“You can’t tell me she’s not here selling makeup or something.” Laura jerked her chin in Maddie’s direction. “I don’t need makeup.”
Given the fact that Laura’s long blonde hair – which Maddie quickly ascertained came from a bottle – was disheveled and she had raccoon smudges under her eyes, an argument could be made otherwise. Maddie wisely kept her mouth shut.
“My name is Nick Winters.” Nick held up his badge. “I’m with the Blackstone Bay Police Department.”
“Oh, you have got to be kidding me.” Laura abandoned the door and stormed into the house, leaving Maddie and Nick to stare at one another before entering.
Nick made the first move, securing the door shut behind them before taking the lead and following Laura into the living room. He watched with dispassionate eyes as she fired up a cigarette and waved her hands.
“I’ve already answered all of the questions you guys asked,” Laura snapped. “I let you search my house. I don’t have a baby here. Heck, I don’t even like babies. I definitely don’t want one now.”
“No, but you did want Peter Cook free and clear so he could be with you,” Nick pointed out. He gestured toward the couch so Maddie would sit before settling next to her. He wanted to hold her hand but didn’t think it was a professional approach so he managed to refrain. Explaining Maddie’s presence was going to be hard enough if Laura pressed the issue. “My understanding is that you’re not exactly heartbroken over Jennifer Cook’s death.”
“Should I be?” Laura arched a challenging eyebrow. “That woman was purposely keeping us apart even though she knew he loved me.”
“My understanding is that she wasn’t aware of your relationship with her husband,” Nick argued. “At least not yet.”
“Who told you that?”
“Peter.”
Laura stilled, mayhem in her eyes. “He said he told her.”
“That’s not the story he told us,” Nick said. “He said he was on his way to tell her after spending time with you this past weekend, but he never got the chance.”
“That lying worm,” Laura gritted out. “I bet that’s why he hasn’t been returning my calls.”
Nick tilted his head to the side, considering. That was interesting. Apparently Peter was refusing contact. Either he was wising up or playing another game. It was hard to determine which. “Mr. Cook has his hands full right now. He has a missing son, after all.”
“I’m sure the kid is dead,” Laura said, her simple words causing Maddie to shift. “I mean … how could he be alive? He’s probably dead in the woods somewhere. Maybe a bear ate him or something.”
“Bears don’t generally eat babies,” Nick said dryly.
“Then maybe someone took him to raise or something,” Laura suggested. “I once saw a movie where a woman couldn’t have kids so she stole one from the supermarket and raised him until he was a teenager. Then, when she died, the kid found out he was stolen and went to meet his real family. It didn’t go well.”
“Oh, well, if it went that way in a movie,” Nick muttered, sucking in a breath as he tried to get the conversation back on track. “We’re actively searching for the baby. Whoever killed Jennifer Cook, though, is the only one who knows his location. I’m sure Mr. Cook is worried sick about his son.”
“He said he liked the kid and we would have to spend time with him, but I’m working out a way to make sure that doesn’t happen,” Laura countered. “I don’t like kids. Plus, well, they’re expensive. I wanted him to leave the kid with the mother and pretend he didn’t have it.”
“And how did he react to that?” Maddie asked, speaking for the first time.
“Oh, he made noises but didn’t really answer,” Laura replied, sucking a final drag out of her cigarette before stubbing it out in a beer bottle on the coffee table. “I wasn’t worried about getting him to my way of thinking. He’s pretty easy to manipulate. All he needs to do is touch my boobs and he’s ready to do whatever I want.”
“That sounds delightful,” Nick gritted out. “The thing is, the first time we sent the local detectives around to question you, we were absent some information.”
“I have an alibi,” Laura said. “I was in class.”
“Except Detective Burgess went to the school and you weren’t in class the day Jennifer Cook was killed.”
For the first time since they entered the house, Laura showed a flash of fear. Before she was all false strength and bravado. Now she looked her age … and it wasn’t a pretty sight. “No, I was in class. There must be a mistake.”
