Ring In the Year with Murder--An Otter Lake Mystery

by Auralee Wallace

  “All I’m thinking is that we need to find Grady. Now.”

  “Yeah, that hasn’t really been a successful strategy so far.”

  “It’s time to call the station.” I reached into my jacket pocket for my phone. “Maybe Amos has some special way of getting a hold of Grady.”

  “What? Like a bat signal?”

  I swiped at the screen. “Yes, exactly like that.”

  “Okay, but I really doubt Amos is going to be of any use.”

  “It’s worth a shot. Maybe he can get other officers over here to help with the search for Grady.”

  “Again, yes, let’s organize a search team for the adult man who has been missing for less than two hours at a large party on an estate.”

  “Well, do you have a better idea?”

  He nodded. “I think that it’s time we take this investigation to the next level.”

  “It terrifies me when you say stuff like that.”

  “You call Amos. I’m going to gather everyone else for a team meet—” Freddie suddenly bounced up onto his toes. “Just as soon as we find out where Candace has got off to.”

  I whipped my head around again to the empty bed. “Frick!”

  * * *

  She hadn’t made it far, just out into the hallway. Rhonda was on her way back from the guest bathroom and cut her off at the pass. She actually had to bring Candace back into the room by lifting her in a giant bear hug, which Candace found hilarious. She was such a happy drunk. And a sleepy one. Once Rhonda had dropped her back on the bed, she curled up, closed her eyes, and started snoring.

  Ten minutes later Freddie had everyone else—Tweety, Kit Kat, Tyler, Bethanny, and Sean—gathered in Matthew’s bedroom. That’s right. Sean. Very telling that Freddie thought to invite him. We had debated bringing Bethanny into the mix, but she had already made friends with Tyler, and it didn’t seem like a half-bad idea to keep her close, just in case. She looked confused—I picked that up from her I’m surrounded by crazy people face—but I couldn’t worry about that right now. Also, I had called Amos, but Freddie was right, it didn’t get me very far. Every time I asked him about getting some help to find Grady, he would get caught up on the fact that it wasn’t procedure to start a missing person’s investigation so soon for a nonvulnerable adult, and he’d have to ask Grady first.

  “Okay,” I said, clapping my hands together. “Let’s get this meeting going.”

  I could see Freddie’s horrified expression at my taking charge of his investigation, but we couldn’t waste any more time. Freddie might still believe that Grady was off brooding, but I didn’t. “Kit Kat, Tweety, what have you two found out about the origin of the rumors?”

  “We’re circling in,” Kit Kat said, “a lot of the same names keep coming up, but we can’t say anything for certain as of yet.”

  “Okay, well, we’re abandoning local suspects at the moment,” Freddie said, pushing past me with a cutting look. “You’re being reassigned. In fact, everybody is now being reassigned to the task of finding Grady Forrester.”

  “Nobody’s found him yet?” Tweety asked. Then she let out a cackle and backhanded her sister lightly on the arm. “Hey, don’t all these old houses have secret passageways? Maybe he got caught—”

  “Behind one of those swirling bookshelves!” Kit Kat, said finishing the thought.

  I sighed.

  “What?” Tweety asked. “You don’t know that he didn’t.”

  “Yeah,” Kit Kat added. “For all you know, somebody has him chained up in the basement.”

  Tweety nodded with a disturbingly lecherous look on her face. “Wouldn’t that be a sight?”

  “Shirt off,” Kit Kat went on. “Manacles around his wrists and ankles—”

  “Oh my God! Knock it off, you two.” I would have said something more, but the visual of that had just caught up to my consciousness. Their imaginations were way better than mine.

  “She’s seeing it,” Kit Kat said.

  Tweety nodded knowingly.

  “Ladies!” Freddie snapped. “Please control your ovaries. We need to break up into teams and search this estate from top to bottom.”

  “I could go with you,” Sean offered with a little shrug. “I can get Josh to cover for me.”

  I could have sworn Freddie’s cheeks flushed just a little. “No, Bethanny’s coming with me.”

