by Maisy Morgan
“Yeah, they make them right here in the shop,” Draco said pointing toward the tables consisting of sewing machines, hot glue, a table saw, and various other tools.” They wear the costumes and post about them online, and they even do special orders for other cosplayers. It’s like a side business they have. Mom says she wouldn’t mind turning it into a full-time business one day. Dad too. I think it’s really cool.”
“Do they ever make stuff for you?” Tripp asked.
“They make me do my own stuff,” Draco said. “Mom says if I’m going to cosplay, I have to make it myself, but they usually help me. I’ve only done a few myself, but they are nothing like what they do.”
Tripp was particularly impressed by the Iron Man. “What about your sister?”
“She fancies herself a ballerina, as I’m sure you’ve noticed,” Tripp said. “Though she does love Doctor Who. I mean, can’t blame her with the name, right?”
“Huh?”
“Sarah James,” Draco said. “You don’t get the reference?”
“Sorry, not a Doctor Who guy,” Tripp said.
A light flashed through one of the tall windows. “A car is pulling in the driveway,” Draco said. “Hannah’s probably here.” Tripp’s eyes lit up, and Draco evidently noticed. Draco smirked. “Aww man, you like her, don’t you?”
Tripp huffed. “Oh, shut up,” he said, and they hurried to the front of the house to greet her.
Chapter Fifteen
Mary and Cindy took their time skimming through the menus far too distracted laughing and gossiping to focus long enough to pick a dish for their girls’ night out. “Honestly,” Cindy said. “After everything that happened with my idiot of an ex-husband, I don’t really know. I mean, I want to get back out there again. I think I’ve finally reached that point, you know?”
“You’re young,” Mary said. “Do it while you have the energy.”
“You seem to be doing just fine with you and Preston,” Cindy said.
“Are you implying that I’m old?” Mary questioned as they both laughed. Mary was significantly older than Cindy beating her by over a decade. “I’m kidding! At the same time, I do mean it. You’re young, Cindy. You’ve got your whole life ahead of you. If you think you’re ready to get out there, what’s stopping you?”
“Hannah,” Cindy said. “What else? I mean, she’s finally talking to her dad after two years of absolutely no communication, and he’s in prison. It’s really complicated.”
“You aren’t thinking that you’re going to wait on him, are you?” Mary questioned.
“Oh, heavens, no!” Cindy exclaimed. “No, I have absolutely no interest in ever being with her father again, and I’m certain Hannah doesn’t want that either. Her letting her dad in and allowing him to write her letters while in prison and occasionally responding is not a door opening to me wanting us to become a family again. The man murdered someone and nearly got Tripp and Draco killed during his little high-speed chase. I’m good. He’s put me and my daughter through enough.”
“What are you thinking?” Mary asked. “Are you thinking about going through a dating app or something?”
“Maybe,” Cindy said as the server came over for the third time. This time they were finally ready, and they ordered steaks. It was a steakhouse after all. “I don’t know. I guess I’m just trying to decide whether or not I’m open to dating at all. Lenny hurt us pretty bad you know. I mean, who leaves their family because his kid gets put in a wheelchair? It was hard on me, too. I get it. It was so hard to look at her for the longest time and to accept what had happened. However, a real man and father just doesn’t leave his family like that. It messed with my head bad, and I don’t even want to think about what it did to Hannah.”
“Believe it or not, I can relate,” Mary groaned. “I’ve told you about my ex. I haven’t heard from him in, well, how old is Tripp, almost fifteen years old. If I ever saw him again, I don’t know what I would say or do.” Mary shuddered.
“What was the deal with him anyway?” Cindy asked.
“Oh, Jonathan,” Mary said as though the man’s name made her want to throw up. “Forgiveness, I’ll admit, is something I could work on. I’m not sure if I ever have fully forgiven him, but I’m getting there. Forgiveness, I know it would make things easier on me if I would just let it go. I think if it hadn’t have hurt my daughter so terribly it would have been easier.”
