“I very much doubt that’s true.”
“They never wanted me to marry Trevor.”
“How come?”
“They thought he was too good for me.”
As someone who often had low self-esteem – especially before she returned to Blackstone Bay and staked her claim on the life she wanted – Maddie recognized that Alicia was suffering from a profound lack of self-respect.
“I bet they didn’t think that.” Maddie chose her words carefully. “You might believe that right now because you’re lost and struggling, but I met your parents. They always acted as if they were proud of you.
“I remember when I was in middle school and you were in high school,” she continued. “There was that festival downtown and you were playing the flute in the band. They were there watching you, clapping, and they seemed to be having a great time. You can’t tell me they weren’t proud. I don’t believe it.”
Alicia pursed her lips. “I can’t even remember that.”
“I think you have too much going on now to remember it,” Maddie said. “Speaking of that … how is Trevor?”
“He’s still unconscious. I want to sit with him, but Catelynn refuses to stay at the hospital right now. She has a schedule, and it’s time for Gravity Falls. She has to watch an episode every single day at this time. If she doesn’t, she melts down.”
Maddie flicked her eyes toward the door. “Is she inside?”
“Yup. She doesn’t even notice the mess. The cops said we could come back to the house. There were people traipsing around for hours last night and today. It’s filthy. She doesn’t notice, though. All she cares about is that television show.”
“I’ve never heard of that show,” Maddie admitted. “I guess I’m out of the loop. Is it new?”
“Actually, it went off the air a few years ago,” Alice replied. “It’s about a town full of paranormal forces. She loves it. She could watch it on a continuous loop for the rest of her life and be perfectly happy.”
Maddie wasn’t familiar with special needs children but commiserating with Alicia seemed the thing to do. “It has to be difficult for you,” she said. “You want to be at the hospital, but you can’t because of Catelynn. I’m guessing there’s no one around to watch her.”
“Occasionally one of the neighbors will keep an eye on her for an hour, but it’s rare. Right now, none of them want anything to do with me because they think I shot my husband.”
The opening was sitting right there, so Maddie decided to take advantage of it. “Did you?”
“No. I was telling the truth. It was an accident.”
“Okay, well … what is it that will make you feel better right now?”
“I need him to be okay.” Alicia’s voice cracked, causing Maddie’s heart to roll. “I need to see him for a few minutes, even if it’s just to sit with him. I tried. I told Catelynn she could watch double the episodes tonight if she would just let me sit there for an hour. She couldn’t understand why I would even make the request and started screaming instead. They asked me to leave.”
“Well … then you need to go back.”
Alicia snorted and tilted her head to the sky. “I can’t. Catelynn will scream bloody murder if I try to make her leave this house right now. It’s Gravity Falls time. That’s all that matters to her.”
Maddie made up her mind on the spot. “Then you should go and I’ll stay here with Catelynn.”
Alicia’s mouth dropped open. “What?”
“Go,” Maddie prodded. “I mean it. Sit with your husband for an hour. Catelynn will be watching television, right? I’ll just make sure she doesn’t need anything while you’re gone. If she’s as obsessed as you say, she probably won’t even know that I’m here.”
Alicia worked her jaw, her mind busy. “You would actually do that?”
“Sure.” Maddie saw no reason not to give of herself. It was only time, after all. “I’m sure Catelynn and I will be best friends by the time you get back. Don’t worry about it.”
“VINCENT WAS RIGHT ABOUT the finances,” Kreskin said, leaning back in his desk chair as he rolled his neck. “They’re a mess.”
“I guess it’s convenient that he had copies of everything,” Nick noted as he stared at a bank transcript. “This is for a money market account that Alicia’s name isn’t on. Don’t you find that odd?”
Kreskin shrugged. “I don’t know. Obviously you find it odd.”
“I do.” Nick bobbed his head. “Maddie and I have been going over things before the wedding. We don’t plan on making any big moves until after we get back from the honeymoon, but we’ve been talking about our finances.”
“And?”
“And I have more money than she does. I’ve been saving for years and since I lived in a house gifted to me by my grandfather I never had a lot of outgoing bills. I never spent a lot … but I never hurt for money.
“Maddie, on the other hand, has always struggled,” he continued. “She’s still paying off student loans, although there’s not much left and we should have those taken care of in a year. She made decent money as a nurse, but the cost of living was higher downstate.
“Olivia left her the house, which is great, but it’s older so it’s something of a money pit,” he continued. “Despite all that, though, I would never consider having an account without her name on it. I don’t understand why this guy did what he did with the money.”
“You’re older than he was when he got married,” Kreskin pointed out. “You’re almost thirty … and centered. You understand about finances. You also love Maddie to distraction.”
Nick smirked. “You say that like it’s a bad thing.”
“It’s not. It’s just a … thing. You and Maddie will never get divorced. You’re one of those couples that mates for life. My wife and I were like that. I always knew that she was the only one for me.
“It sounds to me like Trevor never thought that,” he continued. “Right from the beginning, he knew that the marriage wouldn’t work. He never looked at Alicia as anything other than a temporary distraction. I’m guessing that distraction lasted longer than he ever thought it would.”
