I take a deep breath before telling them the next part. “That night was the first time he hit me.” Tommy growls next to me, but I ignore him and continue. “I was almost relieved he did. I could handle the verbal abuse because I figured that was my fault, but hitting me? No way was that my fault. The next day I started to plan my getaway. By this time, I didn’t have my own bank account. The only money I had access to was the monthly household money Brock gave me. I immediately started to scrimp and save. I even went to my gym and asked them for a refund. It took me four months but I managed to save enough to come here and start over. I wasn’t going to rely on Grandma for money. I didn’t mind staying with her for a while, but it was time for me to start managing things on my own.” I stop and it’s quiet in the room for a while.
“What about…” Noel starts to ask, but he’s interrupted by a shout.
“I want to know where my granddaughter is Right. This. Minute.” Uh oh. Grandma doesn’t sound like her chirpy self.
“Who called them?” I whisper as if the grandma gang could hear me.
“Crap,” Noel shouts and stands up. “I told them they should have never hired Mary as the evening receptionist.”
“Who’s Mary?” I whisper to Tommy, but he just shrugs and looks to Noel.
Noel is pacing the room shoving his hand through his hair. “Mary’s one of their friends from church. They’re going to be pissed. And then Izzy’s going to be mad.”
I nearly laugh at this big, strong, alpha man worrying that his wife will be mad at him. What would it be like to have someone like that fighting in your corner all the time? I look at Tommy, but I don’t get a chance for my daydream to launch because the door bursts open. The Captain enters and shuts the door quickly behind him.
“Who are they and what are they doing in my station? And when are you going to get rid of them?” The questions tumble from his mouth.
“Don’t worry, Cap.” Noel mans up. “I’ll take care of it.” He looks at Tommy and tilts his head towards the back of the building. “Hustle her out of the back entrance so we don’t have to do this here. I’ll see you at our house in half an hour.”
I don’t wait to hear any more instructions. I’m out of here.
Chapter 30
“Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened.” Dr. Seuss
“But we’re the gray-haired knitting detectives! Why didn’t you tell us so that we could go with?” Betty’s shout nearly bursts my eardrums. Not exactly the response I was expecting when I told them that I recognized someone on the news and we went to see the reporter today.
“I can’t believe you went to see a reporter and then to the police station without me.” Grandma’s hurt voice nearly brings me to my knees.
“I just assumed you’d ambush me during the interview with the reporter. I had no idea that you didn’t actually know about it.” I try to pacify the entire grandma crew, although I’m only really concerned with my grandma.
“It’s bad enough we didn’t get to go into the stripper club,” Martha pouts.
“I’m sure there’s a perfectly reasonable answer for their actions.” Ally sounds like the peacemaker she is, but one look at her tells a different story. She’s sitting with her arms crossed over her chest staring at Noel.
Noel stands behind Izzy and takes a deep breath before answering the grandma gang of wannabe detectives. “I take full responsibility. I made sure Izzy didn’t tell you about the reporter. I didn’t want you to go off half-cocked and give the reporter a story, which would bring Brock’s murder into the limelight.”
Betty snorts. “Us? Go off half-cocked?”
“And then there’s Tommy’s weird aversion to reporters,” I add before another discussion about the competency of the grandma detectives can begin.
“Did you ever think I didn’t tell you because I was embarrassed?” Tommy asks between gritted teeth.
I throw my head back and stare at the ceiling. “Lord, help me from men and their pride.”
“You said it sistah!” Jack reaches forward and bumps my fist with his.
“Fine, I’ll tell you,” Tommy growls. “I was dating this reporter and I thought we were in love. I was investigating an arson at the time so I didn’t have much time to spend with her, but when we were together it was perfect.” Tommy looks at me and blushes. “Or so I thought. It turns out she was just using me to get the inside scope on the arson. There had been a rash of arsons in the state and she thought sleeping with me would help her break the story.”
Everyone’s quiet after Tommy makes his confession. Finally, Jack clears his throat. “And did she?”
“Did she what?” I see a tic in Tommy’s jaw and ease away from him.
