Pumpkin Ridge (Rose Hill Mystery Series Book 10)

by Pamela Grandstaff

  Where had she seen these before?

  She tucked the keys into her pocket, took the coat over to the tow truck, and slung it in the back.

  “What’s that?” Curtis asked.

  “A coat,” Melissa said.

  “I can see that,” he said. “Any idea whose?”

  “I have an idea,” Melissa said. “I’ll take care of it.”

  Curtis shrugged and finished his job.

  “They’re gonna take the pieces of that boat back to Will; you wanna send the coat, too?”

  “Nope,” Melissa said. “I’ll deliver that personally.”

  Curtis dropped Melissa off at her trailer, and she took the coat with her inside, where she hung it up on the shower head over the bathtub so it could drip muddy water down the drain. She disconnected the flashlight on the zipper pull and dropped it into the top vanity drawer, and then studied the keys while she wondered where she had seen them before. The tab on the key ring was an unusual shape, a pewter Celtic rose. Holding it in her hand, she closed her eyes and let her mind wander, until she realized these were the keys kept hidden under a flower pot next to the garage apartment behind the Rose Hill B&B that Ava owned. Melissa had once used them to show someone the property as a favor to Sandy Rodefeffer.

  These were the missing keys.

  She went back outside, got in her car, and drove up to the bed and breakfast, the one that was going to be sold the next day. She parked out back between Ava’s old van and the garage with the apartment overhead.

  Three years before, a man had died in that apartment, and although it was suspected to be the result of foul play, the case was never solved. That had been right before Ava’s daughter had gone to boarding school, Ava had married Will, and her new husband had built the house on the hill.

  It was dark now, so Melissa didn’t worry about anyone seeing her try one of the keys in the apartment door, which it opened. She stepped inside and turned on the lights. The main room was empty save for some folded drop cloths and paint cans. It smelled like paint and new carpet. The refrigerator hummed, and the kitchen faucet dripped.

  She started down the hall but stopped when she thought she heard something in the bedroom at the end of the short corridor. The hair stood up on the back of her neck, and her arms sprouted goose pimples.

  She stood still and listened, but could not hear anything. She opened her mouth to say, “Is anyone here?” but a shiver of fear stopped her. If there was someone in the apartment, that person was hiding and did not want to be found. Melissa was alone, with no weapon, and no one knew where she was. Instead of investigating further, she backed down the hallway and let herself out, locking the door behind her. It was then that she noticed the window closest to the door was not quite closed, the aluminum frame bent as if it had been jimmied open.

  Out on the small porch at the top of the steps she had the sudden thought that maybe Ava and Patrick met in the apartment. Maybe that was why Ava had the keys in her coat pocket. It would be risky, what with the nosy neighbors that lived on each side. Maybe they were in there now. Then her rational mind reminded her that Patrick was at work at the Thorn right now, so he wasn’t meeting Ava in the apartment.

  Reminding herself that the obvious explanation was usually the right one, she reasoned that Ava had every right to hold the keys to her property; she might have used them to inspect the work that had been done and left them in her coat.

  But why was her coat in the boat?

  Melissa went back down the stairs and was walking around the corner of the building to try the other key in the garage door when she was startled to see a person dressed in dark clothing already standing there.

  “What are you doing here?” Ava asked Melissa.

  Melissa’s heart thumped in her chest.

  “I was with Curtis just now when they towed your boat up,” she said, her words rushed and her voice breathless. “These keys were in it, and I thought I recognized them. I was just trying them to see if they were yours. Trick is doing the final walk-through tomorrow, so we’ll need them.”

  Ava held her hand out, and, after a brief hesitation, Melissa placed the keys in them.

  “Thanks,” Ava said. “I’ll be sure to tell Will how much I appreciate the full service provided by Sean’s staff. I’ll also make sure Trick gets the keys in time for the walk-through.”

  Melissa didn’t know what else to say, so she half turned and gestured at her car.

  “Well, I guess I’ll go,” she said.

