Wedding Cake

by Josi S. Kilpack

  “You can search the apartment yourself now that you have probable cause to believe she was involved in this, can’t you?” Shawn added.

  “They have a point,” Pete said to Malloy.

  “I’ll have to talk to the task force about that,” Malloy said. “This is out of my hands. I can’t be the one making decisions on how we move forward without clearance from higher-ups. All this has sufficiently painted me into a corner.”

  “You have to call the task force?” Pete asked, his shoulders slumped.

  “You know I do. These are federal charges.” He let out a heavy breath, and Sadie felt a teeny tiny bit of sympathy for him. “As lousy as all this is—and it’s lousy—the fact that all three of you have been targeted shows a pattern. I only hope the DA sees it that way. This whole thing is so unprecedented I can’t begin to guess how we’ll proceed.”

  Pete let out a breath. “What do you need from me?”

  “I need to call the task force, and you need to come to the station and give a statement. Do we have your permission to search the house?”

  “Absolutely not,” Pete said, though his tone was casual and Malloy didn’t seem surprised. “I’m calling an attorney and will talk to you after I’ve consulted with him.”

  Pete had told Sadie before that no one should ever consent to a search or talk to the police without an attorney present. It seemed odd to Sadie that Pete would be so certain of this—especially since it complicated his job when he was the investigating officer and the suspects asked for these same things—but she felt she understood a bit better now that she was watching the situation unfold. What if Jane had placed other things in the house in order to frame Pete? An attorney would protect Pete’s rights and hopefully get things cleared up quicker. She chose not to think of the expense of an attorney or the impact a federal investigation against Pete would make on their immediate future.

  “I think I should take Sadie in too,” Malloy said. “I don’t want them to suspect preferential treatment.”

  Pete shook his head. “I think my situation oversteps hers,” he said. “I’d like her left out of this as long as possible.”

  Malloy vacillated, but then nodded. “I’ll do what I can.”

  “Thank you,” Pete said, and Sadie felt herself soften toward Malloy even more. This situation was so incredibly complicated. She didn’t wish to be in Malloy’s shoes as he tried to figure out how to handle it.

  “Make whatever calls you need to make,” Pete said. “Can I talk to Shawn and Sadie while you do so?”

  “For a minute,” Malloy said.

  Pete nodded, then crossed to Sadie. He put a hand on her upper arm and guided her a few yards away from Malloy so he couldn’t overhear. Shawn followed, and when they came to a stop, Pete looked between both of them before focusing his attention on Sadie. “It’s going to be okay,” he said.

  His calmness annoyed her. “You don’t have to patronize me. This is bad.”

  “It is bad, but it will also be okay. We have enough information against Jane that they’ll be able to prove this was a frame. It will just be ugly for a little while. There’s a lot of procedural stuff they need to untangle.”

  “How long is a little while? We’re supposed to get married tomorrow. We’re supposed to have our kids together for a barbeque in three hours at a house I’m not allowed to go back to and your house is a crime scene.” She realized how angry she sounded and shook her head by way of apology before she spoke again. “I’m sorry, I just can’t believe this is happening.”

  Pete didn’t reply to anything she’d said, but instead asked, “What did you get from the apartment?”

  Sadie hesitated, realizing that she’d mentioned finding the lights but hadn’t told him anything else.

  Pete interpreted her hesitation correctly and explained, “I called the station to ask about the tip, but of course they wouldn’t tell me. But they did say you were brought in for taking items from an apartment on Stanicker. I can only assume you got a lead and found Jane’s apartment.”

  He wasn’t mad? Sadie didn’t waste time celebrating that fact and told him about the lights first—since that was directly tied to his situation—and then explained what she’d taken from the apartment.

  “But the police took it all, and Malloy says they can’t use it because we obtained it illegally,” Shawn added. “Is that true?”

  “Maybe.” Pete glanced at Shawn before looking at Sadie again. “Did you learn anything important before the police confiscated the items?”

  It took Sadie a moment to shift gears. “I found information from prescription bottles—a name and a pharmacy. I didn’t tell Malloy. The bottles were Velcroed under the toilet lid, so I left them there but took pictures.”

