Last Resort of Murder (A Lacy Steele Mystery Book 9) (5 page)

“Everything is so fattening,” she
commented.

“You can order from the spa menu,”
Jason said. “That’s what Lacy was going to do.” He handed her the smaller spa
menu.

“So expensive,” she commented as
she perused.

Jason felt a headache starting
between his temples. He hadn’t realized how much he despised negativity until Lacy
entered his life. Her kind, nurturing spirit acted like a pumice stone, filing
away the rough edges around him until he, too, wanted only to be surrounded by
positivity. Now the cynics of the world grated on him because he knew what it
was like to live with someone who saw only possibilities. Lacy looked at a
decrepit, condemned building and saw a bustling marketplace. She looked at an
insane drifter and saw a secretary. She looked at an emotionally damaged loner
and saw a boyfriend.

“You’re quiet,” Frannie said after
they placed their orders. “I suppose you think it’s weird to dine with your
girlfriend’s mother.”

“Not at all,” Jason lied.

Frannie chuckled. To his right,
someone else laughed, and Frannie froze. Jason looked over to see Clint and
Michael eating and talking.

“If you want to go somewhere else,
we could,” Jason said. He didn’t want to, though. He was hungry and the steak
he had ordered—on Tosh’s tab, no less—sounded delightful.

“Don’t be silly, I’m fine,” Frannie
said and now Jason thought she was lying. She picked up the vase to her right
and pulled out the rose, twisting it between her fingers.

Jason hesitated. Instinct told him
to accept the lie and move on. Make small talk until the meal was over, and
then he was free. But Frannie was obviously miserable, and what made her
parents miserable made Lacy miserable. So, as much as he knew he might regret
it, he opened his mouth and jumped in.

“How did you and Clint meet? I
don’t think I’ve ever heard.”

“I don’t ever remember not knowing
him,” Frannie said. “You know how it is in a small town. You go to the same
school your whole lives and move in and out of classes together.”

Jason knew because he and Lacy were
the same way. They were in the same kindergarten class. But he also knew now that
it was possible to know someone forever without really
knowing
that person at all.

“When did things turn to romance?”
he asked.

“I started to notice him when we
were twelve. He was the cutest boy in the school, and good at everything. All
the girls liked him, though, so I pretended to loathe him. Worked like a charm.
He asked me to the seventh grade dance and we were together after that.”

“You never broke up?”

Her sad smile slipped. She stuffed
the rose back in its vase. “For a while our senior year.”

“What happened?”

“You know how kids are. Oh, here’s
our food.”

The conversation was clearly closed
and Jason was probably as relieved as Frannie. He wanted to delve into his
girlfriend’s mother’s love life as much as he wanted to have a performance review
with his boss, the sheriff.

The conversation shifted into
neutral territory—the weather, skiing, and mutual acquaintances around
town until the end of the meal when Clint and Michael stopped by the table.

“Jason, Frannie. Where’s Lacy?”
Clint asked.

“Detoxing,” Frannie said.

“Detoxing? What does that mean?” He
looked to Jason for an answer.

“She’s sick from too much health
food,” Jason said.

“Sick? What do you mean sick?”

“She’s fine, Clint. Lacy’s a grown
woman, and we checked on her before we left,” Frannie said.

“Maybe I should check on her,”
Clint said.

“Yes, do that. Maybe the resort
will let you use a rocking chair so you can coddle her properly,” Frannie said.

Jason and Michael exchanged awkward
glances.

“Clint and I were thinking of
checking out the slopes to plan a skiing strategy for tomorrow. Anyone want to
come along?” Michael asked.

“No, thank you,” Frannie said.

“I’ll meet you there when I’m
finished,” Jason said.

Michael and Clint walked away.
Frannie let out a breath. “That was unpleasant. I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay,” Jason said.
“Relationships are hard sometimes.”

“The death of one is even harder,
I’m afraid.”

“I thought this was a trial
separation.”

“How many times does that ever work
out? I’m a realist, Jason. Clint and I have stopped working. I don’t know how
to fix things between us, and neither does he. Worse, I’m not sure either of us
wants to. The best thing to do at this point is cut our losses and move on. At
least we made it until the kids were out of the house so it won’t affect them.”

She was wrong, but Jason didn’t
think it would do any good to tell her. The separation was affecting Lacy. She
was hurting, and he hated it. Worse, it was the kind of wound that would only
get deeper as time went on. He wanted to fix things for her, but how could he
hope to do that when no one seemed to understand what went wrong in the first
place? He was a detective; it was time to detect. His instinct was telling him
something. Time to find out if it was true.

