Wicked Winter (An Ivy Morgan Mystery Book 8)

by Lily Harper Hart

  Max’s expression softened. “You could tell him that.”

  “I did. He didn’t care.”

  “I doubt very much that’s true,” Max argued. “Jack loves you, Ivy. You ruined his Christmas surprise. Quite frankly, I think he’s chosen a genius way to pay you back. You’re going to be begging him to propose before the week is out. The entire thing is kind of … poetic.”

  Ivy fixed Max with the harshest look in her repertoire. “This is not funny.”

  “It’s a little funny.”

  “It’s not funny at all!” Ivy slapped the arm of the chair and stared at the roaring fire. “I need a drink. Do you have any bourbon?”

  “I have tea and you’ll have to live with that,” Max said, hopping to his feet. “I’m not going to allow you to spend your day out here getting sloshed because then I’m going to have to drive you home and then Jack will not propose to me on Christmas day, too.”

  “I hate you,” Ivy seethed.

  Max grinned. “I love you, too. I’ll … .” He broke off when Todd raced back into the storefront, a panicked expression on the man’s face. “What’s going on?”

  “There’s a fire,” Todd gritted out.

  Max instantly sobered. “Where?”

  Ivy hopped to her feet, her misery all but forgotten as she prepared to help. “Do you have fire extinguishers?”

  “Not here,” Todd said, pointing toward the road. “One of the customers says the tree lot down the way is on fire. I thought you would want to know just in case it spreads.”

  “I do,” Max said, exchanging a quick look with Ivy. “Thanks.” Max waited until Todd was gone to lick his lips. “I’m guessing you want to go down there.”

  “I have to see.”

  “Yeah, I kind of have to see, too,” Max admitted, retrieving his coat from behind the counter. “Come on. I’m driving.”

  IVY KEPT CLOSE to Max as they parked on the road and stared at the roaring inferno. Looky-loos from the neighboring area joined the throng grouping together at the edge of the road and Ivy couldn’t help but worry when she saw the pillar of black smoke rising into the sky.

  “What do you think?”

  Max shrugged, holding his hands palms up. “I don’t generally believe in coincidences, but I can’t figure how this fire could possibly have something to do with what happened to you.”

  “It didn’t happen to me,” Ivy corrected. “It happened to Dorian Jackson and I witnessed it. Stop painting me as a victim.”

  And that right there was what bothered her most, Max realized. She didn’t want people feeling sorry for her. She flew off the handle because she believed everyone pitied her and she couldn’t take it. Max almost felt sorry for her … until he remembered Jack was teaching her a very important lesson and she needed to learn it.

  “Fine. You’re not a victim.” Max tugged on his gloves and narrowed his eyes as he scanned the area by the end of the tree lot’s driveway. “Jack and Brian are down there.”

  “Where?” Ivy jerked her head to the side so she could stare. “Oh, yeah.”

  “Do you want to go down there?”

  That was an interesting question. “He probably doesn’t have my ring.”

  “Not because of that.” Max cuffed the back of Ivy’s head. “Do you want to find out what happened? I doubt very much he’s going to pick here to propose.”

  “Oh, well, you have a point.” Ivy heaved out a sigh. “Let’s see what they’re doing, shall we? At least having a boyfriend on the police force gets me inside information.”

  “Just not a ring.” Max broke into a jog when Ivy attempted to smack him, grinning like a fool when he caught up with Jack and Brian. The two men flashed him quizzical looks as he stooped lower and packed a snowball, lobbing it in Ivy’s direction as she cursed under her breath.

  “What are you doing here?” Brian asked, curious.

  “We heard about the fire and wanted to see what all of the hubbub was about,” Max replied, extending a warning finger when Ivy began packing her own snowball. “I’ll make you cry if you throw that at me. Correction, I’ll make you cry even harder than you were before if you throw that at me.”

  “She was crying?” Jack didn’t look happy at the thought.

  “Whining,” Max corrected. “She came storming in this morning, furious that I didn’t tell her what you had planned. Nice job throwing me under the bus, by the way. I really appreciate it.”

