Ivy Morgan Mystery Box Set 5

by Lily Harper Hart

  Ivy leaned forward and held out a hand. “Give me some. Maybe we can figure out her system.”

  “Okay. That sounds like a plan.” Patsy managed a shaky smile. “Thanks for helping.”

  “Thanks for agreeing I’m not a murderer.”

  Six

  Since Felicity’s store and apartment were one town over, Jack and Brian opted to wait until the following day to question her.

  “I know this is hard for you,” Brian noted as the two detectives stood in front of the police station shortly after quitting time. “You like Felicity.”

  “I do like her,” Jack confirmed, his gaze drifting across the town square, to where the diner was located. Ivy’s vehicle was parked in front, which meant she was already there waiting for him. “You like her, too.”

  “I’ve always liked Felicity. She’s an amazing person. That doesn’t mean we can treat her any differently.”

  “I’m well aware.”

  Brian was silent for a moment. He had more to say but wasn’t sure how to broach it. Finally, he decided to just lay it out there. “You can’t tell Ivy her aunt is a suspect.”

  Jack was expecting the warning, but it burned all the same. “Did I say I was going to tell her?”

  “No, but you’ve got that look.”

  “And what look is that?”

  “You know the look,” Brian chided on a dramatic sigh. “Jack, I don’t want to tell you your business, but now might be a good time to take a few days off. I know you don’t want to hear it but ... it might be better for both of us if you recuse yourself from this case.”

  Jack’s eyebrows practically flew off his forehead. “Are you suggesting that I’m not capable of divorcing my personal life from my professional?”

  “Yes,” Brian answered without hesitation. “Oh, don’t look at me that way. You’re a good cop, Jack. I’ve known that from the start. That’s why I threw my support behind you when the chief tossed your hat in the ring for the job opening last year. All he could see were your credentials. It was a big deal for us to get a detective from Detroit.”

  Jack didn’t say anything. Brian had never told him this story. And, despite his annoyance, he was intrigued enough to listen.

  “Most of the cops we get up here were trained at the academy over in Traverse City,” Brian continued. “They don’t want to work in a high-crime area. They want to hand out tickets and harass motorists, maybe mess with a few neighbors. Most of them are good men, but they’re not ambitious men.

  “Your reasons for coming here were hardly secret,” he added. “I knew you’d gone through a life-changing event and that’s why you wanted out of the city. I figured you would be gun-shy, afraid of your shadow ... and I didn’t blame you. I was glad to be wrong on that front.

  “You’re the best detective I’ve ever met and I don’t throw compliments like that around willy-nilly,” he offered. “Ivy changed your life, though. You came here determined to disappear into your own shadow, but she wouldn’t allow it. You feel as if you owe her.”

  Jack stirred. “I do owe her. That doesn’t mean I’m going to be derelict in my duties.”

  “I know that.”

  “I can perform my job to your lofty expectations. You don’t have to worry.”

  Brian held his gaze for a beat and then let loose an extended sigh. “Fine. I’ve said what I had to say. Just make sure that Ivy doesn’t know that you plan on questioning Felicity. She’s loyal to you, but she won’t be able to stop herself from tipping off her aunt.”

  Jack had already considered that. “Even if Ivy did tip off Felicity, there’s no way she would run,” he said reasonably. “That’s not who she is. And, quite frankly, we both know she’s not a killer.”

  “On a normal day, I would agree with you. I mean … I mostly agree with you. The thing is, the more I think about it, the more bothered I am. I never would’ve pegged Felicity as the type to date Henry. She’s too good for him. Like ... way too good for him. And yet somehow she fell into his net. We can’t simply overlook that.”

  Jack had been wondering about the same thing. “There has to be a reason.” He was insistent. “Maybe ... maybe she’s undercover or something and thinks Henry is doing something nefarious.”

  Brian’s eyebrow arched in amusement. “I think you’re grasping at straws.”

  “Fair point but ... she’s still not a killer.” Jack refused to back down. “That’s not who she is. That’s not the woman I’ve come to know and love. She’s a good person.”

