Gotcha! (26 page)

“Okay,” Annie cheerfully agreed, looking over at Julie, whose eyes were glazed over.

“I didn’t know I was capable of . . . of . . . something like this,” Julie whispered.

“That’s what we all said, way back when. You’ll get over it. It’s the outcome that matters,” Annie trilled as she hopped from one foot to the other in anticipation of the impending surgery.

Julie drew Annie to the side. “I don’t think she’s going to sign the papers. She’s afraid of us, but, for some reason, I think she’s more afraid of Adam. She has to sign them, Annie, she just does. Otherwise, I can’t live with this.”

“She’ll sign them, Julie. Trust me. We have one more arrow in our quiver if she holds up under the fire hose.”

“What’s that?”

“The inimitable, indomitable Harry Wong.” Annie smiled.

A
nnie flexed the steak knife in her hands while the boys worked with the nozzle of the fire hose. “We’re good to go here,” Bert shouted so that his voice carried out to the garage, where Espinosa relayed his message to Jack, who was fiddling with the fire hydrant.

Bert looked at the women and said, “We tested this out on the street. Espinosa filled a wheelbarrow with bricks and put it in the middle of the road. The pressure sent that baby clear across the road to the neighbor’s yard. What’s this chick weigh, one hundred and twenty or so?” he asked curiously. “This is just my opinion now, but I think we should move this skank out to the driveway and let her fly in whatever direction the water takes her.”

“So what you’re saying is, if we do it in here, the pressure will put her through the wall or maybe even through the glass on the sliding doors?” Myra asked.

“Yeah, pretty much, not to mention a flood of water in here.”

“I guess that makes sense,” Annie said. “But, let’s take a break; this is very intense. Coffee anyone?”

“Absolutely!” Julie said.

In the kitchen, with the door to the family room closed, Annie made coffee.

“Darlene isn’t looking so good,” Myra said. “And Adam looks even worse. I can’t believe she’s holding out. What do you think, Julie?”

“I’m as amazed as you are. I thought she would have caved in when we used the blowtorch on Adam. Guilt is a terrible thing, and she’s up to her ears in it. I think she’ll ride it out to the end. Like I said, this is the end of the road for her, and after we’re gone, she
thinks
she is going to still be here with him. He’s all she has left, so she’s going to do what he says no matter how bad she wants to sign the papers. He has a hold on her.”

“I’m thinking the same thing. But, here’s my question—do we really want to remove Darlene’s implants? I think she’s told us everything she knows. Right now, she hates Adam Fortune, but by the same token, she’s tied to him in some way. So, listen up. Tell me what you think of this. We bring Harry in as I prepare to start . . . you know, surgery. I nick her, just enough to pop some blood, then Harry puts her out cold with one of his magic touches. While we’re doing that, the boys can play with Fortune, give him a couple of midrange squirts with the hose to blow him back and forth across the street a few times so he gets the feel of it. Then we bring Harry in to finish up the intimidation,” Annie said.

“Do you think that will work?” Myra sounded skeptical.

“I do, Myra, I really do. Julie, what do you think?”

“I think whatever works for you guys will work for me. She has to sign the papers in her own hand. That’s all I care about.”

The coffee was ready, but no one wanted any.

“Harry!” Annie bellowed.

Harry came on the run. Annie outlined the plan, and Harry agreed without any hesitation. “Hold on one minute while I relay this to Jack and Bert. We have to drag the hose back outside. Ted and Espinosa can carry Fortune in his chair out to the garage.” The women nodded.

Harry was back in minutes. The foursome headed to the family room in time to see Ted and Espinosa carrying Fortune out to the garage.

“Okay, break’s over. Time to operate,” Annie said as she whirled the dull-looking steak knife through the air. She looked down at Darlene, who was white as new-fallen snow. “I’m sorry we don’t have any anesthetic for you, because this is going to hurt. Oh, damn, that’s a lie—I’m not one bit sorry. Don’t bite your tongue off now, because I refuse to be responsible for that. What size do you think these are, Myra?” Annie asked as she pulled up one breast, which was as big as a melon. She dug the knife in and sliced. Blood spurted just as Harry’s fingers clamped down on Darlene’s neck.

