“You do look like you’ve caught a bit of sun, love.” Dennis was all concern. “Go on ahead. Kade and I can talk to Jay.”

  I didn’t think it was possible to feel any worse than I already did, but what do you know, I could. I was swanning around like this was my investigation, bossing everyone around, insisting on being in on the action. Dennis Galloway was a retired police officer and his super hot son, who was watching me with an enigmatic expression on his face, was a detective. They weren’t idiots. They didn’t need me.

  I hurried back to the Galloways’ apartment, feeling embarrassed and foolish. How could I have been so clueless? Of course, Kade had wanted to spend some quality time with his dad, and I had gone and ruined it by insisting on tagging along.

  Chapter Eleven

  I hadn’t meant to fall asleep. I’d returned to the apartment, caught sight of my sunburned and bruised face, and wanted to cry, and I wasn’t a crier. Instead, I’d taken a shower, which helped somewhat, then I’d stretched out on the bed, telling myself I’d have a five-minute rest before joining Sylvia, who was puttering about in the kitchen. She’d taken one look at me and said she’d move dinner reservations to tomorrow night instead.

  The weight of the bed dipping near my hip had me opening my eyes to discover the room was dark. Where had the sun gone?

  “Garp?” I garbled into the darkness.

  “I’m not sure if you’re asking what time is it? Or where are you?” Kade chuckled, his hand coming to rest on my hip. “Mom said you were resting. Are you okay?”

  “I’m sorry about today. I’m such an idiot. I barged my way into plans you had with your dad.”

  “What are you even talking about?” He sounded genuinely puzzled.

  “Today. Golf.” I was choked up with emotion. The nap hadn’t helped, and right now I yearned for home, to be in familiar surroundings, have Ben tell me to pull my head out of my butt, have Bandit lavish me with unconditional love, and Thor demanding to be fed. I missed home.

  “You didn’t ruin anything, if that’s what you’re thinking.” Kade lay down beside me, entwining his fingers with mine. “Having you join us for golf wasn’t a problem if that’s what’s gotten into your gorgeous head. Are you forgetting Dad invited you? Actually, having you join us forced Dad to take it easy. You took so long at each shot that he sat down and rested at every hole.”

  “Oh. That’s good then.”

  “Audrey.” He heaved a sigh. “What’s going on? You’ve been out of sorts all day.”

  “Nothing. Everything’s fine,” I lied.

  “Everything is not fine.” He cursed, rolling toward me. I could just see his outline in the dim room. “Audrey…” He paused, the silence ominous. “Are you getting cold feet?”

  I frowned. “No, my feet aren’t cold.” What an odd question. Then I realized what he meant and felt all sorts of a fool all over again. “Oh! You mean about the wedding!”

  “Don’t you want to marry me anymore?” His voice was deep, low, and full of anguish.

  I blindly reached out, groping for his face in the dark, until I eventually managed to cup his cheeks in my hands. “I want to marry you more than anything,” I whispered, voice thick with tears. “I love you.”

  “Thank God,” he said. “I love you too.” The kiss that followed was full of love and promise and heat and passion. He was my everything. And I realized I’d been hurting him. With my frustration with Amanda and the wedding planning, I had been feeling very anti-wedding. But not anti-marriage.

  “It’s just…” I eventually whispered against his lips.

  “It’s just what?”

  “The wedding. I want to get married. It’s just the wedding itself. It’s a lot.”

  He heaved a sigh, wrapped his arms around me, and rolled, pulling me to lie on top of him. “When we get home”—he snuggled my head into the crook of his neck and shoulder—“we’re having a family meeting. A sit down with everyone. Some ground rules are going to be established.”

  “You talked to your mom,” I said against his neck. His chest rumbled underneath me as he chuckled.

  “My mom told me I needed to step up and support you more.”

  “But this isn’t your fault,” I protested, lifting my head.

  “It’s not yours either,” he pointed out. “I know you’re frustrated because Amanda isn’t listening. She’s not hearing you. We’ll make her hear together.”

  “Will you use your scary cop voice?”

  “I will definitely use my scary cop voice,” he promised, squeezing me tight.

