Much Ado About Muffin (26 page)

“I'm sorry for Minnie,” Dewayne said. “I can't speak to the other fake romance, but she would have been hurt if she'd discovered my deception.”

“However, you were hired by a police force to investigate a possible crime, which you did uncover,” I said to Dewayne. “Thanks to your information, and the further investigation of the FBI and the Postal Inspection Service, we now know that Minnie was using the post office as her own personal shopping mall while blaming losses on thieves further back in the system. Her postal outlet had more complaints than average, and would have been busted sooner or later. I don't know how she thought she'd get away with it.”

“I've been agitating for change for some time, and Virgil was helping move ahead with proof,” Gogi said.

“She didn't deserve to die,” Dewayne said softly. “I feel bad for her. And to die at the hands of someone she wanted to help, too!”

“It's like she arranged it herself, in a sense,” I mused. “She offered Brianna a vision of life with some money, or
at least a house and life insurance, and then threatened to take it all away if the girl couldn't kick her addictions.”

“I don't think Brianna was a serious addict,” Gogi said. “I know how to spot them. She was a casual user, and I'll say that in court if she tries to use addiction in an insanity defense.”

“I overheard her making fun of Minnie once,” Janice said, dusting brownie crumbs from her jutting bosom. “I told her she was a crappy little ingrate. She called me something I won't repeat. That girl was trouble.”

“Minnie created a toxic environment, a recipe for disaster,” I said. “Based on what I've learned about how good she was to her nieces and nephews, I believe Minnie truly cared about her granddaughter and wanted to make up for the tough knocks the kid had in life. But you can't assume that because you care for someone, they care for you the same way.”

Virgil spoke up for the first time. “Don't waste any sympathy on Brianna, Merry. Tough knocks? Hah! The girl's birth mother
did
die, but the rest of her tale of woe is a lie. She was adopted almost immediately and grew up with three
also
adoptive siblings who are all just fine. Despite everything, her adoptive parents are sticking by her, claiming that she must have been duped by Logan Katsaros, who doesn't have any protective parents to help him out. He'll probably end up taking the fall for the whole thing.”

That was a surprise, and changed the complexion of the case for me. I hoped Brianna got what was coming to her. When she and Logan showed up at the back of the postal station that morning Minnie had probably let them in, thinking nothing of it. The young woman and man cold-bloodedly murdered her with a butcher knife they'd brought from Minnie's own kitchen, and then proceeded to stage the scene with the letter opener that the postal employee had taken from Wynter Castle after her confrontation with our resident opera singer. They were hoping to pin the killing on Roma,
since Minnie had raved and complained about the opera diva to her boarders.

We all talked of other things, and eventually discussed the party for my one-year anniversary at Wynter Castle. Pish told Hannah and Janice that they would not be forced to sing
Much Ado About Nothing: The Opera
. Hannah, Lizzie, and Alcina, her friend, would reprise their piece from
Die Zauberflöte
. “Look East” was the high point of that evening.

Janice trilled a bit of her favorite pieces from
The King and I
, and Pish told her he would be happy to accompany her on piano, if she would like to perform. She was thrilled, and forgave him for his bringing that disruptive force Roma Toscano into their midst.

Finally, everyone began to drift away to resume their lives after the drama of the last couple of weeks. Binny was going to take the boys back to town, and then Gordy was driving Zeke to Ridley Ridge to work at the police station, while he headed to his uncle's farm. Janice took Isadore away; she was paying her to help with some organization of stuff at her junk warehouse, I understood. Dewayne was heading out to visit Ford Hayes; something about an old Charger Dewayne was buying to fix up.

Virgil whispered a request to come back later, and I nodded, smiling up at him. His expression was intense, something Hannah and Lizzie both caught as they waited together for Hannah's parents to back up the van in the sparkling, chilly sunlight. Virgil drove away, and I turned back to find both girls staring at me.

“You look so beautiful when you look at him,” Hannah said.

I didn't know how to respond.

