Ever Present Danger (26 page)

Nick folded his arms, a smirk on his face. “I do believe I’ve just been scolded by the sheriff of Tanner County.”

“With all due respect, Special Agent Sanchez, this isn’t Mayberry. I asked you to help us because the bureau has more
experience and resources than we do. Treating us like the professionals we are would only serve to strengthen your efforts. Seems to me you have a choice to make: Either we can spend our energy solving the case or waste it antagonizing each other. Either way, the taxpayers are footing the bill. It’s your call.”

Nick stood and didn’t make eye contact. “Think I’ll step outside and have a cigarette. I’ll call you on your cell if we discover anything. You have a nice evening, Sheriff.”

Ivy sat across from Bill at a cozy table for two at the Sherwood Forest Inn, anticipating the rack of lamb she had ordered and studying Bill’s features by candlelight. The only time she could remember a date taking her out for a fine meal was prom night when she and Pete had tripled dated with Denny, Reg, and their dates and gone to the Tanner House. It was the first and last time she had ever tasted quail.

“You have the most intriguing eyes,” Bill said.

“I always wished they were blue.”

“Why, when they’re so dreamy-lookin’?”

“They’re gray, Bill—like metal, rainy days, and smoke. Doesn’t seem very feminine.”

“You kiddin’? Look at yourself. A guy could get lost in those eyes. I thought so the first time I ever met you. Bet you don’t even remember when that was.”

Ivy smiled sheepishly. “Not offhand. Remind me.”

“We were both in Mrs. Pierce’s third-period English class our junior year. I sat behind you and over a couple rows. Could hardly keep my eyes off you from day one.”

“I don’t remember you saying anything to me.”

Bill shrugged. “My acne was so bad then that I hardly spoke to anyone.”

“I wish I could go back and change all that for you,” Ivy said. “Kids are so mean. I doubt if most of those students even realized how devastating their teasing was.”

“Probably not. We were all just a bunch of clueless kids tryin’
to figure out where we fit in. I was kinda surprised when a few of them spoke to me at the reunion. But I don’t get why Pete, Reg, and Denny gave me the cold shoulder. The four of you were the only friends I had in high school.”

Ivy put her hand on Bill’s. “Just so you know, I was hoping Pete would come back and see us dancing. I wanted everyone to. It felt great breaking out of the mold and just being myself.”

Bill’s smile stole his face. “Just
dancin
’ with you was more than I ever dreamed possible…but in front of the whole class? Well, I’ll never forget it.”

“Me either. It’s like the real Ivy Griffith came out of the closet. Suddenly, I didn’t care what anybody else thought. I did what
I
wanted.”

“That’s exactly what you should’ve done.” Bill kissed her hand. “Same with this Joe Hadley situation. I’m glad you decided not to take the rap.”

“I’m still struggling with the fact that I’m not entirely innocent.”

“We’ve already been over this. There’s no way you could’ve broken up a fight between those four guys, even if you’d tried.”

“Maybe not, but I’ll always wonder if Joe would be alive if I had. And I was wrong to make the pact and cover for them.”

“What were you supposed to do—sell your friends down the river? You did what anyone would do. But that’s all behind you now.”

“I know.” Ivy sighed. “But Lu always said only the truth will set me free. What if I can’t be free unless I confess what really happened?”

“You did confess—to me.”

“But Lu said I need to be honest with myself and God, and with the sheriff—that I can never go wrong if I do what’s right.”

“With all due respect to your friend Lu, you couldn’t decide what was right until you had all the facts. And now that the killers are out of the picture, everything’s changed.”

“Except the truth. And the pain I caused Mr. and Mrs. Hadley because I didn’t speak up.”

“For cryin’ out loud, Ivy, Mr. Hadley
knows
the truth and
decided to settle the score himself. What’s left to feel guilty about?”

Ivy sat for a moment and let Bill’s words sink in. “I hadn’t really thought of it that way.”

