by B. J Daniels
Lacey was not completely forgotten though. But this two-day wedding retreat had come along at the perfect time. Charlie was sure Shep was feeling it as well. A sense of freedom. Not to mention the exhilaration and buoyancy of being in love. She’d forgotten what that felt like and realized with a start that she hadn’t felt it with Daniel. She’d been happy to have a boyfriend, but they’d never shared this kind of intimacy—let alone love.
She was going to enjoy it. As long as it lasted. Where did that come from?
They stopped at a small café in the Gallatin Canyon and had a late breakfast with a view of the river flowing under a thick sheet of ice. As they drove toward Big Sky, the snow grew deeper. It was clumped on the pines, piled in the parking lot, drifting beside the road. The temperature seemed to drop the closer they got to the ski hill. Ice crystals hung in the air, glittering in the sunlight.
“Beautiful,” she said determined to embrace winter and this weekend.
“Yes, isn’t she,” Shep said and grinned when she turned to mug a face at him. “You are beautiful, Charlie. Inside and out.”
“You’re embarrassing me.”
He laughed. “I know for a fact that it takes more than that to embarrass you.”
She narrowed her eyes at him. “You’re enjoying this.”
“Being here with you? You’d better believe it.”
“No, I mean this wedding weekend. When I told you about it, I thought you wouldn’t want to go.”
“You knew I was sticking to you until all of this Lindy/Lacey trouble is over. No way I wasn’t coming with you. Anyway, I like weddings.”
She gave him a side-eye. “I’ve never met a man who liked weddings except for the open bar.”
“You have now.” He drove for a moment without looking at her. “I’ve thought about the kind of wedding I’d like to have.”
Charlie raised a brow as her heart took off at a gallop. “Seriously? I can’t wait to hear.”
He relaxed behind the wheel as if in thought. “Well, you’re going to have to wait because I only share that kind of information with the woman I’m going to marry.”
She felt herself flush. “I’m never sure what to believe with you.”
“Believe that this time,” he said, looking over at her, “I’m not letting you go.”
Charlie’s gaze locked with his for a moment. She felt such love that it brought tears to her eyes. Her heart drummed in her chest as a pleasurable warmth rushed along her veins. He had no idea how badly she wanted to believe that they were going to get a second chance.
* * *
AMANDA CAME RUNNING out of the hotel as they drove up—beating even the valet to Shep’s pickup, almost before he’d come to a stop. “Come on. You’re late. We have so much to go over.”
Charlie turned as if to say something to Shep but Amanda cut her off. “She’ll see you later. We have a lot of do and the day is more than half over.” She shoved a sheet of paper at him. “There are all the times and places where you need to be.” She practically dragged Charlie out of the truck.
“Your keys, sir?” the valet said and Shep handed them over. Getting out, he retrieved Charlie’s bag and his own and let the valet drive away before he walked through the hotel entrance.
Inside, he took a moment to look around...and realized he was looking for Lacey. He’d told himself that she couldn’t know about the wedding, that this weekend he didn’t have to worry, but he still did. Until she was caught, he would keep worrying.
His cell phone rang as he reached the reception desk. He saw it was Paul Wagner and stepped away to take the call. “Mr. Wagner.”
“Call me Paul,” the elderly man said. “After you left, I got to thinking. I was so sure my boys didn’t know those girls. Did you have a chance to talk to my stepsons?” Before Shep could answer, Wagner went on, “I found something. It’s a photograph from a box the boys left behind when they moved out. Figured I could store it better than them, I guess.” He grumbled under his breath for a moment. “Anyway, I’m sure it doesn’t mean anything. But it appears my boys knew one of them well enough to have their pictures taken with her. If you’d like to swing by.”
“I’m out of town. But are you telling me your stepsons knew Charlie or Lindy?”
“Not Charlie. At least she’s not in the photo. But I’m holding a picture of two of my stepsons posed in a photo with the blonde between them. They’re both grinning like they just scored a six-pack of Bud. I would imagine a friend took the photo. I can’t imagine the oldest, Allen, being involved in any tomfoolery. Like I said, I don’t think it means anything. But it might jar their memories, not that they probably can help much.”
Shep felt a small jolt. He hadn’t tried to call two of the stepsons back and they hadn’t returned his calls. He’d been thinking that once they found Lacey, they would have their killer. Now here was Paul Wagner giving him more suspects. Possibly. Just because the stepsons were photographed with Lindy, that didn’t mean one of them had anything to do with her death. The photo could have been a one-off.
Still... “Is there any way you could text me the photo?”
Wagner’s laugh was high and shrill. “Text? I might be able to take a photo of the snapshot and email it. I’ll give that a try. If I fail, maybe I could get my neighbor to help. She’s much more techie than I am.”
“Thanks. I appreciate it.” He gave Wagner his email address, disconnected and walked back over to the registration desk to check in. As he got his key, leaving Charlie’s for her at the desk in case he missed catching up to her, he wondered where she was right now. Heading for the elevator, he thought he’d drop off the bags and find her.
