“Hey, you!”
The figure jolted then started up the hill deeper into the forest.
Frick!
I really needed to stop doing that. Calling out never worked. I could catch them though. The bike trail led up the hill and they weren’t moving that fast.
I pumped my legs trying to get up enough speed on the flat section of the trail to make it up the incline. It wasn’t easy with the uneven dirt, but I wasn’t about to give up. That windbreaker was not getting away this time. I just needed to catch up then I’d ditch the bike and—
“Bloom!”
Sheriff!
Sheriff Bigly jumping out of nowhere right into my path!
The back wheel of the bike skidded away from me and the next thing I knew I was sliding across the dirt.
Ow! Ow! Ow!
Okay, I lost some skin on my knee … but there was no time for that!
I jumped to my feet. I could still catch windbreaker. I just needed to—
Bigly grabbed my arm. “Where do you think you’re going?”
“I have to catch windbreaker! She’s getting away.” I still couldn’t say for absolute certain it was a woman, but the shape and the way she moved—it was my best guess.
“What are you talking about … windbreaker?”
“There’s no time for that,” I yelled. “She’s getting away!”
She retightened her grip on my arm. “Who’s getting away?”
I pointed up the hill. “The person in the windbreaker.”
The person who I could no longer see …
“I don’t see anybody,” Bigly said.
I huffed in frustration. “I’m telling you there is a person in those woods wearing a beige windbreaker that knows something about Lyssa’s death.”
Sheriff Bigly studied me a moment then said, “Stay.” She walked a couple of feet away but I could see she was talking into the radio at her shoulder.
“If you just let me go, I can catch up to the person and—”
“And what?” she shouted back at me. “Make a citizen’s arrest of a … windbreaker? I don’t think so.” A crackle sounded at her shoulder and she walked away a little farther so I couldn’t hear.
“By the time you get Amos out here,” I shouted after her, “the person will gone. Just let me go. I’ll keep a distance and—”
“That’s not happening, Bloom,” she said, walking back over. “Besides, you’ve got other plans.”
“I do?”
“You’re coming with me.”
Chapter Twenty-five
“You hurt?”
I mumbled something. I wasn’t really hurt. I mean, yes, my knee hurt—in that hissing kind of way skinned knees do—but I doubted she wanted to hear about that.
Bigly didn’t arrest me. She didn’t even take me to the sheriff’s department.
She took me to the Dawg.
That’s right, the Dawg. I had finally made a breakthrough in this investigation, but instead of chasing it down, we were contemplating menu items. Well, Bigly was. I was too busy being frustrated and trying to ignore the pain in my knee.
“You still take your coffee black, Judy?” Big Don asked, coming up to the table, pot in hand.
“I do.”
He huffed a laugh, poured the coffee, then walked away … without asking me if I wanted one.
I stared after him. I guess Bigly caught the look on my face because she said, “That’s probably my fault. He’ll be back.”
I shot her a questioning look.
“We used to date.”
I blinked at her. “You and Big Don used to date?”
She picked up her mug and nodded. “Forty-some years ago.” She studied my expression. “Surprised, aren’t you?”
“I…”
“You didn’t think I knew the first thing about Otter Lake.” She smiled. “But I used to be quite the regular.”
Actually I was more surprised that Big Don had ever dated. I couldn’t see it. He was just too … burly.
“We were both pretty fiery back then. Couldn’t stop fighting long enough to make it work,” Bigly said, taking a sip of her coffee and looking at me over the rim. “So why don’t you tell me all about this windbreaker of yours.”
I had to give my head a little shake to get back to the topic at hand. “I thought Candace already told you about the first time I spotted the person at her pl—”
She cut me off with a wave of the hand. “She did. But I want to hear it from you.”
I sighed then told Bigly everything. When I was through, she asked, “Could it have been the same man you and Candace found rummaging in her shed?”
“I don’t know. Maybe. The man wasn’t very tall. He was slender too. But I still think that person in the windbreaker was a woman. I can’t say why exactly, but I do.”
She nodded.
I waited for her to say something, but she didn’t. “Well?”
“Well what?” she asked before taking another sip of coffee.
“Well, don’t you think that’s suspicious? That the person in the windbreaker was at both Candace’s place and the crime scene?”
She squinted. “Hard to say.”
“What you mean is that you won’t say,” I said, leaning back in my chair. “At least not to me.”
She smiled and tapped the side of her nose. “I had you pegged for a quick one, Bloom. Right from the start.” She looked over to the bar. “Hey, Don! You got any of that pecan pie you used to make?”
He planted his hands on the bar and nodded.
“Get a piece for Erica here. I think she needs it. My treat.”
I folded my arms over my chest. “I don’t want your pie.”
“It’s not my pie,” she said, lifting her coffee cup to me. “It’s Don’s pie.”
“I don’t care whose pie it is. I don’t want pie.”
She took another long sip before saying, “It’s the least I can do seeing as I caused that spill you had on your bike.”
I huffed. “It’s not my bike either.”
“Then whose bike is it?”
