Grave Paths (A Maddie Graves Mystery Book 11)

by Lily Harper Hart

  “That doesn’t change the fact that I want to help.” George tentatively reached out and rested his hand on Maddie’s shoulder. They weren’t exactly touchy-feely, which was fine by him, but he didn’t want her feeling awkward when he did touch her. “We’ll figure it out. Talk to Nick. I can wait for your decision. There’s no hurry.”

  Maddie’s face flooded with gratitude. “Thank you.”

  “No thanks are necessary. In fact … .” George broke off when he saw the way Maddie tilted her head, as if she heard something and was trying to identify the source. He was instantly on alert. “What’s wrong?”

  “Don’t you hear that?” Maddie was back on her feet.

  “Hear what?”

  “A baby. I hear a baby crying.” Maddie took a step in the direction of the trees where Jennifer’s body was found.

  George furrowed his brow and intently listened, but he couldn’t hear anything but the brief rustling of leaves in the wind. “Maddie, there’s no baby crying.”

  “But … I hear it.”

  “I don’t think you’re hearing what you think you’re hearing.” George reached out to stop her but she was already moving. “Where are you going?”

  “I have to look.”

  George felt helpless. “Maddie, there is no baby out there.”

  NICK HATED VISITING the medical examiner’s office, but it was part of the job so he plastered a benign expression on his face as he followed Kreskin into an examination room later that afternoon. Information was piling up at a fantastic rate but that didn’t mean they’d zeroed in on a culprit.

  Dr. Daniel Mathers stood next to Jennifer Cook’s body as they entered, a sandwich in his hand and a bored expression lining his pinched face. “Good afternoon, gentlemen.”

  Nick didn’t bother to hide his disdain. “How can you eat while looking at … that?” He gestured toward Jennifer’s body.

  “You get used to it.” Mathers took another bite before resting the sandwich on a plate on the counter. “So, I have a few things to show you.”

  “And we’re looking forward to seeing them,” Kreskin said, ignoring the way the assistant medical examiner talked with his mouth full. “Take us through from the beginning.”

  “Well, for starters, I think she was bulimic.”

  Nick stilled. Whatever he was expecting, it wasn’t that. “I’m sorry but … what?”

  “Bulimic,” Mathers supplied, using a napkin to wipe the corners of his mouth. “It means she would eat a lot and then purge.”

  “I know what bulimic means.”

  “Sorry. You looked confused.”

  “She was a new mother,” Kreskin argued. “Her husband said she was breastfeeding.”

  “She was,” Mathers confirmed. “That doesn’t mean she wasn’t bulimic, too.”

  “But I thought nursing mothers needed extra calories,” Nick pressed.

  “They do and she wasn’t eating as much as she should’ve been,” Mathers supplied. “She showed signs of malnutrition, although she wasn’t in any immediate danger. I’m guessing she was trying to lose the baby weight, because her esophagus doesn’t show the type of scarring I would normally see in a longtime purger. It seems to be a new thing.”

  “Maybe she knew Cook was cheating on her,” Kreskin said. “Women often blame themselves for things like that. Maybe she thought it was the baby weight causing him to stray.”

  “That could also explain why her sister thought she was depressed,” Nick added. “If she wasn’t eating enough to sustain herself, she would’ve appeared lethargic and uninterested.”

  “She could’ve been suffering from depression on top of everything else,” Kreskin pointed out.

  “He’s right,” Mathers said. “There’s no way to check for depression on an autopsy.”

  “Okay, other than the bulimia, what can you tell us?” Nick asked.

  “Her body seemed to heal fine after the birth and she wasn’t suffering sustained trauma from that, but look here.” Mathers lifted one of Jennifer’s pale arms. She was naked beneath the sheet Mathers laid over her, but she was so small and frail that she was painful to look at it. “Do you see these?”

  Kreskin leaned closer and wrinkled his nose. “Slash marks. Did she try to kill herself?”

