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

by Auralee Wallace

  “Hey guys,” Matthew said, strolling up to us, bow tie hanging loose. “I was wondering if you all would like to join me outside for a second.”

  I guess we all looked equally confused because Matthew added, “I know it’s been a rough night, and we missed midnight, but there’s no sense in wasting the historical society’s last surprise.”

  Best we could figure, midnight had struck right around the time Grady and Joey were tumbling down the stairs, so, yeah, it had kind of been a busy time. We hauled ourselves to our feet and followed Matthew onto the back terrace. Light snow had begun to fall.

  There were a few other people waiting outside. Mrs. Watson. A couple of the servers. Rhonda and Bethanny. Tyler. Oh yeah, Tyler had been having a great time celebrating his epic takedown. At one point, his friends were even bouncing him up and down on a chair, parading him around the house. They had waited until Tyler’s mom had gone home though. No need for her to know that it had been her son on the snowmobile just yet. She left happy seeing him happy without knowing the reason why. Chloe had gone home too. I couldn’t help but wonder if she might see Tyler a little differently now, but Freddie seemed to think that that was beside the point. Tyler could do better. Freddie never had been one to easily forgive. Grady and the other handful of officers weren’t outside though. They were still questioning Candace. The Arthurs and Bryson had been taken to the sheriff’s department for holding.

  “Okay,” Matthew called out. “So things didn’t entirely go as planned earlier, but I can’t see any reason why we shouldn’t do the countdown now before it really starts to snow.” He then held up a finger for us to wait while he called somebody on his phone. “Is everybody ready?”

  A few people mumbled assent. I shrugged.

  “All right. All together now. Ten … Nine … Eight…”

  Freddie, Rhonda, and I exchanged looks. Rhonda raised a glass. Dammit! I should have gotten myself some champagne. I was so over the not-drinking thing.

  “Five … Four … Three … Two…”

  “One!”

  Gold fireworks blew open the night sky.

  “Happy New Year!”

  We all stared up at the beautiful display. Even Stanley roused himself from Freddie’s arms to give the sky a look and then Freddie another lick on the chin. Freddie held him out to Sean, and Stanley obliged to give him a lick too.

  “Aw,” Matthew said, coming to my side. “The dog gives kisses at midnight? Lucky.”

  I looked up at him.

  “Hey, are you okay?” Matthew asked. “I mean, obviously you’re not okay given everything that’s happened tonight, but—”

  Maybe it sounds a cliché, but all of a sudden, something came over me. For the life of me, I couldn’t figure out why I had never kissed Matthew. Here I had spent all of these months waiting for Grady … while he dated someone else … and for what?

  Then, before I even realized what I was doing, I had stretched up and my lips were on Matthew’s.

  He jolted with the surprise, but then his arms were around me … and I was sinking into the warmth of his arms as snowflakes melted on my cheeks.

  This … this … was not what I’d expected. Chills raced up my back as Matthew’s hand dropped from my shoulder to my waist, pulling me in just a little bit closer. A tiny, tiny voice somewhere in my head was screaming something about stopping, but I couldn’t really hear it.

  Another loud bang exploded overhead. A sizzling crackle followed.

  Finally after what felt like both way too long, and yet not nearly long enough, Matthew pulled back. “That was…” He shook his head. Sparkles fell behind him like enormous golden snowflakes. “I’m sorry if…”

  “Oh no…”

  We stepped apart.

  “I should probably, uh…” Matthew said, pointing behind him.

  “Yeah, you should.”

  He nodded quickly.

  I nodded back.

  I whirled around to make my escape and—

  “Freddie!”

  He shook his head. “Boom go the fireworks.”

  The Morning After

  “Why? Why would I do that?”

  “Oh, I think we both know you’ve been wanting to do that for a while.”

  “No! Yes. Maybe … but not now! I’ve had plenty of opportunities to kiss Matthew. I’ve always resisted. And Grady had said something about needing time … and I cut him off! I’m so confused.”

  “Cut yourself some slack. You’re human.”