  “Dinner!” Sylvia bellowed.

  “Oh my gosh, what time is it?” I scrambled out of Kade’s embrace and off the bed, knocking the bedside lamp onto the floor. “Are you kidding me!”

  A click, then a soft golden glow illuminated the room. Kade propped on one elbow, watching me as I staggered about.

  “Is everything else okay?” he asked.

  “What do you mean?” I eventually found my shoes and sat on the bed to pull them on.

  “Nothing else is bothering you? Other than the wedding, which isn’t really the wedding, more Amanda. Did I get that right, or is it wishful thinking?”

  I looked at him, aghast that I’d led him to believe I didn’t want to marry him. “Babe, marrying you is the one thing I am sure of. Look.” I turned my attention back to getting the right shoe on the right foot. “Coming to Chicago to meet your parents was a big deal. I was really nervous.”

  “I know.”

  “And then within minutes of meeting them, I outed myself talking to a ghost. You have no idea how stressful that was.”

  “I have a fair idea.”

  “And now we’re all investigating Joyce’s death together? This has been the most bizarre trip I’ve ever been on.”

  “And you miss Bandit and Thor.”

  I nodded, feeling a little misty eyed. Who’d have thought I’d miss those two balls of fluff this much? Kade crawled across the bed and hugged me, burying his face against my neck.

  “And then I nearly broke my nose with a door, and to top it all off, I got sunburned today.”

  “No wonder you needed a nap.”

  I could barely make out what he said, his voice muffled against my skin.

  “Come on, get moving. I don’t want to keep your mom waiting. Not after she made dinner for us.”

  Heaving an exaggerated sigh, he disengaged and climbed off the bed, holding out a hand to haul me to my feet. Hand in hand, we made our way to the dining room, remnants of a glorious sunset barely visible through the living room windows.

  “You missed a corker of a sunset,” Dennis said, already seated at the table.

  “Sorry. I fell asleep.”

  Dennis squinted at me. “How’s the nose? Looks like the swelling’s gone down a bit. But you caught the sun today.”

  “I know.” But thanks for pointing it out.

  “Dennis,” Sylvia scolded. “Mind your manners.”

  “What?” he protested. “She did.”

  “And doesn’t need you pointing it out, for goodness’ sake. Audrey, honey, I have a wonderful cream that’ll take the sting right out and soothe the redness. Remind me to grab it for you after dinner.”

  “Thanks, that’d be great.”

  She placed a plate piled high with chicken fried steak, mashed potato, and gravy in front of me. My stomach rumbled on cue. “This looks delicious.”

  “Mom makes the best chicken steak,” Kade said, patting my knee under the table.

  After everyone was served and Sylvia was seated, we dug in. Kade wasn’t wrong. I could see where he got his culinary skills from.

  “So.” I waved my fork at no-one in particular, and a blob of mashed potato landed on the table. I ignored the fact that I was now flinging food around my in-laws’ dining room, casually scooped it up, and put it back on my plate. “Did you guys meet up with Jay after all that?”

  “Yup.” Dennis mimicked my gesture, pointing his fork at me. Only he did it without making a mess. “Nice chap. Not responsible for Joyce’s death.”

  “How do you know that?”

  “He wasn’t here,” Kade said. “He arrived to play golf after Joyce had died.”

  “Just because he didn’t start his game of golf until after she died doesn’t mean he wasn’t here at Torres Place,” I felt compelled to point out.

  “The receipt he had for gas puts him at a gas station across town,” Dennis said. “Unless he’s found a way to teleport, he didn’t have enough time to drive over here, administer eye drops to Joyce’s food, drive back across town to get gas, and then come back—again—just to establish an alibi.”

  “Oh, there you are. I’ve been looking for you.” Joyce appeared, making me jump. I lost my grip on my knife, and it clattered to the floor.

  “Audrey?” Sylvia asked. “Everything okay?”

  “I’m fine,” I grunted as I bent to retrieve the knife. Pushing back my chair, I went to rinse it at the sink. “Joyce just turned up.” Of course, Dennis and Sylvia, upon learning that Joyce’s ghost had graced us with her presence, both gushed out an over effusive greeting.