  “These were done post-mortem,” Mathers replied. “See how there’s no blood in the wounds? That’s because she was already dead when it happened.”

  “I didn’t notice those when I found her, but admittedly, I didn’t look that hard,” Nick said. “We were losing light so I thought it was more important to call you.”

  “Which it was,” Kreskin said. “So what do the slashes mean?”

  “I’m not a detective.” Mathers was being cagey. “I can theorize, though.”

  “That would be great,” Nick gritted out.

  “I think someone wanted this to look like a suicide,” Mathers said. “Whoever it was didn’t realize that blood doesn’t keep flowing in a normal pattern after the heart stops beating. As far as I can figure, the slashes on the wrists were made hours after Jennifer Cook was already dead.”

  “And strangulation is the cause of death?” Kreskin asked.

  Mathers nodded. “Most definitely. Whoever it was tried at least three different times. There are two different places that show crush injuries and that couldn’t happen unless the murderer kept readjusting his grip. The third time – which I think was technically the first time in this instance – the perpetrator simply didn’t realize how much pressure had to be applied to cut off someone’s oxygen supply.”

  “Strangling someone isn’t easy,” Kreskin noted. “Maybe Jennifer kept regaining consciousness.”

  “That a possibility,” Mathers said. “I can’t verify it, though. I don’t have enough here to prove that.”

  “Can you tell if a man or woman did the strangling?” Nick asked.

  “The bruising area is so large that I really can’t,” Mathers replied. “Whoever sliced at her wrists, though, didn’t realize that the blade wasn’t going deep enough. Not only that, but they slashed crossways instead of lengthwise.”

  “So, if the culprit could’ve gotten her to bleed out, it wouldn’t have been enough to suggest death,” Kreskin mused. “That sounds to me like someone who didn’t have a plan.”

  “It sounds to me like a crime of passion,” Nick said. “She got in a fight with someone and whoever it was strangled her. He or she probably panicked after the fact and when Jennifer regained consciousness, the individual knew they had no choice but to do it again. Jennifer would’ve gone to the police so … she had to die.

  “Then, once it was done, the individual probably freaked out and wondered what to do about the situation,” he continued. “There was a baby to consider. Whether the original fight was about the baby and Jennifer died trying to protect her son, I don’t know. Either way, the killer tried to cover his or her tracks.”

  “I doubt very much all of this happened in the woods behind your house,” Kreskin pointed out. “The variables would be too hard to handle. If Jennifer got free, she could’ve run and hidden anywhere.”

  “Not if she didn’t want to leave her baby.”

  “True, but I still don’t see it going down that way,” Kreskin said. “She had to die somewhere else. Whether that was in her home or not, I can’t say. If we bring you all the knives we find in the house, can you match them to the wounds on her wrists?”

  Mathers bobbed his head. “Absolutely. Even if you don’t find the exact knife, I can probably get you close if you find one from the same set.”

  “I’ll send a uniform over to collect them right away,” Kreskin said. “Until then, we still have no idea what happened to Peter Cook, Jr. We have a father who was having an affair and the possibility that someone attacked because he or she simply wanted the baby. We can’t narrow this down without more information.”

  “The body was out in the elements long enough that most trace evidence was washed away,” Mathers said
. “There aren’t any fingerprints or fibers. I don’t know what else I’m going to be able to offer you guys.”

  “You’ve given us some things to think about,” Nick said. “We don’t have answers yet, but we’re getting closer.”

  “We just need to hope that baby can hold on until everything slips into place,” Kreskin added. “I’m worried that if we get close enough, someone might panic and try to hide the baby … or do something even worse. Let’s be honest, whoever did this, he or she shows signs of panicking.”

  Nick didn’t want to consider it, but he knew Kreskin was right. “So we’d better find him soon. I hate to think it, but he might not have nearly as much time as we originally thought.”

  “I’m right there with you.”