“Your professor takes attendance,” Nick argued. “He’s a stickler for it, in fact. He said you weren’t there.”
“I was. He’s mistaken.”
“Okay, we’ll let that go for now.” Nick recognized a liar when he saw one and Laura Ferguson was a terrible liar. She also wasn’t going to abandon the lie, at least not under these circumstances. “I also understand that Peter set up a checking account for you where he would deposit money so you could … do whatever it is you did with it.”
“So?”
“So, seven days ago, you withdrew ten thousand dollars in cash – you had to go to five different branches to do it – and I’m curious what happened to that money,” Nick said.
“What?” Maddie was floored. She knew Kreskin texted with a new tidbit, but she forgot to ask what it was and now she was as surprised as Laura.
Nick ignored Maddie’s reaction and focused on Laura. She’d gone completely ashen and her fingers shook as she pressed them against her knees.
“I don’t understand the question,” Laura said.
“You don’t understand the question?” Nick cocked an eyebrow. “What did you need the ten grand for?”
“I … had classes to pay for.”
“That doesn’t make a lot of sense,” Nick argued. “You’re in your last semester and you’re up to date on school bills.”
“I … had rent.”
“You’re paid through the end of May and you’ve already informed the landlord of your intention to vacate the property at the end of your lease,” Nick shot back.
Laura practically exploded. “It’s none of your business what I’m doing with the money. It’s my business. It’s my money.”
“It is my business if you used that money to hire someone to kill Jennifer Cook,” Nick argued. “That’s exactly what everyone is going to assume, by the way, so if you used it for something else now would be the time to tell me.”
Jennifer extended a quaking hand and pointed toward the front door. “Get out of my house.”
“Fine.” Nick got to his feet. “We’ll be in touch.”
“How great for you,” Laura hissed.
Maddie waited until they were outside of the house to speak again. “Do you think she did it?”
“I don’t know,” Nick replied, grabbing Maddie’s hand. “She’s not very sympathetic, but I’m not sure she’s dumb enough to act this way if she’s guilty.”
“So … where does that leave us?”
“With a hotel to check in to and a night of romance to enjoy,” Nick replied, smiling. “I’ll report to Kreskin and see what he wants, but other than that, I think we’re good for the rest of the day.”
Maddie remained unsettled. “Just like that?”
“I don’t know what else to do right now, Mad,” Nick admitted. “We don’t have enough information to arrest her. We just wanted to shake Laura Ferguson so she knew we were closing in on her as a suspect. The local cops are setting up surveillance. Apparently they’re interested in the house next door anyway – go figure – so they can do both at once.”
“Oh, I kind of liked Derek.”
“Yeah, he’s a crackhead.”
“I would’ve guessed meth.”
Nick poked Maddie’s side. “You just like that he thought you were hot.”
“I prefer it when you think I’m hot.”
“I think you’re hot every single day of my life.” Nick s
macked a kiss against her lips. “Come on. I want to stop in long enough to talk to the locals and then we’ll hit the hotel. I promised you a night of romance, and romance is what you’re going to get, Maddie.”
“That sounds like the best offer I’ve had all day.”
“I bought you McDonald’s.”
“Right. Second best.”
13
Thirteen
Maddie was practically floating when she and Nick landed in Blackstone Bay the next afternoon. They had a lovely afternoon together, and even though there wasn’t much to do in Bay City because the weather didn’t cooperate, they spent the afternoon hanging around the mall before having a romantic dinner. Nick even took her for a spin on the dance floor before retiring to the suite he rented – complete with oversized Jacuzzi tub.
They slept in, had a lazy breakfast, checked in with the local detectives again, and then headed home. Despite the circumstances, it was pretty much the best road trip either of them had ever been on.
“Now what?” Maddie asked when Nick carried their shared suitcase into the house.
“Did I not romance you enough last night … and again this morning?” Nick’s eyes sparkled.
