Colder Than Ice

by Maggie Shayne

  She shook her head slowly. “It’s so soon. But…I guess if that’s what Maude wanted…”

  “It wasn’t all she wanted.”

  Beth looked up quickly. “No, Maude never did let people off easily. What else?”

  “She left word with the funeral director that she wants a memorial service held in her memory. And she wanted it held here, at the house, exactly a week after her death.”

  Beth frowned, drawing her brows together and trying to remember what day it was. “Next Sunday?”

  “Yeah.” He handed her the pad. “He gave me the details.”

  Beth took the pad and skimmed Josh’s handwritten notes. He had nice handwriting, neat and compact. “She wants the house thrown open to the entire town? In one week?” Josh nodded, and Beth read from the notes he’d taken. “To be catered by Sally Peterson. Beverages from the Brown Beaver Inn. Extra folding chairs can be borrowed from the Legion Hall. Cake has been preordered from Susie Q’s Bakery.” She lifted her head and her eyebrows. “Cake?”

  He nodded. “Not only that, but the announcement was sent to the paper months ago, with instructions to run it the same day news of her death was published. And they did. It ran this morning, along with the time for the calling hours. The dates can’t be changed. She arranged all of it, paid in advance for everything.”

  Beth shook her head slowly. “Maude liked things done the way she liked things done. Guess she didn’t want to leave anything to chance.”

  “We should get over to the funeral home. Mr. Miller said there was more to discuss, but he kept getting interrupted. Said it would be easier in person.”

  “All right.” She finished her tea and got to her feet. By the time she did, Josh had fetched her coat and was holding it for her. She let him help her slide into it, and then he opened the door for her.

  “Enough already,” she said. She didn’t say it harshly, but she did make it firm. “I’m not falling apart. I don’t need quite so much of you fussing over me, all right, Josh?”

  He licked his lips. “Sorry. I…kind of enjoy fussing over you.”

  “I’ve taken care of myself for a longtime. I like knowing I can.”

  “Just because you can, it doesn’t mean you have to. Not constantly.” He shrugged and took a garment bag she hadn’t noticed before from the coat tree just inside the door.

  “What’s this?”

  “Maude’s clothes, I guess. Apparently she had them picked out, packed and ready. The funeral director told me to bring the cranberry garment bag from her closet.”

  Beth swallowed hard, silently grateful she didn’t have to go through Maude’s things and try to decide what she would want to wear for her own funeral. It would have been painful. “She thought of everything.”

  “She did. Like you said, she liked things done her way.”

  “Yeah, but she also hated being a bother to anyone. I think a lot of this was her way of not putting anyone to any trouble.” She shook her head slowly.

  Josh nodded his agreement; then he glanced outside. “I wonder where the hell Bryan has gotten to?”

  “Don’t tell him I said so, but I think he’s met a girl.”

  Josh looked at her sharply. “What makes you think that?”

  “Just a hunch.” She frowned, too, though. “It’s not like him not to check in, though, is it?”

  “No. Not…up to now, at least.”

  She stepped out onto the porch and looked around, but she didn’t see Bryan. She did see her VW Bug sitting in the driveway, though, parked beside Josh’s pickup.

  “How did that get here?”

  “Frankie said they’d found the keys in the rubble. She had an officer bring it by.” Josh dipped into his pocket for her keys, then handed them to her.

  She wondered why people in this town were taking care of her the way they were, and then she knew. It was because of Maude.

  Josh was back to scanning the surroundings, a frown etched between his brows. He was worried. Did he have cause to be? “Bryan will come along,” she said. “It’s not like you have any reason to be worried. My house exploding was an accident. And Maude died of natural causes.” She licked her lips, focusing on his face once more. “Right, Josh?”

  “Right.”

  “Because if there’s some chance Bryan could be in trouble, then you would say so, wouldn’t you? Even if you were trying to keep me in the dark about things for some reason, you wouldn’t do it at the risk of your son.”

  Josh looked honestly perplexed as he searched her face. “You really don’t trust me at all, do you?”

