Hitting the Books

by Jenn McKinlay

  “Shut up!” Sarah snapped.

  “You lied to Liza, too, telling her you were going to kill yourself, convincing her you were just trying to run Theresa off when you really planned to kill her so that Liza would inherit and you could help yourself to Liza’s inheritance.”

  “I said shut up!” Sarah bellowed. Her face was bright red, and her breath was heaving in and out as if she’d run a long distance. “He owes it to me—hell, the kid owes it to me. If I’d never had that lousy brat, I could have murdered Larry in his sleep, inherited a fortune and disappeared, but no, I had to get knocked up, and then when I couldn’t take it anymore, he sent me away.”

  Emma stared at Sarah with contemptuous disdain, while Lindsey found herself leaning closer to Sully, as if his goodness was a buffer from the horror that was this woman.

  “Why did you threaten to take her, then?” Lindsey asked. “Why did you want custody?”

  “Because she was my cash cow for life,” Sarah said. “As long as I had her, I was set. I could milk Larry for anything I wanted.”

  Disgust left a bad taste in Lindsey’s mouth. Perhaps Sarah was mentally ill, as Larry had said, but she was also evil personified.

  “That’s what you thought of me? As a meal ticket?” Liza stepped out of the shadows, flanked by Stieg and Stefan. “You lied to me. You told me my father had put you away because he was tired of being a husband. You threatened to kill yourself. And . . . and you said you had nothing to do with shooting Chad. But it was you, wasn’t it?”

  Sarah rolled her eyes as if she couldn’t abide Liza’s drama. “Chad was a total disappointment. I mean, how hard is it to hit someone with a car or hold a pillow over their face? Honestly, I should have known when I offered him money to break me out of Serenity Springs and he couldn’t figure out how to do it that he wasn’t too bright. Still, he took the money to do the hit on Theresa without fussing. I should have hired a professional.”

  “You told me he was just going to scare her off so that you’d have a chance to win Dad back.” Liza wobbled on her feet, and both Stieg and Stefan steadied her. “All of it, every word you uttered, was a lie.”

  Sarah looked at her daughter and couldn’t even hide the malice she felt. “Look at you, all grown up and still a pain in my ass. Why? Why would I ever want you or your father? You’re pathetic.”

  With that, she slumped to the ground as if she’d fainted. Emma wasn’t having it, and she dragged the woman up to her feet. Sarah’s head lolled as if she was unconscious, but Emma refused to play.

  “Stop it!” she snapped.

  She forced Sarah to stand, held her arm in a firm grip, and half dragged, half pushed her toward her squad car. She put her hand on Sarah’s head and folded her into the back seat, then she slammed the door.

  “Sully? Keep an eye?” she asked.

  “Of course,” he said.

  Emma hurried off to meet the ambulance that had just pulled up behind them. Lindsey knew she was worried about Officer Kirkland and wouldn’t rest until she knew he was going to be okay.

  The EMTs and Emma hurried into the shop while Lindsey and Sully kept watch over Emma’s squad car. Sarah booted the door, demanding that they release her. She threatened to kick the window out, she swore she would harm herself, and when they ignored her, she threatened their lives.

  Sully took his phone out and began to record her. She immediately stopped. Instead, she curled up into a ball and began to rock back and forth. Lindsey got the feeling she was plotting something. The conniving look in her eyes was unnerving, and Lindsey shivered. Sully put his arm around her and pulled her close as if he thought she was cold. She was grateful for both his strength and his warmth.

  A quick glance into the back of the car, and she saw Sarah watching them. She knew that Sarah suffered from a mental illness, but there was no changing the fact that she’d taken a life, and given the chance, she would have taken another. When Lindsey glanced over at Liza, she was sitting on the curb with her head down on her folded arms. She looked as if she was sobbing while Stieg and Stefan stood beside her, clearly not knowing what to do.

  “Thanks, Sully.” Emma reappeared with the EMTs behind her.

  Officer Kirkland was on a stretcher. As they passed by Lindsey to get him loaded into the ambulance, she reached out and grabbed Kirkland’s hand.

