Good Buy Girls 05 - All Sales Final (22 page)

“Well, there are some other ideas for affordable weddings,” Ginger said. “For example, you could always have the wedding reception at your new house.”

“The haunted house?” Summer asked. “You want to have a party in a haunted house?”

“Well, it’s not necessarily a bad idea,” Claire said. “According to my research, 81% of all wedding guests ranked the entertainment as the most memorable part of the wedding.”

“Entertainment?” Maggie asked.

“And you can’t get much more entertaining than ghosts,” Ginger said.

Maggie lowered her head into her hands. Moving, skeletons, wedding, ghosts: She was going to have a nervous breakdown.

“Hey, I know,” Claire said. “Pete knows a local cover band that plays in the coffee shop every now and then. They can play anything. I’ll ask him to see if they’re available. They all have jobs and mostly perform for fun. I heard one of them say they were just happy to play and even took payment in buffalo chicken wings once.”

Maggie’s head popped up. “Book ’em.”

Claire grinned. “On it.”

“See?” Ginger said. “It’s all coming together.”

“Unless Andy has her way,” Summer said.

“What do you mean?” Maggie asked.

“Let me put it like this,” Summer said. “If I were a betting woman, I’d lay odds that she was the one who strung that fishing line across the top step.”

“But why?” Maggie said. She had told the girls earlier about the fishing line incident, but she had tried to play it off like it was a prank by some neighborhood kids. She didn’t want anyone to worry unnecessarily. “Me being hurt doesn’t help her get Sam back to Richmond.”

“Unless you broke your neck,” Summer said. “Then what reason would he have to stay?”

Maggie didn’t like the way her heart clutched at that statement. She also wasn’t thrilled that Summer had had the same thought she’d had about Andy. She was willing to let Summer try to be one of the Good Buy Girls but she was becoming increasingly uncomfortable with the realization that she and Summer seemed to think alike. It was disturbing.

“She’s right. You’re going to have to be careful until you know who might have done such a thing,” Joanne said. She leaned over the stroller to check on Patience, who was still fast asleep.

“No going to the house by yourself,” Claire said. “I can always come with you when I’m out of work.”

“Same here,” Ginger said. Maggie could tell by the pained expression on her face that of all the Good Buy Girls, she was the most afraid of the house. It was a
testament to their friendship that she was willing to go in at all.

“Thank you,” Maggie said. “I will be careful, but I still believe it was just a neighborhood kid playing a prank.”

All four of them stared at her and she sighed.

“Or not.”

Chapter 23

“So, I’ve been told that my lack of decisiveness about our wedding is a bad signal to you.”

“In what way?” Sam asked.

Maggie and Sam had escaped their families and were enjoying a romantic dinner for two—well, along with Marshall Dillon—in their new home. Sam had brought a card table and folding chairs and they ate their take-out dinner from House of Noodles right out of the boxes.

“Well, it was theorized that you might think I don’t want to get married to you,” Maggie said. “But I just want you to know that I do and I’ve even made some decisions.”

Sam grinned at her. “Okay, fire ’em at me.”

“Peonies for flowers,” she said. “All different colors.
I know we talked about calla lilies but I found a sweet deal on locally grown peonies.”

“I’m okay with that. I think my grandmother grew those in her garden. Big round-headed things, aren’t they? I always liked those.”

“Good,” she said.

“And Claire has a cover band contact through Pete for a really talented group of musicians that I hear will work for chicken wings,” she said.

Sam bit into his egg roll. “How about a roasted pig?”

Maggie tipped her head to the side. “Huh?”

“Michael and I were thinking a big old luau-style roast pig would be the ticket for food,” he said.

“This means I don’t have to find a caterer?” Maggie asked.

Sam nodded. “I’ll take care of the food.”

“I love it,” Maggie said. “Now as to where we should have the reception—”

“Here,” Sam interrupted her. “I think it should be here.”

Maggie grinned. “I was thinking the same thing.”

Sam’s phone buzzed. He glanced at it but didn’t answer it.

“Let’s move in after the wedding, that way we don’t have to do anything but rent tables and chairs and put a roasting pit in the backyard,” Sam said.

Maggie let out a very uncharacteristic squeal which made Sam laugh. She reached across the table and squeezed his hand.

“I think we have a wedding,” she said.

Sam’s phone buzzed again. He glanced at it and she could tell by the way his lips tightened he was unhappy at the interruption.

“What about invitations?” he asked.

“Meh, in a town this size, let’s just invite everyone,” Maggie said.

“It’s not likely that they’ll misbehave at the sheriff’s house,” Sam said. “All right, everyone it is.”

“I’m sure I can ask Bianca Madison to get the word out,” Maggie said. “She has that annual ball every year and she manages to invite everyone.”

“See, it’s all coming together,” Sam said. “I never had any doubt that you wanted this. Only that you were a bit overwhelmed with so much change so fast.”

“I was, but I think I’m feeling better,” Maggie said. “And hey, we’ve been here for over an hour and there’s been no sign of any ghostly activity.”

As soon as she said it they both glanced around the room, but there was nothing. Instead, Sam’s phone started buzzing again, making Maggie jump.

“I think you need to answer it,” she said. “Whoever it is, they’re very persistent.”

“It’s Andy,” he said. He frowned and then answered, “Collins.”

“Uh-huh,” he said. “No, I can’t come over to the ME’s right now.”

Maggie took an egg roll out of their shared carton and nibbled on it while she blatantly listened to the conversation.