  I shook my head in disbelief. “How many people saw? Was it really bad? I mean, it didn’t look like some big, passionate kiss, right?”

  “Oh, it looked exactly like that.”

  “Do you think anyone told Grady?”

  “Knowing this town? I would say that’s guaranteed.”

  I slapped my hands over my face. “No. No. That must be why I started drinking.”

  “I don’t think so,” Freddie said, squinting his bright red eyes. He really needed to get those contacts out. “Remember, after you finally broke your lip-lock with Matthew, he suggested a bunch of us use his guest rooms, so we got Stanley’s stuff out of his room, and brought it here.”

  “And I was going to go to the other room, but…” I wagged a finger in the air. “I remember agreeing to one shot. You wanted to celebrate, and I wanted to forget—”

  “The hot passion building between you and Matthew?”

  “No!” I frowned. “Maybe … I don’t know!”

  “And there was a tequila bottle! With Jessica’s stuff!” Freddie pointed an accusatory finger at the impassive glass bottle sitting on the dresser.

  “Oh nutballs,” I said with a hard swallow. “Tell me I didn’t eat a worm.”

  “It’s not a worm. It’s a moth larvae.” Freddie army-crawled his way over to the dresser and pulled the bottle off the top. The motion also sent a sticky note fluttering to the floor. “And that’s not tequila you’re thinking of. It’s mescal. Get some class.” He squinted at the bottle then picked up the piece of paper. “Uh-oh.”

  “What uh-oh?”

  “Um … remember how Jessica had that little accident with her supplies?”

  Suddenly I could feel my heartbeat behind my eyeballs. “Yeah.”

  “Well…” Freddie held up the sticky note.

  DO NOT DRINK

  KETAMINE

  “Freddie!”

  “I’m sorry! I didn’t see it. I guess with all of the excitement—”

  “What is ketamine?”

  Freddie whipped out his phone. A moment later he chuckled nervously.

  “So?”

  He scratched the back of his head. “It’s a horse tranquilizer. Like an anesthetic.”

  “What!”

  “Yup. Yup. It’s a recreational drug too. Its effects include increased heart rate and blood pressure. Vomiting. Hallucinations.” He paused. “Amnesia.”

  Well, that explained a lot.

  “It can also cause—”

  “Just stop,” I said, waving out a hand.

  “Death.” Freddie nodded. “It can kill you.”

  A heavy, heavy moment of silence passed. Neither one of us moved.

  Finally I said, “I would like one of those I’m sorry I nearly got you killed cards now, please.”

  “It’s not my fault! What kind of vet just leaves horse tranquilizer lying around!”

  “With a note! A big ol’ sticky n—”

  “Quiet,” Freddie suddenly said, eyes growing wide. “We’ve got bigger problems.”

  “We’ve got bigger problems than drinking horse tranquilizer? How is that possible?”

  Freddie cocked his ear to the door. “Someone’s coming. Actually make that someones.”

  We both heard the heavy footsteps coming down the hallway.

  Bang! Bang! Bang!

  Freddie planted his hand on his raised knee and hauled himself up to standing position. He shuffled toward the door.

  “What are you doing?” I hissed.
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  “Um, answering the door.”

  “Why would you do that?”

  “Because that’s what one normally does when there is a knock?”

  I clutched the sheets to my chest.

  “Okay, other than indulging in a little Special K, I can’t think of anything we did wrong.” Freddie reached for the handle. “You have to stop feeling so guilty all the time.” He then opened the door, blinked a few times, and looked over to me. “It’s for you.”

  For me? I mouthed.

  Freddie nodded.

  I swung my feet to the floor, forgetting about the cuffs. The metal clanked heavily against the wood. I pushed myself up and dragged myself and my chains toward the door.

  Grady.

  Matthew.

  Matthew and Grady standing side by side just on the other side of the threshold.

  I looked from one to the other. Then back again.

  I dragged my fingers through my hair and cleared my throat. “I—”

  Suddenly Rhonda jumped in between the two men.

  A noisemaker unfurled from Rhonda’s mouth, bopping me on the nose.

  “Happy New Year!”