  Jack wondered if that would come back to bite him but there wasn’t a lot he could do to take it back now. “I’m sorry. She was getting out of hand and I had to fix the situation.”

  “Do I even want to know what you guys are talking about?” Brian asked.

  “No,” Ivy answered hurriedly, her cheeks flushed.

  “You look cold,” Jack said, grabbing Ivy’s coat and zipping the front of it. “You should bundle up if you’re going to be outside. I don’t want you sick for Christmas.”

  “It doesn’t matter if I’m sick for Christmas now,” Ivy muttered. “I’m not going to get what I want.”

  Jack’s eyes lit with amusement as he flicked them in Max’s direction. “Has she been like this the entire time?”

  Max bobbed his head. “She is one angry woman. I would watch out for flying frying pans if I were you.” He momentarily sobered and darted a look in Ivy’s direction. “She’s also a little worked up about the fire. That’s why I agreed to come down here with her. I knew she would wander around by herself and possibly get in trouble if I didn’t watch her.”

  Jack furrowed his brow, legitimately confused. “Why would she do that?”

  “Because this is where Dorian Jackson worked,” Max replied, not missing a beat. “She made me come down here last night to question his co-workers with her after his widow showed up at the house yesterday afternoon. Didn’t she tell you?”

  One look at Jack’s face told Max that Ivy had done nothing of the sort.

  “Oh, geez.” Max pinched the bridge of his nose as Ivy shrank back from the shadow of Jack’s fury. “Do you even think sometimes, Ivy?”

  “I forgot,” Ivy muttered, her cheeks coloring from mortification as well as cold. “It was an accident.”

  Jack extended a finger so far that it almost touched her nose. “You’re in big trouble.”

  Ivy had no doubt that was true.

  Eleven

  “This isn’t my fault.”

  Ivy was instantly on the defensive as she took an inadvertent step away from Jack.

  “No?” Jack wasn’t convinced. “Why don’t you tell me what happened and I’ll decide if it’s your fault or not.”

  Ivy slid a hateful look in Max’s direction. “You never know when to keep your mouth shut, do you?”

  The brewing fight didn’t particularly bother Max. Ivy and Jack were known for their fights. They were also known for making up in a torrid and quick way that, as a brother, he wanted to pretend he didn’t know about. “You can’t have it both ways, Ivy. You stormed into the store this morning complaining that I didn’t have a big enough mouth and now you’re saying it’s too big. Make up your mind.”

  “You’re my least favorite person in the world right now.” Ivy folded her arms over her chest and steadfastly ignored Jack’s steady gaze. “It looks as if you guys have your hands full right now so we should probably get out of your way. We can catch up later, Jack.”

  “Don’t even think about it.” Jack snagged the collar of Ivy’s coat before she could scurry out of his reach. “I want to know everything that you haven’t told me. Then when I get home tonight, we’re going to talk about why you didn’t tell me.”

  “Not that I’m keen to take her side because she’s being a real pain in the behind, but you threw her for a loop when you told her you were going to propose and then took away the big event,” Max offered. “You can’t expect her to be firing on all cylinders when you drop a bomb like that.”

  “Wait a second.” Brian took a step forward, his face conflicte
d. “You proposed last night?”

  Jack shook his head. “I did not.”

  “No, he told her he was planning to propose for Christmas because Ivy was being … well, Ivy … and then he told her that she was going to have to wait until he could plan another surprise. Ivy didn’t take it well.”

  Brian chuckled, genuine amusement lighting his face as he cast a glance to the firefighters battling the blaze behind him. “Well, that does sound delightful. The good news is that we can’t do any real investigating until the fire is out. That gives you plenty of time to tell us what you know, Ivy.”

  Ivy hated the pointed way Brian said her name. It reminded her of when she was a kid and he had babysitting duty for the day. He often found Max’s hijinks delightful. Hers? Not so much. “I feel that I’m being persecuted here and I don’t like it.”

  “Suck it up,” Jack ordered. “I want to know what you’ve been hiding from me.”

