Wicked Beginning: An Ivy Morgan Mystery Books 1-3

by Lily Harper Hart

  “Oh, well, thanks for that,” Brian muttered. “Now I’m going to be wondering what kind of demented things he was doing for the rest of the night. No! Don’t tell me. I’m happy living in ignorance.”

  “If Marcus had a girlfriend, I have no idea who it was,” Rick said. “The only person who might know is Laura, and we can’t decide if she’s a suspect or another victim.”

  “Maybe I just want to believe she’s a victim,” Jack mused. “I just can’t imagine her killing someone. She never showed any inclination that she could do something like that.”

  “I agree on that front,” Rick said. “This brings me to the really uncomfortable portion of today’s festivities, though, and I feel really weird even bringing this up. I think you should have all the information, though, so … .”

  “What?”

  “I pulled the files from Marcus’ death,” Rick said, licking his lips. “I went through everything. One of my biggest problems with this case is the timeline. Jack was shot right around ten at night. Emergency personnel got to him quickly and he named Marcus as his shooter before losing consciousness.”

  “I remember,” Jack said, grimacing. “I thought for sure I was going to die once I closed my eyes.”

  “Don’t get morose,” Rick chided. “You didn’t die … and God rewarded you with a hot woman. Do you see how that works?”

  Jack rolled his eyes.

  “There was nothing out of the ordinary in the file, but something bothered me about it,” Rick continued. “I went through the recovered items. There were none. Marcus’ wallet burned along with everything else in the car. There was no record of his gun being in the car.”

  “So, what happened to it?” Brian asked.

  “I have no idea,” Rick answered. “Police tracked down Marcus on the freeway less than one hour after Jack was shot. Somewhere in that time Marcus made a stop. I think if we find out where, we’ll find our culprit.”

  “He probably dropped the gun off so it could be destroyed,” Jack said. “He couldn’t be caught with that gun after my death … and I think he assumed I was already dead when he left. I closed my eyes and held my breath and pretended to be gone.”

  “That’s what kept you alive,” Rick said. “There’s one other thing … .”

  “What?”

  “There’s something off about Marcus’ autopsy,” Rick explained. “I wanted to go through it sheet by sheet in case there was any mention of a gun in his pocket. I thought maybe it got lost at the coroner’s office or something.”

  “Well, don’t keep us in suspense,” Brian prodded. “What did you find?”

  “There’s only one signature on Marcus’ autopsy when there should be two,” Rick replied. “The coroner who signed it was fired about three months ago for stealing from the deceased.”

  “What do you think that means? It’s probably just an oversight.”

  “I agree,” Rick said. “It would be remiss not to at least float the other theory, though.”

  “What theory is that?”

  “The one where maybe Marcus didn’t die in that fire and he’s still out there,” Rick said. “We’re trying to track down that coroner, but he’s apparently fallen off the face of the earth. What if Marcus didn’t die and someone else was in that crash? The coroner easily could’ve lied in exchange for money. I wouldn’t put it past him.”

  Jack hopped to his feet, his heart pounding. “I … um … need to get to Ivy.”

  “Are we done?” Rick asked.

  “I don’t like this,” Jack said. “I don’t want her alone.”

  “Go,” Brian said, waving him off. “We’ll catch up tomorrow morning.”

  Jack nodded. “Yeah … I … yeah.” Jack strode out of the room without looking back, his mind busy.

  Once he was gone, Brian and Rick focused back on each other.

  “Do you think he’s still alive?” Brian asked.

  “Probably not,” Rick said. “I didn’t want to leave Jack exposed if it’s a possibility, though. Marcus would definitely have revenge on his mind. Jack toppled his entire empire. He was selling drugs while working as a police officer. He was apparently making big money.”

  “Could Marcus kill his own mother?”

  “Marcus shot Jack without blinking twice,” Rick said. “I think Marcus is capable of almost anything.”

