by Dana Moss
“Ellie, we’re a candy factory. We have to keep making our candies and cookies.”
“But we can have fun while we’re doing it, can’t we? And if we’re all happy, we can share that joy, can’t we?”
How could Taffy argue with that? “How can you be sure that everyone’s happy?”
“We take a poll every day, when people clock out. I made sure to give everyone a tiny raise first, but—”
“Raises? Already?” Taffy was going to have to take a good hard look at the books. She’d been so preoccupied with the investigation that she’d been neglecting her business duties.
And that reminded her… She had to make time to go over to Noel Bradford’s while Cara was getting her hair done later this morning. Feeling just a little preoccupied, Taffy followed the tour group to the chocolate dip department. The giggling girls at the back of the group seemed even gigglier than before. Apparently fifteen-year-olds could be exceptionally exuberant. Taffy recognized one of the girls as Carlie, Monica’s sister. Maybe it was a good thing she was having so much fun given what she was dealing with regarding her mother’s sickness.
Ellie had gone to check the bubblegum department (apparently the bubblegum mascot design had been misinterpreted to be chewed bubble gum instead of a glossy pink ball) but managed to intercept the group in time to do a quality-control check of the chocolate-dipped cherries. Ellie picked up the tray she’d been examining—held up by the chocolate mascot that seemed to be chocolate dipped but looked a little too much like a turd, which was making the boys chuckle; Taffy would have to recommend a few tweaks to that costume—and started handing out samples to the group while she spoke about the process of dipping chocolate in rap-rhyming verse. As Clint had promised, everyone, including Taffy, was amazed and astounded.
As Taffy hung back, observing, she listened to Carlie and her friends. Between bouts of giggling, they kept asking each other, “Don’t you feel spectacularly amazing?” They each agreed wholeheartedly. “And don’t the candies taste incredible? Every flavor is just exploding in my mouth.”
“I want to jump in that vat of chocolate.”
“Oooh, let’s do it!”
They weren’t making any sense, Taffy thought.
“Let’s do this again on the weekend. Think he can get more for all of us, Carlie?”
One of the girls put six of the hard candies in her mouth all at once and started crunching. Then she swallowed them all and giggled again.
Taffy drew her aside. “You’re Monica’s sister, right? Carlie?”
“Who are you?” She used her finger to pick hard bits of candy from her teeth.
“You want to tell me what’s going on here?” Taffy gestured toward her friends, who were edging away ever so slightly.
Carlie’s already-wide pupils dilated even more.
“What did I do?” She glanced desperately at her friends. They slowly sidled away, joining the larger group, but watched Taffy carefully at the same time.
“I have a feeling you treated yourself to some other kind of candy before coming to my factory.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Your Monica Lewis’s sister, right?”
Carlie nodded. Tears started forming in her eyes.
“Tell me what you took.”
“Nothing.”
“Were they pills?”
She shook her head, but there was fear in her eyes.
“Do you want me to take you back to the school and find your sister, get the principal, or your teacher? Maybe talk about a suspension?”
“We’re just having a bit of fun. Not harming anybody.”
“Nobody but yourselves. What did you take?”
“Some little red pills. Barely more than vitamins.”
“Uh huh, sure. And where did you get those red vitamin pills?”
Carlie’s lips clamped shut.
“Rex Gifford by any chance?” The alarm in her eyes betrayed her attempt to keep her mouth shut.
Taffy nodded. “I see.”
“No. No, not him. Don’t tell my sister!”
“She doesn’t want you taking anything from him or hanging out with these so-called friends.”
“They are my friends!”
“Are they really, Carlie? Or are they using you for your connections?”
Those friends had completely abandoned her now, having joined the rest of the class group as they headed toward the saltwater taffy pull room. Carlie watched them go, her building tears filling up her eyes and now beginning to fall.
“I won’t do it again, I promise.”
“That’s good to hear. But you’re going to have to tell Mr. Ainsley about this, and where you got those pills.”
“No, I can’t!” She tried to squirm out of Taffy’s grip. “I can’t tell on Rex.”
