Books, Picnics And Murder Read online

  “What about Luke?” Clary latched onto that piece of information. A theory was starting to form in her mind, but she didn’t know where it was taking her or if it was true.

  “What about him?” Grace asked, flicking a bug off her arm.

  “Here we go,” Layla sang, giving them each a bottle of soda. She then unceremoniously squeezed herself between the two of them. “It’s so lucky that today was the picnic, otherwise I never would’ve found anything. Poor Eli, I’ll save him a sandwich. I know he was looking forward to this.”

  “You’re sitting on me,” Grace complained, shoving Layla to the side, causing her to spill some soda on Clary’s pants.

  “Oops,” Layla said apologetically and began patting Clary’s leg down.

  “It’s fine,” Clary said with a tight smile, holding up a hand to stop her. “We were just talking about Luke.”

  “Oh,” Layla said happily, “he’s such a sweetheart. He absolutely dotes on Eli, you know. I think he really wants a family of his own.”

  “Then why doesn’t he get married?” Clary asked curiously.

  “He’s dead broke,” Grace scoffed. “When Eli was born, most of his shares were taken away from him. He works day and night for Northwood Industries, but he’ll probably lose his job as soon as Eli’s old enough to work for the company. He can’t start a family without more stability.”

  “Poor Luke,” Layla sighed, staring out at the lake in front of them.

  “More like poor Layla,” Grace joked. “You’re more in love with him than Payton is.”

  “That’s not true,” Layla said, but her cheeks were bright red, “no one loves him more than Payton.”

  “Except Eli,” Clary pointed out.

  “That’s true,” Layla said with a small smile. “He just loves his uncle. It’s as if they’ve got a family in each other. I don’t think Luke minds that much. He thinks of Eli as a son, and heaven knows Eli needs a father figure.”

  “I kind of wish Luke didn’t love Eli that much,” Grace admitted heavily. Layla gasped and gave her arm a little smack, but Grace shook her head resolutely. “Think about it. Payton uses Eli to get Luke to come over. That poor boy is yanked this way and that. Payton doesn’t care about the damage she could be causing, she just wants Luke.”

  “Luke doesn’t seem like the kind of person who would put up with that for very long,” Clary pointed out. “He sounds like he has a good head on his shoulders. I don’t even think he likes Payton that much, to be honest.”

  “Oh, no,” Grace shook her head. “Luke hates her guts. The only reason he keeps her around is because he thinks Eli loves her. Like I said, she uses Eli to get what she wants. She puts on this whole act whenever the Northwoods come into town. They think she’s nanny-of-the-year and Eli can’t say anything to defend himself, because he doesn’t think she’s faking it. He honestly thinks that she’s going to be like that from now on. He’s a smart kid, but not when it comes to the adults.”

  “Can’t he talk to Luke about it? Or why don’t any of you say anything?” Clary asked.

  “No,” Grace shook her head, “I tried to tell Luke once, but he wouldn’t listen. Look, he’s a nice guy but that’s all he is. He doesn’t want to rock the boat with Bryan, so he doesn’t say or do anything. He knows Eli’s lonely, he knows Payton is shady, but he doesn’t do anything to fix it.”

  “What about Ava or Bryan?” Clary asked worriedly. What kind of home was Eli coming back to? He had no nanny now, and no one who wanted to stand up for him. Something had to change, or else Eli was going to experience more trouble. At the same time, she just hoped that he was going to be okay.

  “I tried,” Layla said in a soft voice.

  “What happened?” Clary asked gently.

  “They threatened to fire me,” Layla admitted sadly. “I need this job, you know? Besides, who’s going to be there for Eli if we get fired? If we go, then he’ll think that we don’t care about him.”

  “If Bryan does something about Eli’s situation, then that would mean he acknowledges that he’s wrong. He doesn’t think he’s doing anything wrong, so he’s not going to change anything for his son. Poor Natasha, she’d be so ashamed of Bryan right now.”

  “You knew Natasha?” Clary asked in surprise.

  “Yes,” Grace nodded heavily. “She’s the one who hired me. It was just me back then. I was on vacation the day… on the day it happened.”

