Grave Missteps

by Lily Harper Hart

  “Make sure it doesn’t.” Maddie took a deep breath outside Angel’s room and pasted a bright smile on her face before entering. She didn’t look over her shoulder to see if Sharon was insulted by her order. She honestly didn’t care. “Hello, sweetheart,” she called out. “How are you?”

  Nick watched through the window as Maddie sat on the bed rather than crowded the girl. She kept up a steady stream of chatter but refrained from forcing Angel to interact with her.

  “That’s smart,” Sharon said as she moved to stand next to Nick. “She’s not forcing Angel to do anything she doesn’t want to do and instead is building up a blanket of trust. I’m impressed.”

  Nick didn’t immediately respond, his eyes focused on Maddie as she talked to a girl who refused to acknowledge her existence.

  “Has Maddie ever considered being a social worker?” Sharon asked. “She might be good at it.”

  “I have the greatest respect there is for social workers,” Nick supplied. “I think the job you guys do is important and harder than pretty much any other job out there.”

  “But?” Sharon prodded.

  “But doing this job would kill Maddie’s soul and I have no intention of ever letting that happen,” Nick replied honestly. “Dealing with abused children would break her. She’s not geared toward this type of work.”

  “And what type of work is she geared for?” Sharon asked. “I did a little research on her and found she owns a magic shop. That doesn’t seem like a good way to make a living … or is that not important because you take care of her?”

  Nick scowled, his temper firing. “You don’t know anything about Maddie. She’s a hard worker. She gives of herself constantly. The magic shop belonged to her mother. It’s not her baby.”

  “And where is her mother?”

  “Dead.”

  “Oh.” Sharon was taken aback. “I didn’t mean to insult her or anything.”

  “That’s exactly what you intended to do,” Nick countered. “You were digging for information. I get it, by the way. Maddie is often an enigma and people can’t help being curious about her. It doesn’t matter what she does for a living, though. It matters who she is as a person. And, for the record, she’s the best person I’ve ever known.”

  “I honestly wasn’t casting stones or anything. I just … she could be good at this.”

  “Doing something like this would be bad for her, though,” Nick argued. “You’ve seen how attached she is to Angel. Now imagine she has sixty kids on a list she’s supposed to watch out for. It would kill her.”

  “Or be the best thing that ever happened to her.”

  Nick vehemently shook his head. “No. I’ve known her since we were five years old. This would kill her.”

  Sharon heaved out a sigh as she watched Maddie fruitlessly try to engage Angel through the window. “It was just a suggestion. She’s very good with Angel.”

  “Maddie won’t stop until she’s sure Angel is safe,” Nick said. “She’ll die to make sure it happens. That is not the basis of a good social worker. That is the basis of a good person, though.

  “Maddie is the best person I’ve ever known,” he continued. “I have no idea what she’s going to do with her life – other than marry me and live happily ever after – but I know it’s not going to be this. This world would chew her up and spit her out. I think she’s going to have to make her own working world down the line … and I’m looking forward to seeing where her imagination takes her.”

  Something about Nick’s tone stirred Sharon. “I guess you know best.”

  “When it comes to this, I do,” Nick agreed, forcing himself to turn away from the window. “We need a description of the man who was here. Maddie is going to be in there for a decent amount of time. We should get to the work out here.”

  “Sure.” Sharon bobbed her head. “Where do you want to start?”

  “The main secretary. I want to know exactly what she saw.”

  “Then let’s start there.”

  NICKI AND MADDIE WERE both so exhausted by the time they returned to Blackstone Bay that they headed straight to the diner for dinner. Nick recognized Maddie was bone tired – Angel refused to speak or even acknowledge her existence despite three hours of hard work – and he knew they would both want nothing more than to tumble into bed and sleep when they returned home.

  “This is starting to be a habit,” Ruby said once they were settled. “I can’t remember the last time you guys were in here three nights in a row.”

