The Body in the Wetlands Read online

  On the drive home, when they turned out of the subdivision onto Sycamore Drive, a tall, thin boy was walking on the edge of the street. Jazzi’s heart stopped. When they passed him, she craned her neck to get a better view of him. Not Miles. Too young and the wrong coloring. She thought about Noah, the son Aunt Lynda had given up for adoption, and how relieved his dad had been when he came to River Bluffs to claim his body.

  Yes, his adopted son was dead. But at least the family knew what happened to him. They could begin closure instead of playing one horrible scenario after another in their minds. She leaned back against the van’s seat and wished the same for Miles’s family. She hoped they’d learn the truth...and soon.

  Chapter 2

  Saturday morning, Ansel rolled over and pressed his long body against hers. Mmm. This was the way to wake up! Jazzi snuggled closer. She felt him lift himself onto an elbow. He pushed her long hair aside and nuzzled her neck. Delicious tingles radiated through every nerve of her body.

  He lowered his lips to her ear and whispered, “Get your fanny out of bed. We promised to finish your sister’s roof today.”

  She opened an eye to glare at him. “You’re a tease!”

  Laughing, he swung his legs over the side of the sleigh bed. “It’s better than waking up to the alarm, isn’t it?”

  “The alarm doesn’t make promises it’s not going to keep.”

  His voice dropped. “I can keep them.” Jazzi’s breath caught, and he shook his head. “I’m not going to, though. Move it, woman, or we’re going to be late.”

  And Jerod would give them grief. Lots of it. She waved Ansel away. George stretched in his dog bed in the corner, not quite ready to get up. “Your pug’s still sleepy. It’s the weekend, and he’s ready to chill.”

  With a chuckle, Ansel dug for some clothes. “When isn’t he in relax mode?”

  He had a point.

  They’d showered last night after cooling off in the pond, so it only took a few minutes to get ready. They’d be drowned in sweat again when they finished work today. On a Saturday. Her day. Their house wouldn’t get cleaned this week. Not the end of the world. Dust didn’t kill you, right?

  Jazzi grimaced at her reflection in the bedroom mirror. Her hair hadn’t dried completely by the time they crawled into bed last night, and it looked a little funky this morning. She couldn’t tame the waves, so pulled them into a thick ponytail. Ansel finished tying his work boots and came to stand behind her.

  “I love you with bedhead, all mussed up and sexy.”

  “You’re biased.” She turned and wrapped her arms around him. “Morning, Norseman.”

  That had become their joke. Ansel looked every bit like the Norwegian he was. Tall and fair, he never had to worry about sunburn. He only tanned more golden.

  He bent to kiss the top of her head. “I’ll go down and pour us some coffee.”

  By the time Jazzi and George got to the kitchen, he had a pile of buttered pumpernickel toast on the kitchen island and two steaming mugs of coffee. She sank onto a stool and reached for a slice.

  “We should finish the roof today,” Ansel told her. “Then if it stays this hot, we can work on inside projects.”

  “I should have become a hairdresser like my mom and sister.”

  His blue eyes twinkled. “Yeah, I can see that—you all dolled up with lots of jewelry and wearing high heels to work.”

  She reached for another slice of toast. “I’ve been known to dress up.”

  “And I love it when you do, but every day? If I hid your hammer, you’d take it more personally than if I lost your earrings.”

  She smiled. “Yeah, I like what I do, just not on Saturday.”

  “You’d only do this for your sister. You two are tight.” So were Ansel and his sister, Adda. She was the only person in his family he ever called. For good reason.

  Jazzi decided to kick her grumpy mood to the curb. “Olivia’s the best. I’ll get myself in gear. The sooner we finish the roof, the sooner we can come home. My family’s coming for the Sunday meal tomorrow.”

  “You promised to keep it simple.” Ansel constantly gave her grief about overworking. The man could do heavy labor from morning to night, but he fussed when she put in long hours. In a way, it was nice to have someone think of her as a girl. But she was a lot more durable than he realized.

