“In the UP.” I frowned, trying to remember which of his friends he’d gone off to help, and came up dry. “With a buddy, fixing up a hunting cabin. He should be back tomorrow. But since you’re here,” I said brightly, “I can fill you in on what we’ve found out about our murder suspects.”
Groaning, Ash closed his eyes and leaned his head against the chaise’s back. “I’m not working. Not working at all right now. Barely even breathing.”
He did look tired, but that was endemic to the Up North population in summer. With daylight sticking around past most children’s bedtime, we tended to stay up late and not get enough sleep until mid-September.
But I hardened my heart and told him everything Rafe and I had learned. About identifying Courtney Drew’s car as one I’d seen on the road that day. That we’d been trying to locate the second vehicle, and that we were pretty sure Luke Cagan owned it.
“Then again,” I said, “it’s possible those vehicles had nothing to do with the murders at all. But . . . it just seems like a huge coincidence. Courtney and probably Luke driving down Brown’s Road the same day Rex and Nicole were on the bookmobile. And then an air conditioner almost falls on me.”
“Wouldn’t Violet and Julia also be in danger then?”
I eyed him, looking for evidence of sarcasm, and found nothing but fatigue. “Maybe. But it just seems weird. I think someone should go out to Brown’s Road and see if there’s anything at the dead end. That could tell us a lot. Maybe they’re cooking meth down there.” I shivered. “Or they’ve been stealing guns and are storing them in a . . . in a cave or something.” Even to my own ears, that last possibility sounded stupid.
“Sure,” Ash said, with his eyes closed. “I’ll get right on it. But don’t you have a bunch of other suspects?”
“Well, there are the Jaquays. And Mason Hiller, who owns the gas station out there.”
“What about Violet Mullaly?” Ash asked. “Wasn’t she on your suspect list once upon a time? Or has she been shifted over to the possible victims list?”
“Not yet.” Then I remembered he’d been looking into her background. “Is there a connection between her and Rex? Or Nicole?”
“Mrr!”
I turned just in time to see Eddie launch from the houseboat’s roof, aiming himself directly for . . .
“Hey!” Ash sat upright as Eddie landed on the chaise, right between Ash’s flip-flopped feet.
“MRR!”
“You’re in his spot,” I said.
“There’s room for two.” Ash patted the upholstery. “Have a seat, little buddy.”
“Or over here.” I patted the space next to my knees. “Lots of room.”
With a distinct curl of his lip, Eddie jumped to the deck and stalked off, his tail twitching mightily.
“Don’t go far,” I called. “It’s almost bedtime.”
“Mrr!”
Ash laughed. “You two crack me up. Sometimes it really feels like you’re having a conversation.”
Of course we were. I wasn’t sure we were communicating, but we certainly talked to each other.
“So you’ll look into Courtney and Luke?” I asked.
He sighed. “Sure. And the Jaquays and Violet Mullaly and who else? Oh, yes, Mason Hiller.”
I felt a pang of sympathy, but did my best to squash it. Kate needed a resolution to this more than he needed sleep. And if someone truly was trying to kill me—something I’d mostly tried to forget—well, that needed to stop, too. Preferably sooner rather than later.
“Have you heard about the burglaries?” Ash asked, then described a string of cottages that had been broken into in the last few days.
This was odd, because most area robberies happened in winter, when the vast majority of expensive lake cottages were empty of people, though not of their expensive contents. “I’m sure you’ll figure it out,” I said.
“Eventually, sure. But meanwhile half the lakefront owners in the county are calling us, wanting extra patrols, wanting us to keep their property safe. Basically wanting us to be their security guards.” He sank deeper into the chaise and muttered something about a deputy vacancy in Alaska.
I knew he wasn’t serious. Ash was too much a part of Chilson to ever move very far away. But I also understood the realities of law enforcement. He and Hal would continue with the murder investigation, but they also had to deal with the immediate needs of the community. Which meant finding the killer could take some time.
Luckily, I had an idea.
* * *
My niece stared at me. “You want to do what?”
It was Saturday morning, breakfast was done, a beautiful summer day stretched ahead, and the first step in my plan was about to commence. “For the two of us to go pick raspberries.”
Kate shook her head and went back to her tablet. “It’s my first full day off in I don’t know how long. I don’t want to do anything. Besides, why go to the trouble of driving to the other side of the county, standing in the hot sun, getting your arms all pricked by those nasty raspberry vines, getting mosquito bit, and driving all the way back here? Because I’m pretty sure you can walk into the grocery store and buy raspberries.”
As I’d often made similar comments about fishing, I should have understood her argument. Instead, I found myself getting stoked up anger-wise, and the conversation I’d so carefully prepared the night before, after Ash left, vacated my brain completely.
“The entire time you’ve been here,” I said, “you haven’t done anything you couldn’t do in Florida. No, don’t talk. Right now I don’t want to hear anything from you. You’re in northern Michigan during a gorgeous summer and you haven’t done a single thing to take advantage of it.”
“I have, too,” Kate said. “Remember the Fourth of July? When I fell on top of a dead guy?”
Right. Well, there was that. But she wasn’t going to dwell on that particular incident any longer, not if I could help it. “All the more reason to get out and do something else.” Which didn’t quite make sense, so I kept going. “You won’t even go swimming in Lake Michigan! Okay, it’s cold, but there are only five Great Lakes in the world, and you haven’t even put your feet in.”
“Don’t see why I need to,” my niece said, shrugging. “It’s just water.”
“‘Just water,’” I repeated incredulously. “Just water? You’re kidding, right?” I asked, in spite of the fact she clearly wasn’t. “That’s it. We’re going to pick raspberries, because the cherries are already done, and then we’re going to the beach. Pack a bag with swim stuff, or I’ll pack it for you.”
Kate suddenly seemed to realize the direness of her situation. “You’re serious.”
“As a tax return. You have five minutes to pack a bag. And get some real shoes.” I nodded at her flip-flopped feet. “Those aren’t going to be comfortable in the raspberry patch.”
“But Aunt Minnie—”
“Don’t ‘Aunt Minnie’ me,” I said, trying not to recognize the timbre of my mother’s voice. “Five minutes.”
Less than ten minutes later, we were in the car and headed out of town.
Kate was slouched in the passenger’s seat next to me, and Eddie was in the carrier in the back seat, a location that he was unfamiliar with and clearly did not like, judging from the howls that were emanating from the carrier every two and a half minutes.
“Why didn’t you leave Eddie at Rafe’s house?” Kate asked. “Or with Aunt Frances?”
I was beginning to wonder the same thing. “Because Eddie and Otto’s adorable little gray cat don’t get along, and Aunt Frances and Otto are driving up to see that historic state park, Fayette, and won’t be there to referee. And I couldn’t leave him at the house because that drywall mud in the downstairs bathroom isn’t dry and you know how Eddie can be.”
Kate sighed, but didn’t protest, because a few days ago she’d left a glass of milk out and woke up in the middle of the night with half of it spilled on her sleeping bag. Eddie could have stayed on the houseboat, but both Eric Apney on one side and the Axfords on the other were having work done on their boats and Eddie was not a fan of power tools. It was easier for everyone if I removed him for the duration.