Dad, Huckleberry, and I rode back to town in my convertible with the top down. The wind blew through what was left of my father’s hair. He looked quite pleased with himself, as did the pug on his lap.
“I can see why you like a car like this. It’s nice to sit in sunshine. It’s hard to believe in a few months it will be dark by this time in the evening,” Dad said.
I smiled at him. “It may not be the most practical car for Michigan when winter comes. Maybe I should sell it and get something more suitable.”
“No, if you do that, I won’t get to ride in it again. At my age, I will take all the simple joys I can find, even if it’s just sitting in a car with the sun on my head. You can use my truck in the winter.”
I glanced at him. “Thanks, Dad.”
He nodded as if that was the end of the conversation.
I let out a breath. Something had shifted between us for the better. I was hopeful we could be a real family again after all. Making amends with my cousin would be the last piece of the puzzle, but that would have to wait until after the town council meeting.
It was taking all my courage to go to this meeting when I knew the whole town was gossiping about me. I also knew I was already on thin ice with Mayor Loyal and Chief Randy. I had to convince them both my father and I were innocent.
I dropped Dad and Huckleberry at the front door of the town hall. After I parked the car, I walked around to the front of the building. I expected Connie to be waiting at the door, ready to ask questions. Now that I had seen her skills at work on more than one occasion, I could see why she’d held her job at the front desk so long. Not much got by her when she was present.
When I opened the door, Connie wasn’t there. Instead, dozens of people stood outside a room that had its double doors wide open. The detective in me surmised this must be the location of the meeting.
I looked at my cell phone. I was ten minutes early for the meeting, but it was already standing room only.
Weaving around the crowd and earning some dirty looks in the process, I wriggled my way to the door where I was able to peek into the room.
The meeting was in the old conference room of the building. It was a large room close to the size of the bottom floor of the farmhouse, but still not large enough for the number of people who squeezed themselves inside. Considering that the fire department was also in this building, I was surprised no one had complained yet over what was a clear fire code violation.
Minnie and a group of women were in one corner of the large room. I guessed it was the gathering of the Women’s League for the Betterment of Cherry Glen. I ducked my head, hoping she wouldn’t see me. This really wasn’t the place to be called out as a murderer.
I spotted Shannon at the front of the room, sitting on the riser next to the mayor. The two of them chatted happily. There were four other men and women on the risers who I guessed comprised the rest of the council. Baker leaned against the wall nearby as if waiting to be called forward.
I was surprised Shannon was here. She had told me she didn’t want to pursue the wind farm. Had she changed her mind?
People shifted uncomfortably next to me as the minutes ticked by. After what seemed like forever, the mayor stood. “I call this meeting of the Cherry Glen town council to order.”
The crowd quieted down, and the mayor smiled as if he was pleased by their reaction to his calling the meeting to order.
I scanned the room for Dad and Huckleberry but didn’t see them anywhere. I glanced behind me into the overflow crowd in the lobby. I didn’t see them there either.
The mayor cleared his throat. “We have a number of items on the agenda tonight, but I think most of you are here about our decision over the Cherry Glen Wind Farm. We will address that first.”
A murmur ran through the room, and it sounded like the buzzing of bees.
He gestured to his son. “Baker, our town planner, will outline what the proposal is.”
Baker pushed himself off the wall and stepped up onto the riser. “Thank you, Mr. Mayor. The proposal is for a wind farm in Cherry Glen. It would be located on the Bellamy Farm. Sully Bellamy refused to sell his land, and the Crocker Company requested we pass an ordinance that forces him to do so. That’s what the council is voting on tonight.”
My stomach tightened. I was about to learn the fate of my farm. The very notion of which was ludicrous! Why hadn’t my father told me that we—our family’s legacy—was in so much trouble? This wasn’t about just putting up turbines; it was about usurping our very heritage. If I’d known that was what this meeting was about, I could have tried to stop it. Surely, I would’ve been granted the opportunity to speak, to do something.
The press of people—of these circumstances—crowded in with the weight of a dozen combines, and I felt my chest tightening, my hands going cold. The panic was escalating.
“Bird killer!” There was a shout from the middle of the room. Even though I couldn’t see her because she was so small, I recognized the voice as Hedy’s.
I stood there in a state of denial and concentrated on breathing my next breath.
“Ms. Strong,” the mayor said. “There is no reason for outbursts like that.”
I thought I might have an outburst of my own! Wasn’t there some due process? I was the owner of the land on paper and paid the taxes. Shouldn’t I have been formally approached about these things? If my father had so much as breathed a whisper of these happenings, I’d never even have given Crocker the time of day. He must’ve had quite the laugh over his good fortune and my stupidity.