“If you won’t, I will. He’s got to be stopped, Carlie.”
“My sister will kill me.”
“I think killing you is the last thing she wants. And that’s why she doesn’t want you to have anything to do with Rex Gifford.”
“I won’t do it again.”
“I want to make sure Rex doesn’t do it again.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
After the tour, Taffy drove to the station to meet Maria and tell her about Carlie.
“I need to talk to Maria,” Taffy said to Zoe at the front desk. She let her through the low gate that separated the public space from the officers’ area, and Taffy beelined for Maria’s office.
“I’ve got something.”
Maria looked up. “Come on in, pull up a seat.”
Taffy drew a chair close to Maria’s desk. “Carlie Lewis, Monica’s little sister. She admitted she bought drugs from Rex. With her help, I think we can pin this on him.”
Maria frowned.
“You know, I hate to burst your bubble, but everything Todd shared with me yesterday has this looking more and more like a suicide. Maybe a messy one, or a cry for help that went too far.”
What did he tell you?
“He went back to his email history and found some of his last emails from Tyler.”
“Can I see them?”
“Lucy’s documenting them now. There are distinctly suicidal hints in them. Todd says he feels like a fool for not seeing the clues sooner. He remembers Tyler confessing to being depressed, but Todd thought it was just temporary, and connected to jealousy around Rex and Jenny, so he didn’t make much of it. But then he also remembered a joke, from his last visit. Todd had been swimming in their pool and joking about how Tyler should learn to swim, and Tyler made some crack about that being an easy way to die. Just head out to some deep water with no one around.”
“And because of all this, you’re going to conclude Tyler killed himself?”
“Because of this and because we can’t find means, motive, and opportunity in anyone else.”
“And Chief Green wants you to wrap this up before Mayor Gifford starts belching fire. Well, he has a good reason to pressure the chief to close the case in order to protect his precious grandson.”
“You were so sure the mayor would never get in the way of an investigation.”
“I was wrong about him.”
“You could be wrong about Rex, too.”
Zoe walked over with a printed document. “This just came in.” She handed the paper to Maria, who scanned it quickly.
“I was hoping it was the full toxicology report, but it’s just the test results comparing the two baggies.”
“You said the locker evidence wouldn’t count.”
“True, but I was still curious to compare the two.” She read a few lines and then leaned back in her chair. “Turns out they’re a match.”
“Then those were Rex’s drugs at the campsite. Doesn’t this tie him to Tyler now? Todd might think it’s suicide, but he’s also been suspicious of Rex’s involvement in this.”
“I’m sure Rex will deny it all. Or have his lawyer deny it for him.”
Taffy frowned. She knew Rex was building a protective shield around himself.
“Is that adding some tension between you and Finn?”
“It’s not too bad. He is trying to get the Giffords to take on other counsel though.”
Maria tapped her pencil against her computer keyboard. Her brow was furrowed. She stared at a spot on her desk as if she were trying to bore a hole in it with her gaze only.
Taffy leaned in. “Is it the case or your mother you’re worried about?”
Maria didn’t answer right away.
“Or is it the upcoming wedding?”
“What? Oh, no.” Maria frowned and put her pencil down. “Maybe. I don’t know.” She reached for her jacket. “I was planning to take a drive out to Valley View to see Jenny this afternoon. Wanna come?”
~
As they settled into the unmarked cruiser, Maria said, “Here’s another interesting bit of news. Malcolm and Lucy have now checked all the lakefront properties. Turns out one of them belongs to the Bradfords. It’s known as the Peters cabin, after his mother’s last name. It was passed down through her family, so we didn’t make the connection until we saw the list of family on the memorial card.
“It’s odd that no one in the family mentioned it.”
“That’s what I thought. I mean, the kid dies on the lake. You’d think someone would mention the family cabin. There’s some evidence someone’s been there in the last few weeks but nothing that links to the case.”
“Have you asked Noel about it?”
“Not yet.”
“I’ll see if I can find out anything from Cara.” She also needed to find a time to talk to Noel alone about Shannon. She wasn’t looking forward to that conversation.