  “I’m so sorry,” Clary said comfortingly. “You know, Ava hinted that Bryan blames Eli for what happened.”

  “He does,” Grace swallowed uncomfortably. “He can’t even look at his son. Even after all these years. No one talks to him about it.”

  “Oh, goodness,” Clary shook her head. “How could he blame his own child?”

  “I don’t know,” Grace admitted, shrugging and leaning back on the bench. “I’ve known Bryan for a very long time. I knew him after he married Natasha, and I even knew him as a kid. He’s a complicated man. I know that when Natasha died, he was broken. He needed someone to blame, even if it was his son. It’s just something he’ll never get over.”

  Chapter 9

  “Hi,” Ava said nervously, walking up to Clary. “I was wondering if you could give me a lift home?”

  “I’m sorry,” Clary said, standing up and waving at Grace and Layla. They both waved but gave Ava evil looks. Ava flinched and looked down at her shoes. “I don’t have a car.”

  “Please?” Ava said pitifully. “I have to get home.”

  “Look, I’m sorry for you, but I kind of want to stay here and help look for your stepson.” Clary was trying not to get annoyed with Ava, but everyone around them was doing their best to find the little boy, and Ava just wanted to go home.

  “I know what you think of me,” Ava said loudly, trying to look brave, but she was shaking in her shoes, “but I’m doing the best I can.” Clary shook her head and started to walk away, but Ava grabbed her by the arm. “I have anxiety!” she blurted.

  Clary stopped short and turned to look at the woman. It suddenly hit her. The way she was sort of curled into herself. Her aloof demeanor, and the way her face was twitching.

  “I have crippling anxiety. This is killing me. I want to find him,” Ava said, looking around with tears in her eyes. “I want to do everything these people can and more. But I can’t. This is killing me,” she gestured, barely moving her arms away from her body. “All these people watching me, trying to talk to me. I can’t do it. But I can wait for him. I can go home, and I can be there for him when he gets back. Please, I can’t let him come home to an empty house, okay?” Clary nodded in understanding. She felt ashamed that she had judged Ava before she knew the whole story. Ava cared in the best way she knew how.

  “I’ll go ask Logan if I can borrow his car,” Clary said gently.

  The ride to the mansion was silent, but not uncomfortable.

  “Ava,” Clary asked softly, “can I ask you something? About Eli?”

  “I didn’t hit him,” Ava said quickly.

  “Excuse me?” Clary asked in surprise. She blushed slightly, because that’s exactly what she wanted to ask about.

  “I was picking him up from school,” Ava continued, speaking in a rush as if she wanted to get the words out as quickly as possible. “And he forgot something in his class. I saw that his backpack was heavy, so I wanted to take it from him. You don’t know Eli, he doesn’t react well when I try to show him affection. I didn’t think, I just wanted to take his bag from him. But he flinched, as if he was expecting me to hit him. His bag fell, and it hit his foot, so he cried out. Everyone thought I hit him, but it was a mistake. I just wanted to take his schoolbag.”

  “Oh,” Clary said softly, concentrating on the road. Once again, the gossip mill had gotten it wrong. Poor Ava. “Who’s this?” she asked as they pulled into the driveway. There was a massive truck parked in front of the entrance.

  “I don’t know,” Ava shook her head, looking terrified.

  �
��Just wait here,” Clary said soothingly, “I’ll go find out who it is.”

  “I’ll call Bryan,” Ava said quickly, pulling out her phone. Clary nodded at her and got out of the car. She went over to the truck, and as soon as she got close, three people got out. By now, the sun was starting to set and it was hard to see anyone. The movement caused an automatic light to come on, illuminating the three figures. Clary squinted and tried to make out who the man and two little boys were. Friends of Eli’s?

  “Eli!” Ava shrieked. She threw the door open and ran over to one of the little boys and pulled him close to her, crying as she squeezed him close to her. Her phone lay in the dust, and Clary saw that she had been on a call with Bryan.

  “What’s going on?” Clary asked.

  “I don’t know?” the man said in confusion. “Did we miss something?”

  “He’s been gone,” Ava sobbed. “We’ve been looking for you everywhere. Eli! Where were you?”

