“She’s blond like Maddie, too,” John noted.
“And Sarah,” Kreskin added.
“Yeah.” Nick turned grim. “I definitely don’t like this. We need to figure out what happened, and fast.”
ULTIMATELY, MADDIE AND CHRISTY couldn’t hang at the house for the duration of the investigation. It was simply too hot, and while Christy was anything but a delicate flower, the pregnancy made her susceptible to heat.
The two women walked back to the clearing long enough to collect their belongings and then returned to the house, where Maddie proceeded to stick box fans into the windows to alleviate some of the heat.
“You really need to look into central air,” Christy noted as John led her out of the house shortly before dusk. She was sweaty and pale. “It’s ridiculous how stuffy this place is.”
“I’ll get right on that,” Maddie said dryly.
George departed for his hotel after saying a quick goodbye to Maddie, which meant she was alone until Nick returned from the scene. The hour she spent in the house by herself felt oppressive — especially because she wanted to walk up the hill to see what was going on. She understood without reservation that was a bad idea, though, and waited for Nick to come to her. She wasn’t disappointed, although he looked a sweaty mess when he found her in the kitchen.
“What smells so good?” He stripped out of his shirt and tossed the damp piece of clothing toward the open laundry room. “I’ll pick that up before bed.”
“It’s fine,” Maddie said. “I can start a load. You’ve had a long day ... and it was supposed to be your day off.”
“Yeah, well, that’s what happens when you’re a cop.” He shuffled closer to her and pressed a kiss to her bare shoulder. She wore a simple tank top and knit shorts but, to him, she was prettier than any model or actress. “Are you okay?”
Maddie wasn’t expecting the question. “Why wouldn’t I be? I’m more worried about you. Your face is red and you’re practically gushing sweat.”
“And not for a fun reason.” Nick poked her side to cajole a smile. He succeeded, but it didn’t make it all the way to her eyes. “I’m fine. I kept hydrated.”
“Yeah, well ... .” Maddie trailed off and collected herself. “Do you know who she is?”
“No. I didn’t recognize her. We’re running her prints through the system and checking missing person reports. So far, she’s simply a dead woman. She looks to be in her early twenties, but we can’t be sure of anything until we identify her.”
“It’s such a waste.” Maddie made a clucking sound as she turned back to the pasta salad she was mixing. “It’s hot so I thought I would make something light. I wasn’t sure what sort of appetite you would have. I can grill a steak or something if you need more, though.”
“The pasta salad is perfect.” He moved his lips to her cheek and planted a light kiss there. “Do you want to tell me what’s bugging you?”
Maddie balked. “Nothing is bothering me. Why would you think that?”
“Because I’ve met you.”
“Perhaps I simply get crabby when it’s humid,” she suggested. “Have you ever considered that?”
“Love, we both get crabby when the humidity is high. That’s why we go down to the lake in the middle of the night and swim naked.”
Despite her determination to remain stern, Maddie’s lips curved. “I thought we swam naked because you’re a pervert.”
“I can multitask.”
“Ha, ha.” Maddie poked his side, leaning close for a moment despite the heat radiating off him. “What do you know?”
“We know she was killed, stabbed. We’re assuming sexual assault, but we need the lab results to confirm that. We’re hopeful that’s not the case but … you know how it goes.”
“It sounds like Sarah Alden.”
Nick shifted from one foot to the other, uncomfortable. “You’re the second person to say that to me today. Kreskin brought up the similarities, too. He’s managed to convince himself that Sarah was simply on his mind because of the testimony notifications, though. Do you think that’s possibly the same for you?”
“Maybe.” Maddie shrugged as she grabbed paper plates from the cupboards. “It’s too hot to run the dishwasher. Paper plates are okay, right?”
“Fine. It’s too hot to do anything but eat and then take a cold shower together.”
“I’m not sweaty.”
“Yes, but you don’t want me to suffer alone. You want to share the burden.”
“I think that’s your elaborate way to get me naked, but I’m willing to take one for the team.”
“That’s my girl.” Nick smacked a loud kiss against her lips before carrying the pasta salad bowl to the table. “I’ll grab one of the air conditioners for our bedroom before bed. The rest will have to wait for tomorrow. We won’t sleep without some relief upstairs, though.”
“I would’ve gotten the unit myself but ... I wasn’t sure where you put them.”
“You mean you hate the basement,” Nick corrected, scooping a huge mound of salad onto his plate. “Admit it.”
Maddie turned sheepish. “Fine. The basement has always freaked me out.”
“I’ll get someone to do some work down there so it’s not so scary. How does that sound?”
“Like something we don’t need to talk about now.” She rested her hand on top of his and gave it a squeeze. “How long has she been dead?”
“The medical examiner doesn’t have a firm time yet, but he estimated she was dumped there shortly before dawn. The heat would’ve ravaged the body otherwise.”
“That’s delightful.” Maddie made a face as she speared a tomato. “I know you don’t want to hear this, but it’s hard not to compare what you found today with what happened to Sarah back when Todd and Dustin were hunting for women to kill. I’m sure that hasn’t escaped your attention.”