  Chapter Forty-four

  “Don!” Freddie shouted across the bar to the grizzly bear of a man wiping down the counter. “We’re going to need more ice cream over here.”

  “No. No. No more,” I said weakly, waving a hand out. “I’m going to throw up again.” I then gently laid my cheek on the cool wood of the table and took shallow breaths in and out of my mouth. Normally I found the grease-and-beer smell of the Dawg comforting, but today was not most days. Why did I think I could handle ice cream?

  “Oh, I thought you threw up on purpose earlier to get out of talking to You Know Who 1 and You Know Who 2.”

  “Nope. Not on purpose. Just lucky, I guess.” I lifted my head and slumped back against the faux leather plastic of the booth. “How it is you’ve recovered already? I feel just as bad as I did this morning.” Maybe a little worse.

  “Superior genetics,” Freddie said, pushing his glasses up his nose. He had finally peeled his contacts off … but not without a lot of swearing.

  Just then Don ambled over with another bowl of tutti-frutti.

  “Oh God,” I said, covering my mouth with one hand and waving the other out in front of me. Freddie had thought force-feeding me ice cream was an important first step in dealing with my feelings now that I had finally admitted I was not fine.

  “Ah, you’d better take that away,” Freddie said. “Sorry.”

  Don did not look impressed, but just when I thought he was going to chew Freddie out, he said, “About time you got another dog, Freddie.”

  Freddie beamed at the little dog sitting beside him in the booth.

  “Daisy would approve.”

  “Hey,” Freddie said, looking back at Don. “Do you think you could bring Stanley something to eat?”

  Don nodded.

  “Make a good cut of meat, not—”

  “You’re pushing it, Freddie,” he said, but I could see the smile on Don’s face as he walked back to the bar.

  “We’re celebrating, aren’t we, Stanley?” Freddie said happily.

  “What are we celebrating again?”

  “The new year!”

  “Of course.” I closed my eyes.

  “I know what you’re thinking…”

  I didn’t answer, just sniffed. Maybe I could fall asleep without Freddie noticing.

  “You’re thinking, I’m Erica. I’m so sad—”

  “I don’t usually call myself by my first name in my inner monologues.” Not unless I needed a really good talking-to.

  “I thought I was getting back together with my ex-boyfriend,” Freddie went on in his Erica voice, “but he said he needed time, so I kissed the first available guy I could, and now he’ll never want me back, and I don’t know how I feel about the other guy, but it doesn’t matter because he’s moving to New York and maybe marrying a vet—if she forgives him for being assaulted by a strange girl who looked like she had fallen off a snowmobile.”

  “I’m also thinking I’m going to need to find a new best friend because I killed my old one.”

  Freddie chuckled.

  “How is your snowmobile by the way?”

  “Freaking Tyler’s going to be cleaning my rain gutters for the next forty years,” Freddie said. “But forget all that, my point is you need to start looking at the bright side.”

  I cracked one eye open.

  “I tried to tell you earlier. You’re a freaking hero! You saved Candace’s life!”

  I closed it again.

  I had done that. That was pretty cool. Freddie and I had spotted Candace and her werewolf sitting in the town gazebo a little earlier sharing a hot chocolate. It looked really sweet. Not romantic per se. It was a little soon for that. But it definitely looked like something. I kind of liked the idea that my going out onto the roof had made that moment possible. I’d made the world a happier place. The pink ball of fluffy sunshiney things that was Candace would live to brighten the world another day.

  We also saw online—Candace had unblocked us from her social media—a pretty cute selfie of Candace and her sister Bethanny hugging cheek to cheek: #shesgoingbacktoschool #sosad #missmysisteralready. Sure, things in real life were usually more complicated than they appeared on social media, but it definitely looked like a step in the right direction. And speaking of social media—that was a big part of Freddie’s good mood. Stanley already had his own Instagram page and nearly a hundred thousand followers. Freddie felt this could mean big things for Otter Lake Security. #OLS.

  But I also couldn’t forget the other reason for Freddie’s cheerfulness, Bean.

  Freddie didn’t want to talk about it, and I didn’t want to push, but I had seen them exchange contact information.