  “Yes, well, we’re tired.” Nick lightly rubbed Maddie’s back as he glanced at the specials menu. “Oh, you guys have prime rib tonight. That sounds really good. I’ll have that with mashed potatoes and whatever the house vegetable is.”

  Ruby turned to Maddie. “And you, sugar?”

  “That sounds good to me, too.” In truth, Maddie wasn’t overly hungry, but she knew Nick would put up a fight if she tried to skip dinner. At least this way he could have her leftovers for a treat. “I’ll have the same thing.”

  “You got it.” Ruby winked at Nick before leaving. It was clear she sensed Maddie’s distress, but she wasn’t the type to pry.

  Nick waited until he was sure Ruby was out of earshot to speak again. “You can’t let this depress you, Mad. You did the best you could.”

  “She wouldn’t even look at me. It was as if she was in her own little world.”

  “Maybe she was.” Nick had trouble wrapping his mind around Angel’s hearing issue and he needed someone to break it down with. Maddie was the obvious choice. “What if she can hear?”

  Maddie rolled her eyes. “If she could hear, why does she need sign language?”

  Nick shrugged. “Maybe she can’t speak. Maybe it’s not her hearing that’s an issue but, for whatever reason, she simply can’t speak.”

  Maddie stilled. That possibility hadn’t even occurred to her. “But … how would that happen?”

  “I honestly don’t know. I have trouble believing someone with limited hearing range could make out a voice on the other side of the observation window, though. I tested it in another room while you were busy with Angel. They have two with observation windows.”

  “And?”

  “And the man wasn’t yelling,” Nick replied. “He used a booming voice – at least that’s what the witness said – but he wasn’t yelling. I tested it with Sharon. She yelled fairly loudly, and it was muffled. If Angel really can’t hear, how would she be able to make that out?”

  He had a point. Maddie didn’t want to admit it, but some of what he said made sense. “Maybe she can hear.” Maddie worked her jaw as Ruby delivered iced tea to the table, her mind busy. “What could cause someone not to be able to speak?”

  “Well, I did some research while you were in with Angel.” Nick dug his phone out of his pocket and pulled up the notes he’d taken. “There are several types of muteness. The first is selective muteness, which is a form of anxiety that often affects children. If Angel was traumatized, it might not be that she physically can’t speak, but she somehow chooses not to.”

  Maddie didn’t like that idea one bit. “But … if it’s voluntary, why go through the trouble of teaching her sign language? It seems to me that a parent would rather wait something like that out.”

  “I had the same thought,” Nick admitted. “There’s Alalia, which results in speaking delays in children. Sometimes it’s never corrected. There’s Aphasia, which can rob all aspects of speech and often accompanies a head injury.

  “There’s Aphonia, which is when people can’t produce any voice,” he continued. “There are also several forms of Autism and conversion disorders. That’s on top of physical reasons. Damage to the esophagus, vocal cords, lungs and mouth can cause muteness. However, she can scream – we’ve heard her scream multiple times – and I don’t think it’s a problem with her vocal cords. There’s honestly a lot of different reasons why someone might not be able to talk, though, and I’m not sure which one we’re looking at.�
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  Maddie rubbed her forehead, weariness overtaking her. “If I had to guess, I would think something happened to her. She’s terrified for a reason. Someone did this to her.”

  “I would agree, but we need a medical diagnosis to prove that,” Nick cautioned. “That means we need a doctor to look her over and she’s not going to allow that anytime soon.”

  “No,” Maddie agreed, resigned. “The hearing thing never honestly made sense. I know she heard me the day I saved her. I yelled through the window. It was one of those wavy ones that distorts the view so there’s no way she read my lips. I told her to duck and cover and she did.

  “After that I kind of forgot that part,” she continued. “I just assumed when she started signing that she was deaf. That wasn’t the right way to go.”

