“Well, that’s not smart. How can I go home if the tires are slashed?” A mix of anger and fear jolted through my veins. Why would anyone do this? Why to me?
I ran back into the house. “Everything okay?” Keisha asked from the front desk.
“Unfortunately, no. Do you have a camera back there? Or can I borrow your phone?” Not having a phone was becoming increasingly inconvenient. I’d need to get that fixed shortly.
Keisha handed me her phone. I called the police and explained what had happened. She listened with wide eyes. While I waited for them, she came with me outside, and we took photos of the damage.
“Do you think we should cover it or something?” Keisha asked, looking around the neighborhood. The vandalized car stuck out amidst the perfectly manicured neighborhood of pristine historic houses. I didn’t want the Wildflower Inn to stick out in such a negative way.
“Probably. But not until after the police come back. I don’t know what they’re going to say.”
Deputy Torres arrived within a few minutes. He whistled low upon seeing the car. “That wasn’t like that when we left earlier.” He circled around KG. “And you don’t have any idea who would do this?”
“Not a clue. I only got to town yesterday.”
“Feels longer than that,” he said. I wasn’t sure how to interpret his tone, but he didn’t seem happy. “I’m going to need to tell Detective Gupta about this.”
“You think it’s involved with Tess and Rory?”
“You think it’s not?” He looked incredulous. He turned to Keisha. “Where’s Azalea?”
“Down the hall. Putting Violet down for bed.” He continued to stare at her. “Oh, okay. Yeah, why don’t I go get her? She’ll probably want to know about this.” He nodded.
As Keisha headed back into the house, Deputy Torres came up to me. “You’ve rankled someone pretty hard.”
“Yeah, but who? Why?” I tried to balance on the curb. The ground on either side felt like a pool of lava that was ready to melt me. Why would anyone care this much about me?
He chewed on his bottom lip. “Sure is a pretty car. You kept it without trouble in D.C.?”
“Never had an issue before. The neighborhood around my apartment is pretty quiet.”
Capitol Hill was a busy place, and although I wouldn’t leave any doors unlocked there, I hadn’t encountered any issues. My street was tucked away from the main drives and felt more residential than downtown. I had a pleasant mix of neighbors who kept an eye out for each other. I’d never felt unsafe there.
“That must be nice. You must miss your home.”
“Well, sure. But even with everything going on, it’s been nice to see Azalea again.”
He nodded but said nothing at first. Then he said, “You know, you’d think D.C. would be a busier place than Rose Mallow.”
“Yeah, it is.” I didn’t care for his tone. My hands found their way to my hips.
“Normally very quiet around here. We rarely have any trouble.” He looked up and down the street pointedly. I followed his gaze. There were a few people working on their gardens and a couple walking dogs, but otherwise, it was the definition of peaceful.
“I’d imagine not.” I tried to keep my tone neutral, but I don’t think I succeeded.
“Bet you’re eager to get back to the city. Probably quieter there than it’s been here for the past, oh, I’d say, twenty-four hours or so.” He waved his hand to punctuate his comment about time.
“Deputy Torres, is there a point you’re trying to make?”
He looked me square in the face and said, “Yes, yes, there is. You waltzed into your sister’s life yesterday after being away for a long time. And you brought a whole host of craziness with you.”
My mouth gaped. “What are you talking about?” Not that I didn’t know how chaotic things had been, but I didn’t see how his accusation was fair.
“She was going through a lot before you came back, and now, instead of taking some of that burden off her shoulders, it seems to me you’re putting more on.” His eyes narrowed as he spoke.
That was a low blow. “Oh.”
“You want to help your sister?”
“Well, yeah, of course.” I wondered if he was pushing at me because he obviously liked Azalea or because he thought I was interfering with the police’s investigation. Not that I had done any investigating, at least not on purpose. But either way, I had obviously struck some sort of nerve with him. And someone else, based on the attack on my car.
“Then I’d suggest you stay out of things. Keep a low profile.”
“I’m not in anything,” I replied.
“Right. Where were you about to go in your car?”
