“No. Not with the people who matter, at least.” His smile was warm and comforting, like a fuzzy blanket descending over her on a cold winter day. “You weren’t closed off, Ivy. You were simply careful. There’s nothing wrong with being careful.”
“Sometimes I think I wanted to give you my heart from the very first second I saw you. Something whispered in the back of my mind that you were the one. I tried to ignore that voice for a whole five days before giving in, but part of me knew.”
“Part of me knew, too.” He leaned forward and rested his forehead against hers. “Do you have any idea how much I love you?”
“Probably about half as much as I love you.”
“No, it’s double.”
“Half.”
“Double.”
“Half.”
He heaved out a sigh. “You just have to win, don’t you?”
“I have you. I’ve already won the big prize.”
“So sweet.” His grin was sloppy when he leaned in for a kiss. “We’re going to have to agree to disagree about who loves whom more.”
“Fair enough.” Ivy forced herself to focus on him. “How did things go with you today? Did you solve your murder?”
He wasn’t sure how to respond. What he had to tell her would be difficult … on multiple levels. “We haven’t solved it. Her name is Becky Morris … and she happened to be at the same campground we were this weekend.”
Ivy felt as if the oxygen had been stolen from her lungs. “What? You can’t be serious.”
Jack was calm as he laid everything out for her. He spoke in measured tones and left nothing out. Other detectives would probably limit the amount of information they shared with their wives and significant others. That wasn’t how he operated, though.
“That is unbelievable,” she said when he was finished, her mind working a mile a minute. “Does this mean Gordon is innocent?”
Jack smirked. “I wondered how fast it would take you to get there. I don’t know what it means. I talked to Trooper Winters today and told him what happened. He’s equally flummoxed. Apparently Gordon has lawyered up and isn’t talking.”
“Are they going to drop charges against him?”
“Not yet. They have no reason to. We don’t have proof that the two deaths are linked.”
“No, but … come on. They have to be linked. It’s way too much of a coincidence otherwise.”
“I happen to agree.” Jack shoved the vegetarian wrap and fries he’d gotten her from the diner in her direction. “Eat your dinner before it gets cold. Then there’s something I want to talk to you about.”
Ivy mechanically grabbed the wrap and took a big bite, her gaze shrewd as she chewed and watched him. She didn’t speak again until she swallowed. “You’re worried whoever killed Stacy followed us here.”
He internally marveled at how quickly she’d worked that out. “I don’t know,” he replied after a beat. “It’s a bit of a leap to assume we’re the targets. The body was dumped in the freeway median, so it’s possible that someone else is the target and it was a coincidence where she was dropped.”
Ivy wasn’t sure she believed in coincidences. “Maybe Stacy Shepherd was targeted because she was blond. You said that this Becky Morris was blond, too. Maybe whoever killed them was aiming for Becky the whole time.”
“I’ve considered that, too. We can’t completely ignore Stacy in all of this, but we have to focus on Becky. She’s our primary concern.”
“So what’s your next step?”
“I want to go back to the campground.”
Her mouth dropped open. “No way. That’s like two hours of driving.”
“I don’t want to drive back.” He leveled a serious look in her direction. It was pointed.
“You want to dream walk.” She was already nodding when she realized what he had in mind for their evening. They’d done it before to look over a crime scene. It was often helpful to both of them to do it together. “You want to go back to the scene of the first crime.”
“I think it’s worth a shot. Are you game?”
Ivy nodded without hesitation. “Yeah. I’m as worried about this as you are. I think it’s a good idea.”
“I’m glad. I was hoping you would see things my way.”
“Don’t I always see things your way?”
“Actually, very rarely.”
“Oh, now you’re just whining.”
“And you’re being surly.”
“Keep it up.”
His smile turned indulgent. “For the rest of our lives.”
Oddly enough, that was good with her. “Let’s eat and then take a bath. If we’re going to bed early, I need to relax.”
“I have a few ideas on that, too.”
Ivy had no doubt that was true.
“JACK?”
Ivy was antsy so it took her longer than she estimated to fall asleep. Jack slipped under long before she did, and she worried he would give up waiting for her and leave in a huff. Instead, he was sitting by the bank of the river fishing when she arrived.
“I see you kept yourself busy, huh?” She was amused when her eyes landed on him. “Did you catch anything good?”
“Just you.” He discarded the pole on the ground. It was a dream, so he wasn’t really littering, and pulled her toward him. “I was starting to get worried you weren’t coming.”
“I couldn’t fall asleep,” she admitted, rueful. “The harder I tried, the more difficult it became. Finally, it was the sound of your breathing that did it. I focused on that and then, lo and behold, I dropped off right away.”
“It’s okay. I know it’s difficult to fall asleep when the pressure is on.” He linked his fingers with hers. “I want to go back to the night we found Stacy’s body. I want to look around again, see what we can see.”
“I figured.” Ivy lifted her chin as they slipped out of the woods and emerged in the campground they’d only left the day before. “It looks different from this vantage point, doesn’t it?”
Jack slid his gaze to her, confused. “What looks different? Are you saying the campground looks different? I thought I did a good job building that while I was waiting for you.”