“It’s Don’s. I mean it’s his neph—it doesn’t matter! I want answers, not pecan…” The thought trailed away at the sight of Don coming toward me with a plate of pie and a really generous scoop of vanilla ice cream. He placed it in front of me and walked away.
“Go ahead,” Bigly said.
I picked up the fork, but before I dug in I asked, “Why are you being so nice to me?” I pointed the fork at her. “And don’t give me that crap about it being because of the tumble I took on the bike. I’m pretty sure you meant to do that.”
She smiled. “Well, I tried being the bad cop with you. That didn’t work. And I can’t arrest you for riding a bike past a crime scene. So now I’m trying the good cop approach.”
I waited. Well, actually it was more like I couldn’t answer because buttery pecan filling was melting in my mouth.
She watched me for a moment then said, “I know you think that the sheriff’s department isn’t equipped to handle this investigation.”
“You’re right, I don’t,” I mumbled. “Not when you’ve got the crime scene—”
She held up her hand again. It was a very intimidating hand. “You need to accept that there may be more going on here than you are aware of.”
“But I don’t get it. Why haven’t you cleared the scene? Why were you even at—”
Again with the hand. “I’ve already been through this with your partner, Freddie. And if he wasn’t able to annoy any information out of me, you certainly won’t.”
“Freddie came to see you?”
“Threatened me with teams of imaginary lawyers if I didn’t let him at those wedding supplies.”
I sighed. She was right. There was no way I was going to be able to annoy answers out of her if Freddie couldn’t. Freddie was very annoying when he wanted to be. Just ask my poor bangs.
“Listen. I get that you are friends of the bride. And I get that yo
ur … Otter Lake Security team cares about this town.” She leaned toward me and put her hand over her heart. “But you need to leave this one alone and trust that we can handle it.”
We met eyes for a moment before she pushed back her chair and got to her feet. “Now you finish your pie, Bloom, and think about what I said.” She dropped some money on the table. “Or the next time I run into you anywhere near this investigation, I will lock you up.”
I didn’t say anything as she walked away, but I was totally muttering in my head, I thought you couldn’t arrest someone for just biking around a crime scene.
“I’ll find a reason.”
My eyes snapped up to hers.
She winked.
* * *
I was so ready for this day to be over.
I glided over the lake enjoying the feel of the cool wind rushing over me. I didn’t know what to think about anything anymore. I mean, part of me was wondering if maybe Bigly was right. Maybe I should just let the sheriff’s department handle this. But on the other hand, private investigators looked into murder investigations all the time. It was part of the job. And while I didn’t officially have my license, I was working under someone who did—Rhonda—and I had brought murderers to justice before. Of course, I usually was working with Freddie in those circumstances, but the point still stood. And, again, I had a bit of a problem sitting back and doing nothing when someone I cared about needed help. Maybe my mother should do a retreat on that.
When I pulled up to the retreat’s dock, I found Candace waiting for me.
“You do not look happy,” Candace said when I cut the engine. “Beer?” She lifted a bottle. Organic. Gluten-free. My mother’s stash. “I heard the boat coming. Thought you might want this.”
I smiled at her then jumped out to tie off the boat. “Have you tried one yet?”
“No,” she said with a frown. “Are they that bad?”
“They’re not good.” I laughed, but it came out sounding as tired as I felt. “Joey’s not back yet?” I asked, taking one of the beers from her.
“He didn’t actually get to work today. His sister called. She said that Nonna wasn’t well and…”
I nodded. “She needed him to come right away.”
“I insisted he go. It’s not like…” She shook her head. “He should be here soon.” She then tilted up her bottle and took a sip of the rice beer. “Oh … oh wow. That really is terrible.”
“Told you,” I said, taking my own sip. I had to swallow pretty hard to get it down. “Let’s sit.” I walked down to the end of the dock, slipped off my sandals, and dipped my toes in the water. Candace did the same.
“You look kind of tired,” Candace said. “Is everything okay?”
“I ran into Bigly today.” I launched into the story of my day, recapping all that had happened.
“Erica,” Candace said when I was through, “you know you don’t have to do this. When you guys came to see me the day of … the day the wedding was supposed to be, I said I needed to know what happened to Lyssa—and I still feel that way, but—”
“Don’t start,” I said, pointing my beer bottle at her. “Your constant consideration is really … aggravating.”
I looked over at her and we both smiled as the twilight sounds washed over us.
A little while later, Candace flicked her toe in the water and said, “You know, I don’t think there’s a spot in Otter Lake that isn’t beautiful.” She had obviously not seen Tommy’s front lawn. “But I think your mom’s island is my favorite spot.”
“Oh yeah?”
“It’s just so quiet … and peaceful. And safe. I’ve been hiding out inside at my place, but here, everything feels okay.” She tilted her head back. “I wanted to show it to Lyssa but sightseeing wasn’t really her thing.”
I nodded.
“Erica,” Candace said a moment later, “do you believe in bad luck? Or like curses?”
I put my beer down and rested my hands behind me on the dock, so I could look up at the first stars dotting the sky. “I don’t know. I mean I’m sure I felt like I’ve had bad luck before. But it probably wasn’t.” Suddenly I looked at her. “You’re not thinking—”
“That my wedding is cursed?” she asked. “Yeah, I kind of am.”
