“The one Nikki sent you in the picture!”
Detective Owen looked at me, confused. He pulled out his phone and turned it around so Grandma could see. “She didn’t send me a picture of plates. She sent me this.”
Grandma looked from Owen’s phone to me, clearly disappointed.
“What?” I yelled, looking at the picture of Stan, bloody and screaming in the backseat. “You told me to take a picture!”
“I meant of the car where the shots came from! It was right there!”
I could barely make out the corner of a white vehicle on the far side of the picture. Had I turned the camera just a little more to the right, I would’ve gotten, albeit accidentally, the picture Grandma had intended.
She dropped her hands, exasperated.
Owen looked at us sternly. “I’m going to make some phone calls. You two don’t go anywhere.”
Hattie, Greta, and Virginia came bursting through the doors and ran up to Grandma Dean.
“How is he?” Greta asked.
“We don’t know anything yet. But he was conscious when we got here.” Grandma’s voice cracked.
They hugged and Greta pulled away. “Someone should call Sydnie.”
“Why would we call her?” I asked. “She’s the one behind this.”
“I don’t think she is,” Greta said. “She called me when she left the lawyer’s office. She said she was leaving this afternoon and wanted to know if I wanted to come and say good-bye to Lily.”
At least Sydnie was capable of doing something nice.
Hattie pulled out her phone. “I recorded the conversation in case we needed to use it against her later.” These old ladies were very tech-savvy.
We gathered around Hattie’s phone and she hit play. We could see Greta with her phone out in front of her. She had it on speaker and we could clearly hear Sydnie’s voice. She was sobbing. “Why would he send me away?” she was asking. “Why doesn’t he want to be a part of Lily’s life?”
Greta could be seen on the phone wiping away a tear. “Because, dear, you hired a hitman to kill him. What do you expect him to do?”
“I didn’t do that!” Sydnie cried. “Why would I do that?”
We could see Greta take a deep breath. “For his money.”
There was more crying from Sydnie. “You guys are the ones that came and got me. I never even tried to get in contact with Stan!”
We all hung over the phone, listening to Sydnie sob.
“That doesn’t sound like someone who is guilty,” Greta said. “I don’t think she had anything to do with it.”
“She was a street actress,” I protested. “Remember when she told us that?”
“Shhh,” Hattie said. “There’s more.”
We brought our attention back to the phone.
“Geraldine told me you took the money,” Greta said softly into the phone. “She sent me a text and told me.”
“Of course I did,” Sydnie cried. “How else will I get home? I have nothing, Greta! That was fine when I was at least surrounded by my friends in Fairhope. But here, I have nothing, no one! What else was I supposed to do?”
I started to get a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach. I believed her. I believed she was innocent.
“You can keep listening but there’s just more crying,” Hattie said. “Until someone pulls up at her house and she gets off the phone.”
“Someone was there? Who was it?” Grandma questioned. “Sydnie said herself she doesn’t know anyone here.”
Greta shrugged. “I guess it was the bodyguard.”
“The bodyguard was with her at the lawyer’s office. Hit play again!” Grandma ordered.
Greta hit play and we froze when Sydnie said, “I have to go. A white car just pulled up in the driveway and some man is walking up.”
Grandma Dean and I looked at each other. “Sydnie’s in trouble.”
A nurse came out and walked up to our group. “Is anyone here family?”
As the other Grannies tried to lie and say they were his sisters, Grandma Dean and I snuck out. I didn’t see Owen so I sent him a text telling him we thought Sydnie might be in trouble.
When we walked outside and saw that Grandma’s car was surrounded by policemen, my heart fell. “Now what?” I asked. She smiled at me and dangled a set of keys I didn’t recognize.
“I took these from Virginia,” she said with a sly smile. “Now we just have to figure out where she parked.”
We walked up and down several aisles, Grandma hitting the lock button on the phone, hoping to hear Virginia’s SUV beep in response. Finally, we heard the sound we were hoping for and saw headlights flash. We found her vehicle.
