Maddie Cochere - Susan Hunter 06 - Maple Leaf Hunter Read online

  “I don’t know about lead poisoning,” Mick said, “but she probably shouldn’t be playing with coins anyway. They’re dirty, and she’ll end up swallowing one sooner or later.”

  Nate leaned over to give Lizzie a little tickle and said, “We’ll go to the toy store and buy you some play money. And you need a cash register, too, don’t you?”

  She squealed and grabbed his face before telling him, “Yes.” Darby and Nate had her so spoiled, she never wanted for anything.

  Mick cut the pizzas, while Nate poured the wine. Alex gave Lizzie a spoon and set a bowl of macaroni and cheese in front of her. We were in the process of inhaling everything when Darby asked, “What happened at the mall?”

  I made him wait until I swallowed a too-large bite of pizza before saying, “Sam and I were in the food court drinking smoothies and chatting. Some guy came running through the mall and plowed into me. We ended up on the ground with him on top of me. He had a heart attack.”

  Nate’s mouth hung open in astonishment. “No way,” he said. “Are you sure you’re all right? Is he ok?”

  I shook my head. I didn’t want to use the word dead in front of Lizzie. “He didn’t make it. I stopped at the MediCenter on the way home, but I only have some bumps and bruises. Nothing serious.”

  Darby looked puzzled and asked, “Why would he be running through the mall and then have a heart attack? Was he jogging? Could he have been exercising like the mall walkers do?”

  “He was definitely not exercising,” I said. “He was running as fast as he could. There’s no logical explanation for it.”

  Mick reached under the table to grasp my hand and give it a light squeeze. I knew he was concerned about what happened, but he was happy I hadn’t sustained any real injuries. I gave him a smile and leaned into him for a moment.

  “Enough about me,” I said. “Everyone report. Mick, how was your day?”

  “It was good,” he said. “We’re almost done with the office building over on Munson. There weren’t any snags today, and we’re on schedule, so things are good here. Alex, how was your day?”

  He gave his dad a look of contempt and said, “You know how my day was.”

  Mick hesitated, but opted not to comment. Instead, he asked Nate, “How were things at the hotel?”

  Nate and Darby both chuckled. I knew something good was coming. Nate had worked in the hotel industry all of his adult life. He was presently the front desk manager at the Holiday Inn downtown. He never failed to entertain us with stories of guest antics.

  His face lit up. “A guy called down to the front desk, and he was screaming bloody murder. It took a while for the clerk to understand him, but she finally figured out he had a squirrel in his room. He said he likes the heat, so he opened the window before he took a nap. When he woke up, there was a squirrel on the bed, and it was staring him down.”

  Alex forgot he was mad long enough to smile and ask, “Did you have to go catch it?”

  Nate feigned a look of horror and said, “I wasn’t going to tussle with a plague-infested rodent. I called animal control and told them to handle it.”

  The look on Nate’s face made everyone laugh. He had a knack for storytelling and was overly expressive in his delivery.

  Darby had more than an entertained look on his face. There was also a mischievous look in his pretty blue eyes. “What about your day?” I asked him.

  “Well,” he said, drawing out the word in a bit of a singsong. “A good part of my day was spent on the phone rearranging my schedule for a meeting with a potential new customer.”

  “Really?” I asked. Darby worked from home as a freelance web and marketing writer. A new client would definitely be good news for him. “Who are you trying to land now?”

  “Buckets,” he said. “Believe it or not, it’s a new company specializing in hats. I’ll have to ask how they came up with their name. It doesn’t give the best image for their product.”

  “When do you meet with them?” I asked.

  The devilish look on his face increased. “Monday. In Toronto.”

  I was confused. Other than Alex and Lizzie, the three guys looked as if they were going to explode from the secret they were keeping from me.

  “What are you talking about?” I asked. “You know I’m meeting with my publisher in Toronto on Monday. Are you meeting with your client at the same time? Are you coming with us?”

