Candy-Coated Secrets Page 8

  Ethan stepped from the shadows beneath the tree. He gathered me in his arms and crushed me to his chest. He cried. Silently. His body trembled with sobs.

  “Ethan?”

  He rested his chin on top of my head. “I know I can’t stop you from snooping, Summer, although God help me, I’d like to. All I can do is ask.”

  “I didn’t go looking for this.”

  “I know, and I’m more frightened than I’ve ever been in my life.” I tasted the salt of his tears when our lips met. A kiss so tender, gentle tears sprang to my eyes. “You’re my world, Summer Meadows. The reason the sun rises each morning, and the meaning behind it setting at night.” His breath tickled my lips.

  A roar from my left had me scurrying behind Ethan. “What was that?”

  “It sounded like a lion.” Ethan grabbed my hand. “A mountain lion?”

  “No.”

  I remembered the roar from the carnival. My insides turned to ice. The only place a cat that size would have come from was the fairgrounds. I squinted through the darkness. “Ethan, there. Hanging from the tree on the other side of the clearing. What is it?”

  Chapter Twelve

  The roar came again, much closer. Startled birds darted from the trees. Ethan sprinted toward the house, pulling me behind. A growl. The sound erupted from somewhere in front of us. Ethan stopped. He pushed me behind him, plastering me between his back and a tree.

  “Where is it?” My voice trembled.

  “I don’t know. It could be anywhere.” Ethan squatted then rose with a thick stick in his hand. I stepped forward, wanting to be by his side.

  Another roar.

  The force of my scream tore at my throat.

  Ethan shoved me. My shoulder connected with the tree trunk, and I scraped my way to the ground. Bark against skin. Not a good combination. I couldn’t see whether my arm bled, but it stung like fire ants were marching across my upper arm.

  Outlined by moonlight, my brave mountain man faced a lion. A large male worthy of National Geographic. The lion, not Ethan. Ethan stood with knees slightly bent and shoulder-width apart. The cat threw back his head, its mane waving in the slight breeze. He advanced on huge paws toward Ethan. My breath caught in my throat.

  This could not be happening. This wasn’t Wild America. For a moment, I nurtured the notion that hidden cameras might be filming us and that the massive feline was actually a tame pet. Another growl clarified the reality of the situation.

  Ethan and the animal circled each other. I pushed to my feet. My gaze searched the ground around me. I would not allow Ethan to fight this ferocious beast alone. I grasped a rock the size of my fist.

  “Summer, get back.”

  “You aren’t doing this alone.” I stepped up beside him. “If you distract me, we’re both dead.”

  “I’m not going to stand back and watch you get eaten.”

  Ethan shook his head. “Then back up slowly. And stay behind me.”

  We moved backward in choreographed steps. The lion mimicked and stepped forward. He stopped, sniffed the breeze, and turned toward the bag hanging from a tree. Ethan whirled and shoved me ahead of him. “Run!”

  My tree house sat back approximately half a football field-length from the house. The distance seemed like miles as we hurtled through the woods. Any second, I expected to find myself knocked to the ground by a carnivore going for my jugular.

  Uncle Roy met us on the back stoop, his trusty rifle in hand. Joe appeared from around the corner of the house, pistol in hand.

  “What is it? The dog’s been going crazy. We finally had to lock her in the bathroom.”

  Ethan wrenched open the door and shoved me inside. “Get inside, Roy! It’s a lion.”

  “We don’t have lions around here. Mountain lions, but I ain’t seen one of them in years. Nothing big enough to make that noise anyway.” He entered the house behind us and locked the door before peering through the curtains. “Of course the Wilson boys swear they saw Bigfoot not more than a week ago, terrorizing their cows. Think it’s Bigfoot?”

  Joe met Ethan’s gaze. “No, Uncle Roy, he doesn’t think it’s Bigfoot.”

  “I know you young folks don’t believe, but Bigfoot’s real. Just because you’ve never seen him doesn’t mean he don’t exist.” Uncle Roy took a seat in a kitchen chair and placed his rifle across his lap. “People don’t see God, but we know He’s there.”