We climbed in and quickly made our way to Sydnie’s house. When we turned on her street, we could see a white car parked in her driveway. Grandma quickly pulled in behind it and I looked at the car confused.
“Why is Les here?” I asked.
“What? Where is he?” Grandma asked, looking around.
“I don’t know, but that’s his car.” I pointed to the car in front of us.
“That’s not Les’s car, Nikki.” Grandma was yelling at me for some reason. “That’s the one I saw before Stan got shot!
“It is his!” I yelled back. “There’s a Peace Pointe Community College bumper sticker on the back. Les has been taking classes there!”
Grandma looked at the bumper sticker, then up to the house. “We need to find out what’s going on.”
She took off her seatbelt and marched up to the door, I followed close behind her, not nearly as sure of myself as she was. When we made it to the door, Grandma barged in. I looked behind us into the street, hoping I would see police cars making their way toward us, or at the very least, Owen. But no one was there.
“What in the world?” Grandma Dean’s words made me swing back around. I looked past her and into the living room. The bodyguard lay on the floor, bleeding from his head. A terrified Sydnie stood on the far side of the living room and Griffin Meyers stood to her left.
“What’s going on?” Grandma demanded.
Sydnie was shaking.
“Where’s Lily?” Grandma asked.
“I shut her in her room,” Sydnie cried. “She’s safer in there.”
“Shut up!” Griffin yelled, his voice still a little shaky. “I can’t handle all of this crying!”
Grandma narrowed her eyes at him. “You’re the one after Stan? But why?”
“This is for the greater good,” Griffin yelled as he waved the bloody baton in the air. “With the old man gone and no heir to claim his money, it will all go to the community college.”
Suddenly, a piece of the puzzle fell into place. I remembered the newspaper article a week or so ago about budget cuts and layoffs at the college. Griffin was going to lose his job. “So, this is all over you losing your job?” I stated more than asked.
“I can’t lose my job! I just signed a contract to build a house and if I don’t have a job, I won’t be able to pay for it!”
“So, Larry Kramer is involved in this after all,” I declared smugly.
“Yeah, the jerk won’t let me out of my contract. He’s already cashed my check and won’t give me my money back,” he moaned. “My brother even tried to persuade him, but he still wouldn’t budge. I’m completely broke and they’ve already cut back on some of the classes I teach.”
Another piece of the puzzle came together in my mind. And that piece involved Les’s car. It wasn’t leaking gas like Les had suspected. It was being driven without his knowledge. That also explained the timing—all the crimes happened when Les was either in his afternoon or evening class.
“I can’t believe you would steal Les’s car!” I yelled. “A teacher, stealing from a student while they’re in class!”
“Well, I certainly wasn’t going to try to kill someone driving my own car!”
That was actually pretty smart on his part.
“Enough of this chatter!” Griffin yelled. He held the baton above Sydnie�
�s head and suddenly brought it down hard. It skimmed the side of her face, hitting her on the shoulder instead.
“Ow!” she cried out, clutching her shoulder.
How in the world had this guy managed to kill one man and wound another? Of course, he had killed the wrong man and failed multiple times to kill his intended victim. And then it hit me—the last piece of the puzzle. I nearly laughed out loud.
“The poison,” I cried out. “You weren’t poisoned. You poisoned yourself on accident!”
I probably should have known better than to provoke a homicidal maniac, but I couldn’t help myself. I could tell I had hit the mark, though, because he turned red and looked like he wanted to run away and hide.
Grandma decided it was time to kick him while he was down. “You’re a pathetic little man.”
I cringed, afraid that might push him over the edge, but he just hung his head. “I know. And I didn’t mean to kill Stan’s friend,” he finally said. “I have terrible aim.”
“It’s a good thing,” Grandma said, “otherwise Stan would be dead too.”
“Stan’s still alive?” Griffin’s head jerked up in surprise.