“Quick, where’s the bandage?” Julie slapped it on and held it in place.

“There’s not all that much blood. You just cut the surface.”

“Well, guess my work here is done,” Annie said as she peeled off her latex gloves. “How long will she be out, Harry?”

“As long as you want her to be out. At the moment, I’d say at least an hour.”

“Is Avery here yet?” Myra asked.

“He’s out there, just arrived when I went out to the garage. He pulled his van into the garage. Ted and Espinosa settled Fortune in among the oleander bushes. So, are we ready for the water show?”

The three women scurried out to the garage. “I sure hope you’re right, Julie, and these neighbors are gone. I’d hate for them to report a man taped to a chair flying through the air in a waterfall.”

In spite of herself, Julie laughed.

In the driveway, Adam Fortune stared at the men holding the hose. He knew what it was going to do to him. His body wracked with pain, his head burning unbearably, Adam knew it was all over, and yet he couldn’t do what these crazy people wanted him to do. Worse than the pain, worse than his guilt, what bothered him was the kid’s words up in the bedroom earlier. Larry Wyatt had definitely spoken to her. There was no doubt in his mind.

Adam tensed when he saw the fire hose being pointed in his direction. What if the water killed him? What if he really died, and he had to face Larry and Audrey? He worked his tongue around his broken teeth, and an ugly sound escaped his battered lips. Like he was really going to go where they were.

And then he was sailing through the air, drenched in water. He closed his eyes as he and the chair he was strapped to landed in a nest of azalea bushes.

“He’s alive!” Bert called out dramatically. “His eyelids are fluttering.”

“Enough!” Harry roared as he raced over to the bushes and jerked Fortune forward in his chair. “Listen, you worthless piece of shit. We’ve had enough of you, and we just ran out of time, so here’s the deal.

“I’m going to stick my fingers up your nose and pull your tongue through, then I’m going to push your eyeballs down so they come out your ears. It will take me exactly nineteen seconds to do it. Tell your girlfriend to sign the goddamned paper
NOW,
or your tongue will be hanging from your nose and your eyeballs will be dangling from your ears.”

Fortune looked into Harry’s eyes, and whatever he saw there convinced him that the man would do exactly what he said he would. “Take me inside, and I’ll tell Darlene to sign the papers,” he croaked.

“Now, that’s a wise man if I ever saw one,” Harry chortled happily.

“And, once again, Wizard Wong saves the day,” Jack said. “Hey, Harry,” he hissed. “Can you really do that?” Harry laughed in reply.

The party of nine watched as Darlene Wyatt signed her name again and again and again. Twice, Jack had to steady her arm so that her signature wouldn’t be shaky. Annie and Myra had to hold Julie upright. Bert did his notary thing, then pressed the seal onto each paper Darlene signed. When Ted handed Julie the signed papers, her sigh of relief could be heard by all. Her eyes thanked them.

They all watched as Avery Snowden and his men settled Darlene Wyatt and Adam Fortune into the back of the medical van, their destination unknown. No one waved good-bye.

The moment the back doors of the van closed, the rest of them scrambled to clear the garage and the house. The garage doors closed with a loud bang. It took only minutes to tidy up the family room and disconnect the coffeepot. Ted turned off the main water valve, and Espinosa flipped the circuit breakers. Myra turned the refrigerator off. “I think we’re good to go, ladies and gentlemen.”

“I just want to go upstairs and get some of Ollie’s things. Want to help me, ladies?”

“Sure,” Annie and Myra said in unison.

“We’ll meet you back at the house,” Jack said, sensing this was a private time for the ladies.

Upstairs, Julie walked through the rooms. “This . . . this was Larry’s room,” she said quietly. “Larry and Darlene had separate bedrooms. This is Ollie’s room. Kind of bare, eh? I wonder why she left this picture of her mother and father behind,” Julie said, picking up the picture on the night table. “I’m going to take it, since Ollie won’t be coming back here.”

