Wicked Games (An Ivy Morgan Mystery Book 17) Read online

  Ivy’s eyes narrowed. “Maisie? Why do you want Maisie?”

  “It seems Jason was dating more than one person,” Jack replied, internally smirking as Maisie’s already pale countenance turned ashen. “We have a few questions for his second girlfriend.”

  Ivy was dumbfounded. “No way.”

  “Yes, way.” Jack cast a glance over his shoulder and offered her an easy smile. “It seems Jason really got around.”

  Ivy wanted to ask what Maisie’s involvement meant, but she knew Greg would melt down. Instead, she nodded. Perhaps Jack and Brian were closer to getting answers than she envisioned. That was a good thing, even if she was frustrated at being trapped on the outside looking in.

  11

  Eleven

  Maisie was furious as Jack and Brian showed her into the interview room at the police station. They’d pulled out all the stops when transporting her back to town, including locking her in the backseat of the cruiser. She was beyond mortified when they walked her in through the front door of the building.

  “I’m going to sue you,” she hissed as Jack pulled out a chair for her to sit in. “You’ve gone too far this time and I’m totally going to sue you.”

  “That’s certainly your prerogative,” Jack said dryly. “We can give you the name of the township attorney when you’re leaving.”

  “If she leaves,” Brian corrected, sliding into the chair at the head of the table and fixing Maisie with a pointed stare. “Is there anything you want to say to us before we start?”

  “Yes.” Maisie bobbed her head. “I’m going to sue the crap out of you. I hope you enjoy living on skid row.”

  “I don’t really think Shadow Lake has a skid row,” Jack pointed out.

  “No?” Maisie’s expression turned into a sneer. “How about I take that little cottage your girlfriend loves so much from her after my lawsuit? How will you like that?”

  Jack could feel the skin on the back of his neck heating as rage threatened to overtake him. He managed to wrestle his impulses into submission, but just barely. “I look forward to the attempt,” he said as he took his seat. “That will be a neat trick.”

  Maisie expected to get different reactions out of the two men and she was frustrated when they remained calm. She considered herself a good judge of character and she was certain Jack wanted to explode. The fact that he didn’t gave her pause.

  “What do you want from me?” she asked after a beat, adopting her most reasonable tone. “I can’t help but feel as if we’re getting off on the wrong foot here. I’m a law-abiding citizen. All you have to do is tell me what you want and I’ll make it happen.” She practically purred the words while flirting through demure eyelashes as she smiled at Jack.

  “We want to know about your relationship with Jason Fortin,” Jack replied brusquely. “How long have you been involved?”

  Maisie wrinkled her nose. She was used to men reacting to her, even if they didn’t like her. The fact that Jack could so easily ignore her attempts to flirt with him was bothersome. “I’m not involved with anyone. I’m open for offers.” She tried another smile, one that had never let her down.

  “Jason told his mother you two were seeing each other,” Brian argued. “He mentioned your name specifically. Why would he say that if it wasn’t true?”

  Maisie scowled. “I don’t know. You’ll have to ask Jason.”

  “We would be thrilled to talk to Jason,” Jack noted. “In fact, we’re looking for him. Do you know where we might be able to find him?”

  Maisie glanced between faces and held out her hands. “I’m not his keeper. Now, is that all? I need to get going.”

  “That’s not even close to all,” Brian countered, steepling his fingers as he regarded her. “Maisie, I don’t know if you’re aware, but Jason Fortin is a suspect in the death of Sasha Carmichael. Since you’re involved with Jason, that means you can be treated as a material witness. As a material witness, we have the right to lock you up until we feel our questions have been answered truthfully.”

  Maisie took a moment to digest the information and then started shaking her head. “Oh, this is such crap. I barely knew Sasha Carmichael.”

  “We both know that’s not true.” Brian was calm, his face immovable. “I believe at last summer’s strawberry festival, you and Sasha got into a hair-pulling contest over Jeff Rondo. You both claimed to be dating him at the same time.”

  Jack’s eyebrows drew together. “Jeff Rondo? Isn’t he a paramedic?”

