Key to Love

by Judy Ann Davis

  Stunned, Lucas’s mouth dropped. He inched lower down in his seat and slipped his sunglasses on. “Oh, dear Lord,” he muttered to himself and in earshot of J.B. “Of all the people we could have bumped into, we luck out with Twila Pedmo, Miss Manners and Protector of Small Children.”

  Twila Pedmo hefted her stocky frame from her car. She was wearing a floral spring dress in vibrant shades of pink, white, and yellow and her newly permed hair glistened pink in the bright sunlight. She immediately squinted at the pick-up and waved enthusiastically. “Yoo-hoo! Lucas, Lucas Fisher, is that you?”

  “Holy crap,” Lucas heard J.B.’s voice grumble through the open passenger window where he was crouching on the other side of the pickup. “Now all we need is the local camera crew from WYOU-TV to document this and we can be on the late night news.”

  “Yeah, and we’ll be watching it from jail,” Lucas muttered in a hiss.

  “Oh, for God’s sake, Lucas,” J.B spit back. “Get out of the damn truck and run some interference, will you? Now!”

  Lucas threw open his door, slid out, and trotted over to where Pedmo was standing. He gave her the widest smile he could manage. “Mrs. Pedmo, so glad I could catch you. I have a quick question, if you don’t mind.”

  Pedmo looked at him curiously then peered around him and shot another puzzled gaze at the beat-up truck. “Don’t tell me you’re going to restore that piece of junk?”

  “Nah.” He could feel the sweat trickle down his back. “Just took it in on a trade.” Which, Lucas thought to himself, was the truth. “Tell me, Mrs. Pedmo, do you have any idea where Elise and I could find Todd’s health records? We seem to have misplaced them along with some of Mike’s other important papers.”

  She shook her head. “No, but I do know Mike used a pediatrician here in Scranton. I’ll look up his name in our records and email Elise and you. He could probably tell you who the pediatrician was in New Castle, and you could get copies from both of them and recreate his health history.”

  “Thank you. It would be a big help.” Lucas licked his dry lips and smiled nervously, willing himself not to turn and look at the truck.

  Pedmo peered at him with knitted eyebrows. “Lucas, are you all right? You don’t look very well.”

  He nodded and forced himself to swallow. He was so nervous he could hear his heart wildly thumping like a war drum clear up into his ears. “This early spring heat seems to be getting to me.”

  “Then you need to get out of the sun right this minute, young man,” she instructed him and headed for the entrance door, her sturdy shoes clopping on the pavement. He waited until she was inside, then hurried to the pickup and stood blocking the window on his side of the door until he heard J.B. open the passenger door and crawl in.

  “Got it. Took samples from all four corners. See!” J.B. enthusiastically waved the plastic bags in one hand and pumped the air with his other. “I knew we could do it.”

  Lucas glanced at J.B. and wiped the sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand. He took a deep steadying breath. “Yeah, and I feel about five years older than when we started these shenanigans.”

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Elise thought there was nothing more beautiful than a boy and a dog and a May afternoon warm enough so she could lower the Tahoe’s windows to allow the sweet smells of spring to waft into the car. In yards and along the roadside, rhododendron bloomed in glorious shades of dark pink, purple and snow white. A soft breeze ruffled the leaves in the birch and maples, and new grass, green and rich, sprang up to crowd out winter’s brown.

  Elise glanced in her rearview mirror at Todd buckled in the backseat and noticed he was leafing through the dog-eared Fox and the Hound. In his lap were two bags of animal crackers filled with compatible animal shapes and a box of juice. Beside him, Bess eyed the bags of crackers with solemn interest, caring little, she surmised, whether the animal crackers were friends or foes.

  On the drive to the cottage, she pondered what she was going to do with Winston and Sanders. To alienate them by starting her own firm could be troublesome. They had a reputation and were well-known on the West Coast. On the other hand, Mort Levinson was handing her an offer hard to refuse and she surmised he would be willing to buy her out from under her legal obligations to Winston and Sanders. As the lead architect on his projects, she stood to make a lot more money than Paul and Chuck could ever pay her. Thrown into the mix were Lucas and Todd Fisher. She was in love with Lucas. Those gray eyes and easy smile had a way of turning her inside out, and Todd was a little charmer who tugged so hard on her heart strings she was certain they were going to break if she had to leave.

