craftfield 01 - secrets untold (4 page)

“Good luck. I know you’ll ace it.”

She returned her mom’s smile even though she didn’t feel it. Tonight, when her mom returned from her outing, Lily would scold herself for worrying about such a ridiculous dream. Her mom would be fine.

But as she and her mom worked ice cream orders, a headache pressed at Lily’s temples and she couldn’t stop the sensation that something bad was going to happen. By the time she left for her test at the campus, knots twisted her gut. She hurried through the test in less than an hour, then sped home. The breath caught in her chest as she shoved her car’s door closed. Turning, she nearly collided with an old man coming out with a double scoop of pistachio ice cream.

“Sorry.” She whirled around him and through the door. Emptiness greeted her. “Mom?”

Her legs were heavy as she shuffled forward.

“Back so soon?” Her mom popped up from behind the counter. “I thought you’d be another hour at least.”

A breath unlocked from her throat. “Guess all that studying paid off.” That and the fact that she had turned into a crazed maniac because of some silly dream.

Chapter Five

The next day, stabbing pain throbbed through Lily’s skull and she stumbled against the industrial freezer. Her headache from yesterday had blossomed into a migraine. The cold bit at her skin as the hum of the cooling unit shuddered. She pressed her hands to her temples, cringing from the flickering light overhead. Yesterday, her mom hadn’t died in a terrible accident or broken a bone, or anything. Not even a paper cut. Yet, Lily had stayed awake all night, her nerves colliding along her skin like she’d jump out of it, until her mom had returned late from her outing with friends.

Then, she’d swallowed some Nyquil just to get back to sleep and the uneasiness from yesterday had quadrupled. It was just a dream. People had them all the time; it didn’t mean anything.

“Have you fixed the thermostat yet?” Her mom rounded the corner. “Our ice cream will have freezer burn if you don’t.”

“I know.” Lily grimaced, prying open her eyes.

“Are you okay?” Her mom grasped her arm.

“Yeah, it’s just a headache. Probably from the store being colder than the north pole.” She blew into her cupped hands, then followed her mom out of the freezer. Closing the door behind them, Lily shook out her arms and legs to warm up as she followed her mom into the ice cream parlor. “I thought Martha said she fixed this before she and Jess went on their annual extended retreat.”

Wintertime was their slowest time, yet she and her mom always stayed behind.

“Guess Martha ran out of time before their trip.” Her mom patted her shoulder. “Can you run to Joe’s?”

Lily groaned. “Can’t it wait? Christmas traffic’s horrible.” Sitting over an hour in her car with only the AM station working was not how she had pictured her day.

“Would you rather deal with Camie Barnes? She’s ordered six ice cream cakes and wants to pick them up in half an hour.”

Camie was the worst gossip and busybody in the entire state of Michigan. Once, when Lily had the flu in her junior year, Camie had told everyone it was because of a teen pregnancy. Yeah, that went over really well.
Oh the joys of retail, smiling at rude customers who look at you like you’re scum on their shoe
. The bell chimed letting them know someone came in the front door. “Can’t I have the day off? I never get to go anywhere with my friends.” Or to tropical places like her aunts every year. And she’d never even seen the beach in real-life.

Her mom huffed. “You’ve had off every Sunday during the summer. I’ve got to see this customer. It’s probably Camie.” She frowned. “Just go ask Joe what he thinks we’ll need. You’re good at tinkering with mechanical stuff, and I’m sure you can get the right part and fix it quickly.”

“Fine.” Lily grabbed her coat laying on the chair beside the break room table. She shoved her phone into her back pocket.

“Be right with you,” her mom said toward the front of the ice cream shop.

Her car keys jangled in the pocket of her coat.

Snow drifted across her face and she blinked it away.
Looks like an early winter
. She climbed into her car and peeled out of the parking lot. Joe would let her buy the part on her tab. There was always something breaking in the shop once a month and he knew her family would pay their debts.

***

“Thanks, Joe.” Lily clutched the new thermostat in her hands. “I’ll send you payment as soon as I get back to the store.”

“How’s Michael? Do you go visit him in New York?” He wiped his hands off on a grease-covered rag, the strap on one of his overalls sliding down to the edge of his shoulder. “The one who wore the baseball jerseys all the time?”