Maria nodded. “You and Cara have been hanging out lately?” Her tone was casual, tentative.
“Not really. Just a bit. She was feeling so stressed lately that I suggested she come to a yoga class. And you don’t like that kind of thing.”
Maria smiled. “Last thing I want to do is look at a bunch of people with their butts in the air.”
Taffy tried to explain that when butts were in the air, heads were looking down, but Maria was convinced people were human and would be peeking every chance they could. They laughed and made light of it, but underneath Taffy did feel guilty about her growing friendship with Cara and the way it bound her to keep a secret from her real best friend. She wanted to be a good friend to Maria, who was going through a lot right now.
“So how’re you and Finn?”
“Fine, I guess. We’ve both been too busy.”
“Do you think maybe you’re in some kind of denial about your imminent nuptials?”
“What?” Maria sighed heavily. “Maybe. I think Finn might be sensing that too.”
“Is he cooling off?”
“No. Don’t think so. But he’s acting kind of strange. Or maybe it’s just me. A lot on my mind, I guess.”
“Don’t worry, your mom’s going to be fine.”
“Really? How can you know for sure. I mean, death is inevitable for all of us. We tell ourselves it’s way out on the horizon when it might be waiting for us around the next bend. We just never know. We’ve got to prepare for it.” Maria was gripping the steering wheel.
Taffy cleared her throat. “I can see how preparing for death could get in the way of feeling excited about planning a wedding.”
Maria shot her a glance and then turned back to focus on the highway. “You think I’m being ridiculous, don’t you.”
“I think you’re deer-in-the-headlights freaked out about committing your life to one man. Even if he’s the best one out there. And I’m worried you’re sabotaging your own happiness. For what, I don’t know. Pride? Commitment phobia? Grass-is-greener thinking? Unless it’s just not the right timing, in which case, you need to be honest with Finn. He’ll probably understand.”
“I don’t know. I mean, how well do I really know him? He only moved here six months ago. What if he turns out to be an alcoholic or a philandering sex addict?”
Taffy raised an eyebrow. “I think this is paranoia talking.”
Maria nodded. “Probably.” And then she laughed. “Gosh, sometimes I can be as loony as you.”
“I’ll try to take that as a compliment.”
CHAPTER THIRTY
Valley View Farm was a fifty-mile drive east of town. The rural route wove through farmland and then down through a valley. The institution was tucked away in an orchard perched on a hill looking back down across the valley; thus the name.
Taffy and Maria signed in and were given name tags. It was a mild day and many of the patients were outside, including Jenny. They passed through elegantly designed peaceful sitting rooms and were directed to a picnic table near a vegetable garden, where Jenny was waiting for them. She had a hoe beside her.
“So you found me after all.”
“Were you trying to hide from us?”
“Not really. I guess my mom wanted to hide all this.” She gestured to the building behind them.
They told Jenny a bit about the memorial she’d missed. She wished she could have been there, and she agreed to talk to Taffy and Maria again about the night before Tyler died.
“I guess I didn’t tell you everything,” she said. “That night at the campground when Tyler came to see me? He wanted me to run away with him. Can you believe it? Right then and there. He wanted to drive to Baja! Said he was going to go home, steal his dad’s car, and get the hell away from here. I figured something must have happened at home, but I didn’t know what, because his stepmom was out of town. So what could have gotten him so riled? But he wouldn’t tell me. He just said we had to get out of here and not end up like his crazy family.”
“Were you thinking of going with him?”
She shook her head. “My high was just kicking in. I wanted to stay with Rex. I knew Monica had been flirting with him, and that made me so jealous I knew I still had feelings for Rex.”
“Did you break up with Tyler that night?”
“No, he was too overwrought about something else. At first, I told him to go home. I knew he didn’t like camping or being outdoors much. I told him I’d see him the next day. I told him I’d come over to his house after I woke up… I thought I’d break up with him then. But he said he was never going back to his house and he was never going back to Eugene either.”
Maria looked at Taffy. “Those words seem kind of final.”
