Hansen walked along, deep in thought. Near him, Charlie bounced on the balls of her feet, antsy to be doing something. She didn’t work in a slow and methodical way, unlike Hansen, who thought out every step before he took it. Charlie’s mind moved too fast for that. She acted quickly, but also probably invited more mistakes.
“You’re right,” Hansen said at last. “That list might not do us much good. We may have to stick to looking at the people who are here now,” Hansen said.
I was relieved to reach the cottages, because my feet were hurting from walking in high heels for the past couple of hours. But just as I thought I was going to get to sit down, I heard yelling through the trees. There was a lot of bluster and anger in the voices being carried to us on the breeze, and we couldn’t help it, we had to know what was going on.
“It sounds like a very heated argument,” said Charlie.
“Hopefully it doesn’t come to blows,” said Greer.
“Why? We have Jasper and Hansen here. They can fix it,” said Charlie. Over her head the two guys exchanged dubious glances.
“Did you just volunteer us to fight?” Jasper asked.
“No. I’m going to fight too,” said Charlie.
Jasper glanced at me and shook his head with a chuckle.
After taking half a minute so that some of us could change our shoes, we took off in the direction of the shouting.
When we reached the scene, it was instantly clear what was happening. Mr. Cushman was arguing with another man, a weathered character I didn’t think I had ever seen before, old, outdoorsy-looking and at the moment very angry. He was dressed in a rumpled suit, and I suddenly realized that he had been at the wedding ceremony. Now he was shaking his fist at Cushman, who was trying to get him to relax.
“And stay off my property! Who do you think you are, trespassing like this? I’ve warned you about it, so next time you come onto my property without my permission you won’t be leaving so easily,” the man was yelling.
“I wasn’t trespassing! How many times do I have to tell you?” said Cushman, just as angrily. “Really. I feel like you look for reasons to get angry. Nobody cares about your silly land.”
“All your stupid guests care about my land plenty. They’re around here all the time. I’ve posted every inch of this property and still they trespass,” yelled the man.
“Norris, people come here to hike. They see signs and trails and think they can follow them. They don’t know that our campground has a nut job for a landowner next to it,” Cushman yelled back. His face had gone red and splotchy. Norris’s face was probably just as red, but I couldn’t be sure because his cheeks were covered by a wiry beard and the lines etched by hard living and time passing.
Just then both men noticed the five of us standing there open-mouthed.
“TRESPASSERS,” Norris grumbled.
“Sorry to interrupt. We heard a commotion and thought we’d check on things,” said Hansen easily.
“Check on things like nose into my business! I’ve seen your like before,” said Norris.
“We really didn’t mean to interrupt. We just wanted to make sure everything was okay. Jasper Wolf,” said Jasper, stepping forward and extending his hand. He already met Cushman, but clearly not the angry Norris.
“You’re one of the Wolf family. I’ve heard of you. A long way back you asked to buy my land. Good timber. Not to mention water access. Hard to come by these days,” said Norris. He stared at Jasper’s hand until my boyfriend dropped it.
Mr. Norris looked a little disappointed by the fact that Jasper wasn’t the least bit offended. “My grandfather runs the corporation,” Jasper clarified. “I just work in it.”
“For now. I know your sort too. You’re looking to take over. Lots of the people who come to stay at this campground have been coming for years. They move up in business and I see how they change. Well, I want no part in it. I just came out here to tell Cushman to stay off my land. Again!”
Norris made to turn away, but Charlie’s voice stopped him, “How long have you lived here yourself?”
Norris looked at Charlie with a slight frown of confusion. I wondered how long it had been since he had actually spoken with a woman. “Longer than you’ve been alive, I’m sure. No thanks to all these people. Constantly trying to ruin the natural beauty of the place.”
Cushman was looking nervously at Charlie. Given how angry Norris was, I really couldn’t blame him.
“You’re in a place with a lot of hikers. Has anyone come through and done damage on your property?” Charlie asked.
“There’s all sorts of damage. I find candy wrappers, I find empty bottles, I find other things. It’s ridiculous. I post signs,” Norris said again.
“Look,” said Cushman. “There’s a wedding here this weekend. I can’t control everybody, but I’ll tell them yet again to stay off your property. I already have, by the way. A number of times. You should also know that there’s a police investigation going on. I don’t know if they’ll want to talk to you, but they could have been the ones who came onto your property earlier.”
Charlie was about to say something more, but Greer elbowed her and she shut her mouth, though not happily. Then Cushman turned around and herded us away from the grumpy property owner.
“Police investigation, is it? They investigating you and your partner’s illegal activities? I expected nothing less from someone who grew up in Mintwood!” Norris needled after us.
That was clearly a step too far for Cushman; he couldn’t let it go. He spun around, his face blotchy again. “I’ve never had a partner and I don’t engage in illegal activities. I’ll thank you not to imply as much in front of paying customers unless you want to get sued!”
“Buddy, I’m retired. Bring it on. I promise you you’ll get sued right back. This is a waste of my time,” said Norris, stomping away in a huff.
Chapter Fourteen
“What should we do now?” Greer asked. “Are people going to hold where we came from against us forever?”