Jack and Ivy had been sharing dreams from almost the start. Weeks after they met, they found themselves taking on leading roles in romantic rendezvous meet-ups. They initially assumed they were partaking in harmless dreams until the truth came out and they realized they were climbing into each other’s brains at night. Ivy explained that she believed Jack was calling to her because he was having trouble living with what happened to him, his former murderous partner trying to kill him. They worked together to smooth things over for Jack and, in the process, fell head over heels for each other. Ever since, they’d continued to go on dream adventures, although they’d limited themselves to once or twice a month because they didn’t want to become reliant on a fake world when the real world they already lived in was so fulfilling.
“It’s not that,” Ivy reassured him hurriedly. “It’s just … I guess I didn’t realize the woods were so close to the trail from this direction. You would know better, though. You went into the woods so you could head down to the river and fish.”
Jack, his brow furrowed, looked back and forth between the trail and the woods. “No, this distance feels right.”
“It looks like it’s a longer distance when you’re standing on the hill,” Ivy noted. “I didn’t go into the woods at all this trip. Once the body was discovered, that seemed like a stupid idea.”
“True.” Jack kept his eyes busy on the ground. “Okay, move to the spot where we were standing on the hill,” he instructed as he stood on the trail.
Ivy dutifully did as told. There was no danger in this world. It was a place she and Jack had created out of thin air. Nothing could hurt them here. “This is where we were when we realized what we were dealing with,” she offered. “It was so dark we could hardly see at all.”
“I remember that.” Jack rubbed his
chin. “Stacy’s body was here.” As if by magic, the outline of the blonde’s body appeared at Jack’s feet. “She was facing the woods,” he noted. “That’s why we believed it was possible she fell. She honestly could’ve tripped and tumbled face first and landed the way she did. Maybe she really did trip, but it was probably because someone was chasing her. That might explain how she landed … and if our killer managed to catch her, he could’ve pressed her to the ground with a foot or something while breaking her neck.”
The visual he was painting caused Ivy to swallow hard. She didn’t know how he dealt with the images in his head sometimes. She studied the ground on the hill rather than immediately react. “There aren’t a lot of rocks or sticks poking out to cause her to trip. I guess, if she was frightened enough, she could’ve tripped over her own feet. The thing is, if she was being chased, why not scream? We weren’t all on top of one another, but we would’ve heard her scream and come running.”
“That’s a good point.” Jack dragged a restless hand through his hair. “That means it had to be a blitz attack. If she saw her killer coming then she would’ve alerted. I think you’re right on that front.” He lifted his eyes so he could stare in the direction of their campsite. “We left the fire going up there. Everyone left their fires going.” He turned in a circle and studied the landscape in every direction. “If I was going to kill someone and expected to get away with it, I wouldn’t hang around after the fact. I would head to the shadows to hide.”
“Unless he wanted to watch everyone’s reactions,” Ivy argued. “That’s possible, right? I mean … serial killers get off watching. Right now, we happen to believe that he’s killed more than one woman. That might not make him a serial killer, but it definitely makes him dangerous.”
“Both the women looked alike,” Jack noted. “Maybe Stacy really was an accident. Maybe he was looking for Becky the whole time and somehow screwed it up.”
“Or maybe they’re both substitutes and he’s really after someone else. Maybe our killer is triggered by blondes because somewhere in his past, maybe even a long time ago, a blonde did him wrong. Or he believes she did.”
“That’s actually not a bad theory,” Jack mused, shifting from one foot to the other. “I still think it would’ve been smartest for the killer to hide in the shadows. You’ve got me thinking, though. Do you remember who rushed out when that woman started screaming after discovering the body?”
“Um … .” Ivy racked her bran. “We were here.” She moved down two feet. “Max was here and I thought he was going to freak out.”
“Right.” Jack gestured to his right. “Jeff was standing here. He looked really confused because he was by himself and didn’t have anyone to tell him what was happening. There were those two other guys who claimed they were on a fishing trip but were really having a weekend together.”
Ivy’s eyes widened. “You mean the two hot ones who were dressed really well? They were together? I guess I should’ve seen that coming. They never went anyplace without one another.”
“You thought they were hot?” Jack made a face. “I believe I’m the only person you’re supposed to think of as attractive.”
“Whatever. Like you don’t have a thing for Kate Beckinsale.”
He drenched himself in faux innocence. “You’re the only person I find attractive.”
“Lies, lies, lies.” She shook her head. “I’ve seen you watch those Underworld movies. You love her in black leather and you know it.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
Ivy went back to staring at the people who had steadily appeared in the dream. “That’s everybody, right? Everybody was in groups except for Jeff.”
Jack immediately started shaking his head. “He wasn’t supposed to be alone, though. He had friends coming. They were late. He couldn’t control that. The next day he came and got us to fish with him even though he didn’t know us. He also stayed at the campsite after we left. Everything on his parcel was still set up when we broke ours down.”
Ivy hadn’t paid that close attention. It didn’t surprise her that Jack did. “You should still run a background check on him. You can’t rule him out simply because you liked him.”
