Grave Homecoming (A Maddie Graves Mystery Book 1)

by Hart, Lily Harper

  “There’s a spot over there,” Christy said, pointing.

  “Uh, yeah, I’ve got her,” Nick said, wrapping his arm around Maddie’s waist. “Why don’t you go and watch the band? I’ll take care of her. We’ll be back over there in a few minutes.”

  “Okay,” Christy said brightly, her gaze bouncing between the two of them. “Have fun.”

  If he wasn’t so worried about Maddie, Nick would’ve wondered why Christy left without an argument. He’d known her long enough to realize that unquestionable retreat wasn’t in her repertoire. Nick was too thankful for her easy exit to question it.

  Nick led Maddie to the far side of the square, watching as she leaned against a brick wall and rubbed her forehead. “Did you eat something bad?”

  “Well, I’ve eaten cotton candy, a corn dog, and an elephant ear,” Maddie said, her smile rueful. “I haven’t eaten anything good.”

  “You always did like junk,” Nick said, massaging her neck. “You’re really pale, love.”

  Maddie pressed her eyes shut, the term of endearment filling her with warmth. “I’m just … oh.” Maddie grabbed her stomach again.

  “If you’re going to throw up, let’s move farther away,” Nick prodded. “I know you don’t want anyone to see you puke.”

  “I … we have to go this way,” Maddie said, gasping as she grabbed Nick’s hand. “This way.”

  Nick was confused, but he followed. Maddie’s path was winding, and she stopped every few seconds to get her bearings. She didn’t sit down, though, no matter how many times Nick prodded her to do just that.

  Before he realized what was happening, Nick found himself two blocks away from the fair. Maddie’s face was red from exertion, but he didn’t stop her. Finally, after turning one more corner and arriving in the pharmacy parking lot, Maddie managed to straighten her frame. She extended her arm and pointed to the lone car. “There.”

  Nick was confused. “What’s there?”

  “There,” Maddie said, her voice breaking as she shook her arm. “There.”

  Nick moved in the direction she was pointing. He didn’t want to leave her, but she was insistent. The closer he got to the car, the more agitated he was. Then he heard it … the small sound of sobs. Someone was on the other side of the car.

  Nick increased his pace and rounded the vehicle, pulling up short when he saw the small child sitting on the pavement, knees pulled to her chest.

  “Sadie?”

  He recognized the girl. Mary Thompson had four kids, and Sadie was the youngest. Nick didn’t like to judge people, but Mary was hardly an observant mother. “Sadie? Are you okay?”

  Sadie lifted her tear-streaked face. “I’m losted.”

  “You’re not lost,” Nick said, reaching down and pulling her to her feet. “You’re just … misplaced.”

  “I’m tired,” Sadie wailed. “I want to go home.”

  “Where is your mother?” Nick asked, glancing over his shoulder so he could study Maddie. She looked markedly better. She was standing up straight, her shoulders squared, and the color was returning to her cheeks. “Is she at the fair?”

  “She wouldn’t let me go on the ride,” Sadie said. “I ran away. I thought she would find me.”

  “You’re a long way from the fair, Sadie,” Nick said, clasping his hand around the girl’s small wrist. “I’m going to take you back to your mommy.”

  “Good,” Sadie said, jutting her lip out. “I want some cotton candy.”

  Nick nodded. “I’ll buy you some.” He led Sadie over to where Maddie was standing. “How did you know she was here?”

  Maddie balked. “I … I was just sick. I didn’t know she was here.”

  “Right,” Nick said, his conversation with Kincaid rushing through his mind. “Right.”

  Something here was wrong. Something here was very wrong with Maddie. Nick just couldn’t figure out what.

  Thirteen

  Magicks was officially open. Again.

  There was no fanfare. There was no ribbon cutting. There was no party. It was just … a normal day. Maddie loved normal days. She could count the number of normal days she’d ever experienced on one hand. She wanted a normal day – even if it meant no customers would cross the threshold.

  “This place is deader than a senior citizen wedding,” Maude announced.