  We all stared at Uncle Roy. As unusual as it was for me, I found myself at a loss for words. I still reeled from the shock of facing the king of the jungle. The prospect of a living, breathing, ape-slash-man creature circling the house definitely did not seem believable.

  “What is it?” Aunt Eunice bustled into the kitchen.

  “Bigfoot,” Uncle Roy told her.

  My aunt’s hand flew to her throat. “Do you think he’s after my pot roast?”

  April entered the room with a pitcher of iced tea in her hand. Her eyes widened for a minute, then she giggled, meeting my gaze. Having grown up spending a lot of nights at my house, she was used to my aunt’s and uncle’s strange statements.

  A dimple winked in Ethan’s cheek, Joe’s face darkened, and I turned away to hide my grin. Joe ran a hand over his face. “It isn’t Bigfoot. I’m going to call animal control. The carnival’s minuscule zoo is probably missing a lion.”

  Ethan glanced at me. “It’s definitely a lion.”

  “We might as well eat then. Nothing we can do about it.” Aunt Eunice opened the cabinet and took down six plates. “Summer, come help. April, you going to pour that tea or keep it all to yourself?”

  April commenced pouring and I reached to take the dishes from my aunt. Footsteps padded outside the kitchen window. Massive paws scratched at the door, gouging the wood. Saliva dripped from sharp fangs as the predator stared in the window. I shook my head to clear it of my overly imaginative thoughts. We’d left the cat in the woods. Now was not the time for scary daydreams. As far as I cared, the lion could move on. I took the plates from my aunt’s outstretched hands.

  When my gaze connected with Ethan’s, I guessed he also wondered what the bag hanging in the woods contained. We’d have to let Joe find out for us. No way would Ethan allow me to go. Even if he went with me.

  “What’s up, you two? Tell me exactly what happened out there.” Joe returned from using the phone and sat in his usual chair at the opposite end of the table from Uncle Roy. He ate at our house so often, that seat naturally became his.

  “What do you mean?” Afraid I’d fall into the chair from lack of strength in my wobbly legs, I braced my hands on the tabletop and slowly lowered myself.

  “I mean, Ethan ran in here sweating and clutching a piece of wood. You were pale as a ghost. We hear a large animal roar and you say it’s a lion.” Joe speared a bite of roast. “Is it real, or another person in a costume?”

  Ethan placed a hand on my arm, keeping me in my seat. What I wanted to do was strangle my cousin. The man never believed anything I said.

  “Summer and I came a little closer to the lion than we would have liked. A real live, breathing animal. We know what we saw, Joe.” Ethan patted my arm and released me. “There’s also a strange bag hung in one of the oaks. I think someone lured our furry friend here. I also don’t think he escaped. I bet someone set it free. Much like the hog that chased Summer.” Ethan leaned across the table toward Joe. “Someone is playing games, and I don’t like it.”

  Why would someone want to play games with me? Tomorrow, Monday, when Ethan went to work, I’d slip away from the candy booth and start back at the beginning. Millie’s trailer.

  Joe dropped his fork onto his plate. “I don’t like it either, Ethan. I’m not sitting here twiddling my thumbs. The department is actively trying to find out the purpose behind all this. Why the hog chase, why the Ferris wheel ride, and why the attempt on her life today? Now—a lion roaming around Mountain Shadows. Specifically this yard. Coincidence? I don’t think so.” He wiped his mouth and tossed his nap
kin to the table.

  “Summer does a good deed, which still doesn’t make sense to me. Not with the liability involved with her walking an elephant. Then she stumbles across Millie’s body and a whole slew of other things. Doesn’t add up.” Joe pushed to his feet. “Things like this don’t happen in other small towns. But then, Summer lives here, doesn’t she?” He stormed out of the kitchen, leaving the rest of us to stare at each other in silence.

  Since my parents’ fatal car accident, my cousin Joe had played the part of overly protective older brother. When Ethan and I got engaged, I’m sure Joe hoped I’d become someone else’s worry. Instead, it seemed as if the two men got to share in my troubles.

  By the time we finished dinner and Aunt Eunice and I were standing at the kitchen sink washing dishes, two officers approached the house with guns drawn. Behind them walked a man dressed in khaki coveralls, carrying a really long rifle-looking thing. Joe joined them on the back porch, Uncle Roy announced he’d stand guard out front, and the officers, Joe, and the Crocodile Dundee guy strode, somewhat reluctantly it seemed, into the woods behind the house.