  At which point Tyler jumped in. “But I thought Bethanny and I could maybe go together.”

  “Yeah, not when you’re under my care. Your mother would not approve.” Freddie caught Bethanny’s confused expression. “I have my reasons. His body spray is overpowering anyway. You’ll thank me later.”

  Tyler’s eyes widened in horror.

  “We need to focus,” Freddie ordered. “The twins will of course go together. Bean, you go with Tyler. Bethanny and me. Rhonda, you’re still on Candace and Stanley duty. Oh, and if you could get that vet to check in on my dog once in a while, I would appreciate it.”

  “What’s the big deal with finding Sheriff Forrester anyway?” Tyler asked.

  “That’s need to know. Need. To. Know.”

  “What about me?” I asked. “I don’t have a partner.”

  He sighed. “You don’t need a partner. You have Gray-dar.”

  Freddie gave a few more instructions on staying together, being careful of good-looking werewolf-type men, and staying in contact via text. He then assigned different sections of the house to search. I wasn’t given any particular area. My instructions were to just follow my nose. We all took off in our various directions.

  I headed back out to the main ballroom. I was getting more than a few looks seeing as I was still wearing my boots and my coat, and my dress had an obvious tear in it, but that was the least of my concerns.

  I scanned the room.

  Grady. Grady. Grady. Gr—

  “Matthew.”

  Not the handsome man I was looking for.

  “Erica, are you okay?” he asked, looking me over.

  “I’m fine,” I said quickly, eyes moving back to scan the room. “I just fell in the snow.”

  “And what’s this about Candace getting locked in the boathouse with the generator on?” He took a step toward me. “And who are you looking for?”

  “Grady. Have you seen him?”

  “Not in a while. Last I saw him he was looking for Candace. Is she okay? I was just about to go check on her. Jessica said Dr. Reynolds is with her in my room?”

  “Yeah, but she’s sleeping.” I brushed my hair back away from my face. Where was he? “Hey,” I said suddenly. “Is there any way the latch on the boathouse could have fallen shut when Candace closed the door?” I wasn’t sure why I was asking. All the other pieces fit. But I guess I still wanted there to be some logical explanation that didn’t involve murder.

  “Yeah, I was actually at the hardware store just last week looking for a new handle. I was going to replace that latch.” The muscles at his jaw flexed. “I feel terrible.”

  “Did you talk to anyone about it?”

  Matthew shrugged. “Shane.”

  He owned the store. “Anyone else? Did anyone overhear you?”

  “Probably. The store was pretty full.”

  It usually was. A lot of the people liked to hang out there. Anyone could have heard Matthew talking, which meant anyone could have planned for Candace to get trapped in there.

  “What about the generator? Do you know why it was on? Does it have something to do with your surprise?”

  “No, not at all. I assumed Candace turned it on, maybe thinking it was a heater? I heard she was drinking pretty heavily. What’s going on, Erica? It was an accident, right?”

  “I think we should let Grady decide that one. Where did you last see him?”

  “Here, in the ballroom, but he said someone told him Candace and a couple of other guests were trying to find all the secret passageways in the house and he had lost her.”

  My eyes snapped to his. “Who told him that?�
��

  “He didn’t say.”

  I cursed under my breath. “So does this house actually have a secret passageway?”

  “Just one,” he replied. “But it’s not a big deal. It’s actually just a semihidden staircase by the fireplace in the old billiards room. It leads to the attic. Used to be the servants’ quarters. I offered to show him, but he said he could find it, and I was on my way to get Jessica some food. She hadn’t eaten since her earlier call.”

  I looked behind me. I thought the billiards room was back that way. “That Jessica sure is a trouper.”

  He chuckled, but it was short-lived. “Erica, can I help in any way?”

  “I’m sure everything’s fine.” I didn’t have time to explain everything. Besides, if he went to check on Candace, Rhonda could give him more of the details.

  “You seemed freaked out, and there’s some strange rumors going around that Grady and Candace are breaking up?”

