“Don’t be absurd. How are you going to explain your presence in a showroom after hours? You had a blackout and don’t know how you got here? You’re going to have to come up with some kind of crazy excuse.”
Luna turned to George. “So you sold the merchandise to my brother? What of it?”
“To tell you the truth . . .” he began.
“Yes, the truth. That would be a nice change.” Luna looked over at Rowena. “Let me guess. Your name isn’t Roseanne. It’s Rowena Millstone.”
Rowena stiffened but didn’t answer.
“OK. Back to you, cowboy. What are you doing here?”
“I figured if two people was lookin’ for the merchandise, it must be worth somethin’.”
“You sold it to my brother,” Luna said calmly, as she watched Chi-Chi wrap tape around the guy’s wrists. “And you received payment for said merchandise. According to the laws of commerce, that means the merchandise belongs to my brother; he owns it, however valuable it might be. Other laws pertain to theft and larceny, which you could be charged with. For starters, you are trespassing.”
George hung his head. He had no fight left in him. The woman who had come flying out of the cabinet had scared the bejesus out of him. And now this. Never in his life had he ever been bested by a woman. Maybe once when Shirley from the Road House beat him in arm wrestling, but he’d never been this close to being hogtied before.
Luna turned her attention to Rowena again. “Let me guess. You are looking for something that was stashed away in one of the pieces?”
Rowena didn’t answer her.
“Don’t you worry your pretty little head. The document you were looking for is in a very safe place.” Luna was relieved that she had listened to everyone about putting it in Chi-Chi’s safe.
Rowena snapped to it. “What do you mean it’s in a safe place? You found it?” Rowena was slowly beginning to comprehend what was happening around her. What was she going to do? What could she do? She slowly looked at her surroundings. She was on the floor of a showroom with her hands tied together with tape, crumpled next to a repulsive, greedy scruff who smelled like Chick-fil-A.
“You seemed to have gone to a lot of trouble. What exactly were you looking for?” Luna wanted to hear it from the red-lipsticked harpy.
Chi-Chi spotted the security guard entering the courtyard with another equally disheveled man in handcuffs. “Oh dear. What do we have here?” She nodded in their direction.
On the other side of the courtyard, Cullen and Gaines rushed through the front entrance of the art center, Gaines with his hand on his weapon. They dashed to the showroom, then came to an abrupt halt.
Luna looked up at the two men. “Took you long enough.” She waved the wand of the fire extinguisher at both of them.
“Seems like you have everything under control. I’ll take that now.” Gaines reached for the weapon Luna had been threatening her two intruders with.
Luna tipped her head toward Rowena. “Meet Rowena Millstone.”
“Well, I’ll be darned,” Gaines said. “And who is this?” He turned to George.
“This is the man who sold the goods to Cullen.”
“George Nelson?” Cullen looked flabbergasted.
“Yep.” George was beyond humiliated.
“And who are you?” Gaines turned to Leroy.
“I’m with him.” Leroy nodded at George.
“Where did he come from?” Gaines asked.
“We’re from Reston, in Virginia,” Leroy answered.
Gaines shook his head and rolled his eyes. Definitely not members of Mensa.
The security guard took the lead. “I got a call from someone saying there was a suspicious-looking truck behind the building. When I arrived, a man wearing a welder’s mask was detaining Leroy with an acetylene torch.”
“An acetylene torch?” Gaines looked stupefied. “I must say, you people are truly creative. Good thing we’re at an art center.” Gaines let out a guffaw. “Where is the masked man now?”
“He took off once I arrived and put this guy in cuffs,” the security guard said.
Chi-Chi and Luna looked at each other at the same time, and exclaimed, “Jimmy Can-Do!”
“The baseball-bat guy?” Gaines was even more confused.
“That’s the one,” Cullen spoke up. “Odd. No one has ever seen him. He shows up before we open and comes back after we’re gone.”
“The honor-system dude.” Gaines remembered leaving the note about the bat, getting a call a few days later, and giving the man his credit card number over the phone. At that moment, it occurred to Gaines that he, too, had had a leap of faith. It could have been a scammer. There was still hope for humanity.
Several police cars pulled into the parking lot, lights flashing, sirens blaring. Ellie’s SUV was right behind.
The first one to get hoisted off the floor was Rowena. Luna nodded in her direction. “This is Rowena Millstone.”
One of the police officers began to read her her Miranda rights. “‘You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney. If you cannot afford one, one will be provided for you.’”