“That was intense,” Lizzie said, eyeing me with a frown. “Do you honestly like the big galoot? He's such a dark, gloomy—”

“He's
not
gloomy, Lizzie!” Hannah protested. “He's just . . . brooding. Kind of passionate. I think it's romantic.”

“Isn't
brooding
another word for
gloomy
?” Lizzie said, trudging off to talk to her mother, who stood uncertainly watching her daughter with longing on her face.

As Hannah's parents backed into the drive and opened the back doors for the wheelchair lift, Zeke crouched down to talk to her. I once again noted his absorption with her, and the tenderness of his expression. Maybe I was just in the mood for love, but I had always suspected he had loving feelings for the young lady, and I was fairly certain I was right, based on how he treated her. I wished him well. But then he headed off to an impatiently waiting Binny. Emerald caught a lift with them, while Lizzie hitched a ride with Hannah's parents in the van.

I returned to the castle through the front door, after waving good-bye to everyone.

Pish was talking to Roma, who had crept down the stairs and clung to the banister. They looked up from a whispered conference. “Roma has to be back to the city by October seventh to start rehearsal for a charity function her agent has booked her for. I'm going to drive her there and stay for a week to visit my mother and Auntie Lush. You're welcome to join us.”

I stood listening to his voice echo.

“Or you could stay here alone. Maybe Virgil could keep you company,” he said with a sly smile.

Heat suffused my cheeks, and I nodded.

“Anyway, we're going out with Dewayne and Patricia again tonight,” he said. “I understand Virgil is coming over to talk to you.”

I nodded again.

The rest of the day I tried to relax and take stock of my new life, now that I had made the decision to stay at my
inherited castle and make a go of it. I had to find out if my plans, just a tiny seed right now, could sprout into something bigger.
If
it was even legal to do what I wanted, it would require some help from the new zoning commissioner, who was the former zoning commissioner, Elwood Fitzhugh. I had just had a bath and was sitting at my dressing table setting my hair in hot rollers when I heard a tap at my door. “Come in!” I called.

Pish strolled in, natty in a dark suit jacket over a polo-necked pullover and casual slacks. That is his equivalent of jeans and a sweatshirt, as casual as he ever gets. He sat down on the end of my bed and I turned to face him.

“We're heading out in half an hour. What time is Virgil coming over?”

“Eight. It's his birthday tomorrow. I offered dinner, but he said no. I've got some Brie, though, and a fresh baguette that Binny brought for lunch, and some merlot.”

“‘A loaf of bread, a jug of wine, and thou,'” he quoted, with a smile.

“I'm a little nervous. He seemed . . . oh, I don't know. Mysterious. He still hasn't told me what went down between him and his ex.”

“He's a very deliberate man, not hasty, not ill-judged.”

“He's so mature he makes me feel like a teenager sometimes.”

“That's good. You
should
feel like a teenager when you're in love.” He hesitated, but then continued, “May I say something about Miguel?”

I sighed. “I don't know if I'm in the mood to talk about my late husband.”

“Honey, it's something good.” He looked down at his loafers and polished the toe of one against his pant leg. “You know how much I adored Miguel. But with you he was . . . a trifle controlling. He took care of you.”

“I needed it. He made me feel secure.”

“But in the normal course of life you would have grown up and become more mature, as you have, and more able and willing to make your own decisions. I've thought about this often, how, had he lived, you would have clashed, inevitably. Oh, I think you would have worked it out,” he said, his hand up, before I could interject. “But not without some fighting. Virgil, on the other hand, is so unlike that. He's ready-made for you.”

“Maybe you're right. I'm not in a rush, though.” I paused, then said, “Do you remember, Pish, how when Miguel first died and I got the inheritance and life insurance, I thought I could handle it?”

He sighed, with a rueful expression. “Still one of my biggest regrets that I didn't make you listen to me, but I didn't want to be as controlling with you as Miguel was.”

