“Heck, there’s some woman from Blackstone Bay who barely dated my brother and she’s been on every news show that will have her,” he continued. “She tells a harrowing story of survival even though her life was never in danger.”
“Ah, yes, Marla.” Nick made a face. “She likes attention. She can’t seem to help herself.”
“I can imagine.” Edgar shifted from one foot to the other as he licked his lips and glanced back at the children. “I should probably tell you that I stopped at the county jail to see Michael. Er, I mean Steven. He’s adamant that we call him Steven.”
“That’s because he’s a psycho loser who thinks only about himself,” Maddie groused.
Priscilla’s expression turned dour. “If you think I’m going to be offended by that, I’m not. I have no illusions regarding Michael. Once he met his father and started to change, I realized exactly what he was turning into. I’m not proud.”
“I don’t think anyone could be proud of what Steven did,” Edgar said gently.
“I’m not sorry for trying to protect Angel either,” Priscilla added. “I’ve already told your boyfriend, but I think I owe you an explanation, too. I thought if Angel was safe with the state there was no way Michael could get to her. I thought they would move her to a new home and he would never be able to find her. However hard it was – and you’ll never know how terrible I felt – I thought I was doing right by her.”
Maddie had pretty much figured out that portion of the story herself. What she hadn’t figured out was the bigger picture. “And Carrie? You had to at least suspect that Steven killed her. Who were you protecting by keeping that information to yourself?”
“Not Michael,” Priscilla replied without hesitation. “When Carrie first went missing I was confused. I thought maybe she found a new place to live and was figuring things out. It was only after two days that Mildred and I realized something bad happened to her. Then we were in a real pickle, though.”
“I knew you and Mildred were probably working together,” Maddie muttered. “There was no way it all made sense unless you were a team.”
“Yes, well, you’re smart.” Priscilla’s smile was small and didn’t make it all the way to her eyes. “When Carrie disappeared we figured we knew what happened but had no proof. We didn’t know what to do. We were making arrangements to move Angel out of Mildred’s house when the fire broke out.”
“You mean when Steven set the fire,” Maddie corrected. “I still don’t understand why he would do that knowing Angel was in the house.”
“He didn’t know. Mildred put a lock on Angel’s door that was outside the room so she could pretend it was a storeroom should Michael somehow find his way inside. Actually, before we moved Angel in it was a storeroom.
“That situation was only supposed to be temporary,” Priscilla continued. “You have to understand. We thought it would take a few days to get settled. It’s not as easy to hide someone as it used to be.”
Despite her anger, Maddie couldn’t help feeling sorry for Priscilla. The situation was hard on everybody. Steven was a monster of epic proportions, but Priscilla tried to do right by her granddaughter. That was the most important thing.
“I’m not blaming you,” Maddie said finally. “I understand how difficult things were and how you were struggling. Carrie would still be alive, though, if you’d gone to the police.”
“I understand that. Back in my day, though, Steven Sr. was friends with the men on the police force. They knew what was happening – there were only two of them, mind you – and did nothing to stop it. They looked past me and remained friends with my husband. I didn’t think I could trust them.”
“I hope you feel differently now,” Nick prodded. “If you’d told us what was happening from the beginning we could’ve ended this a lot quicker – and without as much bloodshed. We got lucky that the officer stationed at the children’s home is going to be okay. Things could’ve gone much worse, though.”
“I understand that.” Priscilla smoothed the front of her blazer. “I can’t apologize enough. I’m sorry for what Michael did.”
Maddie believed her. “What are you going to do about Angel?”
“That’s actually why we’re here,” Edgar said. “My wife and I have an empty house. All of our kids are grown and gone. We’ve been in contact with the state, talking about Angel’s specific needs for the hearing and speech problems, and we’ve already got classes and out-patient care set up for her.”
Maddie wasn’t certain she understood what the man was saying. “You’re taking her?”
Edgar bobbed his head. “We are. My mother wanted to do it but, due to age, we feel our home is the better fit. Mom will be able to visit regularly but my wife and I are better suited to keep Angel on the schedule she needs.”
“So, she’s moving to Bellaire?” Maddie tapped on her bottom lip as she considered the development. “That’s not far away from Blackstone Bay.”
Priscilla smirked as she exchanged a quick look with Nick. “Yes, well, I’ve been informed you’ll want to visit on a regular basis, too. This is a convenient move for that, wouldn’t you say?”
Even though part of her wanted to hold onto the anger she’d been hoarding like gold, Maddie knew it was a waste of time. “So, you’re really taking her?” Despite herself, she could see endless possibilities in front of Angel. “You’re going to get her the help she needs and a nice home?”
“More than that, we’re going to love her,” Edgar promised. “I didn’t get a chance to know her mother well because of everything going on. I saw her a few times, but Steven was always odd. He was better in youth, although that sweetness he had as a child faded away.
“I’m going to make sure that Angel doesn’t lose her sweetness,” he continued. “I’m going to give her the best life I can. I owe her mother for it.”
“We both owe her mother,” Priscilla corrected. “We’re going to do our very best by her.”
