Baked Alaska

by Josi S. Kilpack

  Maggie’s eyes narrowed slightly, and it was enough to put Sadie even more on edge. “I know he’s your son, but it was cruel of him to deny her the peace of mind to at least have been tested. If he wasn’t a match, then fine, but to not even try? I just...I just can’t understand that.”

  Sadie felt her sympathy closing off even more as her hackles rose in defense of her son. “He was feeling very manipulated by the situation. She’d borrowed money she hadn’t paid back and told him things that weren’t lining up.”

  Maggie gave a halfhearted shrug. “She borrowed a couple hundred dollars and was having a hard time keeping up with her hours at the dry cleaners because she was so sick. A person’s life is on the line, and he can’t even get a blood test for her?”

  “It’s not that simple,” Sadie defended. “And he hadn’t said no. He was just taking a little time to try to understand the situation better. It all felt very rushed for him, very strange.”

  “I would have been tested in an instant if she’d asked me.”

  Sadie’s mama bear claws were out in full force, and though she knew the next words she said should be more carefully considered, having Shawn villainized in any way was more than she could stand. “I don’t know much about the testing behind this transplant thing, but the fact that she never even asked you to be tested makes me wonder if it was because you weren’t biologically linked to one another and Lorraina knew it.” That hit Maggie hard enough that she flinched. Sadie wasn’t done. “After all that’s happened, can’t you see that the chances are that she was manipulating everyone? If she knew she was sick when she first found Shawn, it puts a whole new spin on why she reconnected with him at all. And then, six months after she’d told Shawn that she’d never had any other children, she tells him that he has a birth sister and wouldn’t he love to meet her? When he says he doesn’t want to, she plans for this cruise that you pay for in order to put it all right in front of him. She was probably hoping to make him uncomfortable enough that he’d get tested just to get her out of his hair.” It wasn’t until Sadie stopped talking that she saw the growing expression of horror on Maggie’s face.

  “What are you saying?” she asked, her voice squeaky with rising emotion. “That I was some kind of...bait for Shawn?”

  Oh gosh, Sadie thought, realizing what she’d said and what it would feel like to hear it laid out like that. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it to sound that way. I’m just trying to explain why Shawn acted the way he did. She was harassing him.”

  “She was sick,” Maggie said, tears spilling out of her eyes. “He was her last hope, and he turned his back on her.” She got to her feet and Sadie did as well.

  “Maggie, I—”

  “Margret Lewish?”

  They both turned to look at an officer who had approached them.

  “Yes?” Maggie said.

  “Officer Daltron would like you to come back.”

  Maggie avoided Sadie’s eyes and seemed glad to have a reason to leave. “I’m sorry I bothered you to come in.”

  “You didn’t bother me,” Sadie said, feeling terrible and yet still defensive. The officer walked to the door at the far end of the waiting room, and Sadie took the opportunity to loop back to their initial conversation and hopefully end this conversation on a higher note than the one they’d sunk to. She spoke softly, though, so only Maggie could hear her. “I don’t think you hurt her, Maggie. Even if she wasn’t who she said she was, I don’t think you’d do anything to hurt her.”

  Maggie made eye contact with Sadie, but her expression didn’t soften. When she spoke, her words were barely a whisper. “Maybe you don’t, but if I have a stronger motive than Shawn does, it changes things for him, doesn’t it? If I did poison her, then he’s off the hook.”

  Sadie had to really think about that. Did she believe, even just a little bit, that maybe Maggie did have something to do with Lorraina’s coma? If it turned out that Lorraina had targeted Maggie on that website and faked everything as a ploy to get Shawn’s cooperation through his interest in having a birth sibling, and if Maggie found out, wasn’t that a pretty good motive for attempted murder? And Maggie worked with cyanide! How many people had access to something so deadly in the course of their nine-to-five job? And yet to look at her, and to have felt the pain in Maggie’s voice as she talked about what she was learning about Lorraina, set all those suspicions on their ear. “I don’t think you tricked her into drinking cyanide-laced wine, Maggie. But I just...I just don’t know how to deal with this. I don’t know how to help you.”