  “Well, see if you can track down that coroner,” Brian instructed. “I’m going to call all of the hotels and inns in this area again and ask about any guests – including males. We’ve been going on the assumption that this was done by a female for almost a day now. I would hate to think we were wrong.”

  “There still has to be a woman involved,” Rick reminded him. “Jack talked to someone on the phone.”

  “Maybe he talked to the real Laura and she’s involved in this with her brother.”

  “Maybe,” Rick said. “We basically have a whole lot of theories and no facts right now. You keep in touch and I’ll do the same. We have to keep Jack safe.”

  “That won’t be easy,” Brian said. “He’ll die to keep Ivy safe.”

  “That’s the way he’s made.”

  “I THINK you’ll be happy with your choice,” Ivy said, smiling at her customer as the woman paid for her new bush with cash. “Hopefully that will cut down on your mother’s spying.”

  “That would be nice,” the woman said, bending over so she could lift the plant. “I don’t suppose you could help me carry this to my car, could you? It’s heavier than I thought.”

  “Oh, sure.”

  Ivy moved to help the woman, but her father appeared and nudged her away with his hip.

  “Don’t even think about it, little missy,” Michael chided. “You were told not to lift anything heavy with that shoulder.” He shot a bright smile in the customer’s direction. “I can carry this for you.”

  The woman faltered. “Oh, I … she doesn’t look hurt.”

  “Looks can be deceiving,” Michael said, hoisting the plant with a grunt and then straightening. “Lead the way and I’ll load this up for you. Ivy, if you watch that register for five minutes then I will relieve you of your duties for the day and send you home to your love muffin.”

  Ivy made a face. “I’m going to let the nickname slide and thank you for the offer,” she said. “That sounds like the best news I’ve heard all day.”

  Nineteen

  “Hello, honey,” Ivy said, batting her eyelashes at Jack as he let himself into her house a little after five.

  Jack smiled. He couldn’t help it. She was the highpoint of every good moment he’d experienced since moving to Shadow Lake. He locked the door behind him, double-checking it to make sure, and then carried the pizza box into the kitchen.

  After depositing it on the kitchen table, he pulled Ivy into his arms and scorched her with the hottest kiss he could muster.

  When they separated, Ivy’s eyes widened as she ran a finger over her lips. “That was a really nice greeting.”

  “That’s because the four hours we spent apart felt like four years,” Jack said, hoping he sounded boisterous. He didn’t want to worry Ivy. He wanted a nice night. He was hoping she wouldn’t ask too many questions and force him to ruin things for the two of them.

  “Did you get anywhere on the case?”

  “Um, we found a few things,” Jack said, turning his attention back to the pizza box. “Why don’t we use paper plates so we don’t have to clean anything up?”

  “I can live with that,” Ivy said, hopping toward the cupboards and returning with a small stack of plates. “What did you find?”

  “I am so hungry I could eat a horse,” Jack said, evading the question.

  Ivy narrowed her eyes into dangerous slits. She wasn’t an idiot. She knew darned well he was hiding something. “Spill, Jack.”

  “I … what?”

  “Oh, don’t flash that cute grin of yours at me and expect me to turn into a puddle of goo and fall at your feet,” Ivy scolded. “I know dar
ned well you’re hiding something from me. I don’t want any secrets between us. I … please?”

  Jack sighed, resigned. “I don’t want secrets between us either,” he said. “I also want to have a relaxing night, and when I tell you everything I’ve found today, you’re not going to relax.”

  “I will when you massage me.”

  “Ugh.” Jack made a disgusted sound in the back of his throat.

  “Fine,” Ivy snapped. “You don’t have to touch me.”

  “Oh, shut up,” Jack muttered. “I want to touch you. I want to rub you all over. I just know when I tell you what we found that you’re not going to be relaxed, no matter what you say. If you’re not relaxed, then I won’t be relaxed. I had plans that called for both of us to be relaxed.”

  Jack sounded like a petulant child and Ivy couldn’t stop herself from smiling. “What if I promise that no matter what I’ll find a way to relax both of us?”

