Ivy wasn’t certain about much, but on that point, she could rest easy. “Justice,” she echoed. “The end is almost here. Call for help. It won’t matter, but you have to do it.”
Jack moved his arm around Ivy’s back and tugged her to him as he pulled out his phone with his free hand. “It’s okay, honey. I’m right here. Just .... hold on. We’ll get through this.”
“I know. We always do.”
Twenty
Jack walked into the cottage shortly before seven that night, a bouquet of flowers clutched in his hand.
Ivy, who was cuddled on the couch with Nicodemus and a book she was only pretending to read, arched an eyebrow. “What are those for?”
“My favorite person in the world,” he replied without hesitation, double checking the door was locked behind him before kicking off his shoes and heading toward her. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine.” She made room so he could sit next to her and accepted the flowers he placed in her lap. “You didn’t need to spend a bunch of money on roses.” She lifted them anyway and inhaled deeply. “They’re beautiful, though.”
“You’re beautiful.” He kissed her cheek and studied her features for signs she was having a tough time of it. In truth, he’d spent the better part of his day worried that she was melting down, that she needed him and he was too busy to be with her. She looked relatively put together, though, and he wasn’t certain if that made him feel better or worse. “I love you.”
Ivy’s smile was rueful as she moved the flowers to the coffee table and focused on him. “Have you been obsessing about me all day?”
“I obsess about you every day.”
“You know what I mean.”
“I do,” he confirmed. “I should probably say no in an attempt to keep from agitating you, but the truth is, I have been thinking about you all day. Sue me.”
“You don’t have to worry.”
“No? You watched something terrible happen today.”
“So did you. Maybe I should be worked up about you.”
“I didn’t see it.” His fingers were light as they brushed her hair away from her face. “You saw it ... although I’m still not sure what it was. I thought maybe we could talk about it.”
Even though it was a desperately serious conversation, Ivy couldn’t stop herself from smiling. “You’re different from most men.”
“I’m going to take that as a compliment.”
“It was meant as one. You actually want to talk about things instead of sweeping them under the rug. That makes you unbelievably strong in my book.”
“You’re stronger.” He didn’t back down. “Tell me.”
“I don’t know what there is to tell.” That was the truth. Ivy was still trying to process what she witnessed. “Remember when I said that I saw a black shadow the day we discovered Éclair’s body? Well, that was her soul.”
“Why was it black?”
“Because she wasn’t a good person. I mean ... there was nothing good about her. That doesn’t mean she deserved to die the way she did, don’t get me wrong, but she wasn’t a redeemable individual.”
“No,” Jack agreed, taking her hand and pressing it to his chest as he leaned back to get comfortable. “Archie is dead. I’m sure you already knew that, but I thought I should confirm it.”
“Yeah.”
“How did he die? The medical examiner is banking on some sort of heart ailment, but we both know it was something else.”
“Éclair killed him.”
“I know but ... how?”
“She overtook him. Her malevolence met with his and ... that was it. I was worried for a few seconds. I thought if they joined he might turn into something even worse than he already was. Éclair didn’t care about joining him, though. She cared about making him pay. That was her darkness. His darkness created her.”
“We have Valerie on the record,” Jack supplied. “She was trying to leave when we returned to the station. She thought she’d gotten away with pointing a finger at Archie. She seemed surprised we would dare question her.
“When we told her everything we knew, though, she was upset,” he continued. “She tried saying that Archie was a liar. Then she decided to be the first one to turn to get a deal. We let her confess on the record ... and then we told her Archie was dead. She wasn’t happy, to say the least.”
Ivy’s gaze was speculative as it fell on him. “What did she say?”
“Do you want the long version or the short?”
“What do you think?”
He kissed the tip of her nose before continuing. “Most of the story she told us was true. She got a temp job for Sheridan, had sex with him, and thought she could manipulate him. Archie knew better. He recognized Valerie for what she was and proposed they work together to take down his father.
“The plan was to come up with a way to get him out of the picture,” he continued. “They were both hopeful Sheridan would die of a heart attack during sex, but it never happened. That meant they had to change their plans.”
“That must have been difficult when Sheridan transferred Valerie.”
“Definitely,” Jack agreed, bobbing his head. “It did give them another idea, though. Valerie claims she and Archie started a sexual relationship not long after the transfer. She says Archie loved her, was infatuated with her, but I’m not sure either one of them is capable of love.”
Ivy tilted her head to the side, considering. “I would agree with that. They’re both too evil to love. I’m willing to bet that Valerie tried to get pregnant by Archie as a follow-up to the original plan.”
“You are so smart.” Jack grinned as he gave her a swift kiss. “She claims she’s pregnant. We’re taking her to be checked out tomorrow. In her head, that means she has all the Sheridan money to use for her defense.”
“What about Archibald Sheridan? Is he dead?”
“No. He really is in Florida. We managed to get him on the phone. Archie had plans for his father — one of the security guards was apparently in on the plan — but when we told Sheridan what was going on he fired all the workers on the spot and locked himself in his bedroom. I believe he’s still there waiting for the National Guard to save him. Those are his words, mind you, not mine.”