  9

  Nine

  Nick surveyed the report emailed to him by the Bay City Police Department. They questioned Laura Ferguson extensively, for more than four hours, and the woman never broke and offered Peter Cook up as a suspect. While she claimed they didn’t spend every moment together while he was in town – she had classes and worked twenty hours a week – she said the odds of him being able to drive to Blackstone Bay, murder his wife, and then return to her house without tipping his hand were slim.

  Despite all of that, Peter was on his own for several stretches, including the window when Jennifer Cook was murdered.

  “What do you think?” Kreskin asked, watching Nick’s face for a hint of what he was thinking.

  “I think it’s only a two-hour drive here and two hours back,” Nick replied after a beat. “That would give Peter Cook four hours to murder his wife and dispose of the body.”

  “What about the baby?”

  “I don’t know,” Nick replied. “Maybe he couldn’t bring himself to kill the baby and he dropped him off in a neighboring community. There are safe-haven laws for a reason.”

  “Yeah, I considered that, too.” Kreskin rubbed his chin. “I’m going to send out a notice over the wire. If the baby was dropped off somewhere, we should be able to find out where. He would have a lot of options between Blackstone Bay and Bay City, but those places are required to report it.”

  “Don’t you think we would’ve heard about it by now if he did that?”

  Kreskin shrugged. “If he dropped the baby in this area, we probably would’ve heard about it. News has broken that we have a dead mother and missing baby. The thing is, south of us, this story probably isn’t trending. If he dropped the baby off in Alpena, for example, they simply might not realize what’s going on.”

  “That’s a good point.” Nick leaned back in his chair, stretching out his long legs in front of him. “He might not have dropped the baby anyplace. Maybe he took the baby to Laura Ferguson’s house.”

  “The cops searched it – with her consent, mind you – and they didn’t find any signs of a baby. They also questioned neighbors and no one saw either Peter or Laura carrying an infant.”

  “What about his family?”

  “They’re south, but we have calls in to law enforcement down there. They’re searching the homes today. If anyone doesn’t agree to the search, then you or I are going to have to go down there and persuade them.”

  Nick didn’t like that idea at all. “I volunteer you.”

  “Why?”

  “Because you’re always complaining you need a night away from your wife,” Nick replied calmly. “This could be your big chance. I don’t want to take that away from you.”

  “And you’re always whining that you can’t get enough of Maddie,” Kreskin surmised. “I guess that means you’ll cry if separated.”

  “Cry? No.” Nick said the words, but he wasn’t altogether convinced they were true. He might very well cry if he had to be away from Maddie. “She’s got a bad knee right now, though. She shouldn’t be alone.”

  Kreskin snorted. “She has Maude.”

  “And Maude is a lovely woman.”

  “Yeah, she’s a pip.”

  “Maude is a lovely woman who has her hands full right now,” Nick continued. “She’s fighting Blue Belles.”

  “What did you say?”

  “Belles,” Nick repeated, enunciating with exaggeration. He knew exactly what his partner was thinking. “It’s a rival group to the Pink Ladies.”

  “Of course it is.” Kreskin rubbed his forehead. “We’ll flip for it if it becomes necessary to travel south.”

  “Ugh.” Nick made a disgusted sound in his throat. “I’m not really keen on leaving Maddie with all of this going on. She’s in investigative mode and she might find trouble if I’m not here to yank her out of it.”

  “Last time I checked, Maddie is a grown woman and she knows exactly how to take care of herself. She did it for a long time when you weren’t around.”

  Nick scowled. “Maddie and I had a talk yesterday. We decided that if she doesn’t stop bringing that up, I’m going to have to punish her. Since you feel the need to do the same, maybe I’ll start punishing you for doing it, too.”

  Kreskin pressed his lips together to keep from laughing. “Are you going to punish me like you do her?”

  “Probably not.”

  “That’s good. I’m not sure I’m up to being punished with kisses.”

  “I don’t need this abuse.” Nick shifted in his chair, uncomfortable. He knew it was unreasonable to expect Kreskin to handle out-of-town tasks, but he hated the idea of leaving Maddie right now. Still, he had a job to do and he was good at his job. “We’ll flip for it.”

