Murder Made to Order

by Lena Gregory

  “Is that what’s bugging you?”

  “Among other things.”

  “Can I do anything to help?”

  Silence hummed over the line.

  Gia waited, giving Savannah time to figure out what she might need. She smoothed antibiotic ointment onto the tick bite and hoped the itching would stop before she clawed off half her skin. Leaving the ointment on the counter, since she figured she’d probably need it again before the night was over, she headed for the living room.

  When Savannah finally spoke, her voice came over the line so low Gia had to strain to hear her. “I need this case to be solved, and I need to know how it involved my mother. Because she is involved. Somehow. I can’t prove it, but I know in my gut this has something to do with her.”

  “I agree.”

  “You do?” She seemed surprised Gia had come to the same conclusion.

  “Yes.”

  “Then you’ll help me?”

  “Help you what?”

  “Solve the case.”

  “Uh…” I didn’t say that.

  Savannah was her best friend, like a sister, and she’d been there for Gia through everything, never losing faith in her for even a second. Hers had been the only support that had never faltered.

  “Of course, I’ll help you.”

  Thunder rumbled, rattling the glasses in her china cabinet. “Did you hear that?”

  “The thunder?”

  “Yeah. Are you having storms there?”

  “Yes. Pretty bad ones.”

  Gia used the remote to turn on the TV, then switched to the local news station. A severe weather alert scrolled across the bottom of the screen.

  Thunder boomed again, louder this time.

  “If you live on the following roads, take cover now. There’s rotation overhead.” A harried-looking meteorologist rattled off a list of familiar-sounding roads. “Palmetto Trail…”

  I live on Palmetto Trail. “What does rotation overhead mean?”

  “Where’d you hear that?” Savannah sounded alert in a way she hadn’t before, all signs of the depression that seemed to be weighing on her gone.

  “The weather guy just said if you live on Palmetto Trail, take cover.”

  Thunder rattled the windows. The electricity went out, plunging the house into darkness. “Savannah?”

  Thor lurched to his feet and barked.

  “Gia, are you all right? Go into the hallway, now. Take Thor.”

  Gia stood in the middle of the living room and stared out the window. Rain pounded against the house. Lightning flashed, bolt after bolt, illuminating the yard. Mesmerizing. The tall, thin palm tree outside her front window bent in half.

  Her phone sounded three beeps, then dropped the call.

  “Come, Thor.” She started around the couch toward the hallway.

  Lightning flashed again, illuminating a figure running full speed across her yard toward the house.

  Gia froze. Someone was out there.

  With the next flash, the figure was gone.

  Rain pounded harder. She hadn’t thought it was possible to rain any harder.

  She grabbed Thor’s collar and ran for the hallway, leaned her back against the wall, and slid down to sit.

  Something banged against the front of the house.

  Thor barked wildly.

  She covered her head with her hands, leaning against Thor, trying to keep him against the wall.

  The banging came again, louder, drowning out the sound of the rain.

  Thor squirmed out from between Gia and the wall and bolted toward the front of the house.

  Chapter 18

  Gia ran after Thor. “Thor, no!”

  He leaped against the front door, frantically scratching at the wood with his front paws, jumping off the floor, up and down, on his back paws.

  “Thor, no. It’s just a storm.” She grabbed his collar and tried to soothe him, petting his head calmly, despite her wildly shaking hands. Less conflicted my ass. Cybil should see me now.

  Three loud knocks rattled the door.

  “Gia!” A man’s voice screamed through the door. “Open up. It’s Hunt.”

  Gia wrapped an arm around Thor’s neck to keep him from running out into the storm, and whipped the door open.

  Hunt blocked the open doorway as he staggered inside and slammed the door behind him. He leaned his back against the door.

  Though she couldn’t see anything, there was no mistaking the sound of water dripping all over her tile floor.

  “I’m sorry,” Hunt wheezed.

  Gia still held Thor to keep him from jumping on Hunt.

  Lightning flashed again, backlighting Hunt, offering a silhouette view of his slouched body. He cradled his ribs and inhaled a shallow breath. “I’m sorry.”

  “Sorry for what?”

  “Scaring you.” He petted Thor’s head. “And Thor. Twice in one week.”

  “I thought there was a tornado out there.”

  “There’s more than one tornado out there tonight.” Struggling to control his breathing, Hunt ushered Gia and Thor back into the hallway, then pulled Gia down with him and sat with his back against the wall. He tucked her beneath his arm and pulled her close. “Down, Thor.”

  Thor lapped up some of the water dripping from Hunt’s clothes, then sat in front of them and lay down, resting his head in Gia’s lap.

  “Good boy, Thor.” She stroked the soft fur on his head, the action soothing her as much as she hoped it was soothing him. “Savannah must be worried sick. I was on the phone with her when I lost service.”

  “I sent Leo over to the house. He knew I was coming out here.”

  Gia shifted to face him, even though she couldn’t see more than a silhouette in the darkness. “What are you doing here, anyway?”

  “Leo told me about the phone you dropped off, so I wanted to get out here and have a look around before the storms hit.”

