Chapter Sixteen
“Who the hell are you?” Trevor snarled. His upheld hand must have been getting tired. I watched it begin to wobble.
“Obviously someone with more sense than you. Now kindly lower that blade before somebody gets hurt.”
Aunt Peg was bigger than Trevor, and her presence was twice as commanding. Most people knew better than to stand up to her, especially when she was in a fury, as she most certainly was now. I could see Trevor’s resolve begin to waver.
“You can’t tell me what to do,” he said, sounding like a whiny baby.
Lucia must have thought so too, because I saw her roll her eyes. The jeopardy was still real, but the energy in the room had shifted with Aunt Peg’s arrival. Trevor’s menacing demeanor was rapidly disintegrating. I could almost see him deflating under her withering glare.
“If you weren’t such a ninny, I wouldn’t need to,” Aunt Peg said sharply. “So, what’s your plan? And please don’t tell me you don’t have one.”
“Trevor was just leaving,” I said.
“Excellent idea.” Aunt Peg stepped to one side. “I recommend we get out of the way and let him get on with it.”
Slowly Trevor lowered his hand. He shifted back, loosening his grip on Lucia’s arm. Still holding out the knife, he looked around at the three of us as if he was afraid we might decide to rush him.
Fat chance of that. I was pretty sure I could hear the sound of a siren in the distance. Another minute and Trevor Pine would cease to be my problem.
The moment Trevor released Lucia, I grabbed her and hauled her across the narrow hallway. At first she stumbled slightly in surprise. Then she scampered quickly around to my other side. Now I was between her and Trevor. That made both of us feel better.
“I’m leaving now,” he announced, then paused, as if he thought Lucia might beg him to stay. Or maybe volunteer to go with him.
Fortunately, Lucia was smarter than that. She simply pointed toward the door and said, “Go.”
Trevor looked at her one last time, then scuttled past Aunt Peg and took off running. He threw the door open and raced outside. I hoped a police cruiser was nearby, waiting for him.
Aunt Peg stepped over to where Lucia and I were standing. Using just the tips of her fingers, she gently grasped Lucia’s chin and tilted it upward. The skin underneath was smooth and unmarked. Trevor’s knife hadn’t made contact. We all sighed with relief.
Then Aunt Peg looked at me. “Now that the stupid young man is out of the way, we can get to more important things. I believe there’s a dog here who needs my assistance. Where’s Cider the Chow?”
* * *
Cider was back from his trip to Peg’s vet in time for dinner.
My guess had been correct. The Chow wasn’t sick or injured, he’d merely been sedated by Trevor, who’d then used Cider’s impaired state as an excuse to get Lucia to summon me to the store. Trevor was desperate for her to retract the things she’d told me earlier. Obviously his plan had backfired.
When Aunt Peg, Lucia, and I emerged from the store, we saw that Trevor had already been detained by the police. His arrest was made official later that afternoon. Aunt Peg said I should have been suspicious of him from the start. She maintained that only someone whom the Chow already knew would have had an opportunity to harm Mr. Willet.
Trevor Pine’s lawyer entered a plea of temporary insanity. He’s claiming that the threat of losing Lucia caused Trevor to become unhinged and act in a way he never would have otherwise. It remains to be seen what the court, and a jury, will make of that. Lucia and I are both willing to testify about Trevor’s real reason for wanting to marry her, if it becomes necessary.
Much to Lucia’s delight, Cider now belongs to her. The Chow is settled in his new home, and he’s become the dog she always wanted.
“How does Julia feel about that?” I asked. Her comments about hairy beasts with big teeth were still fresh in my mind.
“She’s learning to adapt. There’s been so much upheaval in both our lives recently that she’s willing to cut me a little slack. Plus, I think she feels guilty that she was so very wrong about Trevor.” Lucia looked downcast. “As was I.”
“You’re young, and you were in love,” I said. “It’s true what they say about rose-colored glasses. Emotion prompts lots of people to make mistakes.”
“I’m just glad the whole experience is behind me,” she replied. “I’m looking forward to what’s ahead.”
Lucia had an upcoming meeting with Mr. Hanover, courtesy of Harriet. I hoped the headmaster would feel as positive about her prospects as I did. And if by some chance he didn’t, I was sure Julia would get to work again, pulling more strings until she’d settled things to her satisfaction.
I later heard that Julia also met with Stash about his upcoming lease renewal. She ended up offering him a long-term lease at favorable terms. In exchange, Stash promised to personally cut and style her hair as long as they did business together. That seemed like a good deal to me.
