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

by Auralee Wallace

  Candace swung her free hand up to meet mine. Her palm landed on my wrist. Her fingers curled around it.

  “Good. Good,” I said. “Now use my weight to get your foot up onto that vent.”

  She did just that and not a moment too soon because I was pretty sure the sheet around my waist was crushing all of my internal organs.

  “Okay,” I said, taking a breath while trying to inch my way back toward the window. I wrapped both of my hands around her wrist as she brought her other hand up too. “Now, we just have to—”

  “Erica!”

  I screamed.

  “What the hell are you doing?”

  Jesus. I squeezed my eyes shut.

  Rhonda. It was just Rhonda. Rhonda was in the window I had come from.

  “Help,” I mumbled. “Help us.”

  “Oh right.” I felt the sheet tighten again around my waist. “Freddie,” Rhonda shouted. “Get over here and help me pull them up.”

  The sheet cut into my waist just above my hips, but it was twisting too. “Easy, guys! Easy! I can feel one of the knots slipping.”

  They stopped pulling, but I could still feel the slip of the knot giving way. “Guys! Guys! I’m falling. I’m—”

  Suddenly I jerked up quickly. The motion caused the knot to give, but just then something cold and hard snapped around my bare ankle. Handcuffs?

  “I’ve got you,” Rhonda shouted. “You’re not going anywhere unless you take me with you.”

  Or my foot pops off.

  Bad thought, Erica. Bad thought. Not helpful.

  “Okay. Okay,” I muttered. “Candace, you need to climb up my body.”

  Candace scraped against the roof, but she was getting nowhere. My hands were slippery with sweat. This was so not good.

  “I can’t do it! I’m going to fall!”

  “Yes you can. Now listen to me. We are fine. You’re fine! I’m fine! We are both fine.”

  “What?”

  “Actually we are better than fine. We are young. We are single.” Some of us more newly single than others. “And we are at a fancy New Year’s party!”

  “Erica,” Freddie said with lots of worry in his voice, “you okay?”

  “Haven’t you been listening? I’m fine! In fact, I’m freaking great!” I shouted. “You know why?”

  “I’m afraid to ask.”

  I tried to shoot Freddie a look, but Candace caught my attention mumbling something. “What?”

  “Why? Why are you great?” she asked weakly.

  “Oh. I’ll tell you why I’m great. Because you and I are going to get ourselves back inside. We are going to drink some freaking champagne. Well, maybe not you. You’ve had enough. And we are going to talk about how awesome this upcoming year is going to be! Okay?”

  She was quiet for a moment then finally said, “Okay.”

  “Okay?”

  “Okay.”

  She let one hand go from my wrist and reached up to grab my jacket higher at the armpit. It had a lot of give, but I was helping to push her up as I hissed, “Ow. Ow. Ow,” under my breath. Wow, that handcuff hurt.

  “Candace!” a new voice shouted. “Oh my God!”

  “Bethanny?” Candace answered.

  “What’s happening? Help her!”

  “We’re trying,” Freddie grunted.

  Candace’s feet scrabbled against the roof trying to find purchase. And her right one did. At the back of my head. Mashing my cheek into the shingles. As I lay on the roof like a flattened frog, Candace managed to haul herself up onto my body, wrapping her arms around my thighs. In all the scenarios I had imagined for myself tonight, I never once thought I’d end up in this position. Literally, this position never once crossed my mind.

  Suddenly I noticed Candace had stopped moving.

  “I’m stuck!”

  “Hurry,” Rhonda grunted. “I don’t know how much longer my arm can hold Erica like this.”

  What the heck did that mean? I tried to shout What? but it came out all wet and muffled with the corner of my mouth pressed against the roof.

  “Just a little farther,” Freddie shouted. “I’ll grab your hand. I can almost reach you.”

  “I can’t,” Candace moaned. “I’m barely holding on.”

  She was slipping too. I tried to grab her feet to give her some leverage, but they were flailing.

  “Candace! Come on!” Freddie shouted. “You’re almost—whoa! Werewolf!”

  And just like that all the weight was gone.