Ivy pressed her lips together to keep from smiling at the visual. “Was he at least upset about Archie’s death?”
“He didn’t sound like it. He’s already making plans to shift things so his other son will inherit.”
“He sounds like a wonderful father,” Ivy groused.
“He’s horrible, too,” Jack acknowledged. “I wouldn’t worry about it, though. Karma is going to get him in the end. Right now, I’m simply glad that Valerie can’t touch the Sheridan money to fund her defense.”
“What’s going to happen to her baby, though?”
“I have no idea. It hasn’t even been confirmed that she’s really pregnant. She could be making that up.”
“I guess.” Ivy absently scratched her cheek. “Were either one of them there when Éclair was killed?”
“No. Not only are they evil, but they’re cowards, too. Éclair did leave of her own volition that night. She told Valerie she was going to the bar because she was bored at the hotel, although Valerie also claims Archie placed a call to lure her out of the hotel. I’m not sure which story is true.”
“She said Archie called her when she was about to attack. I would tend to believe her.”
“Then we’ll go with that story.” He squeezed her hand tighter. “Valerie and Archie had been waiting for an opening, so they took it,” he continued. “The second Éclair left the hotel, Valerie called the security guard they’d been plotting with, who happens to be the same security guard traveling with Sheridan. He was in town waiting for his chance ... and he took her. My understanding is he’s already been taken into custody in Florida, so he’s no longer a threat.”
Ivy made a clucking sound and pressed the heel of her hand to her forehead. “Well, at leas
t he’s off the street. After what he did to Éclair ... I still don’t understand why he beat her the way he did.”
“It was supposed to look like a mugging gone wrong,” Jack replied. “Valerie said that the security guy lost his head and went overboard. Obviously there was nothing they could do about it so they simply sat back and let the rest of their plan come to fruition.”
“And they did it all for money.”
“They did,” Jack confirmed.
“Éclair blackened her soul for money, too.”
He cast her a sidelong look. “How do you know that?”
“Because that’s all she cared about. She wanted the money ... and stature ... and the recognition that comes from a last name that people respected. She didn’t care about her mother, father, or brother. It was all about the money.”
Jack stroked his hand down the back of her head, concern washing over him. “She’s gone, right?”
Ivy nodded. “She burned herself up in the process of killing her brother. As a new spirit, she didn’t have a lot of strength to begin with. She fueled everything she had into killing him from the inside ... and then was absorbed on her way to the other side.”
“Do you think she’ll find happiness there?”
“No. There was no light in her soul. She won’t find happiness anywhere.”
“Ah, well ... .” Jack slid his arm around Ivy’s waist and tugged her to his lap. He understood the sadness permeating from her, but it was the last thing he wanted to see. “I think we need a break.”
She lifted her eyes and stared at his strong profile. “You mean a weekend away, right? You’re not talking about a break from each other, are you?”
“Bite your tongue.” He kissed her forehead. “I’m talking about a few days away, just the two of us.”
“What did you have in mind?”
He’d been thinking about this all day. His mind constantly traveled to her when he was placing calls and filling out paperwork. He had a plan in place, and he was hopeful she would agree to it. “Camping.”
She stilled, surprised. “You hate camping.”
“That is not true,” he protested. “I happen to like camping. I had a great time on the last trip ... until one of my friends turned out to be a murderer. I don’t think that’s going to happen on this trip, though. Of course, that could just be wishful thinking.”
“And you really want to go camping?” Ivy was understandably dubious. The last time they slept together in the great outdoors, Jack complained about almost everything. “We can pick another place to go if you want. Maybe we can go to a hotel for a weekend or something.”
“No.” Jack was firm as he shook his head. “We need time away ... and more than a few days. I thought we would have that time when we took the cruise, but we found more trouble there. After what happened this go-around, I think we should make an effort to go someplace where no one knows us and there are no towns around so it’s just us and the wilderness.”
Ivy pursed her lips. “I love camping.”
“I know.”
“You don’t, though. I think we should pick something else.”
“No.” Jack refused to back down. “Camping is what we need. We’ll make s’mores and sit under the stars at night, enjoy a campfire, and even go fishing.”
“I’m not fishing. You know I don’t kill animals.”
“Then you can watch me fish.”
She sighed, resigned. “I just don’t want you to complain.”
“Do I look like the type who would complain?”
She nodded without hesitation. “Yeah. I recognize the signs because I’m a complainer, too. I think that’s why we fit so well together.”
“There are a number of reasons we fit so well together.” He pressed his lips to hers, eliciting a huge grin. “Pick a spot and a time and we will make this happen.”
“I might need a week to get things organized at the nursery.”
“That’s fine. I need to finish up the paperwork on this case. There still might be questions when we get Archie’s autopsy report.”
“Well ... that still sounds fun.”
“It does.”
“Camping.”
“Yes, camping.” He started tickling her, grinning when he heard her gasp and giggle. “I think this trip is going to be very different from the last one.”
