“She has a record, though,” Hannah argued.
“A record doesn’t always indicate guilt,” Nick interjected. “Her motive seems shaky to me.”
“Except you saw the way she took over the seance,” Maddie noted. “She wants to be in charge.”
“So do a lot of people, Mad. Is that need enough to kill someone over?”
“Maybe there was more going on than we realized,” Cooper suggested. “Maybe Cadence had ties to Velma.”
“The only people who would know are the ones we just chased out of the saloon,” Nick noted. “I’m pretty sure they’re not going to be keen on the idea of helping us now.”
“Yeah, well ... hindsight.” Cooper managed a grin that was more grimace and raised his hands. “We’re going to need to search the town. We also need to call whoever is managing the lift at the bottom to see if Cadence is already down the mountain.”
“What if she is?” Maddie queried. “What happens then?”
“Then I take over the investigation and Casper Creek is essentially cut out,” Boone replied.
“That doesn’t seem fair.” Maddie jutted out her lower lip. “We’ve been involved from the start. We can’t quit before the end. That’s just ... un-American.”
Nick’s lips quirked as he regarded her. “Un-American, huh? Good grief, I love you, Mad.” He pulled her to him and pressed a kiss to her forehead. “You’re not helping with the search, though.” He added the second part in a soft voice, as if he thought he might be able to slide the edict past her without notice.
Maddie’s eyes widened to comical levels and she openly glared at her husband. “Excuse me?”
“You heard me.” Nick refused to back down. “You can’t chase a potential killer in your ... condition.”
That was the final straw. Maddie, who was notoriously even-tempered, lost it. “I’m not pregnant!” She yelled it so loudly a myriad of heads in the center of town snapped in her direction.
Distinctly uncomfortable, Nick shifted from one foot to the other. The smile he offered the psychics was tight. “Hormones,” he offered lamely when they wouldn’t stop staring.
That seemed to be enough to placate the others.
“I can’t believe you just said that,” Maddie grumbled when Nick gently grabbed her elbow and prodded her back toward the saloon.
“Mad, I know you don’t want to talk about this right now — and I honestly can’t blame you because it’s going to mean a big change for us — but I truly believe you’re pregnant.” He said the last part as they moved to within hearing distance of Maude. “I will protect my family the best way I know how, whether you like it or not.”
“Oh, well, that’s obviously a great way to get her to agree with you,” Maude muttered, rolling her eyes. “Are you stupid or something? You can’t suddenly boss her around as if you’re the king and she’s the servant.”
Nick murdered Maude with a glare. “Last time I checked, you don’t have a say in this,” he snapped. “This is my wife ... and my child.”
“There is no child,” Maddie hissed. “I’m not pregnant. I know you’ve got it in your head that I am — and apparently you’re desperate for a child and I didn’t realize it and we’re going to need to talk about that when we get home — but you can’t just decide it without any medical backup.”
“You’re having morning sickness,” Nick argued.
“I got sick in the morning.”
“You’ve been sick more than once.” Nick refused to back down. “You’ve been sick so many times that I was trying to figure out a way to force you to the doctor.”
“You know, you have been sick a lot over the past month or so,” Maude noted. “It’s even more times than Nick realizes because you were sick when he was at work and you ordered me not to tell him.”
Nick’s eyebrows practically shot off his forehead. “You instructed your grandmother to lie to me?”
Maddie was caught off guard. “That is a gross exaggeration.”
He folded his arms across his chest. “Oh, really?”
Maddie loved her grandmother beyond reason, but she wanted nothing more than to crawl across the counter and strangle the older woman to within an inch of her life. “It was only a few times, Nicky.” She adjusted her tone. “It’s honestly not a big deal. There’s no reason to get worked up.”
Nick saw it differently. “How many times have you been sick?”
Maddie’s heart rolled at the betrayed expression on his face. “Just a few ... and I haven’t really been sick. It’s more that I’ve been ... nauseated. That’s not an illness.”
“How many times, Mad?”
“Eight times,” Maude volunteered.
“You were keeping count, were you?” Maddie challenged.
Maude nodded. “I was trying to figure out how to get you to go to the doctor. I suspected you were pregnant, even though it’s not what I want.”
“Why do you even care if it’s true?” Maddie challenged. “You won’t be able to hear a baby cry from your apartment.”
“No, but you’ll have less time for me.” Maude wasn’t the type to lie so she laid everything out, all the facts. “I like being the center of attention for at least one hour every day. If you have a baby, that will change.”
Despite his annoyance, Nick found his lips curving. “We’ll make sure you get your attention,” he promised. “While I don’t want to encourage bad behavior — or the urge to keep things from me — I would like to point out that you’ll be able to run roughshod all over town when we have a newborn. We’ll be too tired to care.”
Maude brightened considerably. “I hadn’t thought about that. Good point.”
Maddie rolled her eyes, frustrated. “I’m not pregnant!”
“I’m pretty sure you are,” Nick countered. “It doesn’t matter, though. You’re going to the doctor when we get home whether you like it or not. It’s happening. Period.”
Maddie was beside herself. “I don’t like you being so bossy.”
“I don’t like the fact that you were hiding
