Grave Insight (A Maddie Graves Mystery Book 2)

by Hart, Lily Harper

  “He’s with me,” Cassidy argued.

  “For how long?”

  “You don’t know,” Cassidy said. “We could get married.”

  Maude shook her head. “Something tells me you don’t believe that,” she said. “You know as well as I do that he was going to break up with you tonight. That’s why you insisted on coming here with us. You knew he wouldn’t do it with an audience. You’re trying to buy time. For what, I don’t know. You really are just hurting yourself.”

  Cassidy’s heart was beating so hard she thought she was going to pass out. She jumped to her feet, tipping over the glass of iced tea in her haste. “You have no idea what you’re talking about. You’re just a liar. I know what you’re trying to do, and it’s not going to work on me. You have no idea who you’re dealing with.”

  “IT’S secure,” Nick said, tugging on the air-conditioning unit briefly. “Pull the window down.”

  “I can’t believe how much work that was,” Maddie said, grabbing the foam strips and shoving them into the creases between the frame and the metal walls of the unit. “I wouldn’t have been able to do it without you.”

  “I think you can do anything you set your mind to, Mad,” Nick said, smiling when she straightened. “Your face is red. It looks like you just ran a marathon.”

  “That’s what it feels like.”

  Nick’s hands rose and cupped the back of Maddie’s head before he even realized what he was doing. He tilted her chin up, the sea blue of her eyes bombarding him with unasked questions. He moved in closer, but instead of kissing her, he rested his moist forehead against hers.

  “W-w-what are you doing?” Maddie asked, uncertain.

  “I have no idea,” Nick admitted.

  “I … .” Maddie broke off.

  “What were you going to say?” Nick asked, refusing to break from the position they were standing in.

  “I’m not sure.”

  Nick snorted. “We’re quite the pair.”

  “Nick, you know we can’t … not while … not now.”

  “I know,” Nick said. “I’ve got to get this Cassidy situation under control.”

  “I’m sorry things worked out this way,” Maddie said. “If we hadn’t ended up at the same restaurant, this would probably already be over. I didn’t expect Cassidy to volunteer to come with us.”

  “She’s desperate,” Nick said. “She knows what’s coming, and yet she just won’t accept it. It’s … pathetic.”

  “Nicky,” Maddie chided. “She’s just sad.”

  “I know,” Nick said. “I know I’m the one in the wrong here. She’s just making things so hard.”

  “You just have to deal with it,” Maddie said. “You don’t have to deal with it tonight. It’s not like you’re on a timetable.”

  Nick pressed his eyes shut briefly. He wasn’t on a timetable, but he was running out of time all the same. He wouldn’t be able to stop himself from kissing Maddie again, and he wanted their first kiss to be something special. It wouldn’t be if he was still joined with Cassidy, even if it was in name only. “I do have to deal with it tonight,” Nick said, finally pulling his forehead back so he could brush his lips against the wrinkled spot between her eyebrows “I’m not putting this off any longer.”

  “Okay,” Maddie said. “Um … thank you for all your help.”

  Nick grinned. “At least you’ll get a good night’s sleep tonight,” he said. “The only thing sweaty will be your dreams.”

  Maddie lowered her eyes, flustered. Nick knew his comment was pointed, but he liked to watch her fidget.

  “You’re being awfully forward when your girlfriend is down in my kitchen,” Maddie challenged.

  Nick’s smile faltered. “Yeah. I need to go and deal with that right now.” He moved out of Maddie’s bedroom, casting one last longing look in the direction of her bed, and then stepped into the hallway. “Tomorrow, you and I are going to have a talk, too.”

  Maddie stilled. “About what?”

  “Something fun,” Nick said. “I promise.”

  Maddie followed him downstairs and into the kitchen, pulling up short when she caught sight of Maude cleaning up spilled iced tea. “What happened?”

  “Where’s Cassidy?” Nick asked.

  “She ran out,” Maude said.

  “Why?” Maddie pressed.

  “We were just talking about a few things,” Maude hedged.

  “Like what?”

