Wicked Whimsy

by Lily Harper Hart

  “Still, that couldn’t have gone over well with Josh,” Max pointed out. “His mother was dying and his father was spending all his time with another woman. It’s no wonder the kid is so needy. He’s used to people abandoning him … or just plain neglecting him.”

  “He’s definitely needy,” Ivy agreed, rolling her neck. “His emotions are blunted, too. I think you were right about what you said yesterday, Jack. I think he’s hiding something.”

  “I kind of want to make you speak into my phone and record you saying that,” Jack said, his eyes twinkling. “The part about me being right, I mean.”

  Ivy made a disgusted face. “I admit when I’m wrong.”

  Jack and Max barked out twin guffaws.

  “I do,” Ivy persisted. “I’m not often wrong but, when I am, I admit it.”

  “Sure, honey.” Jack snagged her hand and kissed the palm. “As for me being right, though, the more time I spend with Josh, the more I think I’m right, too. He’s definitely hiding something.”

  “What is he hiding?” Max asked. “Do you think he knows who killed his father?”

  “I do.” Jack bobbed his head. “I think he knows and he’s frightened. I also think that the mistress might know a little more than she’s letting on. She admitted to being obsessed with Abraham and angry about him spending more time with his sick wife than her. I can’t help but wonder if she might have a part in all this, although what that part might be is beyond me.”

  “How will you track it down?” Ivy asked.

  “I don’t know.” Jack squeezed her hand. “For right now, I’m going to take you out to dinner and then go to bed early. I need a good night’s sleep. I’m hopeful the answer will come to me in a dream.”

  Ivy’s lips curved. She knew exactly what he was referring to. “Maybe it will.”

  “Ugh.” Max slapped a hand over his eyes. “I don’t want to see this. Dying would’ve been better than seeing this.”

  “Don’t ever say anything like that again,” Ivy warned, extending a finger. “I don’t like it.”

  “Fine.” Max snagged her finger and smirked. “I won’t ever say anything like that again. I expect chocolate cake, morel soup, and cherry pie to make me feel better, though. That’s the trade-off.”

  Ivy stared at him for a long beat. “Sold.”

  Max’s grin widened. “I’m going to like you doting on me. I can already tell.”

  “Don’t get used to it. In a week I’ll forget that you almost died.”

  “Then it’s going to be one heck of a week.”

  JACK MET IVY IN the woods by tacit agreement that night. Technically it was the dreamscape they shared, but he allowed her to build the world since she knew it best. It was a way for him to go over the scene again, this time allowing her to figure things out at his side.

  “Is this how you remember it being?” Ivy asked. She wore simple cargo pants and a T-shirt in the dream, an outfit she wore often in the waking world, but Jack couldn’t help being disappointed.

  “I thought you were going to dress in something a little more … fun,” he complained, eliciting an eye roll from his fiancée.

  “We’re in the woods,” Ivy pointed out. “I can’t be naked in the woods. We’ll stop by the beach on our way back and I’ll get naked there.”

  “Good idea.” Jack shot her an enthusiastic thumbs-up before scanning the clearing. Abraham Masters’ body was back where they found it, although he opted not to spend too much time looking at the grisly wounds. It bothered him that Ivy had such strong mental recall and could see something so bloody with a clear head. “This is how I remember it. You didn’t need to bring the body back, though.”

  “Oh.” Ivy briefly closed her eyes, and when she opened them again, Abraham was gone. “Better?”

  “Much better.” Jack moved to where the body rested seconds before and turned to face her. “So, if Abraham was here and looking in your direction, you should be roughly standing where the assailant shot from.”

  “Okay.” Ivy glanced behind her. “He must have come from those trees.” She inclined her chin to the spot over her shoulder. “Otherwise they would’ve seen him coming from a long distance away. The trees aren’t thick through here.”

  “Maybe.” Jack wasn’t convinced that was true. “Picture what was happening, though. Abraham and Josh were talking while walking. They weren’t paying attention to their surroundings. I mean … why would they? It shouldn’t have been a dangerous outing. There was nothing out here to make Abraham fearful.”