  Maddie looked up from the tarot table where she was reading a book and scowled. “Why are you even here?”

  “Listen, pain in my ass, I’m your only customer right now,” Maude said, rolling her eyes. “You shouldn’t burn your bridges.”

  “I’m not burning my bridges,” Maddie scoffed. “I’m … .”

  Maude snickered. “Girl, you are a mess.”

  Maddie rubbed her forehead ruefully.

  “I happen to like a mess,” Maude said, settling in the chair on the opposite side of the table and fixing Maddie with an inquisitive look. “What have you been up to?”

  “Nothing.”

  Maude arched an eyebrow.

  “What have you heard?” Maddie was flustered.

  “I heard you found a missing child last night,” Maude said. “The whole town is buzzing about it.”

  Maddie’s face fell. “Oh no.”

  “Maddie, you have to let this … shame … go,” Maude said. “You have nothing to be embarrassed about.”

  “Who says I’m embarrassed?”

  “That red face of yours,” Maude said. “If you hadn’t stepped in, Sadie might have wandered farther away. What if a pervert had found her? Speaking of, did you see Todd?”

  Maddie scowled. “I saw him. I can’t shake him. I blame you.”

  “I’ll kill him if you want me to,” Maude said. “We can dump the body in the woods.”

  “You’re not funny.”

  “I’m not trying to be funny,” Maude said. “I’m trying to be practical. Everyone in this county knows that Todd Winthrop is an octopus.”

  “Then why did you insist I go out with him?”

  “Because I’m afraid you haven’t dated since Gossip Girl.”

  Maddie was flummoxed. “You watched Gossip Girl?”

  “I’m up on current events.”

  “Gossip Girl went off the air years ago.”

  “Which only illuminates your dating desert.”

  “Ugh,” Maddie groaned. “You’re driving me crazy.”

  “Well, if you’re going to accuse me of being the reason you’re back in town, I’d better give you a reason,” Maude said.

  Maddie’s face softened. “Granny … .”

  “I love you, Maddie girl,” Maude said. “I want you to take care of me. I also want to be able to take care of you. What do you need?”

  “I don’t need anything.”

  “What about Nick?”

  Maddie stiffened. “What about him?”

  “What did he do when you found Sadie last night?”

  “He wanted to know how I found her.”

  “What did you tell him?”

  “I told him I was sick,” Maddie said, her stomach revolting. “I told him it was an accident.”

  “Did he believe that?”

  “Why wouldn’t he?”

  “Because you’re a terrible liar,” Maude said. “Also … he knows you better than anyone, excluding me.”

  “He doesn’t know me anymore.”

  “Honey, you’re the same girl you were ten years ago,” Maude said. “You’re frozen in time. You haven’t been able to move on, and neither has he. You’ve matured in some ways, but you’re still … his Maddie.”

  “You know, you were the one who told me that a woman is more than a partner for a man,” Maddie pointed out.

  “I did,” Maude acquiesced. “That doesn’t mean that people don’t belong together. I certainly belonged to your grandfather. He was the only man who could handle me, and he was the only man I ever loved.”

  “Were you his property?”

  “No,” Maude said. “I’m not saying you�
��re Nick’s property. I’m saying you’re … his heart.”

  “He has a girlfriend.”

  “Who are you trying to convince when you say that?”

  “I … he has a girlfriend.”

  “He also has a heart,” Maude said, refusing to let her granddaughter derail the conversation. “He doesn’t love his girlfriend. He does love his heart.”

  “I don’t even know what that means.”

  “It means that you’re his heart,” Maude said. “It doesn’t matter who his girlfriend is. His girlfriends have always been throwaways. Even he knows that. He’s been waiting for you.”

  Maddie couldn’t fight the spilling tears. “What happens when he finds out the truth?”

  “What truth?”

  “The truth that I’m … different.”

  Maude smirked. “He always knew you were different, girl. Most teenage boys run away from girls who are different, and then they run back when they realize that’s something to behold.

  “Nick never ran,” she said. “He never faltered. He never abandoned you. He loved you because you were you. He loved you for ten years after you ran. The truth isn’t going to send him screaming for the hills now.”