  “And?”

  “I was too late.”

  “No kidding.” She ran her hand over his arm. “You’re soaking wet.”

  “Your powers of observation astound me. You should have been a detective.”

  She thought about Savannah’s request to help her solve Marcia’s case. “Maybe.”

  “Just stay away from this case, Miss Detective.” He yanked his wet shirt over his head and tossed it aside. “I’m serious, Gia. The fire investigator got in touch earlier. He said the preliminary reports indicate a cigarette started the fire. They found a small pile of them in the woods on that side of the house.”

  “How would they get there?”

  “Obviously, someone was out there smoking,” he said.

  “Yeah, but why would someone be standing and smoking in the woods by my house?”

  He stared at her. “Why do you think, Detective Morelli?”

  No need to be sarcastic, Detective Tall, Dark, and Annoying. “I have no idea. I assume someone was watching the house for some reason?”

  “I can’t say for sure, but that’s the general consensus.”

  Gia racked her brain. “I don’t remember ever seeing Maybelle smoke.”

  “Me neither, but that doesn’t rule her out.”

  “No. I think Hank smokes.”

  Hunt nodded. “He does.”

  “Do you think he killed Marcia?”

  Hunt was quiet for a few minutes, seemingly contemplating his answer.

  Gia stood and felt her way along the hallway to the linen closet and grabbed a couple of towels. She handed one to Hunt to dry himself off and used the other to mop up the water he’d dripped on the floor.

  “We have reason to believe the killer was right handed.” He rubbed the right side of his jaw. “Hank is left handed.”

  She tossed the towels aside
and sat back down. “Why did you two get into a fight, anyway? You never said.”

  “I had questions he didn’t want to answer.” He shifted position, either to get more comfortable or to avoid answering her questions.

  She wasn’t sure which, although she had her suspicions.

  “That’s enough talk about the case for now.” He pulled her closer again. “May as well relax. We’re going to be here for a little while.”

  Gia snuggled back against him and inhaled deeply. Being cocooned in his embrace, surrounded by the woodsy scent of his aftershave, made her feel safe. “So what now?”

  “Now we wait for these storms to end.”

  “Are they always this bad?” Gia scratched the tick bite on her leg, which had begun to itch again in earnest.

  “No. This is unusual. I was headed here from Tampa, and I saw a tractor trailer get thrown right across the highway.”

  A chill raced through her. “Was anyone hurt?”

  “I don’t know. I was on an overpass when I saw it below me. No way for me to get to it, but people did stop, including a police cruiser.”

  Gia scratched her head, the feeling of things crawling on her in the dark driving her almost crazy enough to get up and brave the storm. She lurched away from him, stood, and brushed at her clothes. Even Hunt’s embrace couldn’t keep her still while things could be crawling all over her.

  Hunt stood and grabbed her wrists. “Are you okay?”

  “I found a bunch of ticks on me today, and now I keep feeling like things are crawling all over me.” Ticks just went on her admittedly irrational phobia of spiders list.

  “Come here.” He pulled her back down to sit with him. “Did you check yourself good?”

  “Yes. I took one out of my leg right before the storm hit.”

  “Did you check your head?”

  “As well as I could.” She ran her fingers over her scalp again.

  “Come here.” He sat up straighter, took out his phone, and lit the flashlight, then guided her to lay her head in his lap. “Relax, Gia.”

  She did as instructed. At least, she tried.

  Hunt separated strands of hair and started to search her head. His nails scraped gently against her scalp. His fingers weaved between strands of hair.

  Gia’s eyes drifted shut, and she focused on the feel of his warm fingers against her head, his gentle touch soothing her.

  As he finished each side of her head, he coaxed her into a new position and continued his search. His fingers brushed against her neck, lifted the strands away, baring her skin to the cool air. Finally, he rolled her onto her back so she was lying with her head in his lap, staring up at him. He set the phone aside, leaving the light facing up. “Nothing there.”

  “Thank you.”

  “You’re welcome.” He continued to slide his fingers through her hair. “Do you feel any better now?”

  “Yes.” But I’d feel much better if you never stop doing that. She made no move to sit up.

  Hunt made no move to stop.

  “Were you seeing her, Hunt?” She closed her eyes and held her breath. She cared for Hunt, wanted something more with him than friendship, or even family. But she couldn’t share anything with a man she didn’t trust, and if he’d kept the fact he was seeing someone from her while he continued to hang out with her, she’d view that as lying. Or at least being deceptive.

  “If I answer that question honestly, will you trust me?”

  Would she? “I guess that depends on your answer.”

  “I’ll tell you what, you ask me whatever you want to know, and I’ll answer the questions I can, and be honest about why I can’t answer the others. Fair enough?”

  She started to sit up, but he guided her back down.

  She went willingly. For now. “Were you seeing Marcia?” She held her breath waiting for his answer.

  “I was….”

  She jerked up.

  “Relax, Gia, lie back down. I like being here with you like this. It relaxes me. Please.” His voice had turned husky, filled with emotion.