  Jack cocked a challenging eyebrow. “What did you have in mind?”

  “Don’t worry about it,” Ivy said. “Do you think I’m a woman of my word?”

  “Yes.”

  “Then I promise I’ll figure something out.”

  “Fine,” Jack said, giving in. “Get your pizza and join me on the couch. This is going to be a long discussion.”

  “And then a long massage,” Ivy reminded him.

  “Ivy, nothing in this world could stop me from rubbing you silly tonight,” Jack said. “Do you trust me?”

  Ivy nodded without hesitation.

  “Good,” Jack said. “Eat up. We’re going to be exhausted by the time we’re done with all of this.”

  “I can live with that.”

  “HOLY crap!” Ivy fearfully glanced around her living room. “I … do you think it’s really Marcus?” Despite her promise about relaxing, Ivy quickly turned herself into a ball of nerves when Jack told her about his day. Jack adored everything the woman did, but he really wanted to shake her.

  “I don’t know,” Jack said, wiping the corners of his mouth with a napkin and dropping his empty plate on the pizza box on top of the coffee table. “I don’t want to think it’s possible, but … .”

  “Oh, Jack,” Ivy said, rubbing her thumb against his cheek. “You have to be freaking out.”

  Jack restlessly grabbed her hand and kissed her greasy fingertips. “I don’t know what I am,” he said. “I … eat your dinner, Ivy. You need your strength for relaxing me in a little bit. I don’t want you wasting away.”

  Ivy made a face but did as instructed.

  “I’m not sure how I feel about any of this,” Jack said. “All the options we have are … just awful. Say Marcus did survive, where has he been all of this time? What has he been doing? Has he spent the past seven – almost eight – months plotting revenge against me? If so, going after you would be the best way to kill me.”

  “Jack, it’s going to be okay.”

  “Eat your dinner,” Jack repeated. “Laura is another option. I have racked my brain trying to figure out what her endgame could possibly be. She loved her brother. I know she did. Did she love him enough to kill in his memory?”

  “I don’t … .”

  “Eat.”

  Ivy rolled her eyes. “You’re really bossy tonight.” She bit into her pizza and let Jack work out his feelings. She realized he wasn’t looking for answers from her. He just wanted someone to talk to. She could definitely be that person.

  “You and Max are closer than any brother and sister I’ve ever seen,” Jack said. “I know you love him. I can’t see you killing for him, though.”

  “I might kill him, but no, I wouldn’t kill for him.”

  “Laura was a sweet girl,” Jack said. “She was kind … and she liked to flirt a little bit … but she was harmless.”

  Ivy pursed her lips. “She was flirty? Oh, please tell me you didn’t sleep with her. I’m going to be so grossed out.”

  Jack chuckled. “I didn’t sleep with her,” he said. “She kind of hinted around like she wanted me to ask her out, but I would never do that.”

  “Because she was flaky?”

  “Because I wasn’t attracted to her,” Jack replied. “You might find this hard to believe, but before you I can’t remember the last woman I was genuinely attracted to. They broke the mold with you, honey. I was attracted to you from the moment I saw you and you were rude and mean.”

  Ivy snorted. “I was not rude and mean,” she said. “You treated me like I didn’t know what a dead body looked like.”

  “That’s because you were so cute in your little skirt and bare feet,” Jack pointed out. “I didn’t think anyone that cute could be worldly, too. Imagine my surprise and delight to find out that you were the entire package.”

  “I’m definitely going to relax your socks off tonight.”

  Jack grinned, the teasing taking some of the edge off. “Even if I was attracted to her – which I wasn’t, so stop making that face – I would never go after a friend’s sister. That’s just … tacky.”

  “You and Max are friends and you went after me.”

  “Max and I became friends after I was already hopelessly devoted to you,” Jack corrected. “There’s a difference. I fell for you before I wanted to admit it. I didn’t become friendly with Max until I was essentially killing myself because I was trying to stay away from you.”

  “You’re so sweet.”