  “Excellent.” He looked at Shawn. “Can you track the name on the prescription?”

  “Absolutely,” Shawn said with a sharp nod.

  “Good,” Pete said. “Dig as deep as you can on your own as quickly as possible. Update the Facebook page and—”

  “They made me take my name off it,” Shawn said. “Any leads will go to the police now.”

  “But they didn’t make you take it down, and you’re still the owner of the page, right? The police didn’t take your log-in info?”

  Shawn shook his head.

  “Good, then keep working it. Keep the pressure on Jane even if the tips are relayed to the police department. The more people who know who she is and the fewer places she has to hide, the stronger we get.” He turned to Sadie. “And don’t cancel the barbeque.”

  Sadie pulled her eyebrows together. “Don’t cancel it? Malloy told me I can’t go home until the bug is cleared.”

  “We don’t want to have it there. Call my kids and tell them what’s going on. I’ve sent them a couple of updates throughout the day so they know things have been crazy. You said Liam had offered to hire a security company, right? Ask him to call Allen Security out of Denver. He’ll need to call right away for them to get here in time. Tell him to ask for Troy.”

  “I think we should cancel it,” Sadie said. “After all this I—”

  “Cunningham,” Malloy said from the other side of the yard. “We’d better get to the station.”

  Pete’s hand on Sadie’s arm tightened, the only evidence of his tension, but he kept talking. “She’s going after all of us so there’s no point in hiding. If she thinks we’re going on as though everything’s normal, she’s likely to become more and more daring with what she does. You’ve cut her off from her apartment, which is going to make her mad, and we’ve taken away her anonymity around town. Those two things might make her desperate enough to act rashly. I know it doesn’t feel like it, but we’re gaining ground here, we can’t let up now.”

  “Cunningham,” Malloy said again.

  Pete held Sadie’s gaze. “I’ll call you as soon as I can, hopefully before the barbeque, but we can’t let her think she’s winning.” He leaned forward and lowered his voice even more. “Don’t go through Malloy anymore, things are too complicated for him.”

  “Cunningham,” Malloy said a third time, louder.

  Pete straightened. “I’m coming,” he said in a normal tone. He moved his hand from Sadie’s arm to the back of her neck and leaned in, kissing her fast and hard. When he pulled back, he looked into her eyes and Sadie felt emotion rise in her throat. “It’s going to be okay,” he said again, but his smile was too false to be taken at face value. He looked at Shawn. “You’re not to let her out of your sight, okay?”

  “Okay,” Shawn said.

  Pete looked back at Sadie and held her eyes long enough for Malloy to call his name again. “I love you,” he said in barely more than a whisper. He turned and headed toward Malloy. “Let’s go,” he said in his official voice. “The sooner we get started on this, the sooner it’ll be over.”

  Chapter 18

  Sadie was usually good about snapping into action and focusing on the job at hand, regardless of the job that needed doing. But s
he was silent and introspective for the drive home from Pete’s house, and Shawn didn’t push her. They weren’t going to stay there—as much as it galled her, she agreed the hotel was likely the best place for them to go—but she needed her overnight bag. And she wanted to make sure the house was locked up so that Malloy would be forced to call her when his crew showed up. She wanted to be there when they went inside the house.

  “We could have the family dinner at Farley Park,” Sadie said once they were closer to home. “They have those charcoal pits Pete’s kids can use in place of the grill.” She didn’t want to say out loud how much she did not want to do this dinner. She was already so wound up and stressed, trying to make nice with people at a party felt beyond her. But Pete wanted it, and she understood its purpose.

  “That’s a good idea,” Shawn said. “Can you reserve the pavilion this close to game time?”

  “I hope so.” When she’d reserved it in the past for different community or church events she’d been involved in, she’d always had weeks’ worth of lead time. “I’ll grab the Garrison phone book at the house and call Lynette at parks and rec.” Sadie glanced at the clock on the dashboard: 3:50.