  She also brooded over the Mike Fisher dilemma. So far they were getting no closer to finding out how he might have died. It was the end of her two-week vacation as well, and although she had more days owed her, she didn’t think it would be prudent to stay away from the San Francisco office much longer. Paul Winston had left a message on the answering machine and her cell phone yesterday asking when she planned to return to the office. She noticed there was a distinct softening of his usual terse nature, but not much.

  As she and Todd drove into the cottage lane, taking the second loop of the driveway leading to the back of the cottage, she reminded Todd of the outside play rules. He was only allowed to play in the grassy yard behind the cottage and was not supposed to wander any place near the lake tucked away over a small rise on the north side.

  “Can we look for Ranger?” he asked again when they stopped. He peered out the window at Cindy’s car, already parked in the back driveway. “Hey, look, Cindy is here!” He unbuckled his seat belt and with Bess tagging along barreled straight for the shed.

  “Wait!” Elise hurried to keep up with him. She passed the doghouse on her way to the shed and stopped for a moment to stare at it. Newly built by Mike Fisher, it was finished with charcoal gray shingles, perfectly aligned. The siding, painted a glistening white, matched the color of the cottage. So what was bothering her about the doghouse? She shook her head as if she was shaking out cobwebs from her mind and hurried along to catch up with Todd.

  Cindy was already inside the shed, sitting on one box and sorting through another when Elise swung the second door open to allow more sunlight to flood inside. Elise moved to the many boxes stacked four high and marked with Mike’s and Todd’s names on them. Todd took the lid off a box, positioned with others on the ground to the left of her, and dug into it. It looked like it held an assortment of old baby toys. Elise watched him bite his lower lip in annoyance.

  For a moment, Elise stood still, her eyes circling the shed. She stared at the junk and stacks of boxes as an eerie shiver washed over her. Her neck and scalp felt as if any army of tiny spiders was marching upward. Her sixth sense kicked in. The last time she had been in the shed, all of the boxes had been neatly stacked in tiers of four. J.B. had promised her all of Todd’s boxes would be positioned within easy reach, but those labeled as Todd’s were now mixed in with the rest. Someone had been in the shed. Someone had been digging though the contents of the boxes. Someone had put them back in stacks, but not in the proper order.

  Frowning, Elise looked at Cindy.

  “What?” Cindy asked, seeing the alarmed look on Elise’s face.

  Elise pulled out her phone and motioned Cindy toward her. She was just about to phone Lucas when she looked out and noticed the back door to the cottage was ajar. She pointed to the door and pushed Cindy back into the shed.

  “Were you in the house?” she asked.

  When Cindy shook her head, Elise whispered, “I need your help.” She jerked her thumb toward the house. “I’m going inside. I want you to wait out here with Todd and Bess. It’s possible the door was left unlocked by one of the contractors, but I can’t take a chance that’s the case. I’m going to look around to see if anyone is in there.”

  “I don’t like this,” Cindy said, her eyes growing large and worrisome.

  “Stay calm and listen to me.” Elis
e handed her phone to Cindy. “If after a few minutes you don’t hear from me, call Nick and Lucas and tell them to come here. Make sure they know you’re at the cottage along with Todd. Keep Todd and Bess inside the shed until you hear a familiar voice calling you, okay?”

  “Okay, Elise, but let me repeat, I’m not feeling good about this. Why can’t we phone them now and wait until they arrive?” Cindy’s voice was now a distraught plea.

  “Because if someone’s inside the house, I want to find out who it is before he gets away.” From her purse, Elise withdrew a small can of pepper spray, ducked outside, and crossed the distance to the back door of the house.