  Her family got together at their house every Sunday, no matter what. They’d vowed to make it a priority so that they’d keep in touch. “I have four chuck roasts to throw in the oven with potatoes, onions, and carrots. I’m making sautéed green beans and a Waldorf salad for sides and setting up an ice cream sundae bar for dessert. You can’t get any easier than that.”

  He finished his coffee and went to put his cup in the dishwasher. “Only you would call that simple. Your mom and sister don’t even cook. Neither does my sister since she works.”

  “I wouldn’t either if I didn’t like doing it. Cooking relaxes me. It’s fun.”

  He laughed at her. “Even your hobbies are work, but I’m not complaining. I love home-cooked meals.”

  So did she. They were healthier than eating out all the time. She finished her breakfast and carried her plate and cup to the dishwasher. “I’m ready. Let’s go melt.”

  She remembered those words when they were installing shingles with Thane and Jerod a half hour later. When they stopped at noon for lunch, she was drenched in sweat. Stepping into the house, the air-conditioning felt chilly until she adjusted to it. After lunch, just like yesterday, when they walked outside, Leo happened to be waiting with Cocoa. The guys left her to trot over and talk to him. He didn’t stay long, and soon she was picking up her nail gun to join them.

  “He’s lonely, isn’t he?” Jerod asked.

  “He’s retired and takes care of his wife, who’s stuck in a wheelchair. A car accident.”

  Jerod pulled up the hem of his soaked T-shirt to wipe sweat off his forehead. “I feel sorry for both of them. Franny’s nephew’s in a wheelchair for life. Afghanistan. It sucks. The world is made for healthy people.”

  Jazzi remembered Franny talking about her nephew when he returned. He had a wife and two kids. Everyone worried, but he worked a job at a factory now and didn’t let his handicap slow him down. It sure as heck made things more difficult, though. “Leo and his wife put a positive spin on it, just like Brady. He says they’re pretty happy.”

  Jerod took another bundle of shingles to spread. “What are your options? You can sit around and feel sorry for yourself, or you can try to make the best of it. I gotta give ’em credit. Talk about getting lemons and making lemonade.”

  Jazzi felt guilty for griping this morning about having to get up early to work. She was strong and healthy. Life was good to her. What did she have to complain about?

  They were up high enough that she had a decent view of the houses that made up Olivia and Thane’s neighborhood. It only encompassed three main streets lined with ranch-style houses. In the distance, she saw Leo and Cocoa at the narrow strip of asphalt that connected this subdivision to the next—another small pocket of mostly Cape Cod–style houses. Leo kept going. The man and his dog went farther than she expected.

  Ansel rubbed his back. He stood to stretch and yank off his soggy T-shirt. Muscles flexed, and a group of young women tumbled out of a house two doors down. One of them looked up and waved at him. “Want some lemonade? I came home for the weekend, and Mom told me Mrs. Neilsen had sold her place.”

  More like her mom called and told her to come over to see the hottie working on the roof two doors down. Jazzi couldn’t help but smile. Ansel didn’t realize he could compete with Thor. He grinned, and the girls’ knees wobbled.

  “Thanks,” he called down. “But Thane and Olivia have stocked up on beer for us. We’re fine.”

  The girls turned away, disappointed.

  “That was n
ice of them,” Ansel said.

  Jerod rolled his eyes. “You’re such an innocent, buddy. They didn’t offer Jazzi or me anything to drink.”

  Ansel was an innocent compared to her cousin. Jerod had been a player before he met Franny and willingly wrapped himself around her little finger.

  Biceps bulging, Ansel took another bundle of shingles from Thane. The girls gathered under an umbrella table and settled in to watch. Looking was fine. Jazzi could see how Ansel might make for great public entertainment...and fantasies. As long as no touching was involved.

  By five, the roof was finished. The girls had gotten too hot, consumed way too much lemonade, and moved inside. Ansel had gotten even more golden than before, while Jazzi’s hair turned into a frizzy mop and she felt like a salt lick. She, Jerod, and Ansel followed Thane into the house for one last beer before they headed home.