  “I know she is.” Brian was firm on that point. “You heard Lucy and Fanny, though. All three women hate one another. There’s a competition between them no matter what they say. Lucy can act as tough as she wants, but she still wants to beat the others. That’s not simply going to disappear.”

  “No,” Jack agreed. “It’s not going to disappear. I think they’re far more likely to be suspects than Felicity, though.”

  “On the surface, I would agree. We both feel as if we know Felicity, so we’re naturally loyal to her. We can’t just assume it’s one of the other two because that’s the outcome we want to see. That’s not how this gig works.”

  “You don’t have to remind me how to do the job.”

  “Then don’t go down that road,” Brian insisted. “We have to look at all the women with equal weight. We’re already skirting the line by pushing Felicity’s questioning until tomorrow. I simply want to make sure that you don’t make a mistake and let her involvement in this slip to Ivy.”

  “You’re assuming she doesn’t already know,” Jack prodded. “Maybe she didn’t say anything because she’s protecting her aunt, but it’s possible she already knows the truth.”

  “You’d better hope that’s not the case.” Brian turned grave. “If Ivy knew about Felicity’s involvement with Henry, that gives her motive — however weak — to kill Zelda.”

  Jack was taken aback. “How can you say that?”

  “Ivy loves her aunt. She’s like a second mother to her. If Felicity is in love with Henry and delusional enough to think he’ll settle down if the competition is eradicated, a prosecutor might argue that Ivy was trying to help her aunt when she took out Zelda.”

  Jack extended a warning finger. “Don’t go there. That is ... the most ludicrous thing I’ve ever heard. Ivy is not a killer.”

  “I happen to agree with you. We’re not in charge of who gets prosecuted, though. You know that as well as anybody. We’re walking a very fine line here. We have to be careful.”

  Jack hated to admit it, but his partner was right. “I won’t say anything.”

  “Thank you.”

  “Just so you know, though, when she finds out, there’s a very good chance she’ll call off the wedding. When that happens, I’m going to have no place to live as I try to win her back, which means I’m going to have to move in with you.”

  For the first time in hours, Brian let loose a sincere laugh. “I’ll have the wife make up the guest bedroom for you.” He shook his head and rubbed his temple. “Ivy might be angry when she finds out you didn’t say anything, but she’ll ultimately understand. She’s good that way.”

  Jack wasn’t so sure. “I hope so. I can’t lose her.”

  “You won’t lose her ... especially over something like this. As you said, Felicity isn’t a murderer. We have to question her, but maybe we’ll get lucky and she’ll have a solid alibi — like she was in her store twenty miles away and there are witnesses — and we can mark her off the list right away.”

  “That would be nice, huh? Do you think we’ll get that lucky?”

  “There’s no harm in hoping. For now, have dinner with your fiancée and be gooey and gross to your heart’s content. Tomorrow is a new day ... and things are going to get difficult.”

  Jack didn’t want to think about that. “I might drown my sorrows in pie tonight. You’re going to have to roll me into the cruiser tomorrow. You’ve been forewarned.”

  “You’ll be fine.” Brian was
sincere. “You and Ivy have the strongest foundation I’ve ever seen. You have nothing to worry about.”

  Jack fervently hoped that was true.

  IVY LAUGHED WHEN SHE SAW Max, Amy, and JJ walk into the diner. Somehow, Max had gotten a child-sized shirt featuring the logo from his lumberyard for the boy to wear and JJ’s chest was puffed out as he hurried to the table.

  “Look what Max got me,” he enthused, his eyes bright. “It means I’m officially part of the team at the lumberyard.”

  Ivy returned the grin. “That’s awesome. Are you going to be a professional lumberjack now?”

  JJ nodded without hesitation. “Max is going to start teaching me how to use an ax tomorrow.”

  Amy cleared her throat as she settled in one of the chairs. “We talked about this. You’re not learning how to use an ax until you’re thirty.”

  “But, Mom.” JJ’s tone was whiny. “That’s not fair. I can’t be a lumberjack if I don’t have an ax.”