“Did she break the story?” Jack’s voice sounds too innocent to be true.
“No.”
“Good! Bitch didn’t deserve it.” Jack says and the table claps in agreement.
“Okay, now that we’ve all heard about Tommy’s past love life, can we get back to my granddaughter’s situation?” Grandma doesn’t sound happy.
I look at Noel and he makes a motion to indicate I should be the one to fill them in. I stick my tongue out at him for putting me in front of the firing squad and then turn to the grandmas. “There’s not a whole lot to tell.” I hear huffs, but I ignore their indignation and continue. “The man I recognized on the news report turns out to be connected to the Irish mob.”
“I knew Brock was a criminal!” Grandma shouts.
“Anyway…,” I draw it out to see if anyone else is going to interrupt. “The reporter told us he’s been indicted for loan sharking, bookmaking, and illegal gambling.”
“Do you think Brock was involved and that’s where those cash deposits were coming from?” Rose leans forward, excited to start fitting the pieces of the puzzle together. We don’t have many pieces and everyone knows you can’t solve a puzzle without the corner pieces. Those we most definitely don’t have.
“We’re still investigating that,” Noel answers on my behalf and then motions for me to continue.
“Anyway, the reporter didn’t have much more information than that.” Tommy snorts next to me and I roll my eyes at him. “But Tommy thought that since I had met one man connected with the mob through Brock that I may have met more and so he called Noel to have me look through some mug shots.”
“And that’s when the shit hit the fan.” Noel interrupts me again.
The ladies perk up. “What happened?” Betty asks. I wouldn’t be surprised if she was rubbing her hands together in glee under the table.
Noel looks pointedly at Tommy, who sighs. “It turns out that Detective Smith was targeting Dee because of me.”
“Because of you!” Grandma’s voice is louder than I’ve ever heard it, and I’m just a bit worried she’s going to go all fifty shades of kick butt on him.
Tommy looks sheepish. “Yeah, Smith has a grudge against me because I failed him when he took his initial firefighter entrance exam.”
Rose isn’t buying it. “But what does that have to do with Dee? You’re not together.”
“Not yet,” Martha mutters under her breath, and I raise an eyebrow at her but she just looks the picture of innocence. Yeah, right.
“Turns out that Smith asked Dee to dance when we went out to the Whiskey Ranch a few weeks ago. She said no and then Smith saw her dance with me.” He shrugs his shoulders.
“So is this Smith still on the case?” Grandma turns her glare on Noel.
Noel shakes his head. “Nope. It’s my case now.”
“And what happened with the mug shots?” Rose breaks into the quiet that has descended. “Did you recognize anyone?”
I nod. “A few men that have had dinner at the penthouse before. I didn’t know their names though, so I don’t know what good it will do.”
Noel reaches over and squeezes my shoulder. “Every little bit helps.”
Betty leans back in her chair. “So what do you do know? Ideas, anyone
?”
Before Noel has a chance to shut the brainstorming session down, Rose answers. “I’d really like to do some research into those deposits.”
Noel clears his throat. “There will be no more investigating by the gray-haired knitting detectives of the murder of Dee’s husband,” he proclaims.
“We can’t just let her continue to be under suspicion.” Grandma’s voice is indignant.
“She’s no longer under suspicion. I filled the Captain in on everything and he agrees that the murder looks like a professional hit and nothing like a vengeful wife killing her husband.”
“Vengeful wife,” I snort. I don’t want vengeance. I want to move on with my life.
“Surely there’s something that we can do?” Rose’s voice sounds hopeful and Betty nods in agreement.
Noel crosses his arms over his impressive chest. “No. This is too dangerous. Even you guys are not a match for the mob.”
“We could probably take on the mob,” Betty says as if she’s seriously thinking about it.
Jack chuckles. “I’m sure you could, darling.” He winks. “But I, for one, don’t want to wake up with a horse’s head in my bed.” He shivers. “Can you imagine the mess?” Damien wrinkles his nose in agreement.
Izzy jumps up. “I guess that means it’s time for some pie!”
