Forest Outings (A Coffee and Crime Mystery Book 3)

by Nan Sampson

  She was up to her knees, teeth chattering, when she got to the ice again. She tried to bring her knee up onto it, but felt it break away under her weight.

  Matt had gotten his elbows up out of the water and onto the ice in front of him. She could see him, struggling to keep his head above water.

  “I’m coming, Matt. Just hang on.”

  She moved a little to the left, where it looked like the ice was thicker, then eased herself back onto it, sliding on her stomach like a penguin. That seemed to distribute her weight better, and though she could feel the water beneath her, she used her left arm and her knees to slowly creep forward.

  Matt was watching her, holding terribly still. The tire iron was still in his hand, and he’d dug it into the ice. It was probably the only thing that was holding him in place.

  She slid along slowly, a few inches at a time, constantly monitoring the ice in front of her, praying the ice behind her wouldn’t give way.

  She stretched out a hand towards Matt, but was still not quite close enough. Just a few more feet.

  More and more water was standing on the ice, and she had to keep her chin up to keep the water from getting in her mouth and nose. She craned her neck upwards and continued to inch closer. She could see Matt’s face clearly now, despite the darkness. His eyes were fixed on hers, and she was surprised to see no fear whatsoever in them.

  When she got within a foot or so from him, she grabbed his right wrist with her left. “Come on. We can do this. Just hold on and together we can pull you out.”

  There was a shout from behind her and Ellie turned her head to look. Somewhere back there, she saw the glow of headlights beyond the high slope of the hill. She couldn’t see anything more than shapes moving in the darkness, coming down the slope towards the shoreline.

  She shouted, still holding tightly to Matt’s wrist. “Down here! The ice is breaking and I can’t hold him much longer!”

  She could hear shouting from the shore, but couldn’t make out the words, except that she was sure someone called her name. In that moment of distraction, there was a sudden motion and Ellie felt a whoosh of air above her.

  The tire iron hit her on the shoulder. The blow vibrated down her entire body and her nerveless fingers opened, releasing her hold on Matt.

  In that second, the ice cracked again, splitting in two beneath her. Before she could even take in a breath, plunged down into the icy water again, sinking deeper and deeper.

  The world went black and quiet. Time seemed to stand still.

  Lacey’s voice returned. “You have a death wish, don’t you?”

  Ellie felt herself shake her head. Cold water bubbles caressed her cheek.

  “Well, if you don’t, then start kicking. You need to get to the surface, or you’re going to drown.”

  Ellie couldn’t quite figure out how to make her legs move, but she attempted to kick as she had been instructed.

  After what seemed like hours, and with the burning in her chest feeling as though it would consumer her, she finally broke the surface.

  A hand grabbed hers, and she clutched it back as she felt herself being pulled from the water.

  After that, the world faded away again, and this time Lacey wasn’t there to annoy her. With a sigh, she relaxed into the warm, cozy blackness in peace.

  There was a throbbing pain that stretched from the top of her head all the way down to her ankles. Her feet, she decided after a moment of wiggling her toes, didn’t hurt.

  “Good morning, sunshine. Or rather, good evening, if we feel the need to be precise.”

  Ellie opened her eyes, found herself gazing up at a blank white ceiling. “Why?”

  Charlie swam into focus as he leaned over her and kissed her gently on the forehead. “Why what, love?”

  She cleared her throat, tried to speak more coherently. Although it hurt to do so, so she wasn’t sure what her incentive was. “Why… no, where am I?”

  “A question philosophers have been posing for eons. But I suppose you’re speaking more pedantically.”

  She gave a snort, which made her head throb some more. “Charlie, what the hell is going on?”

  “You’re in the hospital. You don’t remember last night?”

  She tried to think, but it was too painful.

  “Do you remember being at the lake?”

  It all came rushing back to her, just like the water that had rushed over her head as she slid off the ice. “Oh God.”

  “And Goddess. You can thank both of them you didn’t drown. When you went under…” His voice cracked and it was a moment before he could continue. “I didn’t think you were coming back up. But suddenly you bobbed up like a cork, and I grabbed your hand.” He grabbed it now, the good one, not the one that felt like someone had tried repeatedly to tear it off her body. “It took me and Bill and Marcus to pull you out and back to shore.”

  She shivered, feeling cold all over again. “What about Matt?”

  Charlie just shook his head. “By the time I got you to shore, I looked. I really did. But he never surfaced.”

  She closed her eyes, sent a plea to the Goddess to ease his crossing, and then another for Her to help him understand the lessons he’d failed utterly to learn this time around. “He killed Link.”

  “I know. You told me on the phone, remember?”

  Ellie was quiet for a moment, remembering more. “Right.” She shivered. How did you find me?”

  “When I got to Marg’s, you weren’t there. You should have beaten me and with the icy roads, I thought maybe you had gotten into an accident, so we got back in Bill’s truck and tried to retrace your route. We found the van and then followed the tracks into the snow.” He had to stop, as his voice grew husky again. “Don’t ever do that to me again, Ellie Gooden. If anything had happened to you…”

  She squeezed his hand. “I’ll try. But no promises. My mother used to say I lived to make people worry about me.” She let her eyes droop closed for a moment, feeling suddenly too tired to keep them open any longer. A moment later, however, she pulled herself together enough to open them again just long enough to fix him with a bleary gaze before drifting off for good. “Don’t go anywhere, Charlie. Okay?”