  “How’s the face?” Joyce leaned in close, examining my bruises and sunburn.

  “It’s fine.”

  “It doesn’t look fine. If anything, you look worse than before.”

  “Thanks,” I snapped. “Maybe if you’d told me you were blackmailing Paul Wilson, none of this would have happened. I wouldn’t have been in your apartment when Paul turned up, searching for, oh I don’t know, maybe a photograph you were using to blackmail him. I wouldn’t have been hiding behind the bathroom door, and it wouldn’t have hit me in the face. What do you have to say about that, hmm?”

  “That you should have found a better hiding place.” She shrugged. “What’s this photograph you’re talking about? I don’t have a photograph.” She was lying. Again! She’d told me herself that she’d taken a photo of Paul wearing one of Ethel’s ballgowns.

  I picked up the camera Sylvia had moved from the kitchen table to the counter and waved it at Joyce. “Does this ring any bells?”

  “Oh, there it is. I was wondering what I’d done with that.” Joyce went to take the camera from me, but her hand passed right through it.

  “You left it with Sally for safekeeping. You were worried your son-in-law might steal it.”

  Joyce jerked, as if I’d slapped her, swiveling away and crossing to the living room windows, placing her face through the glass as she peered outside.

  “Sally must be confused,” Joyce said. “She asked to borrow the camera, and honestly, I forgot she had it.”

  “Why are you lying?” I said softly, crossing to stand by her side. “Look, I know you took a photo of Paul wearing Ethel’s dress that you used to blackmail him into doing your bidding.”

  “I was thinking on my feet that day.” She puffed out her chest, clearly pleased with herself. “I told him the photo would never see the light of day if he did my bidding.”

  “Which was?”

  “That he sourced the items our clients needed.”

  “Like Viagra and Valium?”

  Joyce shook her head. “Are you insane? I didn’t want him involved in that. No, the other stuff. Chocolate. Nail polish. Nora Roberts’ latest bestseller. That sort of thing.”

  “So, Paul didn’t know about the drugs?”

  “Of course not. Why would he? It’s not like we did it often.”

  I frowned. “What do you mean?”

  “The Viagra. Not a lot of demand. And certainly not many people wanting to sell their pills, if you know what I mean.”

  “And the Valium?”

  She shrugged. “Same deal. It’s not like we did a roaring trade. We’d pick up a few pills here and there and sell them on, but it’s not the big drug ring you seem to be inferring.”

  I turned to the dining table where Sylvia, Dennis, and Kade were all watching me talk to thin air.

  “What’s she saying?” Dennis asked.

  “That not many pills changed hands. That it’s not the big drug operation we’re inferring. Dennis, how many pills were in the stash Sylvia gave you?”

  “One four-pill blister pack of Viagra, two pills missing. One box of 5 mg diazepam, fifty tablets in total, but only one half empty blister pack left.”

  I glared at Kade. He’d led me to believe the women had a stockpile of illicit drugs. Two Viagra pills and maybe five Valium pills were hardly a haul, and certainly not enough to have them arrested for drug dealing.

  “It’s still a felony to sell prescription medications that are not yours,” Kade responded to my glare.

  “Yes, but this is hardly going to see them spend jail time! You made me think they were headed to the big house.”

  “I needed them to be scared. What they were doing was outright stupid.”

  “He’s right,” Dennis chimed in. “Not only illegal, but dangerous.”

  “Yes, I know,” I cried. “I’m not the one who needs a lecture.”

  Kade and Dennis both had the grace to look sheepish while Sylvia appeared to share my ire.

  “Did you boys intentionally mislead Audrey?”

  Dennis sat back, raising his hands in surrender. “Hey, it wasn’t me! I didn’t tell Audrey anything. If someone at this table led her to believe the pills trading hands were more numerous than they actually were, well, it wasn’t me.” He one hundred percent threw his son under the bus.

  “Kade!” Sylvia scolded. “That was not nice. Audrey has a lot on her plate right now. She’s in an unfamiliar environment, with people she’s only just met, and you’re playing silly games to frighten some old women into walking the straight and narrow? Now is not the time.”