  “Hey, I’m really glad you’re all right,” she said. It was hard to talk around the lump in her throat, but she swallowed hard and managed it.

  “Me, too,” he said. His freckles stood out against the pallor of his skin. He squeezed her fingers and said, “Got a hell of a story out of it though, didn’t I?”

  “And probably a scar.” Lindsey laughed.

  She leaned over the side of the stretcher and kissed him on the head. Kirkland flushed pink and grinned. The EMTs loaded him into the back of the ambulance and closed the doors.

  Just then Larry emerged from the shop with Theresa in his arms. His eyes were damp, and it was clear to Lindsey he was overcome with relief that the woman he loved was safe. Theresa rested her head on his shoulder, obviously relieved to be alive and well.

  She lifted her head and searched the area. Lindsey wondered whether she was looking for Sarah, afraid she’d be attacked again, but she wasn’t. Instead, her gaze settled on Liza. The compassion in her eyes made Lindsey blink. She wasn’t angry at her future stepdaughter; rather, she was worried.

  “Liza, are you all right?” Theresa asked. She flailed in Larry’s arms as if she’d run to Liza if she could.

  Liza lifted her head from her arms, saw Theresa trying to get to her, and promptly burst into big, gut-wrenching sobs. “I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry.”

  The Norrgard brothers stepped back, making room for Larry and Theresa. Larry lowered Theresa until she was on the ground beside Liza.

  Theresa opened her arms, and Liza fell against her. “Shh. Hush now,” Theresa said as she stroked Liza’s hair. “It’s all right. You’re safe now.”

  Liza leaned back and looked at her. “How can you forgive me? I could have gotten you killed. I probably did get Chad killed by signing her out of that facility. Mom—Sarah—told me he was robbed and that the shooting had nothing to do with us, but it was her. She killed him, and she tried to kill you when she told me she was only going to scare you off. And then she wanted me to kill Ms. Norris, because she said she knew too much and I was going to be sent to jail, but I couldn’t do it.”

  “I know, baby. I know.” Theresa pulled her back into her arms and let her continue to cry. She rocked Liza gently back and forth and then kissed the top of her head.

  “When you and Dad got engaged, I just . . . I lost my place,” Liza sobbed. “And then Sarah found me and convinced me that we could be a family again—oh God, I was so dumb. I thought I’d finally have my mom, but she isn’t, she wasn’t, she never could be—”

  “You have a mom. You’ll always have a mom, assuming you still want me, that is,” Theresa said. Her voice was thick, and Larry, who knelt behind her, propping her up, was openly crying.

  “Yes, oh please, if you can forgive me, I’d love for you to be my mom,” Liza said. “For real.”

  The rest of them watched as the small family took the first steps toward mending. Emma locked the door to the variety store and strode toward her car. She punched Sully on the shoulder as she passed.

  “Thanks for keeping watch,” she said. “I’m taking Sarah into the station. Can I count on you two to come and give your statements?”

  Lindsey felt her lips twitch. Only Emma could ask a question that wasn’t a question at all.

  “We’re right behind you,” Sully said.

  Emma nodded. She said the same thing to the Milsteins and the Norrgard brothers. Then she climbed into her car and drove off.

  Stieg and Stefan helped Larry load Theresa and Liza into the oversize SUV and foll
owed Emma. In moments, it was just Sully, Lindsey and Heathcliff standing on the sidewalk, catching their breath and regrouping. At least, Lindsey thought that’s what they were doing.

  “Come on, let’s get some air,” Sully said. He took her hand in his and started to walk toward the center of town.

  “Where are we going?” Lindsey asked.

  “To the pier.”

  Lindsey patted her thigh, signaling to Heathcliff to follow. He bounded alongside them, his tongue hanging out of his mouth. He looked happy, and Lindsey envied him for his doggy resiliency and the fact that he had no idea what could have happened back there.

  She let go of Sully’s hand and slid her arm around his waist. The night air was cool, and she wanted to absorb his warmth and at the same time feel sure of him, of them, of the life they were going to carve out together.