  I nodded with my head still turned. I needed to go check that staircase out.

  “I mean, it sounds wrong to say, but I thought you’d be … happy?”

  That made me look back at him. “Yeah,” I said. “It feels kind of wrong for me to think it too.”

  “Do you want me to show you that staircase I was talking about?”

  Just then it sounded like a tray of drinks smashed in the other room. Matthew’s head whipped around.

  “It’s okay. I can manage,” I said. “You go. But which room is it exactly?”

  “It’s the third door on the right down the main hallway to your left when you first come in.” Matthew then leaned in and kissed me on the cheek. “Good luck.”

  He probably thought I was trying to finding Grady to make my move.

  “Thanks.”

  I watched him walk away back through the crowd for just a half second longer than I had to waste. It suddenly occurred to me that I was always a little sad when Matthew walked away.

  Chapter Thirty-two

  “Third door on the right,” I muttered as I wound my way through the crowd, still ignoring all of the interested slash concerned looks I was getting. I didn’t want to waste any more time. “Third door on the right.”

  I trucked down the near identical hall to the one on the opposite side of the estate.

  Bingo!

  I’m not sure why Matthew had called it the old billiard room. There was a new-looking pool table in it, and the room itself had a pretty modern man-cave feel. But that was a question I was sure could wait for his engagement party.

  Now the secret door.

  I walked up to the cold fireplace and checked out the wood panels on either side. You wouldn’t be able to see the outline of the hidden door if you weren’t looking for it, but I was, so it didn’t take long. I gave it a little push, and that was enough to release the spring mechanism keeping it shut. It popped right open.

  Well, that was easy.

  I took a step into the darkened space and looked up.

  Yup, totally easy.

  All I needed to do now was climb up the very dark, very narrow, claustrophobic stairs to the closed door at the top without spontaneously screaming. Seriously, if I half straightened my arms out, I could touch both walls. It was like they were hugging me … until I could no longer breathe.

  I turned on the light on my phone, gulped, and took the first step.

  Wow, old wood sure knew how to groan.

  I almost thought about shouting out Grady’s name but quickly decided against it. The thought of hearing my own voice yelling at me in this confined space might set off that screaming I was thinking about earlier.

  This was probably silly. Grady wouldn’t still be up here.

  Thump!

  Great. It had come from the room at the top of the stairs. But no, it was totally good. I was looking for a live, moving person after all. Then again, given all of the experience I had had with murderers lately, it wasn’t unreasonable that I was just a little bit freaked out. But not, you know, freaked out enough to stop investigating. I wasn’t that much of a chicken. And I was looking for a man, who I had been told was looking for a woman, who had gone up these stairs and—

  Thump!

  Okay, that thump sounded exactly like a body hitting the floor.

  Maybe I was that much of a chicken.

  I couldn’t do this alone …

  … but I couldn’t wait either!

  What if Grady needed my help?

  I tapped the first number on my phone, waiting on the stairs as it rang.

  “I said text messages only.”

  “Yeah, but I’m climbing up a hidden staircase in real time,” I said, taking a step, “and I want you to hear it if someone jumps out of nowhere and kills me.”

  “What?” Freddie snapped. “You’re exploring a secret passageway without me?”

  “Hey,” I said, swiping at a phantom cobweb by my head. I think it was probably just my hair. “You’re the one who wanted to partner up with Bethanny.”

  “True,” he said. “Oh, and by the way, she’s really kind of offended that you thought she might be the one trying to kill her sister.”

  I froze mid-step. “You told her? Why would you tell her?”

  “We’re bonding,” Freddie said, voice rising a pitch. “And I had to explain what we were doing. Where is this secret staircase?”

  I resumed my climb. “In the old billiards room.”

  “Wait for us. We’ll come. We’re on the other side—”

  “Whoa…”

  “What? What?” my phone asked.

  Now that I could see the foot of the door, I realized something was blocking it. A pipe maybe? It was pretty big for a pipe. And heavy by the looks of it. Maybe the iron chimney of an old stove? It was wedged between the wall and the door. So … maybe somebody was trapped inside?