“It hasn’t and the similarities were enough that I called to make sure neither of them has been released on bail while awaiting trial. They haven’t. They’re both still locked up in the county jail.”
“That’s a relief.” Maddie meant it. “Still, it seems weird that a similar body was found the same day we got testimony notification, right? It feels too personal to be a coincidence.”
That was exactly what Nick was feeling, although he didn’t want to admit it. The last thing he wanted was for Maddie to be fearful. Of course, she needed to be vigilant all the same.
“Right now, we don’t know what’s going on,” he said, choosing his words carefully. “It could be a coincidence. Perhaps she died in a crime of passion and someone panicked and dumped her behind your father’s new house because the construction equipment made it apparent she would be found quickly. That could be a sign of remorse.”
“Or, perhaps someone dumped her there because discovery was inevitable and he or she wanted to send a message,” Maddie countered. “Maybe it was a warning to me.”
Nick stiffened with his fork halfway to his mouth. “What do you mean? What kind of warning?”
“Maybe someone doesn’t want me to testify against Todd.” She warmed to the idea and abandoned her pasta salad so she could focus on her theory. “Maybe the timing is deliberate. Maybe she looks like me because someone is working for Todd — or with him — and they want to frighten me.”
Nick wanted to argue with the assertion, but he couldn’t. “We don’t know what’s going on yet. Until we do, I don’t want you jumping to conclusions.”
“Fair enough. I won’t jump to conclusions.”
“I also don’t want you running in the woods by yourself,” Nick added, raising a hand to cut off her protests before she could get a full head of steam. “Run in town and on busy roads all that you want. No running in the woods until we know more.”
“Fine.” Maddie didn’t look happy, but she acquiesced. “Anything else?”
“No. For now, I simply want you to be careful. It’s important.”
“I get the feeling that m
y safety is always important to you.”
“Love, you have no idea.” He tapped the side of her paper plate. “You need to eat so we can take that cold shower together. You’re going to need your strength.”
“I’m glad finding a dead body hasn’t ruined your romance skills.”
“Nothing will ever ruin those.”
“Something to be thankful for.”
“We both can agree on that.”
Four
Maddie’s dreams were dark.
She revisited the past — something she knew she would do — and woke gasping for air shortly before seven.
Nick, who was just getting up, hurried back to the bed when he realized what was happening. He sat next to her and pulled her close as she tried to make sense of what she saw in the dreamscape.
“You’re okay.” He kissed her forehead and ran his hands up and down her back. “I’m here. You’re okay.”
“Of course you’re here,” Maddie murmured, pressing the side of her face against his chest.
His shower forgotten, Nick slipped back into bed and rolled Maddie so she was resting in the crook of his arm, her head on his chest. “What did you dream about, love?” His lips were busy on her forehead as he repeatedly pressed soothing kisses there.
“I was in the water at the lake.”
Nick’s heart gave a lurch. “We haven’t really talked about that, Mad.” He searched for the correct words to make things better. In truth, they hadn’t discussed it at all. Maddie thanked him for saving her, of course, but she never told him what she saw when she slipped under. “What do you remember about that night?”
Maddie swallowed hard. “I remember everything.”
“Can you be more specific?”
“I remember sending Granny for help. I knew she wouldn’t make it if she stayed with me so I sent her to you. I had faith you would take care of her.”
“I know you were trying to do the right thing but ... you shouldn’t have put yourself at risk like that. I’m sure Maude agrees. What you did that night was ... brave. It was also reckless.”
“It worked. Granny got away. She escaped.”
“Yeah, well, we got lucky.” He stroked her back. “You ran through the woods, right?”
“I thought I was running from one person. I didn’t realize it was two until we were already down at the lake. The first person I saw was Todd and I remember expecting that. Him being involved wasn’t a surprise. When Dustin came out of the shadows, though, I realized I didn’t understand anything.”
“Yeah, well, I don’t think any of us were expecting that.” Nick ran the previous case through his head, keeping Maddie pinned tightly to his side as he remembered one of the worst nights of his life. “I always knew Todd was screwed up, but the way he took a high school student under his wing just so they could kill together ... it was beyond anything I ever imagined being possible.”
It was worse than that, Nick silently added. Todd Winthrop was a former classmate. One he hated. They were always in competition over the years, and that competitive nature spilled over to Maddie.
Maddie was awkward in middle school, almost the definition of gangly, with legs that were too long for her body and a shape that was flat rather than curvaceous. When high school hit, though, she essentially blossomed overnight and every guy in their class took notice. They’d been best friends since elementary school, Nick serving as Maddie’s protector when she got nervous or frightened — which was often — but even he couldn’t ignore the way she changed when she finally grew into her looks.
Always shy, Maddie didn’t understand the sudden attention. She wasn’t one of those girls who feigned being humble. She seriously didn’t understand why people were now looking at her in a different way. When Todd came calling, she was too embarrassed and jittery to say yes. Nick was thankful for that at the time, although he wasn’t quite ready to admit why.
