“I always assumed we’d change together,” Tom said. “You’re leaving me behind.”
“No,” Zasha said. “You’re choosing to stay behind. There’s a difference, Tom. I said I’ll be back, and I meant it. This is still my home. Stop being dramatic.”
“Do you promise?”
“What?” Zasha asked, looking at him in confusion.
“Do you promise you’ll be back?”
Before she could answer, she heard a horn blaring. They rushed outside to see Ivy waiting for them. She motioned to Zasha impatiently. Zasha nodded and held up her hand to tell her to wait.
“Tom, we’ll talk about this when I get back. I promise.”
She jumped into the waiting car and Ivy pulled off without waiting for Zasha to close her door. As they sped off, Zasha looked back at Tom through the rearview mirror. He was still watching her leave, and somehow Zasha sensed that it wouldn’t be the last time he did so.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Ivy and Zasha ran into the hospital, causing passersby to stop and look at them curiously. The doctor they had spoken to the day before looked at them in confusion before quickly following them.
When Zasha got to Evelyn’s hospital room, she tried to open the door, but it was locked.
“Dorothy!” Zasha called, banging on the door. “I know you’re in there! Don’t do this!”
“What’s going on?” the doctor asked quickly, looking at Zasha in surprise.
“We know who the killer is,” Ivy explained, kicking the door. “We need you to unlock this door. Can you do that?”
“I’ll get the custodian,” the doctor said quickly, hurrying away.
“No, no, no,” Zasha said, pulling at the handle. “Open the door! You won’t get away with this.”
Zasha pushed her ear against the door, and tried to listen to what was happening, but she couldn’t hear anything. Just as she was about to pull away, she heard someone let out a shout. She and Ivy looked at each other in alarm.
“Stand back,” Ivy said.
Zasha frowned but stepped away from the door. Ivy got down to her knees and pulled two bobby pins from her hair. She quickly started working on unlocking the door, but it was slow work. Zasha was bouncing on the balls of her feet, trying not to imagine what was going on in the hospital room. Just as she felt she was about to burst, the lock clicked, and the door swung open.
Zasha and Ivy rushed in to find Dorothy standing over Evelyn with a knife to her throat while Mr. Turner stood helpless in the corner.
“Well, well,” Dorothy said with a sickly-sweet smile. “Look who it is. Welcome to our little party. Close the door, won’t you?”
Ivy lifted her hands in surrender and Zasha immediately did the same. Zasha met Evelyn’s eyes. She expected her friend to be terrified but was surprised by how calm Evelyn looked. Evelyn gave her a serene smile, but Zasha guessed that she was faking. It was so like Evelyn to try and put everyone else at ease when her life was in danger.
“Close the door,” Dorothy said through gritted teeth. She pulled Evelyn’s head back, causing the young woman to grimace in pain.
Ivy nodded quickly and kicked the door shut behind her.
“What’s your plan here, Dorothy?” Ivy asked, narrowing her eyes. “How are you going to get out of this?”
“I admit it’s a bit more complicated than I expected,” Dorothy said with a shrug, “but it’s nothing I can’t handle. This type of thing happens. I’ve made it this far though.”
“Yes, and it’s far enough,” Zasha said firmly. “You don’t want any more blood on your hands, do you?”
“That’s the thing, Zasha, I don’t care anymore,” Dorothy admitted. “It gets easier the more you do it. Besides, if I give up now then it was all for nothing.”
“Mary trusted you,” Ivy said in disgust. “How could you do this to her? She was your partner!”
“That’s exactly why she had to die!” Dorothy spat. “I trusted her, and she wanted to turn me in! She was going to come clean about everything and make me out to be the bad guy. I wasn’t about to take the fall for her. I warned her. I told her what would happen if she crossed me, but she decided to do it anyway. It’s her fault that all this happened.”
“What’s going on?” Mr. Turner asked, his tone terrified. “Why is this happening?”
“I told you,” Dorothy sneered. “When you were off proving your manhood, you left your wife with a sinking ship. She decided to save it by stealing a little something from that stingy old woman. Old Estelle had more than enough. We figured she wouldn’t notice if something went missing, and we were right. She didn’t notice anything for ten years!”
“And then she realized that something was missing,” Ivy said, shaking her head slowly. “She told her trusted maid, who told you. You realized that you needed to do something about it. So, you poisoned the old woman so that she wouldn’t figure out what happened.”
“I did what had to be done,” Dorothy said with a shrug. “I wasn’t about to lose everything. I worked hard to get where I am today. That old hag wouldn’t have thought twice about locking us up. She only ever cared about hoarding all that money. I figured she lived a long life, no one would care if I shaved some time off the top.”
“You knew that Lily would suspect you, so you threatened Vera by vandalizing the library so that Lily would confess to the crime,” Ivy said, shaking her head in disgust. “It was perfectly planned.”
