by Sandi Scott
“What?” Georgie whispered to Stan. “It was his orchard. He could do that already.”
“Actually, it is Charlotte Slute’s orchard. She owns the whole thing; lock, stock and barrel.” Stan whispered back.
“Does she know about this?” Georgie asked. Stan leaned his head closer to her so she’d be whispering in his ear.
“We called her. She’s on her way.”
Another officer entered the room where Paula was nervously waiting. She smiled and happily accepted a diet coke he brought to her. After opening the can and taking a sip, she batted her eyelashes at the officer and began her tale of woe.
“He promised we were going to be together. He said he just needed to take care of a few loose ends and then he’d be divorcing Charlotte.”
Paula scooted her chair closer to the officer.
“But, she was playing hardball. She told him that if he tried to divorce her, she’d leave him with nothing. She said she’d rather sink the entire orchard than give him a penny.” Paula nodded her head, as if to convince the officer she was telling the truth.
“That isn’t the woman Aleta and I saw,” Georgie whispered again to Stan. She repeated the story about Paula berating Charlotte and Xabat taking Paula’s side. “Charlotte looked utterly heartbroken.”
Stan wrote that down in his little notebook and looked at Georgie. She didn’t say anything but looked into his eyes. There was no denying that Stan was handsome, and his face could still tug at her heartstrings. But Georgie knew that handsome came a dime a dozen.
“Xabat said she was manipulating him, that she withdrew her affections from him. She would search his cell phone call log to see who he had been talking to. He couldn’t risk calling me or anyone else after work hours. She had him on a short leash.”
When the officer asked Paula why she was getting involved with a married man, she gave a tried and true answer.
“Because I loved him. I thought he loved me. He said he’d find a way to talk Charlotte out of the orchard business. But I never dreamt that he’d resort to murder.”
Paula didn’t realize that she was the one who brought up the case as being a murder, not the officer. He let her continue speaking.
“He thought if he convinced enough people that Tony killed himself because of his medications, no one would look into it. Veronica was leaving because of the constant fighting in the house. Charlotte just didn’t want to let go. She’s a very cruel woman. I can see why Xabat snapped.”
Meanwhile, Xabat’s confession followed an almost completely different storyline.
“I didn’t want to see Paula. We were just co-workers, but she wanted more. Every day she would show up everywhere I was, especially when I was alone. She’d tell me what she was wearing underneath her Apple Harvest Orchard sweatshirt or she’d press up against me when I was trying to work. She just wouldn’t take no for an answer.”
The police officer in this interrogation room also let Xabat talk undeterred.
“She said if I wasn’t intimate with her, she was going to tell my wife. I didn’t know what else to do. So I told her we’d meet and do it once. But she kept coming back. My son-in-law caught us.”
Georgie and Aleta gasped at the same time.
“He told my daughter who approached me and demanded I call it off or she’d tell her mother,” Xabat shook his head like he had really tried everything within his power to protect his family. It wasn’t his fault things spun out of control. It was Paula’s fault. She seduced him.
“Paula said she was just calling Tony over to talk to him. But the next thing I know, she’s hitting him in the head with a shovel. She didn’t kill him, but she tied his wrists behind him and then ordered me to hang him like he’d committed suicide.”
“Wow,” Georgie huffed. “I think we can see these two were made for each other.”
“I was just thinking the same thing.” Stan whispered.
Georgie smirked and looked at her ex-husband.
“What about Maggie?”
Stan blushed and looked down at the floor.
“That’s what I thought. One at a time, Stanley Toon. Don’t go trying to have your cake and eat it too. See what it gets you?” Georgie pointed to Paula and Xabat.
Paula was taking a rest and only answering questions as she sipped her coke and tried to be flirty with the officer taking her statement.
Xabat was still telling his side of things. According to him, he loved Tony. He wanted to walk his daughter down the aisle and see her happy, and all those things. But it was Paula who ruined it by forcing him to do things he didn’t want to. Yes, like sex, and giving her a cushy job that just required her to walk around all day.
“I was doing it to protect my family. Tony wasn’t family yet. He suffered the most. But I protected my family from Paula. If I hadn’t, we’d be investigating another two murders in addition to Tony’s.”
As Georgie and Aleta slipped out of the observation room, they saw Charlotte Slute coming in with Veronica at her side.
“Excuse me, ladies,” Stan said and quickly scooted past them to greet Charlotte. She was wearing jeans and another festive Halloween shirt that was orange with a smoky black haunted house on it, adorned with pumpkins and random black sparkling sequins and beads. Stan introduced himself to her. Within seconds, they were behind the door of the interrogation observation room.
“So, we wait to give our statement?” Aleta asked.
“Yeah. Can you hold up?”
“I’m a little hungry. Aren’t you?”
“Yes,” Aleta said. “Since it is you they want to talk to, I’ll go get us a snack. Don’t go anywhere.”
Georgie pulled up a chair at the nearest empty desk and waited, wishing she had a book or a pad of paper or something to help pass the time. But, it was only a matter of minutes, fifteen at the most, before Mrs. Slute came stomping out of the room.
Her eyes were dry.