Chapter 31
“The truth is rarely pure and never simple.” Oscar Wilde, The Importance of Being Earnest
It’s been a week since Noel took over the investigation into Brock’s murder. I’ve finally managed to convince Noel and Tommy that it’s safe for me to move back to my apartment. Noel has been trying to find the alleged mobsters that I identified at the police station. He hasn’t had any luck thus far. I argued that if someone wanted me dead, I’d be dead by now. Although Noel didn’t appreciate my argument, he couldn’t deny the logic. Finally, I get to go home. Go me! I’ve been dying to live on my own for years now.
I’m walking down the stairs dragging my suitcase when Tommy walks in the house. He doesn’t say anything just shakes his head at me. He walks up to me, gives me a kiss on my cheek, and grabs the suitcase. “Izzy thought you might need some help,” he explains.
I gladly hand over the suitcase and walk back upstairs to grab my gym bag. Tommy’s waiting for me at the bottom of the stairs. “This is it,” I say and hold up the bag.
“I think Izzy may have exaggerated how much stuff you needed to pack.” Tommy shakes his head. Of course she did. When Martha’s not trying to push Tommy and me together, Izzy is at it. I wonder if they can see the electricity crackle between Tommy and me whenever we’re near.
♥♥♥
Noel drops by that evening after I’m settled back into my apartment. “What brings you by?” I ask after I usher him in.
He shuffles his feet and looks nervous. “There’s been a break in the case. Do you want me to tell you now or do you want to call the gray-haired knitters in for a meeting?”
I scoff. “After the fit they threw last time?” I shake my head. “I don’t know about you, but I’m not ready for another fight like that one.”
Noel smiles in relief. “Thank God. You’re Brock’s next of kin so I’m obliged to keep you informed, and it’s up to you if you share with others. I wasn’t looking forward to the grandmas with their claws out either.” He shivers in mock horror. “I’ll tell Izzy to assemble the troops.” His smile is blinding. “See you soon.”
He turns to leave, but I stop him. “Can you at least tell me if it’s good news?”
“Good news. No. It’s not good news.” My heart stutters. “It’s fucking great news.”
♥♥♥
“I’m only gonna say this once so listen up.” Noel sure knows how to get the attention of the room. We’re assembled once again at Izzy’s house. It’s hard to believe that we haven’t done anything with the investigation for a week, but Noel was pretty insistent on everyone butting out of his investigation.
“We got him” is the only thing Noel says. I sit up straight in my chair, my forehead crinkled in confusion.
“Who? What?” I stumble over my words as I’m not sure what’s going on.
“Brock’s murderer is in jail.” I don’t get the chance to collapse in relief as Tommy stands and grabs me out of my chair. He twirls me around and whoops. Before I can catch my breath, he leans down and attacks my lips in a heart-stopping kiss. When I come up for air, I hear the gang clapping and cheering. I don’t know if they’re cheering for my freedom or Tommy’s audacity.
Betty interrupts the party atmosphere. “Tell us what happened.” Everyone quiets and sits down at the table to listen to Noel.
“Well, as you know, we’ve been trying to find the mobsters that Dee identified as men she had met as ‘clients’ of Brock. I’ve had local and state police scouting out their homes, families, and known hang-outs for the past week. A few days ago, we finally got lucky. One of the men stopped by his mistress for…” He clears his throat. “It doesn’t matter. Anyway, police brought him in for questioning and he happened to have an unregistered gun on him. It was the same caliber as the weapon that killed Brock. They ran a ballistics check on it and voila! We have our killer.”
That simple. Is that it? “So what happens now?” I ask.
Noel turns to me. “We file a request to transfer the man here.” He shrugs. “It depends on what charges he’s up for in Tulsa. Normally, the police departments will coordinate and the department with the strongest case will get the perp for trial.”
“But why did this man kill Brock? Was Brock involved in something nefarious?” Rose is obviously not willing to give up on the investigation.
“We haven’t managed to put the pieces together yet, but it looks like Brock was white-washing money from the Irish mob through his investment brokerage.” Noel shrugs. “Or at least that’s the assumption we’re going with for now.”
Rose isn’t letting it go that easy for now. “What about the deposits in Brock’s account?”