  They passed the Blue Anchor and the sound of Charlie Peyton’s band, rising and falling as the doors opened and closed as people came and went. Down the pier they strolled, all the way to the end, and stood beneath one of the overhead lights. The few islands out in the bay that had power had their lights on, which were reflected in the gentle waves that lapped their way toward shore.

  Sully turned to face her. He reached into his pants pocket and pulled out a ring. It sparkled in the lamplight, and Lindsey glanced from it to him.

  “I had a whole speech prepared,” he said. “It was a sales pitch, really, on why you should say yes and become my wife, but after the events of the evening, I can’t remember a word of it, except this.” He paused and lowered himself to one knee. Heathcliff, as if suspecting something big was happening and wanting to be a part of it, sat beside him, swishing his tail across the rough wooden planks.

  “Lindsey Norris, I love you with all that I am and all that I will ever be. I want to ask you officially this time, with a ring to seal the deal, will you marry me?”

  “Yes, yes, yes.”

  She dropped to her knees and threw herself into his arms, kissing him as a tear coursed down her cheek. Sully returned her kiss and then pulled back so he could take her hand and put the ring on her finger. It was an emerald-cut diamond surrounded by smaller diamonds, and it was a perfect fit.

  “It was my grandmother’s,” Sully said. “She was a well-read, sassy woman, so I know she’d be thrilled with my choice of bride.”

  Lindsey laughed and wiped the tears off her face. She stared into Sully’s bright blue eyes and considered herself the luckiest woman in the world, predawn whistling and all.

  19

  It was Lindsey’s turn to make the food for crafternoon Thursday. She’d wanted something festive but healthy, so she’d gone with avocado and goat cheese grilled sandwiches, pear salad, and flourless chocolate cake with a dusting of confectioners’ sugar for dessert. The group was discussing My Life on the Road by Gloria Steinem, a nonfiction book for a change of pace, and they were finishing the string bracelets Paula had been trying to teach them to make for a while. No one seemed to be able to manage the square-knot closure. In fact, Lindsey’s looked more like a web of knots than a bracelet, but Paula assured her that she could fix it.

  The first to arrive was Beth. She was wearing striped overalls, an engineer’s cap and a red bandana around her neck. No one could carry off the train look like Beth.

  “All aboard for crafternoon,” Lindsey said.

  Beth pulled a large wooden whistle out of her pocket and blew into it, imitating a train’s whistle perfectly. Then she laughed. “I love my job.”

  “Come on and eat. You must be starving after story time,” Lindsey said.

  “I am! Reading Virginia Lee Burton’s Choo Choo always makes me hungry, or maybe it’s the pretending to be a huge train with thirty three-year-olds hanging off me that does it—hard to say.”

  Beth hurried to take the plate Lindsey offered her just as Paula, Violet and Nancy entered the room. Lindsey handed Beth a glass of lemonade, but when Beth reached out to take it, she gasped.

  “Oh my God, is that . . . are you . . . it is! You and Sully are getting married, aren’t you?” she cried.

  “Huh?” Lindsey followed the line of Beth’s gaze to her hand. Oh yeah, her ring. The one Sully had put on her finger a few days ago, the same one she’d caught herself staring at repeatedly as the sunlight made the diamonds sparkle and shine. “Oh, that.”

  “That?” Nancy came hustling up to the table. She grabbed Lindsey’s hand and turned the ring in the light. Like a chorus, all of the women oohed and aahed. “That is stunning.”

  “Dazzling,” Violet agreed.

  “Gorgeous,” Paula breathed.

  “How could you not have texted me the minute it happened?” Beth cried. “Oh, the betrayal. How long have you been engaged exactly?”

  “Well, he proposed the night we chased Sarah Milstein in her red sports car into the woods,” Lindsey said.

  “Ah.” Beth gasped. “But that was days ago.”

  “Well, things were crazy, and I wasn’t sure, but then he asked again and—”

  “He put a ring on it,” Paula said.

  “Yes, he did,” Violet said.

  “Does this mean what I think it means?” Beth put her cup and plate on the table and started to bounce on her feet as if she couldn’t contain her excitement. Up and down, up and down, like a super-bouncy ball.

