by Lee Hollis
“Heather, what have you done?”
“After I received your call, I knew the truth was about to come out, and that you would try to stop me from making a full-blown confession to the police, so I took the opportunity while I was waiting for you to get here to call them. I told them everything.”
“Heather, no!”
Two officers, a man and a woman, stepped out of the cruiser and slowly crossed over to them.
“Heather?” the female officer asked gently.
“Yes, that’s me,” Heather said, holding out her hands.
The male officer extracted a pair of handcuffs from his belt and snapped them on her wrists behind her back, and then both of the officers led Heather away and placed her in the back of their squad car.
Matt placed a comforting hand on Poppy’s shoulder as she dissolved in a flood of tears and called out, “I’ll call Edwin! He’ll find us a good criminal lawyer!”
She could see Heather sitting in the backseat of the cruiser, her head down, no doubt contemplating what lay ahead of her.
Poppy couldn’t stop crying as Matt took her in his arms and hugged her as tightly as he could.
Chapter 49
Heather was indicted for involuntary manslaughter. Despite Heather’s initial misgivings, her lawyers, convinced it was self-defense, insisted she plead not guilty, which she finally did, and a trial date was set.
When Poppy heard the charges at the arraignment, she was inconsolable. She couldn’t help but feel responsible for her daughter’s state of mind leading up to the death of Olivia Hammersmith. If she hadn’t been so persistent in making a go of this private detective agency, perhaps her daughter would not have been so on edge, so wound up, to the point where she would actually drive to Olivia’s house and confront her about what she was planning to write in her memoirs about the beloved stepfather Heather had held up on such a pedestal.
Iris and Violet were insistent that Poppy was acting utterly ridiculous. None of what had happened was remotely Poppy’s fault, in their unvarnished opinions. But still, Poppy could not shake the crushing guilt and considered shuttering the whole agency, like her daughter had initially wanted. But the Desert Flowers Detective Agency was now a well-sought-after business after busting Esther Hamilton and her son Sammy for the series of burglaries at the Palm Leaf Retirement Village.
By the end of the first week after the Desert Sun did a front-page story on the agency’s successful case, there were nine voice-mail messages inquiring about hiring the agency for various assignments.
And Poppy needed as much money as she could raise for Heather’s bail and legal defense.
Poppy didn’t seriously believe Matt was going to stick around for long after Heather’s arrest. She half expected him to blow town to escape the bad publicity. But he didn’t, although she had heard he was planning a move to Hollywood to more aggressively pursue his dream of being a successful actor and just to put this whole nightmare behind him.
Which was why she was so surprised when he showed up on a Sunday morning at Heather’s apartment, where Poppy was now residing, having taken over her daughter’s bills and obligations and was looking after her daughter, who had been mercifully released on bail until after the trial.
Heather was still asleep in her bedroom when Matt arrived, so Poppy ushered him into the kitchen, where they spoke quietly.
“How is she?” Matt asked.
“Okay. Some good days, some bad days. But we’ll get through this.”
“She hasn’t returned any of my calls.”
“She’s not talking to anyone. I keep telling her she has a lot of people who love her and want to support her, but she’s too ashamed at this point. I’m sure with time she’ll let you back in.”
“I hope so.”
“When are you heading to LA?”
“I’m not.”
“But I heard . . .”
“I thought about it. But I decided I’m going to stay for the trial. I want to be here for her.”
Poppy was truly surprised.
However, during this whole detective agency adventure, she had begun to see different sides of Matt, sides that called into question her first impression of him as just an egotistical, self-absorbed actor.
“Plus, I have no plans to leave you in the lurch.”
“What do you mean?”
“Matt Flowers, at your service.”
“No, Matt. It’s unfair to you to have to keep playing this role just so we can lure more clients. . . .”
“By helping you, I’m helping Heather.”
Her instinct was to argue with him, convince him he was holding himself back by hanging out with three old . . . older women in the desert, instead of going to Hollywood to focus on his career.
But she could tell from his steely resolve that there was no point in arguing with him.
He had made up his mind.
All she could do at this point was to hug him and say, “Thank you.”
“Besides, I’ve grown fond of you three ladies.”
“Even Iris?”
“Even Iris,” he said, laughing.
He kissed her on the cheek. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to meet with a client.”
“You don’t waste any time, do you?”
“We have bills to pay!”
And he was out the door.
Poppy sat down at the small kitchen table and counted her blessings. Despite the events of the past year, and the fact that her entire life as she knew it had been torpedoed, the Desert Flowers Detective Agency had thrown her a lifeline, and as hard as the next year was going to be, she was convinced that she would be able to stay above water with the help of her friends and new business partners, Iris and Violet and, yes, even Matt.
She could make this work as long as she didn’t have to deal with any more surprises.
No, absolutely no more surprises.
There was a knock on the door.
Poppy thought Matt must have forgotten something.
She stood up and crossed through the living room quietly, trying not to wake Heather, and opened the door.
“Sam . . . ?”
Sam Emerson stood there with a sexy, laconic smile on his face. “Hello, beautiful.”
“How did you know I was here?”
“I showed up at your office, and a very sweet lady told me where I could find you.”
Violet.
Definitely Violet.
Iris would have slammed the door in his face.
“What are you doing here? Do you want to hire us for a case? You didn’t have to come all the way down from Big Bear.”
“Uh, no, I don’t want to hire you,” he said. “I came to ask if I could take you to dinner.”
His eyes twinkled naughtily as he gave her a wink.
Poppy unexpectedly changed her mind.
Maybe she could take one more surprise.
