“Ah.” George’s eyes widened. “So you weren’t joking when you said it was creepy for me to show up here. I get it now.”
“Yes, well, I rarely joke when it comes to murder.” Nick slipped his hand to Maddie’s hip. “Mad, do you have anything you want to say to him?”
“I haven’t decided yet.”
Nick bobbed his head. “Okay. I’ll keep up the conversation for a bit longer until you make up your mind.”
George had decided upon first glance that he didn’t like Nick Winters. That opinion was only compounded by the fact that Nick kicked him out of Maddie’s house without letting him speak to his daughter after a virtual lifetime of regret. Now that he saw them interacting in a more relaxed setting, though – one Maude wasn’t exacerbating with her attitude – he couldn’t help but like the boy a bit. He seemed to know exactly what Maddie needed, and when.
“I’ll help,” George offered, attempting a wan smile for Maddie’s benefit. She didn’t return it. “What are you guys doing here?”
“Fran was murdered and we’re trying to find a motive,” Nick replied easily. “We discovered she had three storage lockers and came to check them out because … why not? We kind of lost ourselves due to the fact that Fran really liked stuff. That’s when you found us.”
“Yeah, this is a lot of stuff.” George exhaled heavily. “You say there’s more?”
“There is.”
“Do you want me to help you look through it?” George had no idea why he offered his services. It seemed like a long shot Nick would agree, after all. He desperately wanted to do something normal with Maddie, though, anything that might cause her to loosen up a bit. Right now she looked as if she was contemplating smacking him before fleeing, and that was the last thing George wanted.
“There’s a lot of stuff, but that’s probably not a good idea,” Nick explained. “You’re still technically a suspect.”
“Ah, good to know.” George pressed the heel of his hand to his forehead as he shifted from one foot to the other. “So … um … how long have you guys been together?”
Nick cast a look to Maddie first to see if she wanted to answer but did it himself when she remained quiet. “Since the summer.”
George’s eyebrow winged up. “And you’re already engaged? Detective Kreskin … um … he seemed to infer that you’d been together for a long time. I simply thought you got engaged once Olivia died.”
“We’ve only been engaged since Christmas,” Nick replied. “We’ve been together since the summer. I’ve been in love with her since I was a teenager – although we had a spot of time apart – and she’s been my soul mate since the first day of kindergarten.”
The simple and earnest way he delivered the line was enough to jolt Maddie back to the present.
“That was very sweet, Nicky.” Maddie’s smile was genuine. “You still have to buy me lunch. I’ll cook you dinner, though.”
“Sold.” Nick winked at her before focusing on George. “Tell us about you. Where have you been for the last twenty-eight years or so?”
George chuckled, the sound rough and ragged. “You go straight for the heart of the matter, huh?”
Nick shrugged. “I went without my heart for ten years. Now I protect it with everything I have. Maddie is my heart and you’re here because of her, not me. I’m trying to make sure she gets what she needs out of this conversation, because she certainly didn’t get it last time.”
“I’m willing to take part of the responsibility for that,” George offered. “That wasn’t the way I should’ve approached Maddie. That wasn’t the way I wanted to do it. In fact, I originally tried to do it around Christmas. I couldn’t get up the courage to do the right thing, though, and I ran away again instead. That always seems to be my problem.”
Maddie blinked rapidly as she absorbed the new information. “I’m sorry … did you say you were here around Christmas?”
George nodded, not recognizing the danger. “I saw the two of you in front of the house. You were building a snowman.”
“That’s when I proposed.” Nick grabbed Maddie’s hand, offering a bit of support. “You watched me propose? That means you knew when we got engaged. Why did you ask?”
George realized his mistake too late to take it back. “I … um … I did see it.”
“Why did you lie?”
“Because I chickened out … for at least the fiftieth time in twenty-eight years,” George gritted out, his eyes momentarily blurring. “You may not understand this – in fact I don’t expect you to understand it because I’m not sure I understand it – but there were so many times over your childhood that I wanted to see you, Maddie. I just couldn’t find the strength.”