  “Joey?” Candace breathed out the name like a woman who had just been rescued in a black-and-white movie … a woman safely tucked inside a building … while another woman was still lying precariously on a roof!

  “Help!’ My voice cracked. “Help me.”

  I felt the pull at my ankles. I tried to get up on my elbows to ease my way back so that my face wouldn’t get scraped off. Then as my legs tipped in the window, two very large hands gripped me around the waist and eased me all the way in. I went limp. Joey laid me gently on the floor. Rhonda had to go flat on her belly with me, what with her wrist still attached to my ankle.

  I lay there, frozen, for a good long while, eyes closed, in that place where time has no meaning.

  On some level, I registered Rhonda getting the cuff off her wrist, but the rest of the bracelet was still on my ankle. Guess she didn’t want to disturb me.

  Suddenly a voice right above my face called my name.

  I blinked my eyes open to see Freddie hovering above me.

  “Erica? Are you okay?”

  I mumbled something.

  “What was that?” he asked, tilting his ear toward me.

  “I said I freaking hate New Year’s!”

  “She’s fine, everybody,” Freddie called out, getting to his feet. “She’s fine.”

  The Morning After

  “We should totally high-five right now,” Freddie said before adding in a baby voice, “Shouldn’t we, Stanley. Yes, we should. Puppy, high paw.”

  “Please stop,” I said, rubbing my head. “This whole situation is weird enough.”

  “But we totally saved the day! Okay, well, granted, you did most of the work this time, but you wouldn’t have come if it weren’t for me and Otter Lake Security, and Candace is alive because of us! Think about that. Maybe we’re not hungover. Maybe we’re sick from wielding the power of life and death.”

  I belched softly. Oh God, that hurt. I brought my hand to the middle of my chest. “I don’t think that’s it.”

  “Seriously,” Freddie said, voice rising with excitement. How he could even raise his voice to that level without his head exploding was beyond me. “And we didn’t screw up in any major way.” He gasped. “Your Year of the Adult curse has come to fruition.”

  “It’s not a curse. It’s a resolution … or a theme. I can’t remember.”

  “Speak for yourself, witch,” Freddie said. “I guess it’s not all bad though. It is kind of nice getting through one of these things without feeling like we have to send out Sorry I nearly got you killed cards.”

  “Did we really get through it though? We saved Candace. But what about the Arthurs? Were they really the ones responsible? Did they get away? Why are we so hungover? And why do I still have handcuffs on my ankle?”

  “Wow, I’m really starting to wonder if we have brain damage. You more than me.” Then he gasped. “Oh no! I just remembered! My snowmobile! I’m gonna kill that kid!”

  “What are you talking about now?”

  Freddie turned his horrified face to me. “You really don’t remember any of what happened next?”

  I threw a pillow at him. “No!”

  “Hey! You nearly hit Stanley!”

  “Sorry, Stanley,” I mumbled. “So last thing I remember…”

  Chapter Forty-one

  As I mentioned, I stayed on the floor a good long while.

  I didn’t see any real need to move. Besides, the conversation Candace was having with Joey was pretty interestin
g. I was making it look like I was still staring at the plaster medallion around the old light fixture above me, but I could totally see them from the corner of my eye. They stood a foot or two apart, but each had a hand half raised toward the other, like they might fall into each other’s arms. And I wasn’t at all thinking that just because I wanted Candace and Grady to be completely done, while still finding a way for Candace to be happy, and for us to remain friends. Nope, not at all.

  “I don’t understand,” she said. “What are you doing here?”

  “I wanted to thank you for everything you did for me while I was … away,” Joey said. Wow, his voice was deep. “You didn’t say it outright, but I knew you were worried about what your boyfriend might think, so I just sent you the drink. I hoped you’d know it was from me.”

  I turned my head just a little to get a better look at Candace’s face. Her eyes were all big—like she couldn’t quite open them wide enough to see all of him. “That’s so sweet.”

  “Where did you get the drink?” I croaked.

  They looked down at me.

  “The appletini?”