  “Right, because Shawn needs you. I get it.”

  “Ms. Lewish?” the officer said.

  Maggie turned and walked out of the room, not even acknowledging Sadie’s weak “Good-bye.” She felt horrible but didn’t know how to make it right. She pulled out her phone to check the time and saw it was nearly three o’clock; she had her appointment with Officer Jareg in an hour. Breanna was probably packing for the stay in Skagway.

  Sadie looked at the door Maggie had disappeared through one last time before she left the police station. Unraveling who Lorraina was had turned out to be an emotional minefield for everyone involved, and Sadie didn’t like that she’d thrown more pain into Maggie’s path.

  Sadie hurried toward the ship, her mind filled with thoughts of Maggie. What was Sadie supposed to do to help her? She hated that Maggie’s guilt could work in favor of proving Shawn’s innocence and wished there was something else, or someone else, on the radar to take the attention away from both of them. The only possible connection was the wine bottle.

  Thinking about that fueled her fires all over again. She needed to find out more about Ben and Tanice. Had the poisoned wine been meant for one of them? And how had it gotten into Lorraina’s hands? If they could prove that someone else had tampered with the wine, that could get both Shawn and Maggie off the hook, right? Could Shawn get back on the ship tonight if the police could get enough information to clear him before the ship left port?

  Her phone chimed with a text shortly after she reached Broadway, and she stepped out of the flow of pedestrians to read the message. It was from Maggie, and Sadie held her breath as she opened it.

  Blood test came back. Lorraina isn’t my mother.

  Sadie groaned, knowing that despite the crisp explanation, this had to have hit Maggie like a boulder to the head. She texted back.

  I’m so sorry.

  She hoped Maggie would reply right away, but when nothing came in, she sent one more text.

  >I really am sorry. I know this must be hard for you.

  No response.

  Sadie’s heart was heavy. Lorraina had preyed upon Maggie’s vulnerability and inflicted more pain than Sadie could possibly imagine. And Sadie had pushed Maggie away to the point where she could offer no solace to the poor girl who needed support now more than ever.

  A text came in from Pete telling her the same information, and Sadie thanked him without telling him she already knew. He promised her more information as it became available. Sadie thanked him again and headed for the ship.

  Could she send a note to Maggie explaining her position? It would allow Maggie the chance to read it on her own and ponder Sadie’s words without the pressure of having to respond. She was deep in thought as she reached the gangplank and glanced up in time to see a familiar face.

  “Tanice!” she said automatically, causing the other woman, who was coming down the gangplank, to flinch. She didn’t respond, but gave Sadie a dirty look as she passed by, reminding Sadie of their less-than-enjoyable conversation following the gold panning expedition yesterday.

  And yet Sadie was turning around before she could consider any other alternative but to talk to this woman.

  So help her.

  Chapter 29

  “Tanice,” she called out, pushing down all her feelings of embarrassment by reminding herself that Shawn and Maggie were being questioned by the police and this woman might know why. She noted that Tanice only had h
er purse with her; like every other passenger infiltrating the city, she was probably going shopping. Would she do that if her husband were dead? Except, Sadie remembered, Tanice’s husband’s name was Kirby. Maybe Ben was Tanice’s boyfriend and the reason for her marital problems. Maybe Kirby was trying to poison him!

  “Tanice,” she called out again, picking up her pace.

  Tanice looked over her shoulder but kept going, taking longer steps, which spurred Sadie to speed up even more.

  “I just need to talk to you for a second,” Sadie said when she was just a few feet away from the woman. Tanice showed no signs of stopping, so Sadie reached out and grabbed Tanice’s arm in an aggressive gesture that caused Tanice to stop, turn, and pull her arm back.

  Sadie let go—she didn’t have to, she chose to—and came to a stop in front of her.

