Chapter 23

“Well, that adds a layer of interest,” I said. “A mother who doesn’t know if her own child could be capable of murder.”

Sister Alice finished giving me the last details of her visit with Marie before I filled her in on my near hit last night.

“Did you call the police?”

I shook my head. “Not then, no. I assumed it was an accident; there was only moonlight, and I was just around the bend. But now I’m wondering if Jade was right.”

“About what?”

“She suggested maybe it wasn’t an accident at all.”

“Jade’s judgment has proven not to be favorable, but I have to say I agree with her on this one. Especially with what you’ve told me about what went down with Shannon before I got here.”

“If I knew where she lived, I could casually drive by to check it out.”

“Let me do that,” Sister Alice said. 

“You have her address?”

“I’ve lived here a long time, Grasshopper.”

“I can go to save you the time. Where is it?”

“If you want to hop in the sidecar of my transportation,” she stopped and grinned, “you can come with me.”

“Not on your life,” I said. 

She studied me for a minute, then shook her head. “I’ve already given you too much confidential information. If you repeat any of it, I’ll deny it to the death.”

“You’d lie?” I asked in mock horror. “Isn’t that a sin?”

“I’m old. Legitimate dementia age.”

I laughed and stood. “If you see a truck at Shannon and Mark’s, check out the passenger side mirror.”

“Why the mirror?”

I told her about the mirror sideswiping a tree, and she pressed her lips together. “Check out the area to see if the mirror came off or if you can find any damage to the tree that could shed some light as to the vehicle.”

My eyes grew wide. “Great idea. I’ll do it on my way home.”

“I can’t believe Detective Griffin didn’t do it.”

“I guess I don’t know that he didn’t, but he was more focused on telling me to stay out of his investigation.”

“Like that’s gonna happen.” She snickered. “What was that with your phone during the meeting? Your attention never came back afterward.”

My eyes grew wide. “Oh yeah, I forgot. It was Brad. Detective Griffin asked him to come in for another interview regarding his whereabouts on the evening of Ivan’s murder. After he left Brewski’s,” I added. “Brad wants to meet up with me afterward. He let me know he wasn’t happy about the interview because it was,” I made air quotes, “a colossal waste of his time.” I rolled my eyes. “Like any of us are happy about it and don’t have better things to do. I told him I can see him, but we’re meeting at Hallowed Grounds this time instead of Brewski’s.”

“Good girl.” She scrunched her face. “But I’m stuck on the part where you forgot about Brad’s call. How does one forget about something like that?”

I extended my hands, palms facing up. “There’s a lot going on right now, in case you hadn’t noticed.”

“Well then,” she said, folding the chair I’d just gotten up from. “It’s a good thing you’ve decided not to marry the man. You might forget you were married and pull a Jade.”

“Sister Alice,” I admonished.

“I’m not sure how one could have two more opposite people than Jade and Lily working in a small space.”

When we left, I headed back to the inn. I’d planned to take Aspen out for a walk around Little Spirit Lake before Brad finished his interview and called me to meet him. But first things first.

I pulled off the road where the truck hit the tree and saw grooves in the soft dirt from tire tracks that weren’t mine and too small for the truck. Looked like Detective Griffin had the same idea. I studied the tracks for a moment and searched anyway.

Swishing my foot back and forth through the weeds as I explored the area and, coming up empty, I leaned forward to look closer. Still nothing. I couldn’t remember which tree it was since I was busy getting out of the way. I searched a few of them in the area about the height of the truck’s mirror and caught my breath at one of them—scraped bark with dark blue paint transfer.

As I got back in my car, I shot a text to Sister Alice so she had more info when she checked out Mark’s truck.

****

Before I left the inn with Aspen, I stopped in the kitchen to check in with Tony and Sister Eunice. Izzy was there shadowing today. I stood in the doorway listening, laughing to myself. Izzy was doing a little more than shadowing. She was pretty much taking over Sister Eunice’s part of the process, telling Tony what she’d do differently if she worked here, to which Tony, as politely as he could—which wasn’t very at this point—told her to mind her own business and do what she’s told. Please, he emphasized. 

