Pumpkin Picking with Murder

by Auralee Wallace

  Finally, after what felt like hours, some of the workers started to head off to their RVs.

  “Well,” Matthew said, getting to his feet, “I think it’s time for me to go too.”

  I jumped up after him. “Let me give you a ride. You can’t run home now.”

  “I think I’d better after all that food,” he said with a pat to his belly.

  “You can’t seriously run in the wee hours of the morning after a meal of chicken and beer?”

  He cocked his head quizzically.

  “Or maybe you can.”

  He walked a few steps then turned. “Thanks for a good night, Erica. I think I needed that.” He waved and trotted off to the road.

  Freddie and I said our good-byes to the rest of the group and left for the marina. The wind had completely died, and even though the sun hadn’t yet come up, the birds were already singing. Once we were out of earshot, I said, “So, don’t you want to know if I got it?”

  “Um, given that it looked like you were about to kill us all with a concealed weapon the entire night,” he said tiredly, “I’m thinking you got it.”

  “Well, then, pick up the pace! Let’s go watch this puppy.”

  “Aren’t you an eager little Otter Lake beaver in the morning! But I think you’re forgetting one thing.”

  “What?”

  “I don’t have a VCR.” He belched quietly, but it sounded painful.

  “What! What do you mean you don’t have a VCR?”

  “I don’t have a VCR! Seriously, who does? Hoarders?” He groaned. “It broke a while back, and it wasn’t like I was going to rush out and buy a new one. Now stop talking so loudly. I’m tired.”

  I threw my hands in the air. “Well, what are we going to do? Oh! We should go back and get the VCR from the pole!”

  Freddie shook his head. “The sun’s coming up. Everybody will see what we’re doing, and then we’ll never get the chance to view the tapes before the law comes down on us. But speaking of Grady, where the heck did Matthew come from?”

  “What are you talking about?” I said, trying to sound as normal as possible. “What does Grady have to do with Matthew … or Matthew with Grady, for that matter?”

  “Uh-huh,” Freddie said knowingly. “You know exactly what I’m talking about. Seriously, though, what was Matthew doing there?”

  “He said he was out for a run because he couldn’t sleep.”

  “And you believed him?”

  “Yes, I believe—” I stopped dead in my tracks. “What exactly are you implying here?”

  “Implying nothing. I’m saying outright that we have a killer on our hands, Matthew is the victim’s son, and he just happened to be running by the only camera that might have caught the murderer on tape.”

  “Come on. You’re reaching. Matthew’s not the type! He’s too—”

  “Dreamy to be the killer?” Freddie asked, cocking one eyebrow.

  “He rescues geese trapped under porches!”

  “Quite the elaborate cover if you ask me.”

  We made it back to Freddie’s boat and got her started up, probably waking half the town. Seconds later we were pulling up to Freddie’s place. Driving Lightning this time was even more difficult. Speed and sleep deprivation weren’t a good mix. I tried to slow down, but it was like the boat wouldn’t let me. I was starting to think Lightning wasn’t the best name for this piece of machinery. Demon might have been better … or maybe Christine.

  Freddie stood up shakily and grabbed the boat’s edge to hand-over-hand it to the side. He only managed to get one foot over the lip before I shouted, “What would his motive even be?”

  “What?” Freddie asked. I was pretty sure he was at the phase of being hung over where talking hurt. “Who?”

  “Matthew!”

  “I don’t know,” Freddie said, shaking his head before grabbing his forehead with his hand to stop it. “It’s family. Maybe he didn’t like the fact that his father was cheating on his mother—”

  I gripped the boat’s wheel and twisted it in my hands.

  “Or maybe it was money. Or…” Freddie paused, shaking his head, “It could be a million things! Maybe he just wanted to get his hands on the manse.”

  I made a noise while pulling my lips down into a grimace.

  “What?”

  “Well, Matthew does love that house,” I said slowly. “But he doesn’t strike me as the type of person who couldn’t wait a few years to inherit it.”

