“She said you dragged him down. She said you weren’t a good influence on him or…or on me.”
I snort with laughter. “That’s rich coming from her, don’t you think?”
“I never listened to her. I want you to know that. I never thought you were a bad influence.”
I hug my arm around her shoulders. “That’s okay, sweetie. I don’t hold what Pauline said against you. She made a lot of bad choices. None of that has anything to do with you.”
She sinks back into her beanbag. “Thanks.”
“Did you think I would?” I ask. “Did you think she could poison our relationship the way she tried to mess up my relationship with David?”
She shrugs and looks down at her knuckles. “I wasn’t sure. I thought maybe…. you know.”
“No, I don’t know. What did you think?”
She shakes her hair out of her eyes to look at me. “I thought you wouldn’t trust me when you found out the things she said to me about you. I thought you would keep your distance.”
“I won’t do that.” I give her another hug. “You’re a separate person from her. What she said and what she thinks isn’t you. You don’t agree with her, do you?”
“No! Of course not.”
“There you go. We’re all good, as they say.”
She brings up her iPad and starts showing me her studies. We sit there for over two hours. She leaves my head spinning explaining some of her Advanced Placement Physics problems.
David appears in the door. “Are you two ready to go home?”
Ariel jumps to her feet. “Yes!”
I rub my head. “Saved by the bell.”
David laughs. “Don’t worry. There will not be a test at the end of the hour.”
“That’s good, because I would fail.”
“Pack yourself an overnight bag, Ariel,” he tells her. “You don’t need to bring everything. I’ll arrange with your dad to pick up the rest of your things another day.”
Ariel flies into a whirlwind of activity, packing her school uniforms and computers and toiletries. The job takes another hour. I should have thought to get her to do that before we started with the academics.
At last, we load her suitcase into David’s cruiser. She gets into the back and I get into the front. None of us mentions Pauline on the way back to West End. David drives me to my house and we get out on the sidewalk.
“I hope you don’t mind if I don’t stick around,” he tells me. “I have to take Ariel to my house and get a room all set up for her.”
“Don’t you already have that?” I ask.
“She always stayed in my guest room before. Now I have to clear all the guest stuff out of it so she can start making it her real own room.”
I can’t stop smiling at him. “I’m happy for you. You finally got your daughter back.”
“I should be happy, but I’m not. I owe you an apology, Margaret.”
“You owe me an apology for saving my life?” I snort. “I don’t think so.”
“I never would have suspected Pauline if you hadn’t found out about that candy. You solved this case, as usual. I was just on hand to arrest the suspect.”
I take his hand. Man, it feels good to touch him like this after all this time. “It’s all right. We did it together, and now the killer is behind bars.”
He slips one arm around me. “I don’t think she’ll mind if I kiss you.”
“I doubt it.”
I bend back my head and our lips meet. I hug him around the middle. He never felt so good.
He pulls away. “I’ll see you later, okay?”
“Okay. Let me know if you either of you need anything.”
“You’ll be the first person I call.” He waves to me getting into his car. He and Ariel both wave until they disappear down the street.
I stand on the sidewalk and stare into the distance for a long time. I never expected this case to end so abruptly. Now it’s over and Pauline is behind bars. Ariel is going home to David’s house.
I shouldn’t be happy that a man is dead and a woman is on her way to prison, but maybe Ariel is right. Maybe this is the universe’s little way of correcting the mistake that happened when David’s wife died. Maybe this is the completion of a long, circuitous mystery. Now Ariel is coming back to the place where she should have grown up all those years ago.
I wonder how Pauline’s husband is taking all this. I know David Graham well enough to know he would never cut Ariel’s adoptive father out of her life, but maybe he and Ariel know best. She really does belong with David. She never really belonged with Pauline and her husband in the first place.
I turn toward my porch. Zack rushes out to meet me. “Are you okay, Mom? Where have you been?”
I hold up my hand and push past him into the house. I sink down on the couch, more drained than I was when I got out of jail. Zack flutters around me firing questions a mile a minute.
“Just give me a second, sweetie,” I tell him.
“I’ve been worried sick ever since I got the detective’s text.”
I smile up at him. “Do you mean the one that said he found me and I was fine? Is that the text you mean?”
“One minute you were working out in the garden. The next minute, you were gone. I thought something awful happened to you.”
I pat his arm. “It did, but everything’s okay now. I found out who killed Mr. Tripp, and the killer is behind bars.”
He blinks at me with his mouth open. “What happened?”
I sigh and collapse back on the couch. “I might as well tell you. You’re going to find out pretty soon anyway. It was Pauline Dunroy. She tried to kill me so she could get David to herself and she framed me for Mr. Tripp’s murder, but it’s all over now. She’s in jail, and Ariel is going home to David’s house as we speak.”
He stares at me for a minute. Then he throws himself down on the couch next to me. “Man, Mom! Do you have to go getting into so much trouble all the time?”
“I don’t try to. It just sort of happens to me, but I’m going to try to avoid it in the future. Anyway, I’m home now and we don’t have to worry about the murder or me being accused of it. I’m clear and the case is over.”