  “I heard you and Patrick broke up,” Ava said.

  Melissa was so taken aback that at first she stuttered, but then found her words.

  “I’m sure it’s for the best,” Melissa said. “These things happen.”

  “I know,” Ava said. “I’m just surprised. I know Patrick was very fond of you.”

  Melissa had to grind her teeth not to respond in the way she wanted to.

  “You’ve worked so hard to overcome your upbringing and your past,” Ava said. “I know everyone’s very proud of how far you’ve come. I’m sure whatever you do in the future, you’ll do well. And as far as men go, there are always more fish in the sea.”

  Melissa could not, would not thank Ava for such a mean compliment.

  “I have to go,” she said instead and backed away rather than turn her back on Ava.

  “Take care,” Ava said.

  Melissa didn’t realize how hard she was trembling until she was safely locked in her car.

  It wasn’t from the cold.

  Back at home, Melissa locked the door behind her, took off her coat, and walked down the hallway to the bathroom. She flipped on the light and immediately saw the coat was gone. The tub had even been rinsed out so no one would believe it had ever hung there. She opened the top drawer of the vanity and saw that the flashlight was gone, as well.

  Melissa froze, her scalp tingling in fear. Quickly, she took a spray bottle of toilet bowl cleaner out from under the vanity, and armed with that, she checked every room in the trailer, but no one was hiding anywhere. She finally thought to check the back entrance, which was rarely used, and outside, at the bottom of a substantial drop off, she saw small footprints in the accumulating snow.

  Only Patrick and she had keys to that door, which was always kept locked.

  Now apparently Ava had one.

  Delia seemed happy to see Melissa.

  “Come in, sweetie,” she said. “This is a pleasant surprise.”

  Melissa held up a hastily packed overnight bag and said, “I hope you don’t mind if I stay for a while.”

  “Of course I don’t mind,” Delia said as she hugged her. “You’re always welcome in my house for as long as you need to stay. Stay forever; nothing would make me happier.”

  Melissa dropped her bag and took off her coat. Delia hung it up in the hall closet, saying, “Put your bag in Claire’s room. The sheets are clean, and there are extra blankets in the closet.”

  Melissa went down the hall to Claire’s childhood bedroom, which had been Melissa’s bedroom when she had lived with Ian and Delia. Tommy had slept in the room across the hall, which had been their son Liam’s before he died. She left her bag and then joined Delia in the kitchen.

  “I have to confess I was hoping you’d come see me,” Delia said. “I was at Bonnie’s earlier this evening after you left.”

  “Bonnie thinks we should do something, but I don’t know what to do,” Melissa said. “I’m heartbroke, but I don’t know whether to abandon Patrick or try to rescue him.”

  Tears spilled over, and she raised a trembling hand to wipe them away.

  “Oh, honey, I’m so sorry.”

  “I’m plumb wiped out,” Melissa said. “I’m down to playin’ on one string, and that one’s about to pop.”

  Delia handed her a box of tissues and patted her shoulder.

  “Let’s talk it out,” Delia said. “Ian used to say that it was better to vent in a safe place than to hold it in and explode somewhere danger
ous.”

  Melissa told Delia everything. It still didn’t seem real to her. It was more like a nightmare she was still walking around in.

  “You poor thing,” Delia said when she was done. “I don’t doubt for a minute Ava was following that tow truck and then following you. You know I don’t throw the word ‘evil’ around lightly, so when I say you’re right to be afraid of Ava, you can believe it.”

  “Bonnie told me you found that out working for her at the B&B.”

  “God help me,” Delia said. “I think I know how that woman’s brain works, although only the Lord knows for sure. Ava was adopted by old parents, and they died when she was still pretty young. She latched onto Brian and finagled her way into our family so she’d feel safe, I think. You can understand that; we Fitzpatricks have our faults, but no one can say we’re not loyal. We’re established here in Rose Hill. We have our place.

  “I remember Ian saying he didn’t like the way Patrick looked at his brother’s wife, that there’d be trouble on account of it, you wait and see, but I always thought Ian suspected everyone. Turned out he was right.