  Brian nodded. “He moved to town last year. One of the first people to introduce herself, per usual, was Maisie. They briefly dated ... until Jeff came to his senses and gave her the boot. He moved on to Sasha, although that relationship only lasted a week or two.”

  “That’s because Sasha was a wet rag,” Maisie shot back. “She didn’t know how to satisfy a man.”

  “I believe Jeff said the relationship couldn’t work because she was too young and he wanted someone more serious about life, but that’s still better than what he said about you.” Brian was brutally pleasant, something he knew would drive Maisie bonkers.

  The words had the desired effect, because Maisie narrowed her eyes to dangerous slits. “What did he say about me? You know what? I don’t care. He was bad in bed. He was impotent and could only get it up for boys. You spread that rumor. I just ... what did she say about me?”

  Jack didn’t know Maisie well, but it was obvious she had problems when she couldn’t control the perception of others. He was impressed that Brian knew the exact buttons to push with her. “We’re not here to talk about Jeff,” he argued. “We’re here to talk about Jason. When did you guys start seeing one another?”

  “We weren’t seeing each other,” Maisie snapped, her eyes flashing. “How many times do I have to tell you that?”

  “Just until we believe it,” Brian replied calmly. “If you weren’t seeing him, why would Jason indicate otherwise to his mother?”

  “Because everyone wants to brag about being involved with me.” Maisie’s smile was smug. “Everyone wants a piece of Maisie, and when they can’t get it, they make up stories to impress people and say things that aren’t true.”

  “Uh-huh.” Brian let out a lengthy sigh. “You know it’s against the law to lie to a police officer, right?”

  Maisie smacked her hands on the table. “I’m not lying. Stop saying I’m lying.”

  “All we have to do is ask around, maybe out at the bar on the highway, and see if anyone remembers seeing you and Jason together,” Jack argued. “If we can get anyone to say they saw you together, we can lock you up. Ask yourself, is anybody at that bar going to say they saw you with Jason?”

  “That doesn’t mean we were dating,” Maisie snapped. “That just means we were ... having fun.”

  “Fine.” Jack held his hands palms up. “How long were you and Jason having fun?”

  “I don’t know.” Maisie squirmed in her chair, discomfort practically rolling off her in waves. “I don’t know what you want me to say. We ... hung out occasionally. It wasn’t a big deal. Basically we drank together ... and occasionally left together. It’s not as if we were married.”

  Jack rubbed his hand over his chin as he leaned back in his seat. “Did he mention he was seeing Sasha Carmichael?”

  “We didn’t really talk.”

  “But you knew he was dating Sasha,” Brian noted. He could read by Maisie’s body language that she was hiding something, and he knew exactly what that something was. “That’s the entire reason you started fooling around with Jason in the first place.”

  “That’s not true,” Maisie fired back, her eyes flashing. “You’re suggesting I went after Jason just to see if I could take him from Sasha, which isn’t what happened. I didn’t care about that.”

  “You said you didn’t know they were together,” Brian pointed out.

  “I—” Maisie broke off, working her jaw. Brian recognized the exact moment she decided to cooperate. “Okay, here’s th
e situation ... .” She licked her lips and heaved out a sigh, gearing herself up. “There aren’t exactly a lot of good choices in this town. When new guys land, there’s a group of us who like to check them out.”

  “Are you talking about you and Ava?” Jack queried.

  “I’m talking about a group of random women,” Maisie shot back. “It doesn’t matter who is in this group. I didn’t know that Sasha and Jason were an item. Honestly, that’s true. Someone mentioned — and I can’t remember who now so don’t bother asking — but someone mentioned they might’ve seen them flirting at one of the barn dances a few weeks ago. That doesn’t mean they were going steady or anything.”

  “Good grief.” Jack rolled his eyes to the ceiling. “Why can’t you just find someone who is actually interested in you and leave the men who are dating others alone?”

  Maisie scalded him with a heated look. “I don’t need you judging me. We both know you’re just cranky because your girlfriend is a jailbird. That’s not my fault.”