  “About the future of her relationship with Nick,” Maude admitted.

  Maddie was mortified. “Granny! That’s none of your business.”

  “Where did she go?” Nick asked.

  “She ran out,” Maude said. “I think … I think she knew you were going to have a serious talk on the way home, and she didn’t want to deal with it.”

  Nick raised his eyebrows. “You mean she left left?”

  “I think so,” Maude.

  “Well … crap,” Nick said, rubbing the back of his neck. “What is she going to do? Does she think hiding is going to change something?”

  “You’ll have to ask her,” Maude said.

  “This is just unbelievable,” Nick grumbled. “I can’t catch a break.”

  “Or a break up,” Maddie said, her tone dry.

  Despite himself, Nick barked out a hoarse laugh. “Good grief. It never ends.”

  Seven

  Nick took a chance when he left Maddie’s house, following the route Cassidy would have walked if she wanted to return home. He didn’t see her, and when he pulled into her driveway, the small ranch was dark.

  Nick considered his options: He could wait here until she returned, or he could leave and gather his strength to fight another day. He opted to wait. He was sick of playing games.

  Cassidy didn’t have a lot of options. She had friends in town, but she was still an outsider. Blackstone Bay was an insulated community. People were friendly to newcomers, but you didn’t really belong unless you were born here.

  Where would she go? For all Nick knew, she was already home and hiding in the dark. That was a disheartening thought. Would she really go that far? Nick wanted to end things, and he wanted to end them now.

  He was emotionally overwrought, and it wasn’t just because Cassidy was about to get her heart broken. He was tired of putting his own happiness on the backburner. When Maddie had first returned to town, he’d realized immediately he was still in love with her. The mere sight of her heart-shaped face had nearly undid him. They had things to work out, though, and when Maddie finally admitted the big secret to him, he’d been relieved. He could deal with psychic visions and ghosts. He could not deal with losing her. Not again.

  At first he’d held off on breaking up with Cassidy because he knew the town harpies would blame Maddie. He was hoping, with a little time, the onus of his decision would shift from her slight shoulders and land where it belonged – on him. The longer he waited, though, the harder things got.

  He’d already been disassociating himself from Cassidy when Maddie returned to town. Cassidy may have convinced herself otherwise, but it was the truth. He’d been laying the groundwork for the big goodbye when Maddie’s timid hello had practically knocked him on his ass. At first, he kept Cassidy in play because he didn’t want an open door to Maddie. Now, all he wanted was to close the door and lock himself in a room with Maddie.

  He was ready to claim the woman he loved. He just had to crush another woman to do it. It wasn’t lost on Nick that he was treating Cassidy abysmally. He felt shame for it. He also felt anger that she purposely kept trying to wedge herself between him and the one thing in this world he’d always loved without reserve, or question. That anger was quickly turning into resentment. Part of Nick blamed Cassidy because he wasn’t back in Maddie’s room with her right now.

  In his head, he knew Cassidy wasn’t to blame for any of this. In his heart, he knew he needed Maddie. That’s all he needed. Everything else would come in time. He needed to tell Maddie how he felt and li
sten when she told him how she felt. He could be getting ahead of himself, he internally cautioned his excited heart. There was every possibility that Maddie didn’t feel the same way about him.

  He didn’t believe that, though. Some things are destiny, and Maddie Graves was Nick’s destiny. He had always believed that, and he still did.

  After two hours had passed, Nick fired up the engine of his truck and pulled out of Cassidy’s driveway. As long as he was sitting there, Cassidy wasn’t going to come home. He didn’t know how he knew that. He just did.

  Tomorrow was a new day. He would figure out what to do then. Had Nick been paying closer attention when his headlights flashed on the front of Cassidy’s house, he would have noticed a shaking figure as it stood in front of the glass and peered outside. He didn’t, though, and Cassidy had earned another reprieve.

  For now.

  MADDIE’S dreams were sweaty that night, just not in the way Nick had insinuated earlier in the evening. After an hour of letting the air conditioner work its magic, and a stern lecture to Maude about butting into other people’s business, Maddie passed out in a puddle of sheer exhaustion.