“No, don’t think that. What happened to Lyssa was tragic, but it doesn’t have anything to do with—”
“Nobody wants this wedding to happen,” she went on, looking back out at the water. “You know, except for Joey and me. And maybe you, Freddie, and Rhonda.”
“Come on, that’s not true. There’s lots of people who—”
“His sister hates me,” she said quickly. “My parents hate him. Maybe all that bad energy…”
I sighed. I wanted to argue with that, but Antonia had made her position pretty clear, and I didn’t want Candace thinking she was crazy for feeling what she was feeling. “If Antonia doesn’t love you yet, it’s because she doesn’t know you. And I’m sure the same is true for Joey and your parents.”
Candace shot me a pained smile. “I don’t even know if they are going to show up. My parents, I mean. They said something about it maybe not being possible to change their flight.”
“I’m sorry. Is it really all because—”
“Joey’s an ex-con? Pretty much. That and they don’t think we’ve known each other long enough. I wish Bethanny was coming. We’ve gotten so much closer since New Year’s, and she could always get through to them.” She sighed. “But we either wait for Bethanny to be able to afford to come home, and then Nonna can’t be there. Or vice versa.”
“Hey, what about Joey’s nonna? She wants to see you get married.”
Candace shot me look. “She’s got dementia, Erica. I could be the queen of England and she wouldn’t know the difference.” A strange look came over her face. “Unless I was a squirrel. Then she’d notice for sure. She really hates the tree rats.” Suddenly her eyes widened. “That sounded awful, didn’t it?”
I laughed a little. I couldn’t help it. “Kind of.”
“I don’t know what’s wrong with me?” She put her hands over her face. “And am I a bad person because I still want to marry Joey? Like right away. Even after what happened to Lyssa?”
I nodded sympathetically. “Probably.”
Candace’s hands dropped and her eyes went crazy wide.
“I’m kidding!” I near shouted. “Of course you’re not a bad person. You’re in love. You’ve found your person. It’s not selfish to enjoy that.”
“Are you sure?”
“Completely.”
“Seriously, though, you haven’t heard all of it.” Candace suddenly looked sad again. “I’ve just got all this … guilt.”
“Candace, it’s not your fault that Lyssa—”
“No, that’s not it. Do you want to know just how bad a person I am?”
“Absolutely,” I said. “It might make me like you more.”
She tried to smile, but the sadness was too strong. “When it first happened—I mean, before I found out she was gone and I just saw Amos walking up to our place—I thought to myself, What’s Lyssa done now?”
I met her eye.
“Horrible, right?” She looked back out at the water. “It’s just she always had to be the center of attention. And I was fine with that back in college. I didn’t want the spotlight. But my wedding day?” She let out a shuddering breath. “Then I found out she was dead. And now … I’m just so sad. Yes, Lyssa had her faults, but we all do. And it was like … she had this big emptiness in her that all the attention in the world couldn’t fill up.” She quickly swiped a tear from her cheek. “It’s got to be horrible feeling that way.”
I nodded some more. That was sad especially because any chance Lyssa had of finding another way through life had been taken from her.
“And”—she shook her head—“as much as I do love Joey, and as much as I want to marry him … it’s just, well, not that the wedding doesn’t matter…”
I looked at her.
“But it’s not right what happened to Lyssa.”
I nodded.
“And the wedding’s just a day. It’s our life together that’s important. Because at any moment it could all be taken away.” She looked up to the sky filling up with stars. “I’m sorry. I’m all over the place tonight. I know I’m not making any sense.”
“Of course you’re all over the place. You’re human. If Freddie were here he’d say—” My brain caught up to my words and they died in my mouth.
“You okay?”
I took a deep breath and looked back up at the stars too. “I’m fine. It’s just Freddie and I have never had a fight like this before.”
She nodded. “I saw Freddie today about the location for the wedding. He wanted to have it at Hemlock Estates, but I guess Matthew’s still doing renovations, so I think we’re going to have the reception, at least, in the upstairs of the community center.”
I frowned. “Where they have the bingo nights?”
She nodded. “Freddie’s not happy, but there’s enough room and … well, there’s enough room.”
I tried to hide everything I was thinking—cracked linoleum, wood paneling, sweat smells rising up from the hockey arena below. It was pretty hard.
“And if it makes you feel any better,” she went on. “I think he’s pretty upset too.”
“It does,” I said. “It really does. Thank you.”
She laughed.
“What? You’re not the only bad person around here.” I looked at her. “But Freddie’s and my problems are nothing compared to what you’re going through.”
She squeezed her eyes shut. “I’m so tired of thinking about my problems. Tell me how you’re doing.”
“Well,” I said, curling my feet up into a cross-legged position, “you know what the worst part of this whole fight is?”
She looked at me.
“I don’t even know what started it all.” I brushed a pebble from the dock into the water. “I mean, obviously something happened between Freddie and Sean, but—”
“Oh Erica…”
Candace looked back to the water as my eyes bored into her.
“You know something.”
Down the Aisle with Murder Page 14
