Key to Love (34 page)

Elise picked up the phone and looked at it. Paul was yelling so loud now she didn’t need the speakerphone. She shook her head in dismay, clicked the end button, and tossed it on the passenger seat. Then she let out a cleansing breath of air and laughed—a gentle laugh that rippled out into the interior of her car.

Taking the ramp onto I-81, she lowered both windows and let the soft spring winds come streaming in steady soothing waves.
Love truly is the master key that opens the gates of happiness
, she thought. She pressed the gas pedal to the floor, enjoying the surge of speed as the engine eagerly responded. Grinning, flying down the interstate, she had never felt so free, so focused, and so in love in her entire life.

Chapter Twenty-Four

Lucas was sitting on the doorway stoop when she arrived minutes later, squealing the tires as the car came to a stop in the parking lot out front. She opened the door and, with a determined gait, she walked up to him.

“I screwed up big time, didn’t I?” he asked, rising and looking at her warily.

“Oh, just shut up and kiss me, will you? I just quit my job because of you...you...you big lug nut!”

“You quit?” he asked incredulously.

“Yeah, you know the song with the lyrics ‘give me a reason to stay’?”

He nodded.

“Well, I realized there were more important people I want to be with than the Smothers Brothers of California. I love Todd. I love you. I’ll find a way to set up an office here and start all over if I have to. Being tied to those two dimwits was like lumbering around with old tires slung around my neck.” She smiled and stood on tiptoe to kiss him.

“You’re serious?” he whispered against her lips. “You’ll marry me?” He barely let her head bob when he scooped her up and kissed her with intense hunger and passion. He lifted her off her feet and spun her around, and then set her back down and rained kisses down her neck before lifting her off her feet again.

“Lucas,” she broke the embrace and pushed at his chest, “I’m getting dizzy. Put me down this instant!”

When she was on solid ground, he laughed. “I’m the happiest man alive! You are going to make Todd the happiest kid in the state. Your dad will be thrilled, too. Let’s go home and tell them.” His gaze flitted between the two cars. “We’ll take my car and leave yours here. J.B. left a spare car at the farm for Cindy to use. When I come back here to do some paperwork later tonight I can drive it back here and trade it for yours. Come on, let’s go!”

He grabbed her hand and started to pull her toward his car.

“Wait, Lucas,” she said, laughing. “I have to get my purse and my phone.” She walked to her car, reached in through the open passenger window, grabbed her phone and purse from the seat, and was hurrying across the parking lot when a sudden thought came crashing down on her. She stopped. Her face paled, her heart thumped wildly in her chest, and she felt sick. Her purse slipped from her hands and thudded onto the macadam. She took a deep breath, trying to steady her nerves as she stared out across the horizon where clouds with gray underbellies were beginning to scud across the sky. There would be rain by nightfall. She had always liked the smell of rain. It washed the ugly dust from the trees and grass.
Too bad rain couldn’t wash away the ugliness of murder, too,
she thought. The spinning in her head slowed and all the pieces surrounding the murder of Mike Fisher fell into place like a row of dominoes falling on each other.

“What’s the matter?” Lucas called from across the lot. He walked quickly to stand beside her and put a hand on her shoulder. “Are you all right? You look like you just saw a ghost. Please tell me I didn’t hurt you when I spun you around. I forgot all about your head. Honey, I’m so sorry.”

Still deep in thought, she shook her head and held up a hand to silence him. “No, no, I’m fine. You have to help me. Please call Nick,” she said, handing him her phone, still staring at the sky as she took a deep breath of air. “Tell him to meet us at Ted Meyer’s house.” She looked up at him, but her eyes had a frightening faraway look in them. “Lucas, I know who killed your brother.”

****

It was almost dinnertime when Elise and Lucas arrived at Ted Meyer’s house. Elise slammed her car door and went up the front walk before Lucas could shut down the engine and get out. She noticed Ted’s cruiser was parked in the driveway. She knocked on the door and was greeted by Mary Jo.

