Fudge Bites Page 14

  I glanced down to see Mal looking out to the horizon as well.

  “What are you looking at, Juliet?”

  Startled I looked down to see Trent standing in the alley beneath my stairs. “What are you doing here?”

  “Well, that’s a fine way to greet me,” he said. Mal slipped out of my grasp and raced down to welcome Trent. He picked her up and carried her back up to me like a small child. “Is this all the welcome I get?”

  “Welcome,” I said, giving him a hug. “Come on in. I want to know how you and Paige are doing. How’s your mom? When did you get here? What are you doing on the island?”

  “Slipped that question in a second time,” he said as he stepped into my tiny galley kitchen, taking up all the space.

  “Why don’t you come have a seat in the living room, and I’ll get you something to drink. I have some wine and a few beers.”

  “A beer would be fine,” he said, sitting on the couch. Mal jumped right up into his lap as if she owned the area. He chuckled and rubbed her back and ears. “At least someone is excited to see me.”

  I pulled two beers from the fridge and twisted off the tops, then brought them into the living room and handed him one. “I don’t like to be surprised. Lately, surprises have been a bad thing.”

  He tapped his bottle to mine. “Cheers.” He took a swig, and I sat down across from him. Trent was gorgeous. He had that all-American look: wide shoulders, clean-cut hair that always fell perfectly back into place, suit jacket over a polo and slacks.

  It didn’t hurt that he and his family owned half of the businesses on Mackinac Island. They were legacy residents. Trent’s family had moved back and forth between Chicago and Mackinac Island for over a century. He had a yacht, for goodness sakes, and a business empire headquartered in Chicago.

  “For you, surprises mean dead bodies,” he said. “I heard you found Anthony.”

  “I did.” Sitting back, I took another sip of beer. “Maggs was not far behind. Seeing her pain was worse than finding Anthony dead.”

  “I understand. She’s like family to me. Are you investigating?”

  “Yes,” I said. “Someone blew up the senior center, too.”

  “I heard about that. I also heard you were there, and you helped the seniors get out before it blew.”

  “I helped.”

  “I miss you. I’m worried about you.”

  “Trent, we’re not a couple anymore. Your mom made it clear that she didn’t want her children living on the island year-round.”

  “So come to Chicago with me.”

  “What? No!”

  He sat up and leaned toward me, resting his elbows on his knees. “You don’t have to stay here to prove you aren’t a fudgie. Everyone knows you belong here, and they all love you.”

  “I’m not staying through the winter just to prove I’m not a fudgie.”

  “No?” He raised an eyebrow. My heartbeat picked up. “Your grandfather closed the McMurphy for the winter. Not because he wanted to leave, but because so few people visit in the winter. It’s cold and dark and—”

  “Magical, with snowmobiles and ice bridges lined by Christmas trees and Santa runs and sleigh bells.”

  “There’s no reason to stay. The weather will prevent flights. How will you get your fudge out for the online shipments? Come to Chicago. I have a professional kitchen where you can make your fudge by hand and get it out in time for your clients.”

  “O’Hare in Chicago closes during bad weather, too,” I pointed out.

  “Not as often,” he said. “Bring Mal. She’ll enjoy the city, and so will you. If you’re worried about where you’ll stay, there’s a loft over the kitchen—”

  “I’m not going to live off the Jessops’ generosity for the winter.”

  “Let me finish. You can rent it from me. Your friend Jenn is there. I’m there. Paige is there. Once the ice forms and the airport gets socked in, there won’t be anyone coming in or out. Please think about it.” He put his hand over mine. It was warm and comforting, and he smelled so nice. He always smelled nice. In this moment, all I wanted to do was bury my nose in the crook of his neck and smell his skin.

  I stood. “I’m staying. My lifelong dream has been to be a year-round resident of Mackinac Island. I need you to understand that.”

  He stood, too, crowding me a little bringing up memories of our history. “Promise me you’ll think it over,” he said. His voice was soft and low near my ear, sending chills down my spine. Then he turned to Mal and gave her a pat on the head before setting his beer bottle on the counter and opening the door. “I want you to be with me, Allie McMurphy. Think about it.”