  He squeezed her hand back. “I’ll be right here.”

  Knowing that, she let herself slide away.

  It was two long days before they let her go home, arm in a cast. Charlie treated her like a china doll, driving so slowly on the bumpy road that she thought they’d never get there.

  Erik practically knocked her down, and when she settled in on the couch, he tried his best to climb in her lap and smother her with wet slobbery kisses. She laughed and eventually pushed him off.

  Goddess, it was good to be home.

  Charlie made tea and then sat down on the couch with her. “I don’t know if you’re up for it, but Patti and Earl – and Josh – want to stop by later. Do you think you’ll—”

  “Charlie, I’m not broken. Much. And I’m not an invalid. I’d love to see them.”

  “Great.” He stretched out his legs and leaned back, looking more tired than she was. “They said they’d be here about four. I imagine Patti will be bringing a casserole.”

  Ellie chuckled. “I bet she will.” She stretched out as well, warming her toes in the delicious heat of the fire. “There’s still one thing I don’t understand.”

  “What’s that?”

  “How did Margaret Roesch get her hands on the medical records in the first place.”

  Maybe Alphie gave them to her. Maybe Alphie was trying to work a deal with her – Margaret got the goods on Link, and in return Margaret would give Alphie the deed to the farm. Or maybe she had a PI in her pocket.”

  “If it was deal, what did Margaret hope to get?”

  “Margaret wanted the Mough’s north pasture. She’d already gotten money from some investors in order to build on that land. My guess is that she thought she could blackmail Link into putting even more pressure on Josh.”
r />   “Pressure to do what? What could Josh do?”

  “Josh is probably the only person who’d be able to convince his folks to sell the property. And if enough bad things happened, and they ran into enough financial difficulties, it would be the logical thing to do.”

  “What a hideously tangled web.”

  “Everybody wanted their piece of the proverbial pie.”

  Ellie sighed. “So many lives wasted over such petty greed.” She looked around her, at her meager surroundings and smiled. “I’m just thankful to have what I have.”

  Charlie chuckled. “Me too.” He took her hand and kissed her palm. “Me too.” He paused and then said, “Although…”

  “Although what?”

  “Although I might be more thankful if we had just a little more room. And central heating.”

  She looked around her again, at the little cabin that had been all she could afford when she’d first come to Horizon, most of the inheritance from her parents having been spent on buying the shop and providing start-up capital.

  Now she had a bit of money in the bank, business was generally good, despite the recent lull caused by the weather, and there was that huge chunk of change she’d inherited from Lacey that she’d set aside for Kate’s kids’ education.

  She also realized that if she and Charlie were going to continue to cohabitate, then a little more room would not only be nice, but would be a necessity. She hadn’t had a roommate since college, and there were reasons for that – the primary one being the need for a great deal of ‘alone’ time.

  Ironically, his idea was neither unexpected, nor original. She’d had lots of time to think while in the hospital – and an odd idea had occurred to her, one that she wasn’t quite ready to talk about.

  “Well, I have to admit, a little more space would make Erik happy too,” was all she said. “Maybe you could use all that spare time of yours building an addition.”

  He looked at her, and the shock and horror on his face made her laugh. “Oh, very funny, Gooden.” He slapped at her playfully. “Besides. I won’t have that much free time starting in a few weeks.”

  “Why is that?”

  “I didn’t get a chance to tell you, given all the drama, but Bill has offered me a job.”

  That surprised her. “Really? Doing what?”

  He hit her again. “Working for him as an investigator. He needs someone who can not only help train some of the younger officers, but someone he can rely on for the cases where he needs more experience.”

  “Gee.” She wasn’t sure how she felt about that. Or rather, she was happy, but at the same time, a little niggling anxiety was creeping in. “I thought you were done with police work.”

  He gave a noncommittal shrug. “I thought so too. But…” He shrugged again.

  “So… that means you’ll be staying here… permanently.”

  He caught her inflection, fixed those deep blue eyes on her. “If that’s what you want. I mean… I haven’t accepted yet.” He held her gaze. “Is it? What you want?”

  She let him worry for a moment then found herself grinning despite her stomach flip-flopping in panic. “Yes. Yes, it’s what I want.”

  “Good.” He scooted next to her and gave her a kiss that made her even more sure of her decision. Then he stood up. “I suppose I should start drawing up plans, then.”

  “For what?”

  “For the addition you want built. I’ve only got a couple of weeks to build it… maybe I should ask Per to help me.”

  She threw a pillow at him. “Oh, stop it. I have a better idea.”

  “Oh? And what’s that.”

  “Just leave it to me. Meanwhile, my tea is cold.”

  He toddled off to the kitchen, wearing a long suffering look, and Ellie patted the couch and invited Erik to sit beside her. Tomorrow, she decided, she’d call her friend and local real estate agent, Terri Kohler, and try to figure out the details. People were going to think she was nuts, she knew, but somehow she felt it was the right thing to do. Old ghosts could be put to rest, and an ugly past cleansed. “Time to put down real roots here, right, boy?”