“Not that, gutter brain.” Maddie playfully hit his arm. “I mean with the case.”
“Well, for starters, I need to talk with Peter Cook,” Nick said, sobering. “I want to discuss what we found out with him. Kreskin is going to meet us over there.”
“Us?” Maddie hoped she didn’t sound too excited. “I get to go with you?”
“You do.” Nick glanced around the storefront, tilting his head to the side as he listened for sounds of Maude. “I don’t see any beer bottles strewn about. I guess Maude behaved herself.”
Maddie had her doubts. “The strobe light is in her apartment. If she had people over, it was in there.”
“I don’t care,” Nick said. “She can do whatever she wants. At her age, she’s earned it.”
“That’s not what you said when she almost got arrested for toilet papering Harriet’s yard on New Year’s Eve.”
“For the record, I didn’t have a problem with the toilet paper,” Nick said. “I had a problem with the fact that they tried to set it on fire.”
“Yeah, that wasn’t one of her better plans, was it?”
“Not in the least.” Nick grabbed Maddie’s hand. “We can unpack later. Perhaps it will inspire us to revisit our vacation, although our tub isn’t nearly as big and we’re going to have to clean up the mess this go around.”
Maddie pursed her lips. “I see you’ve given this a lot of thought, huh?”
Nick shrugged. “I see a lot of trips in our future, Mad. You’d better brace yourself.”
“I’m looking forward to it.”
“That makes two of us.”
PETER COOK AGREED to meet Nick and Kreskin at the house rather than the hotel. Upon further discussion, the two detectives agreed it would be interesting to see Peter in his natural habitat.
Cook was listless when he got out of his car, his hair grimy, as if it hadn’t been washed, and his clothes rumpled and dirty. He met Nick’s gaze as he crossed the road, his eyes briefly roaming to Maddie before focusing on the tall cop. “Any news?”
“Not as of yet,” Nick replied, gesturing toward the house. “We have some things to discuss with you, though, and I’m not sure how you’re going to feel about it.”
“I just want to know that he’s okay.” Cook poked at his red-rimmed eyes. Maddie thought he smelled like beer gone stale, but she wisely kept her mouth shut. Kreskin hadn’t spoken to her yet – and he was generally an amiable guy – but she didn’t want him to argue against her being present so she was keen to keep her presence from being obtrusive.
“I keep having these nightmares,” Cook admitted. “I imagine him out in the woods, cold and alone. He could be out there crying right now. That’s what the nightmares are about. I hear him crying.”
Maddie snapped her head in the man’s direction, causing Nick to give a small shake of his head in warning. If she opened her mouth now they would have to explain her presence and he wasn’t keen to do it. Most police officers didn’t bring their girlfriends to work with them on murder cases.
“Mr. Cook, I’m going to be frank with you. We’re concerned that your girlfriend had something to do with this,” Kreskin said, sitting on the couch across from where Cook slid into a chair. “A few things have come to light that are … disconcerting.”
“Laura?” Cook’s eyebrows flew up his forehead. “Laura couldn’t possibly have anything to do with this. She’s a sweet young college student. She’s … innocent.”
“I met Laura yesterday,” Nick supplied. “Sweet and innocent wouldn’t be the words I’d use to describe her.”
“You saw her?” Cook visibly swallowed. “She’s here? You saw her here?”
Nick found his reaction interesting. It was almost as if he feared the woman. After meeting Laura, he could see why Cook might be afraid. She had no filter and was clearly a user by nature. If Cook understood that, he didn’t show it after the initial reaction.
“I went to Bay City,” Nick corrected. “Some new information came to light and I wanted to question her about it.”
“I see. I see.” Cook bobbed his head, as if talking to himself. “What did she say?”
“She said that she was under the impression you told Jennifer months ago that you were going to leave her for Laura.”
“I … that’s not what I said.” Cook adopted a whiny quality. “She didn’t understand the pressure I was under. She couldn’t understand it. She was young and naïve and only saw love when she looked at me.”