  “That sounds like a plan.” Kreskin lifted his arms over his head so he could stretch. “We won’t know until tomorrow if it will be necessary. There’s no need to get worked up over it until then.”

  “No, definitely not,” Nick agreed, his eyes flicking to the door when the overhead bell jangled to signify entrance. “I hope this isn’t something serious.” When his eyes landed on George Hunter, his stomach tilted. “Maddie?”

  George held up his hands in a placating manner. “She’s fine. I left her at the house about ten minutes ago. She’s cooking a big dinner for you.”

  There was something odd about the man’s expression, something Nick couldn’t identify, which only served to agitate him. “That’s not usually cause for concern. Now, if Maude was cooking dinner, then I would hurry home to find the fire extinguisher. Maddie is a dream when it comes to cooking, though.”

  “Yes, well, I’m not really here about the cooking.” George shifted from one foot to the other, clearly uncomfortable. He tugged a hand through his hair and slid a sidelong look at Kreskin. Nick realized right away that George was worried about discussing Maddie in front of his partner. “Dale knows everything about Maddie.”

  “That doesn’t mean I like talking about it,” Kreskin pointed out.

  Nick ignored him. “You spent the day with her, right?”

  “I did.” George bobbed his head. “Things were going well. We had a good time. I … um … offered to pay for the wedding and she seemed flustered and said she had to talk to you.”

  Nick widened his eyes, surprised. He thought George was going to tell him something else entirely. “Oh.” He let loose with a shaky sigh. “Well, I don’t have a problem with it if it’s what Maddie wants. So far we’ve both agreed to keep it small, though. I’ll see what she says.”

  “I told her that’s fine.” George swallowed hard. “I also have an account I’ve been adding to since she was small – instead of child support I did that – and I’m giving that to her for a wedding gift. That’s on top of paying for the wedding.”

  “Oh.” Nick had no idea what to say. “I’m sure she got all red-faced and started mumbling when you mentioned that.”

  “You know her well.”

  “I do,” Nick confirmed, smiling. “I’ll calm her down. That probably threw her a bit. I thought you were going to tell me something worse when you came in.”

  “Oh, I didn’t come in here because of the money,” George said. “I came because something happened
in the woods.”

  Nick hated the sinking feeling in his stomach. “She made you go to the woods?”

  “She did.”

  “I saw that coming,” Nick muttered, rubbing the back of his neck. “What happened?”

  “We talked a bit. It was fine. Then she decided she could hear a baby crying and spent the entire afternoon searching for it.”

  Nick wasn’t expecting that response. “She thought she heard a baby?”

  “Like a ghost baby?” Dale asked, his features pale.

  “I don’t know,” George replied. “I didn’t hear anything, for the record. She kept saying she really heard the baby – not as a ghost, but like it was close in the woods and only she could hear it – and she doesn’t believe the baby is dead. I didn’t hear a thing, though.

  “Now, granted, my hearing isn’t great, but I think I would’ve heard it at least once,” he continued. “We were out there for hours. She’s icing her knee again.”

  Nick dropped his forehead in his hand as he internalized George’s words. “Geez.”

  “I take it this is why you don’t want to leave town,” Kreskin commented.

  “I never want to leave her,” Nick argued. “It’s just … she’s obsessed with finding this baby. If she thinks she’s hearing it … .”

  “Could it be a ghost?” Kreskin asked.

  “I have no idea.”

  “Maybe the baby is dead out there and we’re wasting time looking in other places.”

  That was a thought … but it was one Nick didn’t want to entertain. “I don’t see the point of killing both of them. What’s the motive? Who benefits from killing the baby?”

  “Maybe Peter Cook wanted a fresh start without anything to tie him down,” Dale suggested.

  “Maybe.” Nick pressed the heel of his hand to his forehead. “What do you want to do? We can call the state police – I can call my brother directly – and get cadaver dogs out here tomorrow.”