“Well, you should. How about you stop blamin’ yourself for other people’s choices and let yourself experience some long-overdue happiness?”

“I want to, but I’m not sure I remember how.”

Bill smiled with his eyes. “Oh, I think it’ll come back to you.”

Ivy stood on the front porch, feeling nervous as a teenager coming home from her first date.

“I had such a great time tonight,” Bill finally said. “I’d like to go out again sometime soon.”

Ivy smiled. “Me, too. Thanks for everything. Dinner was incredible. I can’t remember when I’ve enjoyed a meal more.”

“I was pretty sure you’d like it. Why don’t we plan to go back for your birthday? It’s two weeks from today, right?”

“How in the world did you remember that?”

Bill shrugged. “I don’t know. I guess I remember what’s important to me. Of course, that doesn’t mean I can stand to wait two weeks before askin’ you out again.” There was an awkward pause, then he cupped Ivy’s face in his hands and let his lips melt into hers. Time seemed to stand still, and then she was aware of Bill’s voice. “I’ll call you tomorrow. Good night.”

“Good night. Thanks again for such a nice evening.”

Ivy went in the house, then stood leaning with her back against the door, amazed that any man would pay for such a fine dinner, spend hours listening to her as she worked through her feelings, and then seek nothing in return except a good-night kiss.

Ivy tiptoed up the stairs, thinking how wonderful she felt tonight compared to those nights long ago when she had come home from her dates with Pete, laden with guilt for having slept with him.

Bill made her feel clean and innocent, and life was starting to look promising.

AT TEN TILL SIX the next morning, Ivy Griffith got out of her father’s Suburban at the back door of Jewel’s Café, trying not to resent being chauffeured.

“I’ll bring your mom and the boy back for breakfast later,” Elam Griffith said. “He’d probably enjoy seeing you at work.”

“Okay, Dad. Thanks. Montana’s been wanting to try the cinnamon apple pancakes.”

“Maybe when you get off work, we’ll go look at that Jeep Liberty I was telling you about. You might as well be set up to start driving when Flint cracks this case. Can’t imagine it’s going to take long.”

Are you kidding? He’ll never suspect Mr. Hadley
. “Okay. I don’t have anything planned.”

Ivy shut the car door, then went in the back door of the café and was hit with the aroma of bacon frying.

“Mornin’, doll,” Jewel Sadler said. “Glad to see you made it through the memorial service okay.”

“Yeah, but I’m glad it’s over. Did you go?”

Jewel nodded. “I shut the café down and slipped into the back row, but I didn’t go through the receiving line. Had to get back here and prepare for the Friday-night crowd.”

“Was it busy?”

“Very. But that’s the way I like it.”

“Yeah, me too. I’d better go make sure we’re ready for customers.” Ivy put on her name tag and went out front and plugged in the coffeepot. She looked around the dining room and made sure all the tables had been set, then poked her head in the rest-rooms to be sure they had been restocked.

She plugged in the Open sign and unlocked the door, and a few seconds later, Flint Carter walked in.

“Good morning, Sheriff,” Ivy said. “I didn’t expect to see you on a Saturday.”

“I can’t take weekends off right now. We’re working with the FBI 24/7 to solve this triple homicide. How’re you holding up?”

“Okay, I guess—as long as I don’t close my eyes. I still see their faces.”

“I know what you mean. I spent some time at the murder scene myself.” Flint went over and sat at his usual table.

“Have you got any suspects yet?” Ivy said.

“I’m not really free to comment on that while the case is under investigation. But if you have any thoughts on the matter, I’m all ears.”

Ivy shook her head. “Not really.”

“We may need to ask you more questions as we get deeper into the investigation.”

“Okay.” Ivy thought about Bill, knowing that would put a pleasant look on her face. “I’ll answer any questions you want me to.”

“Good. By the way, what’d you think of the memorial service?”

