Chapter Thirty-Six
Saturday morning the sun was warm on the town common. It was the perfect day for a garage sale. Yesterday had been a blur of finishing pricing and organizing for today. Harriet had come over to help and let me know that Emil hadn’t been involved in any of this. But Harriet still thought his obsession with The Phantom of the Opera was creepy. I’d been sure it wasn’t him. Relieved that no one had to tell Rosalie that her nephew wasn’t the man she thought he was.
I’d also had to go to the police department to give another statement. I’d found out through Seth that Diego had not only been dating Crystal, but also a woman in Seth’s office and blackmailing someone in the police department.
Towns like Ellington have such small police departments that Diego really would have known if I’d contacted anyone there. I shuddered at the thought. Maybe he had hoped I would. It bugged me that I wouldn’t ever know for sure if I’d saved Stella on my own or if Diego had led me to her. In the end I guess it didn’t matter since she was safe.
I had some guilt to deal with. I’d thought back wondering why Diego would go after Alice. But the morning of her sale I’d invited all of the Titones to attend. They hadn’t shown up, but it was probably why of all the people I knew, Diego had picked Alice. It would take a long time to get over that.
It turned out the kid from Danucci’s with the old eyes was the son of the realtor who had the listing for the Ghannams’ house and the empty store where Diego had left the Alice in Wonderland doll. It was how Diego had known the properties were empty. The kid claimed he’d only made calls. That he had thought it was all a joke and didn’t realize Diego was actually kidnapping and killing people.
However, the kid’s phone records showed he had known about the drug deal going down. The police had also found out that he worked part time at the auction, so he had helped set that up. And he’d been the one to follow me after the auction to try to scare me. He’d never know how well it had worked.
Damaris had gotten hold of me and told me that the anti-Sarah group had disbanded and that she was confident she’d convinced them to make sure they didn’t blame the wrong person for the actions of their loved ones. It confirmed what Louisa had said. I just hoped they were both right. Damaris had also told me I was a lucky woman to be dating Seth. I had gotten the impression that if we ever broke up she’d move in faster than Freud could analyze someone.
I redirected my thoughts to the sale. Tables were loaded with goods to be sold. It was exactly two years since I’d organized a garage sale for Carol. Two years since I’d started a new life. The women from the base stood at the ready. All we needed were customers. It was oddly quiet. I’d never done a sale before where there weren’t a few annoying early birds trying to get the jump on everyone. Harriet was talking to one couple when there should be twenty. A few people had stopped by, but I was worried this fund-raiser wasn’t going to raise any funds.
“Rebecca, I’m sorry,” I said a few minutes later. “I can’t imagine why more people haven’t stopped by yet.” I’d checked my calendar when I had first started planning this event to make sure there weren’t any conflicting events that would keep people from coming.
“It’s okay,” Rebecca said.
Zoey had wanted to have the event on base, but I’d convinced the group that more people would come if we did it on the town common. I couldn’t have been more wrong. I was wrong about Zoey being involved in Stella’s kidnapping too. That was a relief, but I hoped she hadn’t somehow sabotaged this event. Rebecca looked over my shoulder. Her eyes got wide, and her mouth opened. I whirled around, wondering what now.
People were pouring out of the old town hall, led by the DiNapolis. It wasn’t an angry mob coming to boot me out of town. The people carried signs that said “Congratulations on two years of business” and “We love you, Sarah.” I clapped my hands to my mouth. Rebecca tapped my shoulder and pointed to the Congregational church. Its doors were flung open. People were carrying tables out and putting them up. A band set up, and an upbeat tune soon blasted across the common. Other people brought food out of the church.
“Did you know about this?” I asked Rebecca.
She smiled. “I did.”
“Here I was having a panic attack, and you knew all along.”
“Yep. I just love a good surprise.”
The DiNapolis reached me and pulled me in for hugs. We were surrounded by people I loved.
“Thank you,” I managed to choke out. My throat had a lump the size of a serving of Bedford Farms ice cream.
“I’m sorry I tried to set you up with Emil earlier. You’ll always be part of our family, no matter what,” Rosalie said. She looked at Angelo. “He gave me a little talking to about that.”
“We love you, kiddo,” Angelo said. He hadn’t called me that in a long time.
A happy tear rolled down my face. “I love you both too. Thank you for doing all this.” I swept my hand around until it struck a hard chest. Seth. I hadn’t seen him in the crowd.
“It was Seth’s idea,” Angelo said. “He knew what a rough time you’ve had.” Angelo stood looking back and forth between us.
“Let’s give them a moment,” Rosalie said.
“I have a story I want to tell Sarah,” Angelo protested.
“Come on, Angelo. Let’s go make sure the lasagna is hot.” Rosalie winked at me.
“They’d better be hot, or they’re going to find out they messed with the bull.” Angelo put his hands on either side of his head and pointed his index fingers like they were horns. He’d done that one of the first times I had met him. “They don’t want to get the horns,” he said as they walked off.