  “I loved Ava, and I felt sorry for her. Brian was terrible to her, blamed her for missing out on his baseball scholarship, and he never let her forget that. She was always a good mother; she adored her children. I was so impressed when she took Ernie in even though he was Brian’s child with another woman. I wonder if that isn’t part of her camouflage, somehow, her devoted motherhood.

  “Ava’s beautiful, any fool can see that. She uses that to her advantage. She’s smart, and she’s a survivor. She has complete control over herself, over her emotions. Ian used to say she was ‘self-possessed,” and that description is apt on so many levels. Ian said many times she should have gone to Hollywood; she’s that skilled of an actress. She fooled me for a long time.

  “I saw firsthand how she manipulated an FBI agent to protect her children, and then to get rid of her husband. I saw how, after she got rid of the agent, she latched onto Scott. Ava got her money, left to her by Theo Eldridge, who I’m sure, although I couldn’t prove it, she was also involved with; after that, she didn’t need Scott, and she wanted Patrick back.

  “More than anything, Ava wanted to be respected in the community, and she got that as a Fitzpatrick. All most people really want, when it comes down to it, is to belong, to feel safe and cared for. She had that as a member of our family.

  “If she and Patrick went public with their affair, and heaven forbid, got married, it would have been the scandal of the century, and her children would have paid the price. Many people suspected Patrick killed his brother in order to have Ava, and no one would have hesitated to gossip about that. They would have had to leave town. Patrick, for all his good points, is rooted here like knotweed; I don’t think he could thrive anywhere else. He’s also, please forgive me, more than a little bit of a mama’s boy. There’s not much he dreads more than his mother’s disapproval; if he married Ava, Bonnie would never forgive him.

  “I thought after Ava married Will that she’d give up Patrick; I thought to have all that money, a husband who adored her, and another baby would satisfy her. I thought if she belonged to Will’s family she could feel safe and cared for in that marriage. I was wrong.”

  “So why doesn’t she leave Will and marry Patrick? She’d get half his money in the divorce.”

  “I don’t think she loves Patrick, sweetie, so much as she thinks Patrick belongs to her. She wants him to always be available, and she sure as hell doesn’t want anyone else to have him. That’s not love, that’s control.”

  “So why didn’t she bump me off years ago?”

  “Let me ask you something,” Delia said. “How did Miranda’s mother find out that someone with her daughter’s name was living in Rose Hill?”

  “She hired someone to look for me,” Melissa said. “He got a tip and followed it up.”

  “Who do you think provided that tip?”

  “You think Ava did that?”

  Delia shrugged.

  “We’ll probably never know. It’s certainly possible.”

  “So why didn’t she pay for me to have an accident?” Melissa said.

  “Patrick’s not completely blind,” Delia said. “He’d have known it was her doing, and she would have lost him.”

  “He must still love her,” Melissa said. “I saw what he was like all those years when they were sneakin’ around, and even three years ago when she married Will. She’s the love of his life. I’m just the one he’s been biding his time with.”

  “I can’t speak for what’s in Patrick’s heart,” Delia said. “Of course Bonnie thinks Ava’s using some sort of witchcraft on him; her precious son would never willfully be involved with anyone she didn’t approve of. He might love her and love you, too. It’s not necessarily one or the other. He can love Ava even if he sees what she really is. It speaks volumes, however, that he wouldn’t sacrifice you for her.”

  “Why do men have to fool around?” Melissa asked. “Can they just not help it?”

  “It’s a choice they make, men or women,” Delia said. “If satisfying their sexual needs outside the marriage is more important to them than the consequences to the people they love, then that’s what they’ll choose to do. When it comes down to it, they’re selfish, and they think their desires are more important than anything or anybody else.”

  “Patrick and I never talked about it,” Melissa said. “Maybe we should have.”

  “The desire is there inside of everyone; only the weak give into it. Ava is Patrick’s weakness.”