  “Actually, it is your fault,” Jack fired back. “She got in trouble for rescuing you. You couldn’t even be bothered to write an impact statement for her at her sentencing. I mean ... what’s up with that?”

  “Jack.” Brian sent his partner a warning look and shook his head. “That’s not the point of this conversation.”

  Maisie’s lips curved smugly. “Yeah.”

  “The purpose of this conversation is Maisie’s insecure tendencies. She can’t stand it when another woman gets any attention. It’s juvenile, ridiculous, and reminds me of middle school girls fighting for supremacy of a tube of lipstick, but that’s where we’re at.”

  “Oh, I don’t need this!” Maisie threw her hands into the air. “I don’t know anything about where Jason is. I haven’t seen him in a few days. We’re not technically dating. Sometimes we end up at the same bar and hook up. That’s all the information I have.”

  Sadly, Jack believed her. They were back to square one.

  IVY WENT TO A QUIET PLACE IN HER mind as she worked. It looked a lot like the fairy ring she visited in the woods at least once a week. There, she could let go of the stress clogging her brain and be the person she wanted to be. It wasn’t exactly the same as the real thing, but it did help the time pass.

  “Stupid girls,” a male voice muttered, ripping her out of her reverie. She looked around, searching for a source, and found Marvin standing about seven feet away. He was poking at a piece of paper that didn’t want to be speared and his back was to her. “Stupid, stupid girls.”

  Ivy hadn’t much interacted with Marvin since joining the team and she took a moment to study him. He seemed to be the biggest wild card in their group — other than the two guys she hadn’t even bothered to get names on — and he wasn’t big on eye contact. She briefly wondered if he was on the spectrum, but a few of the glances he’d cast in Angel’s direction made her think otherwise. Oh, sure, he was socially awkward. It wasn’t more serious than that, though. At least she didn’t think it was.

  “Are you talking about Maisie and Ava?” Ivy asked, flashing a smile when Marvin jerked to see who was standing behind him. “If so, I agree. They’re stupid girls.”

  Marvin ran his tongue over his lips and then shook his head. “She’s talking to me. What am I supposed to do?”

  Ivy froze, glancing around to see if she’d somehow missed one of the other men. After a few moments, she came to the realization that Marvin was alone ... and talking to himself. “You don’t have to do anything,” she reassured him. “I was just making conversation. There’s nothing to worry about.”

  “Stupid girl.” He made a tsking sound with his tongue and turned back to his work. “I don’t like stupid girls.”

  “I don’t like them either,” Ivy replied. “You don’t have to worry about Maisie and Ava, though. They’re gone. I very much doubt they’ll come back ... at least today. I wouldn’t rule out them coming back a few days from now, if they’re certain they won’t be caught, but I think we’re safe for the foreseeable future.”

  “Stupid girls,” Marvin hissed, utilizing a voice that made Ivy’s skin crawl. “I don’t like them. They should all be killed, crushed, dragged away.”

  Ivy furrowed her brow and looked over her shoulder, hoping to find Greg. She didn’t figure he would be much help, but since he was in charge, she was anxious to dump Marvin on him. All she knew about the man was that he’d been sentenced for shoplifting. At the time she found out, she thought it was strange because retail fraud was most often associated with women. Now, though, she had to wonder if Marvin was struggling with mental health issues. If so, being out in the middle of the woods all day, the sun beating down on him and limited water supplies, didn’t sound like a good thing.

  “Um ... maybe you should sit down,” she suggested. “I mean, it couldn’t do any harm.”

  Marvin turned in her direction again, held her gaze for a full five seconds, and then looked away. “Stupid girls. I hate them. Should run them over. Sasha was run over. She stopped yakking after that, didn’t she?”

  Ivy’s heart did a long, slow roll and she rubbed her sweaty palm against her jeans as she tried to decide what to do. She didn’t feel as if she had a lot of options. Before she could speak again, though, Marvin bolted toward the woods.

  “The sun is setting. It’s time to go. There’s marzipan for dinner.” With those words, he disappeared into the trees, leaving Ivy stunned ... and confused.

