Chapter 3

Grace huffed out the air she'd been holding in her lungs in one long, steaming breath. Pete. That was it. Or maybe Dave or Johnny or Stew, one of them, had thought it would be funny to play a prank on her by sprawling one of their dummies on the ground like a dead man.

It was a pretty good dummy, too. Very lifelike. She had to give kudos to whoever had made it.

She thought that even after she noticed the puddle of blood spread out from under the body, and red droplets spattered like rubies against the pale hay bales and saw the single puncture hole in his back. She believed it even after she realized she smelled the cloying scent of copper in the air.

Great effect , she thought. Is this what it looks like when someone's shot? Or was he supposed to be stabbed? I can't tell. I wonder how they did it?

Squatting down, she gingerly poked a finger at the arm of the figure on the ground. It was hard and cold and there was no mistaking what it was then. It was not a dummy.

It was a dead body.

A formerly breathing human.

An honest-to-Christ corpse on the floor of her maze.

All her former beliefs flew out of her head like a flock of blackbirds, leaving her feeling lost and alone.

Now what should she do? Call the police, of course. Molly had probably already called it in. She shakily stood up and began backing away. Then her feet grew minds of their own and took off running.

She navigated the maze out of sheer rote memory, not really breathing until she stepped free from the maze onto the field. She saw a figure standing next to her truck.

Molly.

Oh, poor Molly! She'd been so scared, and now Grace knew why.

And felt the same way.

Who was it? What was the body doing in her hay maze? Why would someone kill somebody in her maze, of all places?

It was secluded, that's why, she thought. Secluded, closed, and empty, and there was no one around to hear anybody scream.

She ran to Molly and found herself being the one held this time.

"Did you see it? It was there, wasn't it." Molly sounded dry, hoarse, as if she'd been sobbing so hard her throat was sore.

Grace nodded. "Y-yes. It's there. A body. Somebody, oh God, somebody died in my maze."

"I called the sheriff's office. They said she'd be down here soon." Molly patted Grace on the back. "It'll be okay, right? Of course, it will."

Grace didn't know if Molly was trying to calm her or herself. Probably both. "I didn't recognize him. I have no idea who that person is."

Molly sniffed loudly and moaned, and Grace felt her start shaking again. "I do. I recognized him. It's my ex, Grace."

"Your ex? As in ex-boyfriend? What is your ex doing dead in my hay maze?"

"I don't know! I haven't seen him or talked to him in over a year." Molly pulled away from Grace and began to pace. She had her arms wrapped around her as if trying to hug herself. "What is he doing in Summit Springs? In your maze? Dead?"

"You're asking me? I don't even know the guy." Grace felt her nerves shredding. "Where the hell is the sheriff?"

A siren screaming in the distance seemed to answer her question. She reached for Molly's hand and held on to it tightly.

They waited, holding hands like a pair of kindergarteners frightened about starting their first day of school, waiting for their new teacher to arrive.

Several moments later a plume of smoke could be seen coming up the twisting mountain road toward the field. They watched the exhaust from the sheriff's SUV marking the vehicle's progress up the road.

The SUV pulled into a spot not far from where Grace and Molly had parked, and Sheriff Briona Maverick slipped out from behind the wheel. Her sheepskin coat was open, and the sun caught the badge on her hip making the gold glitter.

Deputy Tom Padgett got out of the other side and trotted around the SUV to stand by his boss.

"What's going on here?" Sheriff Maverick asked. "Somebody said there's a dead body?"

Grace nodded, not trusting herself to speak. She pointed toward the maze.

Sheriff Maverick cocked an eyebrow. "I don't suppose you drew us a map? No? Then I think maybe you should lead us to it. Both of you."

Grace nodded again and squeezed Molly's hand in reassurance. "C-come on, Molly. We'll show them. It's this way," she said to the officers.

They led the police into the maze, with Grace making all the correct turns without hesitation. She stopped when she came to the corner where the pumpkin-headed monster stood guard.

"It's right there, around the corner," Grace said. Grace pointed her chin in that direction but made no move to follow Sheriff Maverick when she continued on and turned the corner, followed by Deputy Padgett, his hand resting on his sidearm.

There was a softly hissed swear, then the sudden squawking of a two-way radio as Sheriff Maverick called in the State Police for forensics and back-up to the scene.

The scene.

Her hay maze, her beautiful, well-thought out and planned hay maze had become "a scene." As in a scene of a crime.

"Molly, you need to tell them," Grace whispered. "Before they find out otherwise."

Molly's eyes widened, but she nodded. "I don't want to go back there and see him again, though."