“Frannie, can I ask you a question?”

“Yes.”

“Did the breakup when you were in
high school have any effect on your relationship now?”

She took a moment to answer. When
she did, her voice was loaded with emotion. “I’ll tell you the truth, Jason. It
has everything to do with everything.”

When Lacy woke, the room was dark.
Kimber lay sleeping peacefully beside her, but not all was well in the room.
Someone was crying. In fact, two someones were crying.

She sat up and saw Riley pacing back
and forth with Lucy. Both of them were bawling.

“What is it?” she whispered.

“I don’t know,” Riley said. “I fed
her, burped her, changed her, and she won’t stop crying. She does this every
night. Usually Tosh takes her for a while, but his evil spawn sisters made sure
that won’t happen, so I’m on my own. I’m so tired, Lacy. I’m so, so tired.”

“Let me take her for a while,” Lacy
said. She expected Riley to argue, but she didn’t. She gently thrust the baby
into her arms and stumbled toward the bed.

“She’ll need to eat again in a few
hours. Come and get me.” Riley fell into bed and was almost immediately asleep.

Baby Lucy, however, showed no signs
of sleeping or of calming down. If Lacy didn’t get her to hush soon, she would
wake everyone else in the room, or maybe the hotel. She grabbed a blanket and a
key card and walked out of the room.

As soon as they were in the
hallway, Lucy stopped crying. The light in the hallway illuminated Lacy’s face,
giving the baby something new to look at. She peered up at Lacy with rapt
fascination as if trying to memorize and catalogue her features.

“That’s right, my hair is red. Get
used to it, soak it in,” Lacy whispered. She wondered if the fire was still
burning in the great room and headed in that direction. No one was out and
about, but that was fine by her. She was still wearing the pretty green dress
from last night, only now it was crumpled and sweat stained. Her hair must be a
mess, but with only a baby to see, it didn’t seem to matter so much.

They reached the great room and,
much to Lacy’s delight, found the fire still burning. No one was there to feed
it, but it looked strong and healthy. Maybe Nordic fire elves sneaked in at
night to keep it going.

She chose a seat close to the fire
and arranged Lucy’s blanket over them both. Even with the fire’s simmering
warmth, she was chilly. Maybe because her dress was sleeveless and sweat had
dried on her skin. Her stomach was feeling better, she noted with relief. The
illness had passed—along with everything she had ever eaten—leaving
a pleasant sort of emptiness in its place. She was thirsty, but that could
wait. For now she was enjoying the bonding time with her niece.

The baby began to drift to sleep.
Lacy used the time to study her face. She saw bits of Riley and a little of
Tosh and some of what was solely Lucy. “Pretty girl,” Lacy cooed. “You’re so
loved.” She kissed the soft, sweet-smelling little head. Being around a baby
always had a Grinch-like effect on her body—her uterus swelled two sizes
that day. Her rational mind told her she was in no way ready to be a mother,
but her body had other ideas and began beating out a staccato rhythm.
Ba-by, ba-by, ba-by, ba-by.
Whowantsababy?Whowantsababy?Whowantsababy? Ido!Ido!Ido!

“Easy there, sister,” Lacy told
herself. “We’re light years away. Enjoy this baby; you can give her back.”

The baby-wanting hormones were
flooding her body, though. She could tell because she could no longer summon
the memory of Riley’s horrific labor and delivery. At the time, she had vowed
to never have a baby. But why? Babies were so magical and they smelled so good.

No,
stop it. You’re not ready for a baby.

But
look at her. Smell her. That’s it, sniff the baby. Keep sniffing. Doesn’t that
smell good? You want one, don’t you?

“I’m going to need a baby-vention
if this keeps up,” Lacy said. “Snap out of it, woman. It’s the devil magic
working on you.”

She took a few deep breaths, trying
not to let the intoxicating aroma of sleeping baby fill her nostrils. When she
opened her eyes, Jason was crouched beside her chair. Was he real or had her
overheated hormones conjured his image to taunt her?

“Were you talking to someone?” he
whispered.

“The baby,” Lacy said. She leaned
forward and kissed him. He was real all right, and his timing couldn’t be
worse. She had the mad desire to hold up the baby and say, “Want dis? I know
how to get one.”

“Do you want to hold the baby?” she
asked.

“I’d rather hold you,” he said. She
stood. He sat. She nestled in his lap, repositioning Lucy more comfortably. The
baby didn’t stir. Lacy rested her head on Jason’s chest. She was a mess, but
the lights were dim. Hopefully he didn’t notice.