  “What was that?” Greg asked, cutting through the ferns and stopping in the spot directly next to Ivy. “What did you say to him?”

  Ivy was offended that Greg naturally assumed she had something to do with Marvin’s freak-out. Before she could rein in her emotions and regulate her tone, she responded. “I didn’t say anything to him. Well, I mentioned that I agreed the girls here were stupid. That’s before I realized he was talking to himself, though.”

  Greg was exasperated. “Of course he was talking to himself. That’s all he does. Why did you talk back?”

  “Because I didn’t realize he was talking to himself at first. I thought he was talking to me.”

  “Why would he want to talk to you?”

  “I don’t know. I was the only one in his general vicinity. I don’t generally jump to the conclusion that someone is talking to himself. That’s just me, though. I guess I’ll know better for next time.”

  “Don’t take that tone with me,” Greg warned.

  As a fiery woman, Ivy was used to snapping at people whenever she felt the urge. Now she found herself in the strange position of allowing someone else to have complete control over her.

  She didn’t like it. She knew better than losing her temper, though. If she did, she could kiss that honeymoon goodbye. She wasn’t a complete and total idiot.

  “I’m sorry.” She didn’t mean it, but she hoped she sounded appropriately contrite. “I didn’t realize Marvin had ... issues.” That was probably the politest term she could possibly use. “I really did think he was talking to me. He kept saying ‘stupid girls’ over and over. I assumed he was talking about Maisie and Ava.”

  “I liked them.”

  You would, Ivy muttered inside her head, all the while keeping her smile in place. “I jumped to conclusions. I’m sorry.”

  “Well, did he say where he was going at least?” Concern washed over Greg’s features as he went back to staring at the woods. “I do not want to do the paperwork on two missing people today. That’s going to bite the big one.”

  Since that was part of his job description, Ivy didn’t have a lot of sympathy for him. All she could do was shake her head. “He didn’t say. I’m sorry.”

  “Well, head over to the line by where the medical examiner’s office is finishing up. Make sure they don’t leave any garbage behind. Then you can be done for the day.”

  Ivy couldn’t hide her surprise. “What time is it?”

  “It’s almost four o’clock.”

  She had no idea it was s
o late. She felt naked without her phone, but it was locked in her car again in Max’s lot. “Okay.”

  She headed in the direction Greg indicated, not stopping until she almost collided with Deacon. He was emerging from the woods with an evidence bag in his hand. He looked to be alone.

  “I’m so sorry,” Ivy offered immediately, horrified. “I didn’t see you there. I thought you guys might be gone for the day.”

  “I’m just finishing up.” Deacon’s expression reflected concern as he looked Ivy up and down. “Your face is a little pink. You might want to bring more sunscreen with you when you’re out here. You obviously don’t get a lot of sun.”

  “I do, but I can usually put sunscreen on three times a day if I need to.” Ivy was rueful. “We’re not allowed sunscreen.”

  “What?” Deacon’s eyebrows drew together. “That’s a stupid rule. What do they think you’re going to do with sunscreen?”

  Ivy held out her hands and shrugged. “I have no idea. I don’t make the rules, though.”

  “No.” Sympathy washed over Deacon’s features. “You’re just trying to make it through the day. I see that. For what it’s worth, I’m sorry about all of this. You don’t deserve it.”

  Ivy happened to agree, but that was no longer a concern. “Whether I deserve it or not, it’s happening. I just want to keep my head down and get through it.”

  “I don’t blame you.”

  An idea formed and Ivy licked her lips and glanced over her shoulder before continuing. “In addition to sunscreen, we’re not allowed to have our phones either.”

  Deacon looked concerned. “Do you need something?”

  “I need you to get a message to Jack.”

  Deacon bobbed his head without hesitation. “Absolutely. What message?”

  “Tell him that the guy Marvin who is in my group — I can’t remember his last name so he’s going to have to look it up — but tell him that Marvin was talking to himself and mentioned Sasha. He kept talking about stupid girls and then mentioned running them over.”