  The door shut behind him, and I hugged myself. Mal jumped on me to see if I was all right. I picked up my pup. “It’s okay, Mal,” I said. “We don’t want to move again . . . right?”

  * * *

  The next morning, I got up at 5 A.M., as usual, and stuck my head out of the door to see if Mella had come home yet. She was nowhere in sight. The air was sharp, and a heavy frost covered the ground—the first frost of the season. I couldn’t wait for the first snow.

  I pulled back inside and grabbed my warm coat, hat, and gloves to take Mal out for her morning walk. She was happy to run down the stairs and sniff her favorite spot of grass before using it.

  The alley was dark except for the pools of lights from the lamps I’d installed on the McMurphy. I seemed to be the only person up and around. It wasn’t hunting season yet, and the other fudge shops nearby had closed up, opting to make and ship their fudge from Mackinaw City.

  There was always something about walking alone in the wee hours of the morning that made me want to hold my breath. It was a special kind of quiet. I could hear my footsteps crunch on frosted gravel and see my breath condensing in the air.

  Mal seemed to know where she was going, so I let her take the lead. My thoughts were on Trent. I should tell him about Rex, and I should tell Rex what Trent offered. They knew each other well. If I didn’t tell them, they would find out anyway. Mal pulled, tugging and dragging me into the wooded area off Market Street. “What is it, girl?” I asked.

  She glanced up at me, then nosed off into the trees. I grabbed my phone and turned on the flashlight. It was dark under the trees. Mal took me straight to a pile of leaves and sat down. “What is it?” I asked, curious. I kicked up the leaves and found some kind of sailcloth sack. I was careful to only dig around the mouth of the sack. I’d spent enough time investigating with Mal to know that it was best not to touch things that she’d sniffed out until I knew exactly what it was. I opened the mouth of the sack and peered inside. It was stuffed with hymnals. “Well, that’s certainly not a dead person.”

  I took photos with my phone of the area and the bag, then I carefully dug it out of the leaves. It was a large duffle bag. In fact, it was about the size of a human. If I didn’t already know that it was filled with books, I night have been worried.

  “Who would bury a duffle full of hymnals?” I asked Mal. She just sniffed the duffle again and smiled up at me with that happy doggy look. I tried to lift the bag, but it was too heavy. “Seriously?” I asked Mal as I struggled with the bag. “What else is in here?” I put my phone where it would shine on the contents and dragged the hymnals out, one by one. After I had a small pile, I tried to move the bag again, but it still didn’t budge. “This is nuts.” I grabbed my phone with the flashlight on and opened the sack mouth wide, peering inside. Something glinted when the light hit it. “What?” I pulled more hymnals out of the sack, reached in once more, and put my hand on something the size of a brick, something made of metal and very heavy. I dragged it out with both hands and stared, dumbfounded, at the gold bullion in my hands.

  Chapter 14

  “It sure looks like a gold brick,” Rex said, studying it in the dawning light. He flashed a light over the gold I had taken out of the bag, and it gleamed. “How many are in the bag?”

  “At least five. It’s hard to tell,” I said. �
��They’re too heavy to move around much. Thanks for coming so quickly.”

  “You know my place is just up the road.” Rex had come in a pair of sweats, gym shoes, and a thick sweatshirt. He wore a baseball hat with a police emblem. “I’ve called Brown and Lasko to help guard the site until Shane gets here.”

  “Oh, we should probably stop touching stuff,” I said, putting my hands in the air.

  Rex shook his head at me. “It’s not a crime scene.”

  “Yet,” I said. “We don’t know this hasn’t been stolen from a bank or something. Do banks even have gold bullions anymore?”

  “Central banks do,” he said.

  “But there’s no central bank on the island.”

  “Gold is a great investment, often handed down in families. There are a lot of historically wealthy families with homes on the island.”

  “It’s probably stolen, then,” I surmised. “So we really shouldn’t touch it.”