“Because Alicia held on too tight,” Nick surmised.
“Yeah. I don’t think they were ever suited for each other.”
“Alicia held on too tight and Trevor didn’t hold on at all,” Nick supplied. “You’re right. They’re not a balanced couple. He saw it and she didn’t. She deluded herself.”
“Exactly. You and Maddie both cling to each other and that will never change. You share everything. Alicia thought she was sharing everything with her husband, but he was really sharing nothing with her. If you ask me, it’s a form of emotional abuse.”
Nick tilted his head, considering. “I didn’t even think about that. You’re right, though. Alicia basically spent all of her time begging for Trevor to pay attention to her and he refused to do it. Instead, he paid attention to every other woman in the world … as long as he could muster the energy.”
“Yeah, it was a disastrous coupling,” Kreskin said. “It looks to me as if Trevor was hiding money. You’ve got the money market account. There’s an IRA in here that she wasn’t listed as a beneficiary on. There’s also an investment portfolio that’s been seeing steady withdrawals, and something tells me Alicia wasn’t aware that it was happening.”
“What makes you say that?”
“Every withdrawal incurred a penalty. Whoever was taking the money didn’t care. That doesn’t sound like something Alicia would do.”
“Nope.” Nick absently scratched the side of his nose. “Do you think finding out about the financial discrepancies would be enough to push Alicia over the edge?”
“There’s a reason we keep circling to her,” Kreskin said. “She makes the most sense as a suspect. In fact, she’s the only suspect. I keep finding myself hoping there was a reason she turned on him … like he was going to physically hurt her or something. We don’t have evidence of that, though.
”
“No. We have evidence he was a total douche and emotionally battered that woman to oblivion. Physical abuse, though, doesn’t look to be a factor.”
“So what do we do?”
“Wait for the forensics from the state police,” Nick answered perfunctorily. “Her hands were swabbed for gunpowder residue and we need a reenactment of the wounds. We’re stuck otherwise.”
“We’re definitely stuck.”
MADDIE FELT ODD BEING INSIDE Alicia’s house, especially given the fact that Catelynn was in the same room but completely ignored her presence. It wasn’t until the show ended that the girl finally tore her eyes away from the television screen and focused on the interloper in her house.
“Who are you?”
Amused despite herself, Maddie crossed her legs and reclined on the couch. “Maddie Graves.”
“Why are you here?”
“I’m watching you for a little bit so your mom can visit your dad in the hospital.”
Catelynn’s face was so blank Maddie momentarily wondered if she’d absorbed anything she said. Then, she merely shrugged. “It’s snack time.”
“Oh, yeah?” Maddie decided to go with the flow and basically acquiesce to anything Catelynn wanted so she amicably nodded. “What do you want for your snack?”
“A juice box and a bag of apples.”
“A bag of apples?”
Catelynn nodded. “They’re in the refrigerator.”
Maddie didn’t remember requesting apples for snacks when she was Catelynn’s age, but she was willing to go with the flow. “Okay. Show me where they are.”
Catelynn slowly got to her feet, giving Maddie a wide berth as the woman followed her toward the kitchen. “Your hair is pretty,” she said finally.
Maddie grinned. “Thank you. Your hair is pretty, too.”
“Thank you.” Catelynn knew where she was going, so she plodded to the refrigerator, opened it, and gathered her snack without asking for Maddie’s help. After that, she walked to the kitchen table and sat.
Maddie wordlessly accepted the small bag of cut apple slices from the girl, assuming she was supposed to open it, and handed it back after. “How are you feeling?”
Catelynn shrugged. “How am I supposed to be feeling?”
“I don’t think you’re supposed to be feeling anything,” Maddie replied. “You should only feel what you feel.”
“That’s not what other people tell me.”
“No? What do they tell you?”
“That I’m supposed to think about other people’s feelings before I speak.”
Maddie considered the statement. Catelynn had probably been coached on what was “normal” as part of her counseling sessions. It made sense … but it also made her sad. “Well, you don’t have to act any way you don’t want to act with me. You can say whatever you want.”
“Really?” Catelynn was understandably dubious. “Anything that I want?”
Maddie bobbed her head. “Yup.”
“Okay.” She narrowed her eyes. “I think that my dad isn’t coming home again.”
Whatever Maddie was expecting the girl to say, it wasn’t that. “Why do you say that?”
“He looks sick. Sick people die.”
“Did you see him in the hospital?”
“A little bit.” Catelynn munched on her apple slice. “He doesn’t move. He just sleeps. I don’t think he’s going to wake up.”
“What does your mom say?”
“She cries. She tells me everything is going to be okay. Then she tells me to read … or watch television … or play in my room. Then she cries some more.”
“Do you think she’s sad because she’s afraid your dad won’t get better?”
“I think she’s sad because she thinks he will get better.”
“W-what?” Maddie was flabbergasted. “Do you think your mom wants your dad to stay in the hospital?”
“I think she wants him to go away. That’s what she said right before it happened.”
The hair on the back of Maddie’s neck stood on end. “Before what happened?”
“The bad thing.”
“What do you know about the bad thing?”