  “Well, maybe that’s it. For all we know, his father wanted to leave it to somebody else.”

  “Maybe.” Then I slapped the wheel. “Oh! But … aha! You’re forgetting one thing.”

  Freddie rolled his bloodshot eyes over to me. “Am I now.”

  “Matthew only came to town after his father’s death!”

  “And you know that for sure how?”

  I felt my face drop. “I don’t. I just assumed.”

  “Uh-huh,” Freddie said again. “You really want him to be innocent.”

  “I do not.” In fact, maybe if he were a murderer I’d stop having all these inappropriate thoughts about him. “Okay, can we just talk about what’s next? We need to find a VCR and—”

  “No. No. No. Freddie must sleep now.”

  “But—”

  “Erica, I know this is hard, but even if there is evidence on those tapes that clears Tweety, no one’s going to let her out at this time of night … morning? Let’s get some sleep, and then we’ll figure everything out.”

  I grumbled in response.

  “Do you want to crash at my place?”

  “You know I can’t sleep with your snoring.”

  “I have a deviated septum!”

  “I know. I’m sorry. I’m just tired and worried.”

  He nodded. “Okay, well, you can take Lightning, but you’ve got to promise me you’ll take care of her.”

  I sighed.

  “Hey! Most people would consider it both an honor and a privilege to drive her.”

  “I know. It’s just kind of like being lent a double-decker bus for a quick trip to the market.”

  “Are you going to be able to handle her on your own?”

  “Yeah. Yeah. I’ll figure out some way to dock her. It will be fine.”

  He nodded and turned to walk up the stairs to his house. “Oh, and don’t forget to cover her in case it rains.”

  * * *

  A few hours later, I was lying snug in my bed. I still felt ridiculously tired, which led me to question why I was awake. I was nice and warm, really toasty actually, with my arms wrapped around my pillow. My mom had replaced my mattress with some organic hemp one that was way comfortable. It was all nice and quiet … except for the calming pitter patter of rain outside my window.

  Oh crap! Lightning!

  I tried to jump up in bed, but my arm was pinned under my pillow. My pillow … that wasn’t my pillow!

  “Caesar?” I shouted at the cat in my arms. “Oh my God!”

  He blinked his eyes into slits and looked around as though trying to figure out how he’d gotten there too. He kicked his back legs into the air then rolled off the bed with a solid thump. I guess not all cats land on their feet.

  I leaned over the bed.

  “You okay?”

  He looked up at me, still on his back, and hissed.

  “Back at you,” I mumbled, throwing off the covers.

  I yanked on Freddie’s jacket over my tank top and boxer shorts, and slipped on some old flip-flops. This was going to be cold, cold, cold. But there was no time to worry about that now.

  I hustled out of the lodge’s front door, thankful that nobody seemed to be around. How could I have forgotten to put the rain cover on Lightning? I was just so tired after last night’s festivities. God, had any of that even happened? It just seemed so surreal. Chicken … RVs … campfires … Matthew …

  I trotted down the log steps of the hill that led to the dock, trying to watch my step on the slippery wood. Whe
n I reached the bottom and looked up to see how bad the situation was … I saw a police boat pulled up alongside Lightning … and a man … snapping the last part of the cover in place.

  “Grady?”

  Chapter Nineteen

  He looked up at me from under his dripping sheriff’s hat. “Hey.”

  “What are you doing?”

  “Well … it’s raining.” He hopped back over to his boat, wiping his hands on his pants, before drifting forward in neutral.

  “Oh, thank you.” I walked the length of the dock, so we didn’t have to shout. “I mean, I know, uh, how you feel about the boat.”

  He planted his fists into his lower spine and arched backward with a groan. “My issues are not with the boat. I like the boat a lot.” He pinched his lips together, and then sighed heavily. “In fact, I think this boat and I, under the right circumstances, could have something pretty great together.” He shook his head. “But people keep getting in the way.”