  “So, what do you think happened?” Ivy asked. She found Jack’s mind a wonder sometimes, especially when he was picking apart a crime scene.

  “I think that Abraham recognized someone was approaching.” Jack rubbed his chin as he swiveled to look in every direction. “I think he saw someone coming and probably even recognized him.

  “Josh said his ears weren’t working, which signifies to me that he was in shock before the shooting even happened,” he continued. “I think Abraham was arguing with whoever approached and he yelled for Josh to run. The kid did what his father asked and probably heard a gunshot when he wasn’t far off.”

  “But why lie about what he saw?” Ivy asked the obvious question. “Josh described a rifle.”

  “His father had a rifle,” Jack reminded her. “What if Abraham had his gun pointed at the other man but never got a shot off? The man then shot Abraham, killed him, and collected Abraham’s gun.”

  “Why do that when he could’ve claimed self-defense?”

  “My guess is that whoever it was has ties to Ellen Woodbridge,” Jack replied. “I’m thinking it was either a new boyfriend or a brother. She somehow convinced him to confront Abraham. It’s hard to sell self-defense if you have a history with the man you killed.”

  “I can see that.” Ivy pursed her lips. “How do you explain the difference in scenarios, though? I mean … Josh described something totally different.”

  “Well, I’ve been thinking about that.” Jack was somber. “Josh could’ve lied to protect himself. He was probably terrified. Once reality set in, he knew he couldn’t take it back without looking bad. The kid has been through a lot and this is just the latest in a string of tragedies that have upended his life.”

  “So how should we approach it?”

  “First thing tomorrow, I’m going to request a trauma therapist head to the children’s home to meet with Josh,” Jack replied without hesitation. “We need to get inside that kid’s psyche. I think he knows who shot his father. We need to get him to admit he lied from the start.”

  “Is that the only way? What if he feels so much guilt he never owns up to it?”

  “Then we start looking for the gun,” Jack answered. “Abraham registered it. If someone tries to sell it – which would be the smart thing to do because being found with it would almost certainly signify guilt – we should be able to track down who sold it.”

  “That seems like a lot of work,” Ivy hedged. “Can you get your hands on all those gun records?”

  “I can try. Not all guns have to be registered. I’m more hopeful that whoever took it panicked and dropped it off at a pawnshop to get rid of it. He might not have been thinking at the time and that could be his downfall.”

  “That sounds like a plan.” Ivy gave the clearing another look before extending her hand to Jack. “I never thought I would say this, but I’m tired of the woods. Let’s go someplace tropical and put thoughts of this case behind us for a little bit.”

  Jack’s eyebrow quirked. “Just focus on each other for a few hours?”

  “That’s the plan.”

  Jack took her hand and nodded. “That’s the best offer I’ve had all day.”

  “You and me both.”

  Fifteen

  Hey.”

  Jack greeted Ivy’s sleepy eyes with a smile as she slowly opened them the following morning.

  “Hey.” Ivy instinctively lifted a finger and rubbed it down his cheek. “You look
like you got some sun.”

  Jack snorted. They spent hours frolicking on the beach in the dreamscape. She was obviously trying to be funny. “Yes. Since we were naked, though, I have no tan lines.”

  Ivy stared at him for a long beat. A slow starter, it often took her longer to register things when she first woke up. “You honestly look like you got some sun.”

  Jack scratched his cheek as he regarded her. Now that she mentioned it, she looked bronzer than normal herself. “Huh. You looked pretty healthy and robust, too.”

  Ivy narrowed her eyes. “What is that supposed to mean?”

  “That you’re pretty as a picture … and you’ve got a bit of color to your cheeks,” Jack replied without hesitation. He grabbed the covers and drew them back so he could look over Ivy’s body. “Your legs look a bit darker, too.”

