Wicked Places (An Ivy Morgan Mystery Book 4) (6 page)

“Like a half hour away,” Ivy said.

“Did you ever see the dogman?” Scott asked.

“Just when my brother pretended to be him.”

“Okay, I’m officially freaked out,” Maria admitted.

“And I’m officially turned on,” Jack whispered. “That was a marvelous story, honey. I’m going to rub you until you beg me to stop.”

“Promises, promises,” Ivy scoffed.

“Just you wait,” Jack said. “I’m going to make that story worth your while … and then some.”

“
W
e’re going
to spend the afternoon in town today,” Jack announced the next morning, his fingers linked with Ivy’s as they strolled toward his truck.

Maria, bleary-eyed from all the beer she drank the night before, fixed the couple with a disdainful look. “Why?”

“Because we want to go to some museum Ivy told me about and have lunch at her favorite Mexican restaurant,” Jack replied, nonplussed. “You look rough, by the way. How is that hangover?”

“I blame it on the dogman story,” Maria intoned, rubbing her forehead. “I was too freaked out to sleep, so I had to drink until I could pass out.”

“If that’s your story,” Jack said, chuckling.

“How can you two be so chipper this early in the morning?” Donnie asked, rubbing his neck with one hand as he poked at the fire to get it going with the other. “It’s inhuman.”

“If you recall, Ivy and I turned in hours before the rest of you,” Jack replied. “We did not get drunk, so we don’t have hangovers.”

“No, you two have sex hangovers,” Alex said, reaching for a bottle of water. “That’s better than this type of hangover, let me tell you.”

“I’m very pleased with our decision,” Jack said, squeezing Ivy’s hand. “We’ll be back later.”

“What kind of museum are you going to?” Melissa asked. She and Scott looked better than everyone else, although they didn’t look particularly happy with one another. Ivy was starting to wonder if they ever smiled when they were together.

“It’s some dead animal museum with a great gift shop,” Jack said, grinning. “I have no idea. Ivy described it and it sounded just kitschy enough to be fun.”

“Can we go with you?” Melissa asked. “I would love to get out of here for a few hours.”

“Oh … um … .”

“I think they want to be alone so they can gaze at each other adoringly,” Donnie interjected.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” Melissa said, her face falling.

“No, it’s fine,” Jack said, exchanging a quick look with Ivy. “We don’t mind.”

“We’d be happy for the company,” Ivy said, offering Melissa a warm smile. “Although, I’m not sure the museum we’re visiting is going to be quite what you expect.”

“Anything is better than sitting around a campfire all day,” Melissa said. “Give me five minutes to change.”

“
H
OLY CRAP
!”
Scott’s eyes widened as the foursome sauntered into the Call of the Wild lobby an hour later. “This is … there are no words.”

Jack followed his gaze, not bothering to hide his smile as he took in the huge room. There were shelves on almost every wall, each laden with trinkets he couldn’t quite believe he was seeing. He reached toward the one closest to him and grabbed a raccoon hat – complete with tail – and held it up. “I’ve always wanted one of these.”

Ivy smirked. “I told you the gift shop was something to behold,” she said. “You have to go through the museum before you shop, though.”

“Oh, come on,” Jack protested. “They have deer antlers on a felt-covered board over there.”

“I think they have voodoo dolls over here,” Melissa said, her eyes sparkling as she held up a small poppet. “It looks like a witch.”

“You have to go through the museum first.” Ivy was firm. “That’s the way it’s done. Come on. I promise you’re going to find the museum just as cool as the gift shop.”

“I think you’re playing me, but I’m dying to see it,” Jack said, digging into his wallet and handing two twenties to the woman behind the counter. “We need four tickets to the museum.”

Since she’d been there before, Ivy led the way to the museum, pushing through the glass doors and ushering Jack, Scott, and Melissa into a strange new world. The walls were cement and arched, almost as if they were walking through a cave, and even though the museum was almost completely empty, it felt like coming home to Ivy.

“I’m already sold on this,” Jack said, laughing as he ran his hand over the wall. “What’s with the paw prints on the floor?” He pointed toward the brown prints.

“You follow them to get through the museum,” Ivy answered.

“Of course,” Jack said, grabbing Ivy’s hand and pulling her forward so he could study the first display. It was a gray wolf on a lonely country road. “Maybe he’s your dogman.”

“Don’t push me on that, Jack,” Ivy warned.

“That’s a real animal carcass,” Melissa said, wrinkling her nose. “Did they kill it just for this museum?”