  “Maybe we should go looking for Bryan, Josh.”

  He looked as if he were going to agree with her, except just then Bryan called from the driveway. “Did I hear my name?”

  Josh swung his head in the direction of his son’s voice, but Beth didn’t take her own eyes from Josh’s face, and she saw the relief that surged there. He had been worried about Bryan. And that meant he had reason to be—or at least thought he might. She supposed the things she had told him about her past, about Mordecai, might have been enough to shake him, make him nervous about his son. But she had a feeling there was more to it than just that.

  Damn him for keeping so much from her.

  “Where have you been?”

  He shrugged. “Checking out the neighborhood. Did you know there’s a trail in those woods out back that leads into town?”

  Josh was shaking his head from side to side while Beth said, “Sure. It runs along the bank of the stream. Cuts half the distance off the walk to Blackberry.”

  “I thought it seemed like a shortcut,” he said, nodding.

  “Be careful about those woods, Bry,” she went on. “There’s twenty thousand acres of state forest back there. It would be easy to get lost.”

  “Got it.”

  She nodded. “So, um, what did you do in town, Bryan? You meet any of the local kids yet?”

  “Yeah, a few were hanging out in the park, playing football. I got in on it for a while. They seem cool.”

  “Yeah, there are some nice kids around here. Which ones did you meet? Any of my other students?”

  He shrugged, averted his eyes. “I didn’t write them down. Let’s see, there was a Tim, and, uh…Greg, and a Peter or Paul, I keep forgetting which.”

  “All guys, huh?”

  “There were some girls there, too.” He avoided her eyes when he said that and didn’t mention any of the girls’ names. She was sure he was keeping something to himself. It must run in the family, she thought. “Why do you ask?”

  She shook her head, not about to push it in front of Bryan’s father. “No reason.”

  “We have to go into town, Bry,” Josh said, and she thought he was interrupting on purpose—whether to tell her his son’s love life was none of her business or for some other reason, she couldn’t tell. “Gotta take care of the arrangements for Maude.”

  “Oh.” Bryan looked again at Beth, his eyes sharp and thorough now. “How are you doing? You okay?”

  She couldn’t help but warm to the boy’s genuine interest—even concern. “I’m hanging in there. You?”

  “I’m okay.”

  “Are you sure, Bryan? You’ve lost a lot these past few months. And I know you cared about Maude, even if she wasn’t your real grandmother.”

  Bryan’s eyes went huge and shot to his father’s, the look in them unmistakable. It was clear this was information they had both decided Beth was not supposed to have. And even though Bryan tried to hide the look quickly, and Josh jumped in to ask Bryan if he wanted to come into town with them, they both had to know that the damage was done.

  Bryan declined and hurried into the house, eager to be away from her, she thought. She eyed Josh. “It’s pretty clear I was never supposed to know that.”

  “You’re being paranoid,” he said. “Not that I blame you, Beth, given what you’ve been through. What you’re still going through.”

  “Am I?”

  �
�We never told anyone she wasn’t a blood relative, because it would have gotten back to her and hurt her feelings. Bryan is so used to that, he was surprised I had told you the truth. That’s all.”

  She pursed her lips. “You didn’t tell me the truth. Bert Hammond did.”

  “I would have told you myself. Especially if I’d known it was going to make you this suspicious of me.” He shook his head. “I don’t know what it is you think I might be up to, Beth, but surely you don’t think Bryan’s in on it with me. Much less that Maude was.”

  It did sound ridiculous and paranoid when he put it that way. Besides, did she really think this man could be in league with Mordecai Young? She’d known many of Mordecai’s lapdogs. They were not identical, but they were alike in many ways. They were soft men, needy men, men with holes in their characters big enough to drive a truck through. They were never charismatic, strong men. Mordecai didn’t like those under him to be able to offer him any competition. There was only room for one charismatic, charming, handsome leader in Mordecai’s life, and he was it.

  He would have hated Joshua Kendall on sight.