Then came the dark years. Maddie fled Blackstone Bay, ostensibly to go to college, but she never returned as he expected. She worked as a nurse in a hospital in Detroit and cut all ties to Nick. He was bitter about it, of course, and he fueled his rage into becoming a good policeman and dating as many women as he could work his way through.
Always, though, he thought about Maddie.
When Olivia Graves died, leaving her beautiful Victorian house to her only daughter, Maddie returned because someone needed to take care of Maude. From the moment they saw each other again, it was essentially over for both Nick and Maddie. They were like magnets, the pull too great to ignore.
Still, the first two weeks, Nick had a lot of anger to wade through and Maddie was desperate to pretend she was normal. Todd Winthrop decided he wanted to make another move, and Maddie agreed to a date. That turned out to be one of the biggest mistakes of her life ... and it almost ended with her death.
“I still can’t believe you went out with him,” Nick grumbled, making a face at the memory. “I think you did it to drive me crazy.”
Amused despite herself, Maddie tilted her face so she could study Nick’s rugged profile. “You had a girlfriend at the time, if I remember correctly.”
“That hardly matters.”
“It mattered to me.”
“Yeah, well, she wasn’t really my girlfriend. I simply hadn’t gotten around to breaking up with her yet.”
“Uh-huh.” Maddie’s lips curved as she patted his chest in a soothing manner. “If it’s any consolation, the date was a dud and he was a horrible kisser.”
Instead of placating him, the simple statement set Nick’s teeth on edge. “You kissed him?”
“Just a little kiss. It was more that he kissed me and I couldn’t get away fast enough.”
“Ugh. I’m so grossed out.” Nick tickled her ribs, grinning at the way she gasped and squirmed. The giggle that escaped warmed him to his very soul as he wrestled her close. “I can’t believe you kissed him when you knew how I felt.”
Maddie stopped play-struggling long enough to meet Nick’s searching gaze. “I didn’t know how you felt.”
“Of course you did.”
“But ... I didn’t. I knew how I felt. I knew how I wanted you to feel. You were with Cassidy, though.”
Nick hated the mere mention of his former girlfriend’s name. He wasn’t blameless in that situation, of course, but Cassidy Dunham had gone out of her way to hurt Maddie and make things difficult for the new couple when they finally got together. Technically, Nick understood that Cassidy didn’t owe him anything. He broke her heart and hurt her feelings. She lashed out because of that. His memories of her were tainted by nasty antics after the fact, though, and it was something he could never shake.
“Are you seriously telling me you didn’t know how I felt?” Nick challenged. “I pined for you for ten years, Mad. I cried myself to sleep every night because I missed you so much.”
Maddie rolled her eyes. “You took it a step too far with the crying.”
“Well ... I did cry.” Nick opted for honesty. “Those first few weeks when you wouldn’t return my calls after you moved, I cried a lot.”
Maddie’s heart flopped painfully. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt you. I was just ... afraid. I didn’t know what you would do if you found out my secret.”
Her secret. Nick didn’t even think of it that way any longer. Sure, he made sure Maddie was careful not to spread the word far and wide, but he was proud of her abilities and thought keeping them a secret was a mistake. It wasn’t every man who could boast he had a girlfriend who could see and talk to ghosts. Maddie spent years afraid that he would turn on her because of what she could do. Instead he accepted everything she was, embraced the whole of her, and they moved forward as a unit.
They’d made a life together, one they both loved. They were getting married in a few weeks. They were looking to the future, not the past. Things were perfect ... other than a murder practically landing on their doorstep and stirring up old memories.
“Well, I found ou
t your secret and things worked out,” Nick pointed out, refusing to let Maddie wallow. “We haven’t talked about the night you almost drowned, though. We always gloss over it. I think we probably should have discussed what happened sooner.”
Maddie balked. “I don’t want to talk about it ... and I did drown.”
“Yeah. I don’t like to think how close I came to losing you.” Nick remembered the icy water, each stroke like a dagger through the heart as he struggled to find Maddie in the inky blackness of the frigid lake. He knew where she went down and yet it was a miracle he found her as quickly as he did, a double miracle that he managed to hold it together long enough to resuscitate her. “You scared the crap out of me that night.”
“I scared the crap out of myself,” Maddie countered. “I remember being in the water. My mother was there. She told me to hold on because you were coming. I didn’t understand how you could’ve found me so quickly – and I was doubtful you would manage to get to me in the water – but I was glad you were close and I could feel your presence.”
“I found you because she led me to you.”
“Yeah.”
“It’s okay, Mad.” Nick tightened his arms around her to the point where she couldn’t as much as move a hand as he buried his face in her hair. “It’s over. It’s in the past.”
“Except we have to revisit the past thanks to Todd’s trial ... and that poor girl we found at Dad’s house.”
“Yes, well, nothing is perfect.”
His deadpan delivery was enough to make Maddie laugh, which released the tension in the room. “You’re a funny guy, Nick Winters.”
“You’re a funny girl, Maddie Graves. You’re also the love of my life. It’s always been you.”
Maddie knew that. It took her time to believe it, but now she didn’t question the emotion. “You’re the love of my life, too.”
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