“No,” Ivy replied, shaking her head. “Most of the animals here were hit by cars or killed a very long time ago. I wouldn’t come here if they were killing animals simply so they could display them.”

“I think it’s cool,” Scott said, leaning forward. “This place is neat. What’s next?”

Jack chuckled. “I would think this is below your refined taste,” he said.

“No way,” Scott said. “You never get to see this type of stuff where we live. You have to embrace it when you can.”

“Lead the way, Ivy,” Jack prodded.

Ivy didn’t need to be told twice. She gladly directed everyone through the museum, laughing maniacally when Jack got distracted by one of the Native American exhibits. It had a weird projector that superimposed a talking face on a dummy, recounting some Michigan settlement story for everyone to giggle at. Even though she’d been looking forward to an afternoon alone with Jack, Ivy found she didn’t mind Melissa and Scott’s company. Away from the group, they were almost charming.

“Okay, I’m so glad we did that,” Jack said when they emerged from the museum. “I’m going to torture you for months with all that stuff, honey. You know that, right?”

“You can’t torture me with this museum,” Ivy countered. “I love it too much.”

“Can we shop now?” Melissa asked, her eyes sparkling. “I want to go over every inch of this gift shop. Not only is it cool, but I think there are probably treasures here that people would never dream of discovering.”

“There are actually some really cool things here,” Ivy agreed.

They split up into couples, Jack and Ivy moving along the outer shelves while Scott and Melissa hit the inner ones. Ivy watched them for a moment, smiling as they chatted amiably to one another. When she turned back to Jack, he was watching her.

“What?”

“Why are you staring at them?” Jack asked.

“If you must know, I was a little worried that they hated each other until I saw them on their own today,” Ivy admitted. “They seem okay now, but they barely look at each other at the campground.”

“Do you know why that is?”

Ivy shook her head, following Jack as he checked out the miniature car replicas.

“It’s because Maria stirs all the women up every chance she gets,” Jack supplied, his voice low. “She gets off on the drama. I’m sure you’ve noticed.”

“She seems … nice,” Ivy said, choosing her words carefully.

“I don’t really like Maria, so feel free to be honest,” Jack said.

“Okay, she’s obnoxious,” Ivy conceded. “Why did Alex marry her?”

Jack shrugged. “I think he loved her,” he answered. “I think he probably still loves her. She’s just very … set in her ways. She’s a hard person to like.”

“Do you think I’m going to be that way one day?” Ivy asked, genuinely curious. “Are you worried I’m going to be hard to like down the road?”

“No, honey, I don’t worry about that at all,” Jack said. “You’re stubborn … like a mule. I would be lying if I said otherwise. You’re also loving, giving, and a great listener. Maria is none of those things. Just because you’re stubborn, that doesn’t mean you’re unlikeable. In fact, I like everything about you … including that stubborn streak.”

Ivy’s cheeks burned, pleasure washing over her. “Thank you.”

“And that right there is something that Maria would never do,” Jack said, kissing Ivy’s cheek and tweaking her nose. “Don’t worry about things that are never going to happen, Ivy. Worry about things that could happen … like me buying one of those raccoon hats so I can wear it while we’re … napping.”

“I’m not napping with you if you have that on,” Ivy shot back. “You’ve been warned. If you buy one of those hats I’m going to … .” Ivy mimed choking him, causing Jack to snicker.

“I’m going back to look at them,” Jack said. “I don’t care what you say. I think I would look great in one of those hats.”

“Knock yourself out,” Ivy said. “I’m going to check out the hand-blown glass stuff. They usually have unique items.”

“I won’t leave without you,” Jack said. “Mostly because I know I would be sad and cry if I did.”

“You
are
whipped,” Ivy teased.

“And proud of it,” Jack said, poking her side before ambling back in the direction of the raccoon hats.

Ivy allowed the warmth of Jack’s previous words to wash over her as she headed for her favorite corner of the gift shop. While communication wasn’t always easy for them, Jack was getting better and better at verbalizing his feelings. It left her feeling happy and delighted as she perused the gift offerings.

“You look happy,” Scott said, appearing at Ivy’s side and causing her to jolt. She almost dropped the hummingbird feeder in her hand, but regained herself and caught it before it could crash to the floor.

“You shouldn’t sneak up on people when they’re holding expensive glass items,” Ivy chided, placing the feeder back on the shelf and exhaling heavily.

