Wicked Places (An Ivy Morgan Mystery Book 4) (11 page)

“
T
hank
you for agreeing to come in.”

Trooper Tad Harvey looked liked he’d seen better days. His eyes were ringed with red, and pooling dark bags made him appear as if he hadn’t slept in days.

“We want to help,” Jack said, settling in one of the chairs across from Harvey’s desk as Ivy took the other. “I’m a police officer. I know how this works. You have to question Ivy until you can rule her out.”

“You, too.”

“Me, too,” Jack conceded.

“That’s not fair,” Ivy protested. “Jack wasn’t even with me when I found either body.”

“That’s what
you
claim,” Harvey countered. “I can’t take your word for it. That’s not how a proper investigation is conducted. I’m sure your boyfriend can explain that to you if you’re confused.”

“Oh, no,” Ivy said. “I would much rather you keep talking to me in that tone so I can imagine I’m twelve again and roll my eyes like I did when my father used to lecture me about staying up past my bedtime.”

Jack pursed his lips to keep from laughing, Ivy’s tone warming his heart even though Harvey appeared ready to strangle her. He was worried about how defeated she was yesterday, but she was back to her chipper – and feisty – self today.

“Do you think that’s funny?” Harvey asked.

“Not particularly,” Ivy replied. “You don’t look like you laugh a lot, though, so I won’t take it personally that you’re not laughing now.”

“Calm down, tiger,” Jack chided, reaching over to rest his hand on top of Ivy’s. “Trooper Harvey has a job to do. Let’s just answer his questions and get out of here. If you behave yourself I’ll take you back to that Mexican restaurant you like for lunch so you can enjoy it this time.”

Ivy sighed. “Fine. What do you want to know?”

“I want to know about you, Ms. Morgan,” Harvey answered. “I placed a call to Shadow Lake this morning. I talked to a Detective Nixon because I wanted to ask him about his partner. He had a lot to say about you, too.”

That was a trap. Ivy knew it. Brian Nixon would never say anything bad about her. He’d known her since she was a child. He’d coached Max on three different teams. He visited her house for summer barbecues at least once a month when the weather was warm. Harvey was fishing, and both Ivy and Jack knew it.

“Oh, yeah? What did Detective Nixon say?” Ivy’s voice was unnaturally upbeat.

“He said that you had a tendency to find trouble,” Harvey replied.

“No, he didn’t.”

“Yes, he did.”

“No, he didn’t,” Jack chimed in. “Brian Nixon is my partner, and he loves Ivy. He’s been friendly with her family for years. In fact, when we have a fight, he takes her side. He didn’t say one bad thing about her, so stop trying to pretend he did.”

Harvey scowled. “I guess I shouldn’t be surprised at that,” he said. “Shadow Lake is the size of a pinprick. Everyone there knows each other.”

“I knew you would call Brian, so I’m not surprised that was the first thing you did this morning,” Jack said. “I don’t have a problem with it. We’re not killers.”

“I don’t think you’re killers either,” Harvey conceded. “It’s just … you have to admit that Ms. Morgan stumbling across two different bodies in three days is highly suspect.”

“I think it’s a hard coincidence to swallow, but that’s all it is,” Jack said. “Ivy has no motive. Why would she kill a teenage girl? Why would she kill whoever that was we found in the woods yesterday?”

“Hannah Gibson,” Harvey supplied. “That’s the name of the girl Ms. Morgan found yesterday.”

“You identified her fast,” Jack commented. “How did you manage that?”

“It wasn’t hard,” Harvey replied. “Hannah went missing from the same campground almost exactly one year ago. She was there with her parents and disappeared in the middle of the night.”

“Just like Kylie Bradford,” Ivy said.

Harvey nodded. “The similarities have not escaped me,” he said. “The problem we have is that the campground is a transient community. The only people who are there from year to year are the rangers.”

“Have you started looking at backgrounds?” Jack asked.

“We have,” Harvey answered. “We have no red flags at this time, and three overlapping workers. We’re going to continue down that route, but it’s not looking likely that any of those men could be killers.”

“Well, if you look at it pragmatically, these cases might not be linked,” Jack pointed out. “A year is a long cool down period.”

“What’s a cool down period?” Ivy asked.

“If we’re to believe that both Hannah and Kylie were killed by the same person, that would suggest a serial killer,” Jack explained. “Most serial killers ramp up their timetable as they go along. A year is a long time between kills.”