  On one hand, the idea sounded like great fun. On the other hand, the thought of sharing my romantic weekend with Mick was disappointing. However, Mick’s excitement was evident as he said, “We’re all going. And we’re not just going for the weekend. We’re going for the entire week.”

  I could only sit there with my mouth hanging open.

  He laughed and said, “It all started early this morning. I saw a tweet from Dan Boling. You’ve heard me talk about him before. He’s one of my old college buddies. He lives in Canada, and he and his wife own a fishing and hunting lodge with a campground. I messaged him that we were going to be in Toronto, and I asked if he was close enough to drive in and get together with us. It turns out, he’s not. Their place is about five hours farther north. We ended up talking on the phone, and he convinced me to bring you up for the week. I called Darby to see if he and Nate could watch Lizzie, but with Nate already scheduled for a week of vacation next week, he suggested they come along with us.”

  Nate nodded his head enthusiastically. At the moment, he and Darby looked like one giant smile put together.

  “I called a few new businesses in Toronto right away,” Darby said. “Hopefully, I’ll have a new client by the time we go fishing.”

  It dawned on me that Mick had said we were all going. My voice was almost screech level when I asked, “We’re taking Lizzie? Into the wilderness?”

  Mick smiled and patted my arm. “She’s not going. Grandma and Grandpa are going to stay here and take care of her and Joe.”

  Mick’s parents had lived in England for a couple of years. My first opportunity to meet them was when they moved back to the States after Lizzie was born. We had dinner with them every Sunday, and Lizzie would be delighted they would be staying with her for an entire week.

  “What am I supposed to do?” Alex asked. It was evident he wasn’t happy about the news.

  “You’re coming with us, of course,” Mick said.

  He was belligerent as he said, “I don’t want to go to Canada for a week. I have too much to do. Did you forget I start school the week after next?”

  “You could stay here,” Mick said slowly, “but Dan said there’s an awesome rock quarry nearby that we can explore, and, of course, we can fish as much as we want. We’ll get you ready in time for school, don’t you worry about it.”

  I could see the wheels spinning in his head. The rock quarry was a bigger draw for him than the fishing. For years, he had been collecting and labeling rocks. His mother had most of his collection at her house, but he had a sizeable one in his room here, too.

  “Are we taking two cars?” I asked. “And we’ll be gone an entire week? I’ll be up all night doing laundry.”

  “The laundry is done,” Darby said. “Lizzie and I emptied all the hampers and did everyone’s laundry today.” He looked at her and said in a sweet voice, “You helped Uncle Darby wash the clothes, didn’t you Lizard?”

  Lizzie squealed at his pet name for her and said, “I hepped.”

  I smiled. She was such a darling. Darby and Nate had her talking long before I ever thought she would, and she had been talking in short sentences since well before her second birthday. She still hadn’t mastered the L sound, but Nate was currently working on the word indubitably with her and promised she would have it down soon.

  “Clean clothes are on everyone’s beds, and Nate’s arranged our transportation for the trip,” Darby said.

  Nate leaned back in his chair and beamed even more. “We’re going in a forty foot RV,” he said. All three of the guys made noises of approval. “It belongs to m
y boss. He hasn’t been able to get away this year, and he’s planning on selling it this winter. He offered it to any of the managers to use this summer, but no one’s taken him up on the offer. Until today.” He looked at his watch and stood from the table. “As a matter of fact,” he said, “I have to go pick it up. Mick, want to come along?”

  “You bet,” he said. “Susan? What about you?”

  “I’ll stay here and help Darby clean up,” I said. “Alex, will you take Lizzie over to the house and get her ready for bed?”

  “Stuck in the bushes! Stuck in the bushes!” Lizzie cried happily, as she bounced up and down in her chair.

  “Alex will read it to you after you brush your teeth and put your jammies on,” I said.

  A flurry of activity ensued with lots of kisses bestowed upon Lizzie, and two by two, we went our separate ways. I watched from the back patio to be sure Alex and Lizzie made it safely inside the house, and I waved to Nate and Mick as they drove off to pick up the RV.