“He really left over her pregnancy?” Cindy asked.
“He wanted Lilly to have an abortion, and she wouldn’t do it,” Mary said. “I raised up my daughter to have strong, Christian values. Jonathan did too which is why I was so shocked he even considered, let alone mentioned it to her at all.”
“Does Tripp know that?” Cindy asked.
“No,” Mary said. “His mother is still a touchy subject for him. When Jonathan told Lilly what he wanted her to do, they had a crazy fight over the whole thing. Abortion had, it seemed, never crossed Lilly’s mind for even a second. She had gotten pregnant, and she and Aaron were prepared to do what needed to be done. They both stepped up. They owned up to it immediately. Jonathan about killed Aaron at first, but after a while, he started to come around. Eventually, everything just blew up. Lilly and her father had this horrid fight one evening just screaming and yelling. He called her some terrible names and told her he was embarrassed of her. Then, that was it. He told me I was a terrible mom for allowing my daughter to get pregnant so young. It was a scary time for all of us. Lilly was still just a baby to me, you know?”
“You and I have terrible taste in men,” Cindy groaned. “Though don’t tell Preston I said that. He’s a keeper.”
Mary laughed. “He is a sweet man. Just maybe a little too old to still be running around like he does as a cop.”
“He’s not that old!” Cindy commented. “How does Tripp feel about you two?”
“I’m not his parent, and it’s not like he grew up seeing me,” Mary said. “So, I suppose that has made it a little easier on him. I think the biggest thing is going to be whether or not he wants to allow a sort of fatherly relationship to build with him. He lost his dad so tragically. I don’t want him to feel like he has to replace that. Aaron was a good kid. You would have loved him. He was a fantastic father to Tripp. I don’t want Tripp to feel like I’m trying to force Preston on him.”
“Tripp did agree to that outing of Preston teaching him to fish, so that must have been some-what meaningful,” Cindy said.
“Yeah, it was, but it probably would have been more meaningful if they hadn’t bumped into that body,” Mary grumbled. “That was just so crazy, but let’s please not talk about that right now. I’d like to know about what you intend to do.”
“I don’t know,” Cindy said unpleased that they were circling back. “Maybe I should just talk to Hannah. We’ve always been close. I think she’s mature enough for me to just tell her that mommy wants a man in her life.”
Mary laughed, and the two of them continued to have a lovely evening of giggly and gossiping conversation. They had dropped Cindy’s car off at Mary’s before heading out to dinner, so they drove Mary’s car back to her house before intending on going to pick up the kids at Draco’s. They stopped in the driveway, and Mary grinned. “You know, I do have a fresh key lime pie inside. We’re earlier than we told the Morris’s we would be.”
“Yes, dessert!” Cindy exclaimed, and the two of them laughed and headed inside.
“You should have told me how normal the Morris’ were,” Mary said. “Although, when I saw that Harry Potter welcoming sign on their front door and the Burrow kitchen, I almost had a stroke! But, they are absolutely lovely people.”
“You obviously didn’t see the cosplay workshop out back if you’re calling them normal,” Cindy joked. “Draco is a little different, I’ll admit, but the Morris family is amazing. Anna works on all the local shows that film around here. I swear, she’s got her hands in everything film wise. Her husband is about the same way.”
�
��He said he was an EMT,” Mary curiously stated as they entered the house and headed straight for the fridge.
“That’s right,” Cindy said. “He’s not at a station though. He’s an on-set EMT for Pinewood Studios.”
“Whoa, that’s impressive,” Mary said already cutting into the key lime pie.
The two of them fixed themselves a plate and sat at the kitchen island nibbling away on their treat and chatting a bit more about the Morris family when the doorbell rang. “Who in the world would that be?” Mary questioned as she scurried to the front door. Then, taking a glimpse through the peep hole and realizing that it was Preston, she opened the door. “Hey, stranger,” she said smiling.
