gone through the correct process to get the wheels in motion to modify the custody agreement concerning his daughter, Myah. He has absolutely nothing to gain by getting involved in anything nefarious concerning his ex-wife. Furthermore, he called the police as soon as he received the call from Myah saying Adriana Whitfield-Finley was missing. If he had something to do with her disappearance, why the hell would he alert the authorities? That’s against Basic Bad Guying 101, Detective…” He squinted at the name plate, “Henrison.”

  “I don’t know Mr. Finley’s motives,” Scott said. “Perhaps they have something to do with Miss Sage Stannard. With his ex-wife out of the picture entirely, he has the opportunity to start his little family over.”

  “Sage has nothing to do with this,” Orion said. “I was trying to get Myah back before I even met her.”

  “But you didn’t have the legal counsel to do so until Miss Stannard got involved, did you, Mr. Finley?” Scott gestured to Jack. “Your lawyer here was secured by Sage, correct?”

  How did he know that? Why would he know that?

  “How my services came to be requested is not the issue here,” Jack said. “You questioning my client on flimsy grounds is the issue.” He rustled around in his briefcase and extracted a manila file folder. He flipped through the pages contained in the folder until he found what he was looking for. Angling the folder so Scott could see the page, he said, “This states that should anything happen to Mrs. Whitfield-Finley, my client, Mr. Orion Finley, is to be granted full custody of his daughter, Myah Finley. Therefore, Mr. Finley had done nothing wrong in taking his daughter to his residence after Myah informed him her mother did not return home to care for her.”

  Scott scanned the contents of the page and turned a steely glare on Orion. “This is all well and good, however, there is still the question of what has happened to Mrs. Whitfield-Finley and why is her car in Mr. Finley’s driveway?”

  “We agree those two matters need answering,” Jack said, “but there is no cause for Mr. Finley’s home to be searched or for him to be hauled down here like a criminal. I request his release and we’ll leave you to your investigation. Mr. Finley would be more than willing to cooperate in any way he can.” Jack looked to Orion who nodded. “He benefits from his ex-wife being found too. Without her, our appeal to modify the custody agreement gets put on hold. So let’s work together, not against each other. Furthermore, Mr. Finley should not be considered a suspect in any wrongdoing here.”

  “Unless we have probable cause to suspect him, Mr. Benson.” Scott had a smug smile on his face that Orion wanted to knock off.

  “Do you have probable cause, Detective?” Jack asked.

  “Not at this time.” His gaze never left Orion. He probably couldn’t figure out how Sage would choose a backwoods chainsaw artist over an educated man of the law.

  But she had.

  The temptation to gloat about that was almost overwhelming, but Orion managed to keep quiet.

  “Okay, then,” Jack said. “My client and I will be on our way. Should you have any more reason to speak to Mr. Finley, you can contact me first.” He slid a business card across Scott’s desktop. “Orion? Shall we? Myah is waiting for at least one parent to care for her.”

  Jack stood and Orion looked to Scott who gave a wave indicating he was free to go.

  “Don’t go too far, Mr. Finley,” Scott said.

  Once outside the police station, Orion sucked in a huge breath of warm summer air. The walls of Scott’s office had been closing in around him.

  “Thanks,” he said to Jack.

  “No problem. They have nothing on you anyway. They’re just looking for a loose string to pull, but you’re not it. You’ve got a daughter to take care of while her mother is up to something.” Jack scratched at his jaw. “Any reason you can think of for Adriana to disappear?”

  “Not one,” Orion said. “She’s a bitch, but when it comes to playing by the rules to keep Myah to herself and away from me, she’s always stuck to them obsessive
ly. She wouldn’t want to do anything to give me a chance of getting custody.”

  “This whole thing smells weird.” Jack shrugged. “We’ll get to the bottom of it. Meanwhile, I’d like to pop over and question Myah if I could. No reason we shouldn’t have everything we need in place when your ex-wife is found. Then we can proceed with our modification request.”

  “Sure,” Orion said. “Myah is at Sage’s right now. If you give me a lift there, you can talk to her.”

  Jack nodded and unlocked his rental car. “Hop in.”

  The two men talked about California and Vermont, lawyering and chainsawing, and a few other manly topics on the drive to Sage’s. When they arrived, Orion felt as if he’d known Jack his whole life. In Sage’s driveway, Jack stopped him before he rang the doorbell.

  “Look, Orion, it might be a good idea if you downshift whatever you and Sage have going on. A relationship with her could be construed as reason for you to want Adriana out of the picture.”

  “The unfriendly neighborhood detective suggested the same idea, but Adriana is out of the picture. She took herself out of the picture when she divorced me.”

  “Well, she could be up to something, and you seeing Sage could come into question. You don’t want to drag her into this mess, do you?”

  Orion shook his head. That was the last thing he wanted. Sage had been nothing but kind to him. She didn’t deserve to be questioned or suspected of anything.

  “Okay. Let’s get Myah and you can talk to her back at my house.”

  “Sounds good.”

  Orion lifted his hand to ring the bell, but the joy of waiting for Sage to answer the door was long gone. To see her only to tell her thanks and goodbye?

  Well, that just plain sucked.

  ****

  “I have a pancake hangover.” Sage patted her full stomach then reached over and patted Myah’s. “You packed them in too, Little Miss.”

  Myah rubbed her own tummy, a dopey, satisfied smile on her round little face. “Those were the best pancakes I ever ate.”

  “Thank you, Myah,” Lily said. “I do feel as if that was a superior batch.”