“We’re not sure. It may have been some type of payment.”
“And the documents from Brock’s computer didn’t help?” Rose continues her interrogation.
Noel grins and shakes his head. “Nope. The only documents we found were prospectuses for new companies and research on those companies. We did a quick check and as far as anyone could tell, all of those companies were above board.”
Rose leans back and sighs. “Well, that’s a bit of a letdown. We don’t get to do any more detective work.” Betty pouts. Ally and Martha nod in agreement. I roll my eyes at them. Maybe they should take up a hobby that’s more physically demanding than knitting?
“I don’t really care why he did it,” Grandma disagrees with Betty and the rest of the gray-haired detective wannabes. “I’m just glad this whole thing is over.” She looks over at me and nearly blinds me with her smile.
“So I’m safe?” Noel just raises an eyebrow at me. “I mean safe from prosecution.”
Noel’s smile is sad, but he nods in agreement. “Yeah. Someday I’m going to restore your faith in the justice system.” I snort. After being terrified of being convicted of a crime I didn’t commit because I didn’t dance with a man, I don’t think that’s going to happen anytime soon.
Martha claps to gain my attention. “And now you’re free to date Tommy.” I raise an eyebrow at her. “Now that your husband’s killer has been found. That’s what you were waiting on, isn’t it?”
Um no, I’m not waiting for my husband’s death to be avenged. I could care less if his killer is brought to justice, just as long as no one thinks I killed the asshat. What am I waiting for then? I’m learning to trust myself again. I’m working on figuring out why I fell for Brock and if I could have seen the signs of his asshattery before we married.
Tommy leans over and whispers in my ear. “Take all the time you want. I’m not going anywhere.”
Chapter 32
“You know you're in love when you can't fall asleep b
ecause reality is finally better than your dreams.” Dr. Seuss
Several months later
The cries of the newborn baby coming from Izzy’s hospital room cause the grandmas to cheer. They immediately huddle together and start arguing. Rose pulls out a sheet of paper that has been folded and refolded so many times it nearly falls apart in her hands. It turns out the gray-haired detectives have a betting pool going about Izzy’s baby. Not only did they bet on the day and time of the birth but also whether the little one would be a girl or a boy. I have no idea how they took the bets and made the odds, but Rose downloaded some gambling program and created an entire betting pool spreadsheet. To be fair, I think they’re also excited about the latest addition to the knitting crew.
We’re lounging in the maternity waiting room at the local hospital. I’m sitting next to Tommy while Jack and Damien are huddled in the corner doing what they do best – pushing the boundaries of public decency with displays of affection. Tommy stands and moves in front of me. “I’m done being your friend,” he declares before dropping down to one knee.
I don’t respond. I stare at him as if I’m shocked, but I really shouldn’t be surprised. Since I was cleared of Brock’s murder, Tommy has been pushing and pushing the friends’ boundary until the borderlines were full of more holes than a block of Swiss cheese and no longer clear to either one of us. He’s escaped the friend zone to enter the boyfriend zone but hasn’t yet managed to enter the lovers zone although there has been a lot of hot and heavy petting. The memories alone cause me to blush.
Tommy is undeterred by my silence. “I gotta admit that when I first met you I was attracted to you because I thought you needed protecting and my protective instincts went on high alert wanting to save you. And yeah, the fact that you have the prettiest eyes I’ve ever seen and a smoking-hot body didn’t hurt.” I feel my face burn and Tommy smiles that panty-melting smile that’s reserved just for me before continuing. “But the more I got to know you, the more I realized that you didn’t need me to save you. You were perfectly capable of saving yourself. I was the one who needed you. You make my heart beat like a drum whenever you’re near and I wanna be a better man for you.” He shrugs and looks a bit sheepish, but I’m totally caught up in his words and unable to respond. He reaches for my left hand with one hand and grabs a box out of his pants pocket with the other. “This isn’t an engagement ring. It’s a promise ring.” He pops the box open and a ruby ring is revealed.
The Gray-Haired Knitting Detective Series: (Books 1 - 3) Page 44