“This is just a guess on my part, Julie, but I think that little girl wanted to leave it behind so Darlene could see it every day. I’m not sure she understood clearly that she would be leaving this house,” Myra said gently. Julie nodded as she slipped the framed photograph into her purse.

“I think we have everything, not that there’s all that much,” Annie said, anger ringing in her voice.

Julie bit down on her lip. “I think we can go now. This chapter of my life is finally over. Maybe now I can . . .”

“Of course you can. Now you have a little girl to take care of and to love. We’ll meet you downstairs, Julie,” Annie said.

Julie, her eyes misty, walked down the hall to the room where her son had slept. She squeezed her eyes shut, but the tears escaped. “Right or wrong, Larry, I did it. I made her pay, and her boyfriend, too. I can’t say I’m proud of my actions, but I’m not sorry. I promised to make it right, and I think I did that. This would be a good time for you to let me know you understand, even if you don’t approve of what I’ve done.”

Julie looked around as she waited for a sign from the spirit of her son. When nothing happened, she trudged to the door and closed it behind her.

Out in the hallway, Julie leaned up against the wall as she poked in her purse for a tissue to wipe her eyes. Blinded with her tears, she pulled what she thought was a tissue from her purse, only to realize it was a white feather. She blinked away her tears, and smiled. “Okayyyyy, kiddo!”

 

 

The last time there were this many people on her veranda had been the twins’ thirtieth birthday, Julie thought.

Knowing that her guests’ leave-taking was going to be traumatic for their mother, Connie and Carrie had opted to take Ollie to the Rosemont Summer Festival. Ollie, they said, didn’t need to see any more sad faces. Julie agreed.

Now it was time to say good-bye to her new friends. Julie knew there would be tears, lots of tears, but they would be happy tears—up to a point.

The boys were self-conscious, uncertain if they should hug this new friend of theirs or shake her hand. Julie solved the problem by hugging each of them so tightly, they winced. When she got to Harry, she bit down on her lip, doing her best not to cry. “Don’t say anything, Harry. I know it’s what Cooper wants. Ollie explained it to me. He has an
important job
to do with you. That’s what her father told her, and that’s good enough for me. I just wish I knew what that job was. It might make it easier.”

For the first time in his life, Harry Wong was totally speechless. He hated it when he couldn’t understand things. “If I ever find out, I’ll call you.”

Julie nodded, her eyes miserable. “I never asked, Harry. What is your little girl’s name?”

Harry smiled. “Lily Rose Carter Wong. Want to see a picture?” Even before Julie could nod, Harry whipped out a picture of his daughter. “We call her Lotus Lily. Don’t ask me why.”

Julie turned white and had to reach out for Myra’s hand to steady herself. “Carter . . . that was my son’s middle name. Lawrence Carter Wyatt. I guess we have our answer,” she said, when she was finally able to draw a deep breath. “That’s Cooper’s job now, to take care of Lily Rose Carter Wong. Larry was always my
wise
one. I guess being on the
other side,
one can see things we mortals can’t.”

Julie hugged Cooper, tears rolling down her cheeks. The big dog wrapped his paws around her neck and licked her cheek.

“Woof yourself. You take good care of Lily Rose Carter Wong, you hear me?”

There were special hugs and whispers between the three ladies and promises made. And then all her new friends were gone, and Julie was alone on her veranda. She sat down on one of the rockers, leaned her head back, and closed her eyes.

“I love you, too, kiddo.”

 

J
ulie Wyatt looked down into the picnic basket to make sure she had everything she would need for a mid-September picnic and an apology to go with it. Something she should have done weeks ago. Satisfied that she had everything, she closed the lid of the picnic hamper and headed for the door. Gracie and Lola looked at her, then went back to tugging a pull toy. If they missed Cooper, it was hard to tell.