  Tanice obviously didn’t know what to do as her eyes darted from side to side as though looking for someone to save her. They were in broad daylight, in the middle of the pier. Tanice was perfectly safe, but her fear worked in Sadie’s favor.

  “I’m sorry,” Sadie said, trying to catch her breath, “but it’s important.”

  Tanice regarded her with suspicion, but finally said, “What?”

  What indeed. Sadie could think of several questions she couldn’t ask, but a few that she could.

  “Is your husband’s middle name Benjamin?”

  “What?” Tanice said, sounding incredulous and backing up a step.

  Oh, please don’t run away, Sadie thought to herself. She did not want to tackle this woman in front of all these people, but she would if she had to. “Is your husband’s middle name Benjamin?”

  “It’s none of your busine—”

  “Just tell me!” Sadie interrupted. “The sooner you do the sooner we can both walk away from this. Is his name Ben?”

  “His name is Kirby.”

  “Is his middle name Ben?”

  “No, it’s Jonathan. Why are—”

  “Is Ben his nickname?”

  “Are you drunk?”

  Sadie took a deep breath. “Okay, look, I found a wine bottle with a gift tag that was written to Ben and Tanice—was it yours?”

  “I have no idea what you’re talking about. I don’t—”

  “Would anyone send a bottle of wine to you and someone named Ben?”

  “Other than a cousin of mine, I don’t know anyone named Ben. Besides, my husband and I don’t drink, so no one would be sending us a bottle of wine in the first place,” Tanice said, her voice clipped.

  “And you don’t know anyone who would send a bottle of wine to you and someone named Ben?”

  “I think I already said no to that question. What is wrong with you?”

  Sadie let out a breath. She could officially rule out this Tanice. What a relief. “I’m looking for someone named Tanice; it’s an unusual name.”

  Tanice nodded warily, and her expression wasn’t showing any good faith in Sadie.

  “Do you know of any other people named Tanice on this ship?”

  Tanice shook her head. “But I didn’t come here to meet people. I’ve met other Tanices in my life, though some of them spell it T-A-N-I-S. Was the name on this gift tag spelled that way?”

  “No, do you spell yours like Janice with a T instead of a J?”

  “Yes,” Tanice said.

  “That’s how it was spelled on the gift tag.”

  They lapsed into silence, and Sadie hurried to put an end to the conversation, glad she’d made a fool out of herself to get the information, though it would have been nice to get the information without having to make a fool of herself. “If you by chance run into anyone with that name, could you let me know? I’m in room 829.”

  “Um, yeah,” Tanice said. “Why do you need to find her?”

  “Just...because.” She wasn’t about to reveal more information than she had to.

  Tanice’s expression was turning curious, a very dangerous thing Sadie needed to nip in the bud.

  “So, how are things with you and Kirby?”

  That did the trick, turning off Tanice’s curiosity to make room for her to be offended by Sadie’s nosiness. Tanice reminded Sadie that it was none of her business and quickly headed into town once more.

  When Sadie got back to her room, she found Breanna zipping up her suitcase. It drained Sadie for the moment and she sat on her bed. “Pete said you got an e-mail from Liam’s mom.”

  Breanna let out a breath and nodded. “She thinks Liam and I are being ungrateful for her help, and then she listed everything she’s done for this wedding.” She paused, her shoulders slumping as she stared at her suitcase for a few beats, then she lifted the suitcase off the bed and placed it on the ground. “She sent it to Liam too, and he’s finally mad. It’s no longer about just trying to make me happy; he can see she crossed a line with the accusations she made. The bad news is that what was already ugly, just got a whole lot uglier.” She sat on her bed across from Sadie. “When I told him I was staying in Skagway, he set up a conference call for all of us—he’s in London and his mom’s at the estate.”

  They were quiet for several seconds until Sadie finally spoke. “I’m so sorry, Bre.”

  Breanna smiled wanly at her. “Thanks for supporting me,” she said quietly. “I know none of this is easy for you either—it’s not what you dreamed for me—and I appreciate that you’re letting me do this my way.”