“Except it didn’t work out that way, did it?” Zasha asked, narrowing her eyes at Dorothy. “Mary figured out what you did. You never knew it, but she always regretted what the two of you did. She wanted to come clean. She had been saving up to pay Estelle back. You threatened to kill the girls, but Mary wouldn’t listen. She was going to go to the cops, so you went to her house and killed them.”
Dorothy’s sadistic smile slipped, and she watched them carefully. She seemed to be realizing that there would be no easy way out of this situation. Her eyes darted from the door to the window, looking for a way out.
“After that, you stuck close to Mr. Turner and pretended to be helpful so that you could keep an eye on what was happening,” Zasha said. She watched as desperation settled in Dorothy’s expression, and she worried about what that would mean for Evelyn.
“You waited until you knew Mr. Turner would need a break, then you snuck in and poisoned Evelyn to finish the job,” Ivy said.
“That’s enough,” Dorothy decided, yanking Evelyn up toward her. Evelyn cried out in pain and everyone instinctively took a step forward. “No one move. I’m going to take Evelyn, and if any of you follow me, then you’re going to regret it.”
“That’s your plan?” Zasha scoffed, forcing herself to sound blasé. “You do realize that she won’t make it far? If you’re going to take a hostage, take me instead. I’ll last much longer than her.”
“Zasha, no,” Evelyn croaked, her eyes full of fear. “Don’t.”
“Here,” Zasha said, inching forward. “Take me instead. No one’s going stop you.”
Dorothy looked between Zasha and Evelyn. She seemed to realize that her best bet would be to take Zasha, but she was still suspicious.
“Don’t do this, Zasha,” Ivy warned.
This seemed to convince Dorothy. She motioned for Zasha to come forward. Zasha walked forward and positioned herself so that Dorothy could easily put her arm around her neck. Zasha winced as she felt the cold steel of the knife bite into her skin. As soon as Dorothy let go of Evelyn, Zasha stomped on Dorothy’s foot.
“Now! Mr. Turner!”
Mr. Turner rushed forward, bellowing like a bull as he went. Dorothy yelped in shock as Zasha pushed the knife away and ducked. Dorothy swung the knife around threateningly and it caught Zasha on the cheek. Zasha gasped and jumped away, wincing as the cut on her cheek stung. Mr. Turner grabbed Dorothy’s arm and forced her to drop the knife. The knife clattered to the floor as Dorothy was locked into a chokehold. Dorothy let out a squeak of protest jus
t as the doctor rounded the corner with a squad of policemen.
“It’s over now,” Zasha said as she rushed over to Evelyn who was sobbing in shock. She held her best friend in her arms as they watched Dorothy get dragged away. “You’re going to be alright. You’re safe.”
Epilogue
“I heard today’s a big day,” Evelyn said as she watched Zasha pack away the washing.
Evelyn was sitting in her bed, with the pillows behind her back propping up her neck. She watched her friend with interest. Zasha was relieved to see that Evelyn was finally getting some color back. It had only been a week since the entire ordeal, but Evelyn was already looking much better.
“Yeah,” Zasha sighed. “I tried to convince Ivy to stay a little while longer, but she has to get back. She’s got a whole life waiting for her back in the city.”
“I wasn’t talking about that,” Evelyn said in amusement. “I heard that Tom asked you to meet him out at the creek. Apparently, he went to visit your papa yesterday, and everything went well.”
“Oh,” Zasha said, her cheeks turning red. “That.”
“Don’t sound so excited,” Evelyn said sarcastically. “You might talk my ear off.”
“I guess… Sorry.”
“What are you going to say when he proposes?” Evelyn asked mischievously.
“We don’t know that he’s going to propose to me,” Zasha said, wincing.
“We both know that’s a lie,” Evelyn said sternly. “Stop that and come over here.” She patted the bedspread next to her, and Zasha sighed but complied.
“You can’t lie to me,” Evelyn said firmly. “You don’t want to marry him. There’s nothing wrong with that, but why are you pretending like you’ve got no choice in the matter.”
“I don’t,” Zasha said with a frown. “This is what everyone thinks is best. Besides, if I don’t marry him, then what am I going to do? Don’t get me wrong, I love him, but I’m not ready for that stage of my life to begin just yet.”
“We both know what you want to do, Zasha,” Evelyn said with a chuckle. “Why are you stalling? You know Ivy won’t wait around all day.”
“I can’t leave, Evie,” Zasha said with a frown. “You’re still recovering, and the town is still in shock.”
When the news about Dorothy broke, it was as if the entire town had gone into a state of shock. Zasha wasn’t sure that they’d ever be able to stop talking about it. The story about Dorothy would be hot gossip when their grandchildren grew up.
“Zasha, if you stay for me then I will never ever forgive you,” Evelyn said with a stern voice. “I’m going to marry Jeremy next week, and then I’ll have all the support I need. He’s going to move in here to help me and Dad. Let’s be honest, sweetie, your life here is over for now. If you don’t leave with Ivy, you’re going to regret it for the rest of your life. Go. But come visit, because I want to hear all about your glamorous life in New York city.”