Twenty minutes later, Julie brought her truck to a stop in the driveway that led to Oliver Goldfeld’s new house. She looked around at the utility trucks, the construction trucks, and the pickup trucks of the workers. She could hear men shouting orders, the sound of buzz saws and nail guns. She recognized quite a few of the workers as well as the foreman and waved to them as she carried her picnic basket toward the front of the house.

“Do you know where Mr. Goldfeld is?” she called out. One of the workers pointed toward the back of the house. Julie walked around to the back, being careful not to step on the piles of rotten wood and the stacks of new lumber. She called out his name. Then she blinked when she saw the herb garden. Now, instead of a tangle of weeds, she could actually see the plants.

Oliver stood up, his eyes wary.

“I came to apologize for the last time I was here. That wasn’t a good time for me, and I want to explain; that’s if you have the time to listen to me. I brought a picnic lunch as a bribe, in case you want to run me off your property.” In an instant, when Oliver merely nodded, Julie knew that he wasn’t going to give her an inch. “So, do you want to hear my story or not?”

“Sure, why not?”

Why not, indeed. “Well, first things first. I have to retain you, and I forgot my purse. Guess I left it in the truck when I took out the picnic hamper.” Julie fumbled in the pocket of her jeans and found twenty-nine cents. “Will this do for the moment?”

Oliver reached for the coins and shoved them in his pocket. “It’ll do,” he said gruffly.

Julie cleared her throat. “Just so you know, this isn’t easy for me. I never talk about my personal feelings or my personal business to people. I did share some things with Mace, and somehow he managed to ferret out the rest. I’ll try to keep it short, but you need to know everything there is to know about me. Somewhere, somehow, things always manage to leak out, and I don’t want you to be blindsided or think I lied to you.”

Julie licked at her lips and went into her story. She was like a runaway train, the words, the emotions, tumbling out faster than she could control them. When the words stopped pouring out, she summed it up by saying, “So you were right, I’m not sugar and spice and everything nice. I’m just a human being who felt like her soul had been ripped out of her body. Don’t get the idea that I’m apologizing here, because I’m not. Now, do you want to share this picnic, or do you want me to leave?”

“You know, I’m actually pretty damned hungry. Did you bring anything good? But I need to know one thing. Is this something we don’t ever talk about again, or is it up for discussion?”

“It’s standard picnic fare—fried chicken, old family recipe; potato salad, old family recipe; hard-boiled eggs, fresh this morning. Crusty bread and sweet tea. For now, I’d like it that you know my story, and if it ever needs to be addressed in the future, we can run it up the flagpole and deal with it then.”

“Works for me,” Oliver said, reaching for a chicken leg.

In between chewing and swallowing, Oliver and Julie discussed the work being done on his house, when it might be completed, how he liked sleeping in such chaos, and, of course, the garden, which was already taking shape.

When the last of the food was gone and the picnic hamper packed, Oliver said, “So what’s your game plan?”

“Well, on Friday I have to do the interview the lottery commission demands, then they pay me this whopping big check. Then, I expect you will tell me what I have to do concerning my inheritance from Mace. You know I never expected that, nor do I want it, but I understand the legalities of it all.

“I have three major missions once trust funds are set up for my kids and their kids, should any materialize. And, of course, Ollie. I’m going to donate a good portion to the town of Rosemont. I’d like you to oversee that, Oliver, if you can. I want us to have the best police department, the best fire department, the best EMS unit in the state—in the country, if possible. I want to donate money to our hospital; I want it to be state-of-the-art. Everything and anything they need. And I don’t want any of our citizens ever to be turned away. I want to use Mace’s money to make sure everyone in this town gets the medicines they need.

“Then, I want to do something about rights for grandparents, not just in the state of Alabama, but nationwide. Grandparents have few rights if any. I want to go to Capitol Hill and plead our case. I don’t care what it costs, I want to do it. I know I can get a groundswell going. I’ll go through AARP and get all those wonderful seniors on board. They’ll have to listen to us. I’ll need your help on that, too.