“Elise. Come in. We were just talking about you, wondering why you haven’t stopped in lately,” Mary Jo said. “Oh, and Lucas is with you. Come into the kitchen.”

“Where are the children?” Elise asked, frowning and following her to the back of the house.

“Oh, I fed them early and sent them outside to play so Ted can eat his dinner in peace. You know what it’s like with three noisy kids underfoot.”

Elise knew all right. She knew how Ted Meyer had a temper and no tolerance for children. The kids were downright scared to be around their own father and weren’t even allowed to eat with him.

“Where’s Ted?” Elise said.

“Here,” he said behind her. “What’s this unexpected visit about?”

Elise wasted no time and no words. “The night of Mike Fisher’s murder, where were you, Ted?” She could feel Lucas beside her, radiating strength and reassurance.

“You know where I was. I finished my shift and came home.”

“After you dropped Jack off from Two Horses, right?”

“That’s right.” Ted Meyer’s lips thinned in anger. “Just what are you trying to prove here? I’ve been over this a dozen times with the local and state police. I resent—”

“Answer my question!” Elise shouted. She threw the words at him like stones. She wanted answers and was determined she would not be put down by this brute. She lifted her chin, refusing to cower. “You drove Jack home in his car and then you drove his car home. Here, to the house, didn’t you?”

“I did no such thing.” Ted Meyer looked warily at Mary Jo. “Isn’t that right, Mary Jo?”

She nodded and averted her eyes.

Elise persisted. “No, the car that hit Mike Fisher was Jack Morrison’s. You came home from your shift in Jack’s car.”

She turned to Mary Jo. “I would never have figured it out, if it wasn’t for the phone call you made earlier to Mike at work. At first, I was confused when we spoke in the supermarket about why you would tell me your sister was staying with
you
, not
us
, the night of Mike’s murder. Your sister was coming to stay with
you
because Ted was on one of his tyrannical rants again, and you were afraid of what might happen when he came home from work and you were alone with him.”

Ted interrupted her. “If you think you can accuse me of murder or abuse, you little bitch, think again!”

Behind her, Lucas lurched forward, but Elise blocked his move with her arm.

“No.” She shook her head at Ted, swallowed hard, and boldly met his gaze. “No, I’m accusing you of being an accessory to the murder.”

She took a deep breath and turned to Mary Jo. “You called Mike before his shift ended to tell him Ted was on one of his rages again. Your sister came over, hoping to help put the lid on it and save you from another beating. Mike arrived shortly after Ted came home and threatened to expose him and his violent temper. Mike knew what was going on inside your house. He was a savvy cop.” She looked at Ted Meyer. “When Mike left, you threatened Mary Jo and told her if anything got out about being a wife beater, you’d be washed up with the local force and your character would be tarnished. It was going to be her fault if it happened, right? Tell me, Ted, isn’t that loosely the way it all went down?”

Elise met Mary Jo’s angered eyes without flinching. “So as soon as Mike left, you took Morrison’s car and tried to stop him, didn’t you?”

“It was an accident!” Mary Jo cried out. “I only wanted to talk to him. To stop him!” She buried her face in her hands and wept.

“Shut up, Mary Jo,” Ted shouted at her. His nostrils flared with fury.

Elise shook her head sadly. A cold knot formed in her stomach. “You ran him off the road, didn’t you, Mary Jo? And when you stopped and determined he was dead, you took Jack’s car back to the bar, picked up Ted’s cruiser and drove it home. No need to report it. Problem solved.”

She turned to Ted. “When you found out Jack Morrison needed money to pay off his debt for the marijuana stolen from his car, you lent it to him.” She turned to Mary Jo. “The money you said you and Ted were saving for your cabin in the woods.”

Elise rounded on Ted again, her voice curt and full of contempt. “You needed to be good buddies with Jack. You wanted the Mike Fisher incident to go away. What you never planned was someone getting paint samples from Jack’s car and matching them to the chips taken from Mike’s, so you lent him the money he needed to make good on his mishap with the stolen marijuana from his trunk.”