“Oh, Evie,” Zasha said, her eyes welling up with tears. The two women fell together and hugged each other tightly. “I don’t think I can live here anymore. Everything’s so different. I’m so different.”
“I know, sweetie,” Evie whispered into her hair. “I know. You can leave, but that doesn’t mean we’re going to forget you. We’ll always be here. We love you. This is your home; you’ll be back eventually, but for now, this is what you need. Don’t let the chance pass you by. Besides, we’re safe now. You caught the big bad wolf.”
Zasha chuckled and leaned back. She looked at her friend, trying to memorize every line of her face. Evie smiled sweetly and turned to the nightstand. She took out a box and handed it shyly to Zasha.
“What is this?” Zasha asked in surprise. She opened the box carefully and gasped when she saw the golden locket nestled in the tissue paper. She looked up and saw Evelyn was proudly showing off her own matching locket.
“So you’ll remember me in the big city.”
“As if I could ever forget you,” Zasha said, giving Evelyn another big hug.
“That’s enough,” Evelyn said, laughing through her tears. “You have to go, or else Ivy will leave without you.”
Zasha hugged Evelyn one more time before running out of the room. She found Mr. Turner in the kitchen and when he saw her wearing the locket, he gave her a sad smile and raised his cup of coffee at her in farewell.
She knew that he would never fully recover from the tragedy, and neither would Evelyn, but they had each other. That was all that mattered. Somehow the two of them would be okay. Besides, Evie had finally decided to marry Jeremy. As soon as he got to the hospital on the day she woke up, he wouldn’t leave her side. To Zasha’s surprise, Evelyn was just as attached to Jeremy. It seemed that she had finally gotten rid of the doubts that were plaguing her.
That wasn’t the only happy ending either. Lily had been released, and Vera decided that the two of them would move away. They had both lost enough family and were determined to stick together. Lily found work as a lady’s maid in the city, and Vera was set to work in a much bigger library.
Daniel had finally received his inheritance, and to everyone’s surprise, he donated half to the Turners. He wanted Evelyn to recover comfortably, and to ease Mr. Turner’s stress. He had also decided to stay in New Hope and renovate Mrs. Bleeker’s old life. Zasha wasn’t sure what he was going to do with his time, but she saw him looking at Dorothy’s café the other day, and somehow knew that he’d be just fine.
Sebastian had left for New York City a few days ago, and Zasha wouldn’t admit it to anyone, but she wondered if she’d ever see him again. Maybe now that she was heading to New York too… She shook her head and reminded herself that she didn’t like him.
When she got to her house, she found Ivy loading her suitcase in the car while Zasha’s parents watched. Yelena looked up at her daughter, and when she caught sight of her expression, she seemed to sense what Zasha had decided.
“Are you leaving without me?” Zasha asked in surprise, stopping her bicycle and hopping off.
“I was about to,” Ivy said with a wide grin, “but I’m happy that I don’t have to.”
“What’s going on?” Mr. Ross said with a frown.
“Papa…” Zasha started, but Yelena interjected.
“No,” Yelena said, placing her hand on her husband’s chest. “This is her decision.”
Mr. Ross looked down at his wife with a conflicted expression. Then, he slowly nodded. He looked at his daughter, his eyes bright with unshed tears, and he held out his arms to hug her. Zasha let out a happy sound and rushed toward her father. She never felt safer than when he enveloped her in a massive hug. Before she knew it, Yelena and Tatyana joined in.
“I’m going to miss you,” Mr. Ross said in a soft voice.
“Can I go with?” Tatyana asked excitedly.
“I’m so proud of you, Malyshka,” Yelena said quietly. “We’ll always be here for you. Come back whenever you’re ready.”
Within an hour, Zasha was packed up and ready. She stood in front of her mirror and looked at her own reflection. The cut on her cheek was healing nicely, but the doctor said that it would leave a small scar. She didn’t mind. She wanted some sort of mark to prove that she wasn’t the same old Zasha. She had changed, and she was finally embracing that fact.
Her eyes wandered to the dirt path that led to the creek, and her heart sank a little. She never wanted to hurt Tom, but their paths weren’t connected anymore. If she stayed for him, she would have to revert back to who she was before, and she knew that wasn’t possible. If she stayed, they’d both end up regretting it. She hoped that in time he would understand.
“Are you coming?” Ivy called.
“Yeah,” Zasha responded, grabbing her battered old case full of clothes and ran downstairs.
After giving her family one last hug, she hopped into the car and Ivy pulled away in a cloud of dust. Zasha waved until her family was out of sight, then she turned around and watched the road stretch on for wh
at seemed like forever. Zasha didn’t watch New Hope receding in the rearview mirror.
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