  “If it’s real, then yes, it is probably stolen. Anyone who might have wanted to hide gold would have dug a lot deeper. Not just cover it in leaves.”

  “I don’t expect they thought anyone would come back in the scrub trees,” I said.

  Rex frowned and studied the surrounding area. “Stay here.”

  “If you’re going to look around, you might want to take Mal. She finds things.”

  He glanced over his shoulder. “She needs to stay and protect you.”

  “Right.”

  I watched as he carefully searched the area using his phone’s flashlight.

  Two police officers pulled up on bikes. I recognized the stocky figure of Officer Brown immediately. The other one was Officer Lasko. She didn’t like me much. Frances had suggested once that it was because she had a thing for Rex. Unfortunately for her, Rex had a thing for me. And there was definitely something going on between Rex and me.

  “What’s up with the bag?” Lasko asked.

  “You’ll have to come see,” I said, waving them over. Mal jumped up on Officer Brown, looking for pets. He scratched her behind the ear as Officer Lasko squatted down and used her flashlight to look inside the bag.

  “Is that what I think it is?”

  “Yes,” I said. “Rex believes it’s real.”

  Officer Brown whistled. “That’s a big haul. How did you find it?”

  “Mal,” I said simply.

  Rex stepped out of the scrub. “Lasko, stay with Allie. Brown, you’re with me.”

  “Did you find something?” I asked.

  He didn’t answer me. The two men disappeared into the woods.

  “Well, this sucks,” Lasko said in a loud whisper.

  “You don’t need to babysit me,” I said. I picked up Mal and hugged her. “It’s what’s in the bag that has him worried.”

  “I know,” she said with a stubborn set to her chin.

  That was enough for me. I stepped closer to her with Mal in my arms. “Why don’t you like me? What did I ever do to you?”

  “Who said I didn’t like you?” she asked, her expression stormy.

  “Ever since I’ve moved back to Mackinac, whenever you get near me, you send me dirty looks and say sharp things. People have begun to notice.”

  “What do you care what other people notice?”

  “I care if it’s going to make our living together on this island hard. Let me know what it is. If I’m doing something that annoys you, then I can stop. Or at least we can agree to dislike each other.”

  She looked for a moment as if she had tasted something bad, then she turned her face away from me. “If you must know, it’s because it’s difficult being around a person I like when I know they’re not interested.”

  “So Frances was right. You do like Rex.”

  She sighed and her shoulders dropped. “No,” she murmured. Then she turned to me. “I like you.”

  “But if you like me, then why treat me like . . . Oh,” I said, blushing. “So all this time, you’ve been short with me because you have a crush on me?”

  “Yes,” she said, “and I know you don’t reciprocate it. I’ve seen the way you look at Rex. So better to try to dislike you than to get my heart broken. There, I said it. Are you happy now?”

  I hugged Mal and thought for a moment. “Well, sort of. I’m glad to know the truth. Thank you for being brave and telling me.”

  “You’re welcome. So.” She cleared her throat, seemingly eager to change the subject. She kicked the leaves onto the bag and brushed them off with her foot. “Where did all the hymnals come from?”

  “They were inside the bag,” I said. “On top of the gold.”

  “So whoever left the bag filled it with hymnals? Do you think they did it to keep people from stealing it?”

  “Could be,” I said. “I mean, who would want a bag of hymnals? Besides a preacher, I mean.”

  “Good point, but a do-gooder might pick up the bag to take it to a preacher to find out who the hymnals belong to.”

  “Like I did,” I said. “I easily found the gold.”

  “So perhaps they weren’t using it to hide the gold.” She paused thoughtfully. “Maybe it does belong to a preacher.”

  “Oh,” I said. “Do you think the money belongs to a church?”

  “I don’t think so,” Rex said with a hard edge to his voice. “We’ve got another dead body.”

  An ambulance siren sounded in the distance. Shane bicycled in just as George Marron and the other EMT pulled up and opened the back of the ambulance.

  “What? Who?” I asked. “Where? Does the bag belong to them?”

