Upstate Uproar (33 page)

Mike touched the bandage on his forearm. “The
doc’s going to see how she feels when she wakes up. If she feels
okay and isn’t dizzy, they may let her go.”

“Did you get hurt in the fire?” Pierre asked,
checking out Mike’s bandage.

“It’s not so bad. I had a few minor burns.
This one was the worst, covers most of the back of my hand, but I
should heal up okay.”

“Does April remember what happened?” Wendy
asked.

Mike shoved his uninjured hand into the front
pocket of his jeans. “I’ve been over it with her several times and
the police did, too, but she doesn’t remember much. She sure
doesn’t know how she hit her head. She said there was a knock at
the door and she went to answer it, but she doesn’t remember who it
was or if she let him in or anything. Next thing she knew, she was
waking up in the ambulance.”

“She is so lucky,” Vivian said.

Kate shifted from one foot to the other.
“This may be a weird question, but do you know if April knows
Jeremy Donaldson?”

Mike looked perplexed. “Who?”

Lucy imitated turning a key in a lock. “A
local locksmith. He was a student at April’s school years ago.
Drives a big white van with red letters on the side.”

Mike’s eyes lit up. “I’ve seen that van
around town. April will say hi to former students she runs into,
but I don’t know if she knows him or remembers him from
school.”

Kate reached into her purse and pulled out
the envelope containing the Visa gift card. “Here’s a little
something for her. Let her know we stopped by and wish her well.
Good luck to you both.”

Mike took the envelope and said goodbye as he
stepped back into the room. The girls and Pierre took the stairwell
down to the first floor and went out to the parking lot.

“What do you girls want to do next?” Pierre
asked. “Anyone else we need to interrogate, any other cars we need
to break in to, anything like that? Or are we actually going to
take that drive to Saranac Lake or Lake George?”

Vivian bumped her arm into his. “Watch it,
mister.” She couldn’t help but feel disappointed at where their
leads had taken them. “I don’t feel like we’re any closer to
figuring out what happened to Mary Beth or Rebecca than we were
three days ago, and now Nicole’s gotten sick, we’ve been run off
the road, and April’s house burned down.”

“Don’t forget our car burning to a crisp last
night and the boat explosion the day before,” Wendy said. “Good
grief, who’s the pyromaniac around here?”

Kate hit the clicker and unlocked the doors
on the SUV. “After talking to Jeremy, I don’t think he had anything
to do with Mary Beth’s or Rebecca’s murders. He didn’t even know
Rebecca. He did have some weird love thing with Mary Beth, but I
think that’s all it was.”

“He could be a really good actor and is
hiding something,” Vivian said, clicking her seat belt. “Maybe he
knows who did it.”

“Hmmm, but why not tell the police?” Kate
started the car but didn’t put it into reverse. “And I don’t see
why he would have it out for Nicole or April.”

Wendy piped up from the back seat. “He
could’ve made Nicole sick to keep her from looking into him and
tried to kill April because she knows something. She taught at his
high school, she has to know him. She could for sure know a lot
about his and Mary Beth’s relationship.”

Kate shook her head. “I’m not feeling
it.”

“I was definitely wondering about Mike Grimm
murdering Mary Beth after seeing that painting yesterday,” Lucy
said. “But what involvement would he have with Rebecca? And he
seems to love April. Surely he wouldn’t try to burn her up.”

“I think he’s just an odd guy, always wearing
black. And he says weird things sometimes,” Kate said. “But where
does his path cross Nicole’s? Why make her sick?”

Pierre laid his arm on the back seat around
Lucy’s shoulders. “People get sick all the time. Maybe Nicole
actually just got sick. You know, just ate or drank something
bad.”

Kate backed out of the parking spot. “It’s
too coincidental that she got sick when she started diving back
into her grandpa’s files. I think someone got her sick on
purpose.”

“Who knew besides us that she had his files?”
Wendy asked. “Jeremy might’ve wondered about it since she talked to
him, but otherwise she only talked to us out at Turlington
Farms.”

That struck Vivian. “She talked to us at
Tracy and Brandon’s house. Tracy came in! Maybe she overheard and
told Brandon.”

Lucy grabbed Wendy’s arm. “What if they’re in
on this together! That could help explain the randomness of the
crimes. Drowning, burying someone, E. coli poisoning, running us
off the road, arson.”