  I nodded. “We’re, uh, not talking about the boat anymore, are we?”

  Grady’s eyes widened in question.

  “Or maybe we are just talking about boats,” I said slowly. “I always manage to underestimate your love for boats.”

  A light came on behind Grady’s eyes. “Oh, you thought I was talking about—”

  I held my hands out. “Please. Stop.”

  He chuckled. “If it makes you feel any better, I’m not here to talk about the boat.” He edged even closer to the dock. “I was hoping we could maybe figure some things out.”

  * * *

  A few minutes later we were seated in a swing chair on the back porch of the retreat.

  Neither one of us really seemed to know how to start, so I said, “How’s Tweety? Kit Kat?”

  “She’s fine,” he said with a nod. “They’re both fine. Kit Kat slept on the couch in my office. Rhonda brought them breakfast this morning from the Dawg. Lumberjack special.” He looked out to the trees. “Got one for herself too.”

  I scanned his face. He didn’t look sad so much as just resigned. “Not for you, though?”

  “Not for me.”

  A moment passed as we watched some crows peck at the ground.

  I sighed and shook my head before looking over at him. When I saw the expression on his face, I couldn’t help but put my hand on his shoulder. I wasn’t happy about any of this. But I knew he wouldn’t have arrested Tweety if he had another choice … which meant there had to be pretty significant evidence. The other thing I realized sitting there with him was that all the worrying I had been doing about being attracted to Matthew was just nonsense. I didn’t care what stood in between us. This was where I wanted to be. This was the man I had been crazy about my entire life … and yet, I also knew I was pretty much guaranteed to muck it all up. My mind flashed to the tapes sitting in my bedroom. I wanted to give them to him … I just had to see them first. Probably had to do with my trust issues again.

  He met my eyes with his. “So this trip isn’t exactly turning out how we planned.”

  “Nope,” I said, smacking my lips together.

  “You know I didn’t want to do it, right?”

  I nodded slowly and sighed.

  “And despite all the evidence, I still don’t believe she did it.”

  “Despite all what evidence?”

  “Erica.” I think he meant to say it as a warning, but it really just came out kind of sad.

  I let my hands drop to my sides. “I know. I know. You can’t tell me.”

  “No, I cannot.”

  I brought one leg up to curl underneath me as I twisted my body to face him. “Grady, you know I don’t blame you.” I almost reached out to grab his hand, but I just couldn’t. “I get that you’re just doing your job.”

  He closed his eyes and sighed, his face relaxing.

  “But you’ve got to know—”

  He tensed right back up. In fact, his little jaw muscles were rippling quite a bit. “Don’t say it—”

  “Freddie and I are going to do everything we can to find out the truth.”

  He flopped back onto the swing chair, rocking us both. “Why?” he asked looking up at the ceiling of the porch.

  “Why? You know why. Tweety is family—”

  “No, not that,” he said pulling his head back up.

  “Oh, then what, why?”

  His head flopped back down and shook side to side. “Why are we cursed?”

  I smiled a little.

  “Did your mother do some kind of moon ritual? I know she hates me—”

  “She doesn’t hate you,” I said, looking out to the trees. “She just blames you for my leaving town all those years ago … well, and for the whole business at the Raspberry Social.”

  “I thought we sorted that all out!”

  I squinted my eyes and pinched my lips together before saying, “Yeah, she’s not always rational. But”—I straightened up with a smile—“the good news is … I like you quite a bit.”

  He held my eyes a moment, sending heat rushing over my body. “I’m going to tell you something,” he said, voice deepening, “and I don’t want you to take it the wrong way … because it’s going to sound terrible.”

  “Okay,” I said with a dry swallow.

  His eyes tightened and he clicked his tongue a few times before he said, “Erica Bloom, I want to make you mine in about nine hundred different ways.”

  My breath caught, making it hard to ask, “Nine hundred … physical ways?”

  “Oh yes,” he said with a nod.

