Hanging by a Thread
Page 23
“Who’s running the bank with Sabina on her honeymoon and the rest of the staff in jail?”
“Federal auditors are going over everything right now. Most funds are frozen so there can’t be a run on the bank. A couple of board members are there to assist with account holders who need small amounts of money from their accounts. They will continue to help when Sabina returns from her honeymoon until she can staff up.”
“Samuel must be turning over in his grave. That was a family owned bank for a long time,” Laura said, shaking her head. “They’ll need a totally redone network and system.”
“So what does the family have planned for my birthday?” Connor asked, changing the subject.
“I’ll tell you after the parade and gala.”
“That’s a hell of a long day. I won’t be at either event. I’ll be lucky to survive all the alcohol-related incidents and accidents.”
•••
Sabina and Jack missed the St. Patrick’s Day Parade and Gala, as well, but they probably didn’t mind. They were enjoying their week in the Bahamas, sunshine, warm weather, gentle breezes and soft, white sand squishing between their toes. And other things.
The parade began and was as fun as ever. The Girl Scouts had the envy of the Boy Scouts with their military transport. Thankfully, no children were permanently lost, and the members of the SPDP&G team were easily identifiable and gave all the help necessary to keep the parade in order and moving along.
Laura took off her hat at the gala but kept the orange wig as she socialized and tried the different Irish foods. Green beer flowed, but she drank none of it. There was another party she needed to attend after this one. It was nine o’clock when she left and headed out for Connor’s surprise birthday party at the Fitzpatricks’ home. She swung by her apartment to pick up the cake she had finished decorating at midnight and her gift.
Everything was set up before Connor arrived. Lego buildings and people were everywhere, including the pirate ship. The ponies and Barbies were stacked in every corner. And the vintage G.I. Joe figures, their battle gear, and vehicles were strategically arranged in front of the television. Everyone else’s favorite things coated the living room. A stack of presents was piled on the coffee table.
When Connor arrived around ten-thirty, everyone had had a couple of beers and was grouped around the house. They all jumped at him, wishing him a happy birthday. When he got a chance to look at the decorations, he considered Laura’s text to him after the gala which said his party would not be what he expected.
“Oh, I get it. It’s an ‘unbirthday party,’ right?”
After his presents were opened and cake was eaten, he sought Laura out and whispered in her ear.
“I’m two years older than you.”
“Hmm,” she responded. “You know, that used to be a plus. Now it just makes you closer to thirty than I am. Happy Birthday, old rooster.”
•••
Connor stayed the night at his parents’ house and in the morning, a troupe of cars stopped in front of Second Treasures.
“Oh, come on, Laura. Come with us. Ian’s present isn’t here yet. It’s too big and had to be delivered in a truck to Connor’s apartment.”
She kept her face looking inquisitive for Connor’s sake as she grabbed her bag, locked up, and climbed into one of the cars. Thankfully, her shop was closed today, as were other businesses, so she wouldn’t lose revenue over this diversion.
When they got to his apartment in Duluth, they filled up the parking lot. Ian and Alison led the way, with Connor close by and Laura near the end. The group of family and friends was laughing on their way through the door and up the steps to his third floor garden apartment. When they got to the landing, Connor was dragged through the group to the front and made to unlock his front door. Laura would have stayed in the back, but she was pulled to the front as well by lots of well-meaning hands.
As the front door opened, Laura got to see the look on Connor’s face.
Total surprise.
The clapping and cheering drew some neighbors out to see what had happened.
His family had transformed his apartment into Paris, France. French phrases and mini-Eiffel Towers were everywhere. French champagne, recent copies of Le Monde, the widely read French newspaper, Monet prints, Manet prints, a small reproduction of Notre-Dame cathedral as well as an Arc de Triomphe adorned the coffee table.
The little kitchen looked like a café with Parisian scenes on the cabinets, some painted by Cézanne and Matisse. His functional chairs had been replaced with bistro chairs, paper looking like rough wood planks had been laid over the top of the kitchen table. A glass vase of fresh red roses and a bistro candle sat on top.
A tall vase of fresh lilies scented the air and everywhere he looked, Connor saw fleurs de lis. Everywhere. His set of bookshelves with a life-time’s collection of reading materials was covered with them, as were the drapes that gave him privacy from the world outside.
He turned to Laura.
“You didn’t tell me about this part.”
“I didn’t tell you about any of it,” she said and turned to his mother.
“You won. You did it.”
Alison Fitzpatrick was beaming to beat the band. She had finally surprised her youngest child for his birthday.
•••
As Laura fell asleep that night, she had lots of mixed thoughts. St. Patrick’s Day was over and everything had gone well, the contest winners received their prizes, Erica took a big bag of the chocolate home with her, Second Treasures’ sales had beaten all expectations, tax returns were almost finished, Connor had finally been surprised by his family. She moved from conscious thoughts to dreamland and saw herself in an amazing dress at the prom with Connor. They were dancing in the center of the stage and everyone from the town was watching them in awe. Isabella was there, her fur high and hissing. Faces in the crowd whirled around the couple and she turned to smile at one of them.
Laura flashed to the present, her eyes opened, and she sat up.
Photograph 245.
She realized who in Raging Ford looked like photograph 245.
Available Soon From Margaret Evans!
A Dress to Die For
Second Treasures Mysteries, Vol. 4
In Vol. 4 of the Second Treasures Mysteries, A Dress to Die For, Laura Keene discovers that going to a prom is not all it appears. When a beautiful dress shows up in her thrift shop, she soon discovers that it was either once someone’s dream or despair. Peeling back the layers of the dress’ history drags Laura into the middle of a human trafficking ring, and forcing her to trust an unlikely person to survive.
The Harmony of Revenge
“That was three alarms—the hotel’s on fire!” Halley shouted. “Where’s Heather?”
“She’s on the fifth floor…” the office manager replied in horror.
“We can’t reach her!”
A mysterious death puts Heather Brenard in charge of a resort hotel in Snohomish County, Washington. When a thousand bonsai plants arrive unexpectedly, she hunts down the reclusive owner, Nick Halley, and discovers threats against the hotel are connected to his ex-wife’s gambling debts. Brenard digs further into the hotel’s past and untangles the threads of a vengeful, international plot that lands her unconscious in the hotel when it bursts into flames.
“Margaret Evans has a real winner
in this series.”
— MyShelf.com
Don’t miss the Maya Earth Trilogy—hailed as “flawlessly plotted mystery thrillers” (Ibbetson Street Review) that “draw the reader in from the start and never let go” (Roundtable Reviews).
The Sixth World
Book One of the Maya Earth Trilogy
Experience the thrills and excitement of discovery in the California hills, the secret plots to sabotage the archaeological
expedition, and the heart-breaking promises Amy Parrish and Joe Magee have to make to protect the Maya.
Trial In Jade: The Mayan Return
Book Two of the Maya Earth Trilogy
Explore a Mayan past filled with disobedience, banishment and treachery, and watch it collide in the present in a trial in jade to decide the future against a backdrop of the magnetic polar reversal and forbidden love.
Kingdom Come: The Mayan Answer
Book Three of the Maya Earth Trilogy
A boy meets a king. Two women face their destinies. The Maya build their new age. In a world of change and global greed for power, one young Mayan finds the answer.
For more information about these and other works by Margaret Evans, visit www.margaretevans.com.