by Alana Ling
Daniel appeared from one of the civilian cars, took out a megaphone and spoke on it.
‘Everyone, get out of the car and put your hands up!’ he shouted.
The taxi driver came out and did as instructed.
Reluctantly, Harper Brown also exited the car and raised her hands behind her head, but she started walking backwards. When the police officers pulled the taxi driver away, Harper ducked and ran back up the street in the direction of the hotel.
Harper was approaching me, but ran past me. As she did, I lifted my leg slightly and she fell face down on the pavement. Police officers approached us. Harper turned around, her nose bloody, and shouted.
‘You, bitch!’
Before I could react, I found myself on the ground next to her, and her hands coming down on me.
I lifted my arms to protect myself, but she didn’t get a chance to beat me, Alfie growled and attacked her, snapping at her wrist and holding her hand in his mouth until she wailed in pain and lay flat on the ground, writhing.
I got myself up and soothed Alfie, who let her go as soon as he saw I was okay. Police officers surrounded us and Harper was taken in handcuffs.
‘Good boy,’ I said, patting Alfie on the back.
One of the officers cautioned Harper and a few more went into the hotel to seize Stephen.
Daniel approached and Alfie jumped on him, tail wagging.
‘I was hoping to be your saviour.’ He laughed and attended to my dog’s affectionate needs.
‘Me too.’ I chuckled. ‘Who knew he had it in him.’
‘Are you okay?’
I nodded and he flashed me a smile.
Minutes later Stephen appeared with Sam behind him, holding hands with Ollie. As soon as she saw us, she ran over and took a good look around her.
‘I heard Alfie saved you.’
‘You heard right.’
She bent down and picked him up. ‘Who’s a good boy? You are. All the treats for you today, Alfie.’
I laughed and rubbed his back as he attempted to lick Sam’s face.
‘How did you know it was them?’ Daniel asked me.
Sam and Ollie also pinned their eyes on me.
‘Yeah, like one moment you were clueless then you were going on as if you’d read their diaries,’ Sam said.
I dismissed them with a wave and a laugh.
‘I just pieced it together. But it took me seeing Harper’s camera, for the umpteenth time, to figure it out.’
‘Her camera?’ Sam and Ollie asked at the same time.
‘Yes. I was going through her pictures last night, before bed. Something wasn’t sitting right with me, but then when I saw her camera I remembered she had taken a few pictures of us, Colton and Stephen during the dinner. However, none of those pictures made it onto the memory card. Which is weird. When matched with the poison pen letter, it seemed to make the most sense.’
‘You’re unbelievable,’ Sam sang.
‘That, she is,’ Daniel said and placed his hand on my shoulder. My heart beat faster under the warmth of his touch. ‘I haven’t told you this before, but I think you’d be an excellent detective. With the right training you wouldn’t even need me.’
I raised my eyebrow. I would have told him I’d already solved three murders without his help, but I didn’t want to break his spirit. So I accepted the compliment.
Sam, on the other hand, was less considerate of his feelings.
‘She actually doesn’t need you now,’ she said with a loud laugh.
Daniel blushed and backtracked, raising his hands in surrender. ‘No. How can you say that? It hurts. It hurts I tell you,’ he moaned with a face in mock pain.
‘What in heaven’s name is going on here?’ came a vibrant voice behind us and I turned around to see Effie, pink perm and all, draped in the arms of the young man we’d seen her with the other day.
‘Hello, Mrs. Christie,’ Daniel greeted her. ‘Your daughter has just brought another pair of criminals to justice.’
Effie looked from him to me and placed her hand on her chest.
‘Did she now? Of course, she did. My baby is the best.’
‘That. She is,’ Daniel agreed and Effie gave him a cheeky look, enough of it to make him blush again and withdraw from our company.
‘Mum, you want to introduce me to the reason you’ve been avoiding me this whole week?’ I asked, looking at the young man.