“Next?” Gaines helped them pull George off the floor as the second officer read him his rights. Then on to Leroy, who was protesting, claiming he didn’t do nothin’.
Ellie stood motionless and speechless. One thing was for sure, her security team had done its job splendidly. She surveyed the situation. “What on earth?”
“It’s a very long story, Ellie. I apologize for all the trouble this may have caused.” Cullen didn’t know what else to say.
“Nonsense. As long as everyone is OK. I’m glad my guys were at the ready,” Ellie replied.
“And you can thank Jimmy Can-Do as well,” Chi-Chi added.
“What does he have to do with it?” Ellie was totally confused at that point.
“We have it on good authority he derailed part of the getaway plan,” Gaines said.
“Getaway plan? Can someone please start at the beginning?”
As the police marched the three trespassers out to the squad car, Cullen explained the Millstone situation to Ellie, and how Luna had found a document that turned out to be the last will and testament of the fabulously wealthy Randolph Millstone, stuck in a table drawer, and the domino effect that discovery had had.
“And Luna saved the day with a fire extinguisher?” Ellie chortled.
“She did, indeed.” Gaines looked at Luna. “Are you all right?”
“I’m just fine, thank you.” Luna curtsied.
Cullen took the fire extinguisher from Gaines and placed it back on the wall.
“That was rather clever of you,” Gaines said, admiring her quick-wittedness. Then he chuckled. “I can’t wait to hear all the details as to how you got yourself into that situation.”
“Well, if a certain person hadn’t left his cell phone behind, we might have been able to avoid all of this.”
In an effort to lighten the mood and change the subject, Cullen addressed the others. “Three Brothers?”
“Sounds good, but first you need to make a phone call,” Luna said, pulling Cullen’s cell from her pocket. “Mr. Clive Dunbar called twice. I didn’t want to give him any information until I spoke with both of you.”
“Yes, that’s the lawyer for Millstone,” Gaines confirmed. “And we found Colette Petrov and her son.”
“But where? How?” Luna was astonished that Gaines had gathered so much information in such a short amount of time.
“I know people who know people.” Gaines winked. “We followed the money. Clive Dunbar was the attorney of record for Millstone. One of the field offices got in touch with him at his cabin and told Dunbar they believed they had located a legal document signed by Randolph Millstone. They told him they did not have it in their possession but could make the document available. And Colette Petrov was with Mr. Dunbar.”
Luna and C
ullen gave the place the once-over and decided it was safe to leave the premises. They shut the lights, locked the doors, and the four of them exited the building. Ellie went back to her vehicle, where Ziggy and Marley were pacing in the back seat. She waved and called out to Luna, “I want more details in the morning!”
“For sure,” Luna shouted back. “Scones and coffee.”
* * *
When Rowena insisted on calling her lawyer, much to her dismay Clive Dunbar refused to speak to her, advising her to seek other counsel. Arthur met with a similar response. With the pending litigation, all the Millstone assets were frozen, forcing Rowena and Arthur to have a court-appointed attorney represent them. Bail would be out of the question unless Rowena hocked her jewelry. Such a dilemma. Arthur and Rowena were sitting on their glorious butts with no lawyer in all of New England wishing to represent them. Too bad. So sad.
The reading of the will would move forward, as per Randolph’s wishes, bequeathing his worldly holdings to several charities. Animal Care Sanctuary, St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital, the World Wildlife Fund, and several other foundations for the protection of animals or children.
* * *
As they left the Stillwell, Gaines continued to disclose the rest of Colette’s involvement. “Turns out, Colette Petrov, who was Randolph Millstone’s girl Friday, had stashed the letter in the table when her boss had his heart attack in the garage. She was also in possession of a spiral notebook that Randolph had given her. When someone impersonating a lawyer from Dunbar’s firm came looking for her in Buffalo, she got spooked, so she took her son out of school and went in search of the Dunbar cabin.”
“Wow. That is quite a story. That was very brave of her, going in search of Mr. Dunbar.”
“Hmmm,” Gaines mused. “Seems like good things come from search parties.”
Luna blushed and looped her arm through Gaines’s as they walked toward his Jeep. Chi-Chi did the same with Cullen. It seemed like the natural thing to do. And it felt that way to all of them. Natural.
The four piled into the Jeep and headed to their favorite pizza restaurant. When they finally settled in at their table, Luna noticed a man sitting at the bar. He was looking in their direction. He smiled and lifted his glass. Luna raised her glass in return and smiled. She was willing to bet that he was the enigmatic Jimmy Can-Do.
