Chapter 11 #2
My hands shook as I navigated the icy road to the police station. It was eleven a.m., and they’d kept Wickham for hours. I didn’t know how else they expected him to leave. It’s not like catching a cab was an option at Sky Powder Resort, especially during this weather.
My tires spun a few times, and the Jeep slipped as I turned into the police station parking lot, but I didn’t hit anything. Hopefully.
Inside the station, I stomped the snow off my boots and found a drowsy officer manning the front desk. “Hi, I’m here for my husband, George Wickham.”
A tiny thrill of adrenaline shot through me as I spoke of Wickham as my spouse.
Not that it really felt like we were married yet.
We needed to figure out what we were going to do.
We’d have to move in together, I supposed.
Right? I guessed it would be weird if we didn’t.
I’d really upended my whole world without much consideration.
The sleepy officer blinked at me, processing my words. Then he called back to a colleague, “George Wickham’s wife is here. He can go.”
George Wickham’s wife . . . me.
Wickham sheepishly emerged from a back room, still in his blazer from the ceremony. His hair was disheveled, and a pink mark on his cheek indicated he'd been sleeping on a hard surface.
“Lydia, thank goodness.” Wickham wrapped his arms around me. “How’ve you been? Did you get any rest?”
“A little.” Then I whispered in his ear. “I learned a few things too. But I’ll tell you about that later.”
Wickham and I left the station arm in arm and hugged in the parking lot for several minutes before getting in the car. I didn’t realize until that moment how much I’d missed him.
Wickham was most familiar with his Jeep, so he took a turn driving, skillfully navigating the snow-covered mountain roads back to the resort since trying to drive home was out of the question.
“So we got married. Can you believe it?” Wickham took his eyes away from the road for a second to give me a soft grin. “What an adventure this had turned into.”
“The dust hasn’t settled yet. The more I think about it, the more I realize how much my parents are going to freak out . . . Well, my mom anyway. My dad’s too sick to get worked up over anything.”
“Do you have any regrets?” Wickham chewed his bottom lip.
“No.” I ran my hand down his arm, not wanting to ask the same question of him for fear he might regret our choice to marry. “I’m not sure how to navigate things with my family.”
His brow crunched, and he squinted as streams of sunlight hit his eyes. “We can keep it between us for now. It’s better not to make a big announcement.”
“Well, I did tell Kitty, so it may be too late for all that. I feel like if we can solve your bandmates’ murders, it will be easier to move the focus to our relationship.” My brain felt like it was splitting in two . . . the murders . . . our marriage. I didn’t like the connection.
“Hmm,” Wickham grunted, tightly gripping the steering wheel.
It wasn’t the reassuring answer I wanted, but I didn’t blame him. We were certainly in strange territory. I gave up on relationship talk for the time being. “You might want to read the note I put in the glove box. It’s from Tim.”
“Tim left a note?” Wickham was stunned. He pulled into the lodge’s lot, parked the Jeep, and took out the note. “Oh, this is horrible! Why did he . . . Tim’s such nice guy, but . . . ugh! Why on earth didn’t he contact the police or talk to me? Or borrow a landline? Wow.”
“Maybe he knew the killer and didn’t want them to get in trouble. Or he wasn’t sure if they were guilty. Unless he really enjoyed playing the hero. What do you think?” I released a long breath, tired of guessing and wondering.
“It may be any of those things, but I can see how he’d want to protect a friend.
Tim was incredibly loyal, almost to the point that it was annoying.
Not that someone would want to kill him for being annoying.
But he was intense.” Wickham explained. He turned off the ignition and leaned back in the driver’s seat. "I wonder why he mentioned a ring."
I wasn’t only looking at a guy with a well-defined jaw and nice hair.
The man beside me was a vampire, strong, fast, beautiful, and my husband.
I wanted his attention to be on us, not this tragedy.
“Well, for now, we need to see if we can see the person in the wig’s face.
I’m going to be honest, there was a groupie in some photos online with Alex, and I suspect her.
But if not, I think it has to be Harley or Zoe.
