Page 13 of A Midsummer Night’s Ghost (Murder By Design #8)

THIRTEEN

“I think I’ve been approaching this all wrong,” I said to Alyssa as we walked along the Towpath, a biking and hiking trail through the heart of my old neighborhood, Ohio City, and where Alyssa currently lived.

“You finally realized that you need a keratin treatment?” Alyssa asked, huffing and puffing as she walked beside me.

“That was truly hateful. I was born with this hair. I can’t help it.”

“I’m sorry. I hate working out.”

I wasn’t exactly enjoying our power walk either, but that was no excuse for hating on my hair. “We can slow down, you know. No one is chasing us.” For once.

“I want to tighten my thighs. Can’t do that taking a leisurely stroll and you know I hate the gym.”

“Are you doing this for you or because you want to impress Lawson Hill?”

“What? Ew. No. Of course not! Lawson loves my body exactly the way it is. I feel like he would actually be sad if I lost my curves because he very much enjoys them. No, this is for me because we’re coming up on summer and I am tired of excessive thigh rub. I just want to tighten up some loose ends, so to speak.”

“I would say count on me to do this twice a week, because I could use increased lung capacity, but not if you’re going to be mean.”

Alyssa, who was sweating in her sports bra and zip up hoodie, her forehead dewy, slowed down a fraction. “I said I was sorry. Okay, so what have you been approaching all wrong?”

“Now I don’t want to tell you.” Not because I was being childish, but because she didn’t like it when I brought up Ryan.

“Oh my God, stop. Just tell me. Unless you’d rather tell Sara Murphy.”

It kind of made me happy that Alyssa felt threatened by Sara Murphy after that hair comment. She should want to clearly stake her claim as my best friend, because I was a pretty darn good best friend.

“Okay. So I’ve been fixating on trying to find out about James the janitor and what’s going on with Ryan when the real thing I should be focusing on is what Jake had me do—go down to the station and help the detectives if I can. They caught the ex-boyfriend of the woman who was asphyxiated. They told him they had an eyewitness, meaning me, and he just caved and confessed. His girlfriend at the time also admitted she lied about his alibi.”

“Why would she lie to cover up his crime?”

“She was afraid of him. She only told the truth when he was in county jail for unrelated charges.” I stopped walking for a second and bent over to catch my breath. “I appreciate this spring weather but is it hot out here or what?”

“I’m boiling. Also, those birds chirping are getting on my nerves. Maybe power walking isn’t for me if spring birds singing in delight has me feeling rage.”

It was a gorgeous spring day. The kind you dream about in February. The sun was shining, the trees were budding, the tulips were standing tall and proud.

“I don’t think we’re outdoor girls. We want to be. But maybe we need to stick to shopping in boutiques and going to the art museum.” I tightened my ponytail and did some bending stretches. I swore my calves were cramping up.

Alyssa had slowed her walk almost to a crawl. “That’s fair. Lawson asked me to go for a bike ride and I laughed myself silly. I explained to him that I look amazing lounging next to a pool but he will never see me on a bike unless it’s a motorcycle.”

“It’s good to be upfront about who you are at the beginning of a relationship. How is it going with Lawson?”

“We’re taking it slow. I guess as slow as you can when you’re already married.” She made a crazy face. “But seriously, I like him. He’s easy to be around. No real red flags so far.”

“Aside from the fact that he thinks I’m crazy.”

“He’s just pragmatic about police work and it’s hard for him to wrap his head around you being involved. You know I love you, but you also know sometimes I struggle with the woo woo. It’s not a reflection on you. It says more about me than you. You and Lawson will be fine once you get to know each other.”

“That’s fair. Let’s just stroll leisurely.”

When we weren’t trying to break a speed record, it was a nice walk. The highway was on one side, which created a buzz of background noise, but otherwise it was very bucolic for being in the heart of the city. A man zipped by on a bike and Alyssa acted like she’d been buzzed by a fighter jet. She actually jumped.

Then we both started laughing.

“We’re ridiculous.” Alyssa looked at me. “But you know that I support you, right? Just because I don’t always understand doesn’t mean I don’t believe you. And you know I would never lie to you.”

“I do know that. There are three people I can guarantee will never lie to me—you, Jake, and my grandmother.”

“That’s a good crew to have around you.”

“It is.” It also didn’t escape my attention that I didn’t include Ryan in that group. “Who’s in your group?”

“You and my parents. I trust my brother to have my back, but I don’t trust him not to lie.”

“Very solid. I feel the same way about my sister. She likes to fluff the truth. My mother would never lie to me but she might omit the truth. My father would one hundred percent lie.”

“Isn’t your sister coming to town soon?”

“Yes. Sometime soon. I didn’t get exact dates. Hey, did Jake talk to you about my birthday? I feel like he’s planning some kind of surprise and you know I don’t like to be surprised.”

“No, he hasn’t said anything to me.”

“Ryan said he saw Jake hiding an engagement ring.”

Alyssa stopped walking. “Shut. Up.”

“I don’t want it to be on my birthday. But something feels off anyway. Jake isn’t acting different at all. Nothing cagey about his behavior.”

“Is Ryan someone you can believe?” she asked, sounding skeptical.