"Tell us what?" Sheriff Maverick asked as she rounded the corner again. "No, I'll tell you what…let's start with your name." She took out a pen and a small pad of paper from her pocket, flipped the pad open, and prepared to write.

"Molly Sunshine."

Maverick blinked. "Are you fucking with me?"

Molly shook her head. "No, seriously. My wallet is in my purse in the truck. It has my ID in it. It's my name. When my dad's people came over from Germany, their name was Sonnenschein, but it as changed on Ellis Island to Sunshine, and we never changed it back."

Molly looked so frightened, Grace wanted to embrace her and hold her tight, tell her that everything was going to be okay. Except Grace didn't know if everything would.

"What are you two doing out here, anyway?"

"We came to walk the maze. I own it," Grace said.

Maverick gave Grace a sharp look, then turned back to Molly. "So what do you have to tell us, Molly?" Maverick asked.

"The body. It's my ex-boyfriend. I haven't seen or heard from him in a year, I swear. I don't know why he's here or why he's…he's…"

"Dead?" Maverick finished.

Molly began to sob. Now Grace did wrap her arms around Molly, holding her. "Seriously, Sheriff? Can't you see she's scared to death?"

"Where were you last night, Molly?"

Grace answered for her. "Serving at the Whitewater Tavern. She works there. Lots of people saw her there. She left with me about seven-thirty, and we had dinner at the Club Diner. Again, lots of witnesses. Then we went our separate ways."

"And you are?" Maverick asked, pen poised over her pad.

"We've met before. I'm Grace Conroy. I build the maze here every year."

Maverick nodded. "Oh, yes. I remember you now. I thought you looked familiar. You live and work in Denver. Come out here just for the Halloween season."

"That's right." Grace nodded, lifting her chin a bit. It almost sounded like an accusation rather than a simply stated fact.

"Where were you last night?"

"You mean before I had dinner with Molly? I was out here with a half dozen of my men building this maze. I can give you their names. We finished just before dark and left to get dinner at the Whitewater. I can guarantee you there was no dead body in my maze when we left."

"And after you and Molly had dinner? You said you went your separate ways. Where did you go?"

"I went home, or at least to the room I rent from Zoe and Emily Callahan." Grace gave Maverick the address. "They saw me come in. I spent the night in my room," Grace said.

"And you, Molly?"

Molly had stopped crying, but she was still obviously shaken. "I went home to the apartment I share with two other girls, Samantha Silver and Jackie Cadwell." She rattled off the address. "They both work in town. They saw me come in."

"Molly, you say this man was your ex-boyfriend? What was his name?"

"Jeremy Prada. No relation to the fashion designer ."

"Did he have any enemies?" Maverick asked. "Anybody who might want him dead?"

Molly snorted a bit through her tears. "Just about everybody he ever met, I imagine."

"Including you?"

"I didn't like him, but I didn't want him dead. I left him before things got bad enough for me to wish him harm."

"Do you have any names for me? Of people who may have wished him harm?"

Molly sighed, long and heavy. She stepped away from Grace's arms and swiped both hands over her face, wiping wetness away. She stood a little straighter, and Grace wondered if that was her brave face she was putting on for the sheriff. If so, it was a good one. "Jeremy was a con artist, Sheriff. I didn't know it while I was dating him. I thought he was a stock trader. The truth was he was a con man who cheated people out of their money. I left as soon as I figured out he was lying and defrauding people. Then I heard he had a Ponzi scheme going for a while, and when it collapsed it left a lot of people without their life savings. I'd say there were plenty of them who would've wanted his head on a platter. He was under investigation by the government, last I heard."

Maverick wrote it all down and nodded. "Anyone specific come to mind?"

"I don't know the names of the people he cheated, but it wasn't just the Ponzi scheme people who detested him. I came to find out that under his handsome facade was a rotten human being. He would do lots of little things that would annoy people, you know? I think he got off on getting people angry. For example, he never tipped for one thing. Ever. I always had to slip the server the tip without him seeing me, or he'd get pissed. He was rude to everybody. I don't know what I ever saw in him except for his pretty face. She shrugged. "I was young and stupid, I guess."

A wailing ambulance pulled into the lot just then, and a pair of EMTs jumped out. They ran to the scene carrying a box of emergency supplies.

"It's a DOA," Maverick told them. "Slow your roll. Don't stomp all over my crime scene. Check him out, determine that he's dead, and wait for the State Police. Don't touch anything else in there." She turned back to Molly and Grace. "We'll check your alibis, of course. You're free to go but don't leave town. Until we can prove otherwise, you're both suspects. I'm certain our detective will want to talk to you for more information."