“I have no intention of ruling him out without just cause. He’s just not the one I’m leaning toward.”
“Who are you leaning toward?”
“I have no idea. Jeff is low on my list, though. A killer wouldn’t seek out friends to fish with. It honestly could be anyone. It’s not as if we saw everyone who was staying there. We only saw a handful of people.”
“Darn us and our isolationist ways,” she teased.
“Yeah.” He held out his hand to her. “I don’t know what else we can do here. I need to stew on this. What do you say we go up to our camp and do what we should’ve been able to do had your brother not insisted on joining us and have a little frolic under the stars?”
Ivy was amused despite herself. “That wasn’t going to happen even if Max didn’t come. I wouldn’t have risked the people at the other campsite seeing us.”
“In my head you would have. I’m sorry.”
She snorted, delighted with his cheeky tone. “Well, I guess it doesn’t matter for tonight’s purposes. No one can see us in the dream but us, so that’s all that matters.”
“That’s exactly what I was thinking. I’ll race you to the top of the hill.”
Competitive spirit flitted through Ivy’s eyes. “You’re on.”
Twelve
Jack was still struggling with the investigation when he left for work the next morning. Ivy apologized for not being more help, but he waved it off.
“It’s not your job to figure this out. I just want you to be careful.”
“I’m not blond.”
“No, but you were at the campsite. Two blondes is interesting, but it could be a coincidence. Promise me you’ll be careful.”
“I have no intention of finding trouble,” Ivy promised. That was true. She had other things on her mind today. “In fact, I’m going to be dealing with my brother this morning so you have nothing to worry about.”
“You’re spending the day with Max?” That was news to Jack. “How come?”
“Not the whole day. He hasn’t returned my calls about the barbecue, though, so I’m going out there to discuss things in person with him. If he doesn’t show up – with Amy in tow – my mother will melt down and keep at it until she gets her way. It’s best there’s a meeting today so this doesn’t drag out for too long.”
“Good point.”
Ivy took her time showering and cleaning up, but then she forced herself out the door even though she was reticent. The last thing she wanted to do was insert herself into Max’s love life. That wasn’t generally how she rolled. She didn’t have much of a choice in the matter, though, so she figured it was best to rip off the bandage and get to it. She didn’t want the specter hanging over her all afternoon so she wanted to take the brother by the horns, so to speak.
Max was in his office, intent on what looked to be his books when she entered without knocking. The Morgan siblings were close – unhealthily so at times – and he didn’t look surprised when he glanced up and found her watching him with unreadable eyes.
“Did you miss me already?”
Ivy snorted before sliding into the chair across from his desk. Now that she was here, she felt out of place. “Every moment spent without you is a living hell.”
“I know it. I’m glad you can admit it.” He went back to looking at his books but could feel her eyes on him. “Are you here for a specific reason, Ivy?” He braced himself for her to start yelling about him taking over her camping trip. He expected that explosion before they left the Upper Peninsula, but it didn’t happen because they had other things on their minds when they fled.
“I am.” Ivy rubbed her sweaty palms on her jeans. “So, here’s the thing … um … the thing is … there’s a thing.”
Max slowly lifted his ey
es and found his sister fidgeting, something she only did when she was feeling agitated. If she was here to yell, she would jump right into it and not feel guilty in the least. “Has something happened?” His mind immediately went to his parents. “Nothing is wrong with Mom and Dad, is it? I haven’t seen them since I’ve been back. I didn’t even call.”
“Mom and Dad are fine.” Ivy internally cursed herself for making him worry. “That’s not what this is about. Okay, not entirely. Oh, geez. I’m making an idiot of myself.”
“Just tell me why you’re here and we’ll go from there,” he prodded gently.
That sounded like a good idea. “Okay, here’s the thing … Mom stopped by the nursery yesterday. She was full of questions about Amy. She kind of maneuvered me into setting up this barbecue deal tonight so she could meet her. You haven’t returned my calls yet, though, so if you and Amy aren’t coming Mom is going to totally melt down … and then punish me.”
Max took a long beat to stare dumbly at his sister. “This is about the barbecue?” he queried finally.
Ivy took umbrage with his tone. “You didn’t call me back. That’s only polite, for the record.”
“Oh, geez.” He rubbed his forehead, frustrated. “I can’t believe that’s why you’re here.” He practically exploded. “I was legitimately worried you were going to tell me something terrible, like Aunt Felicity was sick or Dad had an affair or something. This is about the barbecue? I want to rub your face in the dirt for making me worry like that.”
Ivy narrowed her eyes. “Hey, I don’t like this any more than you do. I didn’t want to be forced into this position. You know Mom has a way about her. She made me do this.”
“Well, you can tell Mom that I’m not sure we’re up for a barbecue tonight,” Max gritted out. “I’ll let you know in a few hours, after I talk to Amy and okay it with her. She might not want to go.”
Ivy read something in her brother’s demeanor that she hadn’t picked up on before. He was tense. Unnaturally so, in fact. He looked like a man on the verge of a breakdown. “What’s wrong? Did something happen with Amy?”
Ivy Morgan Mystery Box Set 5 Page 31