  That brought tears to Sadie’s eyes, but she tried to blink them away. “I want you to be happy, Bre, and Liam makes you happy.”

  “Shouldn’t that be what Liam’s mom wants for us, too?”

  “She does want that,” Sadie said, thinking back to something Pete had said once. “Everyone has motives for what they do. Maybe if you can find out what her motivation is, you can find a middle ground.”

  Breanna nodded and put her hands between her knees before glancing up at Sadie. “Are you mad I’m staying in Skagway?”

  “Disappointed, but I’m glad Shawn won’t be alone. And I’m relieved that you get to work things out with Liam and his mother.”

  “I need to get this wedding settled or I might lose my mind.”

  “If eloping in Monaco is the best idea, I won’t say a word against it, I promise.”

  Breanna smiled. “Thanks, Mom.”

  Sadie would have liked some reassurance that they wouldn’t elope, but Breanna wasn’t offering any.

  “We can use my computer to look up information about Lorraina—Pete said Shawn knows where to look. And Maggie will be there, too, so hopefully between the three of us, we can make some progress with that side of things. I’ve already found a hotel with free Internet.”

  It took a few phone calls in order for Sadie to get access to Shawn’s room. She didn’t pack everything from his room, though. She couldn’t face the idea of his presence not being on the ship at all; it seemed to say he wasn’t coming back. Shawn was coming back—she had to believe that.

  Sadie tried not to get emotional as she put the strap of Shawn’s bag over Breanna’s shoulder. The ship would sail at seven that night. If Sadie had time after her meeting with Officer Jareg, she promised Breanna she’d come to town and see them both before the ship left port. Maybe she’d have another chance to talk to Maggie too, and try to repair the things she’d broken.

  After watching Breanna walk down the gangplank, Sadie returned to her cabin—alone—and clenched her fists to her sides. “This is not fair,” she said out loud, then pulled her notebook out of her purse and got to work. The best remedy for feelings of insufficiency was to do something. She ripped out a sheet of paper and began writing a note to the right Tanice, not the redheaded Tanice who had pushed her husband into a river, but the woman who sat a few tables away from Mary Anne in the dining room.

  As far as etiquette went, it was completely out of line to pester a woman who had just lost her husband, Sadie knew that, and yet she was feeling desperate. Mama bear was not taking this sitting down. If they
could get to the bottom of this and clear Shawn’s name, she could have her family around her again. Not doing what she could do to help was out of the question.

  Rather than try to explain why she was contacting Tanice at such a difficult time, she decided to simply focus on what she needed to know. If that didn’t work, she’d be more direct with her next attempt, but she didn’t have a whole lot of room for “next times” in her schedule right now. She needed her son back.

  Dear Tanice,

  I wonder if you know anything about a bottle of wine with a gift tag that said “To Ben Tanice—May you continue to find every happiness together.” I’m in cabin 829. It will be very helpful to many people if you would contact me with what you know.

  Sincerely,

  Sadie Hoffmiller

  Chapter 30

  At the last minute, Sadie included her cell number on the note since they would be in port for a little longer. She folded up the paper and headed to deck eleven, moving slow enough to read the room numbers on the cabin doors. She wondered which of these cabins was Maggie and Lorraina’s? How close was it to Ben and Tanice’s cabin?

  A young man came down the hall, and Sadie moved to the side so he could pass her.

  She looked at the next cabin and continued counting: 1176, 1178, 1180, 1182. She stopped in front of 1184—Ben and Tanice’s assigned cabin per the seating chart and Mary Anne’s verification.

  Sadie looked at the note in her hand, wishing she could have a face-to-face with Tanice, but knowing that in the wake of the tragic loss of her husband, it was better to let her come to Sadie when she felt up to it. Hopefully that would happen before the cruise came to an end. Then again, Tanice might have left the ship entirely by now. Still, Sadie needed to do what she could do, so she squatted down and slid the folded paper underneath the door, then stood again, staring at the place where her request had disappeared.