“Only if he’s just killing here,” Ivy argued. “What if it’s someone who comes camping at the park every year around the same time? He could be killing somewhere else, too.”

“That’s a pretty interesting theory,” Harvey said. “I had it as well. The problem we have is that the coroner is still trying to ascertain a cause of death for Kylie Bradford. There was a lot of damage to her body, and many of her organs were missing.”

“Do you think someone took them as trophies?” Jack asked.

“Probably not.”

“So, what happened to them?”

“Animals took them first,” Ivy answered for Harvey. “It’s common for them to go for organs before flesh and then come back for the flesh. We’re probably talking about several scavengers going after her body.”

“How do you know that?” Jack asked, impressed.

“Max watches a lot of
Dateline
shows and I saw it on an episode about a woman who was dumped in the woods by her husband,” Ivy answered.

“I’m going to start limiting your television time,” Jack said.

“She’s right,” Harvey interjected. “We’ve talked to several animal experts, and all of them said the exact same thing she just did. There were no indentations on Kylie’s skull, and that would seem to indicate she didn’t suffer a head wound from a fall.”

“Is the coroner declaring it murder?”

“He’s calling it suspicious right now, but we’re obviously leaning toward murder,” Harvey replied. “We’ve pulled all of the campground records for the past two years. The good news is that people have to register at these state campgrounds … and they have to present identification when they do.”

“That’s a lucky break,” Jack said. “Do you have any names that appear both years?”

“We have six.”

Jack’s eyebrows shot up his forehead. “Seriously? I didn’t realize people were so sentimental when it came to camping.”

“A lot of people pick the same weekend to visit a campground from year to year,” Harvey said. “That usually happens on holiday weekends, though. As you know, this isn’t a holiday weekend.”

“What have you found out about the returnees?”

Harvey licked his lips, his gaze bouncing between Ivy and Jack as he decided how to answer.

“It’s not like we’re going to tell anyone,” Ivy prodded. “What’s the problem?”

“The repeat names all happen to be sharing a campsite with you,” Harvey answered.

“
A
RE
you okay
?” Ivy asked an hour later, dipping a tortilla chip in La Señorita’s green salsa and studying Jack with compassionate eyes.

“I don’t know what to think about this,” Jack admitted, leaning back in the booth and shaking his head. “If Harvey is right, that means one of my friends could be a murderer.”

“It could be a coincidence.”

“Really? What are the odds?”

“What are the odds that I would stumble across two bodies in a matter of days and have nothing to do with either death?” Ivy challenged. “You don’t have a problem believing in me. Why do you have such a problem believing in people you’ve known for ten years?”

“I don’t know them like I know you,” Jack answered. “I feel like I’ve known you my whole life. That’s how comfortable I am with you. I used to know these guys, but time creates distance and people grow a lot when they’re apart.”

“I’m assuming you want to rule out Maria, Melissa, and Lauren for the time being,” Ivy suggested. “If you look at Scott, Donnie, and Alex, does one of them jump out at you?”

“Not really. What about you?”

“Me?” Ivy was surprised by the question. “I barely know them.”

“That makes your insight doubly important,” Jack said. “You can look at my friends without seeing history and letting it cloud your opinion. Tell me what you think when you look at them. Don’t try to spare my feelings.”

“I think Alex is a thinker,” Ivy said, not missing a beat. “He sits back and lets the others say stupid things because he wants to be the smartest guy in the room. I have no idea if he is, but he likes to think he is.”

“He was definitely the smartest out of all of us in college,” Jack confirmed. “It seemed easy for him, although he did study quite a bit when necessary. What else have you got?”

“Donnie is the class clown,” Ivy said. “He’s the least attractive of your group and he gets his attention by making jokes. He likes that attention, but he’s really insecure. He wants you guys to look at him as an equal, but you’re the only one who does. Alex talks down to him and Scott largely ignores him unless he wants to embarrass him.”

“Wow,” Jack muttered. “That was pretty insightful, honey. What about Scott?”

“I worry that I might be predisposed to dislike Scott because of what happened at Call of the Wild,” Ivy admitted.

“I’ll take that under consideration,” Jack said. “Go ahead.”

“Scott is a very unhappy individual,” Ivy said. “So is his wife, although none of your friends seem particularly happy. I can dissect the women when we’re done if you’re so inclined.”

“Let’s stick with the men for now,” Jack said, chuckling at Ivy’s enthusiasm. He valued her opinion, and she appreciated that. He was happy letting her expound on his friends so he could think about what she suggested from a clinical perspective.