“I’m sure it was very nice, but I spaced a lot of it out. Just too depressing, especially seeing Reg’s pregnant wife.”

“Yeah, that was tough.”

Ivy took her green pad out of her pocket. “You want your usual?”

“Why don’t you substitute the orange juice with grapefruit juice?” He winked. “I feel like living dangerously.”

“I’ll bring your coffee in just a minute,” Ivy said. “Oh, be sure to tell your wife again how much I appreciated her picking up Montana from school yesterday. He loves playing with Ian.”

Flint walked in his office and saw Special Agent Nick Sanchez working at the table, files stacked at both ends.

“Any big revelations overnight?” Flint said.

“Yeah.” Nick blew a huge pink bubble and sucked it back into his mouth. “The bubble gum did the trick. I haven’t had a cigarette since midnight.”

Flint smiled to himself and wondered if Nick was serious or if it was just his way of saying he’d been a real jerk. “So what’s the status this morning?”

“My team didn’t find any suspects among the lodge personnel, so we finished narrowing down our list of classmates. We eliminated those who didn’t fit any aspect of the profile and came up with five guys who fit at least part of it.”

“What are their names?”

Nick picked up a piece of paper and handed it to Flint. “Carlos Ortega, Blake Summerfield. William Ziwicki. Spencer Mansfield, and
Ronald Unger
. All experienced with either handguns or rifles. All introverted. All with a history of failed relationships. Also some negative social interaction in high school, though Ziwicki’s the only one of the five who actually spent time with the victims. I think it’s pushing the envelope to think he wanted them dead since the three victims were actually nicer to him than the other classmates were. And except for Unger, whom we haven’t talked to yet, each of these guys claims to have been in the Aspen Room all evening except to go to the john, and they have witnesses who can verify they were there at least part of the time.”

Flint pulled out a chair and sat at the table. “So what now?”

“We nab Unger the minute he shows up at his apartment. In the meantime, we go back through the thousands of photographs the classmates turned over and concentrate on picking out just these five guys. Maybe that’ll tell us something.”

Flint folded his arms across his chest and sat back in his chair, his weight balancing on the balls of his feet. “I’m beginning to lose
confidence in the word
maybe
. Just because these guys fit a few points on the profile doesn’t prove they’re guilty of anything.”

“Yeah, well, I’m chomping at the bit to get at Unger. Too bad we couldn’t have tested him for gunpowder residue and blood. Seems a little too convenient that he came to the reunion with plans to leave for vacation in the middle of the night. And since the darned security camera was on the fritz, we don’t even have tapes of who entered the lodge and who left or at what time.”

Brandon Jones walked into Jewel’s Café right behind Kelsey, and saw Elam and Carolyn Griffith sitting at a table with Montana, menus in their hands.

Kelsey went right up to them. “Hey, how’re you guys this morning?”

“I get to try the apple cim…cimm-a-mon pancakes.” Montana flashed her an impish grin. “With lots and lots of maple syrup.”

“Mmm, that’s sounds good,” Kelsey said. “My favorite is cheese blintzes with lots of strawberry sauce.”

Brandon glanced around the room. “Is Ivy working?”

Carolyn nodded. “This is the first time Montana has gotten to see his mother in action.”

“So did she wait on you?” Kelsey said.

Montana’s head bobbed and he wagged his finger. “I said, ‘Ma’am, you bring my order right away. I’m starved,’ and my mom laughed.”

“Why don’t you join us?” Elam said. “Plenty of room at our table.”

Kelsey looked over at Brandon, yes in her eyes.

“Great, we’d love to.” Brandon seated Kelsey and then himself. “You guys have hardly had a chance to catch your breath. I hope things are calming down.”

“My mom has a boyfriend,” Montana announced.

Brandon chuckled. “She does, huh?”

“His name is Bill Bazicki.”

“It’s Ziwicki, sweetie,” Carolyn said. “And Brandon knows him. Bill cleans the offices at the camp.”