“You shot him in the arm,” Grandma said. “He’s going to be just fine.”
I saw a look in his eyes that scared me, but before I could act, Sydnie lunged forward.
“You shot Stan?” she cried. “You monster!”
She tried to tackle Griffin and he swung the baton wildly, trying to defend himself. Grandma Dean and I ran to Sydnie’s side and then all of a sudden I heard—and felt—a crack, and the whole front of my face lit up in pain. For a moment, I thought I even saw little birds flying around my head like in the cartoons. Griffin had missed Sydnie and hit me instead. I grabbed my face and fell over backward onto the bodyguard, who was still lying unconscious and motionless on the living room floor.
Just as I managed to sit up, the back door burst open.
I looked over my hands, which I had clasped over my nose, just as Hattie reached into her purse and pulled out a rope. Within seconds, she had Griffin on the ground, hog-tied. She stood up. “Time?”
Greta hit a button on her phone. “Eleven seconds.”
“Darn it, tied my record. I really thought I had it that time.”
“How did you guys get here?” Grandma asked.
“My car,” Irene said. “Though we would’ve been here sooner if we’d realized quicker that you stole Virginia’s SUV! We walked around the parking lot for five minutes before we realized it was gone and she hadn’t just forgotten where she parked it!”
Suddenly, the front door swung open and we all jumped. Detective Owen and several other officers barged through the door, guns drawn. “Everybody freeze!” he shouted.
He took a second to scan the room. I was sitting on the bodyguard, who was unconscious from a head wound, my nose bleeding down my face and onto my shirt. Griffin was on his stomach with his hands and feet tied behind his back while the Grannies and Sydnie stood next to him with their hands up. In the silence, we could hear little Lily’s voice calling from her room. “Mama,” she cried.
“What is going on in here?” Owen demanded, shaking his head.
Lily’s voice called out again.
“Can I go get her?” Sydnie pleaded.
Owen waved her on and she quickly ran out of the room.
I tried to get off the bodyguard, but the room started spinning and I sat back down again. Grandma Dean rushed to me as the officers put their guns away.
Hattie bent down to get a good look at me. “You broke your nose.”
“Yeah,” I said irritably. “I know.”
She patted me on the back. “It’s a good thing. You really needed a new one anyway.”
* * *
When I got to the hospital, Joe was waiting for me in the emergency room. He took a look at me and grimaced. “Ouch!”
“You’re telling me,” I said, my hand still over my nose.
“You can let go of your nose,” Hattie said to me. “It’s not like you’re holding back the blood.”
“I know,” I said through my hand. “But I feel like my hand is the only thing holding my nose on.”
Hattie huffed. “You’re being awfully dramatic.”
“She’s not being dramatic,” Grandma dean defended me. “She’s being theatrical.” She looked at me. “And you’re doing a very good job of it.”
I tried to roll my eyes, but my face hurt too bad. I looked at Joe. “How did you know I was here?”
“Owen called me.”
From across the room, I saw Owen. He was questioning Sydnie. He looked at me and smiled gently.
A doctor called my name and Grandma came and took my arm. “I’m going to go back with you,” she said, smiling.
My heart swelled with love for her. “Thank you.” I said, starting to cry.
“You’re welcome,” she said softly. “Someone needs to help you pick out a better nose.”
Epilogue
“Hello, beautiful!” Grandma’s voice rang out as another customer walked into our shop.
“I was beginning to think this day was never going to happen,” Grandma Dean said to me as she rang up a customer and put two tiny cat tutus into a pink bag. “We’re having an even better turnout than I had hoped!”
I looked around at the shop full of customers. Everyone was talking and laughing and enjoying themselves. The designer cat clothes were a big hit. Kitty Purry strutted through the store in her bright blue shirt with a skirt that was made out of peacock feathers. She was enjoying the attention while Catalie Portman hid behind the counter, out of the spotlight.