  Being around Nick was draining. Wanting to touch him, and constantly fighting those urges, made her mind as tired as her body. She was ready for Nick to be free, even if it meant they wouldn’t be together.

  Nick had been acting differently toward her for weeks. He’d always been attentive, but now it was as if they were in sync. He would reach for her, but she’d already be reaching for him so they’d meet halfway. Once there were no secrets between them, it was as if Nick wanted to eliminate all of the space between them, too.

  His presence was enough to steal the oxygen from her lungs.

  Even if they couldn’t be together, Maddie wanted the option of exploration. She needed to know if they truly were meant for each other, because she could never move on otherwise.

  Maddie expected to slip into a naughty dream about Nick, cool lake water and feverish skin colliding in her subconscious mind. Instead, she got something else. Something terrifying. At first Maddie thought she was the center of the dream. She knew she was in danger, the darkened Blackstone Bay streets closing in on her as she scampered toward safety.

  Maddie allowed herself to relax into the vision. She had no idea where safety was, or why she was heading in this direction. Since Maddie had found herself a visitor in the nightmares of others before – an unwilling participant in scenes from their future – it didn’t take her long to adjust to what she was seeing.

  This wasn’t her dream. This wasn’t even Tara Warner’s dream. No, this was Tara Warner’s future, and she needed to pay attention.

  The night was hot and sweaty, the heat so oppressive Maddie could feel the perspiration trickling down the back of her neck. It was late, and a quick glance at the moon told her the sun had set hours before. Why would Tara be out this late alone?

  The echoing sound of footsteps on the pavement behind her caused Maddie to swivel, her eyes searching the street behind her but coming up empty. Someone was there. She couldn’t see who, but she could … feel … someone.

  “Who’s there?”

  Nothing.

  “I know you’re there. Come out so I can see you.” Maddie had never been able to control a vision. That didn’t stop her from trying every time she got the chance. “I just want to see you. You don’t have to talk if you don’t want to.”

  Silence.

  “I … .” Maddie broke off. She could hear breathing, and it was much closer than it should be. A hand reached out in the darkness. Maddie could see it in her mind, even though her dream-vision eyes were blind. Maddie jerked away, stumbling and then … .

  Maddie bolted upright in her bed, her breath coming out in rapid gasps as her heart hammered.

  The morning light was filtering through her shaded windows, and as the dream subsided into memory, Maddie fought to anchor herself to reality. What did she know? The moon. It had been full. When was the next full moon?

  She grabbed her cellphone off of her nightstand and pulled up the calendar, paging forward to see that the full moon was still a few days away. Of course, just because the moon looked full in the dream, that didn’t mean it was an actual full moon. The time frame could easily encompass the days leading up to the full moon, and the days after. She just didn’t know.

  Maddie tossed the covers off of her and climbed out of bed. When she opened the door to the hallway, a wall of heat hit her. Air conditioning had already spoiled her. She’d forgotten how hot the rest of the house was. “Ugh.”

  Instead of heading straight downstairs for breakfast, where she was sure a cantankerous Maude was waiting, Maddie detoured into the bathroom. She needed a lukewarm shower and twenty minutes to think. There had to be hints in the vision. She just needed time to absorb them.

  “THE WORLD is coming to an end!”

  Maddie raised an eyebrow in her grandmother’s direction as she walked into the kitchen about a forty-five minutes later. “Zombie apocalypse?”

  “What?” Maude wasn’t alone. Her longtime friend, Irma Kingston, was sitting at the table, and the two women had their heads bent together as they studied a sheet of paper.

  “You said the world was coming to an end,” Maddie said dryly, considering the coffee pot for a moment before moving over to the refrigerator and snagging a bottle of water. “I was just wondering if the zombie apocalypse was finally here.”

  “Your sense of humor rears up at the oddest of times,” Maude said, wrinkling her nose.

  “So I’ve been told,” Maddie said. “Irma, it’s nice to see you.”