  Shawn nodded his agreement. Sadie pulled out her phone and called Breanna. She should have landed a couple of hours ago. Why hadn’t she checked in before now?

  “Hey, Mom,” Breanna said when she answered. Was there a hesitation in her voice or was Sadie’s paranoia on overdrive? Or both? Could Jane have interfered with Breanna the same way she’d created problems for Sadie, Shawn, and Pete today?

  “Hi. Is everything okay? You didn’t call when you landed.” There was a pause and Sadie tensed. “Breanna?”

  “I didn’t call because I didn’t want you to tell me to stay in Denver.”

  “What?”

  “We picked up our rental car and hit the road.” She took a breath and then spoke quickly. “I know you didn’t want us to come, but Liam and I talked about it the whole flight and we want to help. Neither of us felt okay about waiting in Denver. Maggie said she was fine getting her own car since she’d reserved one anyway and that she’d come as soon as she landed. We love you, Mom. We don’t want you to face this alone.”

  Sadie didn’t know what to say. She didn’t want to discount Breanna’s feelings, but having both her children here added stress all the same. But they were already on their way, and in truth, she couldn’t wait to see them. “How close are you?”

  “We’re just coming up on the Jackson exit,” Breanna said.

  “So you’re an hour out?” Liam had to have been speeding to make that kind of time but Sadie chose not to reprimand him.

  “Yeah. Don’t be mad, okay?”

  “I’m not mad,” Sadie said, her voice soft and a bit choked up. “I was going to tell you to come, so I’m relieved you’re almost here.”

  She could feel the relief in Breanna’s voice when she said she was glad to hear that. Then Breanna asked what had happened since they talked last, and Sadie’s heaviness returned. She told Breanna about the failed break-in of Jane’s apartment and the marijuana plants at Pete’s—again it was an unbelievable story to tell. It felt even more unbelievable to tell her that Pete insisted they hold the barbeque anyway. She felt sure someone was going to validate her own concerns and argue against the party, but Breanna seemed to find it completely reasonable to continue on as normal.

  “We’d like to take Liam up on his offer to hire a security company.” Sadie felt silly asking him to do it, she wasn’t impoverished and could probably afford it, but Pete had told her to ask Liam, and she couldn’t deny that it would be a relief not to have to coordinate it herself. She relayed the details to her daughter.

  “That’s great,” Breanna said. “Allen Security?”

  “Yes. But they’re out of Denver, and the barbeque is in less than three hours so I don’t know if they can do it. Maybe Pete knows someone out of Fort Collins or—”

  “We’ll call Allen first and talk to them about it,” Breanna cut in. “Is the barbeque still at 7:30? Will you text me the address for Farley Park when we finish this call? I know how to get there, but the security company will need the physical address.”

  “Yes, it’s still at 7:30,” Sadie confirmed. “And I’ll text you the address. Thank you for doing this.”

  “No problem,” Breanna said. “We’ll let you know the progress we make, and we’ll see you soon.”

  Sadie hung up feeling a little better and answered Shawn’s questions as they finished the drive. As soon as Shawn turned into Peregrine Circle, Sadie noticed an unfamiliar vehicle parked in the driveway and felt herself tense up. It was red, so it probably wasn’t an unmarked police vehicle, but Sadie couldn’t think of anyone else who should be at her house. An instant later she saw a large sign planted in her front yard with balloons tied to the upper corners. Sadie squinted and read the bright blue words on the sign:

  Honk! I’m getting married!

  “What on earth?” Sadie said under her breath as Shawn slowed at the curb.

  “Is that Gayle?” Shawn asked, pointing out the passenger window.

  On the driveway stood Gayle, Sadie’s best friend who had moved to Kauai over a year ago to help Sadie out after an emotional crisis, had fallen in love with Sadie’s former therapist, and had gotten married on the North Shore six months ago. Life really was stranger than fiction sometimes—no one would ever believe that kind of thing in a novel.

  “Gayle!” Sadie said and threw open her door. She jumped out and hurried toward her friend who could not have arrived at a better moment. Gayle met her halfway and they embraced tightly. “You said you couldn’t make it,” Sadie said as they pulled back from one another.