I snickered and rolled my eyes. “Clearly Norris was from a rival high school sports town.”
“I need to shower and call my editor,” said Hansen, getting us back to more important topics. He ran his fingers through his dark hair, an unconscious gesture that I’d seen before when he had a lot to get done.
“I’m free,” said Jasper with a shrug. “Deacon is off doing groomsman duties, so I figured we’d just be hanging out for the afternoon.”
Jasper and I didn’t usually engage in PDA, but at that very moment I really wanted to hold his hand. I refrained.
“Excellent. Let’s go on an adventure,” said Charlie. “But first we have to change.”
“Into our reception clothing? Isn’t it a bit early?” Greer asked.
“No, into clothes that we don’t care about. We might end up kind of dirty,” Charlie said. “Jasper, run along and change. We’ll collect you shortly.”
Properly dismissed, Jasper left, but not before giving me a kiss on the cheek. Okay, so that was a tiny bit of PDA. Let’s be honest, if he hadn’t acknowledged our relationship as a couple before he took off, I would have been steamed.
Greer was frowning at Charlie, but the reporter would tolerate no opposition, so we three headed to our own cottage to get ready for whatever Charlie had in mind.
“Good thing we could pack as much as we wanted to this weekend. Otherwise we’d have had to leave these clothes behind,” said Charlie.
“Boots or shoes?” Greer asked her.
“Humm. Maybe boots,” said Charlie.
Few things required trust like following Charlie Silver blindly while she was on a case.
“It’s all well and good for you,” said Greer, looking at me. “You’re a witch. If we get caught doing something we shouldn’t and get in trouble, you can just perform a spell to get yourself out of there. I’ll be stuck there holding the money, so to speak.”
“I’d never leave you like that,” I reassured her. �
��I’d obviously perform a spell that got us both out of there.”
“You say that now,” Greer shot back, “but there are no guarantees. And anyhow, what could she possibly want us to be doing right now?” She said it as though Charlie wasn’t in the room, needling our activities director as she loved to do. “There’s no way we’re going to be able to find a ghost at this time of day. And we only have a couple of hours until the reception.” Greer sighed as she tried to choose between a black and red plaid shirt and a green and red one.
Decisions, decisions.
“I’m sure we’ll find out soon enough,” I said.
“For better or worse,” said Greer.
Once we were dressed, we went back outside to follow Charlie into the woods. I had changed out of my ballet flats for something more practical. Jasper came out of his cottage looking a lot more casual than we did. We looked like city girls who had just seen the forest for the first time. We were wearing colorful rain boots, and Charlie was carrying an umbrella. Jasper had just put on his work boots and a light jacket.
“Ready?” Charlie asked.
“You bet,” said Jasper.
Charlie led the way, but after only a few steps she was looking around as if she didn’t really know where we were going. I rolled my eyes at Greer, but for the moment we let Charlie stay in the lead. Maybe she had more of an idea of what she was doing than we thought, so we should at least give her half a chance.
We passed the main Lodge, where small groups of wedding guests were milling around, talking in hushed voices. They all looked concerned about something, surely the murder. And who could blame them?
As we walked, Jasper and I still did not hold hands.
“Are we going to the boathouse?” I asked.
“Sure are,” said Charlie.
“Why?” Greer asked.
“If he died from drowning, it’s likely that he was in this lake water. Maybe someone just held his head under, or maybe he was swimming in the lake,” said Charlie.
“How did you know he died from drowning?” Jasper asked.
“Um. . . .” said Charlie.
After that we walked on in silence for a few moments. I wished the leaves would stop crunching under my feet; the noise seemed terribly loud, and drew attention to the silence coming from our little group of walkers. My mind worked frantically trying to think of a believable lie.
“Don’t lie to me,” said Jasper, giving me a long look. “I know you didn’t overhear the police officers; you can’t eavesdrop on investigations that easily. You know, I just don’t even want to know.”
I was sure he had realized that our inside knowledge had something to do with my magic, and it made me uneasy. But Charlie broke the momentary tension by saying cheerily, “Probably for the best.”
We made our way to the boathouse, a feature of the campground that I hadn’t yet seen. Unfortunately, just as we reached it we got a very unpleasant surprise.
“How can I help you?” Craig Smith asked, stepping out of the boathouse and smiling at us. He was covered in grease and wood chips, for all the world as if he’d been working on something.
“Hello! We were just touring the grounds. We saw signs for the boathouse and thought we’d check it out. Do you run this place?” Charlie asked, looking in every which direction as she spoke, taking everything in as quickly as possible in case Craig told us to leave.
“Sure do. Built it myself a couple of years ago. My wife and I always wanted a place to tie up our boats. I saw you all last night, right?” he said.
“Right. I didn’t know Detective Smith was your brother,” said Charlie.
“I didn’t know you were a reporter,” said Craig. His eyes twinkled, making it clear that he was just as sharp as his brother. He reached out his hand and formally introduced himself.
“Don’t worry. I haven’t come to try and get a story out of you, I just came to look around,” said Charlie.
“We thought we’d see what the boathouse looked like since there’s such a long break before the reception,” said Greer.