  Max squeezed Amy’s shoulder as he sat next to her. “But, Mom,” he mimicked JJ to perfection. “That’s so not fair.”

  “I don’t care if it’s fair.” Amy was firm. “I’m the boss.”

  JJ looked to Max for confirmation, something Ivy found relatively cute but realized could become a problem. If JJ was already considering Max a parental figure, that could diminish Amy’s authority. She made a mental note to discuss that very thing with her brother when it was just the two of them. She didn’t want Max overstepping his bounds and alienating the best thing that had ever happened to him.

  “Your mother is the boss,” Max reiterated without hesitation. “You have to do what she says.”

  “Until I’m thirty?” JJ was understandably dubious. “I think that’s against the law.”

  Max chuckled at the boy’s reaction. “You’ll have to take that up with a police officer. Luckily for you, one is heading this way right now.” He tipped his head in the direction of the door as Jack stepped through it.

  Ivy instantly raised her eyes and waved when she caught sight of him. Jack returned the wave and smiled, although it didn’t make it all the way to his eyes.

  “I think he’s had a long day,” Amy commented. “I guess that means they didn’t find their murderer yet.”

  “Maybe I’ll become a detective like Jack,” JJ mused. “Catching murderers might be fun, too.”

  “You can’t do that until you’re fifty,” Amy countered, earning a scowl from her son. “I mean it.”

  “Moms are mean,” JJ lamented to Ivy. “At least my mom is mean. I bet you wouldn’t be a mean mom.”

  “You’d be wrong there,” Max countered as Jack cut through the restaurant. “Ivy is the meanest woman in the world. You know those fairytales about evil stepmothers? Ivy was the basis for all of those characters.”

  Amy playfully slapped his arm. “Don’t say that about your sister. You’re going to confuse him and it’s not funny, no matter what you think.”

  Max didn’t back down. “Hey, who knows her better than me? What I say is law.”

  “I know her better than you and that’s not even remotely true,” Jack countered, dropping a kiss on top of Ivy’s head as he sank into the chair next to her. “Stop giving your sister grief. She’s had a rough day.”

  Max had the grace to be abashed. “I kind of forgot about Zelda. I apologize from the bottom of my heart for giving you grief, dear sister.”

  On a normal day, his tone would’ve rankled. Since this was far removed from a normal day, Ivy had other things to worry about. She’d already forgotten about her brother’s ridiculous comments and was focused on Jack. “Anything?”

  He met her gaze and internally debated how to respond. He was speaking before he thought better of it. “It seems Henry has been a busy boy. He had three other girlfriends besides Zelda and one of them is Felicity.”

  In hindsight, Jack realized Brian was absolutely right when he suggested it was a good idea for him to remove himself from the case. It was too late now, though. He’d already stuck his foot in his mouth ... and this was going to be bad.

  “Wait ... you’re saying Aunt Felicity has been dating Henry Spencer?” Max let loose a disdainful laugh. “There’s absolutely no way that’s true.”

  “It can’t be true,” Ivy agreed. She was calmer than Jack expected. “Aunt Felicity would never date him. He’s ... gross.”

  “Aunt Felicity doesn’t date at all,” Max added. “She’s a virtual nun .... just a pagan one who sells crystals and incense for a living.”

  “Maybe she was lonely,” Jack supplied. “Maybe that’s why she agreed to date Henry even though he’s a walking swine. I mean ... that’s possible, right?”

  Max immediately started shaking his head. Ivy, however, was more thoughtful. Jack found the difference in their reactions intriguing.

  “Aunt Felicity is the sort of person who would set Henry on fire rather than date him,” Max insisted. “He’s a disgusting pervert. Even if she did date — which she doesn’t — he isn’t her type. He’s a pig.”

  Jack slid his eyes to Ivy. “You don’t look as convinced.”

  “I don’t believe she’s been dating Henry,” Ivy volunteered, choosing her words carefully. “I mean ... he really isn’t her type. I’m just not as convinced as Max that she’s a nun. I mean ... I’ve been wondering a bit lately if she’s lonely. Maybe it’s just finding you, but I’ve been considering setting her up on a blind date.”