  “Oh, gosh,” the man said, running his right hand through his hair and pulling the other boy close to him. “Where’s Payton? I told her that we had him.”

  “I messaged Payton too,” Eli said, his voice muffled in Ava’s shirt.

  “I think we better start from the beginning,” Clary suggested. “Eli, what happened yesterday afternoon?”

  Ava turned to Clary, but she wouldn’t let go of Eli. She held onto his shoulders as though she was expecting him to disappear again. Eli, with his bright blond hair and blue eyes, looked up at her as if he couldn’t believe that she was there.

  “Payton took me to the lake,” he explained. “She said we were going to have a picnic. I didn’t want to get on the boat, but she said I shouldn’t be a baby.”

  “What?” Ava gasped. “How could she?”

  “Hold on,” Clary warned Ava. “Tell us what happened, Eli.”

  “She rowed to the other side of the lake and got out of the boat to take a phone call. Then the boat drifted off. I tried to call her, but she couldn’t hear me. Then she went away. I don’t know where. I tried to row back, but I couldn’t.”

  “Your asthma,” Ava realized with a gasp. She pulled Eli back toward her, hugging him tightly. He patted her arm awkwardly and looked at his friend in bewilderment. His friend shrugged.

  “I should probably introduce myself,” the man said awkwardly. “I’m Alex Taylor. This is my son, Noah. He and Eli are best friends. We were camping this weekend, and we found Eli floating out on the water. He said that Payton was coming back for him, so I invited him to join us. We left Payton a couple of messages, but she never got back to us. I didn’t think anyone would worry.”

  “Yeah,” Noah piped up, “no one ever cares when he comes to sleep over at my house.” Ava let out a pained gasp and cried harder. Alex looked down at his son and shook his head. Eli frowned, and hugged Ava back, comforting her gently.

  “Let me guess,” Clary said slowly, “were you wearing a baseball cap?”

  “Yeah,” Eli nodded, “but it blew off. Did you find it? My Uncle Luke bought it.”

  Before anyone could say anything, another car came roaring up the driveway. Bryan parked abruptly, and flew out of the car, leaving the door open behind him. He stopped short when he saw his son. A look of pure relief lifted his features.

  “Hi, daddy,” Eli said innocently, still hugging Ava. Bryan took one step, then another. He looked around and Clary nodded encouragingly. That was all he needed, because he took one more giant step toward his son and wife. In one motion, he swept them up and twirled them around.

  “You’re back,” he said joyfully, hugging his son as if he’d never let go again.

  “Why didn’t you come home?” Ava asked. “You knew we were going to be home this weekend.”

  “Payton got a phone call,” Eli shrugged. “You guys usually call on a Friday to cancel, and then she goes away. I thought you weren’t coming.” Ava let out another sob, and Bryan looked as though his heart was breaking. They looked at each other, and then back to Eli. They looked at him as if he was the only one who mattered. Everything was as it should be.

  “Don’t you just love a happy ending?” Sanchez asked, his voice slightly choked up.

  “I’m so happy,” Clary sniffed. “I don’t know what to do with myself.”

  “Excuse me,” Alex said, walking up to them. “I’m sorry about all this. I really didn’t know it would cause this much trouble. My wife is going to kill me. I can’t imagine what they must’ve gone through. I just wanted you to know that he was safe with me.”

  “Thank you for taking care of him,” Clary said sincerely. “I’m sure Payton was out of her mind with worry.”

  “About that,” Alex said, looking around awkwardly. “I don’t think it was an accident. She never tied the boat to the jetty.”

  “She knew he was going to float off?” Clary asked, looking scandalized.

  “Maybe it was an accident,” Sanchez suggested with wide eyes.

  “I thought so too,” Alex admitted, “but there was a hole in that boat, Chief. He was sinking when we found him. The kid can’t swim, he would’ve drowned if we hadn’t found him. I know Payton’s not the most observant person, but she really shouldn’t be watching over Eli.”

  With that, he walked back to the parents to explain himself. Sanchez and Clary looked at each other thoughtfully.