  Erik, who’d been chewing on Fuzzy Walter, woofed in agreement.

  Chapter Twenty

  Summer was in full bloom in Horizon. Almost six months had passed since Link Fairweather’s death. Sometime in April, Matt Pace’s body had been found in Lake Hodek and both Josh and Sierra had come back to town for his funeral. They were both back to work at The Whole Earth Society, and Josh was becoming quite the media darling himself now. Patti had said he’d been asked to speak at some international environmental summit in London in the fall. Sierra brought her new fiancée with her, a good-looking fellow who, Charlie couldn’t wait to point out, looked and acted a helluva lot like Josh. He was even from a rural farming community somewhere in Iowa. It was almost comical.

  In any case, Ellie gave Josh, and she supposed Sierra too, a lot of credit for attending the burial of the man who’d killed Link Fairweather and nearly successfully framed Josh for the murder. In fact, quite a few of the townsfolk had attended. As Arabella said, it was just the right thing to do.

  Things were back to normal at the Moughs too, with both sick cows having made a full recovery. Best of all, with Karl Howard momentarily licking his wounds, and the Odious Margaret no longer a constant thorn, pecuniary interest in the Mough’s north pasture had faded. At least for the moment. All was, Ellie thought, right with the world.

  Bright morning sun shone down from a cloudless sky as she pulled her orange VW van into the driveway of the old farm house which had, since she’d signed the contract, ceased being the Old Mueller place and become instead, the new Heartmoor. She and Charlie had spent long hours while the weather warmed, not only choosing the name of the property – which was so much more than a Rural Route address – but also cleaning out the place well enough that the contractors could come in and start doing the necessary work to update the electricity and the plumbing. Not to mention installing a new roof, re-siding the place in a creamy yellow with white trim, rebuilding the rickety porch and sending the nests of mice and raccoons into exile in the woods behind the house.

  All that had taken months. The next step had been to install modern heating and air conditioning, put up dry wall, renovate the kitchen and bathrooms, and restore the hard wood floors – another two-month process.

  Finally, though, the place was ready to be moved into.

  On Litha, known to non-pagans as the summer solstice, she and Charlie had invited their friends and family to join them in eliminating the ‘bad juju’, as Charlie put it, with a huge bonfire, good cheer, warm wishes and a cleansing ritual that included sage-smudging, candle-lighting, and a horseshoe donated by Seth and Arabella to be placed over the front door, point sides up so the luck wouldn’t run out.

  Today, just two days later, she couldn’t help grinning like an idiot as she drove up the gravel driveway. It was the same grin, she remembered, that she’d worn over a year ago as she prepared to sell her condo in Chicago and make the move to Horizon to open The Sacred Caff. It was a good sign, she thought, that she’d made as good a decision about this house as she had about her ‘crazy’ idea to leap off the corporate hamster wheel and move to Podunk Wisconsin and open a coffee shop.

  She and Charlie had spent the previous two days moving the few pieces of furniture Ellie owned along with the remainder of her meager possessions into the place. Charlie had then headed back to Chicago to gather the rest of his own possessions, a decision that had been made pretty much without discussion. Charlie had simply suggested that he’d be needing his summer clothes and Ellie, for once aware of the subtext, had told him he might as well bring everything. He’d stared at her for a good fifteen seconds, blinking, then nodded and said, okay.

  Recalling the ridiculously brief conversation made her chuckle. It was a moment she would remember forever because for once, she’d rendered Charlie speechless.

  She wasn’t sure how it had co
me to this. She’d never shared her bed with a man before, much less her living space. And now she was allowing a man to actually share her home. Yet thinking about it all and what it might mean now, what it might mean for the future, gave her an anxiety attack, so she’d decided that for once, she wouldn’t think. She’d do as Per had suggested and feel, and this definitely felt right, even as it terrified her.

  She called up the image of her father, remembered the conversation they’d had long ago, on that impromptu picnic, during which he’d told her she needed to find her tribe. He’d be happy now, she thought. Not only had she found a tribe, but she’d found so much more.

  Shaking off the brief stab of grief, she gazed at her new house. Tonight, Ellie would spend the night in her – no, their – new home by herself. Charlie would join her on Sunday. Everyone had thought that she was crazy. Not only to buy the place, but to sleep here by herself. Marg promised to stop by about dinner time and had even volunteered to stay the night with her, although Ellie could tell the woman was hoping Ellie would turn her down, which of course, she had.

  Ellie got out of the van and went to stand in the still torn up front lawn, looking at the house with both old and new eyes. The miasma of fear and shame and pain that she’d encountered the first time she’d come here was gone. She knew that if she went around to the back, to the place where the Odious Margaret had been briefly interred, she would no longer feel her angry spirit either. The ghosts had been put to rest in both the public party and her own private rituals.

  Now all that remained was a little bit of loneliness, and given all the activity the place had experienced over the past few months, even that was starting to dissipate. Soon it would vanish altogether as she and Charlie made their own impressions on the house.