  Jack ran his tongue over his teeth. “You’re both convinced that Felicity wouldn’t date Henry and yet we have confirmation from multiple people — including Henry — that she is. I get that Henry is a righteous jerk and talks out of both sides of his mouth, but why would he lie about this?”

  “Maybe he killed Zelda and wants to paint Aunt Felicity as a scapegoat,” Max suggested.

  “He has an alibi and we’ve already confirmed it. He was at that spa over at the resort getting himself puffed and pampered ... and other gross things that I don’t ever want to think about again. The workers confirmed he was there for hours — including at the time of the murder — and his credit card receipts back that up, too.”

  Ivy tapped her chin, thoughtful. “But ... why Henry Spencer?”

  “I can’t answer that for you.”

  “I don’t expect you to provide answers on that. I’ll just call Aunt Felicity and ask.” Ivy dug for her phone and frowned when Jack’s hand shot out to grab her wrist.

  “You can’t tip her off,” Jack argued. “I wasn’t supposed to tell you about Felicity and Henry dating as it is. The last thing Brian said to me when we separated for the day was that I couldn’t tell you.”

  “Way to be strong, dude.” Max offered his future brother-in-law a sarcastic thumbs-up. “You held out a whole thirty seconds. That was impressive.”

  Jack glared at him. “Don’t push me.”

  Ivy was obviously frustrated. “I don’t understand. Haven’t you questioned her?”

  “Not until tomorrow. We spent the afternoon questioning his other girlfriends. Felicity is first on deck tomorrow. You can’t tip her off.”

  Ivy struggled to maintain her temper ... and failed. “You can’t seriously expect me to sit here and do nothing.”

  “That’s exactly what I expect you to do. I could get in big trouble for opening my mouth.”

  “That’s not my fault.”

  Jack narrowed his eyes. “Don’t make me regret telling you. If this blows up in my face, we could both end up in a world of hurt. You know that as well as I do. This could be bad for you, too.”

  Ivy was back to being confused. “I don’t understand. How could this be bad for me?”

  “We don’t decide what charges are brought and against whom,” Jack explained, using Brian’s earlier argument as a basis to lay things out. “The prosecutor could argue that you knew about Felicity’s relationship with Henry and you were trying to thin the herd, so to speak, and give her a clear path toward claiming him for herself.�
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  Ivy’s mouth dropped open. “Are you suggesting that I killed Zelda so Aunt Felicity could have Henry Spencer?” She was disgusted at the thought. “What is wrong with you?”

  “I’m not saying I believe that,” Jack protested. “I’m saying the prosecutor could say that. I’m trying to protect you.”

  “I didn’t do anything wrong.”

  “I know you didn’t.” Jack’s temper was firing on all cylinders now. “Don’t you understand that I’m trying to do what’s best for everybody here? I shouldn’t have told you in the first place. You cannot tip your aunt off. I could lose my job if you do ... and it will be bad for your aunt, too. You have to let this play out.”

  Ivy wasn’t keen on that idea in the least. “And what if I don’t?”

  “Then we’re going to have a problem.”

  “Maybe I don’t care.”

  Jack’s stomach constricted. “You’d better care. This could go badly for both of us if you don’t start thinking with your head instead of your heart. You can’t be an idiot about this.”

  “Oh, well, now I’m an idiot.” Ivy’s eyes were molten blue fire when she turned them to Max. “Did you hear that?”

  “I’ve always thought you were an idiot,” Max replied, going for levity. “In this particular instance ... well ... I think Jack might be right.”

  “No. Jack is wrong.” Ivy stood with determination. “In fact, you’re both wrong. I can’t believe you actually believe that Aunt Felicity could be guilty of doing this.”

  “I didn’t say that.” Jack felt as if he was trapped in the world’s strongest undertow and he was being dragged out to sea. “Don’t put words in my mouth.”

  “Oh, you don’t have to worry about me putting words in your mouth. In fact, you don’t have to worry about me talking to you at all. I’m out of here.”

  With those words, Ivy turned on her heel and stalked out the door. She left a trail of fury in her wake.