He couldn’t shake the bad feeling he’d had since Wagner’s call. What if Lindy’s killer wasn’t Lacey? What if it was someone that Shep wouldn’t even recognize if he passed him in the hotel hallway—and neither would Charlie?
More than ever he wanted to see the photograph of the man’s stepsons and Lindy.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
“I’M SURE it’s just cold feet,” Charlie said not for the first time as she poured them each a glass of wine. She’d spent several hours trying on the dresses Amanda had brought for her to wear as maid of honor. Finally, Amanda had approved of a little navy one that Charlie actually liked. It was Amanda’s gift to her.
Charlie really didn’t want to take any gifts from her, but she wasn’t up to arguing. Amanda seemed high-strung and nervous enough as Charlie watched her pace the anteroom outside where the rehearsal and wedding would take place.
“That’s all it is,” Amanda agreed. “Cold feet. I mean, I want to spend my life with Greg. He’s a good man. He wants to help me start my own business. He’s solid, you know?”
“Right, solid,” Charlie said, handing her a glass of wine. “Today’s just the rehearsal. Easy peasy.”
Amanda took the wineglass and stopped pacing for a moment. “Have you ever been married?”
“No,” Charlie had to admit. She’d never even come close. She thought of Daniel. Even if he had bought her a ring for Christmas, she wouldn’t have married him. She realized after being with Shep that she’d subconsciously measured every man she met by him and they’d all fallen short. Not that there had been that many.
“Greg’s a great guy,” Amanda was saying. “He takes good care of me. He wants me to be happy.” Her voice broke. “I know you think I’m awful but I do love him and he loves me. Did I tell you where we’re going on our honeymoon? Bora-Bora. We’re going to stay in one of those little huts on the water. We’ll even have our own private pool where we can skinny-dip. Naked.”
She was familiar with skinny-dipping, Charlie thought. A sudden memory of a teenage Shep, his tanned, lean young body glistening with water droplets, filled her mind. She’d seen that improved body in the shower again this morning.
Amanda cleared her throat.
“Not that I haven’t skinny-dipped before.”
Charlie definitely didn’t want to hear about that. “So it’s all good,” she said and poured herself another glass of wine. It was way too early to start drinking, but she needed fortification. Amanda had insisted she try on a half dozen dresses earlier.
“I let Greg hire the photographer. I hope he’s good. There will be photos of you and me. That’s why I wanted your dress to complement mine. I don’t care what Tara wears. There probably won’t be many photos of her anyway. But I definitely want good ones of Greg and the best man.”
“Who is the best man?” Charlie asked, not that it really mattered. She felt guilty for not having more interest as the maid of honor—just as she did for mentally counting down the hours until Greg and Amanda were married and on their honeymoon.
“Royce Braden,” Amanda said, watching Charlie for a reaction.
It didn’t take but an instant. Charlie choked on her wine. “Amanda, tell me Royce isn’t...” She saw the answer in the woman’s face and swore under her breath.
“You said you didn’t hear my conversation,” Amanda cried, going on the attack.
Holding up a hand to stop her, Charlie lowered her voice. “You have been having an affair with the best man?”
“He isn’t the best man yet.”
“What is his relationship to Greg?” Charlie demanded.
Amanda had the good grace to look uncomfortable. “His best friend.”
Charlie swore again, wishing she’d said a flat no to this. She could have even just not given a reason when Amanda had asked her to be maid of honor. Just said no, hell no.
Speaking slowly and clearly, Charlie said, “You expect me to stand up there with you and Greg and your lover while you say your vows?”
“I made a mistake, all right?”
“Yes, asking me to be your maid of honor was definitely a mistake.”
“No!” Amanda cried. “Getting involved with Royce was a huge mistake. I’m sorry. I broke it off. I swear. It will never happen again.” She grabbed Charlie’s free arm. “Don’t abandon me. What would I tell Greg? He thinks so much of you.”
Charlie groaned inwardly. She thought she might throw up.
“Please,” Amanda begged. “Haven’t you ever made a mistake, one you regretted your whole life?”
Charlie felt herself weaken as she thought of a locked door and a screaming stepsister on the other side. As she freed her arm from Amanda’s talon-like grip, she also thought about walking away from Shep all those years ago. Then she thought of agreeing to be this woman’s maid of honor.
“Yes, I’ve made my share of mistakes,” she admitted reluctantly. “But Amanda—”
“I promise that I’m going to make Greg a good wife,” Amanda said, all smiles.
“You sent me a dead mouse.”
She flinched. “I shouldn’t have done that either. I was upset.”
“Were you also upset when you put eye drops in Greg’s and my chocolate mousse that made us deathly sick?”
”I regret doing that as well. I borrowed Greg’s eye drops from his suit pocket when he went to talk to those other people. I was upset and jealous at lunch that day and I’d had too much to drink.”
“Not an excuse,” Charlie snapped. It was all she could do not to walk out of here and not look back. But she remembered Tara was involved in this wedding now. She couldn’t abandon her. She’d go through with the wedding but then that was it.
“Please don’t back out on me. I’ll beg. Is that what you want?”
“No.” Charlie didn’t want begging. Still the words were hard to say. “I won’t back out.” Only because she was trapped.
