Morning Glory Circle (33 page)

“So you think Brian’s dead too?”

“Am I awful to wish he was dead?”

“He’s my brother, Ava, I can’t wish that. But at the same time, I’d like to ring his neck right now.”

“I was so young when I fell in love with Brian. I didn’t know who he really was. When I did know, it was too late.”

“Nobody blames you for what he did to you and the kids.”

“You don’t know the whole story, either.”

“I don’t need to know,” Patrick said. “Don’t say anymore.”

“But I want you to know. I want you to know what happened that summer before Brian and I got married. It’s been eating me up inside all these years, keeping it a secret.”

“I don’t want to know. That’s all in the past. Let’s leave it there.”

“But it’s not, Patrick. The past is back, and it’s trying to kidnap my son. It’s abandoning helpless babies, and it’s stealing from the family businesses. It’s just a matter of time before it gets to me. The past is circling this house, and it will find a way in.”

“I can stop him. I won’t let him hurt you.”

“It’s way too late for that. And it’s more than just Brian now, way more.”

“We can handle anything if we’re together.”

“It’s a weakness, this thing between us, not a strength. We have to stop it.”

“I can’t stop. I won’t.”

“We have to, before we lose everyone we love, and everyone who loves us.”

“I don’t care what anyone else thinks.”

“Except we need them; the family, the church, our friends, the whole town. We need them to love us in order to be safe. We have to do what’s right in their eyes so they’ll protect us.”

“You’re just scared and upset right now.”

“It will destroy the family if we keep on.”

“We can keep it a secret. We’ll just be more careful.”

“Listen to me. Bonnie knows. I don’t know how, but she knows. She can take this baby away from me just like that, and there will be nothing I can do about it.”

“So you’re choosing him over me.”

“I have to. He’s helpless, and he needs me.”

“I need you.”

“It’s wrong, and we both know it.”

“Jesus, Ava, you’re killing me. I can’t live without you.”

“You’ll be fine. I’m going to save this baby, and we are going to do the right thing, for everyone.”

“If Brian were dead, then we could be together.”

“I didn’t hear that. Don’t say it again. Don’t even think it. If he does turn up dead, we don’t want anyone looking at you for it, because of me.”

Patrick and Ava stared at one another for several seconds, and then Patrick got up and left, shutting the door hard as he went. The baby startled and opened his eyes, screwing up his face to cry, but Ava lifted him, albeit awkwardly due to her sling, and held him against her body, rocking him and cooing softly until he fell back asleep.

“Don’t you worry,’ she said, “I won’t let your daddy take you away, even if I have to kill him myself.”

Delia came back to the family room, looking concerned.

“Was that Patrick?’ she asked.

“He just left,” Ava said, smiling at the baby, who was making a nursing motion with his lips.

“There’s someone here to see you,” Delia said, and Ava noticed the older woman was wringing her hands.

“A well-dressed woman with gray hair?” Ava asked in a steely voice.

“No,” Delia said, and then lowered her voice. “He says he’s from the FBI. Agent James R. Brown.”

“Send him in,” Ava said with a sigh. “He might as well join the party.”

Maggie found Scott sitting in his office at the station. She let herself in and closed the door behind her.

“You will never guess what I found out about Connie.”

“She’s the little girl in the blackmail photos,” Scott said.

“She is?”

“Maybe. It’s a new theory I’m working on. I really think she’s involved in this somehow. Hannah saw her fight with Newton, and she had the best opportunity to kill him.”

“I think she killed Newton too, just like she killed an old man at Pine Crest Manor over twenty years ago.”

“What?”

“I found out she worked at Pine Crest back when Delia did. Delia really dislikes Connie, but won’t say why, so I went out there and talked to the woman who runs the place. She wouldn’t tell me what happened, but she arranged for me to see a certain file concerning a lawsuit filed against Pine Crest for accusing Connie of murder.”

“I’m not sure you should be telling me this, but go on.”

“An old man died, and Doc Machalvie had suspicions about the way it happened, on account of the blood vessels being burst in the eyes.”

“He tried to tell me about this,” Scott said, “but I wasn’t really listening.”

“Connie was the last one with the man, stayed with him in his room all night the night he died. She was paid extra by the man’s son to stay with him, and when she was accused of killing him, the son paid for her lawyer.”

“So the son paid her to kill the old man?”

“No one knows. It ended up Pine Crest had to pay Connie a big settlement for firing her. She walked away a free, rich woman, and no one is allowed to talk about it.”

“She killed him just like she killed Newton.”

“What are you going to do?”

“I can’t do anything. I burned my bridges with Sarah and now I’m off the case.”

“Someone could tip her off, anonymously.”

“It’s all inadmissible though, isn’t it?”

“I’m telling you there is a file this thick out at Pine Crest with statements, photos, and everything. Can’t they subpoena that file if it’s for a murder investigation?”

“I don’t know, I’m thinking.”

“Well, you better think faster. Connie could be packing her bags for Mexico.”

“She’s back at the inn now. They couldn’t find any reason to hold her.”

“Do you think she could have been having an affair with Newton, killed Margie to protect him, and then when he wouldn’t leave his wife for her, she killed him too?”

“I thought of that, but Connie has an alibi for the night Margie was killed.”

“What alibi?”

“Lily was with her every minute, from the business owners’ association meeting and all night afterward. During the time we think Margie was killed.”