14
I stand behind my display table in front of the candy store—or should I say, we stand behind our display table in front of the candy store. Sabrina’s three colossal cakes and my gargantuan gingerbread houses occupy most of the table space. They leave just enough room for her baked goods and my sweets, both homemade and store-bought.
We barely have time to talk between the never-ending stream of tourists plying their way through town. They stop off at every table to sample the wares, chat to the locals, and move on.
Everybody wears heavy coats, scarves, and gloves against the cold. The clouds hang heavy overhead. No hint of sunshine comes through, and the cold bites my fingers and toes even through my many layers.
Dozens of stalls, booths, and display tables line Main Street. Almost everyone in town works behind one of them, but I can’t see anyone I know between the many heads crowding around.
Half the people want to taste Sabrina’s cakes. Most of the kids want to steal candy off the gingerbread houses. I have to shove more sweets in their hands to distract them. Zack and Patty mill around near the entrance to our display tent handing out more candy to anyone that wants it.
All at once, a great uproar sounds in the distance. I jump up to see what it’s all about and see a car easing onto Main Street. It pulls a sleigh on wheels with Santa Claus seated in the back surrounded by presents.
All the kids rush away in a hurry. They clamber around the sleigh all shouting at once. Santa waves and shouts, “Merry Christmas!”
“Who is it?” I ask Sabrina.
“I don’t recognize him. Maybe it’s Detective Graham.”
“I think he would have told me if he planned to dress up as Santa Claus,” I remark.
“I’m right here.” David comes out of the crowd wi
th Ariel. He meanders to my side and kisses me.
“Who’s Santa?” I ask. “I don’t recognize him.
“I think it might be Marvin,” he replies. “It is kind of hard to tell.”
Even looking closely at Santa, I can’t see any distinguishing features under his beard and bushy white eyebrows. If it is Marvin, he certainly has me fooled.
Ariel looks up at David. “Can I go see?”
“Go on,” he tells her. “Just watch out for that car. Don’t get your feet run over.”
She scampers into the crowd to join the kids flocking around Santa’s sleigh. From here, I can see her cheeks glowing with pleasure. It’s great to see her enjoying Christmas, even if she is fifteen. She hasn’t lost her holiday spirit, and her mother getting arrested doesn’t seem to have dampened her enthusiasm, either.
David eases up to me behind the table and murmurs into my ear. “I thought you’d like to know Pauline pled guilty to first degree homicide and kidnapping. She received forty years without the possibility of parole.”
I put my arms around him and let my head fall on his chest. “Thank God!”
He kisses the top of my head. “I thought you would be pleased to hear that. She had to confess in front of the court.”
“What did she say about how she did it?”
“She said she disguised herself as you and took the candy as a lure to try to get Mr. Tripp to let her into the room. When she found him gone, she picked the lock and went in anyway. Mrs. Tripp caught her coming out, and she told Mrs. Tripp she was you to deflect suspicion. Apparently, Mrs. Tripp was so blown away by meeting the famous Margaret Nichols that she didn’t notice the famous Margaret Nichols was in her hotel room without permission. That’s when Mrs. Tripp went and told Kevin that she saw you.”
“Did she say anything about the kidnapping?” I ask.
He shifts from one foot to the other and peers out at the ocean. “I wasn’t going to tell you this, but she says she was going to kill you. When you posted bail, she thought you would be acquitted of the murder. She decided to take matters into her own hands. She knocked you out and took you to her basement when Ariel came home. She planned to smooth things over with Ariel and go back to the basement, but it didn’t work out that way.”
“There’s one thing I can’t figure out. Maybe you can enlighten me.”
“What is it?” he asks.
“Why did Mrs. Tripp claim she was out of town when she wasn’t? She must have known she would get caught.”
“She was seeing someone on the side. She came up with a big story about how she went to New York when she never left West End. She got so wrapped up in that story that she forgot all about the fact that she told Kevin about her celebrity sighting.”
I observe the kids screaming and shrieking in glee. Santa’s sleigh comes to a stop in front of the enormous Christmas tree set up by the vacant lot. Santa starts handing out presents to all the kids.
“I don’t think I like all this talk about me being a celebrity,” I remark. “I wouldn’t have been accused of murder if Mrs. Tripp didn’t think I was some great and magnificent detective.”
“You got accused of murder because Pauline made sure you got accused of it,” he points out. “You’re not a killer. Everyone who knows you knows you’re not one.”
“Still,” I counter. “I don’t want to go through that again.”
“You won’t, because Pauline won’t be around to try to steal you away from me.”
“What about you?” I look up at him. “Did you know all along that I wasn’t a killer?”
“You shouldn’t even have to ask that,” he replies. “You know I never lost faith in you. I’m a cop. I had to treat the case as one in spite of my personal feelings for you.”
“I know.” I close my eyes on his chest again. “It sure does feel good to put it behind me, though.”
We watch the crowd for a while. I cast a sidelong glance up at him, and he catches me looking. “What?”
“You never told me where in my house you found the syringe with the belladonna extract in it,” I tell him.
“You never asked. Do you really want to know?”
“I’m not sure I do want to know,” I reply. “I’m worried you’re going to tell me you found it in my underwear drawer or something.”