  Ethan walked up behind me and encircled my waist with his arms. “You holding up okay?”

  “I am now.” I leaned into him, relishing his solidness. Ignoring the grin on my aunt’s face, I turned in his arms. “I’m sorry, Ethan. For being a screwup. For being a trouble magnet. You name it.” Tears pricked the back of my eyes.

  “Summer.” Ethan tightened his hold. “I don’t want you not to be who you are. I just want you to be. Understand?”

  I nodded. “Ditto.”

  “They’re coming back.” Aunt Eunice pulled her hands from the water. Soapy suds slopped down the cabinets. “They’re dragging something. It looks like a body.”

  April dropped a dishtowel on the counter. “It’s definitely a body.”

  My foot caught on the rung of the chair as I bolted to my feet. Only Ethan’s outstretched arm prevented me from falling face first to the worn linoleum. “Let me see. It’s too dark. I can’t see a thing.” I used my hip to push against my aunt.

  “Stop shoving. They’ve gone around the corner.”

  Like two children at a toy store, we jostled each other as we sprinted toward the front. Ethan chuckled and joined us.

  Yanking open the door, I jumped back and screamed as I came face-to-face with the lion. Except this time it was dead. Its dark eyes stared lifelessly at me from the front porch. Next to it lay a shredded, bloody, canvas bag.

  Uncle Roy knelt beside the animal. “There seems to have been another murder. Someone killed this big cat.”

  Joe scribbled on a notepad. “Good assumption. On first guess, I’d say someone put poisoned meat in that bag then hung it from a tree to attract the lion. Walters said one of his lambs disappeared yesterday, along with a jug of rat poison. What I want to know is. . .” He tapped the pencil against his chin. “If someone lured the lion here to get Summer, why kill it?”

  Chapter Thirteen

  My mind drifted, lost in daydreams, while my fingers swirled shapes in the chocolate. Images of faces appeared in the silkiness. Big Sally, Laid Back Millie, Eddy Foreman, the lion. They were all relative to each other in some way. I just needed to find the link.

  The bell over the door to Summer’s Confections remained silent. At least business at the fair was good. The candy seemed to disappear out of the booth, leaving money in its place. Making more chocolate had become a necessity. A blessing from God.

  Fifties music played softly from the radio, rising above the low clanking of my dipping machine. My gaze kept drifting to the clock. Five o’clock wouldn’t come soon enough. I dressed in black for the occasion. I’d help Aunt Eunice in the booth until dark, then sneak over to Millie’s trailer. As long as Ethan’s volunteer meeting lasted past dusk, I’d be home free.

  There had to be something I missed a week ago. Had it only been a week? Not even. Short by a couple of days. I sighed and swirled the letter C on top of a chocolate cream.

  One of my prized possessions nestled in the bag I’d set on top of the counter: a tiny pink flashlight right out of a James Bond movie. My lack of proper investigating tools had seriously hindered my crime-solving abilities in the past. The same mistakes wouldn’t happen again. I chuckled. I’d be making a bunch of new ones.

  At one minute past five, I locked the front door and jogged to my car. I placed the boxes of chocolate carefully in the backseat, hooked the seat belt across them, then slid behind the wheel.

  My palms sweated in nervous anticipation. When I stopped at a red light, Joe’s squad car pulled behind me. I froze until I realized I hadn’t done anything wrong. Not yet, anyway. I gave him a little wave through my rearview window. He followed me into the fairgrounds.

  “What’s with the gothic look?” he asked once we’d both exited our vehicles.

  “I just felt like wearing black.”

  “You never wear all black. Said the color depresses you.”

  “I wanted a change.”

  Joe reached into his car and pulled out a black ski cap. He grinned as he handed it to me. “If you plan on doing something sneaky after dark, you might want to cover up that red hair.”

  “It’s not red. It’s auburn and—” Great. I hadn’t denied any sneaky plans.

  “Word of advice, my dear cousin.” He pointed an index finger at me. “Don’t do anything illegal. I will arrest you if I have to.”