Maddie chewed her bottom lip as she flicked her eyes to Nick. “You knew about this and didn’t tell me?”
Nick shrugged. “I found out that everything was coming together this morning. It’s not as if I hid it from you for a long time. I thought you would enjoy the surprise.”
Maddie’s lips curved up. “It’s definitely a surprise.”
“A good surprise?”
“Yes.” Maddie bobbed her head and turned to stare at Angel. The girl was trying to act calm and disengaged, but it was obvious she recognized Priscilla. There was interest carved on her face … and hope. “I think this is the best way to spend a weekend day ever.”
Nick chuckled as he slid an arm around her shoulders and kissed her forehead. “I think you’re right. There’s nothing better than a picnic.”
“Definitely.” Maddie briefly shut her eyes. “Now, I think I smell hot dogs. Who’s up for some food and then a nice get-to-know-you session?”
Priscilla was clearly tickled with Maddie’s determination to take over the meet and greet. “That sounds like a nice way to start the spring.”
“Absolutely,” Nick agreed. “Let’s get to it, shall we?”
It wasn’t a perfect ending, but it was a wonderful start, Maddie mused as they crossed the lawn. No one could ask for more than that.
Grave Demands
A Maddie Graves Mystery Book Fourteen
One
Maddie Graves surveyed the overstuffed boxes sitting on the floor in what was once her magic store and would soon be a standard living room and dusted her hands on the seat of her pants before wiping her brow.
The decision to say goodbye to the magic store hadn’t been an easy one, but she knew in her heart it was right. Still, a current of unease ran through her belly when she realized the room looked nothing like her mother left it.
“What are you doing, Maddie?”
George Hunter, Maddie’s father, shuffled in from the kitchen. He had two glasses of iced tea gripped in his hands and he looked momentarily worried
when he saw the weary look on his daughter’s face.
“Just thinking.” Maddie mustered a smile as she accepted the beverage and held the sweating glass to her forehead before taking a sip. “Is it just me, or is it getting really hot?”
“It’s a little stuffy,” George conceded, returning to the stack of boxes he’d been toiling over. He wasn’t interested in complaining. The fact that Maddie wanted him to help — even if it was a boring and menial task — was enough to keep him moving for another few hours … despite the fact that he sometimes wondered if they were sitting inside a heating oven. “Have you considered getting central air in this place? I know it would probably be expensive to run given the house’s size, but it would also be a godsend on days like today.”
Maddie’s smile was rueful. “The house is old. Nick says we would need a complete electrical overhaul to do it. We’re not ruling it out — Nick wants to upgrade the electrical regardless — but it’s not happening this year.”
“No, I guess not.” George leaned back and focused on his only child. He wasn’t always in her life. In fact, he’d spent the bulk of her life hiding because he made the wrong choice when her mother Olivia announced she was pregnant. He walked away, and would forever regret that decision. The one thing he cared about above all else was making amends. “Still, you need to get some air circulating in here.”
“We have window units,” Maddie supplied. “They’re heavy, though. Nick has them stored in the basement. We plan to get them out this weekend ... although it might be sooner if this heat keeps up.”
George did the math in his head. The old Victorian home would require a lot of window units to make a dent in the oppressive heat. “How many window units are we talking?”
“Living room, Granny’s apartment in the garage, our bedroom, kitchen, the office we’re sharing.” She ticked them off on her fingers. “It’s a pain, but sometimes it’s the only relief we get during the summer.”
“I can put them in.” George made the offer even though he wasn’t keen on the idea of lifting that many units himself. Still, she was his daughter. He would do whatever it took to make her feel comfortable.
“That’s thoughtful, but I’m not even sure where he stored the units. I don’t like going into the basement. The temperature is much more manageable down there, but it’s one of those older Michigan basements.”
“Which means it’s dark and dank,” George surmised. “Maybe some spiders and other bugs?”
“In a nutshell. Nick can get the units, and once they’re on the main floor I’ll help install them. We did it last year ... although, now that I think about it, we weren’t technically together when we were installing the units last year.”
George arched an eyebrow, amused at the whimsical expression on her face. “That seems weird to me. Seeing you guys together now, one would think you’d been together forever.”
“Maybe in some ways,” she conceded. “In others, though ... .” She trailed off before shaking her head. “It doesn’t matter. We’re together now. We got together a few days after he helped install the air conditioners, in a weird twist of fate.”
“Ah.” George nodded knowingly. “You’re saying that putting the air conditioners in the windows is something of a bonding exercise, huh?” His eyes twinkled as Maddie’s cheeks flushed. “You’ve got a sentimental streak, Maddie. It’s nothing to be ashamed of. Your mother had it, too.”
Speaking of her mother, Maddie straightened her shoulders as she turned her full attention back to the shop. “She worked hard on this place, and I’m tearing it apart. She says she’s fine with it but ... I’m not sure that’s true.” Her expressive blue eyes filled with worry, Maddie glanced around the store to see if she could catch a glimpse of her mother’s ghost. “She’s been scarce for the past two weeks. It makes me nervous.”