“I forgot that was the same night. She was there; I was at that meeting too. We had our meeting and then worked on Winter Festival projects until 1:00 in the morning.”

“After the meeting Connie took Lily home and her car got stuck in the driveway. She called Curtis to come pull her out, but he said she’d have to wait until morning, ‘cause he had so many other calls, so she stayed all night with Lily.”

“So she wasn’t at the inn the night Margie was killed,” Maggie said. “And Lily would know if she left the house.

“I asked her. She said Connie snored the house down all night and Lily barely slept.”

“So Newton could have made the drop, killed Margie when she showed up, and come back to the inn late, and no one would have noticed.”

“That’s possible.”

“What are you going to do?” Maggie asked.

“I’m going to go talk to Doc. What are you doing this afternoon?”

“I have to do some work at my store. I haven’t paid bills or placed any orders in over a week.”

“I’ll be in touch,” he said.

He jumped up, came around the desk, and kissed Maggie warmly.

“I have a rain check I want to cash in tonight,” he said with a grin.

Maggie felt her face flush warm at the thought.

“How about you come to my place tonight,” she said, “and we won’t answer the door or the phone.”

“Hannah okay?”

“I think so. You know they go through this at least once every year.”

He shrugged his jacket on and leaned down to kiss her quickly one more time.

“I will see you later,” he said, and left.

As Maggie stood up to leave, she noticed an envelope lying on the floor, where it must have fallen out of Scott’s jacket. She heard the front door of the station slam, so it was too late to stop him. She picked it up and turned it over. It had her name and address on it, written in a familiar hand.

“Oh my God,” she said, and her hand flew to her mouth.

“You okay, Maggie?” Frank called out.

“Yeah,” Maggie said, her voice trembling. “I just remembered someplace I gotta be.”

She stuck the letter in her back pocket, ran out of the station, and got in her VW. Later on she couldn’t remember driving home. She walked up and down the long hall of her apartment for awhile, just trying to slow down her breathing so she could think. Her heart was beating so hard in her chest she felt lightheaded. She placed the letter on the kitchen table. She tried to organize her thoughts, which were racing and tumbling in her head.

Scott told her he went through every piece of Margie’s stolen mail the night after she and Hannah found it, so he’d had this letter since Monday morning. That meant he had the letter the previous night, when they spent the evening together, and almost slept together.

Gabe had disappeared in early March; in two weeks it would be exactly seven years. The postmark, from Miami, Florida, was from June of that same year.

Maggie picked up the envelope, removed and unfolded one page of notebook paper covered front and back with Gabe’s jerky, messy handwriting. She flattened it out on the kitchen table and started reading. When she finished her eyes were clouded by tears, but she didn’t have the strength to get up and find a tissue. Of all the tears she’d shed over the last seven years, none were as bitter as the ones that fell now. She sat and cried, not bothering to wipe them away. Her heart, which had been patched up and glued back together just like an old china tea pot, shattered once again into a million pieces.

Scott left Doc Machalvie’s office frustrated because the doctor refused to tell him anything about the case at Pine Crest, other than to nod as Scott told him what Maggie found out.

“I can neither confirm or deny any of that,” Doc said. “I can’t afford another lawsuit.”

Scott felt like he was in an impossible position. He needed Sarah to have this information, but he didn’t want to get anyone in any trouble for sharing it. He called Hannah.

“You got it,” Hannah said. “I planned to drop in on some of my scanner grannies today anyway. This afternoon I’m helping Drew out at the veterinary office, but I can drop in on a few more on my way home.”

“I need to make sure it gets back to Sarah,” he said, “and that you’ll keep the source a secret.”

“Don’t worry. By the time this gets across town and back, there will be six people claiming they were there when it happened. This is super juicy gossip.”

“It’s not gossip, it’s the truth.”

“You can split hairs all you want, Scott, but you are starting the hottest rumor in this town since Ava inherited money from Theo.”

“I feel dirty all the sudden.”

“That’s between you and Maggie.”

Scott was not allowed to investigate the case, but he still felt obligated to drop by the bed and breakfast to give his condolences to Delores Moseby, the late college president’s wife. He had been distracted from doing so on his previous attempt by Ava and the abandoned baby.

Delia was working the front desk again. She looked grim, and he assumed it was from all the stress of covering so many jobs for everyone.

“You must be feeling stretched thin about now,” he said.

“I go where I’m needed,” Delia said shortly, getting up to close the door that led down the hall to the kitchen, explaining, “The baby’s sleeping.”

Scott told her he knew about the trouble Connie got into at Pine Crest. Delia’s face flushed and she pursed her lips.

“I can’t talk about that,” she said.

“That’s okay,” Scott said. “You don’t have to.”

Mrs. Moseby came down after Delia called her room. She was pale and unsteady on her feet, and her daughter supported her. Delia left the front parlor to give them some privacy.

“I am so sorry for your loss,” Scott said to them both when they were seated.

“Thank you,” Delores said. “You were always very helpful to Newton when the students caused trouble in town.”

“Has the county sheriff’s office been in touch with you yet?”

“Yes, but I don’t know why the county had to be involved. They say I can’t have his body until Friday, and I still have arrangements to make.”

“Have you been allowed back in your rooms at the inn?”

“No, and I have personal items there to collect. Can you do anything about that?”

“I’m sorry, Delores, it really is out of my hands.”

“I have a mind to just go over there and get my things, no matter what they say.”