“Hey, Mary,” he said. “I’ve got an update on the case. Do you have a second?”
“Just a few,” Mary said inviting him inside. “Cindy and I are about to go pick up Tripp and Hannah from the Morris’s.”
“I’ll be quick,” he told her cautiously as they entered into the kitchen.
“Not too quickly,” she said cutting him a slice of key lime pie and winking at him.
“Thanks,” he said very eagerly taking the pie. “Mmm… just as good as those mini key lime pies.”
“Well, it is the same recipe but bigger,” she said. “So, tell me, what have you learned?”
Preston sighed heavily. “Well, I was able to confirm that Roger had actually been across town for several hours when the robbery started. You guys were held captive for over two hours by the time word got to Roger’s work, and he bolted. That means Josephine was telling the truth. He was across town when the robbery started and then headed straight for the bank like a good, worried boyfriend to make sure he was there when his girl got out.”
“Dang,” Mary said bitterly. “Well, Roger wasn’t our third robber then.”
“It doesn’t look that way,” Preston said. “After the names of the hostages leaked, only then did Roger leave work. I also spoke with a bunch of the on-call Peachtree City officers, and a few of them had spoken to Roger before SWAT entered the building. He had been there during most of the end of the ordeal listening in on the hostage negotiation and asking officers if they could confirm that his girlfriend was okay.”
“Well, Roger may have been temperamental, but at least he cared about what happened to his lady,” Cindy said. “That’s got to count for something.”
“Then how did Roger manage to get a hold of the cash from the robbery?” Mary asked.
“That’s a good question, and it’s one I’m having a hard time answering,” Preston said. “However, I do have some new information after speaking with the Peachtree City police chief. Turns out that cash wasn’t the only thing taken from the bank. They hit up some of the security boxes in the vault. Take a wild guess at one of the missing items.”
“A pearl necklace?” Mary asked.
“A pearl necklace,” he confirmed. “So that at least sort of explains the necklace. If he had the cash, he might have gotten a hold of the necklace too, but the question is how did he manage to get a hold of anything from the robbery to begin with if he wasn’t actually there.”
“Dang,” Cindy said. “You two got quite a mystery on your hands.”
“I don’t know,” Mary said. “What about Nathan? We still haven’t talked to him.”
“I talked to him today,” Preston said. “I didn’t get much out of the guy. He just repeated his story about fighting over a neighborly dispute. Roger apparently shot a deer on Nathan’s property a while back, and the law dictates that it belongs to Nathan. Nathan then took it, processed the meat, and wouldn’t let Roger claim his prize. Roger had apparently never forgiven him. I don’t know. He says he left the park right away, but it’s not like I’ve managed to confirm if anyone else was at the park other than Josephine and Nathan, but then again, the place is kind of in the middle of nowhere. Any number of people could have shown up and killed Roger while Tripp and I were out on that lake.”
Mary shrugged. She felt like they were getting no where fast, and Preston seemed to be feeling the same way. “We’ll figure it out,” she assured him. “But for now, I’ve got to go get my grandson.”
Chapter Sixteen
The following day, Tripp found himself rambling on and on to his grandmother about the fun evening he had with Hannah and the Morris family while they got the shop ready to roll for the day. “I mean, I honestly wasn’t expecting to have so much fun,” Tripp admitted. “Draco kind of weirded me out at first, but he’s a really cool guy. You should see all the video game consoles they have set up in their basement. Apparently, he gets them for free because he’s got some blog online that a bunch of people follow where he does game reviews. Can you believe that? There are so many people that follow him online, so these companies just send him stuff!”
“That’s impressive,” Mary said. “Draco does that himself?
“Yeah, his dad told him to start doing it a couple of years ago and helped him get started on the blog reviews, but eventually, he got enough followers that companies just started contacting him,” Tripp said. “It’s insane. The whole family is really cool. His dad is an EMT and he’s an actor, and his mom writes for all these major shows and movies. It’s so cool!”