“He told me…” Jenny looked away for a second, and when she turned back, her face was flushed with building emotion. “He said…” She seemed to be bracing herself. “He said if I didn’t go with him he might do something drastic. He said he had pills with him…” She closed her eyes and breathed deeply. “I didn’t take him seriously at the time, because Tyler never did drugs, but… When I found out the next day that he’d died, I just couldn’t handle it. I thought if I’d just done something differently…”
Maria scribbled down notes.
“Tyler always thought the best of me, you know? He didn’t want me to so much as smoke a cigarette. And I wanted to live up to his image, you know? I tried, but I couldn’t. He didn’t even know I was high that night. He thought I’d been clean the whole time I’d been dating him. I didn’t tell him I’d taken anything, but he eventually figured it out. And then he figured Rex had given it to me. That’s why they fought.”
“Had Rex been dealing drugs at school?’
She nodded. “It’s not like he meant to really. First he started taking speed from time to time, before games, you know? Some of his teammates wanted to try it, and then their girlfriends. At first it was just helping out some friends, because he had this contact in Eugene.”
Taffy said, “So Rex is dealing a little bit on the side and everyone’s been looking the other way, including the principal?”
Jenny nodded again.
“And now the problem is trickling down the grades. Did you know that?”
&
nbsp; “You mean Carlie and her friends? Yeah, I heard.” She actually looked concerned.
“And you’ve got some pretty serious problems now, too. Your mom said this is the third time she’s sent you here.”
Jenny pulled at her sleeves. Concern had morphed to shame. She grabbed the end of a length of hair and chewed on it.
“It was all just meant to be fun. My mom is overprotective is all.” She glanced around at the neatly manicured lawns and flowerbeds and then up at the lodge with its cozy, sedate interior.
Taffy said, “Did you know your mom had to sell her car to pay for this visit?”
The look in Jenny’s eyes said she hadn’t known. “She told me the Jeep was a gas guzzler and she wanted something smaller, sportier.”
Taffy shook her head and said, “We’ve got to stop Rex.”
Jenny leaned forward, a look of worry scrunching up her tiny brow. “I’ll talk to him. I’ll tell him to lay off. Just let me talk to him.”
Maria said, “I think it’s going to take more than that. No, I’d suggest you listen to your mom and stay here, and keep your distance from Rex right now.”
Jenny bit her lip. She looked down at the chipped polish on her nails. She nodded once, agreeing.
Taffy said, “The pills Tyler talked about. Did he get them from Rex?”
Jenny scoffed. “He’d never have taken anything from Rex. On principle I think. And Rex wouldn’t have sold to him. Based on his own skewed principles.”
“Unless he wanted to get rid of him for some reason?”
Jenny shook her head vehemently.
“Tyler blamed Rex for your drug problem. You just said as much. What if Tyler threatened to blow the whistle on him?”
“Rex wasn’t like that though. He wasn’t afraid of anyone. And in a weird way, he never wanted to hurt anyone. He’s just used to getting his own way. He’s used to being special and not having any real problems.”
“You really have no idea what got Tyler so upset that night?”
Jenny traced a finger along the edge of the picnic bench.
“He didn’t say much that made sense that night. He said something about being mad at his stepmom. And how he’d called Todd, who tried to get him to calm down, and he seemed mad—no, disgusted—at everyone. He’d been drinking, I told you. I could smell it on him. And when he tried to pull me into an embrace, to drag me away with him to Baja—and that’s when Rex came between us and they fought—I felt a bottle in his jacket, so it was hard stuff he was drinking. And he didn’t usually do that. He came at Rex, swinging to punch, and Rex hit him. Knocked him right down on the ground. His lip got cut and his cheek all scratched up. I told them to stop fighting and tried to help him up. I told Tyler he should stay and just relax, have some fun with us. I was in my happy place by then and just wanted to sing and dance… Tyler pushed me away and stumbled off down the shore. I was sure he’d come back later and sleep it off and everything would be fine in the morning. That’s what my high did for me. Made everything seem all rosy and peachy…” Jenny looked away for a moment, tugging at another lock of hair. “I made a mess of things, didn’t I?”