“Sorry about that,” Scott said, smiling. “That’s pretty. You should get it. It’s almost as pretty as you.”

Ivy forced a smile, but Scott’s strange words – and nervous demeanor – made her uncomfortable. “I don’t really need a hummingbird feeder, but thank you.” Ivy moved to the other side of the shelf, hoping Scott would take the hint and leave her to browse in peace, but she wasn’t that lucky.

“I’m glad you and Jack found each other,” Scott said, his eyes fixated on the high ridges of Ivy’s cheekbones as he watched her look over the glass animal menagerie. “We were really worried about him after the shooting.”

“Jack made it through that on his own,” Ivy said. “He’s very strong. He was already finding himself when he came to Shadow Lake.”

“And you helped him along the rest of the way,” Scott surmised.

“We helped each other,” Ivy countered. “Jack is the best man I know. You’re lucky to have him as a friend.”

“Of course I’m lucky to have Jack as a friend,” Scott scoffed. “He’s a great guy. You have to understand, though, we were all worried Jack was going to do something to hurt himself because he was so upset by what his partner did.

“His recovery was slow and painful,” he continued. “There were days I thought he was going to eat his gun just to get away from the memories.”

Ivy frowned. While Jack didn’t confide in her when he first came to town, he never once struck her as suicidal. In fact, deep down inside, Ivy knew that no matter what happened there was nothing that would make Jack take the easy way out. Scott suggesting otherwise was both irritating and baffling.

“Jack would never do that,” Ivy argued. “He was coming to grips with what happened when he came to town. He needed to get some perspective, and he couldn’t do that in the city. He would never hurt himself, though.”

“Well, we’ll have to agree to disagree,” Scott said. “I think I know Jack better than you.”

“I don’t think you know Jack at all if you believe that,” Ivy shot back, moving around the shelf again. She needed distance from Scott. If he wasn’t careful, she was going to smack him in the head with the hummingbird feeder and then gladly pay for the ruined mess on her way out the door.

“I think you’re very good for Jack,” Scott said. “He needed something to get him out of his funk. The fact that you came along to do it, well, even if this is just a fling, I think you’ve been very good for him.”

“A fling?”

“You know what I mean,” Scott said. “Eventually Jack is going to move back to the city. A guy like him is never going to be happy in a place the size of Shadow Lake. I get the feeling you wouldn’t be happy in a city. So … .”

“So you think Jack is just sleeping with me until he gets bored of Shadow Lake,” Ivy surmised.

“That’s not a bad thing,” Scott said hurriedly. “You’re a beautiful woman. Men will be falling all over you to take a crack once you’re single again. I can’t think of anyone – and I do mean anyone – who wouldn’t want you.”

Ivy took an inadvertent step away from Scott, licking her lips as she decided how to answer. She didn’t get the chance because Jack picked that moment to return.

“I decided against the hat,” Jack said. “I figured you would never have sex with me again if I bought it.”

“Pretty much,” Ivy agreed, forcing her gaze in his direction. “Are you ready to go?”

“Have you looked around the store? I haven’t seen you leave this area. We have time if you want to shop.”

“We can come back another day,” Ivy said, moving away from Scott. “I don’t really want to shop right now.”

Jack watched her go, confused, and then shifted his eyes to Scott. “What did you say to her?”

“I didn’t say anything,” Scott protested. “Why do you think that?”

“Because she wasn’t upset five minutes ago, and she’s clearly upset now,” Jack answered. “What did you say to her? Before you try to think up a lie, by the way, she’s going to tell me the truth once we’re alone, so be very careful how you answer.”

“I just suggested that this relationship can’t last because you’ll eventually move back down to the city and she’ll stay up here,” Scott said, flinching at the murderous look moving across Jack’s face. “I’m … sorry.”

“First of all, where I live is none of your concern,” Jack hissed. “Second of all, Shadow Lake is my home now. Ivy is my home. Even if Ivy didn’t exist, though, I wouldn’t move back to the city. It doesn’t hold any appeal. Not now. I’m done with the city.”

“I’m sorry,” Scott said. “I just thought … .”

“I don’t care what you thought,” Jack said. “Don’t ever say anything like that to Ivy again. I mean it.”

“Is that a threat?”

“I don’t care how you take it,” Jack said. “You’re my friend, but you’re not my keeper. You’re from my past and I like keeping in touch, but if I have to cut you loose I’ll do it. She’s my present, and I’m very hopeful that she’s going to be my future. Don’t ever say anything like that to her again.”