  No. She seriously doubted Josh was working for Mordecai. And yet it would be just like Mordecai to hire someone who could fool her so thoroughly. He was brilliant that way.

  Maybe Josh worked for the government, after all. She tipped her head to one side as she considered the possibility. God knew he was nothing like the bodyguards Arthur Stanton had sent to nip at her heels, which would have made him a smart choice.

  But that couldn’t be right, either. This man might lie to her, but not Maude. Maude wouldn’t have deceived her.

  Josh’s hand on her arm startled her out of her thoughts. And she was angry with her body for feeling a trail of heat in the wake of his fingers.

  “Come on, let’s get this over with, hmm?”

  “All right.”

  He had to work harder, he thought, because Beth was just too damn smart for him. She was seeing holes in his story, watching Bryan’s reactions to every word and doubting the sincerity of his doting suitor routine. Not only that, he was pretty sure she’d been snooping in his bedroom this morning, and if she had been, he had a feeling she’d found his 9 mm. It had been hanging in the closet, with a suit jacket buttoned over it to prevent it accidentally being seen, while ensuring it was within quick and easy reach.

  Since Maude’s death, he’d been carrying his other weapon on him at all times, but the little snub-nosed .38 only fired six rounds. The 9 mm Ruger was his weapon of choice. Semiautomatic, multiround clip, with a glow-in-the-dark sight. Normally he would have carried it and left the .38 at home with the trigger lock on it, but the Ruger was considerably tougher to carry around without it being seen.

  This morning, after Beth had gone up to shower, he’d gone to his room and seen that the closet door wasn’t closed as tightly as it had been and the suit jacket was unbuttoned. He had no doubt he had left it buttoned.

  So Beth probably knew about the gun, and that was probably feeding her suspicions about him and his reasons for being here. The only way to alleviate them was with a grand show of honesty—if he hadn’t learned another thing about her in the past few days, he’d learned that she valued honesty above all things.

  Besides, he reminded himself for the second time since he’d known her, the best defense was a good offense. Hell, when had he ever needed such a strong defense?

  He took her to the funeral home. Beth added her own touches to Maude’s preplanned event—which would be held this very evening. Despite all her planning, Maude had left a few things undone, making it painfully clear she had imagined she would have a lot more time. She hadn’t yet chosen the music to be played. Beth did that, choosing the hymns she knew to be Maude’s favorites, “In the Garden,” and “Amazing Grace.” She promised to go through Maude’s photo albums for some pictures of her that could be displayed, and picked out the memorial cards to be rush printed that afternoon.

  It wasn’t easy on her. Josh could see that. And he couldn’t be sure if his presence was making things easier or all the harder.

  They were leaving the florist’s, where they had ordered piles of Shasta daisies, when a hardy-looking man in overalls approached them on the sidewalk. “Beth Slocum?”

  She went stiff instantly. “Yes?”

  The man extended a hand. “Will Ahearn,” he said. “Ahearn’s Contracting?”

  She relaxed a little—obviously the name was familiar to her—and took the man’s hand.

  “I’m so sorry about Maude,” he said. “How are you holding up?”

  “It’s not easy. I miss her so much.”

  “The whole town does,” he said.

  She nodded, glancing at Josh. “Forgive me. Will, this is Joshua Kendall.”

  “Ahh, the long-lost relative. Good to meet you,” Will said, shaking Josh’s hand. Then he returned his attention to Beth. “Word around town is that Maude’s house belongs to you now. I sure hope you don’t mind my bringing up business at a time like this, but Maude had hired my crew to repaint the old place. I’m wondering what you want to do about that now.”

  Beth blinked, clearly surprised. “She didn’t tell me.”

  “Well, we hadn’t gotten very far. She was supposed to sign the contract and give me the down payment this week.” He nodded toward the diner across the street. “Do you have time for a cup of coffee? I can tell you where we left things.”

  She looked at Josh. “Fine with me, if you’re up to it,” he said.

