Fletcher off guard long enough—
That’s illegal, girlfriend. It’s called obstruction of justice. And immoral. And against your beliefs. Maggie sighed at the nagging inner voice. God’s finger. But it’s not evidence, she insisted to herself. Not really. “And aren’t some risks worth it?” she asked aloud.
A knock on her door brought her attention back around, and she called out for her visitor to enter. Fletcher opened the door and was followed into the office by Korie. They sat in the chairs on the front side of the desk.
“I want Fletcher to stay here, in one of the cabins,” Korie announced, expertly swinging her blond hair back over her shoulder. “Surely you have one that’s empty. It doesn’t look right for him to keep staying with me, and I want him to get to the bottom of this. And I want you to call Chief Madison and tell him you’re behind it as well. He cooperated with Fletcher about the reports, but he’s acting like you’re queen of the estate and he’s deferring to you.”
Silence.
Maggie looked from one to the other, and she knew they were waiting for her to protest. After a moment, she opened her center desk drawer and pulled out a key with a numbered key chain on it. She tossed it lightly at Fletcher, who caught it with no effort. “Number four,” she said, handing him a map and a brochure. “You might have to clean it. The previous occupant left this weekend after a fight with Aaron, and I haven’t had a chance to get the cleaning service down there yet. The map will help you get around the estate, and the brochure will familiarize you with our routine.”
She paused and looked at Korie. “I’ll call Tyler as soon as you two are out of the office. I’m sure he’ll be more deferential to you, Korie, when he realizes how much you’ll inherit.”
Korie froze and Fletcher’s eyebrows arched. Maggie started her mental list. A mad writer who left in a huff and a wife who will inherit. No lies, but a bit of mud on the picture. Maggie felt a tightening in her gut, and she glanced briefly at the Bible on the corner of her desk. It’s worth it, she thought insistently, her faith at war with her loyalty.
Korie stood, muttering under her breath, and turned to leave. “Come on, Fletcher, I’ll help you get settled.”
Fletcher got to his feet, watching Maggie. He said quietly, “You go ahead, Korie. I’ll be there in a minute.”
Korie slammed the door behind her, but neither of them jumped. Fletcher turned and went to the window near her desk, staring out. Maggie turned in her chair to watch him. There was mud on his pants that he had not bothered to brush off and a leaf stuck to the back of his coat. But there was nothing sloppy about his movements or his intentions.
Maggie blinked first. “What do you want?”
“What risk is worth it?”
Maggie stood and went to his side. “Is eavesdropping part of your job?”
He was still looking out the window. “When necessary.”
“So do you just expect me to blithely confess that I know something about Aaron’s accident that I’m not telling you?”
Fletcher turned to face her, and Maggie was surprised by the intensity in his eyes. He stepped closer, and Maggie wanted to look away but didn’t dare. He loomed over her, his height and closeness overwhelming her. She took a deep breath in an effort to remain calm and only succeeded in inhaling a scent that was purely masculine, acrid and intense, like freshly tanned leather. She trembled as he leaned forward and whispered at the side of her face.
“Don’t do this, Maggie. We both know he was killed. We both know that someone moved his body so it would look like an accident. And I promise you I will find out who and why. Whatever—or whoever—you’re hiding is not worth it. Understand?”
Maggie let out her breath, her voice shaking. “Perfectly,” she whispered back.
He stepped back and smiled. “Fine,” he said, his voice light. “Then we’ll get along famously.” He turned and went to the door.
“Dinner’s at six,” Maggie said firmly. He stopped and looked at her, puzzled. She tilted her head back, regaining as much pride as she could. “Since you’ve been staying with Korie, I thought you might not know. Everyone at the retreat eats dinner in the lodge. Every night. It’s required. One of Aaron’s little dictates. Everyone who’s on the property, no matter who, eats at the lodge at six. He thought it reflected small-town life. You can meet everyone then. But I hope you’ll be gracious enough to talk to them about Aaron in private.”
He looked her over, nodding in agreement. “I will,” he said, and he shut the door behind him.
Maggie let all the air out of her lungs and sat back down in her chair, her legs unable to hold her any longer. She reached out and stroked the edge of her Bible. Is deception always wrong? Isn’t it allowed, she thought, to protect your own family? She wanted to believe she was right, but every fiber of her body seemed to twitch. Leaning her head on her desk, she let the tears flow one more time.
Fletcher ignored Korie’s protests and went out the back door to stand on the deck. He needed to be alone and he needed fresh air. He inhaled deeply, relishing the late-afternoon chill that stung his nostrils.
She had smelled like sandalwood, all spicy and sweet. He closed his eyes, but all he could see was the way her auburn hair had clung in small curls to her shoulders and the gentle curve of her neck. He was also struck by her almost unnoticeable glances at the Bible on her desk. Clearly, her morals, her faith, were playing hard on her heart, which tugged at something deep in the back of Fletcher’s mind, a sensation he had ignored for a very long time.
Fletcher opened his eyes and leaned heavily against the deck rail, gazing out over the November landscape, wondering if he should bow out now. His gut still ached from knowing his best friend lay on a morgue slab, and he had never expected the impact Maggie’s emotion would have on him. Her strength, her grief, drew his attention right away, and now he fought the idea that she was involved in Aaron’s murder. But her anger hid something that ran deep, and all of his experience, all of his instincts, told him that she knew who the murderer was. Or she thought she did. Fletcher knew he had to get his own grief back under control if he was going to find any answers at all.
Because Maggie Weston was grieving not just for Aaron but for the person who had killed him. Fletcher just hoped that it wasn’t her.
TWO
Judson was meticulous, insisting especially on a spotless kitchen in which to cook the gourmet meals he cherished. Three maids in the last year had quit, unable to live up to his requirements.
Fletcher dumped the clothes out of his hastily packed bag onto the rumpled bed and sorted them into piles of clean, dirty and suits. He hung the suits in the tiny cabin closet, then dumped the clean pile into one drawer of the dresser, the dirty into another. He sat on the squeaky bed, trying to ignore the smell of sour food and stale sweat in the cabin, and pulled a small notebook and a pen out of his jacket to look over the notes he’d taken so far. As he went through the list, his left heel bounced nervously against the floor, and the pen clicked as his thumb snapped up and down on its release.
Aaron Jackson’s body showed that he had apparently died from a severe blow to the right side of his head, crushing his temple. He had been discovered by the estate manager, Maggie Weston, around midnight Monday, lying