“I don’t need to see any more, Detective Toon,” she said, holding her grown daughter’s hand. Veronica, on the other hand, was crying. “Right now, I need to get my daughter home. Those things I said in there, I’ll be happy to provide you with proof of dates and times.”
“That will be very helpful,” Stan replied.
“And they’ll be arrested tonight?” she asked as if she were ordering fast food at a drive-thru.
“They will.”
“Is there any way to ensure their bond is set at the maximum amount?”
“That’s up to the judge, Mrs. Slute.”
“I’ll have to make some phone calls. Xabat’s credit cards are part of my account. I’ll need to have those closed. We’ll need to change the locks on the house, as well.”
“Mrs. Slute, it would be best if you consulted a lawyer, too; just to protect yourself,” Stanly suggested. “You may have some legal questions on how to handle things amicably with Xabat.”
“Amicably?” she almost laughed in Stan’s face. “You just do your job and make sure those two pay for their crimes. I’ll handle my home like I’ve always done.”
Charlotte extended her hand to Stan and shook it. Veronica followed her mother’s movements, although she was a mess. How she’d ever get over her father and his mistress killing her fiancé Tony? Nobody knew. She couldn’t imagine ever putting her own needs in front of her children’s, even when it came to something like buying paints for herself or getting new shoes for any one of her kids. The kids always came first, and she was happy to do it. Georgie loved her kids more than anything.
The only thing Georgie couldn’t give them was mom and dad under the same roof. But she had always made sure they knew she still loved their father, enjoyed his company, and respected him as a man. After all these years, she’d gotten so used to being alone and doing things on her own terms. She couldn’t go back to living with Stan, or she’d make everyone miserable.
Just then, Aleta returned with two slices of pumpkin pie from the convenience store a few doors down. “This
was the best I could do,” she puffed. “It was either this or some dried out Rice Crispy Squares.”
“It looks fresh,” Georgie said. “Aleta, am I a selfish mother?”
“You mean a selfish mom or a selfish mother?”
Georgie shook her head and laughed.
“No. I mean regarding my kids. Is it selfish of me to not get back together with Stan?” Georgie scooped a bit of pie on the fork Aleta gave her and took a bite.
“Georgie, would you be happy back together with Stan?”
“Sure. For the first week it would probably be like a second honeymoon. But, I don’t need help keeping an eye on three little ones anymore. The kids are all grown. The hard part is over. He’d have a pretty easy go of things.”
“So what are you asking?”
“Am I putting my needs before the kids’ needs?”
“Georgie, you raised them. They are all living on their own with their own lives. They are happy. None of them have a police record. They all have jobs and are not looking to move back in with you. I think you did a great job with them despite not having Stan in the house. He was and still is present in their lives. You guys aren’t really divorced. You just live in different houses.”
Georgie realized that Aleta was right. “Hey, Stan,” she waved him over. “How does this taste to you?” She fed him a piece of the pumpkin pie as if it was nothing new to share a bite of food, or a simple moment in time.
“It’s not bad. Where’d you get it?” he asked, feeling just as comfortable as Georgie did.
“From the convenience store,” Aleta said, taking another bite.
“The only thing is that at this time of the year, one piece of pumpkin pie is usually enough for me. But it’s everywhere.”
“That’s what we were saying.”
Just then, Maggie came into the bullpen and instantly spotted Stan talking pleasantly with Georgie and Aleta. She swooped in like a vulture.
“What’s going on here?”
Stan explained the conversation and then told her he had to take Georgie’s statement.
“Will it take very long?” Maggie asked, not looking at Georgie.
“Not too long. Then, I think you and I have something to talk about, too.” He smiled, but Georgie knew that smile. It wasn’t that come hither look she’d learned to spot. It was the look he gave Georgie when she’d spent too much on a credit card or come home with a ding on the car.
“Fine. Just ring my extension.” She turned and left the bullpen.
Georgie smiled at Stan as she took another bite of pie.
“She’s really not bad if you get to know her.”
“If she sees all the good things in you that I do, I’m sure she’s not.”
Stan told Georgie he’d be back for her statement in just a few minutes and went into his office.
“Are you kidding me?” Aleta said. “You said she told Paula Hemmingsworth you were a stalker.”
“That’s what Paula Hemmingsworth said,” Georgie sighed.
“And...?”
“I’m not going to sweat it. That’s what she wants, and if I’m not going to give Stan what he wants, I’m certainly not going to give Maggie what she wants. She wants drama. I don’t.”
“My little Georgie is growing up,” Aleta joked.
“Besides. I have more important things to worry about.”
“Like what?”
“Like what you and I are going to dress up as for Halloween. We still haven’t agreed on a costume.” She stared at Aleta.
“I’m not dressing up.”
“You had so much fun shopping at the thrift store. I’m sure we could find something for us,” Georgie insisted.
“Nope.”
“Why do you hate life?”
Aleta laughed, “I don’t hate life.”
“Sure seems like you do to me.”
“Georgie, sometimes I can’t believe we are twins.”
“Huh, you got that right, sister.”
Chapter 17
“Trick or treat!”
“Oh my gosh!” Georgie gushed. “What have we got here? A fireman, and a princess, and what are you supposed to be?”