  “What are you saying?”

  “Give him a chance,” Maude said. “I have faith that he will only love you more if you tell him the truth.”

  “I … .” Maddie didn’t know what to say. Thankfully, the bell ringing over the door of the shop caught her attention. The two giggling teenagers stumbling into the store were more than enough to give her an out – and she took it. “Welcome to Magicks. How can I help you?”

  “ARE you sure you want to ask that question?”

  Maddie hadn’t given a tarot card reading since she was a teenager. Still, she knew the basics: Always tell the customer what they wanted to hear. Customers never want bad news. If they get it, they freak out. Jennifer Stilton was asking for just that.

  “I need to know,” Jennifer said. “If he’s going to break up with me, I have to know before I give him my … peach.”

  Maddie fought the urge to make a face. “Your … peach?”

  “You know, my Venus Flytrap.”

  Were teenagers always this stupid? “If you’re doubtful about giving him your … peach … then don’t do it,” Maddie said. “That’s something you can’t take back.”

  Jennifer studied Maddie seriously. “Who did you give your peach to?”

  “I … .”

  “Detective Winters,” her friend said, lifting up a candle to study it. “Everyone knows that. They’re legendary.”

  “That’s not true,” Maddie said, fixing the other girl with a dark look. Jennifer kept referring to her as “Gia.” Maddie had no idea what that was short for. “Nick and I are just friends.”

  “Oh, please,” Gia said, rubbing her bottom lip as she returned the candle to the shelf. “Everyone in town knows that you two are soul mates.”

  “Do you believe in soul mates?” Maddie asked.

  “Of course,” Gia said. “What else is there to live for?”

  Maddie faltered. She hated girls who found their reason for being in men. Of course, she’d done nothing but dwell on Nick for a decade, but that was beside the point. “Yourself.”

  “Oh, please,” Gia scoffed. “There’s nothing better than a man in love.”

  Maddie considered her options. “A man is a great thing,” she said, shuffling the tarot cards irritably. “A man isn’t everything, though.”

  “Whatever,” Gia said, rolling her eyes. “Don’t you have a job to do?”

  Maddie tamped down the spurt of anger threatening to erupt from her chest. “Of course.” She turned to Jennifer. “Are you sure you want to know if this … boy … is going to be your husband?”

  “I have to,” Jennifer said, waving her hands around haphazardly. “He wants my peach. He says he’s going to break up with me if I don’t give it to him. I don’t want to do it if we’re not going to get married.”

  Maddie was torn … and disgusted. “You shouldn’t base your future decisions on what the cards show,” she said. “You should know what you want in your heart.” Maddie pressed her eyes shut briefly. Do you know what you want in your heart? That inner voice was a annoying.

  “I want Dustin Bishop,” Jennifer said. “I want him to be my … forever.”

  Maddie started shuffling the tarot cards resolutely. “Just know, what you see as your forever as a teenager, that’s not always your forever as an adult.”

  “Yeah, great,” Gia said. “Shuffle.”

  Maddie couldn’t find anything left to argue about. She flipped up the first card, and then she tried to keep from passing out.

  Oh no.

  “YOU have to help me.”

  Christy shut one eye, shooting a grotesque wink in Maddie’s direction as she turned the lock on the salon door. “You can’t help the helpless.”

  “I’m not helpless,” Maddie said. “I’m … .”

  “Stupid?”

  “No.”

  “Slow?”

  “No.”

  “Desperate?”

  “No. Yes. No. Yes. I … you’re killing me.”

  “You need to give me more information, Maddie,” Christy said, nonplussed. “You’ve been a babbling idiot since you came in here twenty minutes ago.”

  Maddie was stuck. The tarot cards had shown a little more than Jennifer Stilton’s romantic future. They’d unveiled a murder, and a bloody one at that. Maddie had panicked, regrouped, and then gone for the only bastion of help she could think of. That still didn’t mean she was willing to reveal her true nature. “I … there’s a girl in danger.”

  “What girl?”