  On the drive, Jazzi shot a dirty glance at Ansel. How could he still look good after hot, heavy work? “You could make a lot of money as a male stripper.”

  “Always a dream of mine.” He grinned. “You meet such nice girls that way.”

  The man might be quiet, but he had a wicked sense of humor. When they got home, he grabbed her hand and pulled her to the pond behind the house. George followed at a sedate pace. Ansel dropped his wallet on the gazebo’s bench. “Ready?” He tugged her to the end of the pier, and they jumped in, feet first, clothes and all. The cool water encircled her, and Ansel surfaced with a smile. “Boy, this feels good.”

  George stretched on the pier, content to watch them. The pug was so solid and heavy that swimming wasn’t his thing.

  Jazzi swam a little closer to shore and dipped her head back to get her hair out of her face. The water wasn’t deep here. Ansel had angled the banks so that the water was shallow for a long time and the bottom gradually dropped deeper. They treaded water until they cooled off, and then Ansel said, “I’m starving.”

  “Me, too.” Jazzi started for shore. Her gym shoes squeaked when she walked through the grass, but she’d kick them off at the house and let them dry on the back patio. No neighbors were close, so she stripped out of her clothes before going inside. So did Ansel. When the air-conditioning hit them, they both shivered. George, however, sprawled on the cool wood floors and closed his eyes.

  They ran upstairs, took quick showers, and changed. Jazzi had planned ahead. She brought out a pork tenderloin for Ansel to throw on the grill, some baked beans she’d made ahead that only needed reheating, and a tossed salad.

  He wrapped her in a bear hug. “You think of everything.”

  The man loved food. If Emily—his old girlfriend—had cooked for him, they might still be together, even though she was a super control freak.

  The meal was cooked, eaten, and cleaned up an hour later. Ready for some R&R, they each headed to their favorite couch, plopped down, and watched some mindless TV. Two hours after that, Ansel yawned, picked up George, and started upstairs. He called, “You coming?”

  When the dog went upstairs, there was no hanky-panky. The dog was too pure and innocent to hear or see. Jazzi turned off the TV and pushed to her feet to follow them. She and Ansel hadn’t hit their first-month anniversary yet, but it was close. They’d had more than enough sex to skip tonight, though. And she was dead on her feet.

  Chapter 3

  Sunday, at one, everyone settled in the kitchen for the family meal—Jazzi’s parents, Gran and her roommate Samantha, Jerod’s parents, and Jerod and his family, along with Olivia and Thane. The room was plenty big enough to seat twenty, and the time might come when they needed to. For now, fourteen of them lined the two tables they’d pushed together, but if Olivia and Thane had kids, and she and Ansel had a couple, they’d need bigger tables. If she and Ansel stayed together, that was. Sure, everything was great now, but they were still in the honeymoon stage, weren’t they?

  She and Chad had started out great, too. They’d seemed to have a lot in common until she moved in with him. He owned a landscaping company and liked running his own business as much as she did. But once they lived together and she wore his ring, he wanted to move to marriage and starting a family right away. He badgered her to stop working with Jerod. He didn’t like it when she visited her family. When she gave his ring back and moved out, it wasn’t a friendly parting. Things got better over time, especially when he married and was happy, but it was a bitter experience for Jazzi.

  As if reading her thoughts, Ansel came to wrap an arm around her. They arranged the food on the kitchen island, buffet style, and for the hundredth time, Jazzi admired how easy it was to entertain here. She glanced at the beam she and Ansel had installed so that they could knock out a wall to make a space this big. The white tin ceiling tiles added an Old World flavor, and the stainless-steel counters made cooking functional. Finally, she glanced at the refinished, wooden floors. This was the kitchen of her dreams.

  It was hard to get a word in edge-wise when her family got together. Mom and Dad talked about their trip to Michigan. They’d taken the house tour, then eaten at Schuler’s restaurant, known for its schnitzel. Jerod’s parents, Eli and Eleanore, had spent Friday and Saturday at their lake cottage, and Eli was complaining that he had to spend most of Friday working on his boat’s engine.