  “Oh, don’t do that.” Nick wagged his finger. “I don’t want you blaming yourself. You’re the only reason she’s safe. If you hadn’t found her when you did, something terrible might’ve happened in that house.”

  “You’re assuming something terrible didn’t happen in that house.”

  “No, I’m not.” Nick was matter of fact. “I have been slowly coming up with a theory, though. I have no way to prove it, but I think I might know what happened.”

  Maddie widened her eyes, officially intrigued. “Tell me.”

  “First, tell me how your meeting with Penny went,” Nick instructed. “I want to see if your facts fit my theory before going forward.”

  “Okay.” Maddie wasn’t keen to wait for information but she understood it was important to Nick’s process. “It’s a long and convoluted story.”

  “I’m fine with that.”

  Maddie launched into her tale. By the time she was done, their dinner was served and Maddie had managed to mow through half of the huge prime rib helping. Apparently she was hungrier than she thought.

  “So, that’s basically it,” Maddie said when wrapping up. “Michael changed his name to Steven and he embraced a jerk of a father. His mother makes excuses for him – she tried to pretend otherwise, but I could see that’s what she was doing – and now he’s living off the money his father left him.”

  “Huh.” Nick stroked his chin, his expression unreadable. “That’s not exactly the story I remember from our first meeting.”

  Now it was Maddie’s turn to be interested. “Really? How was his story different?”

  “He mentioned going to family reunions with his father and he knew all about Mildred’s feud with her brother. I assumed he spent a lot of time with his father. The story Penny told you is vastly different.”

  “What are you getting at?”

  Nick shrugged. “Is it possible she was lying?”

  Maddie immediately started shaking her head. “I know you’re probably going to laugh at this, but she wasn’t lying. Her story was true. I … felt it.”

  “Well, that’s good enough for me. That means Steven was lying.”

  Maddie thought back on her earlier conversation with Priscilla. “She doesn’t go by Penny any longer, by the way. It’s Priscilla.”

  “Okay.”

  “She wasn’t lying to me.” Maddie was firm on that. “I’m not sure she told me everything, though. At the time, I thought maybe she was simply avoiding things in her story that she was embarrassed to share.”

  “And now you’re not so sure?”

  “I honestly don’t know,” Maddie replied. “I definitely think there’s more to the story.”

  Nick flicked his eyes to the front door when the overhead bell jangled, making an odd noise in the back of his throat when Marla and Steven walked in together. “Well, look at that. It’s almost as if he knew we were talking about him.”

  Maddie followed his gaze. “What is he doing with Marla?”

  “Maybe they’re dating.”

  “He’s been in town less than forty-eight hours.”

  “Hey, Marla moves fast.” Nick wrinkled his forehead as he regarded the duo. “Maybe I should go over there and ask him about the new development. I’m curious if he would be able to explain away the things his mother said to us. I’m guessing it wouldn’t be all that easy given what he’s already told us.”

  “Don’t do that,” Maddie argued. “At least … not yet. If Steven knows his mother is talking out of turn, it might set him off. I have a better idea.”

  Nick sawed his prime rib and slid Maddie a curious look. “You have an idea? Do I even want to know what it is?”

  “Probably not.” The smile Maddie mustered was genuine. “I still think it’s what we should do.”

  Nick thought about arguing, but the twinkle in her eye forced him to make another choice. “Fine. What is your idea?”

  “It’s a good one. I promise.”

  Nick had his doubts. “Lay it on me.”

  17

  Seventeen

  “This is ridiculous.”

  Maddie and Nick returned home long enough to drop off her car and head straight back to the diner. Maddie looked through the eatery’s window and ascertained Marla and Steven were still inside before hopping inside Nick’s truck and hunkering down to wait.

  It wasn’t long before Nick made his feelings known.

  “If you don’t want to spy, you don’t have to.” Maddie adopted a prim tone. “You can leave your truck with me and walk home. I’ll do the spying on my own. I simply thought it was something we could do together, but if you’re too adult for it … well, you don’t have to stay. I’m fine being alone.”