Suddenly, I heard a voice that made my blood curdle.
“Good morning, ladies.” I looked up to see Larry Kramer holding a cat bikini. “Since your little investigation is over, I’m guessing that means I won’t be seeing you on a professional level anymore.”
“That’s right,” Grandma Dean said with a smile. “You won’t have to worry about us sneaking in your house anymore. And I’m sorry we thought you were involved.”
Larry laughed. “I’m honored you would think I could’ve been involved in something so dastardly. But, just so you know, I’m not nearly as bad as you think I am. I gave Griffin a full refund. Maybe now his brother will stop harassing me about it. The house he’s going to is going to be much bigger than the one I was going to build for him anyway.”
“To think,” Grandma said dryly, “that if you just would’ve done that from the beginning, none of this would’ve happened and Artie would still be alive.”
Larry shrugged. “But then we’d still have to deal with Artie.”
“And Stan never would’ve met Lily,” I pointed out.
“See!” Larry said. “My actions brought a family together. That practically makes me a saint.”
Grandma rolled her eyes and rang up the cat bikini. “I didn’t know you had a cat,” she said to Larry.
“Oh, this is a for a cat?”
Grandma handed him the bag before he could change his mind.
He took it and leaned over the counter. “Don’t forget about me,” he whispered to me. “I still have a contract waiting for you. And,” he said, lifting his pink bag, “I have a little outfit for you to wear.” He winked and turned to walk out the door.
“That’s the creepiest person I’ve ever met,” I said to Grandma as she straightened up a display of cat bows that sat on the counter.
“Me too,” she said under her breath.
By afternoon, I thought nearly all of Peace Pointe had come into the shop to say hello and congratulate Grandma Dean and I on opening our new store. But then I saw Sydnie and Stan standing outside on the sidewalk and I realized there were still a few residents who hadn’t made it in yet.
Stan looked twenty years younger as he opened the door for Sydnie, who was carrying Lily. He strode in confidently and I was amazed at his transformation. It had been two weeks since I had last seen him, bloody and screaming in
the backseat of Grandma’s car.
“Geraldine, this place looks great,” he said as he made his way over to us.
Grandma smiled and gently hugged him. “Thank you. How’s your arm?”
“It’s better,” he said. “You know it takes a little while for us old folks to heal, but it’s doing pretty good.”
“You’re not old,” Sydnie said to him, resting her head on his arm and giving him a gentle hug herself, “you’re vintage. And vintage is very cool right now.”
Stan laughed and Grandma Dean tried not to roll her eyes.
I helped a customer while Grandma chatted with Stan and Sydnie, and I watched Lily squirm out of her mother’s arms and walk over to look at some cat toys in a basket on the floor. She picked one out and Stan brought it up to the counter to pay for it.
“We’re getting Lily a cat,” he said to me as he pulled out his wallet. “She loves animals.”
“That’s great,” I said with a smile. “I’m so glad that everything worked out for you.”
“Me too,” he said, looking at Lily. “I don’t have a lot of time with her, but I can promise you, I’ll make the most of every second.”
I handed him his bag and we said our good-byes. Then Stan reached down to take a hold of Lily’s hand and, as they walked away, Lily held out her free hand to her mom. Sydnie gently took it, looking up at Stan and smiling. They walked toward the door, laughing and lifting Lily in the air.
With the sun coming in through the front windows, all I could see was their silhouettes as they left. It showed no signs of age, just the outline of a mom, a dad, and a very loved little girl.
A shiver went down my spine. To think that one terrible man almost took all that away. And he did it because of money. But was it really money, I thought. Or was it fear that drove Griffin to attempt to murder someone? Fear of losing his job, fear of losing his house. And really, weren’t a lot of crimes committed because someone was afraid? Afraid of not having enough money, afraid of someone having more, afraid of someone else striking first… Greed, murder, corruption. The root of all evil might be money, but maybe the seed is fear.
* * *
The Root of All Evil Page 14