  “Besides, I don’t know if you’ve noticed or not, but Max doesn’t seem thrilled that we got together,” Jack pointed out. “I think he might be rethinking any future friendship.”

  “You’re wrong about Max,” Ivy said, finishing her pizza and wiping off her hands before dropping her empty plate on top of Jack’s. “Max has been your biggest champion from the beginning. He’s just having trouble because he decided to hate you after the hospital incident.”

  “And rightly so.”

  “And rightly so,” Ivy agreed. “It’s hard for him to switch his emotions on and off. He’ll be fine in a few days. In the end, he wants me to be happy more than he wants to beat you up.”

  “And I make you happy, right?”

  “Oh, are you fishing for compliments?” Ivy teased.

  “I might like a compliment.”

  “Well, in that case … yes, you make me very happy.”

  Jack leaned in and pressed a soft kiss to Ivy’s expectant mouth. “You make me happy, too, honey. You make me … so happy.”

  “On a side note, though, my father is threatening to have a talk with you because you didn’t call him after my accident,” Ivy said. “You should probably prepare yourself for that. I tried to talk him out of it, but he wouldn’t listen.”

  “Your father stopped by today? That’s nice. He wasn’t mad I spirited you out of town, was he?”

  “He didn’t stop by. I saw him when I was at the nursery. He’s fine with the trip. He’s just really unhappy about the lack of a phone call.”

  “What did you just say?”

  “My father is going to have a talk with you,” Ivy repeated.

  “Not that.” Jack’s mood shifted, anger coursing through him. “What did you say about the nursery?”

  Ivy was genuinely confused. “Nothing. I just said I saw my father while I was there today.”

  “Dammit, Ivy!” Jack roared. “Are you telling me after everything that happened you walked over to that nursery by yourself today?”

  Ivy was taken aback. “I … .”

  “Are you trying to kill me?”

  Ivy scowled. “Now you listen here, Jack. I’m an adult. That’s my business. It’s my job to take care of it. I was perfectly safe walking there. It took two minutes.”

  “You were not perfectly safe,” Jack seethed, leaning forward. “What if Marcus was hiding in the woods? What if he shot you? What if he tried to take you?”

  “We don’t even know if it is Marcus,” Ivy pointed out.

  “That’s not the point!”

  “Don’t you yell at
me,” Ivy hissed. “You are not my father. I’m allowed to make decisions regarding my own life. If you don’t like that … well … .”

  “Well, what?”

  Ivy didn’t have an answer. There was no way she could even finish the sentence. They both knew what she was going to say before thinking better of it. The problem was, even if she did say the words, both halves of the couple knew it was an empty threat. “Well, nothing.”

  “Come here,” Jack growled, grabbing Ivy’s waist and pulling her to a flat position on the couch.

  “What are you doing?”

  “I’m letting you relax me before I give you a massage,” Jack answered. “We both need to relax. Otherwise I’m going to kill you for how stupid you were today.”

  “Don’t call me stupid!”

  “Don’t do stupid things!

  They reached for each other at the same time, passion exploding as well as pent-up need. As far as relaxation went, there was no better way to get it.

  “I THINK we might be sick in the head,” Ivy said an hour later, Jack rubbing the area around her neck as she rested on the floor between his legs.

  “Why do you think that?” Jack asked, taking extra care around her shoulder. The last thing he wanted to do was cause her pain. He’d done enough of that for two lifetimes.

  “Because we get turned on every time we scream at each other … and we scream at each other a lot. If this keeps up, I’m not going to be able to walk.”

  Jack chuckled, Ivy’s words of wisdom tickling him. “I think we’ll figure something out,” he said. “You’re in shape. You can take it.”

  “Ha, ha.”

  “I think we’re both a little heightened emotionally right now,” Jack said honestly. “Between the shootings … and the possibility of Marcus being alive … and you making me crazy … well, things are bound to get heated.”

  “I guess.”

  “I’m sorry I yelled at you,” Jack offered. “I didn’t mean to frighten you.”