  “To be fair, I didn’t plan on hiding anything from you,” Ivy clarified, finally finding the courage to meet Jack’s gaze. Instead of anger she found curiosity staring back from the handsome planes of his face. That was a promising sign. “I was going to tell you, but then you told me that you were going to propose until you changed your mind and I got distracted.”

  “First off, I didn’t say I changed my mind,” Jack corrected. “I said that you ruined the Christmas surprise and you were going to have to wait. There’s a big difference.”

  “That’s sheer genius,” Brian said, shaking his head. “You were worked up because she didn’t trust you and you completely turned it around on her.”

  “I didn’t say I didn’t trust him!” Ivy exploded, causing three sets of eyes to widen as they landed on her. “I simply said that I found it odd that his Christmas gift was in folders. There’s a difference.”

  “Well, it backfired on you,” Max noted. “Now you’re obsessed with it to the point of distraction. I almost thought you were going to cry this morning when you said he changed his mind.”

  “Stop saying that.” Jack turned his ire on Max. “I didn’t change my mind and I don’t want you filling her head with nonsense. As it stands, we’re making decisions about the basement renovation project and she’s going to have to wait until I can plan another perfect surprise for the proposal since she ruined the first. I’m just as upset as she is. I put a lot of thought into this.”

  Ivy felt indescribably guilty. “I’m sorry.”

  “That’s not going to get you out of telling me what happened,” Jack countered. “We need to focus on that. Why didn’t you tell me that Dorian Jackson’s wife stopped by your house?”

  “More importantly,” Brian interjected. “How did she find you? What did she say?”

  “She was a nice woman,” Ivy replied, collecting her thoughts. “The cops asked her if she recognized my name and insinuated I might be working with Dorian. I think they were just covering their bases.”

  Jack’s expression reflected fury. “They thought you were involved? I wondered about that when you were being questioned. I’ll call over there to make sure there’s no more confusion.”

  “It doesn’t really matter,” Ivy offered. “I wasn’t involved and it’s over. Mary Googled my name after the fact and put two and two together because of my hair color. She heard someone say a woman with pink hair was with Dorian when he died.”

  Jack absently played with the ends of Ivy’s hair as he considered the statement. “That doesn’t mean you should’ve invited her into your house.”

  “I thought it was our house now?”

  Jack pursed his lips, caught between amusement and annoyance. “Well, at the time you were doing it, the house belonged solely to you. Don’t try to distract me. You shouldn’t have invited her into the house.”

  “She was brokenhearted, Jack,” Ivy argued. “Christmas is almost here. She hasn’t told her kids what happened yet. She didn’t think her husband was that far gone. She’s trying to make sense of the senseless. I was the one with her husband when he died. I … had to see if I could help.”

  “I know.” Jack blew out a sigh. “So she stopped in for tea and let slip that Dorian was working here?”

  “Just for extra money for Christmas,” Ivy replied. “It was the only lead we had so I made Max come out here with me. We met three of the workers and questioned them a bit, but they claimed only to know Dorian in passing and didn’t seem very worked up about what happened.”

  “I can vouch for that being weird,” Max volunteered. “If you’re working with someone and they die – even if you don’t know them very well – I would think you would be curious.”

  “I can’t argue with that.” Jack rubbed the back of his neck. “No one named Mitchell?”

  “That was the first thing we asked and they denied knowing anyone by that name – first or last,” Max answered. “I’m not sure what to make of it.”

  “I see.” Jack licked his lips as he flicked his eyes to the fire. It was almost out. “We got a call that someone set the trees on fire. Given the cold and snow, we believe an accelerant was probably used. That’s as far as we’ve gotten.”

  “You can smell gasoline,” Max noted. “For my part, I’m having trouble believing that this is entirely coincidental. I don’t see how they can be tied together and yet my mind won’t let me believe they’re not.”

  “That’s where I’m at,” Jack agreed. “We have to go on evidence and not hunches, though.” He flicked his eyes back to Ivy. “Why didn’t you tell me? Did you think I would be angry?”