He was a slender white man, no older than twenty-five, with blond hair draped over the side of his head and vibrant green eyes. He was wearing a yellow shirt and skinny blue jeans and tasted of gummy bears.
‘Of course,’ Effie said and released him from her arms. ‘Sam, Jo, this is—’
‘Sam, this is my mum’s boyfriend,’ I said.
Sam stretched her hand out to shake the man’s, but Effie shrieked.
‘Is this what you think of your mother? That I’m a-a-a cougar?’
‘So, he’s not your boyfriend then?’ I asked.
The man smiled and shook Sam’s hand. ‘I’m Troy.’
‘He’s my burlesque tutor,’ Mum said and a sigh of relief washed over me. As soon as it did, though, realisation of what she’d said came to me and I flinched.
‘Your what?’ Sam and I both asked.
Troy took my hand and shook it with both of his. ‘I’m teaching Effie how to do burlesque.’
‘And in return, I’m teaching him how to paint. He’s a very talented man,’ Effie added.
I remembered the canvas in her shopfront and how it had replaced my dad’s artwork.
‘That painting in your shop? It’s yours?’ I asked him and he nodded. ‘What about Dad’s painting, Mum?’
Mum tutted and exchanged a glance with Troy as if to say to him I was being irrational. ‘It’s still there, silly. I wasn’t going to get rid of your father’s masterpiece. But it was time for a change, wasn’t it? It has been in that window for two decades. It’s outlasted five prime ministers and six mayors. People were starting to get bored of it.’
I didn’t agree. It still sent shivers up and down my body every time I saw it and it always reminded me of Dad and our time together. But I wasn’t going to express my upset in the middle of the street, in front of a stranger.
‘How did you two meet?’ Sam asked.
Effie chuckled. Troy smiled. ‘I just joined her book club and, well, we bonded,’ he said.
‘So you’re teaching my mum how to be a stripper?’ I asked.
Both she and Troy gasped. Mum slapped my arm and reprimanded me.
‘Of course not. It’s a creative dance.’
‘There is some nakedness involved, but only to celebrate the female body in all its glory,’ Troy explained.
They didn’t make it sound any better, although considering Mum was posing naked for amateur painters I didn’t know what else I was expecting from her.
‘What on earth are you going to use that for?’ I asked.
Effie looked at Troy and they both smiled.
‘I’ve been speaking to Sharon and I’m going to do a show for the winter bazaar in December,’ she said.
‘What?’ Sam and I yelled.
Eighteen
By the time the street was cleared of the wedded murderers, all of Colton’s dinner guests had gathered either at the front of the hotel or looking out from the lobby, and had watched their arrest and removal unroll in front of their eyes.
At the corner of the street, I spotted Mathilde and her premium wine flavour, with a smirk on her face, so I excused myself from the unrealness of the situation with Mum and approached her.
‘You figured it out,’ she said to me.
‘You knew.’
Mathilde didn’t respond.
‘Why would you risk letting your friend’s murderers escape? Why wouldn’t you tell the police Harper and Steven were the ones?’
She watched as the cars sped away and avoided my eyes.
‘I didn’t know about her. But I guess it was to be
expected,’ she mumbled. ‘Ginny and I had a plan, Ms. Christie. We wanted to break free from Colton’s tyranny and succeed. Ginny would have wanted me to succeed, even if she’s not here to see our plan through.’
I shook my head. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.
‘So basically you were willing to watch them walk unscathed, just because you wanted to make some money. How is that being a good friend?’
Mathilde laughed. ‘You don’t understand.’
‘Enlighten me then,’ I snapped.
‘I would, Miss Christie, but I’m afraid you have your own pre-conceptions about me, Ginny, about us all, really. So I would only be wasting my time. You don’t understand what it’s like to create something from scratch and watch it being taken advantage of by someone you trusted when all you wanted, all you were promised, was they’d look after it as if it were their own creation.’
Mathilde took a deep breath and a teardrop ran down her cheek.