Ted Meyer lurched and started toward her with an upraised hand. “You meddling little bitch. You just wouldn’t give up, would you? You had to keep digging, and digging and
digging
!”

“I wouldn’t touch her,” Lucas said, stepping between Ted and Elise. “Give me a reason to knock your block off, Ted. Right here. Right now.”

From behind Ted, Nick and two other state troopers entered the kitchen from the living room. “Well, I’ve heard enough of the conversation, Meyer. The party’s over. You and Mary Jo are under arrest.”

Elise glanced at Mary Jo. Her own eyes filled with tears as she looked at a person who she thought was her friend. She wondered whether she really knew her at all.

“Call your sister, Mary Jo,” Elise said sadly. “You’ll need a babysitter for your children tonight.” She swiped at her eyes with the back of her hand.

Lucas put a reassuring hand on her shoulder and pulled her close. “It’s all right, Elise. It’s over now. Let’s go home,” he said softly.

He signaled to Nick to take over as they walked silently out to the car.

The ride to the farm was a quiet one, broken only by the sound of the windshield wipers scraping against the window. When they reached home, the rain continued, harder, like tears falling from above. They sat together and listened to it drumming on the roof of the car.

“When did you figure it out?” Lucas finally asked in an exhausted voice.

Elise sighed. “When you told me you’d take the spare car at the farmhouse and pick up mine later. Clarisse had told me Ted dropped Jack Morrison off at his house using Jack’s own car, instead of a cruiser. All along I figured only one person drove Jack’s car and he would be the person who killed Mike. I suspected Ted. Then it dawned on me it could easily have been two people and when Mike didn’t immediately return Mary Jo’s call to him at the barracks on the night he was killed, I figured the call couldn’t have been about Todd. Mike would have returned that call immediately, as any responsible worried parent would. Suddenly all the pieces started to fall into place.”

Lucas nodded. “I’m sorry it had to be one of your friends.” He leaned over and kissed her on her forehead and then on her cheek. “But I’m not sorry you solved the mystery surrounding Mike’s death. I’m not sorry you’re here with me, Elise Springer, and I’m not sorry you’re going to stay and marry me. You’re going to make me the happiest man in Scranton.”

He smiled and peered out the window. “Let’s make a run for it. Come on. Let’s tell everyone some good news for a change.”

Chapter Twenty-Five

It was the perfect spring morning to sit on the Springers’ front porch with a cup of coffee and watch the sky bloom in shades of rose and gold. Elise and Lucas sat on the old wicker swing, and at their feet Todd and Cindy were leafing through a stack of bridal magazines. One big square diamond twinkled from Elise’s hand.

The wedding plans were driving her crazy. She and Lucas had decided upon the last Saturday in July for the big day. However, everyone was needling her. Fritz wanted a big splash at a huge reception hall in Scranton. Her dad wanted a church wedding with a reception under a huge white tent on the front lawn of the farm. Lucas said a destination wedding would suit him just fine, which could be a short trip to city hall if she so chose.

What Elise hadn’t told anyone yet was she finally decided upon a church wedding, followed by a reception by the lake at the cottage. She wanted three tents—one with a band for dancing, one with food and drink, and one especially for the children to play in. She had already spoken privately with Cindy, who had agreed to be her personal wedding planner and who would take care of all the details, including organizing games for the kids. Cindy was researching a few honeymoon destination packages for Lucas as well.

For his wedding present to her, Lucas had bought an office building in downtown Scranton and had helped her with all the legal startup procedures and paperwork for her new firm, called Springer Architectural Designs. Lucas had insisted she use her maiden name for the company’s business, even if she decided to use his once they were married. Mort Levinson was her first client, but with his recommendations and circle of friends and investors, she was certain more clients were on their way.

Todd looked up at her. Beside him was a large basket with a small Golden Retriever puppy sleeping soundly on a blanket, and beside the basket, Bess lay quiet, but alert, protecting both boy and puppy. “I like the idea of blowing bubbles after the ceremony,” he said, “and I think the favors for the wedding reception should be animal crackers. But no lions and tigers allowed, okay, Elise?”