  I gulped. “You’re right. That’s terrible. Really.” I nodded. “I’m my own woman. You can’t make me yours,” I said, voice cracking again. “But did you say nine hundred?”

  “But I can’t. We can’t.” He rolled his head back to stare at the ceiling, and just like that all the tension between us popped. “You and Freddie are going to do something illegal, and I’m going be all like, Roar. Roar. Roar. I’m the law. You do what I say, and—”

  Suddenly I found myself straddling Grady.

  “Whoa,” he said in surprise, grabbing my hips. His eyes darkened when they met mine.

  I looked down at his lips, licking my own. “Do you ever think, Grady, that maybe we talk too much about our problems?”

  “I’m always thinking that we talk too much. Like all the time.” He leaned up toward me while sliding his hand around the back of my neck and pulling me in. Our lips came together, hard, and my brain liquefied.

  For a few timeless seconds, I lost myself in all that was Grady. Things were firing in my body that I didn’t know existed. In fact the only words I could form in my brain were nine hundred … nine hundred different ways.

  Then I realized something else … this was our first kiss! The very first time our lips had ever touched. Finally—

  Then it all stopped.

  I felt Grady tense beneath me.

  With our lips still joined, my eyes flew open. Grady’s were open too, but not focused on me. They were looking off to the side.

  “Grady,” I mumbled, lips still unwilling to leave his, “is there a group of silent people standing behind us?”

  He nodded.

  I sighed then turned my head. On the back lawn stood the group of retreat-goers. My eyes darted over to my mother. Yup, the look on her face said, I’m not sorry. A few threw awkward waves. The man who had winked at me the first day gave us a thumbs-up. I watched the group glide away before turning back to Grady. “In fairness, they may have heard us arguing on the phone the other night. I think they’re glad we made up.”

  He gave me that sad smile I’d had been seeing way too much of from him lately. “I’ve accepted that I should be prepared for anything when I come over here.”

  “So, have we?”

  He raised an eyebrow.

  “Made up?”

  “I should get back to work,” Grady said, putting his hands on my hips and easing out from underneath me.

  “Grady?” I couldn�
�t keep the surprise out of my voice. I mean, I wasn’t surprised that Grady wasn’t thrilled with the idea of Freddie and me investigating Mr. Masterson’s death, but I didn’t think he would be this unthrilled, like let’s-not-date unthrilled. Besides, he was the one who had arrested my Tweety!

  “What do you want me to say, Erica?” He got to his feet and flung a hand out toward the lake. “Go! Investigate with Freddie. Do whatever you need to do. I’m just the sheriff of this town. I don’t mind.”

  “Grady,” I said. “I can’t do nothing. This is Tweety. We’re just going to talk to people. Maybe find out things you can’t because you’re the sheriff.”

  “And there it is once again,” he said, throwing the same hand into the air.

  “I didn’t mean—”

  “You don’t think I can do my job.”

  “Grady, come on,” I said, jumping to my feet. “That’s not fair. You know I’m not the type of person who can just sit back and do nothing. It’s not in my DNA.”

  “You know what?” he said, rubbing a hand over his face. “I’m really tired. I need to go. Again, I don’t—” He held up his hands. “I don’t want to say anything.” He moved toward the porch steps.

  “So what? That’s it?” I shouted after him. “First kiss and now we’re through?”

  He jerked to a stop but didn’t turn around. “I didn’t say that, Erica, and you know it.” He inhaled deeply and held it a moment before letting go. “I said I’m tired, and I need to go. And I need to go so that I don’t say something like we’re through without meaning it.”

  Heat raced to my cheeks. I knew he was right. Now wasn’t the time to discuss this, but my emotions felt otherwise because all I heard was that he might mean it. “So what’s the deal?” I asked, shaking my head a little too wildly. “Are we going to see each other later?”

  This time he did turn around. He planted his hands on his hips and nodded. “I think that’s pretty much guaranteed, don’t you?”

  I leaned my face forward and held my hands out, giving him a What the hell are you talking about? face.