“I certainly hope so.”
“Let’s celebrate our plan with a bath and a shared dream, huh? I believe you promised me a glimpse of our future kids.”
“You know I can’t really show you that.” She turned serious. “We can only show each other what we want to see.”
“That’s good enough for me.”
Oddly enough, it was good enough for her, too. “Let’s do it. I want to focus on something good after the day we’ve had.”
“You read my mind, honey. Let’s focus on something good ... and you’re the best person I’ve ever met.”
“Right back at you.”
Wicked Respite
An Ivy Morgan Mystery Book 14
One
Jack Harker was a brave man, but he never thought shopping for camping supplies would be on his agenda. It wasn’t that he thought of himself as an indoor guy as much as he thought sleeping on the ground was for the young. Despite that, he found himself pushing a huge cart inside an outdoor adventure store as his fiancée Ivy Morgan studied each aisle with great detail.
“Is there such a thing as a heated tent?” he asked.
Slowly, Ivy tracked her eyes to him. “What do you mean?”
“Just what I said. I don’t like being cold.”
“We could get a space heater and take it with us. We’ll have to buy batteries but there are chargers we can get that run off the battery of your truck to charge them, if that’s what you want.”
Jack made a series of popping noises with his lips as he pretended to study the wall of sleeping bags to his right. “Do you think we should do that?”
Ivy managed to keep her face placid even though it was a chore. Jack was a city boy, she reminded herself. He grew up in the rough neighborhoods surrounding Detroit. No one camped in that area ... at least not at a place that didn’t feature a cartoon bear on the brochures.
“Maybe we should do something else,” she hedged, wrapping her hand around his wrist and carefully pulling him away from the sleeping bags. “We could go to a hotel for a weekend or something. That’s easier and still a chance for us to get away.”
Jack’s gaze was withering as he pinned her with a dark look. “No. I said we were going camping.”
“Yes, but ... .” Ivy was at a loss. She loved Jack beyond reason, but she had things to say. Those things were unlikely to go over well if she didn’t measure her response and take Jack’s feelings into consideration.
Jack knew Ivy better than anyone. They’d been introduced a little more than a year ago. In that time, however, they’d completely fallen head-over-heels for one another. Their lives were so intertwined from the start that Jack never labored under the delusion they wouldn’t end up together. From the start, it seemed they were destined to be each other’s forever. He still believed that, despite the conundrum he found himself in now.
“We’re going camping.” He was firm as he turned back to the sleeping bag display. “I’m perfectly capable of roughing it in the wilderness of the Upper Peninsula. It was a simple question.”
Ivy, her long brown hair (which was streaked with hints of pink) hanging over her shoulders in a wavy sheet, tilted her head to the side. “We can get the heater.” She wanted him to be comfortable more than anything else. If he was worried about being cold, that would be the source of unneeded stress. “It’s a good idea.”
The look he shot her was full of annoyance. “You’re laughing at me inside, aren’t you?”
“No.” Ivy immediately started shaking her head. “I’m not. I love you. I would never laugh at you.”
She was so earnest Jack took pity on her. “Ivy,
I love you, too. I’ve never doubted you love me. Your head is full of laughter, though. You might as well admit it because we both know it’s true. You’re not fooling anybody.”
Ivy worked her lower jaw as she debated her options. Finally, she blew out a sigh. “Okay, here’s the thing: The tent we’ve got is relatively big, but it’s also warm. I know this because I helped pick it out. It’s thermal. We’re not going to freeze to death.”
“This is earlier in the season from last year, though,” he pointed out. “The afternoons are fairly warm now, but the nights are still cool. Plus, we’re driving two hours up north. I mean ... we’re going to be in the official north of the north. That means it’s going to be colder.”
Ivy had to bite the inside of her cheek to keep from laughing. Jack was the sort of man who liked to plan things out to the best of his ability. She, on the other hand, was more willing to fly by the seat of her pants and manage the outcome as it occurred. They were very different in that respect and yet she believed they were perfectly suited for one another. Her heart broke out in song whenever she caught sight of him. Her skin hummed when he drew near. It was as if their souls recognized one another from the start, she often mused. Once meeting, they both knew they couldn’t make it without one another. It was folly to ever try.
“Hey.” Jack snapped his fingers in front of her face and frowned. “Where was your head? I’m having a serious conversation with you. I don’t want to freeze to death ... and it’s as if I can see you rolling your eyes even when I’m not looking at you.”
Ivy heaved out a sigh. It was obvious he was about to melt down because he thought she was internally laughing at his lack of outdoor acumen. “Jack, we’re not going to freeze to death.” Gently, she reached out and linked her fingers with his. “Do you think I would risk that? We have two thermal sleeping bags. We’re going to zip them together like before. We’ll be sharing warmth so it will be hotter than you think.”
She didn’t realize that she’d let a double entendre fly until she saw the wicked intent in his eyes. “Oh, geez.” She made a face. “Your mind just went to a dirty place, didn’t it?”
Ivy Morgan Mystery Box Set 5 Page 20
