****
It was almost dinnertime when Elise and Lucas arrived at Ted Meyer’s house. Elise slammed her car door and went up the front walk before Lucas could shut down the engine and get out. She noticed Ted’s cruiser was parked in the driveway. She knocked on the door and was greeted by Mary Jo.
“Elise. Come in. We were just talking about you, wondering why you haven’t stopped in lately,” Mary Jo said. “Oh, and Lucas is with you. Come into the kitchen.”
“Where are the children?” Elise asked, frowning and following her to the back of the house.
“Oh, I fed them early and sent them outside to play so Ted can eat his dinner in peace. You know what it’s like with three noisy kids underfoot.”
Elise knew all right. She knew how Ted Meyer had a temper and no tolerance for children. The kids were downright scared to be around their own father and weren’t even allowed to eat with him.
“Where’s Ted?” Elise said.
“Here,” he said behind her. “What’s this unexpected visit about?”
Elise wasted no time and no words. “The night of Mike Fisher’s murder, where were you, Ted?” She could feel Lucas beside her, radiating strength and reassurance.
“You know where I was. I finished my shift and came home.”
“After you dropped Jack off from Two Horses, right?”
“That’s right.” Ted Meyer’s lips thinned in anger. “Just what are you trying to prove here? I’ve been over this a dozen times with the local and state police. I resent—”
“Answer my question!” Elise shouted. She threw the words at him like stones. She wanted answers and was determined she would not be put down by this brute. She lifted her chin, refusing to cower. “You drove Jack home in his car and then you drove his car home. Here, to the house, didn’t you?”
“I did no such thing.” Ted Meyer looked warily at Mary Jo. “Isn’t that right, Mary Jo?”
She nodded and averted her eyes.
Elise persisted. “No, the car that hit Mike Fisher was Jack Morrison’s. You came home from your shift in Jack’s car.”
She turned to Mary Jo. “I would never have figured it out, if it wasn’t for the phone call you made earlier to Mike at work. At first, I was confused when we spoke in the supermarket about why you would tell me your sister was staying with you, not us, the night of Mike’s murder. Your sister was coming to stay with you because Ted was on one of his tyrannical rants again, and you were afraid of what might happen when he came home from work and you were alone with him.”
Ted interrupted her. “If you think you can accuse me of murder or abuse, you little bitch, think again!”
Behind her, Lucas lurched forward, but Elise blocked his move with her arm.
“No.” She shook her head at Ted, swallowed hard, and boldly met his gaze. “No, I’m accusing you of being an accessory to the murder.”
She took a deep breath and turned to Mary Jo. “You called Mike before his shift ended to tell him Ted was on one of his rages again. Your sister came over, hoping to help put the lid on it and save you from another beating. Mike arrived shortly after Ted came home and threatened to expose him and his violent temper. Mike knew what was going on inside your house. He was a savvy cop.” She looked at Ted Meyer. “When Mike left, you threatened Mary Jo and told her if anything got out about being a wife beater, you’d be washed up with the local force and your character would be tarnished. It was going to be her fault if it happened, right? Tell me, Ted, isn’t that loosely the way it all went down?”
Elise met Mary Jo’s angered eyes without flinching. “So as soon as Mike left, you took Morrison’s car and tried to stop him, didn’t you?”
“It was an accident!” Mary Jo cried out. “I only wanted to talk to him. To stop him!” She buried her face in her hands and wept.
“Shut up, Mary Jo,” Ted shouted at her. His nostrils flared with fury.
Elise shook her head sadly. A cold knot formed in her stomach. “You ran him off the road, didn’t you, Mary Jo? And when you stopped and determined he was dead, you took Jack’s car back to the bar, picked up Ted’s cruiser and drove it home. No need to report it. Problem solved.”
She turned to Ted. “When you found out Jack Morrison needed money to pay off his debt for the marijuana stolen from his car, you lent it to him.” She turned to Mary Jo. “The money you said you and Ted were saving for your cabin in the woods.”
Elise rounded on Ted again, her voice curt and full of contempt. “You needed to be good buddies with Jack. You wanted the Mike Fisher incident to go away. What you never planned was someone getting paint samples from Jack’s car and matching them to the chips taken from Mike’s, so you lent him the money he needed to make good on his mishap with the stolen marijuana from his trunk.”
Ted Meyer lurched and started toward her with an upraised hand. “You meddling little bitch. You just wouldn’t give up, would you? You had to keep digging, and digging and digging!”
“I wouldn’t touch her,” Lucas said, stepping between Ted and Elise. “Give me a reason to knock your block off, Ted. Right here. Right now.”
From behind Ted, Nick and two other state troopers entered the kitchen from the living room. “Well, I’ve heard enough of the conversation, Meyer. The party’s over. You and Mary Jo are under arrest.”
Elise glanced at Mary Jo. Her own eyes filled with tears as she looked at a person who she thought was her friend. She wondered whether she really knew her at all.
“Call your sister, Mary Jo,” Elise said sadly. “You’ll need a babysitter for your children tonight.” She swiped at her eyes with the back of her hand.
Lucas put a reassuring hand on her shoulder and pulled her close. “It’s all right, Elise. It’s over now. Let’s go home,” he said softly.
He signaled to Nick to take over as they walked silently out to the car.
The ride to the farm was a quiet one, broken only by the sound of the windshield wipers scraping against the window. When they reached home, the rain continued, harder, like tears falling from above. They sat together and listened to it drumming on the roof of the car.