I intervened before any injuries occurred. “How are things going?” I asked cheerily. Aspen sat, then stood, then paced, expressing his clear impatience at getting outside.

“Okay, for working with a murder suspect,” Izzy chimed in, earning a stormy look from Tony. I winced, but Izzy tittered with obvious delight at getting his goat. 

“Sister Eunice?” I asked, breaking up the tension between Tony and Izzy. 

“Fine as frog’s hair,” she answered with a grin. “Izzy will be just fine here.” 

This time, it was Sister Eunice who earned a dark look from Tony. If she noticed, she showed no indication of it. Izzy, on the other hand, gave a victory smirk. 

“After I check in with Jade and Lily, I’m gonna take Aspen for a short walk and play fetch with the tennis ball. I have a meeting this afternoon, so if anyone should need me, call my cell.”

“I may call you with my resignation,” Tony grumbled. 

But I knew he wouldn’t. For one thing, he loved his job too much. For another, I hadn’t offered the job to Izzy yet. I had to have a good heart-to-heart with Tony first. I couldn’t let unwelcome company into his home. 

After a quick check-in with Lily and Jade, Aspen and I were out and in the great outdoors. Despite the cloud cover and the chill from the high humidity, it was still my favorite place to be. I wondered if Sister Alice had inspected Mark’s truck yet and instinctively glanced at my phone. If she did, she hadn’t called or texted me about it. 

Aspen took full advantage of my distraction and stopped to sniff everything. I couldn’t complain, though, with as negligent as I’d been. I worked with clients on how to live in the here and now, but this was just one more example of how I failed to follow my own instruction to others. 

Halfway around the three-mile trail, on a bench by the lakeshore and almost hidden by an enormous willow tree, I glimpsed a man talking with someone completely obscured by the willow’s branches. I backed up a few steps and leaned over a bit until I saw that the man’s hat and overcoat were those of Luka. What have we here? I stayed as quiet as possible, trying to make out who the second person was. Aspen nabbed the opportunity to stare down a rabbit and yanked hard on his leash when the rabbit sped off. I gasped at the unexpected pull on my arm, and Luka turned around. I smiled to myself. Now I had to pop down there at least and say hello. It’d be rude not to, I told myself. Thank you, Aspen. 

Luka wasn’t the least bit happy to see me. And when I discovered Ella sitting beside him, I bit back my surprise. 

“Ella? What brings you out here?”

“It’s a personal matter,” Luka answered. Ella nodded.

“I’m sorry to have bothered you,” I lied. “Aspen loves to chase rabbits and tugs hard when he sees one.” I smiled and stayed still. I looked at them, then at the lake. “I just love the autumn days, don’t you?” 

Luka sighed. “Let’s stop the small talk, shall we? We’re in the middle of a personal conversation, so if you’ll excuse us.”

“Oh, of course,” I said, as if I’d just realized I might have been interrupting something. “Forgive my intrusion.” I tugged Aspen’s leash gently. “Come on, boy. We don’t want to interrupt anything private.” 

Ella scrunched her face and said quickly, “Ew. It’s not like that.” 

“Not like what?” I frowned, showing my best innocent look.

“Ms. Kaczmarek,” Luka said, “you’ve been showing up at the most inopportune times. Are you stalking me?”

“Far from it, Deacon Molotov. I was at the church for an entirely different matter this morning, and you happened to be there.” I waved my hand as if displaying the trail. “And Aspen and I walk this public trail all the time.”

“All right, then.” He forced a smile. “Have a good day as you go about your way. At this rate, I’m sure we’ll be seeing each other again soon. Too soon,” he grumbled.

“It’s been a pleasure,” I said over my shoulder in my sweetest voice. Which I pulled off quite well, if I had to say so myself. 

Aspen and I were near the end of the walk when my phone rang. I looked at the display. Sister Alice.

“Guess who I just saw sitting on a hidden bench by the lake?”

“Guess what I saw when I drove by Shannon’s house?” she said in response. “But you go first.”