  She looked at the town around her, then back at him. She drew a breath, then nodded. “I’ll meet you over there in just a minute, Will. All right?”

  “Sure. I’ll go grab a table.”

  Will nodded goodbye and crossed the street. Beth turned to Josh, her eyes big and slightly damp. “Looks like it’s decision time.”

  He shook his head. “You don’t have to decide now. You’ve got time, Beth.”

  She sighed. “I’ve had a lot of trouble admitting it, but I think I love this town.”

  He smiled a little, looking around. “What’s not to love? Fresh air. Fall foliage.” He searched her face then. “You’ve already made up your mind, haven’t you?”

  “No, not by a long shot. I think I’d like to stay, but I don’t know if I can.”

  “You can do whatever you want to do, Beth.”

  She shook her head slowly. “I’m going to honor Maude’s agreement with Will. God knows Maude would have done all the research in advance. If she trusts him, he must be on the level.”

  “Wish the same applied to me.”

  She ignored that remark. “I’ll pay him from my savings. I can live on my tutoring income. I’ll sign that contract and get the house painted, the repairs made. If I end up having to leave, it will only mean the house will bring that much more on the market.”

  “What about reopening the Blackberry Inn?”

  She looked up at him, and for just a moment he saw in her eyes, shining from their depths, the excitement and joy that idea brought her. But she tamped it down, covered it up with bleak realism. “We’ll see.”

  Chapter Twelve

  Josh, Beth and Bryan sat in the front as what looked like every resident of Blackberry and the surrounding communities filed through to pay their respects to Maude Bickham. Frankie said even some of the tourists, the regulars who had returned year after year and had gotten to know Maude over time, had shown up to say goodbye. The casket was closed, at Maude’s request, and there were so many flowers in the room that Josh couldn’t inhale without filling his lungs with their scent.

  “How are you holding up?” he asked Beth when there was a brief lull in the procession.

  She glanced his way, gave him a wet, shaky smile. She looked exhausted, pale and unsteady. “I’m okay. It’s great that so many people turned out for Maude, isn’t it? And on such short notice.”

  “She deserved it.”

  Beth nodded. “In case I didn’t say so, Josh, thank you for
today.”

  He started to shake his head, but she went on. “After this morning, the last thing I felt like doing was shopping for clothes, but I’m glad you convinced me. I would have ended up panicking at the last minute with nothing to wear tonight.”

  He nodded. The things salvaged from the wreckage of her house hadn’t included anything suitable for saying goodbye to Maude.

  “I hated to push you. You would have been better off if you could have spent the afternoon relaxing at home. I just thought—”

  “No, you were right. I needed clothes. It was nice of you to come with me. It couldn’t have been much fun for you. And poor Bryan, spending the entire day home alone.” She turned to Bryan. “I hope you weren’t too bored.”

  “I was fine.” He glanced past her, catching his father’s eye.

  He’d done that three times since they’d arrived tonight, Josh thought, and he knew his son wanted to talk to him alone, but for the life of him, he couldn’t leave Beth by herself right now. Sitting beside the casket of her only friend, receiving the condolences of the locals. It was odd, the way people were behaving toward her. While it was clear Maude was a beloved member of the community, it wasn’t so obvious how they felt about Beth. Their condolences ranged from flat to downright chilly. The looks being sent her way were wary, even suspicious, and more than once Josh had noticed small groups speaking in low voices while looking in Beth’s direction.

  Something was definitely off about the town’s attitude toward Beth. And it wasn’t going unnoticed by her. This morning he’d been touched by Blackberry’s kindness to her, the way the police department had gathered her belongings, one of the wives cleaning them. The way they’d brought her car to her. But maybe that didn’t extend farther than the police department—Frankie Parker being Maude’s best friend might be more responsible for that than he had guessed. Oh, Will Ahearn had been kind to her, as had Stu Miller, the funeral director, and the woman at the flower shop. But to them, she was a customer, a paying customer.

  The others in the town seemed chilly toward her tonight. Sympathetic, but wary. He’d seen her noticing and pretending not to.