A mysterious smile tugs the corners of his mouth. “Would it be so bad if I looked in your underwear drawer?”
“Yes, it would. I would be mortified. I don’t think I could date you anymore.”
He brays with laughter. “In that case, I definitely will not tell you where we found it.”
I swat his shoulder. “You better tell me. Did you look in my underwear drawer or not?”
“No, I didn’t.” He lays his hand against his jacket lapel and closes his eyes. “You have my word as a Boy Scout that I have never seen inside your underwear drawer. Sibly from the Forensics Team was the one who searched that part of the house, and anyway, we didn’t find the syringe in your underwear drawer or anywhere else in your bedroom. Does that satisfy you?”
“Where did you find it?” I ask.
“I thought you didn’t want to know,” he points out. “Make up your mind.”
“I’m going to tickle you until you tell me.” I dig my fingertips into his ribs until he howls. “Tell me right now.”
“Fine.” He fights me off until I quit. “They found it under the sink in your laundry room. It’s a standard hiding place and probably the most obvious place to look. Pauline wasn’t very creative. Then again, she wasn’t really trying to hide the syringe. She wanted to put it somewhere it would be found easily.”
I nod and turn away. “Thank you. I’m relieved.”
“So am I,” he murmurs. “I was worried this was going to be an ongoing issue between us.”
I have to laugh. “Maybe you should come over and take a look at my underwear drawer, just to get it over with so neither of us has to worry about it hanging over our heads.”
“Nope.” He smacks his hands against his thighs. “I will never look in your underwear drawer. It will remain strictly off limits to me for the rest of my life so we can all live in peace without having to worry about the consequences.”
We both laugh, and the subject evaporates into nothing. Ariel comes streaking past with a bunch of other kids. Her hair whips across her face and her cheeks glow with pleasure. She clutches her present amid shouts and cries back and forth along the street
“Your daughter certainly seems to be settling into her new life,” I point out.
“She loves it here,” he tells me. “She’s settling better than I am. I keep expecting the roof to cave in, but it doesn’t. She’s perfectly happy living with me. I never thought the transition would go so smoothly. I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop.”
“I don’t think you have anything to worry about,” I tell him. “She wanted to come live with you.”
“What are you saying?” he asks. “Are you saying I should just get used to this as the new status quo?”
“Isn’t that what you want?” I return. “You wanted your daughter. Now you have her.”
“Yeah, but…..” He falters. “What if she changes her mind?”
“I don’t think that’s likely to happen. She has two more years left of school. Then she’ll go to college. Just enjoy your time with her while it lasts. She wants to make up for the years she didn’t get to grow up with you. You should do the same.”
He gazes at her playing up and down Main Street, and a wistful tear comes into his eye. “Yeah. You’re right.”
I slip my arm around his waist one more time. “You’re going to make a good dad for her. You deserve this.”
He kisses me again, but he doesn’t say anything. I watch his face twist with buried emotion. He’s finding out what it means to be a parent—the good and the bad, the responsibility and the sadness when you realize it can never last.
I turn my attention to Zack. He chats to Gilly while
he hands out samples and pamphlets in front of the display table. I’m glad I have him in my life right now, but it can never last. The best case scenario is that he’ll find someone who makes him happy and move out on his own. I got lucky that he didn’t go away to college right after high school. It’s only a matter of time before something else takes him away.
Just then, another ruckus breaks out over by the Christmas tree. Stacy and Simone appear out of the crowd, and Stacy climbs up on Santa’s sleigh. “Thank you all for coming out to our Winter Carnival and making it even bigger and better than last year. We will now light the Christmas lights on our tree to officially open the Carnival, and I hope you’ll all join us on Christmas Eve for our annual Bonfire on the Beach.”
She jumps down and takes hold of the lever hooked up to wires leading to the tree. She hesitates, and shouts break out all over again. “Do it!” someone calls. “Light it!” someone else yells.
All at once, she throws the lever. The tree explodes into light all the way to the golden star hanging level with the nearest roof. At the same moment, garlands strung across the street light up, too. Strings of bright lights burst alive all over town.
The crowd erupts in cheers. West End glows from one end to the other. It looks more Christmasy than I ever thought it could. The lights dispel the grey weather and send a warming glow into my heart.
This is what Christmas should be like. Over by the electrical lever, Stacy and Simone put their arms around each other. Side by side, they admire their handiwork. They accomplished this moment by working together. They agreed to put the tree somewhere neither of them wanted, and putting it by the vacant lot means they could reach more of the town with additional strings of lights and decorations.
Just then, a hush falls over the town. Everyone sucks in their breath and looks around with wide eyes as a few feathery snowflakes drift across Main Street. They hang suspended in front of our faces and float on the breeze. I glance first at David and then at Sabrina. All the kids look at each other questioning if this is real.
The next minute, a heavy curtain of snowflakes descends over West End. The flakes reflect the lights and make the town sparkle. In an instant, everyone starts laughing and talking, but the atmosphere around town changes. A peaceful air of comfort and warmth fills Main Street. People smile more if that’s possible. It really feels like Christmas.
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