  Irma didn’t bother looking up from the sheet of paper. “I’m glad you came home. It’s about time.”

  Sometimes Maddie thought Irma and Maude shared a personality. When they were in the same room, that personality was amplified times ten. “I agree,” Maddie said, pasting a smile on her face. “Do you two want breakfast?”

  “We don’t have time to eat,” Maude said. “Didn’t you hear me? The world is coming to an end.”

  Maddie rolled her eyes. “Okay. I’m all ears. What’s wrong now?”

  “Brace yourself.”

  Maddie made a face. “I’m braced.”

  “Edna Proctor wants to be a Pink Lady.”

  Maddie was confused. She knew who Edna Proctor was. In addition to being Maude’s lifelong nemesis – there was even a rumor about Edna trying to seduce Maddie’s late grandfather – Edna was also Marla Proctor’s grandmother. “Is that a euphemism for something?”

  “Of course not,” Maude said, irked. “She wants to be a Pink Lady.”

  “I don’t understand what that means,” Maddie admitted.

  “It means that she’s applied for membership to our group.”

  Maddie searched her memory. “Oh, you mean the Red Hat Society? I thought that was the name of your group.”

  “We changed it five years ago,” Maude snapped. “Keep up.”

  “I’m sorry.” Maddie held her hands up in mock surrender. “What’s it called now?”

  “The Pink Lady Society.”

  “Ah. Fun. Why did you change the name?”

  “Because we found out that there was another Red Hat Society,” Maude said. “Did you know that?”

  Maddie smirked. “I might have heard something about it.”

  “Well, we didn’t know,” Maude said. “Do you know what those women do?”

  “I think they wear red hats and purple dresses … and drink tea. Is that right?”

  “Yeah. Tea.” Maude’s voice was positively dripping with disdain.

  Maddie waited.

  “Tea!”

  “What’s wrong with that? You like tea.”

  “I do,” Maude said. “I also like bourbon in it. It seems the proper Red Hat Society ladies frown on putting bourbon in your tea. They threatened to go after us if we didn’t change our name. Have you ever heard anything so ridiculous?”

  Maddie swallowed the
mad urge to laugh. “I guess not. So, now you’re a Pink Lady? That sounds fun.”

  “It was until Edna Proctor petitioned our board for membership.”

  “You have a board?”

  “Of course we have a board,” Maude said. “We’re a very important group.”

  “So, just vote against her,” Maddie suggested.

  “Oh, I hadn’t thought of that,” Maude said, angry.

  “There’s no reason to be sarcastic,” Maddie chided.

  “I’m sorry,” Maude replied primly. “You just don’t understand the ramifications if Edna becomes a Pink Lady.”

  “Zombie apocalypse?” Maddie was starting to enjoy herself.

  “Don’t you have somewhere to be?” Maude asked wearily.

  As a matter of fact, she did. “Okay. I’m going. Be good you two. If you get arrested, I won’t be able to bail you out until this afternoon.”

  “That’s fine,” Maude said. “It’s Thursday. They have turkey in the jail on Thursdays.”

  Maddie didn’t want to know how her grandmother knew that. “Just … be good.”

  Eight

  Tara Warner’s pretty features were welcoming when the bell over the flower shop door jangled. When she saw Maddie standing there, though, her smile started to slip.

  “Ms. Graves, what a surprise.”

  “Call me Maddie.”

  “Maddie.” Tara’s face was conflicted. “I … do you need some flowers?”

  Maddie internally chastised herself for not coming up with a suitable lie before entering the store. “Yes. I’m looking for something for my grandmother. I think she’s about to have a bad day.” That wasn’t a total lie. If Maude was to be believed, the world was coming to an end. That constituted a bad day in anyone’s book.

  “Maude? What’s wrong now?” Tara visibly relaxed at Maddie’s admission.

  “I don’t know. Irma Kingston is over at the house and they claim the world is going to end because Edna Proctor wants to be a Pink Lady.”

  Tara snickered. “That sounds just about right. What kind of flowers does Maude like?”