I turned to Seth. We hadn’t seen each other since yesterday morning. And I’d been worried about how things were between us. While this was a lovely gesture, I realized it might take Seth a while to completely trust me again. “Thank you. I’m almost speechless, and you know that doesn’t happen often.”
Seth kissed me. “You’re welcome. You deserve it. Since I met you, you’ve helped raise Ellington’s profile, brought tourists into town, solved some murders. I thought it was time we thanked you.”
We looked over the town common. People were buying things. Kids were running around. People were eating and laughing. Carol waved to me from a table where she sat with her husband and three kids. It was almost perfect. If only Stella were here. I’d had a message from her that she’d been offered a small part in a movie based on an audition the director of Phantom had recommended her for. She was considering taking the part. I wondered if she’d ever come back.
“What?” Seth asked. “You looked sad for a moment.”
I smiled up at him. “I’m fine.”
“I’m sorry for what I said about you trusting Harriet more than me. Turns out you were right about that, since Diego was using an employee in my office.”
I shook my head. “It wasn’t you I didn’t trust. It was the possibility of someone in your office finding something out. I’m sorry that I made you feel that way.”
“Forgive me?” he asked.
“If you forgive me,” I said.
He kissed me instead of answering.
“I love you.” Once upon a time it had been so hard for me to say that to him. Not anymore.
We heard car doors slam over by my apartment. I turned to see Stella climbing out of Awesome’s car. Seconds later she was running across the grass and flinging her arms around me. It was as if I’d conjured her by thinking about her. I hugged Stella tight.
“I’m back,” she said as we pulled apart.
“Thank heavens. I’ve missed you so much. But what about the movie?”
“I’m going to go back in a few weeks for filming. It’s a small independent film backed by some big names. Can you imagine me in a movie?”
“I can,” I said. “You’ll be wonderful.”
Stella’s green eyes sparkled; her hair shone. Happiness oozed out of her pores—if such a thing could happen. I looked over her shoulder to see Awesome and Pellner standing there.
“Go on, you two,” Stella said, looking at Awesome and Pellner.
“I trust you, Sarah,” Pellner said. His dimple not so deep as to scare me.
“I’d depend on you to find anyone,” Awesome said. “Even if it meant bending some rules.” He glanced down at his shoes for a moment. “I get it. I understand what you did and probably would have done the same thing.”
I nodded slowly. Stella must have done a lot of convincing. “It wasn’t easy. I hope I never have to put anyone in that position again. But thank you.” Even though they had said the right things, I knew it would take some time for them to actually believe it.
“We have a surprise for you,” Awesome said.
“A surprise?” I couldn’t imagine what he was talking about.
Awesome and Pellner looked back at the car and made a “come here” motion with their hands. The back passenger door opened. A foot came out, and then Alice Krandle stood up.
For the second time today I clapped my hands to my mouth for a moment. “How?” I looked at Pellner and Awesome as Alice strode over to us. I turned to Seth. “Did you know?”
He shook his head. “I didn’t.”
“Alice was out for a walk when her house exploded,” Pellner said. “After you and almost everyone else had left the scene, Alice came walking up the sidewalk. I hustled her into the back of my police SUV so no one would see her. I made a snap decision to hide her for a couple of days.”
“Two supposed attempts on her life made the decision for Pellner,” Awesome added. “And he didn’t tell anyone else what he was up to.”
I gave Alice a big hug when she arrived by my side. She stood stiffly accepting the hug and didn’t push me away. She gave me an awkward pat on the shoulder as I breathed in her spearmint chewing gum scent.
“I agreed because I didn’t want the third time to be a charm,” Alice said.
“Where have you been?” I asked.
“I’ve been at the Parker House Hotel in Boston, spoiled rotten with room service and enjoying Parker House rolls and Boston cream pie.”
The Parker House had originated both.
“So Diego tampered with Alice’s medications and that’s why she passed out?”
“We don’t think so,” Awesome said. “He either heard it on the police scanner or through his source at the police station. We talked to Alice’s doctor and looked over the tests he ran that day. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. But Diego letting you think he’d done it worked into his whole scheme.”
“I might just go back to the Parker House,” Alice said, “since I don’t have a house to live in. A woman of my age deserves Boston cream pie on a regular basis.”
We all laughed at that.
“Come on,” Stella said to the three of them. “Let’s go get some food.”
Seth and I watched as they walked off. He slung an arm around my shoulders and squeezed me to him. The rest of the morning passed in a blur of friends and strangers stopping to congratulate me. Miss Belle donated a hefty sum of money to the fund. Charlie auctioned off a beautiful diamond necklace. James, Eleanor, and other base friends stopped by. Frida Chida auctioned off a month of cleaning, and my former client Kitty auctioned off a chance for someone to have his or her pet painted by her. The event was successful beyond my wildest dreams, and my heart was full.
By two we were cleaning up. I watched as Seth rolled up his sleeves and carried tables back into the church. I was lucky to have him in my life. Lucky to have so many friends and this wonderful place to live. In the past people had questioned why I stayed here instead of going back to California after my divorce. There I would have returned as a failure. Here, I’d become a success. I looked over the town common again at all the people pitching in. This was why I stayed.