My jaw dropped. “Oh my God. You’re right. I think he’s messing with me,” I exclaim. “There’s no ring. He’s trying to sabotage my relationship with Jake!”

“Why would he do that?”

“He’s jealous. Not of me marrying Jake. But that we’re alive.”

“He’s going dark? That’s so…dark.”

“I know. But it makes sense, right? Because if he tells me that Jake is proposing and Jake isn’t proposing then when I am acting weird waiting for him to propose, he doesn’t know I’m acting weird waiting for him to propose because he isn’t going to propose so all he knows is that I’m being weird. When I’m weird, then he’ll get suspicious and start acting weird and then we have a wedge in our relationship. It’s genius, really.”

“I have no idea what the hell you just said. But if that’s what’s going on, that’s not good.”

Maybe Ryan wasn’t even Ryan. Maybe James Kwaitkowski was right and Ryan was a demon. Did I believe in demons?

I wasn’t sure. I was sure that something was rotten in Denmark and its name was Ryan Conroy.

“It’s not. I’m not sure what to do about it. But if Jake does say anything to you about a birthday party, please let me know.”

“I’ve got you.”

“I’m going to go on the assumption the engagement is not a thing.”

“Are you okay with that?”

“I’m fine with that for now. We’re together and we have plenty of work to do on the house. Planning a wedding sounds exciting but also overwhelming right now. I’m brand new at this job and I already screwed up with a client. I need to focus on doing well and moving up the ladder.”

“Very mature. Very rational.”

“That’s me.” I grinned.

“Hey, can we go get ice cream?” Alyssa waved her hand in front of her face. “These bugs are driving me insane.”

“It’s almost full blown mayfly season.” Because spring couldn’t just arrive in all its pleasantries it also came with mayflies clinging to every screen and door on your house. “And yes, we can get ice cream. Do you want to walk to Mason’s? They have unique flavors.”

“That seems kind of far.”

“It’s like two blocks.”

“How do you define a block?” she asked, sounding outraged. “That’s like a mile, seriously.”

“Isn’t a block the distance from one major street to the next?”

“No. A block is a block. One street.”

“Fine. We can drive.” I was tired anyway. I glanced at my watch. “We did seven hundred steps.”

“That’s it?” Alyssa moaned. “I bet people a thousand years ago didn’t have to just walk around in circles to stay healthy.”

“No, they were moving from sunup to sundown just to survive, had poor dental hygiene, no understanding of medical science, and no antibiotics.”

“You should have been a lawyer.”

“That’s what my mother always said. She was wrong and so are you.”

“You want me to stay at my dad’s for the entire weekend?” I stared at Jake, questioning any and everything I’d ever known about him.

“Or a hotel if you don’t want to stay there.”

“We don’t have the money for a hotel. Where is Grandma supposed to stay?”

Jake rubbed my upper arms and gave me a reassuring smile. “Your mom already said she could stay there.”

Now I was immediately suspicious. “You already talked to my mother about this? What is going on?”

“I told you. We need to have the asbestos tiles in the basement remediated. The minute we start doing work on my man cave we’re going to disrupt it and that’s super dangerous.”

“Why this week? We’re not working on the man cave yet. I thought you wanted to do that next winter.”

I was all for a man cave. It kept the leg lamp and the sports blankets in their appropriate place—away from me. I fully supported his plans to clean up the paneling, restore the built-in bar and decorate with banners and memorabilia. Plus, he wanted to add a workout room, because unlike me and Alyssa, he did actually exercise regularly.

But I couldn’t wrap my head around why the asbestos removal needed to happen over the next three days. It was very suspicious to me.

“These trades are impossible to book. This is when my guy is free to do it.”

“Your guy?”

“I have a guy.” He shrugged.

“You have a guy for everything.”

“I have a very long resume for the job of great boyfriend.”

That made me laugh. “Yes, you do. I can’t argue with that. Fine. I’ll go to my dad’s. I don’t want to spend money on a hotel when we have all these recent house expenses.” I eyed him. “Do not plan a surprise birthday party for me.”

“I’m not! I promise.”

Ryan appeared behind him. “He’s planning a surprise party for your birthday.”

“Ryan says you are.”

“Ryan is a damn liar. I’m not.” Jake turned around in multiple directions. “Don’t pull this shit, Conroy. That is not cool.”

It made me uneasy to look at Ryan right now.

What was he doing?

What was with all his vague and changing explanations?

Plus, it seemed very obvious to me that Ryan didn’t want me and Jake to be happy together.

“Go away,” I ordered Ryan. “Now.”

“Are you serious?” He pushed himself off of the doorframe. “Don’t do that. Not cool, Bai.”

“What’s not cool is you trying to start crap between me and Jake. So yes, you need to go right now so I can have dinner with my boyfriend.”

Ryan disappeared without saying goodbye.

“He’s gone,” I told Jake.

My boyfriend sighed. “I really don’t like him in and out of here.”

“I need to go to spiritual medium school so I can cast a bubble around our house.”

“If any of that is real, do it as soon as possible.” He patted my backside. “Now go pack a bag.”

“Remind me again where you’re going to be staying? And why can't you stay at my dad’s house with me?”

“I’m staying at my parent’s so I can help my dad repair his fence. You can come with me if you want.”

“Your parents or my dad’s? That’s Sophie’s choice right there.”