“I think I might throw up,” Maddie muttered under her breath.
Nick shot her a quelling look but it was all he could do to keep his lips from curving. He couldn’t decide if Cook was running a scam on Laura or if it was the other way around. “I believe – at least the way she explained it to me – the only thing she saw when she looked at you was dollar signs,” Nick clarified.
Cook’s expression darkened. “Laura loves me.”
“Laura is furious because you haven’t called her back and she expects some money and attention to come her way – and immediately – now that your wife is dead,” Nick said. “When I pointed out that your son was still missing, she argued that he was probably dead and she was going to talk you out of wanting to spend time with him anyway so you wouldn’t really miss him at all.”
Cook’s mouth dropped open, disbelief washing over his face. “She actually said that?”
“She said that and more,” Nick replied. “She doesn’t seem to care at all that an infant is missing.”
“I think … I think you read her wrong,” Cook hedged. “She’s just upset.”
“Because you haven’t been returning her calls?”
“It’s not just that,” Cook explained. “I ended things. She was really upset and thought I was making it up because we’ve had a few false alarms when it comes to breakups, but I ended things for real and she doesn’t get it.”
“And why did you do that?” Kreskin asked, legitimately curious. “I thought you were waiting for a chance to be with Laura. Wasn’t that the big plan? Separate from your wife, screw her over financially in a divorce, and run off with a younger model to places unknown. That’s how you explained it to us the first go around.”
“I know you don’t like me.” Cook chose his words carefully. “I don’t blame you. I’m a terrible human being. Jennifer loved me more than anything and yet I cheated on her. I was going to leave her. I was going to start a new life with Laura.
“Despite all of that, I love my son,” he continued. “It’s possible to be a terrible human being and still want to be a good father. I ended things with Laura because it’s not possible to have the life we were dreaming about. When I get P.J. back – and make no mistake, I will get my son back – I’m going to have to change my life.
“I won’t be
able to travel any longer and I’m going to have to get someone to help me with his care,” he said. “I cared about Laura. Did I love her? Probably not. I liked her body. I liked the way she made me feel. Sure, I get that she was only interested in me because she thought I had a lot of money. I might’ve lied to her about just how much because I knew that was the thing that would keep her around.
“I was going to live with her, maybe even marry her, but the plans we made were more amorphous than anything else,” he said. “I knew that we wouldn’t live happily ever after. I thought we might have a nice run in bed for a couple of years, though. That’s what I cared about.”
“Wow. You’re a real saint,” Nick intoned.
Cook ignored the sarcasm. “Some people aren’t meant to mate forever. In fact, I think women are the only ones who want to mate forever.”
Nick spared a glance for Maddie. “I don’t believe that in the slightest.”
“Well, you’re young so you’ll probably outgrow that belief,” Cook said. “I didn’t foresee happily ever after with Laura. I did see a lot of orgasms, though. She has a phenomenal body. That doesn’t mean I was going to choose her over my son. I never told her that. If she opted to believe that, well, she made it up in her head.”
“I can see her doing that,” Nick said honestly. “She’s a bit … twisted. In addition to talking to her, though, we also asked local detectives to confirm her alibi.”
“Good. I guess.”
“They couldn’t confirm it,” Kreskin said. “She did not show up in her class that night.”
“But … I saw her leave the house,” Peter argued. “She had a shift at work and then was going to the library to kill a few hours before her night class. I saw her leave the house with her bag.”
“And yet she didn’t have a shift at work that day and never checked in at her class,” Kreskin argued. “Not only that, but she also withdrew ten thousand dollars from the checking account you shared.”
Cook was stunned. “No.”
“Yes.”
“But … .” He leaned back, his mind clearly busy. “That money was being put aside so we could buy a house. The money wasn’t for her. I was … keeping it there … for other reasons.”
Grave Paths (A Maddie Graves Mystery Book 11) Page 12