  “That doesn’t make me feel any better.”

  “I know, and I’m sorry,” Delia said. “I’ll always be honest with you, even if it hurts.”

  “I don’t know what to do,” Melissa said. “Claire says I should get Hannah involved, to try to find out if Ava was really there that night of the accident.”

  “Hannah may already know,” Delia said. “It wouldn’t hurt to get proof. It might help you figure out what to do.”

  “I’m so tired my eyes are crossing,” Melissa said. “Is it okay with you if I go on to bed?”

  “You go on, and I’ll set the alarm,” Delia said. “You’re safe here.”

  Melissa changed into her nightgown and then layered extra blankets on the bed. As she snuggled down in, she looked around the room where, from the moonlight through the window, the shadows from the tree outside were dancing on the wall. Melissa breathed in the familiar smell of Delia’s laundry detergent. It felt like home to her. She belonged, she was safe, and she was cared for. Her last thought before she fell asleep was that she wished Tommy were in the room across the hall.

  Then it would be perfect.

  Chapter Four - Thursday

  M elissa was nervous about the B&B sale closing because she didn’t know whether or not Ava would be there. On Ava’s behalf, Will had been handling the sale so far, and he was Ava’s designated financial power of attorney, so there was no reason for her to be there; he could sign for her.

  Every time the telephone rang, Melissa’s heart rate sped up. Her hands were trembling. She kept making stupid mistakes in every document she worked on. She examined the closing documents for the third time that day, just to make sure there were no errors that would embarrass her during the meeting. It all looked good.

  “Hey,” Sean said.

  Melissa hadn’t heard him come down the hallway behind her, and she was startled.

  “What’s wrong with you?” Sean asked. “You’ve been jumpy all day.”

  “This is my first house closing,” Melissa said. “I just want everything to be perfect.”

  “That’s why I stipulated that part of the closing costs will go to you for doing Sandy’s job,” Sean said. “Did Trick say when she was coming back?”

  Melissa told Sean what Trick had confided in her about his wife and daughter.

  “I’m going to leave it up to you,” Sean said. “If you don’t mind doing the work, and i
t doesn’t interfere with our other work here, and as long as we bill him for your time …”

  “It’s been a good experience for me,” Melissa said. “I wouldn’t want to do it full time, but then Trick doesn’t have many sales these days.”

  “Speaking of home sales, I need to get with Patrick and Maggie about working on Mom and Dad’s house,” he said. “We need to make some home improvements, or they won’t get anything for it.”

  “It will be weird not to have Bonnie in the bakery,” Melissa said.

  “That also reminds me,” Sean said. “I need to draw up a contract for the sale of the bakery; please block out some time for me to work on that this afternoon.”

  Trick arrived with the B&B purchasers, a late-middle-aged couple dressed in brand new hiking gear.

  “We’re so excited,” the woman said after everyone was introduced. “We’ve been dreaming about this for so long.”

  “It’s basically turn-key,” the man said. “We want to redecorate a little and change some paint colors, but other than that everything’s move-in ready.”

  “So will you be running it as a business?” Sean asked.

  “That’s our dream,” the woman said.

  “Have you heard from Will?” Sean asked Melissa.

  Melissa shook her head and had just picked up the phone to call him when Ava came in.

  Sean introduced Ava to the buyers, and she proceeded to charm them. During this small talk charm offensive, Ava didn’t once acknowledge Melissa’s presence; it was if she didn’t exist. Melissa was actually relieved.

  “I just know you’ll love running a B&B,” Ava said to the buyers. “It was so hard for me to let it go, but I had just got married and had a little one on the way, and my husband has very traditional ideas about marriage. Lucky for me he has enough income to support us all.”

  “Is Will coming?” Sean asked.

  “He was called away unexpectedly,” Ava said. “You’ll just have to make do with me.”

  “His loss is our gain,” Trick said, and ran his hand through his wisps of hair, giving Ava what Melissa surmised was his most smoldering look; Melissa had to struggle not to snort with laughter.