Maddie stilled, something clicking in her head. “But … I just talked to Dora. She said she didn’t know you were changing your will.”
“You must’ve misheard her.”
“No, I’m pretty sure that I didn’t.”
“You had to have misheard her,” Fran argued. “Dora knew weeks before that I planned to do it. I was supposed to sign the new will the day I … you know, died … but I found a merchandise wholesaler to help me with all of the stuff in the storage locker so I put it off.”
Maddie felt sick to her stomach. “Did you tell her?”
“That I hadn’t changed the will? No.” Fran shook her head for emphasis. “I did tell her about all of the shopping issues, though. In fact, I told her that night. I hid it for as long as I could because I knew she’d be disappointed and angry, but I knew I had to tell her.”
“And what did she say?”
“I don’t really remember,” Fran replied, letting her hand drift through a bare bush near the shed’s front door. “That’s where my memory goes hazy.”
Oh, crap! Maddie knew why Fran couldn’t remember what happened. She also knew why it looked as if Fran had been killed in a fit of rage. “I have to get out of here,” Maddie murmured, swiveling quickly. “I need to get to Nick.”
“Oh, I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
Maddie frowned when she heard the third voice join the fray, internally cringing when she realized Dora stood a few feet behind her, a shovel clenched in her hands.
“Dora, I was just looking for you,” Maddie offered, her voice unnaturally high. “I … um … how are you?”
Dora merely shook her head. “I’m a lot better than you’re about to be. Why couldn’t you just mind your own business?”
Maddie couldn’t help but wonder that exact same thing.
GEORGE MEANT what he said when he left Maddie to think things over. He didn’t want to pressure the girl. She’d been through enough in her life, and he’d never once been there to make things better for her.
When she was younger, he used to imagine all of the firsts in her life. He thought about her first word … and step … and the first time she rode a bicycle … her first day of school … her first kiss. He thought about all of it. He’d missed every single one of those things.
He was determined not to miss another – as long as she was okay with him sticking around, that is. He wouldn’t make her life worse. He was determined to make sure that didn’t happen. He had no idea if he could make it better, but he was keen to try.
When Maddie left the small town park she looked as if she had a purpose. George followed, keeping a safe distance between them so she wouldn’t feel crowded. Curiosity took over at a certain point – especially when he realized Maddie was hiding on the side of the bed and breakfast and watching someone.
He watched Maddie stalk her prey, confused and conflicted. Then, when Maddie disappeared around the side of the building, he took her previous spot and watched as she held a conversation with thin air.
George wasn’t an idiot. He knew what she was doing. He’d never had occasion to watch Olivia chat with a departed soul, but she had explained what it was like. That was when they were still struggling to keep the marriage intact, of course. Things changed after that.
George couldn’t stop himself from being intrigued. Whoever Maddie was talking to – and he had a feeling it was the dead bed and breakfast owner – she seemed engaged in the conversation, even amused at times. That all shifted when a human joined the small group and the look on Maddie’s face was enough to let George know something was terribly wrong.
He pulled his phone out of his pocket and dialed 911, asking to be sent directly to Nick Winters. Nick picked up on the first ring.
“It’s George Hunter.”
“What can I do for you, George?” Nick asked, his voice even and steady. “Maddie and I have talked a little, but we haven’t really gotten into things yet. I need more time.”
“That’s not why I’m calling.” George kept his voice low so it wouldn’t carry. “In fact, Maddie and I had a conversation not too long ago. She says she needs time to think. I’m giving her that time.”
“Oh, well, that’s good.” Nick made a grunting noise on the other end of the call. “She didn’t tell me about that.”
“We literally separated about fifteen minutes ago,” George provided.
“Okay, well, that explains that.” Nick sucked in a breath. “I’m willing to talk to you, but I’m at work right now. Can we pick a time later in the day to meet up or something?”
“That’s not why I’m calling,” George replied. “Even though Maddie said she needed time to think, I kept an eye on her. She saw something … and I’m going to guess it was a ghost … and she wandered behind the bed and breakfast where I’m staying. I couldn’t stop myself and I followed.”
“That’s not unheard of for her,” Nick noted. “If you think she’s lost her mind, she hasn’t. She knows what she’s doing and … .”
“That’s not why I’m calling either,” George snapped, his temper getting the better of him. “I don’t think she’s crazy. I do think she’s in trouble, though.”
Nick shifted his attitude almost instantaneously. “Why? What’s happened?”
“I’m not sure, but I don’t think it’s good. You have to get over here right now.”
“I’m on my way.” George could hear Nick scrambling over the phone. “I’ll be there in five minutes.”
“That’s good.” George couldn’t help but be relieved. “That’s good because … this looks odd to me.”
“I’ll be there. What are you going to do?”
George sucked in a breath and glanced around the side of the building. “I’m going to do the one thing I’ve never been able to do.”
“And what’s that?”
“Act like a father.”
22
Twenty-Two
“You killed Fran.”
Maddie said the words without giving proper thought to whether or not it was wise to utter them. The look on Dora’s face told her that feigning innocence would be a mistake.