Nick licked his lips, worry charging through his body. “Mad … .”
“No, I’m fine.” Maddie gave Nick’s hand a reassuring squeeze. “I’ll take it from here.”
Nick had no idea what she meant by that, but he was unbelievably afraid she was about to melt down. “I’ll be right here, love.”
“You always are. You always have been.”
“I always will be.” Nick briefly pressed his eyes shut and blew out a sigh. He didn’t let go of her hand, feeling the need to keep her close.
“So let me get this straight,” Maddie said, squaring her shoulders. “You walked out on my mother when she was pregnant, never saw me a single time after that, showed up on Christmas Day, spied on Nick and me during a private moment and now you’re following me to a storage locker? Do I just about have that right?”
“I guess when you put it like that it means I’m not going to win any father of the year awards,” George quipped, the joke sounding lame to his own ears as he pinched the bridge of his nose. “I’m sorry. Nothing I say is going to give you back what I kept from you. I’m not asking for that. I’m merely asking for the opportunity to explain.”
“Go ahead.” Maddie’s eyes were lit with blue fire. “Tell me why you abandoned my mother and didn’t care about me at all.”
“That’s not exactly what happened,” George hedged.
“Tell me!”
Nick opened his mouth to say something calming and then snapped it shut. This was Maddie’s show, after all. He was merely here to serve as backup.
“Perhaps we can sit down over a meal,” George suggested.
“Do you think mashed potatoes and gravy are going to make total parental abandonment go down easier?”
“I … no. It’s just you’re so very angry, Maddie. I don’t want to see you angry. I always imagined you being happy and smiling. I always pictured you waking up early on Christmas morning and sneaking downstairs to get a gander at your presents before anyone else in the house woke. I always pictured you being on the cheerleading team … or the debate team … or the National Honor Society. In all of those daydreams, you were smiling.”
“Oh, well, that’s sweet.” Maddie said the words, but her tone didn’t match the emotion George was looking for. “None of those things happened. I didn’t sneak downstairs every Christmas morning because we didn’t have a lot of money and I only got a few gifts. Mom did her best, though, and I had more than I needed. I wasn’t a cheerleader. I wasn’t in the National Honor Society. I definitely wasn’t on the debate team.
“I was a shy and awkward girl,” she continued. “I had one friend … and you’re looking at him.”
Nick’s eyes glazed over as the emotion spilled from her mouth.
“I didn’t mean it as an insult,” George said. “I just wanted you to know that I thought about you all the time.”
“Thought and did absolutely nothing.” Maddie’s voice cracked, but she managed to maintain her cool façade. “This was a mistake. We have nothing to talk about.”
“Maddie … wait.” George moved to stop her, but Maddie easily sidestepped him.
“Nicky, I’ll meet you by the truck,” Maddie said. “I think I’m ready for that lunch you promised me.”
“Just let me lock up here, Mad.
” Nick was resigned. She was clearly done listening for the day. “I’ll meet you out there in five minutes.”
Maddie curtly nodded, avoiding her father’s steady stare as she walked out of the storage locker without a backward glance. Once it was just the two of them, George turned his flat eyes – the shape exactly like Maddie’s – to Nick.
“I’m doing everything wrong,” George lamented. “Whenever I pictured approaching her, I knew it would be a hard fight, but each time she gave me a shot to explain. It’s not going how I hoped.”
“I think the problem is that you imagined things from your perspective and not Maddie’s. She’s the one who spent her entire life wondering about a shadow. She didn’t even know what you looked like before this. She had no idea because Olivia never told her.”
“That doesn’t surprise me. Olivia had no love for me.”
“You’re going to want to be careful about the way you refer to Olivia,” Nick warned. “That woman raised Maddie on her own, did without every time it was necessary, and made sure Maddie made it to college. She was a gentle soul who doted on Maddie and me. Neither one of us is going to take disparaging remarks about Olivia well.”