“I don't think you could have stopped me, my darling Pish. I was both asserting my new independence and throwing the money away. I think . . . I felt like I didn't
deserve
it. I didn't want a . . . a reward for Miguel's death, as silly as that sounds.”

“How very wise you have become, my darling,” he said, standing before me. He kissed my forehead. “I'll say good night now.” He cradled my face in his graceful, long-fingered hands, tilting my chin up to him. “Be young. Be in love. Don't worry about anything for tonight.”

*   *   *

The parlor was set up with the fire going—I have become quite good at starting a fire—and the wine, bread, and Brie in a warming dish. The door knocker echoed, and I scuttled to the door, my stomach fluttering. When I opened it, Virgil took me in his arms and gave me a long, passionate kiss that would have melted my socks, if I was wearing any. We walked together to the parlor, and settled on the floor in front of the fire. I had intended to wear
something sexy, a cleavage-displaying dress, but had opted instead for something less distracting.

We chatted for a moment about the afternoon's revelations. I summoned my courage, finally, and spoke of my time in Spain with the Paradiso family. “I came away from it with a better understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of my marriage to Miguel. I took a long look at it. It wasn't a perfect marriage, and there would have been some stormy seas ahead if he had lived.” I told him what Pish had said to me earlier. “I think I was afraid to let go of the idealized version of Miguel in my head. It felt like a betrayal.”

He was silent, and there was more I wanted to say, so I continued. “Virgil, while I was there Tony proposed to me.”

His eyes narrowed.

“I refused, of course,” I said, not adding that I even considered it. “I have never felt anything for him but friendship, and he doesn't love me. But being there reminded me that my marriage, as good as it was, was not perfect.
Miguel
was not perfect. He liked that I was unsure of myself, I think, and he saw himself as my mentor as well as husband. I loved him, and the young girl I was will
always
love him. But I'm all grown up now.”

He smirked. “You certainly are.”

I laughed.

He drank some of the wine, but I knew he really wanted a beer, so I got him one and he rested back against a pillow, examining me with serious eyes. “Talking to Kelly this weekend did much the same for me. Not that our marriage ever had a chance—it didn't. But I think we understand it better. We went into marriage for all the wrong reasons. I was so worried about Mom that I wanted to show her I'd be okay, no matter what. And Kelly . . . She was trying to work out issues she couldn't address with her father. She's been in therapy the last two years. I think she's getting herself together.”

I watched him, feeling that there was more, even as he hesitated. He sat up and took my hand.

“Merry, she told her father the truth, that I never hit her, that we broke up because we weren't right for each other. And she told him why she'd lied to him, that she was afraid he wouldn't love her if she told him the truth, that he would blame her for the marriage breaking up. It didn't go well, at least at first.”

“I can imagine.” Sheriff Baxter was hard-nosed and found it easy to place blame . . . on anyone else.

“But I think they have some basis to work things out now. Anyway, she went back to Ohio and Ben actually apologized to me and shook my hand.”

I sighed. “That's wonderful! I'm happy, Virgil. I know that dealing with him as sheriff of the next county has been a nightmare for you.”

“Not a nightmare, but not a picnic, either.”

“Has it changed anything?” I wondered if he might decide to stay sheriff instead of joining the FBI.

“Not about being sheriff. I've already removed myself from the ballot, and Urquhart has added his name.”

Urquhart? Oh, joy. Still, the name didn't fill me with as much dismay as it would have before this investigation. “Isn't it too late for that? Aren't there filing deadlines?”

“This is an exceptional circumstance, because I've eliminated myself and the county can't go without a sheriff.”

“Oh.”

He pulled me close and we kissed. I sighed against his lips and curled against his body, feeling the warmth radiate from him. We kissed a little more, then I pulled away from him, intent on getting one last thing out. “Virgil, I just want to say, I'm here for good. I know you'll be going to Quantico, and I know you may be stationed anywhere in the U.S., but I'll always be here for you. We'll work something out.” I paused,
and was about to say
I love you
, when he put his finger against my lips. I searched his eyes, so dark, but warm.