Gaines looked over in the man’s direction. “Recognize someone?”
Luna twisted her mouth. “Not exactly.” She motioned for the waitress. “Could you please buy that gentleman a drink on us?”
“Of course,” the waitress responded.
“I thought you said you didn’t exactly recognize that guy.”
Gaines wasn’t jealous, but curious. It had been an enormously curious day.
“Let’s just say I think I know who he is.” Her eyes went around the table. Chi-Chi was the first one to pick up on it. Then Cullen.
“What?” Gaines looked left out. “What am I missing?”
Luna leaned in toward the middle of the table, trying not to be too conspicuous. “I think that’s Jimmy Can-Do. Don’t look!”
“How do you know?” Gaines asked. She gave him a sideways glance.
“OK. OK. Your woo-woo, voodoo.” He leaned back and pulled the menu up to his face.
“Such a baby.” Luna tapped his foot.
“Oh, and you’re Annie Oakley with your rootin’-tootin’ fire extinguisher,” Gaines teased.
“Well, you were nowhere to be found. You, too, mister.” She focused her gaze on her brother.
Chi-Chi finally chimed in. “I think your sister was very brave. She had no idea what was going on in the showroom, yet she ignored all of her own fear and marched ahead with what was at her disposal. I think we should toast her.”
Gaines and Cullen looked just a tad embarrassed. They weren’t sure if Chi-Chi was totally serious or if she was admonishing them for not moving fast enough. It didn’t matter. Everyone was caught up in the joy of the moment. Mr. Millstone would get his final wish. Rowena and Arthur were certainly going to jail.
When Gaines asked for the check, the waitress told them it had been taken care of. Evidently, the man who had been sitting at the bar earlier had picked up the tab.
Gaines helped Luna out of her chair. “Well, missy. It seems as if every time I’m around you, there is a whirling dervish about to hit.”
“You should be so lucky.” She squeezed his arm.
The four of them got into Gaines’s Jeep, and he proceeded to drop each of them off. Luna was the last one. When he pulled into her driveway, he turned off the ignition. Luna unbuckled her seat belt, waiting for him to come around and open the door. Instead, he unbuckled his seat belt, turned her head toward him, brushed the hair from her face, and landed a kiss on her lips. He didn’t miss the mark this time. That would have easily scored a 10.0 in the Olympics.
Epilogue
Ellie was excited about two new tenants coming into the art center. One built birdhouses, another made wind chimes. The holidays were around the corner, and the center was bustling with shoppers, all in anticipation of the tree-lighting celebration. Cullen was busy trying to get things done for impatient customers. Luna was her usual ball of fire, lending advice for holiday decorating and creating a little holiday magic for her special clientele. The big holiday festival was on the horizon, and it included a date with Marshal Christopher Gaines.
Colette and Max spent a few more days at Cobblestone Hill, planning their next adventure. Clive offered Colette a job at his law firm. She would have to move back to Boston, but the opportunity to move back home made her very happy. Her parents were still there, and Max had friends. Her relationship with Logan was blossoming. He helped her find a nice, comfortable, ranch-style house in a good neighborhood with an excellent school. Once Randolph’s will was read, Clive gave her an envelope with a check for $100,000. “This is from Randolph. It was not a bequest, since he could not have you mentioned in the will and also witness his signature. That would be a conflict of interest. So he instructed me to transfer this money to you after his will was read. And, in addition, he set up a college fund for Max with a deposit of $50,000.” Colette was over the moon. She knew for certain that Randolph had been truly watching over her and her son.
Rowena and Arthur remained in jail as the charges of fraud, tax evasion, and embezzlement were stacked against them.
And Rowena verified what she had always thought was true—orange was not a good color for her.
We hope you’ve enjoyed the adventures of
Luna and Cullen Bodman!
Stay tuned for more from this
Fearless set of siblings
Coming soon from
Fern Michaels
And don’t miss her other wonderful books
Available now
Wherever books are sold
Photo by M2IFOTO©2006
FERN MICHAELS is the USA Today and New York Times bestselling author of the Sisterhood, Men of the Sisterhood and Godmothers series and dozens of other novels and novellas. There are over 110 million copies of her books in print. Fern Michaels has built and funded several large day-care centers in her hometown, and is a passionate animal lover who has outfitted police dogs across the country with special bulletproof vests. She shares her home in South Carolina with her four dogs and a resident ghost named Mary Margaret.
Visit her website at fernmichaels.com.
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