‘I’m free now. But I’ve paid a terrible price for it,’ she said and turned around.
‘Actually, Ms Minuit, you’re not free,’ Daniel appeared in front of her. ‘Thank you for confessing your involvement in those crimes. It gives me a great pleasure to arrest you once again.’
Mathilde looked at me and then at Daniel, shaking her head. ‘But I didn’t do anything,’ she said.
Daniel took one wrist in his hand and turned her around to handcuff her. ‘Actually, you’ve blackmailed and withheld crucial information in a murder investigation. You did more than enough.’
I watched her screeching her innocence as she was led to another police vehicle and tried to wrap my head around everything.
I didn’t think I could ever justify murder and blackmail to achieve one’s dreams, but I guessed there were people galore willing to step on anyone’s toes to get what they wanted from life.
It was that realisation that made me feel good about myself. I might not have had much, I might not have had the fanciest jobs one could have, I might not have been an artist or a businesswoman with too much to spend, but I had what a lot of them craved for, even if only deep down.
A family. Consisting of other like-minded people. We made our kind of quirky ensemble that pulled us through each day. And that was all I ever needed from life. Even when I’d been running from corporate client to corporate client trying to convince them to part with their millions and invest in my husband’s company; that was all I’d wanted.
And I was glad to have it now.
Alfie pulled me back to the other side of the road outside the hotel entrance. Baker was holding his suitcase in his one hand and hailing a cab with the other.
‘Mr. Moore,’ I said as soon as I got on the pavement and Sam joined me.
Baker looked at me and he huffed. ‘You can call me Baker you know. You’re not working for me anymore.’
‘Technically,’ Sam pointed out, ‘we never did work for you. Baker.’
‘Fair point,’ he admitted. A cab stopped in front of him and the driver opened the boot, and then got out of his car to help him.
‘What are you going to do now?’ I asked him.
‘I’m going to do what I’ve always done. Do what I love. Make gin.’
I put my arm on his shoulder. ‘I hope you don’t drink it all.’
He shook me off and handed his suitcase to the taxi driver.
‘We’ll see about that.’
As he got ready to get in the car, I held the door open. ‘I think Colton really did love you, you know?’
‘Sure,’ he scoffed. ‘I’m sure I was his favourite.’
He tried to close the door, but I didn’t let him.
‘It was something he told you that made me think, actually. He referred to a goldmine. He admitted his wrongdoings to you. He never did to everyone else. That was because they were his goldmine and he didn’t want to lose them. He was stealing their companies little by little. He never asked you to share your business with him, did he?’
Baker shook his head.
‘I think he tried to explain it to you that he was doing it for both of you.’
Baker pondered over my words for a couple of seconds, but then he dismissed them. ‘Too bad he can never tell us and it’s all just assumption, I guess. Goodbye, ladies.’
Baker shut the car door and the taxi left the street faster than necessary or legal.
‘Do you girls want to go for a drink?’ Ollie asked as he joined us. I realised Mum and Troy had left, which was for the best. I had been triggered more than enough today.
‘I could use a large gin and tonic,’ I said. ‘Like a ginormous one. It’s been a long week.’
Sam rubbed the small of my back and bit her lips. ‘I know, right?’
As we got in my car and took the scenic route back home, we got a glimpse of Valentino and Henry sharing a taxi loaded with their suitcases.
‘I wonder how they’re going to make their relationship work,’ Sam pondered. ‘One in Italy, the other in Canada.’
Ollie turned to look at the unlikely couple and shrugged.
‘Well now that their secrets are out in the open I’m sure they’ll figure it out somehow. Plus, don’t forget they’re both millionaires so I doubt the distance is much of an issue,’ I said.
Sam nodded and looked at Ollie with a sad face. Before he could notice she gave him a kiss and Ollie sat down in the backseat.
* * *
Later that day, and after dropping Alfie home—he needed his rest after such an eventful morning—Sam, Ollie and I visited the Oak Tavern.