  “Oh,” he said, looking back to Candace. “When I first got to town yesterday, I went to your work. I was too nervous to go in, but I met this nice couple outside, and they told me that I should come to the New Year’s party to properly thank you. And when I got here, I ran into the man back on the driveway. He said his wife had a great idea. She passed me this drink before I even got in the door. Said it was your favorite.”

  Boy, the Arthurs had been busy. And it was a good thing Joey was so big. I couldn’t see any other way he had survived prison, being this naïve.

  “I was going to leave after that, but you seemed upset. I had to know you were okay. Then I saw the doctor treating you…” His voice trailed off as though the thought of something happening to her was more than he could bear.

  It looked like she was just about to touch him when Bethanny put a hand on her arm, stealing her attention. “And I want you to know that I’m sorry. I know we have our issues, but I could have been more supportive. And I would never want anything bad to happen to you. Despite what some people might think.” She near shouted that last part. Over her shoulder. Right in my direction. I wasn’t looking at them anymore though. The woodwork was lovely on the dresser by the wall. How the heck was I supposed to know how sibling relationships worked?

  I rolled myself onto my hip then and pushed myself up to a standing position by planting my forearms on a chest at the end of the bed. I would have stayed on the floor longer, but my foot was freezing. I padded my way past Candace, her sister, and her werewolf bodyguard toward Rhonda and Freddie, handcuff scraping against the wood floors.

  “Rhonda,” I said, voice husky. My throat wasn’t doing so well after all that yelling. “I need the key for the handcuffs.”

  They didn’t turn, but I heard Freddie say, “I don’t see anything.”

  “They won’t get far,” Rhonda replied. “I’m telling you. Grady’s on it.”

  “How does Grady even know?”

  Rhonda growled in frustration. “I was searching one of the rooms when I heard something. Then I saw the Arthurs were making a run for the far staircase. So I gave chase. I mean, I looked in the room they must have been in, but I didn’t see Candace ’cause she must have been on the roof already. So I followed them downstairs, but then they disappeared. I ran to the main hall and told Grady that he needed to find them, and he sent me back up here to get you guys, and there was Erica and Candace on the roof!” She sucked in a deep breath once she got through all that. “I couldn’t believe it.”

  “Rhonda,” I called out again, a little louder this time. “The key?”

  She looked over her shoulder. “Oh yeah.” She reached into the breast pocket of her sailor’s uniform. “See? I knew it was a good idea to keep my spares. I was going to return them to the department, but Grady never asked and—” She cut herself off. “Never mind, here you—Oof!”

  Freddie had elbowed her in the side. “Hey! Look!”

  She dropped the key. I heard it trickle down the shingles.

  “Freddie!” I shouted.

  “Sorry, but look!” He pointed outside. “All the twinkly lights have gone out!”

  “Don’t worry,” Rhonda muttered. “We’ll find it.”

  I nodded.

  Hmm, the lights had gone out.

  “Freeze!”

  The three of us clutched each other at the shout from the ground below. It was Grady. Definitely Grady.

  Candace, Bethanny, and Joey huddled in behind us.

  “Who’s he shouting at?” I whispered.

  “It’s gotta be the Arthurs,” Rhonda whispered back.

  “I don’t see them, do you?”

  We could hear the distinctive crunch of someone running through the snow. Actually, a couple of people by the sound of it. There was some light shining from the house, but it didn’t make it far into the shadows of the lawn.

  Suddenly we heard a soft, “Dammit,” coming from the ground just to the right of us. Grady again. We couldn’t see him though. He was shielded by the slant of the roof. “Chloe! Tyler! Get inside.”

  “Tyler!” Freddie said with a gasp. “Oh no! I forgot I sent him out there.”

  “Why would you do that?” I asked, looking at him.

  “I told him to get some of his friends to catch you and Candace if you fell.”

  “We would have flattened them!”

  “I told them to use the tarp Matthew had over his firewood at the side of the house. I mean, you probably would have still died, but it was worth a shot.”

  Another shout came from down below, farther off to the right. “Where … are they … Sheriff?” By the puffing in between words I was guessing that was Coach Waters. He’d been puffing since high school.