“I didn’t have a choice.” Dora was matter-of-fact. Her voice wasn’t chilling or dangerous, simply blasé and seemingly disinterested.
“You didn’t have a choice?” Maddie was understandably dubious. “You bashed her head in with a lamp.”
“Because she didn’t think!” For the first time Dora snapped, showing real emotion as she clutched the shovel tighter. Maddie eyed the simple garden instrument with worried eyes. Dora was older and heavier than Maddie, but the younger woman was boxed in. Maddie could easily outrun Dora, but she had to get past her first.
“What was she supposed to think about?”
“Something other than herself for a change,” Dora muttered. “Do you have any idea how much money she wasted on stuff? It wasn’t even stuff she needed. It was stuff she didn’t want.”
Maddie risked a glance at Fran and found the ghost studying her former friend with heavy eyes. Fran might not yet remember her death, but she clearly knew who caused it.
“Shopping addiction is a real thing,” Maddie offered, choosing her words carefully. “It’s no different than alcoholism or drug dependency.”
“Oh, please,” Dora scoffed. “It’s weakness. Nothing more.”
“You thought Fran had already signed the new will, didn’t you?” Maddie kept her eyes glued to Dora in case she made a quick move. “You thought Fran was going to leave the Bayside to you instead of her kids and you killed her.”
“I wasn’t planning on it,” Dora countered. “It wasn’t something I thought about. I had big hopes for the Bayside. I thought I might be able to talk to Fran about transferring ownership to me. That would get her out from under part of her financial burden.”
“You didn’t know how big the burden was, though, did you?”
Dora shook her head. “She hid it.”
“In the storage l
ockers.” Maddie idly scratched her elbow, testing Dora to see if she would react. The woman seemed lost in her own thoughts, though, and Maddie took that as a good sign. “I still don’t understand why you freaked out and killed her.”
“I told you it wasn’t on purpose,” Dora seethed, returning to the present. “I thought things were going to get better. I thought I was finally going to get what I deserved. Instead she tells me that she’s almost a hundred thousand in debt, and when she sells everything in the lockers it still won’t be enough to pay off the mortgage to the Bayside.
“Can you believe that?” she continued. “I worked for her for five years and thought I was finally going to get ahead and then she yanks the rug right out from under me.”
“You said you were going to talk her into transferring ownership of the bed and breakfast to you,” Maddie pressed. “She still could’ve done that. I don’t know a lot about bill collectors, but I’m assuming they couldn’t go after you once the transaction was complete.”
“No, but the problem was the mortgage,” Dora explained. “I didn’t know there was a mortgage on the property. I went through all of Fran’s paperwork and saw that the previous mortgage was paid off years ago. I thought she owned it free and clear.”
That made sense to Maddie – at least partially. She still didn’t understand how mild-mannered Dora could turn into a cold-blooded killer so easily. “When you realized the truth, you must’ve been angry.”
“I was furious … and I told her so,” Dora affirmed. “She was upset when she told me, but she had a ten-year plan to fix things. A ten-year plan? I mean … what an idiot.”
“You didn’t want to wait ten years, I’m guessing,” Maddie murmured. “You had a plan from the beginning, didn’t you? Once you realized Fran was vulnerable and easily manipulated, you moved in with the express motivation to manipulate her.
“She divorced Sterling, so he wasn’t an issue, but she footed the bill for her miserable kids so you needed to get her to stop doing that,” she continued. “That probably took longer than you thought, because even though Sam and Lola were drains on their mother, she still gave birth to them. She wouldn’t be keen to alienate them.”
“I was on her for years about that,” Dora confirmed. “I told her those kids were losers, but she didn’t want to believe it. Finally, four months ago she cut them off. You should’ve heard the howling when those kids called. They were grown adults and yet they expected their mother to provide for them. They were entitled brats.”
“And what are you?” Maddie challenged. “You appear to think that you’re entitled to the Bayside even though you didn’t buy it … or earn it.”
“Oh, I earned it. I put up with Fran’s whining … and complaining … and all around ill-tempered attitude for years. I earned that business!”
“It wasn’t yours, though! You tried to take it. Do you think I’m stupid? You were going to offer Fran the opportunity to put the business in your name to keep it from potential bill collectors. You didn’t know about the mortgage, though, so any change in ownership would have to be paid off at that time and that wasn’t possible given the circumstances.
“You were going to wait until you had full ownership and toss Fran out,” Maddie continued. “You were going to make her think nothing would change but you were going to kick her out of her own business. That was your plan, wasn’t it?”
Dora shrugged, seemingly unbothered by Maddie’s tone. “I was going to offer her a job as a maid. I wasn’t going to leave her destitute or anything.”
“Oh, well, how nice of you.” Maddie wrinkled her nose, horrified. “You’re worse than the kids. They were raised a certain way and came to rely on it. What’s your excuse?”
“Um … I want what I want when I want it,” Dora replied. “Oh, don’t look at me that way. Everyone thinks the same way I do. They simply don’t have the guts to act on it like I do.”
“What guts?” Maddie countered. “You hit a defenseless woman in the head so many times you left part of her brain on the floor. She died in that room … alone … and you didn’t earn a thing for all of your so-called effort.”