“I’m Bendy and the Ink Machine,” a little boy no older than eight boasted proudly. He was the oldest in the group.
“Well, that’s pretty scary,” Georgie said as she adjusted her blonde wig piled high on top of her head. She wore a corseted top and matching skirt down to the floor. Her face and hands were powdered pale blue. “Let me just make sure Black Bart hasn’t stolen any of my gold.”
She reached for a huge wicker basket covered with a piece of gingham. When she pulled it aside, there were tiny sacks with the words Gold Nuggets stamped on them along with Hershey kisses in gold wrappers, miniatures in gold foil and, of course, gold chocolate coins.
“Okay, hombres, load up your sacks and don’t let Jesse James catch up with you,” Georgie took a handful of candy for each of her visitors as well as a bag of gold nuggets. Bodhi sat patiently next to Georgie with a tiny saddle attached to his harness.
“Is he your horse?” the princess giggled.
“No. My horse is out back.” Georgie said, seriously. “He’s my mule. He just carries supplies. Now, you see that lady over there?” she pointed to Aleta who was sitting on her porch with a huge tub of candy and a glass of iced tea.
“She can’t hear too good, so when you get over there, really scream trick or treat, or she won’t give any candy.”
Georgie had been telling the trick-or-treaters that all night. She watched as Aleta plugged her ears while the kids screamed at the top of their lungs and then held out their bags.
After a lull in the action, Aleta came over rubbing her ears.
“What is with these kids screaming at me?”
“I’ve been telling them you are hard of hearing,” Georgie giggled, handing Aleta a couple of gold chocolate coins.
“Thanks. I wasn’t, but I am now,” Aleta shook her head. “I’ll get you back.
They sat on the porch together talking when a familiar truck came to a stop but the engine didn’t cut off.
“Wait a minute!” Georgie yelled to Stan as he climbed out of the cab. “You can’t come up here unless you are in costume!”
“I am in costume,” he smirked. “I’m a detective.”
“Very funny,” Georgie replied.
Stan walked around to the back of the truck and hoisted up a pumpkin as big as a manhole cover.
“Oh my gosh. Where did you get that?”
“The pumpkin patch. I thought you and Aleta might like to carve it up later tonight, or maybe you’ll paint a picture on it, or something,” he smiled.
“Well, that earns you something sweet,” Georgie said.
“Now you’re talking,” Stan replied.
“Here,” she shoved the basket of goodies between them. “Help yourself.”
“Wow. Now this looks good. And that’s a mighty fine costume you’re wearing, ma’am. Perhaps I can bring my pony by later to rest a spell.”
“You are more than welcome to join Aleta and I now while we hand out goodies to the kids.”
“I’d love to, Georgie, but I’ve...got plans.”
Georgie didn’t ask with who or what Stan’s plans were. Instead, she held the door open for him to set the pumpkin in the house and, of course, gave him a few minutes to fawn all over Bodhi.
“Be careful out there. Halloween brings the weirdoes out.”
“I’m a detective for the Chicago police, Georgie. Every night brings the weirdoes out.”
They chuckled and exchanged a few more words before Stan hurried to his truck and drove away.
“Did you see her?” Aleta asked.
“Who?”
“Maggie was in the car.”
“Really?” Georgie blinked as if a bright light had been shined in her face. “She doesn’t step out to say Happy Halloween or get some candy?”
“Who doesn’t come and get candy?”
/>
“She doesn’t, I guess,” Georgie replied. “Another reason to be wary of her.”
“Where do you think they are going?”
“I don’t know. Maybe a huge costume party with booze and dancing. I really have no idea.”
“Aren’t you the least bit curious?” Aleta asked. “I know he never went to any of those kinds of places when you guys were together.”
“We aren’t together and I am still dressed up, hanging out with my best sister.”
“I’m your only sister, Georgie.”
“Having a great Halloween. Uh-oh. We’ve got some more coming.”
Down the street, quickly approaching, was a small hoard of children, and behind them a dapper looking fellow carrying a bouquet of flowers and, what looked like, a box of candy.
“Look who it is,” Georgie smiled, broadly.
“Now, that is what I call a real Halloween costume,” Malcolm Obberfield said, with a smile.
“Obby, you look as dashing as ever,” Georgie went to the sidewalk to greet him. “The last we talked, you were heading off to Mexico. How did that go?”
“It was amazing. Such an exciting time of year,” He looked up to the porch. “Hello, Aleta!”
She waved back.
“These are for you, my dear,” he handed Georgie the huge bouquet that was filled with red, yellow and orange flowers. “And, something for the sweet tooth.”
“I don’t recognize this brand. Wait. Is this from Mexico?”
“It is. When you open it, you’ll see the candies are little skulls made of sugar.”
“How delightful!” Georgie clapped and hurried to open them and show Aleta.
Obby joined them on the porch, doling out candy as he told them about his trip. Georgie briefly thought about Stan, hoping he was having as nice a time as she was.
THE END
Letter from the Author
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR purchasing this early-release book made available exclusively to my readers group, Sandi’s Sleuths, before the book was made available on any other retailers.