Harriet and I wrapped up the Thanks for Giving fundraiser just in time for the Thanksgiving holiday. The event was an enormous success. Not only did the school raise a large sum of money for its scholarship fund, but having our students engage with Greenwich shopkeepers earned us a significant amount of goodwill locally.
The sixth-grade class collected the greatest number of pumpkin spice tokens. They were named winners of the treasure hunt, and a party was held in their honor. During the event, all the students who had participated were given the opportunity to exchange their tokens for prizes.
Harriet and I were in charge of refreshments. Naturally we chose pumpkin spice as our theme. With autumn just about over, everyone was delighted to have a chance to savor the seasonal flavor one last time. Our cookies, muffins, and ice cream were a huge hit.
Once the fundraiser was behind me, Thanksgiving was next on my agenda. Aunt Peg was coming to our house for dinner. She’d volunteered to bring dessert. I was cooking the rest of the meal. By late morning, I had a twelve-pound turkey in the oven. That left plenty of time for me to work on my side dishes.
Then Aunt Peg arrived, and all my careful planning went out the window. Overnight, we’d had our first snowstorm of the year. The air outside was crisp and cold, and we had six inches of snow on the ground.
A frigid blast entered the house along with Aunt Peg. She stood in our front hall surrounded by five excited dogs and two excited children, and clapped her mitten-clad hands to get everyone’s attention.
“Who’s ready for a snowball fight?” she roared.
“Me!” Kevin cried.
“Me, too,” Davey chimed in. “But I don’t want to be on Mom’s team.”
“Hey!” I said. “What’s the matter with my team?”
“You lose,” Kevin told me sadly. “Every time.”
“I do not.” Well, maybe sometimes. But that was just the law of averages. And the fact that I could hardly vanquish my own children. Sam had no such qualms. He was known as the winner in the family.
“Fine.” I pointed to each of my sons in turn. “You two can be on Dad’s team. Aunt Peg and I will take you on.”
Aunt Peg looked taken aback by that development. Her competitive streak was a mile wide. She hated to lose at anything. “We will?”
“We will,” I said firmly. Tough luck for her. She was the one who’d come up with the idea.
It took ten minutes to get everyone suited up. When Kevin thought he was ready, I added a scarf around his neck and made sure his rubber boots were securely fastened. By the time I was finished, he was so bundled up he could barely move.
Sam said under his breath to me, “You know that’s not going to save you, right?”
“It won’t need to. I’m depending on your innate sense of decency for that. Who are you going to aim at out there, your loving wife or a woman who’s old enough to be your mother?”
All five dogs followed us outside. Faith remained on the deck, but Eve, Tar, Augie, and Bud joined us in the snow-covered yard. The snow was slightly wet and perfect for packing. I was building up an arsenal of snowballs when Aunt Peg picked one up and let fly. It hit Sam squarely in the chest.
He looked surprised when a shower of icy flakes exploded upward into his face. Then he grinned, scooped up a handful of snow, and prepared to retaliate. “Oh, it’s on,” he said.
The yard quickly turned into a melee of barking dogs, flying snowballs, and shrieking children. Or maybe that was mostly me. Thanks to Aunt Peg, she and I were holding our own. Then Bud got into my snowball supply and destroyed half of it. Kevin accidentally tripped his older brother, and they both went down in a heap.
Sam, meanwhile, was reloading. He cocked back his arm and drew a bead on me.
I held up my hands in a gesture of surrender. “Truce!”
“Truce?” Aunt Peg glared at me in outrage. “We were winning!”
“I think it was a tie,” I said.
“I’ll take a tie,” Sam agreed.
The boys didn’t get a vote. They were still rolling around in the snow, along with Tar and Augie, who’d come to join them. They were all going to be cold and wet by the time they were done.
“I’m not agreeing to a tie,” Aunt Peg announced.
The snowball glistened in Sam’s cupped palm. He shifted his aim slightly, then threw it. I ducked, but it wasn’t coming at me. It flew past my head and knocked off Aunt Peg’s hat.
“Care to reconsider?” Sam asked.
Davey looked up and crowed, “Good one, Dad!”
“That was unfair,” Aunt Peg said.
“I think not.” Sam was grinning again. The top of his jacket was unzipped, and his eyelashes glittered with a coating of ice. He looked wonderful. “All’s fair in love and snowball fights.”
“Then I guess it’s a tie,” Aunt Peg decided. “Now what’s for dinner?”
“Turkey!” Kevin giggled. He stood up and brushed off his pants. “It’s Thanksgiving.”
“What’s for dessert?” I asked Aunt Peg. She’d been carrying a box when she arrived, but I didn’t know what was inside.
“Pumpkin spice pie,” she said. “You’re going to love it.”