“No, we split this summer.”

Machine parts lined the shelves of Joe’s store. The scent of grease and metal a welcome change from cold and ice cream. He must have a thousand used and new parts all organized by size, make, and even color. How did he keep up with it all? She sometimes couldn’t remember the flavor of the day. Her fingers were permanently numb from digging into vats of ice cream.

“Oh.” He scratched his balding head. “Guess I’m forgetting things lately.”

“No, I-I didn’t tell many people.” She reached over and patted his age-spotted hand. “Besides, Martha usually does these runs. I think she’s crushing on you.”

His face brightened. “Really? Your aunt does come by here a lot, except when she’s on vacation.”

She laughed. “Right. I’ll tell her that you asked about her.” Her joy stopped as her vision went black. An image warped into focus. Her mom in the ice cream store, panic on her face. Then being pushed and her head smacking against the edge of the counter. Blood pooled around her.
No, no no!
Her gut clenched as her body broke out in a sweat.

“Lily, you all right?”

Joe’s store flashed back into focus.
What the heck was that
? Her headache returned, this time pounding against her skull so bad she gasped. “I-I’m fine. Sorry.” What was going on? An aneurysm? She’d never had a headache this blinding before.

Before he could ask any questions, she dashed out of the shop into the falling snow. It had to be a coincidence. Her mind playing tricks on her. Fiddling with her keys, she yanked out her cell and hit the ice cream shop’s number. No answer. She started the car and took a breath as her hands shook hitting the speed dial number. After several rings, the voicemail clicked on.

“Hey, it’s me. I-I just give me a call as soon as you get this. Okay? I’m on my way back from Joe’s.” Lily ended the call and tossed the phone beside her on the passenger seat. Why was she freaking out? Her mom was fine. Lily would race back to the shop to find out her mom was still talking with crazy Camie. She’d scold Lily for taking too long, then hug her. Still, Lily couldn’t keep her hands from shaking as she fishtailed her car down the street.

Chapter Six

Stuck in traffic, Lily couldn’t stop shaking. Her mom hadn’t called her back and now her voicemail said the mailbox was full. With her eyes wide open, Lily had a vision of her mom laying in a pool of blood. Shit! Was she going crazy? She had to know if her mom was okay. The traffic around her was at a standstill. If she wasn’t ten miles away, she’d get out and run. Lily punched the town’s sheriff office on her phone.

“Hello, Sherriff’s department. How may I help you?”

“I-I can’t get ahold of my mom.” What could she say? She had bad dreams and knew her mom was… No, she couldn’t think that.

“When was the last time you saw or spoke with her?” the operator asked.

Lily gripped the steering wheel, her knuckles turning white. “This morning, but—you don’t understand. Something terrible has happened. I know it. Please, can you send a cop over to the shop to check on her?”

“Of course. What’s the address?”

“It’s at Ice Dreams downtown. Here’s the address.” She blurted out the address too quickly and had to slow down to repeat herself.

***

Thirty minutes later, Lily parked down the street from the ice cream shop. An ambulance and a police car blocked half the street in front of the store. Her throat closed so hard she couldn’t swallow. Despite telling herself that it was something simple or someone else, panic snaked through her fast steps as she darted closer. She was only yards away, yet it seemed like she raced for miles.

Mom
! Her insides quivered, and she couldn’t run fast enough. She dodged around people. A bus blared its horn as she darted in front of it. Her vision tunneled to the blinking neon ice cream sign that swung in the wind.

Yellow tape blocked off the front of the store.

“Hold it, this business is closed for an investigation,” a police officer said, blocking her path.

Her eyes burned. She felt like she was going to burst into tears.
Please let the cop say it was a neighbor or customer. Anyone, but Mom.
“I work here.” She swallowed past her dry throat. “My mom and I own this place.”
Oh God, Mom!
She couldn’t stop shaking.

“Sorry, let me have you talk to the sheriff.”

Sherriff
? He didn’t just send a deputy or something? Nausea hit her stomach in waves that churned and grew. What was going on?

An elderly man with a wool coat over his uniform approached, his face grim. “Are you Lily Thomas?”