  “Jennifer Stilton.”

  “Rebecca Walker’s daughter?”

  Maddie was confused. “Rebecca Walker? The girl who was voted prom queen when we were in elementary school?”

  “She was also voted Trout Queen at the summer festival.”

  “I had no idea Jennifer was her daughter.”

  “How did you meet her?” Christy asked.

  “She and her friend … I think her name was Gia … came into the store today,” Maddie said. “They wanted readings.”

  “Oh, let me guess,” Christy said, arranging the bottles at her station irritably. “Jennifer wanted to know if she would marry Dustin Bishop. Oh, and Gia – that’s short for Virginia, by the way – wanted to make sure he didn’t want to marry her.”

  Maddie was floored. “How did you know that?”

  “I know all the teenage girls here,” Christy said. “They’re chatty little … monsters.”

  “Monsters?”

  “You were an angel when you were a teenager,” Christy said. “That’s not how most teenagers are. Gia and Jennifer come in here once a month. I know their … drama. They won’t shut up.”

  “Okay,” Maddie said carefully. “What’s their drama?”

  “Dustin Bishop.”

  “Is he Chad Bishop’s kid?”

  “Grandkid.”

  “Ugh. I feel so old.”

  Christy snickered. “Anyway, he’s the new … king.”

  Maddie knew exactly what Christy was referring to. “He’s the boy all the girls want?”

  “Yeah,” Christy said. “He’s the new Todd.”

  “He’s the new Nick,” Maddie corrected.

  “There aren’t many years when you get two kings,” Christy said. “This is not one of those years. Dustin is the king. He has the throne unopposed.”

  “So, all the girls fight about him?”

  “He’s not much to fight about,” Christy said. “In five years, all these girls are going to realize he’s a thug in training. They’re just too naïve to realize it.”

  “Is Jennifer the current queen?”

  “I guess,” Christy said, shrugging. “Dustin has a lot of ladies in waiting, so it’s hard to keep the current pecking order straight.”

  “Well, I need to find Jen
nifer,” Maddie said. “I’m worried she’s about to become a cautionary tale.”

  Christy pursed her lips. “How?”

  “I … I can’t tell you.”

  “But it’s important, right?”

  “It’s very important,” Maddie said.

  Christy sighed. “They’re out at Kissing Point.”

  Maddie scowled. “That’s still a thing?”

  “All kids need a place to escape to,” Christy said. “Unfortunately, the one here never changes.”

  “I need to get out there.”

  “Well, let’s go.”

  Maddie was stunned. “Wait, you’re going with me?”

  “I love drama,” Christy said. “I’m smelling drama. Let’s go.”

  Maddie wanted to argue, but she couldn’t muster the energy. “Can you drive?”

  Fourteen

  “There are no words.”

  Christy smirked as she watched Maddie take in the scene. “It’s got … personality.”

  Maddie wasn’t naïve. She knew – in the back of her mind, at least – that Kissing Point was where teenagers met to hang out. It had been popular when she was in high school, or that’s what her classmates said. Maddie had just never been there before, so she wasn’t quite sure what to expect. Six cars parked on top of the bluff – all with steamed up windows – definitely wasn’t it.

  “Don’t they all know everyone else is here?” Maddie asked, glancing at the cars in turn. “And why are the windows steamed up? It’s not that cold out.”

  “You really were the good girl in high school, weren’t you?” Christy was enjoying herself. “Okay, let me explain about the birds and bees … .”

  “I know about the birds and the bees,” Maddie said, scowling.

  “Are you sure? You seem to be confused about what these kids are doing.”

  “I’m not confused.” Maddie wrinkled her nose. “I just don’t understand why the windows have to be so steamy.”

  “It’s because there’s a lot of heavy breathing going on in those cars,” Christy said. “There’s probably also some petting, and … yup … that guy over there hit a home run.” Christy pointed toward a four-door sedan that was rocking at the far edge of the bluff.

  “Omigod.” Maddie slapped her hand over her eyes. “This is so invasive.”

  “You’re the one who wanted to come up here,” Christy reminded her.