“Thank you so much.” Amanda threw her arms around her, hugging her so tightly Charlie couldn’t breathe.
She wiggled free and gulped down the rest of her wine. “But after this...”
“I won’t give you any more trouble. Did you forget? I’m quitting as office manager and starting my own business at home. Maybe the next office manager will like you better.”
Charlie shook her head as she put down her empty wineglass and excused herself, saying over her shoulder, “I’ll see you at the rehearsal.”
SHEP DROPPED THEIR bags off in their room. He had no idea what would happen next with him and Charlie. They couldn’t move forward until Lacey was found and stopped from whatever she had planned. The odds that Lacey had killed her sister in a fit of jealousy were still good. He couldn’t bear the thought that they might never know for certain who the killer was. He wasn’t sure Charlie could live with that uncertainty.
He was trying to find her when he walked by the lounge. A breaking news alert on the television behind the bar caught his attention. He stopped cold as he recognized the face even before he saw the name on the screen.
Jason Harper?
Hurriedly stepping into the bar, he pointed at the television and asked, “Can you turn that up?” The anchor was talking about a hit-and-run accident in Bozeman that took the life of an employee at a local gaming company.
“You know the guy?” the bartender asked.
Shep nodded. According to the story, the police were looking into the accident. Area surveillance cameras had caught a dark SUV plowing into Harper when he came out of a local business and was crossing the street to his vehicle. The SUV was later found abandoned. Police say it had been stolen earlier that day from a south side residence. The news program cut to another story.
“Bummer,” the bartender said, shaking his head. “What are the chances someone stole a car and accidently ran this guy over? Probably some kids out for a joyride.”
Shep wasn’t buying that the driver of that car had been some kid on a joyride. Especially considering that the dead man was Daniel’s roommate and had been privately investigating Lindy Parker’s murder.
He pulled out his phone as he stepped away from the bar. It took a few minutes before Daniel came on the line. Shep introduced himself quickly as a friend of Jason’s from Billings. He wasn’t sure the ruse would work, but he didn’t think Jason and Daniel had been so close that they knew all of each others friends. “I just heard the news.”
“Everyone here is in shock. It’s his day off. He said he had some things to do... I still can’t believe it.”
“This is way off in left field, but Jason told me he was looking into some old murder case involving a girl in Bozeman fifteen years ago. You don’t think...”
“Whoa,” Daniel said. “I hadn’t even thought of that. I just heard he’d done that. Have you met his girlfriend? I think she’s the one who put him up to it.”
“His girlfriend? He did mention a blonde.”
“Yeah, that’s her. Jason told me she was freaky, freaky scary. She was obsessed with death.”
Lacey? “What was her name?”
“I never met her so I don’t know her name and he never mentioned it. I saw her once waiting for him outside of work. A nice-looking blonde.”
“I might mention her to the cops,” Shep said. “Or maybe you already have?”
“You’re right. I should.”
Shep quickly got off the line, more determined than ever to find Charlie. He’d thought they were safe here in Big Sky. But he recalled how Lacey had found Charlie at the baby shower. It could have been even easier for her to find out about the wedding and already be on the mountain—after killing Jason Harper.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
ESCAPING AMANDA, Charlie hurried down to the reception desk to get her key. Back upstairs, she’d barely walked into her room when there was a knock at the door. Shep? She was already smiling as she opened the door. She needed a friendly face and someone who could commiserate.
Her smile dissolved as she was startled to see who was standing there. “Greg, what are you doing here?” In her surprise, the words were out before
she could call them back.
“I need to talk to you.”
“Now is not a good time,” she said quickly but he was already coming into the room. She stood, still holding the door open, as she watched him walk to the window and look out, his back to her. “I’m meeting a friend downstairs. I’m already late.”
“This won’t take long,” Greg said as he turned to look at her. “Can you please close the door? I’d prefer this not be overheard. It won’t take long, I promise.”
She didn’t want to close the door, but more than that, she didn’t think she wanted to hear what he had to tell her. He looked so serious. Just like at the bar the other day. But it was clear that he wasn’t leaving until he had his say.
Slowly she closed the door, but didn’t move away from it. “What is this about, Greg?” she asked, her throat tight. She worried that she already knew. But if the wedding was canceled, that meant they would get to leave, so maybe it was better to just rip off the bandage and end this quick, right?
“I tried to tell you the other day in the bar.” He looked nervous, his gaze flicking around the room as he took a few steps toward her. “There was this other woman—”
“Shouldn’t you be telling this to Amanda?” Charlie interrupted. Why was he determined to tell her any of this?
He shook his head. “This doesn’t have anything to do with her.”
“But you’re getting married tomorrow. I was with her earlier. She’s so excited. She can’t wait to be your wife. She was telling me that she’s going to be a really good wife to you.” She knew she was babbling but he was making her so nervous, she couldn’t help herself. She didn’t want to hear that he wasn’t going to marry Amanda, she realized.
“I met this other woman years ago,” he continued as if she hadn’t interrupted him. “Do you remember your first love?”
She nodded, thinking of Shep, wishing for him right now.