  Ivy glanced down and frowned. He wasn’t wrong. She was a stickler about sunscreen. Often, by the end of summer, she had a decent amount of color, but she never sought it out. Since the only place she’d gone where she was exposed to the sun without sunscreen was the dreamscape, she was genuinely baffled. “What do you make of that?”

  “I don’t know.” Jack flicked his eyes to his chest and ran his hands over the slight pink color – not enough sunburn to be painful, thankfully – he found there. “I’m tan, too.”

  “You went shirtless in the dream,” Ivy pointed out, her fingertips landing on the top of Jack’s scar. It was located close to his heart – in the spot where his former partner shot him – and he only went shirtless when it was just the two of them or they were in the dreamscape. He didn’t want people asking about what happened to him. As a private person, explaining it was simply too much effort.

  “I was.” Jack rested his hand on top of hers and squeezed her fingers. “Maybe we’re just imagining this.”

  “Maybe,” Ivy said, although she wasn’t convinced.

  “Maybe it’s psychosomatic,” Jack suggested. “I mean … we felt as if we were out in the sun and having a great day, so we convinced ourselves that was true and ended up with tans.”

  Ivy cocked a mocking eyebrow. “I’m not a doctor, but I don’t think it works that way.”

  “Then you explain it,” Jack prodded. “I know for a fact we didn’t leave this bed last night. The only sun we saw was in our heads.”

  “I know.” Ivy pulled herself to a sitting position and ran her fingers through her hair. “I don’t know what to make of it. Yelling at me isn’t going to help me come up with answers.”

  “That wasn’t yelling.” Jack made a face as he shifted to sit next to Ivy, resting his head against hers as he ran his hand over her back. “I didn’t mean to upset you. I was just … surprised.”

  “You and me both,” Ivy said. “I don’t know how to explain it. We’ve been to that beach in our dreams numerous times and this has never happened before.”

  “Maybe you’re getting stronger.”

  Ivy swallowed hard. “You think I did this?”

  Jack kissed her temple before answering. “I think, whether you like to admit it or not, you’re capable of doing some fantastical things.”

  “This is different from the other stuff, though,” Ivy argued. “Sharing dreams is weird, but it’s not like this. This is … freaky.” She stared at her hands. “What’s happening to me?”

  “Oh, honey, I don’t know.” Jack’s heart rolled at her worried expression. “This is not the end of the world. We’ll just make a point to put on sunscreen next time in the dream. Since it’s not real we can simply conjure it and it should work.”

  “We shouldn’t have to do that. It’s a dream, for crying out loud. The whole point is to be naked on a beach without a care in the world.”

  “Well, apparently now we have to care about sunscreen. It’s not a big deal.”

  “It feels like a big deal.”

  “I know.” Jack was uncertain how to soothe her. “It doesn’t change anything, though. I love you because you’re you. That’s never going to change.”

  “You’re not afraid?”

  “Of you? Absolutely not. Am I afraid of other things? Yeah. That’s human nature.”

  “What are you most afraid of?” Ivy was terrified to hear the answer, but she had to ask the question.

  “Losing you,” Jack replied without hesitation, causing her to jerk her head up in surprise. “I can survive a lot.” He tapped the scar on his chest as proof. “I can’t survive losing you, though. I’m most afraid that you’ll find trouble and I won’t get to you in time. That’s what fuels my nightmares.”

  His honest answer threw Ivy for a loop. “I’m afraid to lose you, too.”

  “I think your fear stems from the fact that you think I’m going to run away if you keep manifesting odd abilities,” Jack noted. “I need you to know, no matter what, that’s not true. You can’t shake me, honey. It’s you and me together. Forever. No matter what.”

  Ivy mustered a genuine smile. “I actually knew that. Thanks for saying it, though. I kind of needed to hear it.”

  “I know.” Jack pressed a soft kiss to her mouth. “I will say it again and again as long as you need to hear it.”

  “Once is good for today.” Ivy grabbed both sides of his face and smacked a noisy kiss against his lips. “I’ll always love you no matter what, too.”

  Jack grinned. “That’s good to know.”