“I understand. She also died young so Maddie has turned her into a martyr,” George noted. “I get it.”
“You clearly don’t.”
“No, I do.” George made an exasperated sound as he scratched his cheek. “I don’t expect her to open a place in her heart for me. That’s not why I’m here.”
“What do you expect?”
“A little time. I know you don’t understand it, but I always loved her. I simply loved her from afar. I thought I was giving her the best shot I could. Things … fell apart … at a certain point. I handled that situation badly. I’m not strictly the bad guy in this.”
“I don’t care what you are,” Nick countered. “I care that Maddie cares. She rarely mentioned you when we were kids, but she loved my father and he went out of his way to show her attention. He doted on her when it should’ve been you.”
“I guess I should be grateful for that but instead it makes me jealous,” George admitted. “If you think I believe I’m the hero in this story, I don’t. I won’t pretend that I believe Olivia is the hero in this story either, though.”
“Every story has a hero. Who do you think the hero is? Just a hint, the answer better be Maddie.”
Despite the tense situation, George found himself snickering. “Actually – and it pains me to say this – I’m starting to think you’re the hero in this story.”
Nick didn’t bother hiding his surprise. “Why would you say something like that?”
“Because you know exactly what she wants,” George replied. “You know exactly what she needs. You go out of your way to make sure she’s safe … and happy … and fed … and loved. I’ve seen the way she looks at you, and it’s the way a woman looks at a hero.”
“If you’re trying to suck up, good job.” Nick managed a weak smile as he moved toward the door. “I’ll try to talk to her. I can’t guarantee anything.”
“Thank you.” George was unbelievably relieved. “Thank you so much.”
“I’m not doing it for you,” Nick clarified. “I’m doing it because she needs it, even if she doesn’t want to admit it. I will always do the very best I can to make her happy and whole.”
“And that’s why you’re the hero,” George murmured.
“No, that’s what love is. I can’t promise anything, but I will talk to her. Until then … don’t push her. You’re going to make things worse if you push her. She doesn’t like feeling boxed in.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
“You do that.”
11
Eleven
“I’ve decided to cook something fancy.”
Maddie made the announcement as she walked through the front door of the house later that afternoon, passing through the magic shop and heading toward the kitchen. Nick watched her scurry in that direction, conflicted.
“You don’t have to cook anything fancy, Mad,” Nick offered. “Burgers will be fine. They don’t take long either.”
The light went out of her after running into George Hunter. Nick and Maddie went to lunch and she did her best to be happy and flirty. She failed miserably, which caused Nick’s stomach to clench and roll. By the time they got back to the storage lockers to continue their search, Maddie had fallen mostly silent and went about her work with joyless focus rather than exuberant tedium like before.
“I don’t want to make burgers,” Maddie argued. “I’m going to make blackened chicken with roasted Brussels sprouts and quinoa. How does that sound?”
Nick was fairly certain he didn’t know what quinoa was and Brussels sprouts were far from a favorite. Anything that perked up Maddie was something he was willing to taste, though. “It sounds great.”
“Good.”
Nick pursed his lips as she tightened an apron around her waist. “Do you want some help?”
Maddie mustered a sunny smile that didn’t make it all the way to her eyes. “I’m good. Thanks. Do whatever work you need to do.”
“Kreskin is stopping by so we can compare notes,” Nick said, hoping he came off as relaxed rather than tense. “I promise he won’t be here long.”
“It’s fine. The more the merrier.”
“Yes, well … .” Nick stifled a sigh and pressed a kiss to Maddie’s cheek before clasping the financial files against his chest. “I’ll be in the store going through these. If you need anything, don’t hesitate to call.”
“That’s sweet … but I won’t need anything.”
Nick kept his fake smile in place until he was out of Maddie’s sightline, rubbing his forehead as he sank into one of the chairs by the front window. She was a mess. There was no other way to describe her state of mind. She was full of faux happiness and cheer one moment and depressed and angry the next. Nick recognized the fact that the anger was real and the feigned happiness was for his benefit, but he had no idea what to do about the situation.