“I think you, Ms. Strong, and many in the town”—he glanced in my direction—“will be very happy with the news that we are about to hear.” He nodded to Shannon. “Do you wish to tell them, Mrs. Crocker?”
Shannon didn’t stand but said in a clear loud voice, “I have inherited the Crocker Company, and I have canceled the project. Neither the town nor the Bellamy family need worry about it any longer.”
A cheer rang up in the crowded room while others shouted out questions, asking Shannon why she decided to cancel the project. She ignored all of them. I made no sound as relief flooded my body.
As the council moved on to the next agenda item, I wrestled my way out of the room. I needed some space as the full enormity of all this hit me. I walked straight out of the building and stood on the sidewalk, breathing in the humid summer evening air. The sun was just beginning to lower itself in the western sky. It would be another two hours before it completely set.
The door behind me opened, and Shannon Crocker came out. I noticed she was wearing one of the dresses I had seen in the boutique in Traverse City. Apparently, the shopping trip had been a success.
I was about to say hello to her when she pointed at the telephone pole a few feet away. “Oh my God! Fluffy!”
I stared at her. “Fluffy?”
Fluffy seemed like such a provincial name for Esmeralda, but I didn’t say so.
She ripped the paper from the pole. “I’ve been looking all over for this cat. I thought it was somewhere in Jefferson’s mansion, just hiding from me.” She stared at the paper. “Your name is on here. You’re the one who found the cat.”
“I didn’t. Hazel Killian did. She’s the police chief’s granddaughter. I told her I would spread the word about the cat because she looked like she was someone’s pet.”
“She was. She was Jefferson’s cat, and he doted on her like he had never doted on me even when we were together.” She scowled at the paper.
“You don’t want the cat?” I asked.
“No, I don’t want the cat. I’m allergic. That’s why it was a full day before I realized the cat was missing. I was planning to take her to the shelter.”
My heart sank at the very idea of Esmeralda in a shelter. “You don’t have to do that. I can keep her, or I know Hazel Killian would if her dad allows it. Either way, she has a good home with one of us.”
“Really? You’d take her? That would be a relief. There’re so many things I need to tie up since Jefferson died and would like to have this off my plate.”
“Consider it off,” I said happily. “Es—Fluffy is at my farm right now.”
She smiled. “You know, you aren’t so bad, and you should know I tore up the contract you had with my husband. You don’t have to worry about that any longer.”
I stared at her. “You’re going to let me out of the contract?”
“I sure am. He never gave you any money, and I don’t want the land for the wind farm. The whole idea is moot. Besides, the contract did say if either party was unable to continue with the agreement, it would be null and void. Consider it done.”
I stared at her with tears gathering in my eyes. I was speechless. Completely speechless.
She narrowed her eyes. “Are you crying?”
“No, I’m not.” I forced back the tears. “Thank you. I can’t thank you enough for what you’ve done. It’s a great relief to me, and it will be to my father too.”
I still needed money to save the farm, but I would find another way to get it. The more I could distance myself and the farm from Crocker and his murder, the better.
“It’s nice to know I’ve made someone happy.” She smoothed the front of her dress. “I plan to do more of that. It actually feels sort of nice.” She walked away.
I watched her leave with a bewildered expression on my face.
Dad and Huckleberry came out the front door of the town hall. “Land sakes, there is not enough room in there to breathe.” Dad struggled with the door, his walker, and the pug leash.
I hurried over to him, held the door, and unraveled Huckleberry’s leash from his walker. “Dad, you should have waited for me outside.”
People were starting to trickle out of the town hall. I didn’t know if the meeting was over or they had only been there to see how the wind farm issue would pan out.
“If I did that, I would have never gotten a seat. The place was packed.”
“I know. I stayed just long enough for the vote about the wind farm.”
“Or non-vote,” Dad said. “I’m very happy with the outcome.”
“Dad, why didn’t you tell me it was going to come to this? Why didn’t you tell me we could have completely lost the farm?”
He sighed and shuffled along the sidewalk behind his walker. “I was afraid you wouldn’t come back. I pushed away your ideas for so long, I didn’t think you would forgive that. And if it was a lost cause, why would you come back from California at all? You had built a good life for yourself there. If we lost the farm, I had nothing to offer you here.”
“Dad, you’re here. That’s enough. For years, you told me everything was fine and it was all right for me to stay away. I know you thought you were being kind, but if you needed me, I would have come running.”
He wouldn’t look at me. “I know that, but after Logan died, it felt selfish to ask you to come back and face painful memories.”
I stepped aside as a group of townsfolk walked by. “I shouldn’t have stayed away for so long. I know that now.”
He reached out and squeezed my hand. “Then we both learned something.”