“Let me show you around,” said Craig. He was shorter and more rugged-looking than his brother, well built for a life outdoors. “You’re welcome to go out on the water if you want, but it’s a bit cold at this point. We do try to discourage dangerous canoeing. You don’t want to fall in and get hypothermia. Of course, you’d be wearing a life jacket, but it would take us a few minutes to get to you. If you stayed in this part of the lake, at least we’d see you fall in,” he finished on an encouraging note.
“I think we should send Charlie out there in a canoe, have her fall over, and get it on film,” Greer suggested.
“That’s so very sweet of you,” said Charlie.
“That’s me. Sweet as can be,” said Greer.
“Have you spent much time on the water?” Craig asked.
The four of us exchanged glances as Craig led us into the boathouse. To no one’s surprise, it was filled with boats.
“I’ve spent a fair bit of time in boats, yes,” said Jasper. “My grandfather has a boat. I also have a couple of canoes and kayaks at my place.”
That led to a discussion between Craig and Jasper about the Babbling Brook Barn. Craig knew of it and was very impressed that Jasper was the owner. I listened like a proud girlfriend.
Chapter Fifteen
As the others wandered around the boathouse, Jasper reached down and took my hand. We came to a standstill and were suddenly alone as the others continued the tour. Charlie was finding out all she could about the boats and who took them out on the water, being careful not to mention Burke. Craig had made it clear that he already suspected she was there only because of the murder, and I knew she didn’t want to make him even more suspicious.
Jasper smiled at me.
“What is it?” I asked, looking up into his bright green eyes.
“It’s just that we haven’t had a chance to be alone in a while. I know Charlie is all into this detective thing and I know you’re helping, but I just wanted a minute say hi,” he smiled. Sometimes he looked at me as if he found me dazzling. Those were some pretty great looks.
I smiled at him. “I’m sure she has this under control. I don’t think Craig Smith did it anyway.”
“It does look suspicious that the guy died in the water and Craig is the one in charge of the boathouse,” Jasper pointed out. “Not only that, but he called his brother in to investigate. His brother would never accuse him of a crime.”
“You have a point, but it sure would help if we had a clue about the motive,” I said.
“Once you know the motive it’s very likely you’ll know the killer,” Jasper said.
“True.” I bit my lip.
He glanced at our friends to make sure they were out of view. Craig had take them outside to show them the docks. “Are you having a good time otherwise?”
He sounded so anxious that I wanted to reassure him, so I squeezed his palms tightly together. “Yes, although I’m sad that we found a skeleton. It’s too bad for the wedding party, but I was looking forward to this weekend and having all of us together.”
“It’s great, isn’t it?” he said. “The families are being awfully funny.”
“You mean how they’re scared of the outdoors and confused about stuff like nature?” I laughed.
“Right, that’s what I mean. I feel like Delia and her intended did that on purpose,” he said.
My eyes widened. The thought had never occurred to me. Jasper was starting to look like he had the kind of devious mind that reminded me of nothing so much as Paws, Grandma Evenlyn help me.
“You think they plotted it to annoy their relatives?” I asked.
“Could definitely see that happening. Maybe they did it to try and get some relatives not to come.” Jasper was clearly enjoying that thought a little too much, so much so that I wondered whether he had considered doing the same thing for himself. I’d heard of such things as having your wedding in a very far-off location so
some people wouldn’t want to travel there, which would be just fine with you.
“I like this, though,” he said.
“The boathouse?” I asked. “Or talking about weddings?” I blurted out.
Jasper’s ears went pink. I rarely saw him thrown, but this time it was as if I had picked him up and chucked him out a second floor window.
“Um,” he said.
“Sorry. I didn’t mean, we aren’t talking about . . . weddings,” I said.
“Actually we are.” He sounded like he had something in his throat.
“What did you mean then?” I asked.
“I meant doing detective work with you,” he said.
“Oh, that,” I said dismissively. Now that he mentioned it, though, it was fun.
“You two coming?” Charlie called from outside, rescuing me from another awkward moment.
The two of us hurried to rejoin our friends. Craig was standing with them on the dock and they were all surveying the water.
“When was this boathouse built?” Charlie asked.
“Just last summer,” said Craig. “We worked day and night to get it done for this year.”
“You mean you and your wife?” Charlie asked.
“Me, my wife, Mr. Cushman, and Burke.” Craig stopped dead, his eyes narrowing on Charlie. My friend was looking out at the water and doing her best not to appear too interested.
“Look, Ms. Silver, I’ve been warned about you. I can’t possibly tell you anything of note at this point,” he said.
“Why ever would you need to be warned about me?” Charlie appeared genuinely hurt. I knew she was lying, but Craig Smith didn’t.
“You know very well that you like to get the scoop on things. My brother told me about the last case you solved for him. He was both happy and very unhappy about it,” he said.
“I can see that. No one likes to be one-upped by a girl,” she said.
“What does your being a girl have to do wit h it?” Greer asked.
“Everything, as usual,” said Charlie.
“I don’t know what’s going on here, but I think it’s funny,” I said.
“I think your being a girl is very relevant,” said Craig.
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