  “Yeah.” They stared into each other’s eyes for a long beat. Then the reality of the day set in. “I need to go to the lumberyard.”

  The conversational shift caught Jack off guard. “Why?”

  “Because I want to look around and make sure there’s no other accident waiting to happen,” Ivy answered honestly. “Max will be back at the lumberyard tomorrow – no matter how my mother and father try to fight him – so I want to make sure everything there is okay. Er, if not okay at least not ready to fall apart. That business is his life and he loves it. I want to make sure something bigger isn’t wrong.”

  “Like what?”

  Ivy held her hands palms out and shrugged. “I don’t know. I can’t help thinking the timing was a bit convenient.”

  Jack stilled, legitimately surprised. “What do you mean?”

  “I mean that I’m suspicious.” Ivy saw no reason to lie. If Jack could put up with the fact that she gave them both a tan in their dreams, he wouldn’t gripe about her admitting to what was really bothering her this morning. “I think that someone tried to hurt Max.”

  “Purposely hurt him?” Jack rubbed the back of his head as he regarded her. “Can you explain why you think that? I’m not saying I disagree,” he added hurriedly. “I would simply like to understand how you came to that determination.”

  Ivy wasn’t offended by the question. “Whatever you think about Max, he’s not the lazy sort. He always follows safety protocol and doesn’t put his men in danger. I’ve seen him test those straps. There’s no way he used one that gave for no good reason.”

  “Okay.” Jack ran his thumb over her cheek. She was so earnest it was likely to hurt his heart if he didn’t agree with her. “Do you think one of his men went after him?”

  Ivy vehemently shook her head. “I think it was someone else.”

  “Who?”

  “Maybe it’s the person who killed Abraham Masters.”

  Jack was officially flabbergasted. “I don’t understand.”

  “You said that Josh knew who shot his father and didn’t say something because he was afraid,” Ivy pointed out. “Yesterday, at the hospital, I got a whiff of something when I touched Josh’s arm. I didn’t think anything of it at first. He was terrified, and I could feel it. I was too worried about Max to focus on it.”

  “Now that you know Max is going to make a full recovery, however, you’ve given it some thought,” Jack prodded.

  “Exactly.” Ivy bobbed her head. “I think Josh saw something and he doesn’t want to say what it is.”

  “What do you think he saw?”

 
“I don’t know.”

  “Theorize.”

  “Okay.” Ivy licked her lips as she gathered her thoughts. “What if someone has been following Josh this whole time to make sure he doesn’t say anything? What if that someone watched Max and Josh yesterday and worried Josh might open up to my brother so he or she decided to send a message?”

  “Well, it’s an interesting thought.” Jack rubbed his chin. “Do you think someone could pull that off without anyone noticing, though?”

  “I talked to Glenn before you arrived. Everyone was watching Max demonstrate how to use the equipment. Everyone was focused in that direction. Someone could’ve easily snuck up and messed with the strap.”

  “Josh did say he was standing close to those logs earlier in the afternoon,” Jack mused. “I guess it’s not out of the realm of possibility. How are you going to handle this, though? Are you just going to wander around the lumberyard and touch things?”

  “That’s exactly what I’m going to do.”

  Jack wasn’t happy with the admission. “I have some things to do this morning. I need to visit the state pathologist and see if we can go over Melanie Masters’ records. I have some other calls to make. Do you think you can put off this trip until tomorrow?”

  “No.”

  “Ivy … .”

  Ivy held up her hand to still him. “I need to check things out. I have to see for myself. No one is going to be over there. It’s not as if whoever did this – and technically we don’t know that anyone really did this – is going to be at the lumberyard. It would be a waste of time for someone to hang out there. It’s obvious that Josh isn’t going to be visiting the lumberyard today.”

  “That’s true,” Jack muttered, not entirely placated. “I don’t like the idea of you going over there alone, though.”

  “I’m going to be there for ten minutes,” Ivy pointed out. “I’ll be fine. Trust me. If I can give myself a tan in my dreams, I can keep myself safe at the lumberyard no one knows I’m going to visit.”