“To grab some dinner. Tomorrow, I’m heading to the boring old historical society. And to get my phone replaced.” I pulled out the broken one.”
“And that’s it?”
“That’s it. See, nothing nefarious. Not stepping on anyone’s toes. I promise.”
He looked at me with suspicion. “Look, if you find anything in the historical society about all this, I want to be the first to know about it.”
“Of course.” I held my hands up in mock surrender.
As I brought them down, Azalea came back out. She took in what happened to my car and proceeded to nearly smother me in a giant hug. Deputy Torres hung back, but he watched us intently.
Over the next half hour, I filled out forms while pictures were taken. After Torres finished up, Keisha found a tarp to drape over KG so the neighbors wouldn’t stare. He checked in with Azalea and then headed out.
The group of us must have drawn our neighbors’ attention anyway, because soon Whitney came out of her grandmother’s house and down to us. She made it down before we got the tarp on, so she saw the full extent of the damage. She whistled and asked, “What happened here?”
“I don’t know. But I guess I’ve upset someone,” I replied.
“Sure looks that way. What’d you do?”
“I honestly have no clue.”
“She did nothing.” Azalea stuck up for me. She came around in front of me and stood there in a classic Superman pose. I was touched. “There’s some crazy person out there.”
Whitney shrugged and looked away. “I don’t think people do these kinds of things without a reason.”
“What reason could there be to do this?” Azalea asked. I wondered how often she had confrontations with Whitney and her grandmother. That couldn’t be fun to do regularly.
“No idea. But it seems to me like you’ve ticked someone off pretty good,” Whitney said as she turned to me. I saw a smile trying to burst across her face, but she appeared to be trying to tamp it down. Always great to have a next-door neighbor frenemy. “Well, good luck with finding out who you made mad. I’ve got to get going. Need to grab some things from town for Granny. Interviewing a new health aide again tomorrow. Maybe this one will work out.”
“You go through a lot of interviews. Even on a Sunday?” I asked.
Whitney shrugged. “Granny doesn’t trust all these new people. She keeps wanting me to move down here. But I tell her about my job and Georgie and…. She’s too proud to say she doesn’t want anyone else to see her like this.”
“Not the perfect matriarch of Rose Mallow?” My tone was snippy, and Azalea shot me a look, but to my surprise, Whitney seemed unconcerned.
“Yes, essentially. She’s always been about perception, you know?”
To my surprise, I felt a pang of sympathy for Whitney and her grandmother. It had been a shock when Nana Z died, but at least it happened suddenly. She was so strong until the very end, and just like that, she was gone. It had been such a surprise, but at least she hadn’t suffered. I wondered what I would have done if Nana Z had needed help. Sure, Azalea was already here, but she was also married and pregnant. Would I have given up working at the Library of Congress and returned to Rose Mallow to help? I’d like to think so, but honestly, part of me was glad I hadn’t needed to find out.
“Do you want to move back here?” I asked.
Whitney made a face. “I have a life in Annapolis.”
“Sure, but—”
“We’ll find her an aide.” She turned, ending the conversation, and headed back to her grandmother’s house. I must have hit on a soft spot. I hoped they figured out what worked best for them.
“I still need to figure out how to get to the historical society tomorrow,” I said.
“Oh. You can use my bike,” said Keisha.
“That’d be great. Are you sure you won’t need it?”
“I’ll be fine,” Keisha promised.
“Looks like they will open around eleven tomorrow morning,” said Azalea. She had looked up the information on her phone.
A phone. Something else I needed to take care of. Hopefully, places would be open on Sunday. I briefly wondered about sending my boss Greyson, and others at the Library of Congress an email through the Wildflower Inn’s computer about being delayed a bit, but that could wait until I had more information. I didn’t know how long it’d take to repair my car or replace my phone, not to mention that Rory was still missing. I had no idea how much longer I’d be here in Rose Mallow. But I was sure I’d get back before the work week started.
“Hey, it’s Saturday night,” Keisha said.
“Yeah?” I wasn’t sure why that needed an announcement.