  “What did they do?” yet another voice asked. I could be wrong, but that one sounded like it belonged to Matthew.

  “They’ve been trying to hurt … Candace,” Coach Waters finished.

  “What?” I heard Matthew ask. “Why would anyone want to hurt Candace? That doesn’t make any sense. Everybody in town loves Candace.”

  “I know,” Coach Waters said. “She’s the sweetest—”

  “Quiet,” Grady snapped. “We might be able to hear them.”

  I looked over at Candace. She met my eye. Yeah, she’d heard it.

  “We should get down there,” Rhonda whispered. “We can help them with the search.”

  “There’s no point,” Freddie said.

  I had to agree. Hemlock Estate had a lot of property—a lot of property that had vanished in the dark now that someone had cut the lights.

  “Erica!”

  “What?” I near shouted with a full body jolt. Wow, I still had a lot of adrenaline flowing.

  Freddie slapped me on the arm. “The blinder!”

  The blinder? What the…? “Oh!” I slapped the pockets of my jacket. “Got it! Got it!” I whipped it out and pointed it at the window.

  “That’s the wrong end!” Freddie shouted.

  I looked down at my hand. Oh crap, I had it pointed at me again. Close one. I righted the sucker and aimed it out toward the lawn below. “Grady! We got you!” I flipped the switch, and the sun once again rose on Hemlock Estate.

  “There!” Freddie screamed, pointing toward a cluster of trees. Two figures were sprinting for cover. Too bad that was useless information to all of us currently on the second floor.

  “Grady!” Freddie shouted. “By the jingle bell thing!”

  The Arthurs—it had to be them—had just ducked behind an old-fashioned horse sleigh the town had been using for rides at the carnival.

  Suddenly Grady darted out from underneath the overhang of the roof and across the lawn. Coach Waters and Matthew followed close behind.

  “This is so cool,” Freddie whispered, shaking my arm. “It’s like watching a takedown by satellite! Or … or one of those video games where you’re h
overing above the little pixelated people below.”

  “No. No,” Candace said quickly. “It’s not cool. They’ve got a gun. Grady, they’ve got a gun!” She shouted the last part out the window.

  But we couldn’t tell if Grady had heard.

  “It’s how they got me on the roof,” Candace said, coming in close to look over my shoulder. “They’ve got a gun!” she shouted again. “I don’t understand why the Arthurs would want me dead. I’ve barely talked to them.”

  “You haven’t, but—”

  “Bryson!” Freddie yelled.

  “Yeah, Bryson has been blackmailing—”

  “No! Bryson! He’s running too!” Freddie shouted with a frantic point. “Erica, turn the light to the ice sculptures!”

  I did …

  … then a gunshot tore through the night.

  “No!” I shouted. I turned it back to Grady. They all looked okay. The shot must have missed.

  “Erica!” Freddie shouted. “Turn it back on Bryson before he gets away.”

  “I can’t! Then Grady can’t see.” I threw him a quick look. “You really should have bought the second flashlight!”

  “Oh ho ho!” Freddie shouted. “Don’t you even!”

  “Grady!” I shouted.

  If he heard me, he wasn’t showing it.

  “He can’t hear you. They’re too far away.” All three men were wrestling the Arthurs to the ground. We could hear a lot of grunting and shouting.

  “Oh no way,” Rhonda said, pushing herself from the window. “No way is Bryson getting away this time. I’m going after him!” She yanked Joey’s arm. “And I’m taking the werewolf with me.”

  Joey didn’t budge. “I … I just got out of prison. I don’t want to go back.”

  “You don’t have to do anything,” Rhonda said quickly. “Bryson’s the type to be afraid of big men. Besides, he tried to frame Candace for blackmail.”

  “Let’s go!”

  “You won’t get out there in time,” Freddie called after them.

  “Just keep sight of him, so I can track him,” Rhonda shouted halfway out the door.

  Grady, Coach Waters, and Matthew had the Arthurs on the ground. They looked pretty secure. I flipped the beam back to the ice sculptures. “He’s on the move!” I looked at Freddie. “We gotta get Grady’s attention. Rhonda won’t get there in time.”