“I know that dad was bad and now he’s sick. I heard Mom and Aaron last night. They were yelling at each other. I don’t think they want him to come home again.”
“Aaron, too?”
Catelynn screwed up her face in concentration. “I don’t know. I think he was mad about what Mom was saying. He likes Dad better than me.”
“You don’t like your dad?”
“He doesn’t like me.”
“I don’t believe that’s true. All fathers love their children.” Maddie said the words even though she wasn’t sure she actually believed them. Since she’d only met her father recently – and their relationship was a work in progress – Maddie had limited experience with the father-daughter experience. She still believed she was telling the truth on the most basic level.
“No.” Catelynn was matter-of-fact. “He likes Aaron. He takes him places. He doesn’t like me.”
There were no tears, but Maddie could feel the sadness emanating from the little girl. “Maybe there will still be time for you to fix that. Your dad is in the hospital, but he’s not dead. The doctor thinks there’s a chance that he might be perfectly okay. We just have to wait and see.”
“If you say so.” Blasé, Catelynn shoved the straw into her juice box. “You’re not going to watch me after today, are you?”
“Probably not. Why?”
“You talk too much.”
Maddie had to bite the inside of her cheek to keep from laughing. “Thanks for the tip.”
“You’re welcome.”
Seven
Alicia thanked Maddie profusely for watching Catelynn. Trevor hadn’t yet woken, but Alicia was feeling better about things after discussing his prognosis with the doctors. Maddie made a big show of saying it was fine before waving goodbye to Catelynn and making her escape.
In truth, she was thankful to be away from the house. Catelynn didn’t suffer from any meltdowns while with Maddie, but the girl was blunt to a fault and some of the things she said left the blond psychic feeling confused.
Because she knew it was necessary, Maddie stopped at the police station on her way home. She filled Kreskin and Nick in on how she spent her afternoon. Nick’s distaste for the news was obvious.
“You did what?” he practically exploded.
Maddie refused to engage in a fight so she forced herself to remain calm. “I visited Alicia at her house and ended up watching Catelynn for almost two hours.”
“Really?” Kreskin was intrigued rather than incensed. “How did that go?”
Nick ignored the question. “You could’ve been hurt, Maddie,” he snapped. “Alicia is our prime suspect in the shooting of her husband. What were you thinking?”
Maddie rubbed her palms against her knees as she sat in the chair across from Nick’s desk. “I was thinking that I wanted to see the house, get a feel for what was going on, and work through some of the theories in my head.” Her voice was icy and detached. “I happened to see Alicia while I was there and she was obviously in distress so I decided to talk to her.”
“Even though she’s a potential murderer.”
Maddie frowned. “Even if she did shoot Trevor, we both know that wasn’t some random act of violence. I’m not saying he had it coming or anything — I would never say that — but this situation has been building for years. It wasn’t something that happened out of the blue.”
“No,” Nick agreed, his eyes flashing. “If she’s suffered a psychotic break, though, there’s nothing to stop her from hurting you.”
“If you believed she was suffering from a psychotic break, you would’ve already removed Aaron and Catelynn from her custody.”
“I ... .” Nick worked his jaw, annoyance evident. “You’re purposely trying to be a pain, aren’t you?”
“Yes. My favorite thing i
n the world is driving you crazy.”
“I think you both enjoy driving each other crazy,” Kreskin offered. “I’m more interested in what happened when you were at the house. You’re obviously okay — no matter how much Captain Cries-A-Lot over here wants to pretend otherwise — so I’m interested in your observations.”
“It’s not really evidence,” Maddie hedged, suddenly uncomfortable.
“That’s fine. We’re trying to figure this out. That means we’ll take anything we can get.”
Maddie looked to Nick for confirmation. She didn’t want to inadvertently kick off a fight.
“It’s okay, Mad.” Nick gentled his voice. “Tell us what you saw. You and I can fight later.”
“What if I don’t want to fight?”
Nick’s lips quirked. “Then we’ll miss one of our favorite activities. You know ... making up.”
Now it was Maddie’s turn to smile. “Okay. I guess we can have a little fight.” She held her index finger and thumb an inch apart for emphasis. “Nothing too big, though. I don’t want a huge blowup before the wedding.”
“I think I can manage that.”
“Great.” Maddie shifted in her chair and turned to the business at hand. “So, you want to know what the house was like. I don’t know how to describe it. Everything was ... weird.”
“Was Alicia acting unhinged?” Kreskin asked. “Should we remove Catelynn from her custody?”
“I don’t know that I think that’s a good idea,” Maddie admitted. “When I first arrived, Alicia was sitting on the front porch. She seemed frazzled ... but no more frazzled than any other woman with two kids and a husband in the hospital. She didn’t seem as if she was melting down.”
“You’re leaving something out in the telling, Mad,” Nick prodded. “I know you. You’re being ... cagey.”
Maddie sighed. “I’m not being cagey.” She stuck her tongue out at Nick, causing Kreskin to chuckle. “She’s just a sad woman. I think Trevor really did a number on her self-esteem. I mean, I spent years being afraid of being myself, was terrified that I would somehow rock the boat in the wrong manner and ruin my life, but she’s something else entirely.
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