“When did you figure it out?” Lucas finally asked in an exhausted voice.
Elise sighed. “When you told me you’d take the spare car at the farmhouse and pick up mine later. Clarisse had told me Ted dropped Jack Morrison off at his house using Jack’s own car, instead of a cruiser. All along I figured only one person drove Jack’s car and he would be the person who killed Mike. I suspected Ted. Then it dawned on me it could easily have been two people and when Mike didn’t immediately return Mary Jo’s call to him at the barracks on the night he was killed, I figured the call couldn’t have been about Todd. Mike would have returned that call immediately, as any responsible worried parent would. Suddenly all the pieces started to fall into place.”
Lucas nodded. “I’m sorry it had to be one of your friends.” He leaned over and kissed her on her forehead and then on her cheek. “But I’m not sorry you solved the mystery surrounding Mike’s death. I’m not sorry you’re here with me, Elise Springer, and I’m not sorry you’re going to stay and marry me. You’re going to make me the happiest man in Scranton.”
He smiled and peered out the window. “Let’s make a run for it. Come on. Let’s tell everyone some good news for a change.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
It was the perfect spring morning to sit on the Springers’ front porch with a cup of coffee and watch the sky bloom in shades of rose and gold. Elise and Lucas sat on the old wicker swing, and at their feet Todd and Cindy were leafing through a stack of bridal magazines. One big square diamond twinkled from Elise’s hand.
The wedding plans were driving her crazy. She and Lucas had decided upon the last Saturday in July for the big day. However, everyone was needling her. Fritz wanted a big splash at a huge reception hall in Scranton. Her dad wanted a church wedding with a reception under a huge white tent on the front lawn of the farm. Lucas said a destination
wedding would suit him just fine, which could be a short trip to city hall if she so chose.
What Elise hadn’t told anyone yet was she finally decided upon a church wedding, followed by a reception by the lake at the cottage. She wanted three tents—one with a band for dancing, one with food and drink, and one especially for the children to play in. She had already spoken privately with Cindy, who had agreed to be her personal wedding planner and who would take care of all the details, including organizing games for the kids. Cindy was researching a few honeymoon destination packages for Lucas as well.
For his wedding present to her, Lucas had bought an office building in downtown Scranton and had helped her with all the legal startup procedures and paperwork for her new firm, called Springer Architectural Designs. Lucas had insisted she use her maiden name for the company’s business, even if she decided to use his once they were married. Mort Levinson was her first client, but with his recommendations and circle of friends and investors, she was certain more clients were on their way.
Todd looked up at her. Beside him was a large basket with a small Golden Retriever puppy sleeping soundly on a blanket, and beside the basket, Bess lay quiet, but alert, protecting both boy and puppy. “I like the idea of blowing bubbles after the ceremony,” he said, “and I think the favors for the wedding reception should be animal crackers. But no lions and tigers allowed, okay, Elise?”
“Only if I don’t have to sort them, buddy,” she said and followed her words with a smile and a wink.
With Cindy’s urging, the little boy scrambled up. He approached Elise cautiously, one hand behind his back. Earlier in the morning he had acted unusually withdrawn and quiet. Elise thought there had been too much commotion for the child to absorb everything that had happened during the last few days. She had been away from the farm, frantically trying to solve Mike’s murder before the twenty-four hours elapsed and the police disclosed the drug money had been located. Even though her father had tried to keep everyone on an even keel, she thought the child might have been affected by the high emotions surrounding the last few days.
He looked at her almost shyly now with those big, dusty gray Fisher eyes. “I have an early wedding present for you, Eeeelise,” he said in a solemn voice, and handed her a card he had made. On the outside of it he had drawn a barrel-like brown dog with floppy ears and long legs, and beside him, a bouquet of brilliant red, yellow, and blue flowers.
Elise opened the card. Inside were only five simple words. He had written them in an uneven, childlike script, obviously coached by Lucas or Cindy. She thought her heart would burst with delight. Leaping off the swing, she scooped up the little boy in her arms and crushed him to her.
“Yes, yes, yes,” she squealed, hugging him to her and ruffling his hair. “Yes, Todd, my answer is yes. Oh, yes!” In her exuberance, she dropped the opened card onto the porch floor, revealing the five little words that formed her key to love.
“Will you be my mom?”
A word about the author...
Judy Ann Davis began her career in writing as a copy and continuity writer for radio and television in Scranton, PA. She holds a degree in Journalism and Communications from Point Park University in Pittsburgh, PA.
Throughout her career, Judy Ann has written news articles and features for newspapers, advertising copy for businesses, and curricula and grants for various educational institutions.
Over a dozen of her short stories have appeared in various literary and small magazines, and anthologies. Up on the Roof and Other Short Stories, a collection of nineteen short stories, will be published this year.
Her first novel, RED FOX WOMAN, published in 2010, is a western, mystery, and romance and was a finalist in the International Book Awards and USA Book News Best Book Awards.
When Judy Ann is not behind her computer, you can find her looking for anything humorous to make her laugh or swinging a golf club where the chuckles are few. She is a member of Pennwriters, Inc. and lives with her husband in Clearfield, PA.
Visit her at: www.judyanndavis.com and
www.judyanndavis.blogspot.com.
You can find her on Facebook: Judy Ann Davis
and on Twitter: @judyanndavis4
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Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright
Praise for Judy Ann Davis
Dedication
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
A word about the author...
Other Books You Might Like
Thank you for purchasing this publication of The Wild Rose Press, Inc.
Key to Love Page 26