  With her heart thumping, she stopped and stood quietly outside listening for any sounds within. Pepper spray in her right hand, she pushed the door open with the other and had a short surge of relief when the hinges didn’t squeak. Silently, the door drifted open into the kitchen. On the tile floor ahead of her, she saw smudges of mud where someone had walked. She was being silly, she told herself, the dirt could easily have been from a contractor or his helper coming in and out of the cottage with tools and supplies. There was still a showerhead to be installed in the master bath, and she had asked a carpenter to build permanent bookcases for one of the walls in Todd’s bedroom. She had also designed a new sunroom to expand the living area and had asked two contractors to stop by, look at the layout possibilities, and give her quotes.

  Gaining more confidence, Elise eased herself into the kitchen and stood with her back flattened against the wall just inside the door. Her heart continued to thud wildly in her chest. Maybe she was just losing it, she thought. Maybe she was being silly. The place appeared empty. If an intruder had been in the house, he surely would have heard the arrival of two cars, the slamming of their doors, and the commotion outside. Surely, he would have left.

  With a more purposeful stride, she started down the hallway toward the living room and bedrooms beyond and took three steps into the living room when she saw a flash of light and movement in her peripheral vision. She heard the clinking of metal before she felt the sharp, painful blow to the back of her head. The room around her faded to black as she crumpled and the floor came up to meet her.

  ****

  Elise awoke to the fuzzy faces of four men peering down at her. She recognized the sterile, antiseptic smell of a hospital and could feel a throbbing pain at the side of her head.

  “I didn’t die and go to heaven. Not if you’re all here with me,” she mumbled. “There’s no way St. Peter would allow four of you inside the pearly gates at the same time. It would be bedlam.”

  “No, you’re at the hospital and this is a darned stupid way to visit me,” her father grumbled. “What were you thinking?”

  “A little sympathy would be in order,” Elise said and followed her words with a painful moan. She felt her head begin to clear, and the images of the men’s faces became sharper.

  Beside her, Lucas only sighed and ran his hand gently up and down her arm.

  Fritz grunted. “You’re like a bumbling maniac when wild ideas simmer in that pea brain of yours. You could have been killed, Elise! Why did you go into the cottage without help?”

  “Stop shouting.” She winced, eased herself slowly up, and fingered the bandage on the side of her head.

  “You have a slight concussion and a few stitches,” Lucas said softly as he bent and kissed her forehead on the undamaged side of her face. “Hey, guys, cut her a break. She just woke up, for Pete’s sake.” He looked down at her lovingly. “How are you feeling?”

  “Like someone hit me with a hammer? I’ll be okay, I think.”

  “It was my grandmother’s tarnished old candlestick.”

  “If you all don’t mind,” Nick interrupted, “I’d like a few minutes alone with Elise so I can get her statement and perhaps some information to help with our investigation. I’d like to go over some things while it’s still fresh in her mind and before they give her something strong to dull the pain.” He gestured to the door. “There’s a waiting room at the end of the hall, guys.”

  As soon as the room cleared, Nick sighed. “You know, Elise, you’ve got yourself more deeply involved in this case than I would have liked.”

  Elise took a sip of water from a glass on the stand beside her. “Which means you have more information?”

  “Yes. The paint chips Lucas and J.B. took from Jack Morrison’s car match the paint we scraped off Mike Fisher’s car after the accident.” Nick ran his hand through his hair. “The problem is Jack Morrison wasn’t on the road the night of Mike Fisher’s death. He was seen drunk at Two Horses, got a ride home, and was there for the rest of the night, according to a neighbor. The bartender corroborates the story. Morrison picked up his car the next morning and it was already damaged.”

  “Did you ask the bartender who took Morrison home?”

  “Yeah, it was Meyer.” Nick paced in front of her bed. “Did you see or hear anything before you were hit?”

  Elise shook her head. “No. Did Cindy see anything? It happened so fast. How did my attacker get out of the house?”

  “Easy. Out the front door and onto the road below the cottage. Bess must have sensed someone was in the house and something was wrong because she started barking. By the time Cindy called and we arrived, the intruder was gone. We checked for tracks, but there were none. I’m sorry, Elise.”

  Not any more than I am, Elise thought, as she fingered the bandage on her head again.