George eyed her with overt interest. He was well aware that Maddie had certain abilities — a flash of psychic power coupled with the ability to see and talk to ghosts — but she didn’t often talk about what she could do unless she was knee-deep in a case. She’d taken to helping the police with investigations more than focusing on the store, which was one of the reasons she’d decided to close it.
“I’m sure your mother is okay with your decision, Maddie,” he started. “It’s your house now. It’s your life. Even though your mother and I didn’t end on the best of terms, that doesn’t mean I don’t recognize the fact that she would want the absolute best for you. This shop is no longer what’s best for you.”
“You sound like Granny.”
George made a face. Maddie’s “granny,” Maude Graves, wasn’t exactly his favorite person in the world. They had something of a tempestuous relationship. “There’s no need to get nasty,” he teased. “I was being serious.”
“I was, too.” Maddie’s eyes flashed with mirth. “Granny says that Mom is fine with this, although Mom and I have only spent five minutes talking about it. She seemed fine when I told her, even laughing because I was worried she would be upset. I haven’t seen her since, though.”
George wasn’t sure how to respond. He wasn’t magical, which meant understanding her abilities was often a chore. He was determined to do it for her benefit, but he was out of his league when it came to giving advice about how to handle a ghost ... even if it was one he was married to for a brief time. “Have you talked to Nick about this?”
Maddie pursed her lips and shrugged as she smoothed her loose bun, tucking a few stray tendrils of blond hair back into the tie as she debated how to answer. “Nick was worried about me closing the store from the start, even though he thought it was a good idea.”
“Why was he worried?”
“Because it’s a whole thing.” Maddie felt strange dumping this on her father, but she needed someone to talk to. Her best friend Christy had other problems — pregnant problems — and her grandmother was caught up in her ongoing quest to make her arch nemesis Harriet Proctor cry. Since Nick was at the center of her emotions, she couldn’t talk to him, and her mother’s ghost was AWOL. That essentially left George. “He was excited at the prospect of reclaiming the living room because it’s inconvenient to have part of the house open to the public.”
“I can see that.” George was calm as he rested his hands on his knees. “You guys will have kids eventually. An open-door policy on a house full of kids is probably a scary prospect.”
“Yeah. I get that. It’s not like when I was a kid. Mom had the store back then, and Nick and I were always in and out — mostly out because we were playing in the woods behind the house — but we always came and went without Mom making much of a fuss about it. She built the window seat for us so we could read in the store while she worked. It’s not like that today, though. There are more things to worry about and letting kids wander while I work in the house seems dangerous.”
“I think the same worries were out there when you were a kid,” George countered. “People simply didn’t talk about it as much. The news cycles were different, so you didn’t hear about all the horrible things that could happen to children. I don’t think the world has changed as much as people like to pretend.”
“Yeah, well ... .” Maddie scratched an invisible itch on the side of her nose. “Anyway, when I first came back last year, all I could think about was running the store because it was Mom’s legacy. Somehow, throughout the months, that fell by the wayside.”
George was understandably sympathetic. “If you don’t mind me asking, what are you going to do for money?”
“I make very little from the store. I make most of my money doing readings at various festivals. I’m going to keep doing that, even increase my frequency by hitting some of the closer towns to offer my services. I’ll actually be working less and making more.”
“So ... what’s the problem?”
Maddie held her palms out and shrugged. “I don’t know. I can’t shake the feeling that something is wrong. I don’t know how to explain it.”
�
��Well, have you considered talking about it with Nick?”
As if on cue, Nick Winters, the man in question, strode through the open doorway that separated the living room from the rest of the house. He had a stack of mail in his hand that he was steadily searching through. “Talk about what with Nick?” he queried, never raising his eyes from the envelope on the top of the stack.
“Um ... nothing.” George’s cheeks turned red as he mentally searched for a way to extract his foot from his mouth. “I just ... um ... .”
Amusement washed over Nick as he flicked his eyes to Maddie. “Were you talking about me, love?”
Maddie still went warm all over when he unleashed the endearment. “Actually, we were talking about several things,” she conceded, her lips curving. “For starters, Dad was asking about the air conditioning units and I happened to remember that last year when I bought them, we weren’t together, but you still helped install them.”
Nick snickered. “I remember that night well. You were sweaty, and I was in your bedroom. All I could think about was how I wanted to do something else in that bedroom.” He lobbed an apologetic look in George’s direction, forgetting the man was present until it was too late to take back the offhand comment. “Sorry, George.”
George waved off the apology. “I didn’t hear a thing.”
“I remember thinking that you had a girlfriend,” Maddie said pointedly. “You made my heart pound and my stomach do little flips, but you had a girlfriend so I couldn’t do anything about it.”
Nick scowled. “I had a girlfriend for like five seconds. Did you have to bring that up?”
“You were with her for weeks after I came back.”
“Only in name.” Nick dropped the stack of envelopes on a nearby table before opening a letter that had piqued his interest. “I tried to get her to break up with me. She refused to take the bait so I had to break up with her.”
Maddie’s giggle was light and warmed Nick to his very soul. “I forgot about that. You didn’t want to be the bad guy so you tried to force her to break up with you and it backfired in your handsome face.”
Grave Destiny Page 20