“Movie Night. Starts at eight pm.” She did a little shoulder dance.
“You remember Movie Night, right? The town does a weekly movie showing in the summer months out at the Redbud Park,” Azalea said. I had forgotten that tradition, although it’d always been fun to go to as a teen. Redbud Park was at the south end of the boardwalk, past the Wildflower Inn and other historic homes that backed to the walkway and the Chesapeake Bay. It was named for the many beautiful eastern redbud trees planted there.
“What are they showing tonight?” I asked.
Keisha was already checking on her phone. “Too bad. It looks like it’s Hitchcock’s North by Northwest. Old stuff. I prefer when they show things like The Karate Kid.”
“I loved that movie when I was a kid,” I said.
“What do you mean when you were a kid? Was Jaden Smith even born yet?”
I laughed. “Oh, you mean the remake.”
“It’s a remake?” She looked genuinely stunned. I sometimes forgot that cultural references were different for teenagers. I suspected that was the case for Nana Z watching Azalea and me.
“Besides, how can you not love North by Northwest?” I asked. “Or anything with Cary Grant. He’s amazing.”
“Yeah, sure,” she replied, sounding unconvinced. “Honestly, I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything with him in it.”
“Oh, that stings.” I pretended an arrow had pierced my heart. “We definitely have to fix that.”
“I do like North by Northwest a lot, but personally, I prefer Rear Window,” said Azalea. I couldn’t argue with her there. That was also my favorite Hitchcock movie. Even if it didn’t have Cary Grant, it had both Jimmy Stewart and Grace Kelly.
“Do you want to go? I can stay here and watch the inn and Violet,” Keisha said. “Oh, and take Clover too. The park is dog friendly.”
“I’m pretty sure he’s curled up with Violet in bed,” Azalea replied. I would not break that duo up. “Are you sure, Keisha?”
“You’ve had a hard day. Watch a movie. Take your mind off of things.” Keisha practically pushed us away.
“Okay, okay. Yeah, I think a movie might be good. I’ll grab a blanket for us to sit on and meet you in the back garden?” Azalea said to me. She and Keisha headed inside.
I walked away, but that’s when I noticed that no one had picked up that day’s mail, which stuck partially out of the mailbox. I went to grab it to bring into the house. I probably shouldn’t have shuffled through it since it wasn’t mine, but I did it without thinking. There were not one, but three notices from Calverton Bank in the mix. I thought about returning the mail back to its box, but Azalea had reappeared on the wraparound porch.
“I meant to ask if you wanted to bring a snack. I mean, there’s generally a few vendors or food trucks at Movie Night, but I don’t know how good their vegetarian options will be,” she said with a smile. Then she noticed what was in my hand. “What do you have there?”
“Bringing in the mail,” I said.
“Oh, uh, thanks.” She darted down the porch stairs to grab it out of my hands. “I’ll drop these inside.”
“I saw the loan notices,” I said. Azalea paused mid-step, facing away from me. She slowly lowered her lifted foot to the ground. “When I was going through the box with Nana Z’s watercolor journals. I accidentally knocked another box over and saw…”
“You read my mail?” she asked, still not facing me.
“I thought they were Nana Z’s letters.”
“I see.” She paused. Neither of us said anything for a long moment, but she broke first. “Well, what’s done is done. Not like you seeing them makes them suddenly vanish.” She turned back and sat down on the porch step.
Why did I suddenly have a feeling we were going to miss Movie Night? My heart plummeted into my stomach.
“How bad is it?” I asked.
She shrugged. “It’s bad. If I don’t pull things together, I’ll lose the Wildflower Inn. Maybe by the end of the summer.”
“Can I help?” I asked.
Azalea gave a dry laugh. “On a librarian’s salary?”
“Maybe I can help. Who else knows?”
Azalea sighed. “No one. Not Rory. Not our parents. No one.” I opened my mouth to say something, but Azalea cut me off. “And they will not know. I’m going to figure this out.”
“You don’t have to figure it out alone,” I replied.