“What are you doing up?” she asked.

“I went for a run.”

“Aren’t you skiing today?”

“Yes,” he said.

“Oh,” Lacy said. She kept a careful
debit system of her calorie intake and output each day. She did exactly as much
as it took to burn off the calories and never more. Doing two athletic events
in a day on purpose had never occurred to her.

“How are you feeling?” he asked.

“Great,” she said. “Much better
than yesterday. I’m definitely up for skiing.”

They sat in cozy silence for a
while, the only sound coming from the pop and crackle of the fire.

“This is all I wanted from this weekend.
You and me and time,” Jason said. “I feel like we never see each other, not
really. Between your job and my job and everything that pops up between. It’s
crazy.”

“I’m sorry,” Lacy said.

“I wasn’t blaming you,” he said.

“But it’s my family, they’re the
‘everything that pops up between.’ They’re the crazy ones.”

“This one’s not crazy,” Jason said.
He rested his hand lightly on Lucy’s head, dwarfing it.

“No, she’s perfect,” Lacy said.
They stared at the baby, admiring her flawlessness. It was easy to pretend they
were a family, that Lucy was their baby. Lacy wondered what Jason was thinking.
Was he freaking out? Did he feel pressured?

“Riley is exhausted. I don’t think
you sleep much when you have a baby. We’re seeing the highlights,” Lacy said to
dispel any notion that she was getting ideas.

“Hmm,” Jason said, giving away none
of his thoughts or feelings.

When it came down to it, when she
actually thought of moving forward with Jason, of taking the next step, of
marriage and children, she did feel those little bubbles of panic in her gut,
as if she had swallowed an un-dissolved Alka-Seltzer.

“She smells good. Or is that you?”

“Definitely not me,” Lacy said.

“Okay, I’m ready to hold her,” he
said.

Lacy shifted the baby to him. He
held her with one arm, and the baby still looked tiny. His other arm was around
Lacy. She was pressed close against him, within easy reach of his neck. She
pressed her lips to it.

“Are you actively trying to torture
me now?” he asked.

“Mm,” Lacy said and continued her
advance.

“Lacy,” he said warningly. Her
hands were free. How best to use them?

“Lacy, the baby peed through her
diaper, and my shirt is soaked.”

“Well, that’s one way to dampen the
mood. Do you want to take a shower?”

“Yes, but I don’t think your
parents would approve.”

“Do you want to shower in your
room, and I’ll shower in my room and we’ll meet up after?”

“Yes.” He handed her the baby who
was beginning to stir. She yawned and one tiny fist rose high in the air.

“Look at her. Makes you think,
doesn’t it?” Jason said.

“Makes you think what?” Lacy asked.

They paused outside her door. He
looked caught, as if he hadn’t expected her to expound on anything. “Uh, that
babies are people who, uh…”

The baby squealed. Riley opened the
door, bleary eyed, and reached for the baby. “Breakfast time.”

Lacy handed her over. Riley
disappeared inside and the door closed. “Now, what were you saying?” She turned
back to Jason.

“That I think you’re swell, and
I’ll meet you back here in twenty minutes. Is that enough time?”

“Sounds perfect,” Lacy said. All
she had to do was shower and rub salt on her armpits. Her hair she wound into a
loose bun. She would deal with it later. Her stomach rumbled, alerting her to
the fact that she hadn’t eaten anything but green swill since yesterday
morning.

“You look cute,” Jason said when
they met up in the hallway a short time later. “How hungry are you? Because I
was thinking that we never got around to finishing our conversation from
earlier.”

“Which conversation?”

“The one that started with your
lips on my neck,” Jason said.

The door opened and Frannie poked
her head out. “I thought I heard voices. You kids going to breakfast?”

“We’re going to tour the resort
first,” Jason said. He took Lacy’s hand and led her away before Frannie could
offer to tag along.

“We’re touring the resort?” Lacy
said.

“This place is huge. There has to
be an unused supply closet somewhere.”

“A supply closet? Fancy.”

“Desperation can make a man do
crazy things, Lacy.”

“What kinds of crazy things?” Lacy
asked.

“I’d be happy to show you,” Jason
said. He tried a door. It led to a conference room. He closed the door and
backed out.

“What was wrong with that place?”

“Security camera in the corner.”

Ten minutes later, on the other
side of the resort, after trying more than a dozen doors and finding most of
them locked, they found an unlocked supply closet, but it wasn’t empty.

When they opened the door and
turned on the light, a body lay sprawled on the floor.