  Eleanore glanced at her husband and snorted. “That man is never happier than when he’s getting his hands greasy, but he finally got the boat running in time for our evening cruise.”

  When there was a small slice of silence, Jazzi told them about Leo and what he’d said about someone disappearing from a neighborhood close to Olivia’s.

  Thane shook his head. “It was all over the news for a while. I asked my friend about it. He works with me on the heating and cooling crew and lives in the neighborhood where it happened. He’s the guy who told us about our house before the realtor put a sign in the yard. Knew the family and heard the kids were going to sell it when they put their mom in a nursing home. He told me the area is nice and we could probably get it at a good price.”

  Jerod loaded his plate with a second helping of chuck roast and vegetables. “Houses are going so fast right now, someone makes an offer before you actually put your place on the market. Our last fixer-upper sold like that.”

  Jazzi hoped the trend lasted, but she wanted to hear more about the disappearing neighbor. She turned to Thane. “Did your friend hear anything about the guy who never came home? Leo said the police knocked on doors all up and down Sycamore Drive.”

  Olivia scrunched her face. “The cops think someone snatched him, right?”

  Why would someone grab a thirty-year-old man? “It makes you wonder what they did to him.”

  “Ich! Don’t say that. I don’t want to think about it.” Olivia drained the last of her wine.

  She and Thane were sitting next to each other, and Jazzi had to smile. Her sister, as usual, looked trendy and chic. She wore canary-yellow short-shorts to show off her long legs and a cherry-red spandex top. Her dark blond hair was twisted into a spiky do, held in place by what looked like chopsticks. Thane’s longish auburn hair looked disheveled, and he wore old jeans with an oversized T-shirt, emblazoned with an air-conditioner on the front and the slogan keep your cool. The two didn’t seem to match, but they complemented each other really well.

  Thane reached to put his hand over Olivia’s. “Something happened to the kid. And I know he was grown, but he had had a head injury. After that, he was nervous, a little paranoid. He had anger issues. He had to move back home to have his parents take care of him. He rode his bike to work at a pet shop close by. Couldn’t handle any stress.”

  Jazzi’s dad stared. “They let him drive a motorcycle?”

  “Not a motorcycle, a bike—the kind with pedals.” Thane tipped his plate to move the last of the roast’s sauce into a spoon, then pushed his empty plate away. He licked his spoon before glancing at the jars of hot fudge, caramel, and mar
shmallow toppings on the kitchen island. Stacks of bowls sat next to nuts, sliced strawberries, and maraschino cherries.

  “What’s for dessert?” Thane waggled his eyebrows.

  “Ice cream. I bought four kinds.” Jazzi stood, and Ansel joined her to gather dirty plates. They could do the washing up after everyone left. The farmhouse sink was deep enough to hide them from view.

  Jerod stabbed his last potato before Jazzi took his plate. “I remember reading about a kid who went out partying and disappeared. They pulled his car out of the subdivision’s pond a few days later.”

  Olivia grimaced. She stood to go get a bowl and dessert. “That’s happened a few times. The run-off ponds are close to the houses, and the kids are so drunk, they drive right into them.”

  Thane followed her to the kitchen island while Ansel carried over the last two containers of ice cream. Thane went for the double chocolate. “There’s no pond close to us, and even if the kid rode his bicycle into one, it’s not like he’d be trapped inside.”

  Gran laid her hands on the table, wringing her fingers. She’d been having a good day, so far, her mind sharp with clarity, but stress could change that. “Have they found him yet? Did he disappear for good, like Lynda did?”

  Oh crap, Jazzi hadn’t connected the kid and Lynda. When they’d bought the house, they’d found her aunt’s skeleton in a trunk in the attic. Every time they talked about Gran’s missing daughter, Gran slipped back in time to better days, when she was a young girl.

  Jazzi’s mom hurried to make Gran feel better. “They’ll find him, Mom. Maybe he got lost or confused. Someone will bring him back home.”

  “He never went far, according to my friend,” Thane added. “And he was on a bike. Someone will notice him and help him.”