“Oh, right. What are you going to do? Move down here to help? I’m sorry, Juniper, but I don’t think running an inn is exactly your forte. I’ve seen your cooking and cleaning skills. Unless you know something about marketing and accounting?” Her gaze jabbed deep into the heart of me. I know she wasn’t trying to be mean, just realistic, but her assessment of my skills still stung.
“I can look up resources and help. I am good at researching and finding solutions. And I’ve managed projects, budgets, and people before.” I may have felt defensive, but it was all true. Besides, before I worked in libraries, I had done so many odd jobs in between traveling that I felt like I had a pretty good primer at helping with most businesses. However, I reminded myself that this wasn’t the time to reinforce my resume. Azalea needed help and sympathy.
“Have at it.” She waved her hands, as if washing herself of it all.
I joined her on the porch steps. When she didn’t push away, I placed my right arm around her shoulders. “We’ll figure this out. I promise. Maybe I can sell my townhouse and rent for a bit instead.”
She looked at her feet. “You sold me your half of the inn years ago to pay for that townhouse. I won’t ask for that back.”
“My townhouse isn’t our grandmother’s home. It’s just a place. But we’re getting ahead of ourselves. Maybe it won’t come to that,” I said.
“Maybe.” She didn’t sound convinced.
“Look, we won’t solve this tonight. Do you still want to go to Movie Night? Take your mind off things for a bit?” I stood up, but my sister remained uncertain.
“You really think we can figure this out? I feel so awful worrying about all this when everything with Rory….” She didn’t finish her sentence.
I crouched down beside her. “Yes. We’ll figure this out. And Rory would want you to figure it out as well. Whatever happens between the two of you, I know he wouldn’t want Violet without this home, right?”
“Yeah, that’s true.” She sighed.
“Why didn’t you tell him?” I asked.
She shrugged. “When things started falling apart between us, I, well, I thought I could do this all on my own. I’m not like you. I’ve never lived on my own. I didn’t build up a career, getting to work at the world-famous Library of Congress. So, I wanted to prove to everyone that I could make this inn work.”
“Everyone? Or yourself?”
Azalea nodded. “Both, really. So I don’t want anyone else’s help in fixing this. I will fix it.”
I reached over and hugged her. At first, she stiffened, but then she relaxed into it and hugged me back.
“I’m sorry,” said Azalea, “But honestly, with everything, I don’t think I’m up for the big town-wide Movie Night.”
“No worries. I have a different idea,” I said. Azalea looked at me with a mix of uncertainty and hope. “We’ll do Movie Night here. That way, Keisha can come too.”
Azalea nodded. She followed me into the house, and we found Keisha to explain.
“Are you sure?” she asked.
“Definitely sure. Where do you guys want to watch a movie?”
“Let’s go into the library,” said Keisha, pointing to the same room where the detective had interviewed me earlier in the afternoon. “There’s a good-sized TV in there, and I can still keep an ear out for the front door if needed. I’ll put up a sign. We should get one of those bells you ding for service.”
“Yeah, we can do that. But you know what we need first?” Azalea asked. Her voice suggested she was warming up to the idea.
“What?” Keisha asked.
“Popcorn. Lots and lots of popcorn. I’ll get started on that if you two pick a movie. We don’t have many DVDs that aren’t for three-year-olds, but we can stream something.”
“Did you want to choose North by Northwest like they’re doing at the park?” asked Keisha. “Or maybe Rear Window, since you both prefer it?”
“I was thinking of something lighter. How about The Karate Kid?” I said as we walked into the library.
“Yes! Wait, which one?”
“I haven’t seen the one with Jaden Smith, so let’s start with that,” I said.
“And then,” Azalea appeared, holding the largest bowl of popcorn I had ever seen. “We’re going to make sure you see something with Cary Grant next.”
This time, it was my turn to squeal out a “Yes!”
“Sounds like a plan,” said Keisha.
We settled in for a long night of movie marathons, popcorn, and eventually ordering a few too many pizzas. I had thought this was something needed mostly for Azalea, but as the three of us got into the movies and food, I realized it was something I had desperately needed as well.