“Yes. What’s going on? Where’s my mom? Is she okay?” Her gaze kept drifting to the ice cream shop’s windows feet away, but she couldn’t see her mom inside. There was an ambulance; she’d seen it on her way in. Maybe her mom just fainted or something. Lily was freaking out over nothing. Still, the uneasiness skated along her skin and squashed her stomach. She placed her arms over her middle to hold herself together.

“I’m afraid there’s been an accident.” He drew her to the side, away from the shop’s windows. “Your mom hit her head…. the ambulance tried to revive her but failed. I’m sorry, Lily.”

Tears blinded her
and she couldn’t breathe past a weight sitting on her chest.
No
! He was mistaken. He had to be. Her mom was fine and she’d be waking her up any moment. That’s all. Lily pushed past him and ducked under the caution tape. Inside, the familiar bell ring echoed loudly. Resonating through her like the shop was as empty as her heart.

She froze. A white sheet lay over her mom and all that showed were her mom’s sensible slippers… the ones she always wore in the store. The ones she and Lily had spent half the day searching all over town for. As Lily approached, one cop reached out to stop her, but she brushed his arm aside and went to her mom. The door jangled behind her, but she couldn’t look away. Her mom’s body lay on the vinyl tile. Around her dark hair was blood, pooled around her like a scarlet halo.

On the floor beside her was the emerald and gold picture frame. The glass was shattered and edges splintered the exact way she’d visualized it the first time she’d seen it in her dream. The one dollar bill, the first payment the shop had received and that her mom was so proud of, was gone. The cash register lay open on its side on the counter. One of the display cases for cakes was broken and smeared with blood.
Mom!

Tears sprung from Lily’s eyes as she fell hard to her knees at her mom’s feet.

Gentle hands pressed on her shoulders, tugging her back, away from her mom. Forcing her to stand and leave.

“Let me go,” her hoarse voice scraped her throat. Her mom had to be okay. They were waiting for the paramedics, right?
Oh God, there is so much blood.
Her sneakers squeaked along the floor. The room spun. Foreign hands led her outside, then a warm blanket was thrown over her shoulders and a steaming mug of coffee pushed into her hands. The liquid inside the paper cup sloshed as she shook.

“It’ll help, have a sip,” a deputy with a warm smile said.

How was coffee going to help? How was anything? Because he waited expectantly and watched her, she took a sip. The heat enveloped her mouth, and she swallowed it down before she coughed. “What is this?” There was a kick to the coffee she wasn’t expecting. A hint of extra bitterness.

“Coffee with ashwagandha.”

“What’s that?

“It’s a calming herb.” He motioned for her to take another sip.

For a moment, she blew the coffee, then drank down a huge gulp, the liquid seeping into her bones. Why did a cop carry around a calming herb? Well, guess it was better than becoming an alcoholic from the work-related stress. She clenched her hand until her nails bit into her flesh and it still didn’t take away the aching spreading inside her chest. She couldn’t breathe.

“Have some more.” He crossed his arms and leaned against the street light.

“W-who are you? What h-happened to my mom?” God, why had she left to get that stupid part for the fridge?

“I’m Jarred Garza. A deputy on this case.” The wind blew his dark brown hair across his face. He looked young. Not much older than her.

“Do you think my mom was murdered?”
Who would want to harm her mom? She loved everyone, even rude Mr. Griffin. “I’m going to be sick.” She thrust the cup forward and he caught it, then she scrambled to the back of the shops and puked into the gutter.

Jarred held her hair back. Tears streamed down her face as she gagged and coughed, and couldn’t stop sobbing. He pushed a handkerchief into her hands, and she wiped her face.

“Sorry. You okay?” he asked.

She straightened. “Yeah. Uh, thanks.” Her hand trembled as she handed over the handkerchief.

“Keep it. Thanks to my grandfather, I’ve got three dozen of those at home.” His smile faltered. “If you can, once you feel better, we need to ask you some questions. Just a formality.”

“Like what?” Her mom was dead and they wanted to grill her? Did they think she had something to do with this? The idea made her stomach cramp again.

“Just where you were. When you last saw your mom. Things like that.”

“If you think I had anything to do with this,” she waved a hand, “then you’re crazy. I love my mom. Loved her. We spent every day together running this place.”