“I guess it is true what my generation always said. The nerds grow up to be the successful ones,” Mary joked.
Tripp laughed. He could still hardly believe how much fun he’d had hanging out with Draco. A part of him felt really bad for being so skeptical of the kid. “Draco is into a lot of the same videogames as I am,” Tripp said. “He gave me some names of some new ones I should get, and I played them for a minute to see if I’d like them, and they were so cool. I don’t suppose a new video game would be in the works anytime soon?”
His grandmother laughed at him. “Well, that’s up to you,” she said, suddenly opening up one of the drawers behind the counter. She pulled out a slip of paper and handed it to him.
“What’s this?” he questioned eyeing the paper for a moment. His eyes lit up. “Three hundred and sixty dollars!” he suddenly exclaimed.
“Don’t get too excited,” Mary said. “That includes three weeks of working here plus a bonus for your day running the shop on your own. I’m going to give you another hundred dollars as a thank-you for helping me to get the shop up and running too.”
Tripp’s eyes glistened. “This is my first paycheck then,” he said, looking down at it a bit greedily. His grandmother must have noticed the look because she immediately tapped his shoulder and made him look up at her. “What?” he asked hardly able to pay attention because he was daydreaming about all the video games he was going to buy.
“There’s a catch,” she said.
“Of course there is,” he replied.
“Today we’re going to go to the bank to open you up a checking and a savings account. Half of your money goes straight to the savings account with no questions asked. You don’t get to touch that until you’re out of the house because I’m going to be the only one to have access to this savings account,” she said.
Tripp frowned, but he let the thought sink in for a second. He thought about how excited he had gotten to have received that check and about how he immediately had started thinking about what games to buy with it. “Okay, yeah, you’re right,” he said. “Otherwise I’d probably blow the whole thing.”
“You are just fourteen,” Mary said. “But hopefully this will help you learn a bit of responsibility. After we close down shop today, we’ll head straight to the bank to take care of this. We’ll close down a little early today to make sure we have time.”
“Last time we did that we wound up in the middle of an armed robbery,” Tripp said meaning it as a joke but they both laughed uncomfortably at the comment. “I should probably put some of the money I’m getting aside, to work on that car with,” he said. “If I’m going to get that thing up and running before I start driving, I suppose I should dive in and really get to work. Preston said he would help me out with
it.”
Mary smiled. “You like Preston okay, Tripp?”
“Yeah, he’s cool,” Tripp said smiling at her. “You don’t have to worry about me Grandma. I don’t care if you date or whatever. I’m fine with it. I really am.”
“You’re so sweet,” she said, taking his check back from him to tuck it safely away in a nearby drawer.
Tripp headed over to the tables. They hadn’t put the chairs down just yet after mopping the floors the evening before, and they had already turned the sign to open, so he busied himself with this for a moment when the door opened. A part of Tripp was expecting Preston, but instead it was a brand-new face. He smiled being glad to see a new customer because thus far they had mostly gotten the same faces in each week.
It was an older man, probably near Preston’s age, dressed in a white button-up shirt whose sleeves were rolled up to his elbows. He had gray hair and only a slight bald spot on the back of his head. He was a large, bulky man, and Tripp felt that he had probably worked out a good bit in his younger years but was now slowly accepting his fate as an old man.
“What in the world are you doing here?” Mary asked, and Tripp stopped looking at the man but drew his eyes towards his grandmother. She looked annoyed – angry, even.
Tripp started to ask who the man was when Mary looked dead at Tripp. “Everything okay?” Tripp asked.
“Allen, go to the back and finish up the key lime pies,” Mary said, her voice hissing.
Allen?
Tripp’s middle name was Allen, but his grandmother had never once called him that. Not to mention, she had never taught him how to make key lime pies. The most baking he had managed to master was her chocolate chip cookie recipe. Something was up. He headed to the back obeying his grandmother’s command.