  “Oh, geez.” Nick slouched down in the driver’s seat, showing no signs he was going to do as Maddie suggested. “Like I’m really going to leave you to carry out a covert operation on your own. That’s not going to happen.”

  “Then stop complaining.”

  Nick slid her a sidelong look. Her cheeks were flushed with color, her gaze intense, and she looked from all outward appearances as if she was actually enjoying the mission. Since he’d been on more surveillance trips than he wanted to admit – especially during his training and academy days – Nick was a more reluctant participant. “Can I ask you something?”

  “Yes, I love you more than anything.”

  Nick didn’t want to laugh at her response – it would only encourage her, after all – but he couldn’t stop himself. “I love you more than anything, too. That’s not what I was going to ask, though.”

  Maddie let loose a long-suffering sigh. “Fine. I guess if we’re going to be partners you’ve earned the right to ask questions.”

  “Oh, well, thank you for allowing it.” Nick poked her side so she would know he was teasing. “What do you expect to discover from this, Mad? I mean … what do you think is going to happen between Steven and Marla tonight?”

  “I honestly have no idea.” Maddie saw no reason to lie. “The thing is, Marla wanted in on the action the other day. She was questioning us because she wanted answers. Now, I don’t think she wanted to offer her services for altruistic reasons or anything. It was more that she was bitter about not being in on the action.

  “If we’re right about Steven and he’s up to something – I really think you should take a photograph of him back to the children’s home tomorrow, by the way, just to be sure – then maybe he’s good at reading people,” she continued. “Marla hops on any new man within a certain age range whenever he crosses the town line. Maybe she did that with Steven and he realized she might be useful.”

  “Or maybe he just wants to get some and figured Marla was primed to give it up,” Nick countered. “We both know how Marla is. She’s not the type to make someone play the long game. Steven could simply want some company.”

  “Sure. That’s possible.”

  “So, why are we spying on them again?”

  “Because I have a feeling.” Maddie slid down so far that only her eyes appeared over the dashboard. “They’re leaving.”

  Nick turned his gaze back to the restaurant, tilting his head to the side when Marla and Steven pointed themselves towar
d the sidewalk rather than a vehicle. “I think they walked.”

  Maddie followed the twosome with her eyes, drawing back up to her full height only after they’d disappeared down the sidewalk. “Maybe we should follow on foot.”

  “That’s not going to happen. I’m too tired.”

  “I could go by myself.”

  “That’s not going to happen either.” Nick’s tone told Maddie he meant business. “We’re sticking together … and in the truck.”

  Maddie made an annoyed sound in the back of her throat. “Fine.” She waited a beat and then gestured toward the road. “We need to follow them and see where they’re going.”

  “I’m sure they’re going back to the hotel.”

  “Then we need to follow them.”

  “But … why?”

  “Because I said so.” Maddie was overly gruff but she didn’t care. “I want to see where they go … and what they do.”

  “Ugh. You’re getting awfully bossy these days, Maddie. I would like to say I don’t like it but, in truth, it kind of turns me on.”

  Maddie snickered. “Men are such simple creatures sometimes.”

  “We are indeed.”

  NICK WAS RIGHT. Marla and Steven headed straight back to the hotel, not once glancing over their shoulders to see if they were being followed. Nick parked across the street, convinced Maddie would watch them walk into the building and then happily head home.

  Instead, Maddie threw open the passenger door and hopped out onto the pavement. She was already halfway across the street before Nick killed his engine, pocketed his keys, and caught up with her.

  “What do you think you’re doing?” Nick hissed, struggling to keep up with her energetic stride. “There’s no way we can watch what’s about to happen in his room … and I have no interest in seeing that, for the record.”

  “I have no interest in seeing that either,” Maddie said dryly as she tugged on the hotel door. “Besides, I don’t think they’re going up to his room. Even Marla doesn’t work that fast.”