“Scott is a man who thought he was going to get everything he wanted because he made a life list,” Ivy said.

“What’s a life list?”

“It’s when you mark milestones on a to-do list and set life goals accordingly,” Ivy answered. “For example, Scott strikes me as a guy who needed to find a job within a month of graduation. He probably fooled around with a bevy of women until he was twenty-five and then married the one he was dating when he hit the age he thought he should be when he settled down. It didn’t matter who she was, and now that’s coming back to bite him.

“He probably had dates set for when he should get promoted … and when he should buy his first house … and when he should earn his first performance award,” she continued. “He probably hit some of those goals. He probably missed others, though, and the ones he missed weigh on him.”

“Scott has always liked a list,” Jack mused.

“He’s at a crossroad in his life,” Ivy explained. “His marriage isn’t working, and that means he’ll probably have to sell his house in a divorce. If he’s tense, maybe his work production has suffered and he’s missed out on a promotion somewhere.”

“You think it’s him, don’t you?”

Ivy shrugged. “I can’t answer that,” she said. “Under the right circumstances, I honestly think it could be any of them. The thing we need to remember is that it might be none of them, and you can’t go barreling into camp tonight and bombard them with questions.”

“What do you suggest I do?”

“Profile them when they’re not looking,” Ivy replied. “They can’t suspect that you’re feeling them out, because if they do you’ll lose three friendships forever, and odds are only one of them is guilty.”

“You’re a smart woman, Ivy Morgan.”

“And now you owe me a massage.”

“
H
as
anyone ever told you that you have a suspicious face?”

Ivy sidled up to Jack later that evening, making a show of wrapping her arms around his waist and resting her head against his chest so no one would suspect them of doing anything other than canoodling.

Jack aimlessly rubbed his hand up and down Ivy’s back and chuckled. “Are you saying that I’m being too obvious?”

“I’m saying that you’re standing in a corner staring at your friends and how they interact and it’s becoming obvious that you’re either angry about something, or suspicious.”

Jack shifted his eyes to Ivy and tightened his arm around her back. “What do you want me to do? Shall we get drunk and play Spin the Bottle so I can spy amid distraction?”

“Only if you plan on limiting yourself to kissing dudes,” Ivy replied, not missing a beat. “I’ll have to smack you around if you kiss any of those women.”

“I guess it’s lucky that I only want to kiss you,” Jack said, dropping a sweet kiss on her lips.

“I guess so,” Ivy agreed, shifting so she could watch the people around the fire. They seemed oblivious to Jack and Ivy’s solitude, but she knew looks could be deceiving. “I have an idea, if you’re up for it, that is.”

“I think a nap sounds great.”

“Not that,” Ivy chided, pinching his flank and causing Jack to squirm.

“You’re vicious when you want to be.”

“I’m just trying to get your attention.”

“You’ll never have a problem getting that, honey,” Jack said. “What’s your idea?”

“Just … come with me to the fire,” Ivy prodded. “We’ll have a good cuddle and let me handle the talking. When we’re done, I’ll give you a short preview of your homecoming massage.”

“You’re not taking any time off of my massage,” Jack argued.

“This is a bonus.”

“You had me at cuddle,” Jack whispered, smirking when he realized exactly what he’d said. “And there’s something I never thought I would hear myself say.”

“Don’t worry. Your secret is safe with me.”

Ivy and Jack joined the rest of the group, Ivy sitting on Jack’s lap and tugging a blanket over them. They decided to listen to a few minutes of conversation before interjecting their own thoughts.

“I’ll bet it was a bear,” Maria said. “I saw a horror movie once, and there was a bear in it that stalked campers and ate them.”

“Bears don’t eat humans,” Ivy corrected, internally chastising herself when she realized how overbearing she sounded. “They try to avoid humans most of the time.”

“That’s not what that movie said,” Maria challenged.

“Did you see it on the SyFy channel?”

“So what?” Maria shot back. “That doesn’t mean it’s not real.”

Ivy risked a glance at Jack and found him laughing into her shoulder. “This isn’t funny,” she whispered.

“You just have such a way with people, honey,” Jack said, enjoying himself for the first time in hours. Now that he was looking at his friends with a critical eye – suspicions that one of them might be a murderer plaguing him – he saw Ivy as his only true ally.

“If it wasn’t a bear, what was it?” Maria challenged.

“I think it was a person,” Ivy replied, lacing her fingers with Jack’s under the blanket and resting them on top of her stomach.