  “Mom,” Kade started, but Sylvia cut him off.

  “Don’t you Mom me. You apologize to your fiancée.”

  “Sorry, Audrey.”

  I couldn’t help it. I giggled. The giggle escalated into laughter that I couldn’t control. Tears rolled down my cheeks, and I wrapped my arms around my middle because my ribs ached from laughing so hard. Kade looked like a little schoolboy being chastised, not by his teacher, but by his mom. Of course, my laughter was infectious, and soon the entire table joined in my mirth.

  The laughter broke the tension, and Kade waved me back to the table. “Come and finish your dinner.”

  I sat back down, Joyce hovering at the end of the table. “Do you think Paul killed me?” she asked.

  I shrugged. “It certainly seems he had motive.”

  “What’s she saying?” Dennis stage whispered.

  “She’s wondering if Paul Wilson killed her.”

  Dennis leaned back in his chair and stroked his clean-shaven chin, as if caressing an invisible beard. “Considering she was blackmailing him, that definitely gives him motive. As for opportunity, we’re going to have to trace his movements.”

  “He let himself into Joyce’s apartment with a key, yet he wasn’t lugging around a massive key ring, so I’m thinking he has a master key.”

  “Meaning he can let himself in and out of anyone’s apartment,” Dennis finished for me.

  “You know what we should do next?” Sylvia said. “We should get that film developed. If that is what he was looking for in Joyce’s apartment, maybe there’s more on it than a photo of him in a dress.”

  “That alone is pretty damning,” Kade pointed out. “Like I said earlier, something like that could cost him his job.”

  “Yes, but he also knew all he had to do was destroy the photo and the problem would go away. He didn’t need to kill Joyce,” Sylvia shot back.

  Kade wasn’t convinced. “She could still tell people.”

  “But would they believe her? Joyce seems to have a bit of a reputation as a prankster. Paul could spin it, make it sound like a fanciful story made up by a woman wanting to pull your leg,” Dennis said.

  “Audrey.” Sylvia grabbed my arm, her face lit up with excitement. “Tomorrow, you and I are going to go get that film developed. The boys can do some snooping as to Paul’s whereabouts at the time of Joyce’s death.” She let go of my arm and looked at her husband. “Do we know when the poison was administered? Was it fast acting?”

  He nodded. “Toxicology shows she still had tetrahydrozoline in her system, meaning it was ingested prior to her death.”

  “How prior? Breakfast this morning? Or dinner last night?”

  “Breakfast this morning.”

  Sylvia nodded. “Right. You two need to go to the Sunset Café in the morning and find out if Paul Wilson was there. Do they have CCTV? The cameras may have caught him in the act.”

  I was a little taken aback that I hadn’t thought of that. I mean, Private Investigating 101, check CCTV footage.

  Chapter Twelve

  Bright morning sunlight peeking through the curtains pulled me awake. Reluctantly, and with a heartfelt groan, I rolled onto my back. It was odd to sleep without Bandit and Thor plastered all over me. Yet, despite my aching face, I’d had a good night’s rest. Then I heard it—an empty silence that told me Kade was gone. Cracking open one eye, I looked at the empty pillow next to me. Yep. Kade was gone all right, but there was a note written in his familiar scrawl. He’d left me breakfast in the kitchen.

  Shooting out of bed, I rushed to the kitchen, desperately praying I hadn’t slept in too late and breakfast was cold. Relief flooded me when I found a plate overflowing with still-warm pancakes and fresh fruit waiting. Sitting at the table, I savored each bite and thought of the amazing man who’d put this meal together before leaving. His love surrounded me like a warm embrace, preparing me for the day ahead. Sylvia and I had plans to head out and get the film developed from Joyce’s camera, and I was genuinely looking forward to spending time with my mother-in-law to be.

  “Oh, you’re up!” Sylvia bustled through with a load of laundry in her arms. “How did you sleep?”

  “Like a log,” I confessed. “Kade left a note that he and Dennis have already headed out?”

 

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17