The pub was eerily quiet while everyone watched the TV, so I turned to see what had gained their interest.
There it was. A picture of me chatting to Daniel behind a reporter who was giving an overview of the events that had led to Harper’s and Stephen’s arrest, followed by an interview with Daniel.
‘Everything was under control and we managed to apprehend the couple responsible for the death of Colton Harris and Ginny Brooks, who were in town on business.’
‘Detective Anderson, is it true a civilian was the one who uncovered the truth?’ the reporter asked.
Daniel smiled and looked at the camera. ‘That is correct, but that’s all I’m going to say on the matter to protect her identity.’
The TV cut back to the reporter closing her piece on the local news and the entire room turned to look at me.
‘She’s here,’ Devi shouted and approached us with a tray of sparkling wine. ‘Let’s raise a glass to the woman of the hour.’
I felt my cheeks go hot and Sam grabbed the glasses and handed me one.
‘Hear, hear,’ the entire room shouted and raised their pints in my direction.
I massaged my neck and tried to hide behind a column at the bar.
‘Devi, what are you doing?’ I asked.
She paused and flicked my hand. ‘What? People deserve to know what you did.’
I covered my face with my hands and I heard Sam clink glasses with Ollie.
‘Enjoy it, sunshine. You deserve it,’ Ollie said.
I ignored him and turned to Devi who was back behind the bar.
‘Have you seen Kit?’
She nodded.
‘He’s upstairs. Packing.’
I put my glass down and leaned closer to her. ‘Packing? Where is he going?’
‘Why don’t you ask him yourself?’ she said, her face revealing none of her emotions.
I listened to her and went to the back of the building, climbed the two flights of stairs which led to his apartment and once in front of the door, I knocked and waited for a response.
‘Come in,’ I heard from behind it and I pushed it open.
Kit was there folding a jumper next to a small suitcase.
‘Hi, Joanna.’
‘You’re going somewhere?’ I asked. I was concerned. Yesterday he’d sounded optimistic and now he was going away?
‘I’ve decided to pay a visit to my parents in Kent.’
‘Are they okay?’
He put the article of clothing unfolded in the suitcase and approached me, putting his hands on me.
‘They’re fine. But I feel like I need to take some time to myself, away from here, you know.’
‘I thought you were feeling better.’
He let go of my arms and turned his back to me.
‘I did too, but every time I go through that room where he died, it unsettles me. I feel like this place is carrying too much negative energy and I need to shake off.’
‘So, get an exorcist. You don’t need to run away,’ I told him, realising too late I sounded whiny. I didn’t do whiny, so I mentally slapped myself.
He looked at me and smiled awkwardly. ‘You must think I’m a coward.’
I walked closer to him and grabbed his shoulders.
‘Don’t be foolish. Of course I don’t.’
He hesitantly lifted his head and looked at me.
‘Well, in that case, I do. I’m a coward.’ He humphed.
‘Hey,’ I said and moved my head looking into my eyes again.
When our eyes met, he leaned in and planted a kiss on my lips. It was unexpected, but long overdue, although it only lasted a few seconds, his lips left a warm imprint of fuzzy inside.
‘I really like you, Joanna.’
‘I-I like you too,’ I croaked.
‘I have to go, though.’
‘Why?’ I asked. ‘What about the Tavern?’
He cupped my cheek and pursed his lips.
‘Jamie will look after it.’
‘Why does this feel like goodbye?’
He let go and laughed. ‘I’m only going for a couple of weeks.’
‘Promise?’ I mumbled.
He zipped up his suitcase and strapped it around his shoulder.
‘Promise.’ He enveloped me in his arms, and I rested my face against his chest and his wildly beating heart. ‘Thank you,’ he whispered.
‘What for?’
‘For finding them.’
I didn’t respond. My face felt hot and my eyes stingy. I had only known this guy for six months, but here I was feeling as if I was letting go of a best friend.