  Darby and I set to work clearing the table and loading the dishwasher. I grabbed a bottle of water and swallowed a couple of the prescription pills.

  “Are you really ok?” he asked with concern.

  “I don’t know,” I said. “Physically, I’m fine, but I keep seeing the man run at me. It was as though he was deliberately running right for me, not just running out of control. He had a crazy look in his eyes, and he never looked away from me. He tackled me like you would a football player.”

  Darby put his arms around me to give me a hug. I winced. My muscles were starting to stiffen and the soreness had increased.

  “There’s no way he deliberately chose you to run into,” he said. “It had to be a freak accident.”

  My eyes watered. I forced myself to hold back tears. “Do you remember when we were in New York, and that woman ran into me in Saks?” I asked.

  He nodded.

  “It was deliberate, and she stole my necklace,” I said.

  “Yeah, it was,” he said. “But you can’t think-“

  I cut him short. “I do,” I said emphatically. “This felt just like that. I’m serious. A couple of construction workers deliberately squeezed between my chair and the person behind me when they could have easily gone around to sit at the table next to ours. They both bumped me, and one of them even touched my back. They disappeared right after the man died, but one of them called the dead guy Ralph, so he had to know him.”

  “What did the police say?” he asked.

  “Nothing,” I said with a shrug. “They didn’t even send anyone. Dick showed up looking for me, and when I asked about it, he said the call came in as a medical emergency. But there was one other weird thing. When we found my purse after the man was taken away, it was unzipped, but nothing was missing. All of my money, credit cards, and my passport were still in it.”

  He shook his head and said, “All the more proof you weren’t being distracted so someone could steal from you. Let it go, Sunshine. We’re leaving in the morning, and we’re going to have a fun, relaxing week. I have to run to the market and pick up groceries to stock the RV. Come with me. I’ll even let you drive my new car.”

  I smiled and agreed to go along. “Let me get my purse,” I said.

  I walked into the living room and found the contents scattered across the floor. All of the change that had been making my purse so heavy was in small plastic bowls from the kitchen. Darby and Nate kept a cupboard of items for Lizzie to play with, and the small bowls were her favorite. I laughed to see how much change I had been hauling around with me. I stacked the bowls and set them on the coffee table. I would deal with the money later.

  Joe had been asleep on the sofa, but I noticed he was watching me with one eye open. Alex’s coins were in a pile beside him. I gave his head a couple of quick rubs and slipped the coins into the pocket of my jacket. I would put them on Alex’s dresser later. As I gathered the other items and double-checked my passport, I could only hope Joe hadn’t eaten anything.

  When I walked into the kitchen, Darby handed his car keys to me. We went out through the garage, and I slipped behind the wheel of his recently purchased bolero red ’67 Chevy Chevelle.

  Chapter Three

  The RV was awesome. Nate’s boss had spared no expense with his purchase, and all of the furnishings and appliances were top-of-the-line. I couldn’t believe it when I saw there were three flat screen televisions installed. Nate said the vehicle was five years old, but everything was spotless and appeared to be in new condition.

  Alex was quick to throw his bag into the cozy sleeping compartment above the large driver and passenger cockpit area. Darby was quick to toss the bag out of the compartment and inform him he would be sleeping on the pullout sofa.

  Lizzie was jumping on the king-size bed in the bedroom at the back of the vehicle. Nate was jumping with her on his hands and knees. They were both squealing and laughing like little kids.

  There was a happy chaos about the entire scene, and I tried to capture the image in my mind for all time.

  Darby slid his arm around my shoulders to watch Nate and Lizzie with me. “Who do you think is having more fun back there?” he asked.

  I laughed. “Isn’t that the funniest thing? He’s never at a loss for ways to entertain her.”

  “They jump on our bed, too,” he said. “I’m headed back over to the house to grab the groceries. Want to give me a hand?”

  “Sure,” I said. “But I can’t lift anything heavy. I don’t have any pain or spasms this morning, but I’m still pretty stiff and sore from the fall.”