  She did as he asked, staring up at him in the light cast by the flashlight beam.

  “I was seeing Marcia—at one time. When I am dating a woman, even if it’s a casual relationship and we both know we’re not going to get married and live happily ever after, I don’t see anyone else. And I insist on the same respect in return. Marcia knew that. Our relationship wasn’t serious. Neither of us expected to have a future together, but we enjoyed each other’s company. For a while.”

  He stopped for a moment and took a few deep breaths. “All Marcia had to do was be honest with me and tell me she’d met someone else, wanted to move on. It would have been fine, and we’d have parted friends. Instead, she snuck around behind my back. I found out at the Fourth of July picnic and blew up. Not because she’d found someone else, but because she’d used me and betrayed my trust.”

  She waited, but he didn’t elaborate. “Used you in what way?”

  “She was dating a married man, had been for a while, but kept me around so his wife wouldn’t become suspicious.”

  “How did you find all of that out?”

  “A mutual friend.”

  Apparently more his friend than hers.

  “I didn’t know whom she was seeing, just that he was local and married. So we parted ways, and that was that. If we saw each other around town, we shared a courteous hello and kept walking. Until a few weeks ago.” He cradled Gia’s head between his hands and lifted it to kiss her forehead, then sat up straighter, his posture stiff.

  Though disappointed to lose the contact, Gia sat beside him and studied his profile among the shadows cast by the phone’s light.

  “Marcia wasn’t a bad person. She just made some bad choices, and apparently the guilt had eaten away at her for years. She knew you and I were friends, or maybe something more, so she came to me.” He pulled his knees up and rested his elbows on his bent knees, then looked down and clasped his hands behind his head. “She was so scared. Didn’t know where to turn. But she came to me. She said she knew I’d help her even though things between us had ended badly, because that’s the kind of man I am. Except she was wrong, because despite my best efforts, I couldn’t protect her.”

  He rubbed his hands over his face.

  “Why did she need protection?”

  “That’s just it. We weren’t sure. She kept catching glimpses of a man she thought might be following her, but she wasn’t sure why.”

  “Did it have anything to do with the information she was trying to get to me?”

  “I don’t know. Marcia had been staying with me for a few weeks, not in any sort of romantic way, but because she was terrified to go home, but she was still secretive. I think it was just her way. Then she called and said she was leaving town with her lover. He’d decided to leave his wife and run off with her. She just needed to meet with someone first and she was gone.” He shook his head. “She didn’t tell me it was you.”

  “If Marcia was staying with you, whose breakfast was still on her table? No way that food was sitting there for a week. A day or two at most.”

  His breathing grew more ragged. “I have no idea. Maybe she went home for something first and decided to have something to eat. She was going back and forth occasionally, picking up clothing and stuff. Or maybe someone else was at the house.”

  “The note she left me makes more sense now that I know she wasn’t staying there. I couldn’t figure out why she’d tell me to just go in.”

  “She didn’t tell me much of what was going on,” Hunt said.

  “Did she tell you anything?”

  “A little, and I was investigating, but she got impatient when Maybelle found out she was seeing Hank.”

  “I thought Maybelle found out after Marcia was killed?” At least that’s how Maybelle
had made it sound, though Gia had her suspicions she’d already known. Maybelle as a suspect became much more believable in light of Hunt’s new information. If her husband had told her he was leaving, she could have gone off the deep end.

  “No. Marcia still didn’t tell me who she was dating, just that his wife had found out and threatened her. Maybe that’s why they decided to run off together. Who knows?”

  “You know what? When Maybelle accused me of trying to steal her husband, she said I’d need someone to support me once the café went under, as if it never occurred to her that I’d do something else to support myself.” Considering how lazy Maybelle was, that wasn’t too surprising. “Maybe she was worried about how she’d support herself if he took off, and decided if she got rid of his mistress, he’d stay with her.”

  “It’s possible, but so is anything else at this point. I just wish Marcia had been more forthcoming with information.”

  “Wouldn’t it have been easier for you to investigate if you’d known what was going on?”

  “Yup. But she wasn’t a trusting woman. Anyway, the day she was killed, she called me, asked me to meet her at the forest recreation area where we used to hike. She said she had documents she was trying to get to someone, but she couldn’t wait around any longer, and she was afraid to leave anything at the house when she took off, so she was going to give me everything and let me decide how to handle it.” A tear glistened on his cheek, and he swiped it away.

  “There was a spot we used to go up there, a small clearing we’d sometimes pack a picnic lunch and go to eat. I waited there, but she never showed. I was still waiting when the call came in about a body found in the forest.” He lowered his head into his hands. “I knew it would turn out to be her.”

  Gia put a hand on his shoulder and squeezed. “I’m sorry, Hunt.”

  He sat up. “Marcia begged me not to tell you she was staying with me, but I couldn’t continue pursuing any sort of relationship with you without being honest. That’s why I backed off.”

  “I understand. Thank you for telling me the truth.”

  He nodded and pulled her back against him, then wrapped his arms around her.

  Thor snuggled closer to them.