Kreskin picked that moment to approach the house, dragging Nick from his dark thoughts. Nick gestured through the window and Kreskin nodded, letting himself in through the front door without knocking.
“You look tired.”
Nick offered up a wide-eyed expression that made Kreskin chuckle. “Really? I never would’ve guessed. I searched three storage lockers full of the most ridiculous crap you’ve ever seen in your life. Now I have a pile of financial documents to wade through. Why would I possibly be tired?”
Kreskin shrugged. “I have no idea. Did something else happen?”
Nick quickly averted his gaze. “Why would something else happen?”
“Oh, you’re a terrible liar.” Kreskin patted Nick’s forearm as he sat across from him. “Do you want to talk about it?”
“Not particularly.” Nick flicked his eyes to the open doorway that separated the store from the rest of the house. “Maddie is cooking dinner.”
The news was hardly earth shattering. “That sounds nice.”
“She’s making something called quinoa. That’s not health food or anything, is it?”
Kreskin snorted, genuinely amused. “It’s a grain-like thing. It’s tiny little balls of stuff. It’s fine. You mix it with vegetables. The wife makes me eat it when she decides we’re going on a diet.”
Nick arched an eyebrow. “Your wife decides when the both of you are going on a diet?”
“The wife decides everything if you want a happy marriage.”
Nick ran his hand over the back of his dark hair, absorbing Kreskin’s words as he extrapolated on his own relationship. “I was kind of hoping Maddie and I would share decisions.”
“That’s a nice theory,” Kreskin noted. “The good news is that you and Maddie work out like fiends. She’ll probably never put you on a diet.”
“That doesn’t sound so bad.”
“Don’t get ahead of yourself.” Kreskin waved his hand.
“All that means is that she’ll nag you about other stuff.”
“Maddie isn’t much of a nagger.”
“None of them are naggers until you’re at least a year deep in the marriage,” Kreskin argued. “She’s going to be all sweetness and light until one day … bam! … she’s going to flip the switch and you’re going to find yourself eating cold cereal instead of hot pancakes for breakfast.”
Given the heavy nature of their lives right now, Nick couldn’t exactly work himself up over the fact that he would have to eat Fruity Pebbles for the rest of his life. Heck, if left to his own devices, he would be eating Fruity Pebbles now. He wasn’t sold on the idea of quinoa … whatever it was. “I don’t care about any of that.” Nick made sure Maddie hadn’t appeared in the open doorframe to eavesdrop before continuing. “George Hunter found us at the storage place this morning.”
Kreskin stilled, his eyes flashing with interest. “Really? Was he there to go through Fran’s stuff?”
“I wondered that myself, but it was obvious he was there for Maddie,” Nick replied. “He saw my truck and stopped. He thought it belonged to Maddie.”
“Oh.” Kreskin’s enthusiasm waned. “How did that go?”
“I’m almost afraid to tell you.”
“That good, huh?”
Nick held his hands palms up and shrugged, helpless. “He desperately wants to talk to Maddie, but she’s so overwrought that she can’t force herself to be pleasant to him for more than five minutes at a time … and that’s pushing it.”
“So maybe she doesn’t need to know him,” Kreskin suggested. “She’s made it this far without a father in her life.”
“I’m not saying that she needs a father,” Nick clarified. “I’m saying she needs to talk to him. She needs to hear why he did it.” Nick took a moment to think, rubbing his hand over the back of his neck as he gnawed on the inside of his cheek. “Maddie has always been shy. Like … painfully shy.”
“I’ve noticed.”
“She thinks it’s poor self-esteem, and even though I want to argue with her about it I don’t think she’s wrong,” Nick said. “I think a lot of it stems from him. The rest comes from the fact that Olivia insisted Maddie hide who she was.”
Grave Haunting (A Maddie Graves Mystery Book 10) Page 9