Vivian turned in the front seat to look at
Lucy. “You might be on to something there. A husband and wife duo
of sex, drugs, murder, mayhem, porno and pyromaniacs.”

“Drugs? Porno?” Kate questioned.

Vivian shrugged. “Ehhh, okay, so those are a
bit of a stretch, but what a headline!”

Kate drummed her fingers on the steering
wheel as she pulled up to a red light. “I feel like we’re missing
something. I don’t think we check out tonight. We can play it cool
for one more night. If they don’t know what we know, we’ll be all
right.”

“I chatted with Brandon while you girls were
upstairs this morning,” Pierre said. “He and Tracy were going to be
around the house today so I’m afraid there’s not much snooping we
can do.”

“Which is a shame,” Wendy said, “because I
feel like there’s more good stuff to find. There was great stuff in
our closet, and I bet he’s got more important info hidden. And I
still want to look in that garage, dammit!”

Kate turned right. “I want to go on the hike
again. I feel like I need to see where Rebecca was buried. That’s
where I missed something.”

“What can you possibly find?” Lucy asked.
“The sheriff’s crime scene people were all over the area.”

“I don’t know, but I’ve got a strong feeling
that’s where I need to start the search over.”

“I wore my Kate Spade moccasins,” Lucy said.
“I can’t hike in these, they’re suede, they’ll get ruined.”

Vivian couldn’t think of any other leads to
follow up on. “You’re going to have to take your chances, Lucy. I
think we go on the hike. Kate needs her peace of mind, and with us
leaving tomorrow, this is the last chance we’ll get.” Vivian kicked
a foot in the air. “I’m in my hiking boots. I’m in!”

Lucy sighed. “Fine, but our trust fund might
owe me a pair of shoes.”

Wendy crossed her ankle over her knee and hit
Lucy with her tennis shoe. “I didn’t dress as fashionable as you,
but I’m ready for action in these babies!”

“I’ll give you a piggy-back ride through the
mud,” Pierre said to Lucy and squeezed her hand.

A
re you sure this is
a good idea?” Lucy asked Kate as the group started up the trail.
“Your shoes don’t look slippery, but your Clarks won’t hold up to
the streams we have to cross, or the mud. Besides, we didn’t bring
any water or snacks. What if you get hungry?”

Kate kept marching. “I’m not worried about
it, and you’re not getting out of this. These women came to me in
my dreams seeking help. I have to see this through. It torments
me.”

Lucy sighed and trekked after Kate, being
careful where she stepped. “I don’t like coming out here
unprepared. We need water in the CamelBak at least.”

Vivian leapt across a small stream, the
ground squishing under her feet as she landed. “And snacks.”

Kate followed, then reached into her jacket
pocket and pulled out a Ziploc bag. “Who said we don’t have
snacks?” She bit into a bacon biscuit sandwich and offered the bag
to everyone else. “Anybody?”

Vivian wanted a bite but decided Kate needed
it more. Plus, she didn’t have any water. She’d be thirsty and
there was no way she was going to drink out of the stream — deer
pee, bear pee, porcupine pee. “No, thanks,” she said to Kate, and
they got back to hiking.

As they went up in elevation and moved
further and further away from the car, Vivian hoped they weren’t
going to regret this impromptu hike.

The trail was easier to follow since the
sheriff and crime scene techs had trampled a better path, and
before long the adventurers reached the area where they had
picnicked four days prior. It was also the area that started it all
— where Austin had brought them the human jawbone.

Lucy stopped a few feet from the bank.
“There’s still not a good place to cross. We’re going to have to
splash through.” She looked down at her shoes, now covered in mud.
“Sorry, Ms. Spade.”

“I’m sure she’d love to sell you another
pair,” Vivian said, then looked at Kate. “You sure we need to go to
where Rebecca was buried?”

“Absolutely. Whatever I’m missing, that’s
where I’ll find it.” Kate splashed across without hesitation.

Lucy took the lead and picked up the pace.
“Let’s get this over with. My feet are freezing already.”

They made it to the dry streambed and the
tree where Rebecca had been buried. More of the roots were exposed,
and Vivian wondered how the tree hadn’t fallen. One strong gust of
wind and it might, she figured.