  “Those are all questions I can’t answer right now,” Rex said. He put his hand on my shoulder. “Let’s just say Mal is a very good dog, once again.” He reached down to pat my pup, who was just happy to see so many people coming. “What brought you out this way, anyway? I know this isn’t on your normal morning walk.”

  “Are we that predicable? See, I thought that maybe we should vary our walks. I just figured no one was up and about as early as we are. Well, besides other fudge makers.”

  “Lots of early birds on the island,” Rex said. “Beecher is one of them. Several others. Everyone is well aware of where you go. We care about you and want you to be safe.”

  “That means bad people know my moves, too,” I said, frowning.

  “What’s the scene?” Shane asked as he arrived in his CSU outfit carrying his kit.

  “We have two,” Rex said. “Allie found this bag first, then I found a body through here. Let’s start with the body.” He waved George and his fellow EMT over to follow him and Shane.

  I knew better than to ask to come see, although my curiosity was killing me. I craned my neck to see if I could catch a glimpse.

  Officer Lasko put her hand on my shoulder. “Let me take your statement. Then you and Mal can go home and go about your day.”

  I recounted again exactly how we had found the bag. “Do you think this is related to Anthony’s death?” I asked.

  She shook her head. “There’s no proof of a link at this time.”

  I glanced back over to where the guys were working. “I hope it’s not anyone I know.”

  “Rex will be in touch,” Officer Lasko said.

  “Right,” I felt disappointed. Then I shook it off. “Come on, Mal,” I said. “We have fudge to make.”

  “Allie,” Officer Lasko said.

  “Yes?”

  “Be careful.”

  “I will.” I took a step, then turned back to her. “Another thing. My cat, Mella, is missing. I was out this way looking for her. Have you seen her?”

  “The calico?”

  “Yes.”

  “I thought I saw Mrs. Flores feeding a calico yesterday. You might want to check with her.”

  “Thanks.” Mal and I went back to the McMurphy. I glanced at the time on my phone. It was nearly 8 A.M., and Frances and Douglas would be getting the McMurphy ready for the seniors to come. I took a deep breath of the crisp morning air and studied th
e quiet blue sky. Someone else was dead. It tore at my heart.

  “Where have you been?” Frances asked as we entered the back door of the McMurphy. I unhooked Mal from her halter and leash, and she went running for water and her treats.

  “I thought I’d go looking for Mella. Then Mal pulled me off the road and into some scrub.”

  “I heard sirens this morning,” Douglas said from the lobby where he was setting up tables.

  “Oh no, not another dead body.” Frances covered her mouth when I nodded. “Who?”

  “I don’t know, I didn’t find them,” I said, pulling off my jacket and hanging it on the coat rack by her desk. “Mal and I found something else. I don’t think I should tell you about it yet, but I called Rex. Rex canvased the area and discovered the body. He wouldn’t let me see it, so that’s all I know.”

  The doorbells jangled and Liz came strolling in. “Tell me everything.”

  “Hi, Liz,” I said. “What can I do for you?”

  “Oh, come on. Word travels fast. Something happened this morning that involved the EMTs and Shane. That means a crime scene, and someone was hurt. I know you’re involved, Allie.”

  “How do you know that?” I asked, crossing my arms over my chest.

  She mirrored my stance and frowned at me. “You are always involved. Besides, you weren’t answering your phone.”

  “Allie, we need your help setting up for the seniors,” Frances said.

  “Oh, come on, guys,” Liz looked from me to Frances to Douglas. “I know you know something.”

  “Didn’t you follow the ambulance?” I asked. “Those guys know what’s going on.”

  “I went, but they wouldn’t let me near the area. They actually have it blocked off.” She grabbed the end of a table and helped me unfold its legs. “Lasko wouldn’t even let me snoop around.”

  “When’s the official announcement?” Douglas asked.

  “Rex said they would update everyone later this evening, but I can’t wait until this evening. I have readers expecting to come to the newspaper’s website to find out what’s going on. I’ve got to get under this story before the senior grapevine knows all about it already. It’s why I came to you, Allie. I know you know something.”