  “Something’s blocking the door at the top of the stairs.” I crept up another step. “Maybe Grady’s trapped inside.”

  “Or maybe someone else! Who’s about to kill you!”

  This whole situation was suddenly feeling a little Jane Eyre-y. Matthew didn’t seem the type to lock up family members, and or insane wives, in the attic, but then again the creepiness of the situation was making it hard to be rational. And another spiderweb, a real one this time, had just brushed over my shoulder, so, you know, I was pretty sure I was going to die.

  “Erica?”

  “Hang on a second,” I whispered.

  I looked over my shoulder. Maybe I should wait for them.

  Nah, it was silly. I was being silly. Grady might need me … and if it was someone else trapped in there, well, they were trapped. As long as they didn’t have a gun to shoot me in the face with through the closed door, I was pretty safe.

  I snorted a nervous laugh.

  “Are you laughing? What is wrong with you?”

  “Just stay on the line, okay?” I whispered. “I’m going to knock on the door.”

  “What? You’re going to knock!” I think Freddie went on muttering some knock-knock joke that ended with me being dead, but I was too scared to appreciate his punch line.

  I climbed the remaining steps up to the last two. You know, silly or not, I didn’t want to be at shooting height, so I stretched my belly over the landing and knocked softly at the very bottom of the door. “Grady?”

  Chapter Thirty-three

  “Erica?”

  Quick footsteps crossed the floor.

  “It’s Grady! I’ll call you back.” I ended the call with Freddie.

  Oh thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I popped up to my feet and climbed the last two steps, brushing the dust off my dress. “Hey!” I called out. “Thank God you’re not bleeding out. Everyone’s looking for you! What are you doing in there?”

  “Bleeding out? What?” Grady rattled the door handle. “Can you see what’s blocking the door?”

  “Just give me a second.” I bent down, jiggled then slid the heavy piece of iron a few inches away from the door befo
re I tried the handle. It opened just enough for Grady to pop his head out. He then pushed the door with enough force to get it most of the way open.

  I rushed toward him then stopped myself short. I had been super close to throwing my arms around him.

  “Finally. Thank you,” he said, eyes meeting mine. “How did you know I was up here?”

  “I didn’t, exactly.” Hot chills of relief rushed down my body. “But Matthew told me you might be looking for Candace in the hidden staircase.” I took a couple of steps toward Grady. My nerves couldn’t take having a conversation at the top of a flight of stairs. He backed away to make room.

  “Yup,” he said, looking around. “She’s not here. I guess I didn’t see the pipe leaning against the wall out there. It must have fallen, locking me in.”

  I frowned. Somehow I didn’t think so.

  Grady shot me a sideways look. “Why do you look so freaked out?”

  “There’s a lot going on,” I said, stepping farther into the room—which really felt like more of a loft than an attic. Exposed beams. Big windows. There were lots of storage items though. “I don’t even know where to start.” I turned to face him. “What was all that thumping? And why haven’t you been answering your phone?”

  “I lost it somewhere,” Grady said, slapping his jacket pockets. “And I was just moving some boxes so I’d have a better place to sit than the floor.”

  I nodded. That made sense. About the phone I mean. I knew Grady had never sent that message to Candace to meet him in the boathouse.

  Grady looked me over. “Erica, are you okay? Did you fall?”

  “Why didn’t you yell for help?”

  “I did a bit,” Grady said, eyeing me. “Nobody came. So I figured I’d give it a little while before I resorted to destruction of property.” He held up a book. “Besides, I found a copy of The History of Otter Lake. Did you know that the town has had fifty-three official mascots? One was a weasel. It bit into the hand of a town official at a parade in the 1890s.” His eyes dropped to the book as he gave the cover a pat. “I think I just needed some time away from the party to think.” He frowned. “Why all the questions?”

  Grady knew me well. He knew I wasn’t asking just to make conversation. Well, that and I probably looked like a survivor of a natural disaster. I chewed the corner of my lip. “There’s been an accident.”