Baked Alaska (26 page)

“And this cruise was the first time you’d met in person?” Sadie thought Maggie had said something about that when they had talked before, but she couldn’t be sure.

Maggie nodded. “We met up in Seattle before getting on the ship. This was our big face-to-face after weeks of getting to know one another. I can look back on it now and remember that she talked a lot about Shawn and how she hoped that one day we would have a relationship. She said that he probably didn’t mean what he’d said in those e-mails and she wished she hadn’t sent them to me. Knowing that she knew he was on the ship makes me realize she was prepping me to meet him. I guess she thought we would make up and get along and everything, but at the time I just thought she was sad he’d cut her off, maybe obsessing a little bit. This whole thing was supposed to be...life-changing.”

It had been life-changing, but in such a different way than anyone expected. Sadie processed through all the information and wondered if she should remind Maggie that Sadie and Shawn had once had a private investigating business and that Ohio was a border state to Michigan, where Shawn lived. Once Shawn was back home, it wouldn’t be difficult for him to sniff out the information about who had filed the affidavit, possibly leading her to her birth parents. It didn’t feel like the right time to say it out loud, though. “I’m so sorry,” Sadie said instead.

“But I know there’s purpose in this,” Maggie said, straightening her back and trying to look confident. “I know God’s trying to show me something, and I’m trying to keep an open heart about it. I just wish I understood better than I do.”

Sadie nodded her agreement with the sentiment. She’d seen that very thing play out in her life so many times that she couldn’t discount it. But just because God was leading you through a journey with a meaningful end didn’t mean the brambles along that course didn’t draw blood sometimes. “Did Lorraina ever tell you that she was sick?”

Maggie looked at her hands again. “I knew she was a recovered alcoholic, and she told me she had a bad liver, but I didn’t know how bad it was until Juneau.” She glanced at Sadie fast enough for her to see the smallest amount of censure in her eyes. “I didn’t know anything about her needing a transplant or Shawn not being willing to be tested to see if he could save her life.”

Oh, dear. Sadie could feel her mama bear instincts shifting around in her chest. She was not in a good place to hear even the mildest of condemnations against Shawn. She took a deep breath before she spoke and tried to take a diplomatic approach. “He was having a difficult time trusting what Lorraina told him, and he just needed more time to figure things out—time she wasn’t giving him.”

Maggie’s eyes narrowed slightly, and it was enough to put Sadie even more on edge. “I know he’s your son, but it was cruel of him to deny her the peace of mind to at least have been tested. If he wasn’t a match, then fine, but to not even try? I just...I just can’t understand that.”

Sadie felt her sympathy closing off even more as her hackles rose in defense of her son. “He was feeling very manipulated by the situation. She’d borrowed money she hadn’t paid back and told him things that weren’t lining up.”

Maggie gave a halfhearted shrug. “She borrowed a couple hundred dollars and was having a hard time keeping up with her hours at the dry cleaners because she was so sick. A person’s life is on the line, and he can’t even get a blood test for her?”

“It’s not that simple,” Sadie defended. “And he hadn’t said no. He was just taking a little time to try to understand the situation better. It all felt very rushed for him, very strange.”

“I would have been tested in an instant if she’d asked me.”

Sadie’s mama bear claws were out in full force, and though she knew the next words she said should be more carefully considered, having Shawn villainized in any way was more than she could stand. “I don’t know much about the testing behind this transplant thing, but the fact that she never even asked you to be tested makes me wonder if it was because you weren’t biologically linked to one another and Lorraina knew it.” That hit Maggie hard enough that she flinched. Sadie wasn’t done. “After all that’s happened, can’t you see that the chances are that she was manipulating
everyone
? If she knew she was sick when she first found Shawn, it puts a whole new spin on why she reconnected with him at all. And then, six months
after
she’d told Shawn that she’d never had any other children, she tells him that he has a birth sister and wouldn’t he love to meet her? When he says he doesn’t want to, she plans for this cruise that
you
pay for in order to put it all right in front of him. She was probably hoping to make him uncomfortable enough that he’d get tested just to get her out of his hair.” It wasn’t until Sadie stopped talking that she saw the growing expression of horror on Maggie’s face.

“What are you saying?” she asked, her voice squeaky with rising emotion. “That I was some kind of...bait for Shawn?”

Oh gosh,
Sadie thought, realizing what she’d said and what it would feel like to hear it laid out like that. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it to sound that way. I’m just trying to explain why Shawn acted the way he did. She was harassing him.”

“She was sick,” Maggie said, tears spilling out of her eyes. “He was her last hope, and he turned his back on her.” She got to her feet and Sadie did as well.

“Maggie, I—”

“Margret Lewish?”

They both turned to look at an officer who had approached them.

“Yes?” Maggie said.

“Officer Daltron would like you to come back.”

Maggie avoided Sadie’s eyes and seemed glad to have a reason to leave. “I’m sorry I bothered you to come in.”

“You didn’t bother me,” Sadie said, feeling terrible and yet still defensive. The officer walked to the door at the far end of the waiting room, and Sadie took the opportunity to loop back to their initial conversation and hopefully end this conversation on a higher note than the one they’d sunk to. She spoke softly, though, so only Maggie could hear her. “I don’t think you hurt her, Maggie. Even if she wasn’t who she said she was, I don’t think you’d do anything to hurt her.”

Maggie made eye contact with Sadie, but her expression didn’t soften. When she spoke, her words were barely a whisper. “Maybe you don’t, but if I have a stronger motive than Shawn does, it changes things for him, doesn’t it? If I
did
poison her, then he’s off the hook.”

