Jenn closed her eyes and sighed. “Jasper, be reasonable. This is about legal clarity. If you want to be on the birth certificate?—”
“I am,” I snapped. “I signed it this morning.”
Today had been one of the most intense and joyful days of my life, yet all the questioning was making me angry.
“That’s great,” Gabe said carefully, “But depending on circumstances of conception and notice, there can still be challenges. A test protects you and the child. It protects Evie too.”
“You think she’s playing him?” Josh growled.
My vision went red. What the fuck?
Gabe took off his glasses and cleaned them on his shirt. “No. That’s not what I’m saying. My point is that this family and this farm are already in the middle of a public scandal. I just want to protect everyone.”
The room suddenly felt too small. I would not let them weaponize my son, no matter how well-intentioned my cousin was.
“What scandal?” I glared at Gabe. “A murder in Maplewood is a big deal, sure. But can we stop with the catastrophizing?”
They looked at one another, Jenn and Josh wearing matching stoic expressions, Gabe straightening, slipping back into lawyer mode.
“He doesn’t know?” Jess’s muffled voice was loud in the silent room.
I frowned at my siblings. What were they talking about?
“It was ours,” Josh said solemnly. “Will’s body was found in one of our barrels of sap. They cracked it open at the sugar house to do the first demonstration, and he was just…” He shook his head. “In there.”
My stomach dropped.
Jenn paced to the end of the room and back. “Inventory logs, transport manifests, and a timeline of where we all were. Everything needs to be airtight. If we don’t push our own narrative, the rumor mill will do it for us.”
“Narrative?” Josh snorted. “The only narrative here is a dead kid.”
Gabe let out a weary sigh. “Listen, this is a shitshow for the whole town. The rest of the festival has been canceled. Vendors packed up and the tourists scattered like pigeons. Folks are canceling reservations at the inn, and I’m trying to find out if we’ve got a murderer on the loose.”
He put his head in his hands and groaned.
“Everyone wants a throat to grab, and guess who’s stuck his neck out?” He straightened, his face suddenly looking older. “Me, the fucking mayor.”
“Aw, fuck,” Jenn said. “Everything’s on fire.”
“Figuratively,” I added. I disliked jokes about fire.
How the hell did a body end up in our sap? We’d started tapping in March like we always did. We sugared a small amount ourselves, but most of it was sold to the co-op our grandfatherhad founded. The co-op set the prices and negotiated on behalf of the farmers. And Josh was on the board. Most of the stock was sold to Sugar Moon, which had a massive factory on the outskirts of town.
“Have you spoken to Nolan?” Josh asked. “He told me to be available for the next few days, but nothing else.”
Gabe shook his head. “He’s using that ‘ongoing investigation’ bullshit.”
Nolan Foster, the Maplewood police chief, had been friends with Gabe and Josh since they were kids. They still played in an old man hockey league together every winter. But clearly he wasn’t giving anything up, even to his closest friends.
Jess’s breath hitched, making the phone line crackle. “Do they know how he died?”
“No.” Gabe pressed his lips together. “The state medical examiner’s office was here, but it’ll be a couple of weeks before we get a full report.”
“It’s so sad,” she said. “He was so young.”
“There’s no way this happened on the farm,” Josh said quietly. “I oversee everything. We loaded those pallets last weekend, and Will signed for them.”
“Did he do any work for us this season?” Jess asked.