  “It looks like this ending isn’t as happy as we thought,” Sanchez said, scratching his chin. Clary’s mind was racing as she thought. “This puzzle is far from solved. We’ve got a dead, negligent nanny and no suspects. We were so busy looking for Eli that we never considered what would happen when we found him.”

  “No way,” Clary breathed out. “You’ve got to be kidding.”

  “What?” Sanchez asked in bewilderment, “What’s happening?”

  “I know what happened,” Clary said, grabbing his arm, “we’ve got to get to the lake.”

  “What?”

  The boats were finally docked, and the crew was hurriedly putting away all the gear they used. Marie looked about ready to kill someone, and Clary couldn’t blame her. It hadn’t been the best day.

  “I want to go home,” Marie announced as soon as she saw her friend.

  “We’ll go soon,” Clary promised.

  The townspeople were all celebrating Eli’s return, and little barbecues were being lit and blankets were being dragged out. For them, it was a time for celebration. They had succeeded and now was the time to get rid of all the pent-up nervous energy that had built up over the day. A group of teenagers let out a loud cheer that the adults echoed. Clary smiled at the warm atmosphere.

  “You found him!” Layla cried, throwing herself into Clary’s arms. “Well done!”

  “I didn’t do anything,” Clary laughed, “Eli came home.”

  “Well done,” Grace said happily, smiling genuinely. “You did good, kid. When I see him, I’m going to yell at him, I swear.”

  “No, you won’t,” Layla laughed. “You’re probably going to cry.”

  “We need to get going,” Sanchez reminded her, and she said goodbye to the friendly maids.

  The little trio fought their way through the bustling crowds, trying to find one person in particular.

  “Finally!” Logan called out with the biggest grin on his face. “Come on, ladies, let’s celebrate. We found him! He’s safe!”

  “It’s not over yet,” Sanchez said gruffly.

  “What?” Logan said in confusion.

  “I don’t know either,” Marie shrugged. “Let’s just see what’s happening.” Logan shrugged and followed them with a blissful smile on his face.

  “Hey! Ben!” Logan called out, “come on! It’s all over!”

  “What are we doing?” Ben ran over, greeting Marie with a bashful grin.

  “I don’t know,” Logan shrugged, “we’re going on an adventure.”

  “Hey, we should totally go get a drink,” Ben suggested. “You know, since we all did such a good job. We’ve never
gotten a drink, all five of us together.”

  “There’s still a murdered woman in our morgue,” Sanchez reminded Ben with a stern glance. “We can’t celebrate until we find out what happened to her.”

  “Oh,” Ben said, deflating sadly, “I completely forgot.”

  “Then what are we doing?” Marie asked in confusion. “Shouldn’t we be looking for the murderer?”

  “We are,” Clary said serenely, standing on her toes to find the familiar figure.

  “Can we go for a drink afterwards?” Ben asked, smiling widely, and avoiding Chief Sanchez’s warning glance.

  Clary ignored them all. She found the person she was looking for.

  Chapter 10

  He was sitting with his back to the festivities, on the same bench where Clary’s theory started. It wasn’t the same theory that had popped into her mind at first. It still had the same culprits, but now it was different. The motives had changed, and her heart hurt for him. He heard them approaching and turned to face them. His expression showed that he expected it.

  “Captain Sanchez,” Luke Northwood said with a sad smile. “I was just about to come see you.”

  “What did you do, son?” Sanchez asked sadly. Luke shook his head with a derisive laugh and looked down at his hands.

  “You thought she killed him,” Clary filled in for him. He looked up at her. For the longest moment, they just looked at each other. Finally, he nodded. “You two had a drink together the night before he disappeared. What did you talk about?”

  “I was venting,” Luke admitted with a heavy sigh. “I told her how my brother wrote me out of the company. How I could never leave, because it’s my father’s legacy. I loved my father, you know? Anyway, I was frustrated. I want to start a family of my own, you know?”

  “I do,” Clary said sadly.

  “I don’t understand,” Marie piped up.

  “Did you ever hear the story of King Henry the Second of England and his archbishop, Thomas Beckett?” Clary asked as she sat down next to Luke.