“I’m sure it is fascinating,” Sam said. “But unless there
is a reason you can’t give me the information over the phone, I’d like you to just tell me now.”

Maggie glanced away. She had only heard Sam’s voice get this short when he was very irritated.

“Thank you for confirming the identity of the skeleton,” he said. “And how about the paper?”

Sam tapped his chopsticks against the carton while he listened. Maggie wished she could hear what was being said, but she knew he’d tell her as soon as he hung up.

“Thank you, Andy, you’ve done a great job here,” he said. He glanced at Maggie and then said, “I think you’re good to head back to Richmond now.”

Maggie could hear very excited chatter on the other end of the phone, although she couldn’t make out the words.

“No, I really think it’s for the best,” Sam said. “But again, thank you and nice work.”

He ended the call while Andy was still talking.

“Did you just hang up on her?” Maggie asked. Rudeness was not generally Sam’s way.

“There’s something I need to tell you,” he said.

Maggie put down her carton of food. Oh, boy, was this it? Had Sam finally figured out Andy’s game? And if he had, how did he feel about it? He sounded irritated with her but maybe it was because Andy had struck a nerve. Maybe he did want to go back to Richmond, or even worse, maybe he wanted to go back and he wanted Maggie to go with him, where she’d be forced to spend more time with Andy. Gah! It was completely unacceptable. She forced herself to breathe. No sense in panicking until she heard what he had to say. Right? Right.

“Last night while I was on duty, Andy showed up at the station,” he said. “She was drunk.”

Maggie raised her eyebrows. She hadn’t pegged Andy as a drinker.

“Andy is having a hard time back in Richmond,” he said. “A lot of the old guard, like me, has retired and she’s not working so well with the new powers that be.”

“Is that why she wants you to come back?” Maggie asked.

“You knew?” Sam looked surprised.

“She told me when she first got here that her plan was to bring you back to Richmond and I could either pack a bag and come with or kiss you good-bye,” she said.

“And you never said anything to me?” he asked.

“I wanted you to make up your own mind,” she said.

“Maggie O’Brien Gerber soon-to-be Collins, you never cease to amaze me,” he said. “You do know there was never any question of me going back?”

“I do now,” she said.

He kissed her on the mouth and Maggie forgot where she was and what she was supposed to be doing. Sam Collins had been turning her brain to mush since he’d first kissed her in a back alley over twenty years ago. She knew now that was never going to change, and she welcomed it.

“There’s one more thing you should know about last night,” Sam said when he pulled away.

Maggie shook her head in an effort to focus. “What’s that?”

“As I was pouring coffee down Andy’s throat and
listening to her tale of woe while insisting that there was no way I was going back to Richmond, I had two visitors.”

“Who?” Maggie asked.

“Summer and Tyler Fawkes,” he said.

“Now I’m lost,” Maggie said. “Why would they have popped in on you?”

“Because Summer was tailing Andy, thinking that she was up to no good, which she was,” he said.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” Maggie cried as she hopped up from her seat. “Stop the crazy train. Are you telling me that Summer had my back?”

“Yup,” Sam said.

Maggie stared at him. “I can’t . . . that’s impossible . . . I’m not sure I can process this.”

“Tell me about it,” Sam said. “Summer looked like she was going to put a hurt on Andy, and I think only Tyler holding her back kept her from doing so.”

“That’s crazy,” Maggie said.

“No, that’s loyalty,” he said. He cleared his throat and said, “It makes you wonder.”

“Wonder if Summer has gone round the bend?” she asked.

“No, it makes you wonder how far someone will go to protect someone they love.”

“What do you mean?”

“I’ve been reading up on the Dixon family,” he said. “That book Ruth lent you that you forgot to return, and I was struck by the thought that if you read between the lines, Ida was a bit of a handful for Imogene.”

“Yes, I got that, too. It seemed as if their father had a hard time raising Imogene and Ida on his own,” Maggie said. “But they were both very active in the community and really did a lot of good works.”

“And yet, there was a dead man in their root cellar,” Sam said.

“What are you thinking?”

Sam dug in his carton with his chop sticks. He popped a bite of sweet-and-sour chicken into his mouth and chewed as if gathering his thoughts before he spoke.

“Maybe Ida got into trouble with Jasper and Imogene took care of the problem,” he said.

They were both silent as if waiting for the house—or more accurately a spirit in the house—to slam a door or flick the lights on and off. There was nothing.

“Or maybe Imogene was afraid Ida would get married and leave her,” Maggie said.

Again, they both waited but there was nothing.

Sam let out a long sigh. “I can’t believe I’m actually throwing out theories and hoping the house will give me a clue.”

Maggie sat back down and gave him a sheepish smile. “Me, too.”

“You know, I just don’t see the sisters living here if they knew there was a body in their basement,” Sam said. “I didn’t get the crazy vibe from their bios. Eccentric, yes, crazy, no.”

“So, you think someone else killed Jasper Kasey and the sisters never knew,” Maggie said.

Bam! A door slammed upstairs and the lights flickered overhead.

“Ah!” Maggie yelped and Sam started. Marshall Dillon came racing across the room with his tail at full fluff.

When Maggie’s heart stopped racing, she looked at Sam. “Do you think that was a ‘By George, I think they’ve got it!’ door slam?”

Sam gave her a wide-eyed look. “With a ‘Finally!’ light flicker? Yes, I do.”

“Who would know for sure?” Maggie asked.

They looked at each other and said at the same time, “Ruth Crenshaw.”

Chapter 24