  “You know what else?” Freddie asked.

  “What?”

  “You are in a much more authentic place than you were twenty-four hours ago.”

  “Trying not to throw up tutti-frutti ice cream is authentic?”

  “The most authentic,” Freddie said. “But what I mean is that now that you are being honest with your feelings, you can grow.” He made a blooming gesture with his hands … which kind of made me want to punch him. “And I bet you’ll have more luck finding a place now that you and Candace are friends.”

  I shrugged. Maybe. That would be nice.

  “Oh look,” Freddie said, stretching up in his seat. “Rhonda’s here. Rhonda!”

  I grabbed his wrist. “Do not tell her that I kissed Matthew.”

  “She’s going to find out eventually, if she hasn’t already.”

  “Eventually. Not today.”

  He nodded.

  “Hey guys,” Rhonda said, coming up to the table. “How are you feeling?”

  “Terrific!” Freddie answered.

  I groaned and muttered something unpleasant.

  Rhonda smiled.

  “Where have you been?” I asked.

  “I was just helping Jessica move more stuff to her new office. And before that I dropped in at the sheriff’s department. The Arthurs have totally clammed up, and Bryson is freaking out! His lawyer’s flying in, but he’s not here yet.”

  Okay, that managed to bring a smile to my face.

  “Where is your cousin’s new office, by the way?” Freddie asked.

  “Didn’t I tell you? She bought Dr. Lambert’s veterinary practice. He wants to retire.”

  Dr. Lambert was the only vet in town. He had a pretty steady practice.

  “Did you hear that, Stanley,” Freddie said. “You’re going to keep your vet. Hopefully she doesn’t poison daddy again.”

  “Yeah, Jessica feels really bad about the whole Ketamine thing,” Rhonda said. “But just between us, while my cousin is super smart, she’s always been a bit of a space cadet. You know, absentminded professor?” Rhonda twirled some fingers in the air before darting her eyes in my direction. “I
hope we’re cool, Erica. I probably should have told you she was coming to the party.”

  I felt my face go hot. I mean, I was totally cool with Rhonda, but she wasn’t going to be cool with me after she found out I kissed Matthew. She was very judgmental when it came to my love life. But I didn’t want to lie to her either. “I…”

  “Hey,” Freddie said, jumping in. “I heard Matthew was thinking of moving.”

  “What?” Rhonda snapped. “Where did you hear that?”

  Freddie frowned and shook his head. “Can’t remember.”

  “Well, if that was true,” Rhonda said, rocking on her feet, “I’m willing to bet that he’s thinking twice after last night.”

  “Maybe,” Freddie said with just the tiniest of smiles.

  “I mean you can’t get that kind of excitement in New York,” she added. “Hey, I’m going to get a coffee from the bar,” Rhonda said, jerking a thumb behind her. “You guys want anything?”

  “Nope,” I said weakly.

  “I’m good,” Freddie said. “But see what’s taking Stanley’s steak so long.”

  She nodded and walked off.

  “Thank you,” I said, cupping the mug of hot water I had ordered with my ice cream.

  “For what?”

  “For buying me some more time with Rhonda.”

  Freddie waved a hand at me. “You can work it out with her later. Nobody wants you to get all upset and start puking again. And Rhonda will understand. Eventually.”

  I rubbed my hands over my face. “I am a terrible person.”

  “No you’re not. You were hurt. You thought this would finally be your chance with Grady, and he ripped the rug right out from underneath you,” he said. “And if you’re worried about the architect, don’t be. You kissed him. You didn’t propose. Besides, he’s known all along how you feel about Grady.”

  I shook my head.

  “But speaking of Grady,” Freddie said carefully, “do you think you two are finally…?”

  “Done?” I asked. “I don’t know how Grady feels, but when it comes to me…” I shook my head and tapped the table. “Here’s the problem. If you asked me, right now, to close my eyes and think about what I want my future to look like … I would see Grady and me waking up together, birds singing, sun rising over the lake.” I had left out the part about being in his arms and having a smile on my face, but that was there too.