Sadie had to really think about that. Did she believe, even just a little bit, that maybe Maggie
did
have something to do with Lorraina’s coma? If it turned out that Lorraina had targeted Maggie on that website and faked everything as a ploy to get Shawn’s cooperation through his interest in having a birth sibling, and if Maggie found out, wasn’t that a pretty good motive for attempted murder? And Maggie worked with cyanide! How many people had access to something so deadly in the course of their nine-to-five job? And yet to look at her, and to have felt the pain in Maggie’s voice as she talked about what she was learning about Lorraina, set all those suspicions on their ear. “I don’t think you tricked her into drinking cyanide-laced wine, Maggie. But I just...I just don’t know how to deal with this. I don’t know how to help you.”

“Right, because Shawn needs you. I get it.”

“Ms. Lewish?” the officer said.

Maggie turned and walked out of the room, not even acknowledging Sadie’s weak “Good-bye.” She felt horrible but didn’t know how to make it right. She pulled out her phone to check the time and saw it was nearly three o’clock; she had her appointment with Officer Jareg in an hour. Breanna was probably packing for the stay in Skagway.

Sadie looked at the door Maggie had disappeared through one last time before she left the police station. Unraveling who Lorraina was had turned out to be an emotional minefield for everyone involved, and Sadie didn’t like that she’d thrown more pain into Maggie’s path.

Sadie hurried toward the ship, her mind filled with thoughts of Maggie. What was Sadie supposed to do to help her? She hated that Maggie’s guilt could work in favor of proving Shawn’s innocence and wished there was something else, or someone else, on the radar to take the attention away from both of them. The only possible connection was the wine bottle.

Thinking about that fueled her fires all over again. She needed to find out more about Ben and Tanice. Had the poisoned wine been meant for one of them? And how had it gotten into Lorraina’s hands? If they could prove that someone else had tampered with the wine, that could get both Shawn and Maggie off the hook, right? Could Shawn get back on the ship tonight if the police could get enough information to clear him before the ship left port?

Her phone chimed with a text shortly after she reached Broadway, and she stepped out of the flow of pedestrians to read the message. It was from Maggie, and Sadie held her breath as she opened it.

Blood test came back. Lorraina isn’t my mother.

Sadie groaned, knowing that despite the crisp explanation, this had to have hit Maggie like a boulder to the head. She texted back.

I’m so sorry.

She hoped Maggie would reply right away, but when nothing came in, she sent one more text.

>I really am sorry. I know this must be hard for you.

No response.

Sadie’s heart was heavy. Lorraina had preyed upon Maggie’s vulnerability and inflicted more pain than Sadie could possibly imagine. And Sadie had pushed Maggie away to the point where she could offer no solace to the poor girl who needed support now more than ever.

A text came in from Pete telling her the same information, and Sadie thanked him without telling him she already knew. He promised her more information as it became available. Sadie thanked him again and headed for the ship.

Could she send a note to Maggie explaining her position? It would allow Maggie the chance to read it on her own and ponder Sadie’s words without the pressure of having to respond. She was deep in thought as she reached the gangplank and glanced up in time to see a familiar face.

“Tanice!” she said automatically, causing the other woman, who was coming down the gangplank, to flinch. She didn’t respond, but gave Sadie a dirty look as she passed by, reminding Sadie of their less-than-enjoyable conversation following the gold panning expedition yesterday.

And yet Sadie was turning around before she could consider any other alternative but to talk to this woman.

So help her.

Chapter 29

“Tanice,” she called out, pushing down all her feelings of embarrassment by reminding herself that Shawn and Maggie were being questioned by the police and this woman might know why. She noted that Tanice only had her purse with her; like every other passenger infiltrating the city, she was probably going shopping. Would she do that if her husband were dead? Except, Sadie remembered, Tanice’s husband’s name was Kirby. Maybe Ben was Tanice’s boyfriend and the reason for her marital problems. Maybe Kirby was trying to poison him!

“Tanice,” she called out again, picking up her pace.

Tanice looked over her shoulder but kept going, taking longer steps, which spurred Sadie to speed up even more.

“I just need to talk to you for a second,” Sadie said when she was just a few feet away from the woman. Tanice showed no signs of stopping, so Sadie reached out and grabbed Tanice’s arm in an aggressive gesture that caused Tanice to stop, turn, and pull her arm back.

Sadie let go—she didn’t have to, she chose to—and came to a stop in front of her.

Tanice obviously didn’t know what to do as her eyes darted from side to side as though looking for someone to save her. They were in broad daylight, in the middle of the pier. Tanice was perfectly safe, but her fear worked in Sadie’s favor.

“I’m sorry,” Sadie said, trying to catch her breath, “but it’s important.”

Tanice regarded her with suspicion, but finally said, “What?”

What indeed. Sadie could think of several questions she
couldn’t
ask, but a few that she could.

“Is your husband’s middle name Benjamin?”

“What?” Tanice said, sounding incredulous and backing up a step.

Oh, please don’t run away
, Sadie thought to herself. She did not want to tackle this woman in front of all these people, but she would if she had to. “Is your husband’s middle name Benjamin?”

“It’s none of your busine—”

“Just tell me!” Sadie interrupted. “The sooner you do the sooner we can both walk away from this. Is his name Ben?”

“His name is Kirby.”

“Is his middle name Ben?”

“No, it’s Jonathan. Why are—”

“Is Ben his nickname?”

“Are you drunk?”

Sadie took a deep breath. “Okay, look, I found a wine bottle with a gift tag that was written to Ben and Tanice—was it yours?”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about. I don’t—”

“Would anyone send a bottle of wine to you and someone named Ben?”

“Other than a cousin of mine, I don’t know anyone named Ben. Besides, my husband and I don’t drink, so no one would be sending us a bottle of wine in the first place,” Tanice said, her voice clipped.