Maybe one of them bought the Celtic ring for him. ”
He didn’t like my comment, and scowled. “What makes you say that? The police let a concern slip. They're worried that since I'm looking innocent, there may be a killer stalking the band."
“The person in the wig is obviously female and connected to the band, and Tim didn’t immediately call them out—so it was probably someone he thought he could trust.” I wasn’t sure why I was hesitant to tell Wickham about my adventure the night before.
He obviously wanted me to be safe, and I supposed my actions were a bit reckless.
A few snowflakes fluttered from the sky as we walked to our cabin.
“Logical. He certainly wouldn’t want to accuse Zoe, Harley, or any of our groupies.” Wickham frowned.
“Exactly. If he had noticed a stranger stalking us, he would have called the police. I hope.” I tried to place myself in Tim’s shoes. “But if it was someone familiar, he may have been unsure and checking things out first.”
Wickham shook his head. “I wonder if he confronted the killer when they broke into our cabin?”
“Or, if he saw them enter and thought they were reasonable, he may have just knocked on the door.” It creeped me out to realize the killer had broken into our cabin and riffled through our things while we were getting married.
“Oh, I hope we’re not getting another blizzard. We can’t make it back to Austen Heights in this weather.”
“Speaking of blizzards . . .” That sounded wrong. “I mean, I did a little investigating during the blizzard last night, and I need to tell you what I found.”
“What?” Wickham’s jaw tightened. “I’d hoped you would stay in the cabin and not put yourself in danger. I was worried all night that you were at the resort with a killer.”
“That crossed my mind. But I had an opportunity and took it. I used a transformation spell, so I looked like the receptionist, and I found out which cabin the murderer was in and peeked inside their windows.”
Wickham’s brow rose, and he clenched his car keys. “You did what now?”
“Just a little investigating.” I shrugged, unbuckling my seatbelt.
Honestly, if he knew anything about me, it was that I was going to do whatever I wanted.
He shouldn’t be too surprised. “I have some photos. As we suspected, the reddish hair was a wig. This woman was pretty messy—left her clothes and stuff on the floor. She had some the Grey Doors fliers spilled across a desk. I wonder if a groupie or the girls in the band had a connection to Alex.”
“Lydia, you could’ve gotten hurt.” Wickham furrowed his brow. “Whether the girls or a groupie had some special relationship with Alex, I really don’t know. I mean, he coached Harley with some stuff, and he and Zoe worked on lyrics together. But that was it."
“Well, if you know what type of car each of them drives, we might have this solved. Whoever it was cut me off in the parking lot in a blue sports car. It was random, really. We happened to be leaving at the same time.”
“Harley drives a silver sedan, and Zoe has a truck. But I’ll double-check.” Wickham was oddly pale.
“Are you feeling alright?”
“Yeah, I just need to eat . . . I hate this . . . this condition.” Wickham mumbled.
I guess marrying a vampire was going to have its challenges. “We should carry a cooler around with rare steaks for you. Why don’t we stop by the diner and get you lunch? You’re not, like, tempted to bite me or anything, are you?”
“I was a vegan before I got this issue.” He got out of the Jeep and walked around to open my door. Fresh powder sparkled in the sunlight, coating the trees, buildings, and cars. “I’d say I have a pretty good handle on it.”
“Let’s get you something to eat before we investigate anything else.
” Getting out of the Jeep, I pulled my coat close and leaned over to kiss my husband’s cheek.
“I’m sorry you have to deal with that. You’ll have to explain sometime how much your condition lines up with the stereotypes.
I feel like I have a lot to learn, and I don’t want you to have to go through it alone anymore. ”
He nodded. “It’s certainly not like the movies.”
I was fully aware that my family and most of my friends thought I was a little superficial at times, but it was really just that life was so exciting to me.
I could be serious, and when I was truly devoted to something or someone, I was extremely attentive and observant.
Despite his anemic complexion, I kissed Wickham again, this time on the lips, and he kissed me back.
“We’re going to make it through this, right?” I asked.
He pulled me into a hug, and I could hear his heart beating. "It's the only option we've got."