  “I was going to tell you but … I got so confused after what happened I honestly forgot.”

  Jack was dubious. “Even this morning?”

  “This morning we were making renovation plans and agreeing to move in together. That was a big deal – at least to me. I didn’t mean to forget. Honestly. I didn’t even remember when I headed to the lumberyard. All I could think about was yelling at Max.”

  Jack heaved out a sigh. “Well, I’m still angry. I can’t help but wonder if you did this on purpose because you wanted to avoid a fight.”

  “Oh, why would I do that?” Ivy adopted a snarky tone. “That simply means I’ll be waiting five years for my proposal. We’re always fighting. It’s not as if I can plan around the arguments.”

  Jack made an odd growling sound as he turned his attention to Brian. “What do you think?”

  “Much like Max, I think that we should look hard and fast at this place once we’re cleared to search the property,” Brian replied. “One worker dying after a robbery attempt at the mall is a nonsensical tragedy. The tree lot where that man worked with another group of men – men questioned by Ivy and Max less than twenty-four hours ago, for that matter – seems way too out there to be a coincidence.”

  “I can’t argue with that,” Jack muttered, running his hand through his hair. “I don’t like it.”

  “Join the club.”

  “No, I mean I don’t like it that Ivy is in the middle of this,” Jack offered. “If word gets around that Dorian Jackson said something to her before dying, whoever killed him could get worked up and try to make sure she keeps her mouth shut.”

  “I’ve already related what he said to me, though,” Ivy argued. “It was one word and we haven’t found a face to go with the name.”

  “Honey, just because you told the truth about what Jackson said, that doesn’t mean the people he was working with – and we know he was working with at least one other person – believe that,” Jack said, tugging on his limited patience. The last thing he wanted was to terrify Ivy and cause her to retreat into her own head. “If Jackson’s wife so easily found you … .”

  “It’s only a matter of time before the others do,” Ivy finished, pressing the heel of her hand to her forehead. “This is like the worst Christmas ever.”

  “Don’t say that,” Jack chided. “It’s going to be a great Christmas. We simply need to approach this as a new case and see what we come up with. Ev
erything is going to be perfectly fine.”

  “Says you,” Ivy challenged. “I feel … sick to my stomach.”

  Concern washed over Jack’s strong features. “Are you going to throw up? Do you need to sit down?”

  “Do you know what would make me feel better?”

  “What?”

  “My proposal.”

  Max snorted as Jack’s mouth tipped down at the corners.

  “I saw that coming,” Max chortled. “Dude, she is going to wear you down if you don’t give her what she wants. You know that, right?”

  Jack ignored Max’s teasing. “The more you complain, the longer you’re going to have to wait, Ivy. I’m not kidding around.”

  Instead of taking the words as an admonishment – like Jack intended – Ivy saw them as a challenge. “I’m going to make you propose by Christmas. Just you wait.”

  Jack wanted to argue, but she was fiery … and he liked it when she was fiery. “Well, we’ll see how things go. For now, I want you to head back to the lumberyard with Max. If we get any information I believe needs to be shared, I’ll call you.”

  Ivy balked. “I don’t need a babysitter. I’m not spending the entire day with Max.”

  “Fine. Do whatever you want.” Jack flexed his fingers as a calming mechanism, reminding himself that she was merely trying to get under his skin. “You’re the boss of you, right?”

  Ivy nodded. “I am the boss of me. I’m the boss of you, too. Now … give me my ring.” Ivy pawed at the pocket of Jack’s coat, causing him to jerk away and slap at her hand.

  “Do you really think that I have your ring with me?” Jack was incredulous.

  “You don’t?” Ivy blinked several times. “It’s not at my house. I mean … it’s not at our house.”

  Jack couldn’t help but smile at the way she so quickly switched from thinking of the house as her private abode to their winter wonderland. It was only one of the things he loved about her, the giving spirit she seemed to so easily exude. “You’re not going to find it so get that out of your head. In fact, if you do somehow magically find it, I’m taking it back and getting another ring. It will have a smaller stone, too.”