The group spread out, searching the vicinity,
but Kate walked straight to the tree. She crouched down and held
onto a couple of roots while peering underneath.

Wendy walked up to her. “Getting any
vibes?”

Kate shook her head.

The crime scene techs had turned the ground
in a wide radius but Kate picked up a stick and sifted the dirt
just the same. So did Wendy, and Lucy and Vivian came over to help.
Pierre walked around several trees, inspecting the trunks.

After a few minutes of digging through the
dirt, Vivian looked at Kate. “Anything?”

“No, the techs probably found whatever there
was to find, but I still feel like there’s a piece of information
that will link this whole thing together. I just have to find
it.”

Pierre walked over, inspecting Rebecca’s
tree. He started at the bottom and worked his way up, finally
looking above his head. “Something is carved up there.”

About 9 feet up, Vivian could see the outline
of a heart with something scratched inside. “I’m too short to make
it out.”

“Boost me up,” Lucy said to Pierre.

He bent down and she climbed onto his
shoulders, then he stepped closer to the tree.

“What do you see?” Kate asked.

Lucy ran her finger over the carving. “It’s
very faint, but a heart.”

“Take a picture with your phone,” Wendy said,
craning her head back to try and see it.

“Good idea,” Lucy said and pulled her phone
out of her pocket. She snapped the picture and Pierre helped her
jump to the ground. They high-fived, and he kept his hand going and
smacked her on the butt.

“I’d like to see you in a cheerleader
outfit.” He winked at her.

“Oh stop.”

“Let’s see the pic, Miss
Rah-Rah-Sis-Boom-Bah,” Vivian said, laughing. The group hovered
around her phone and Kate drummed her finger on her lips. “What’s
it say inside the heart?”

“I think it’s says SB plus T, but it was hard
to tell,” Lucy said.

Kate took the phone. “There’s something
familiar about it.”

“Was it at the lean-to on Moose Island?”
Vivian asked. “There were lots of things carved into the bench
there.”

“I saw that there were carvings, but I didn’t
pay any attention.”

“At Lake Placid Brewery?” Lucy offered.

Kate shook her head. Wendy ventured, “At the
Olympic complex? There was a post at the base of the mountain that
had markings and stuff. Maybe you saw it there?”

“No,” Kate said. “That’s not it.”

They threw out a few more ideas, but nothing
jogged Kate’s memory.

Vivian shrugged. “T could stand for Tracy,
but what about SB? B for Brandon, but why the S?”

Wendy studied the picture again. “The legal
documents we found in the crawl space all had his name as Brandon.
I don’t remember if there was a middle initial, but there
definitely wasn’t an S in front of Brandon.”

Kate glanced at the picture, then up at the
mark on the tree. “This is the key. We have to figure out what it
means.” She gave the phone to Lucy. “Let’s get back to Turlington
Farms. I want to see those papers again.” She took one last look at
the tree before setting off at a brisk pace down the hill.

As they hiked along, Vivian asked, “What was
Tracy’s boyfriend’s name, the guy who ran off to Omaha? Scott or
something like that?”

“We need to check in Grandpa’s file. He had
it in there, but that sounds right,” Wendy said as they splashed
through the big stream again.

“What was his last name?” Pierre asked as he
helped Lucy across. “Start with a B?”

“I have no idea,” Kate said. “I can’t
remember.”

No one else could, either.

The hike down the mountain was much quicker
than the hike up, and they made it to the car without incident and
without having any idea what SB stood for. Kate fired up the SUV
and pulled onto the haunted road. Sun low in the sky, no ghosts
were visible or popped up in the crowded back seat.

“Maybe the S stands for a nickname,” Pierre
said as they cruised down a hill.

“Ehhh.” Kate made the turn off of Highway 86
a little too fast, squishing everyone to the right.

“Scoot your booty over,” Lucy said to Pierre
and thumped him in the ribs.

“Holy shit!” Kate screamed and slammed on the
brakes. “That’s it!”

Vivian’s head jerked forward and back, and
her heart hammered. She looked out the windshield for something in
the road. “What is it? What?”

Kate pushed the accelerator down, shot the
car forward, gravel kicking up behind the tires. “Scooter
Bill!”