“Just yesterday, I put down a deposit on fifty acres of land so I can build an animal sanctuary. I want that to be state-of-the-art, also. Fully staffed. No more animals will be put to sleep in this state if I can help it. I want to make sure that the drugs continue to flow to Doctors Without Borders, as much as they need. That was such a wonderful thing Mace did.

“My boys will be returning in a few months, and they’ll help. Connie and Carrie are going to hire someone to operate their art school and come on board. We’ll have a lot of help. I won’t have all that much time, because I have a granddaughter to raise.

“This weekend, she’s having a sleepover. She’s made some new friends, sweet little girls, and I think she’s going to be okay. I’ve got her set up for Girl Scouts, piano lessons, girls’ softball in the spring, camp with her friends in the summer, and a host of other things. I have to try and give her back the parts of her childhood she was denied. There’s only one thing missing.”

“What’s that?” Oliver asked curiously.

“A grandfather. Ollie never had a grandfather. Do you want to volunteer, Oliver?”

“Well, yeah, that sounds nice.”

“That means you dress up as Santa at Christmastime, you take Ollie and her friends to the roller rink at times or pick them up. Sometimes you take them to the movies or fishing out at the lake. You take them sled riding in the mountains. You get to watch while they ride.”

“Oh. Will you be there?”

Julie laughed. “Try and keep me away! So, do we have a deal? I’d like to tell Ollie about it when I pick her up from school.”

“I’d be honored to be Ollie’s stand-in grandfather.”

“In that case, you’re invited to supper so you can meet your new granddaughter.”

“And I accept,” Oliver said, reaching for Julie’s hands to bring her to her feet.

Oliver whirled around, then burst out laughing. “So sue me, big guy. Just because I’m a lawyer doesn’t mean I’m always right.”

“Did you say something, Oliver?” Julie called over her shoulder.

“In a manner of speaking. Careful, there, so you don’t fall.”

“Guess I’ll see you tonight, then?”

“What’s for dinner?” he asked boldly.

“Meat loaf, Mace’s favorite. Roasted potatoes, the last of the garden string beans, and strawberry rhubarb pie, another of Mace’s favorites. We eat at six.”

“I’ll be there,” Oliver said, settling the hamper in the backseat of Julie’s Blazer. “Thanks for the picnic and thanks for the retainer.”

Julie laughed as she slipped the truck into gear and backed out the long driveway.

Life was so good, Julie started to sing. Not perfect, but almost perfect.

 

 

 

 

Start with six peppers. Use either yellow, orange or red. The green ones tend to be bitter.

 

1 pound ground chuck
1 pound ground turkey
1 egg
Salt and pepper to your taste
Handful of flat-leaf parsley
2 medium-size cloves of garlic

 

The only other ingredient you need is a one-pound can of Glen Muir fire-roasted crushed tomatoes.

 

Cut bottoms and tops of peppers off so pepper sits upright in roasting pan. Set bottoms aside.

 

In a chopper or food processor add the egg, garlic, the parsley and the bottoms of the peppers. Puree. It’s important that you use the bottoms of the peppers to give a full-flavored taste to this dish.

 

Mix chuck and turkey thoroughly, add contents from food processor, salt and pepper to mixture. Make sure that you blend it all the way for an even taste. You need to work it with your hands.

 

Fill peppers. If you have any of the mixture left over, depending on the size of your peppers, form into balls and freeze until the next time you are ready to make the peppers. What could be easier than setting the frozen ball into the pepper? Cover tops of peppers with the lids you cut off.

 

Pour the fire-roasted crushed tomatoes over peppers. Again, depending on size of peppers, the size of the pan and your personal taste for the tomato sauce, you can use it all or freeze the rest.

 

Bake at 350 degrees for one hour and thirty minutes. I cover mine for the first hour with tinfoil and remove it for the last 30 minutes.

 

For more of Fern’s delicious recipes from
Gotcha!
, please go to
www.kensingtonbooks.com/fernmichaels
or
www.fernmichaels.com
.