  The smile that parted Lindsey’s lips was impossible to hold back. “Yes, there’s going to be a wedding, and yes, you’re my matron of honor.”

  “Woo-hoo!” Beth cried. Then she let out a girly “Squeeee!” and ran around the table and grabbed Lindsey in a hug that strangled. The brim of her engineer’s cap clipped Lindsey in the temple, but she didn’t mind. She knew Beth’s exuberance was just a part of who she was.

  Charlene La Rue and Ms. Cole joined the crafternooners. Charlene congratulated Lindsey with a warm hug and complimented her ring, and then, to Lindsey’s surprise, Ms. Cole gave her a bracing hug as well and said, “Well, it’s about time.”

  All the crafternooners paused to stare at her, and Ms. Cole waved a hand and said, “Oh, please, I knew the first time they laid eyes on each other that they were made for each other. I just didn’t think it would take them this long to figure it out.”

  Nancy choked out a laugh and gave Ms. Cole a hug. Violet did the same, and Lindsey grinned. She loved the camaraderie in this group.

  “So, have you set a day for the wedding?” Charlene asked. “You’ll have to send out save-the-date notices, because I am not going to miss the wedding of the year in Briar Creek.”

  “Agreed,” Beth said. Then she frowned. “Wait, I thought my wedding was the wedding of the year.”

  Sensing disaster, Lindsey said, “It was, and since we won’t get married for at least a year, ours will be the wedding of the year next year, if not the year after that.”

  “Oh, well, all right then,” Beth said. She picked up her plate, bit into her grilled cheese, and smiled. Then she looked worried. “But you shouldn’t wait too long to get married. We’re getting up there, and if you’re going to start a family, you need to get on that.”

  “So to speak,” Paula said.

  Violet snorted, and Charlene rolled her eyes at her mother. Lindsey tried to smile, but it felt like a grimace, especially when she felt all eyes turn her way.

  She was certain they were looking for her to give a hint about whether she and Sully wanted to be parents. She had barely wrapped her head around planning a wedding, never mind sharing her more personal plans for the future, which presently did not include children.

  “So, did you know that Gloria Steinem broke out as a reporter when she went undercover as a waitress at the Playboy Club?” Lindsey asked.

  “And there she goes, changing the subject from her personal life,” Violet said with a laugh.

  “Nice to know marriage isn’t going to
change her,” Nancy said. She glanced at Lindsey and said, “And I did know about that. I remember my mother reading ‘A Bunny’s Tale’ in Show magazine and being scandalized. Well, she acted scandalized. It came out in the May and June issues in sixty-three, and my mother was chomping at the bit for the June issue.”

  “That was the same year The Feminine Mystique and The Bell Jar were published,” Violet said. “Those were some wild times.”

  Lindsey watched Nancy and Violet exchange a knowing look. She wondered whether the world was what they thought it would be on the other side of their youth—but then, did anyone’s life work out as they expected?

  “Speaking of wild times, how are things working out for the Milsteins now that Sarah has been charged with the murder of Chad Bauman and the attempted murder of Theresa Huston?” Paula asked.

  “They are moving ahead with the wedding,” Lindsey said. “And according to Theresa, they’ve decided to postpone their big honeymoon until they can take Liza with them.”

  “I saw Liza the other day, and she looked, well, like someone who has just suffered a severely traumatic experience,” Paula said. “And having been the center of a homicide investigation myself, I could relate.”

  “Poor kid,” Beth said. “She spent her whole life wondering what happened to her mother, and then out of the blue, her mother finds her and manipulates her with a pack of lies and makes her an accessory to murder.”

  “I heard they are working with the district attorney,” Charlene said. She poured herself a glass of lemonade. “She’ll likely be cleared so long as she testifies against her mother.”

  “Oh, that’s awful,” Violet said. She glanced at her daughter. “You’d never testify against me, would you?”

  Charlene studied her mother over the rim of her cup. “Do you even have to ask?”

  Violet grinned. “That’s my girl.”