“Uh-uh. You can’t say something like that and leave me hanging.” 

“Fine. I saw a dark blue truck in the yard. Someone wedged it in the back between the house and the garage.”

I caught my lower lip between my teeth. “Interesting,” I finally said. “And the mirror?”

“I couldn’t see that. Your turn. Who was on the lake trail bench?”

“None other than Luka and Ella. Don’t you think that’s a strange place to meet?”

“Not if they wanted to eliminate the risk of being seen,” she said, sounding deep in thought. “I’ll see what I can find out.”

“Tell me as soon as you know anything.” She didn’t answer. “Fine. I’ll do my own investigation.”

“It’s best you stay away from Deacon Molotov. He told Father Vincent he thinks you’re stalking him.”

“He hinted at that same thing when he saw me. It’s ridiculous.”

“Is it? We talked with Luka together, and you’ve gone out of your way a couple of other times to speak with him.” I didn’t say anything, and she continued. “Look, we both know what you’re doing doesn’t fit the definition of stalking, but all the same, let me handle Luka so we can both stay out of trouble. You focus on meeting with Brad.”

“Won’t it be worse if you ask him about it?”

“Trust me,” she said in a honeyed tone.

“Sure.” I rolled my eyes and sighed through a breath. “Fine.”

After returning to the inn, Aspen wandered alongside me as I mingled with guests gathered around a picnic table in the backyard. Sister Alice may want me to focus on meeting up with Brad, but it was the last thing I wanted to do.

Peanuts, pretzels, the ingredients for s’mores, a twelve-pack of beer, and some cans of Pepsi tempted me from the center of the table. I looked around for a cooler but didn’t see one. Ugh. Even in my drinking days, warm beer would have been last on my list to imbibe.

One of them held one toward me. I wrinkled my nose. “No, thank you. I’ll take a Pepsi though.”

“Don’t drink?” he asked as he extended the soda.

I shook my head in answer and popped the top of the can, the fizz sprinkling my hand. A woman poured water from a bottle into a plastic bowl and lowered it for Aspen, who began lapping it before it had even touched the ground. 

We made small talk about the weather, the scenery, the town, and the lakes.

“What drew you to Spirit Lake?” I asked.

“The infamous ghost,” a woman said. “But we have had no luck yet.” She sounded like a child who realized there’s no such thing as Santa Claus. “We thought we saw something in a window upstairs there,” she pointed to the window in my room that faced us, “but it disappeared too fast to be sure.”

“That’s my room,” I said.

“You were seeing things,” a man guffawed, taking a swig of beer.

“No, sir,” she argued. “Mary and Pete saw it too, didn’t you guys?”

“We definitely saw something. But like Carol said, it disappeared before we could be sure what it was.”

The mysterious book immediately popped into my head, and my antennae perked up. “When was that?”

“Yesterday sometime. I’d seen you leave shortly before, so it wasn’t you. Probably a shadow of some sort.”

“What exactly did you see?” I asked, trying not to sound weirdly desperate for information. “Could it have been a person?”

He shook his head. “Nah. Not a person. It seemed almost translucent.” He lifted a hand. “But, hey, like I said, it was so quick; we couldn’t discern what it was. It was probably nothing except the curtains up there.” He pointed to the curtains, flowing gently from the soft breeze.

But it was something. That book didn’t appear by itself. I thought again about seeing Luka and Ella by the lake when my phone rang.

“Hey, Sister Alice.”

“I have some news about Ella.”

“Were you reading my mind just now, or what?”

“She confessed to Luka about stealing the money from the church.”

“I’m glad you’re telling me, but can’t you get in trouble for breaking confidentiality?”

“It’s not a secret. She told her mom, who told a friend, who told a friend…you know how it goes. Charges are getting filed, so it’ll be public record.”

“Yowzers.”

“Not only that, but I think she’s scared, and who could blame her? She said Mike was, quote, up to his ass in alligators, unquote, and in deep trouble, that if he didn’t pay, Mike would be the next one dead. Guess the guy meant business.”