“That is the pisser of it all, isn’t it?” Dora’s response was bland and muted. “I think my biggest mistake was not realizing the effort that would be put into solving Fran’s death. I thought it would be two days of questions and then … nothing.”
“That’s not how good cops work, and Nick and Dale are the best cops I know.”
“Unfortunately for them, they’re going to have something else to worry about besides Fran for the next couple of days,” Dora said, her voice full of faux sugar. “Once you go missing they’re going to spend all of their time looking for you. That will give me time to get away.”
“Missing, huh?” Maddie knew the time for action was approaching and readied herself. “How are you going to manage that?”
“I guess I’m going to have to kill you and find a place to hide your body,” Dora replied, not missing a beat. “You weren’t part of my plan until you stuck your nose into my business. I was coming out here to get a few suitcases and then leave during the overnight hours. You did this to yourself.”
“And what’s that?” Maddie braced herself for Dora’s answer but got a surprise instead.
“Excuse me, I need more towels for my room.”
Maddie jolted at the sound of George’s voice, but her startled expression was nothing compared to the look on Dora’s face. George appeared calm, even a bit quizzical, and when he met Dora’s crazed gaze he maintained an air of serene confusion.
“I’m sorry but … what?” Dora was dumbfounded.
“I need towels,” George repeated. “I stopped by the front desk, but you weren’t there. Then I saw you were here. I need towels.”
“Yes, you’ve said that several times now,” Dora gritted out, gripping the shovel tighter. Maddie was within striking distance. George was not. If she hit Maddie, George would have plenty of time to escape. “I will bring you some towels as soon as I’m done out here.”
Maddie widened her eyes, sending a silent message to George as she took a step into the landscaping chips to her right. She needed to increase the distance between Dora and herself. Whether George understood what was happening remained a question, but Maddie had every intention of calling out to him as soon as she began running.
“Okay. That sounds good.” George flashed a charming smile. “Do you need help?”
“I’m fine,” Dora replied, terse.
“I wasn’t talking to you.”
That’s when Maddie realized George knew exactly what he was doing.
“I was talking to Maddie,” George said. “She is my daughter, after all.”
“She’s what?” Dora swiveled quickly, the shovel swinging toward the area where Maddie stood only moments before. Maddie was already moving, though, and she was well beyond Dora’s reach when the shovel clanged into the shed.
George wasted little time, moving behind Dora and putting his arm to her throat. She fought against his efforts, but George was strong. He wasn’t a big guy, but Dora was a relatively small woman.
She gasped for breath, her eyes bugging out of her head as Maddie took a moment to survey the situation. “Stop!” Dora dragged her fingernails over George’s forearm, abandoning the shovel entirely. “You don’t understand. I had to do it.”
“No, I don’t understand everything that’s going on,” George agreed, keeping the pressure on Dora’s throat as she dropped to her knees. “I know I won’t let you hurt my daughter, though.” He flicked his eyes to Maddie, taking in her heaving chest and wild eyes. “How did you find trouble so fast? I left you twenty minutes ago.”
Maddie merely shrugged. “Just lucky I guess.”
“MADDIE!”
Nick raced around the side of the Bayside, his weapon drawn and Kreskin close on his heels. The two men pulled up short when they found Dora prone on the ground, the shovel edged away from her grasp, and Maddie and
George standing next to her.
“Nicky!” Maddie hurried to him, throwing her arms around his neck. “I was just about to call you. It was Dora.”
“I certainly hope so,” Kreskin said, giving George a wide berth as he kneeled next to the fallen woman. “Is she dead?”
“Just unconscious,” George replied. “I grabbed her from behind and held on until she passed out. I didn’t know what else to do.”
“Yeah?” Kreskin cocked a questioning eyebrow. “Why did you grab on in the first place?”
“Because she was going to kill me with the shovel,” Maddie answered, releasing Nick and moving to George’s side in a show of solidarity. “He saved me.”
Kreskin pursed his lips. “I’m glad for that. What’s Dora’s story?”
Maddie related what the woman had told her, taking a few breaths and backtracking when she got ahead of herself. When she was done, Nick and Kreskin were flabbergasted.
“Seriously?” Kreskin shook his head. “I didn’t see that one coming. I was more interested in the story when I thought they were secret lesbians.”
Maddie scorched him with a dark look. “That’s not funny.”
“You’ll laugh in a few days.” Kreskin wasn’t bothered in the least by Maddie’s tone. “That was quite the plan she had.”
“Yeah, it sounds as if she’s a sociopath,” Nick muttered, stroking the back of Maddie’s head. “Are you okay, love?”
Maddie nodded, flashing a warm smile. “She never touched me. George showed up at the exact right time.”
“That’s because he was following you,” Nick said, holding up his hand when George opened his mouth to argue. “He wanted to make sure you were okay after your conversation. He called me when he realized something was going on here … and then he went after you.”
“He did it the exact right way,” Kreskin said, grinning. “You could learn a few lessons from him, Maddie. Things usually get out of control when you’re facing off with a killer. It doesn’t look as if it happened this time.”
Grave Haunting (A Maddie Graves Mystery Book 10) Page 19