  “You can carry the chips and crackers. And the bread. And the cereal. And the spaghetti and macaroni. And-”

  I cut him off. “Why are we taking so much food? There are restaurants in Niagara Falls and Toronto, and I’m sure there will be food at the lodge. I’m not planning to cook and eat meals in here, are you?”

  He smiled and said, “I’m doing it for Nate. He watched a television show where some guy was driving on a remote Canadian road, and a freak snowstorm came up. He was stranded with no food or water. It was two months before anyone found his camper, and, of course, he didn’t live. He wrote letters of his ordeal every day. Nate was pretty horrified by the entire show, so I’m making sure he has peace of mind by having enough food in here for an army.”

  I couldn’t help laughing. Nate had such a big personality. He was sensitive and felt things deeply. His outlook was always on the sunny side of life, and it was rare to find him unhappy about anything. Right now, he was helping Lizzie do slow motion backflips on the bed.

  Darby and I stepped out of the RV and saw that Mick and his dad were wrangling suitcases. Everyone had packed too much, but Nate said there would be plenty of storage in an exterior compartment.

  As Darby and I walked across the stone walkway to his house, I looked out across the property and down the hill toward the road. It was a lovely view, and it always delighted me. The pear trees blocked most of the view of the road, but there was a small section where an occasional passing car could be seen. Today, there was a black SUV parked off the road in the small space.

  My intuition told me this something out of the ordinary. It was the only place our house could be viewed from the road, and it was too much of a coincidence that someone would have actually broken down in that exact spot. A cold shiver ran down my spine.

  I poked Darby’s arm and said, “What do you make of that car down there?”

  “Nothing,” he said. “It’s probably just someone who ran out of gas.” He continued walking without giving the car another glance.

  But it didn’t feel right. I wouldn’t have noticed if anyone followed me home from the MediCare last night, and I wasn’t entirely certain if I had looked down the hill earlier this morning, so there was no way to know how long the car had been parked there.

  I couldn’t help looking at the vehicle a few more times as we carried groceries to the RV and then took our time saying good-bye to Lizzie and M
ick’s parents. Evelyn handed Nate a large tin of homemade cookies for us to snack on, while Bennett pressed a few twenty-dollar bills into Alex’s hand for some extra spending money on his trip.

  Lizzie was happy and waving as we pulled away from the house, but I was near tears at leaving my baby alone for the first time. Mick gathered me to him in a hug and said, “You know she’ll have a wonderful time with Grandma and Grandpa. They’ll spoil her rotten, and she won’t even miss us.”

  I sniffed. “I know,” I said. “It’s just hard to be so far away from her. What if something happens?”

  “It won’t,” he said. “Come on. Go blow your nose, and let’s get this show on the road.”

  I smiled through watery eyes and went back to the bedroom to grab a tissue from my purse. While I was straightening the bed, Nate made the turn from the driveway onto the main road. I held onto the doorframe to keep my balance and glanced out the back window. Before we were out of sight from it, I saw the black SUV pull out onto the roadway behind us.

  Other than Alex, everyone was cheerful and in vacation mode. Laughter rang out from the cockpit often. I tried to join in, but couldn’t stop watching as the car continued to follow for miles – even into Pennsylvania.

  Just when I was thinking about telling Mick or Darby about the car following us, an odd noise followed by a rumbling sound and some vibrations of the RV occurred. Darby, Nate, and Mick all called out at the same time, “Flat tire!”

  Nate had no trouble maintaining control, and he easily pulled off the road. I watched as the black SUV passed us by without slowing.

  I couldn’t imagine it would take all four guys to change the tire, but they all piled out to have a look. When they weren’t finished after ten minutes, I stepped out to see what in the world they were doing.

  Nate and Alex were off in a nearby ditch, so I assumed they were looking for rocks. Darby was putting the flat into a storage compartment, and Mick was tightening lug nuts.

  It wasn’t long before we were back on the road. I continually looked to see if the car returned to follow us, but I never spotted it again – all the way into Niagara Falls. Darby was right. It was nothing. I was mad at myself for letting my imagination take away some of my joy on the first leg of our trip.