“How can you know that?” Scott asked. “Did the police tell you anything when you went to visit them this morning?”

“The trooper didn’t really tell us a lot,” Ivy said, her face taking on a faux concerned look that floored Jack. She was playing a part – and she was doing it masterfully because his friends didn’t know her well enough to see what she was doing. “He mostly wanted to clear us so he could move on with his investigation.”

“Is that normal?” Donnie asked.

“It is,” Jack confirmed. “Ivy was never really a suspect, but he still had to rule her out. Finding both bodies was cause for concern, but he was happy to be able to cross her off his list.”

“Does that mean they’re looking for one suspect in both deaths?” Alex asked.

“They are,” Ivy confirmed, taking Jack by surprise. “The trooper believes that both bodies are the work of the same individual.”

Jack surreptitiously shifted under Ivy but remained quiet.

“How does that work?” Lauren asked. “Does that mean the killer is a local?”

“I’ll bet it’s that guy Ivy met in the woods,” Donnie said. “Who else would it be?”

“They have a list of potential suspects, although they didn’t share it with us,” Ivy said. “I guess there are a few names on it.”

“But … how?” Scott asked. “How could they possibly tie two teenage girls together when they disappeared a year apart?”

Jack cleared his throat. “Who said it was two teenage girls?”

“I … just assumed,” Scott replied. “If they’re looking for one killer in two deaths, it would stand to reason that the victims had something in common.”

“We don’t know anything about the second victim yet,” Ivy lied. “We don’t know if the body belongs to a male or female. I’m not sure if the state police know who it belongs to yet either.”

“What are you doing?” Jack murmured so only Ivy could hear. She couldn’t risk answering when they had an audience, so she remained impassive and watched his friends for reactions.

“I think it’s creepy,” Melissa said. She’d spent most of the evening avoiding eye contact with Jack, and she’d appeared mortified the two times she locked gazes with Ivy. “That could mean there’s a serial killer out here.”

“I’m guessing the troopers are checking all of the rangers first,” Ivy volunteered. “The trooper we dealt with didn’t want to share information – he thought I had attitude – but he did let it slip that they were gathering the names of campground guests to check against previous lists.”

“What does that mean?” Scott asked.

“It means that this park is run by the state,” Jack answered for Ivy. “Everyone shows their identification when they check in. The state records that in a database.”

“I didn’t know that,” Maria said. “That’s kind of invasive.”

Jack shrugged. “I think it’s going to turn out to be a good thing for investigators on this one.”

“I agree,” Ivy chimed in. “I mean … how many people came to this exact campground two years in a row? It shouldn’t take the troopers long to narrow down their list of suspects. After that? I’m guessing we’ll see an arrest any day now.”

“
T
HAT
was pretty interesting
,” Jack said a half hour later as he walked with Ivy toward the ranger cabin. “You set them all up, lied when necessary, and then knocked them down with pertinent information that could make the guilty party panic. I’m impressed.”

“I don’t think you should be surprised that I’m a genius,” Ivy said. “You should’ve known that from our first meeting.”

“You mean the one where you insulted me and gave me dirty looks every chance you got?”

“I mean the one where I knew there was a body in the ditch and you didn’t,” Ivy corrected.

“If you weren’t so cute, I’d spank your bottom blue for bringing that story up time and time again,” Jack warned.

“That sounds kinky,” Ivy replied, unruffled. “Just so you know, I’m not into that bondage and domination stuff … unless I’m the one dominating.”

“Oh, see, now I’m turned on,” Jack teased, easing his arm around Ivy’s waist as they walked. “Do you want to tell me what we’re doing out here? I thought the whole point of tonight was sitting back and watching my friends so we could figure out which one of them was a murderer.”

“I’m worried you’re fixating on your friends to the detriment of everyone else,” Ivy said. “Listen, I know how it looks. That doesn’t mean one of them is definitely a killer. I know you. You’re going to feel guilty about your suspicions if it turns out none of them is a killer.”

“You might be right,” Jack conceded. “That still doesn’t explain what we’re doing out here.”

“Well, I wanted to give them time to talk amongst themselves without worrying we were watching over them,” Ivy replied. “They need to relax and give serious thought to the crumbs we dropped.”

“That’s sensible. How come I don’t think that’s the only thing on your mind?”

“Because you’re coming to the realization – rather late, mind you – that I’m a genius,” Ivy supplied. “I also want you to call Brian.”