  ****

  Elise greeted the news that she and her father would both be released from the hospital within twenty-four hours with joy and enthusiasm, despite a pounding headache. Lucas sent a Suburban to the hospital and instructed Fritz, Cindy, and J.B. to collect them and take them back to the farm. Fritz called it the mission to gather up the misfits, but he willingly showed up to see all the insurance and hospital paperwork for both of them was completed so they could be sprung.

  If Elise was happy to be home, her joy paled in comparison to Lucas and Todd, who stuck to her like burrs on Bess. Lucas refused to let her work at her computer, and after the third reading of The Fox and the Hound with Todd, demanded she take a rest in her room—alone.

  But it didn’t take long for Todd and Bess to disregard Lucas’s rules and seek her out. With a silent, careful commando crawl, Todd inched his way into her room and onto the bed, where she was listening to her iPod with her eyes shut. She felt his little fingers remove one of the ear buds and his soft lips tickle her ear as he whispered, “Are you awake, Eeelise?”

  Smiling, she opened her eyes, removed the other ear bud, and pulled the little boy toward her. He snuggled in close beside her and rested his head on her shoulder.

  “I really missed you,” he said, twisting the cord of the earbud around his little finger.

  “I missed you, too,” she admitted.

  “Does your head hurt?”

  “Not so much.” She rubbed the top of his head.

  “We didn’t find Ranger. Cindy took me back to the cottage, and we looked through all the boxes. It’s not there.”

  Elise’s heart hurt as he spoke. “I’m sorry, Todd. We’ll just have to get you something to replace it. I know what it’s like to lose something you really treasure. What do you think we can get you that would be as nice as your favorite beanbag dog?”

  “A real dog?” The little boy bounced up, his face animated and his hands flying around like windmill blades. “A real dog the same color! Uncle Lucas says there’s a dog called a golden tree-er. It’s the same color.”

  “Retriever. Re...triev...er,” she said slowly, smiling.

  “Uncle Lucas said he’ll have to check with the SP-something or with someone who raises golden tree-ers to see if we can get one.”

  “SPCA. Dogs are a lot of work,” Elise said. “Uncle Lucas will have to see if the doghouse is finished and if it’s the right size, although I don’t think he’ll want your puppy to stay outside. What would you name your dog?”

&nbs
p; “Cracker,” he said with a wide grin. “It’s my favorite food.” He stopped a moment and chewed his lip. “But the house is all done, Elise. My dad even left the tool box inside it on a shelf over the door.”

  Elise sat upright. “Say that again, Todd.”

  “I’d name him Cracker.”

  “No, about the tool box.”

  “It’s inside the doghouse.”

  Elise grabbed the little boy and hugged him close to her. “You are a really, really smart little boy,” she said. “I’m so proud of you. I think we need to go downstairs and get a box of those animal crackers to celebrate!”

  “Do I have to eat the mean lions and tigers?” he asked.

  “No,” she laughed and patted him on his hand. “You can eat any crackers you like, kiddo.”

  ****

  Lucas, Nick, Elise, Fritz and Cindy sat at the kitchen table with Mike Fisher’s toolbox and bolt cutters in front of them. Close by on the floor, Todd knelt and clutched a small golden-colored beanbag dog while he brushed Bess, who was more than willing to lie there all day and submit to the boy’s ministrations. Lucas had found the beanbag dog with the tool box on a board in the rafters of the dog house.

  “I think Bess needs to go outside,” Elise said to Cindy. “Can you take Todd and Bess out?” They traded an unspoken look that said the group needed some time for an adult conversation.

  “Sure,” Cindy said. “Let’s go, Todd. We need to introduce your beanbag dog to the Springer farm. I also think we need to put a collar with a carabiner clip on Ranger so we can attach him to you permanently and be sure he never gets away again. I saw some ribbon in the sewing room we can use for a collar to get started.”

  Fritz stood as well and checked his watch. “It’s time to pack up Dad and take him to his physical therapy session.”

  As soon as they left, Lucas heaved a sigh. “I can’t believe it was in front of our faces the entire time.”