  He’d made those threats before. Besides, what did he take me for? I wouldn’t think of breaking the law. Not on purpose anyway.

  Aunt Eunice perched on a high stool behind our booth counter. Her chin rested in her hand. On the surface in front of her, displayed on a swatch of black velvet, lay her blue ribbon.

  “Drooling, Aunt Eunice?” I set the box of candy on the counter.

  “You don’t drool over something you already have.” She glanced up at me. “Why are you wearing black?”

  “Shhh.” I pulled her off the stool. “I’m going back to Millie’s trailer tonight. Will you watch the booth?”

  “I have been all day, haven’t I?” Aunt Eunice crossed her arms. “You can’t go to that loose woman’s trailer by yourself. I want to go with you.”

  “You have to watch the booth.”

  “Ethan will flip his lid if I don’t babysit you.”

  “Fine. Let’s lock everything up. It’ll be fine for a few minutes. You can be my lookout.”

  Aunt Eunice rolled her ribbon in the fabric while I put the chocolate in the near-empty refrigerator. My aunt’s face glowed. “This is going to be fun.”

  I had to admit to a certain amount of excitement myself. And to think I’d originally wanted April as my sidekick. No danger of Aunt Eunice being distracted by the male physique. She liked a roly-poly type of man. Like Uncle Roy. April, on the other hand, stopped helping me solve the diamond mystery with her first glance at Joe.

  “Let’s go out the back.” I peered around our cubicle partition. “Nonchalantly walk with me. Don’t attract any attention.”

  “Right.” Aunt Eunice narrowed her eyes. She resembled a shifty-eyed crook. She slouched beside me, then stated in an overly loud voice, “I think I’ll head on over to the restroom. Haven’t had much of a chance all day. A woman my age can’t hold it long.”

  “What are you doing?” The woman was an embarrassment.

  “Creating a distraction.”

  Well, duh. I sighed and marched faster toward the exit. “I said not to attract attention. Oh, never mind.” Like anyone would believe she’d announce to a building full of people her intention of going to the restroom. We were doomed.

  A throng of people mingled out back. Mostly carnival workers, although there were a few attendees. Young girls who seemed more interested in the workers than spending time on the rides. Getting to Millie’s trailer would take ingenuity.

  “We need another distraction. One better planned than the restroom announcement.”

  “I’m on it.�
�� Aunt Eunice marched into the group of people, threw a hand to her forehead, gave a little squeak, and swooned. She collapsed in a surprisingly graceful crumble.

  With everyone’s attention on her, I ducked behind a trailer. Covert eyeballing of my surroundings showed no one watched me. With a deep breath, I made my way to the target. Yellow crime scene tape still blocked Millie’s trailer. A shining beacon that I’d probably be in trouble from my cousin. Well, not if he didn’t catch me.

  Even with my short height, I managed to get tangled trying to duck under the tape. I’d never been good at the limbo. Too hyper. Never could take my time doing anything. Disentangling myself, I let the yellow ribbon float to the ground.

  A turn of the doorknob and I stepped inside. I flicked on my flashlight and directed the beam to each corner of the room. Fingerprint powder covered every surface, even the dishes in the sink. Nothing appeared different from my first visit. One step inside and that annoying floorboard creaked, announcing to anyone inside that he wasn’t alone.

  Making my way to where I’d found the body, I took special care not to touch anything. I chided myself about not wearing gloves. Even I should have known that a crime-solver wears gloves when visiting a crime scene. It was written in one of my helpful guides.

  Pale moonlight filtered through the red curtains, casting the room in the strangest shade of gray I’d ever seen. I doubted anyone would find that color in a crayon box.

  The bathroom beckoned. Shivers ran down my spine, and I considered changing my course of action. What were the chances of finding another body hanging from the shower? I shook off the feeling and proceeded, sighing with relief to see the stall empty.

  I ran the beam over the walls, finally settling on the showerhead. Using a nearby hand towel, I grasped it firmly and tugged. It pulled farther away from the wall. I grinned.

  No way a struggling body could’ve hung here and not pulled the plumbing free. Not even someone as small as Millie. She hadn’t hanged herself. Someone had placed the body here after the fact.