“Why? He has no jurisdiction here.”

“No, but he can run background checks on all of your friends and get us information about unsolved homicides – or missing teenage girls – close to where they live,” Ivy said. “Just because they might not be killers, that doesn’t mean I want to overlook the fact that one of them could possibly be a very sick individual.”

“You are a marvel, honey,” Jack said, grabbing the front of her shirt and hauling her up to give her a smoldering kiss. “That’s a great idea. Brian will be able to get us the information that Trooper Harvey doesn’t want to share.”

“There’s no guarantee that we’re going to find something,” Ivy reminded Jack. “I don’t want to miss anything either. I’m worried that someone is going to panic now that he thinks the police could be zeroing in on him.”

“I need you to promise me that you’re not going to wander around alone again for the rest of this trip,” Jack said, his eyes serious. “I don’t want to infringe on your freedom, but I need to know you’re safe so I don’t get distracted.”

“I promise to stick close,” Ivy said. “That’s going to make going to the bathroom in the middle of the night difficult, though. I’m not sure we’re ready for that much togetherness.”

Jack snorted. “You’re so cute.”

“I’m waiting for you to solve that dilemma,” Ivy prodded, crossing her arms over her chest.

“You’re just going to have to go to the bathroom before we go back to our tent and not drink anything until morning.”

“So you’re going to torture me to keep me safe?”

“If that’s the way you want to look at it,” Jack replied, not missing a beat. “I’m going to keep you safe no matter what. You’re going to have to get used to my protective instincts and deal with them.”

“I guess I can live with that,” Ivy sighed. “You’re probably going to have to massage me to take my mind off of my bladder problems tonight.”

“As long as you’re naked, I’m fine with that.”

“Oh, the compromises I make for you.”

“I promise it will be worth it,” Jack said, pulling his phone out of his pocket. “Part of me hopes we’re wrong about this.”

“All of me hopes we’re wrong about this,” Ivy said. “We have to be smart, though. I’m sorry.”

“I’m sorry, too,” Jack said. “No matter what, I don’t think these friendships are going to survive this camping trip.”

I
VY’S MIND
was muddled when she woke the next morning. She lifted her chin from Jack’s chest as he began to stir and tried to focus on whatever snapped her out of a happy dreamland. A quick glance at the sky told her it was barely dawn. So, what woke her?

“What’s going on?” Jack murmured, cupping the back of Ivy’s head and pressing a kiss to her forehead. “Are you waking me for sex or a bathroom break? Just for the record, I would prefer sex.”

“I don’t know,” Ivy mumbled, rolling to her side and struggling to a sitting position. “Something woke me up. The last thing I remember was being in a boat with you. We were on a lake in our dream – that was pretty, by the way – and then something ripped me out of our happy place.”

“I think your genius is getting away from you,” Jack mumbled.

“You woke up, too,” Ivy pointed out.

“I woke up because you woke up.”

“No, that’s not why,” Ivy said, grabbing a pair of shorts and a T-shirt from the floor of the tent and shimmying into them. “I think something is going on outside.”

“You go and check and I’ll wait here,” Jack murmured, his eyes closed.

“So much for keeping me safe,” Ivy complained, although she left him to his slumber and moved toward the tent flap. They’d attached a bell to it – one of the free bear bells that came with their tent purchase – to alert them if someone tried to get into the tent in the middle of the night. Ivy didn’t bother muffling the jangling sound as she left the tent.

When she focused her attention on the campground, she found Scott, Maria, and Donnie standing around the burned out campfire. They were in deep conversation when Ivy approached and they didn’t immediately note her arrival.

“I think you’re overreacting,” Maria said. “We don’t know that.”

“What’s going on?” Ivy asked, stifling a yawn. “Is something wrong?”

Scott licked his lips and glanced at Maria and Donnie before shrugging. “I don’t know if something is wrong, but when I woke up this morning, I found Melissa gone,” he said. “She’s not out here, and we checked the bathroom for her. It’s empty.”

Ivy knit her eyebrows together as she absorbed the statement. “Are we sure she didn’t take a morning walk?”

“Melissa isn’t big on walking,” Scott said. “You’ve seen her. The only thing she’s wanted to do since she got here is sit by the campfire and drink.”

“Do you think we should call someone?” Maria asked.

“What’s going on?” Jack asked, tugging on his shirt as he moved in behind Ivy. He looked annoyed at being dragged out of his warm sleeping bag at such an early hour.

“Melissa is missing.”