  She glanced past Gayle’s shoulder to see Dr. McKay, her old therapist, stepping out of what must be a rental car. He wore a colorful Hawaiian shirt and khaki shorts—the standard outfit he’d worn during each of Sadie’s sessions with him in Kauai. Not for the first time, Sadie wondered if he owned any other type of clothing. When she and Pete had gone to Kauai for the wedding in January, he’d told them to call him Bill, but Sadie hadn’t been able to make the transition yet.

  “I wanted it to be a surprise,” Gayle said, smiling proudly. Her hair was as red and curly as ever, and she’d stopped wearing the colored contacts she used to wear every day. Her brown eyes lit up every time she looked at her new husband, which more than made up for whatever she might have lost giving up the colored lenses. “And I’ve been needing to come home and take care of the house now that my kids have picked it over, I’m sure. Most important, of course, is that I’m here because you’re getting married!” She ended her words with a squeal, a sound closely followed by the honk of a car horn.

  Sadie jumped and looked around; the honk had come from the main road that ran to the east side of her house. She caught sight of a red VW bug before it disappeared from sight.

  “Everyone wants to celebrate with you!” Gayle said, clapping her hands together.

  Sadie was confused until Gayle waved toward the sign and Sadie read it again. Even then it took a second for it to download—Gayle had put the sign in the yard so people would . . . honk? Another car honked its horn.

  Sadie waved at the driver politely but felt her neck heat up all the same. This kind of thing wasn’t really her style even though the sentiment was sweet.

  “You can’t take it down,” Gayle said, putting her hand on Sadie’s arm and giving it a little shake. “Promise me you won’t.”

  Whatever embarrassment Sadie felt was quickly overshadowed by the fact that Gayle had come all this way to be a part of Pete and Sadie’s day, and she’d found a way to put her own little stamp on things. Sadie shook her head, unable to hold back a smile. “You must lie awake at night trying to think of things to be obnoxious about.”

  Gayle’s smile didn’t falter; in fact, she might have smiled a bit bigger. “Nah, it comes to me pretty easily. Besides, I didn’t get to help with anything else for the weddi
ng, so this is my contribution.”

  Shawn joined them on the sidewalk, prompting Gayle to give him a quick hug too. After Shawn and Dr. McKay had been introduced to one another, Gayle said she and her new husband would be spending about three weeks in Garrison. She’d been living in Kauai for over a year and had resident status, but she wanted to sell the house in Garrison and make the relocation permanent in everyone’s minds. Apparently, her kids kept thinking she was going to come back.

  “I promised them I’d cover the flights for their families to come see me once a year and that settled them down a little. Plus between Skype and Facebook, it’s easy to keep in touch. I plan to come twice a year for extended visits too, of course. It’s good for them to stand on their own two feet a bit more; I’ve always babied my girls.”

  Sadie had often felt that Gayle overcompensated for her divorce by involving herself in the lives of her daughters and their families too much, but she had never said so before and certainly wasn’t going to now.

  “And I’m so excited to be at your wedding,” Gayle said, smiling broadly. Gayle had promised to be at their wedding when Sadie told her about Pete’s proposal, but a week later said she couldn’t make it. Sadie had understood—it was such a distance to travel—so having her here now was surreal.

  At least until Sadie remembered all that had happened today. She felt her smile fall.

  “What’s wrong?” Gayle asked, concerned. “I can still come, can’t I? It wasn’t one of those RSVP or there won’t be a seat, was it?”

  “No,” Sadie said, putting her hand on Gayle’s arm. “I mean, yes, you can still come. It’s just that things are kind of complicated.”

  “Complicated how?” Gayle asked, pulling back slightly. “Don’t tell me you called it off.”

  “No, but—”

  “Jane’s back,” Shawn cut in.

  Gayle gasped. Dr. McKay, standing behind his new wife, lifted his eyebrows. As Sadie’s former therapist, he knew about Jane too.

  “She’s back?” Gayle said, her expression one of pure fear. “I thought she was gone for good.”