The Comeback Kiss (47 page)

“
Yeah.”

Max
cleared his throat. “
You taking your crazy assistant with you?”

Finn was confused for a moment, then let out a small chuckle when he realized who Max was talking about. “
No. She
’
s decided she wants to stay here, and what Babs wants, Babs gets.”

Max huffed.
“
The woman
’
s been making me insane. Did you know she wanted to organize a karaoke night?”

Finn laughed. “
No, but it doesn
’
t surprise me.”

There was another long moment of silence.

Now or never, idiot,
Finn thought.

“
Look, Max, I
’
m sorry about
—”

“
Aw!”
Max
gave a violent wave of his hand. “
Get on out of here. I
’
ve got cooking to do.”

With that, he turned around and tossed some pancake batter on the griddle. Finn stood there for a second, not sure if he
’
d accomplished what he came to do, but hell. Coming mea
nt something. And Max knew it. That had to be enough for now.

He crossed the kitchen and was about to slip out the back door when Max called his name. He stopped and turned to face his uncle, who looked at him with his typically gruff expression.

“
You
’
ll c
all this time, though, right? Babs will worry about you and make me crazy if you don
’
t.”

Finn smiled. “
Yeah, Uncle Max. I
’
ll call.”

Max flashed a short smile at him. “
Well, go on. Get out of here, then.”

Finn nodded and ducked out the back, grateful for th
e cold air in his lungs as he did.

One down, one to go. Then he could leave Lucy
’
s Lake behind for good.

Somehow, though, that didn
’
t sound as good to him as he thought it should.

***

“
What
’
s it say?”
Izzy asked, poking her head over Babs
’
s shoulder to g
et a look at the fax. Babs folded it in half and tucked it in her purse, leading Izzy outside as she did. She realized that Adele had done her a favor by letting her receive her fax there, but still. Adele had been very nosy when she saw that the cover pa
g
e was from a detective agency in Brattleboro, and it was a good thing she
’
d told Derek Brown, P.I., to just fax her the evidence directly. Adele wasn
’
t sharp enough to understand what the bank statement meant.

But Babs sure did.

“
What is it?”
Izzy said whe
n they got outside. “
Why are you smiling?”

“
Oh, darling,”
Babs said, putting her arm around Izzy
’
s shoulders. “
I
’
m smiling because sometimes, every now and again, Fate will hand you exactly what you want at the exact moment you want it, and those moments a
re just too delicious not to enjoy.”

Izzy nodded, but her knotted brow gave away her confusion. “
So, what did you get?”

“
I
’
ll tell you while we walk,”
Babs said, stepping out to the street and looking from left to right, then glancing back at Izzy. “
You do
n
’
t happen to know which B and B Mary Ellen Neeley is staying at, do you?”

***

Tessa threw another log in the old woodstove at the shack. She
’
d been skating for hours but she hadn
’
t been able to push it all away. Now, instead of the calm she usually felt
, she was just empty inside. She wanted more than anything to run out and find Finn, track him down, try to convince him that he could stay and they could find a way to keep Izzy and...

But that was stupid. Finn was right. Mary Ellen Neeley would investiga
te him, and at the very least she
’
d see his spotty work record and take that into court as evidence of Tessa
’
s unfit parenting.
Look at the man she loves,
Mary Ellen would say.
Look at the man she lets live in the house with this poor, impressionable child
. ..

Tessa struck a match in a violent motion and stuck it in the paper and kindling at the bottom.

It was so stupid. Finn was a good man. Whether he wanted to admit it or not, whether his work record showed it, he was a thousand times better than all the
men out there with good, steady jobs who lied and cheated and stole. At least Finn was upfront about it. He was a thousand times better than Matt Tarpey, who burned down buildings and then killed her mother when she figured it out.

And yet, prior to his co
nfession, Matt Tarpey would have been exactly the kind of man Mary Ellen Neeley wouldn
’
t object to.

Tessa felt a constriction in her chest.
The kind of man Mary Ellen Neeley wouldn
’
t object to?

This was insane. What was she doing? She was letting Finn and
Mary Ellen Neeley tell her what was best for her and damnit, the
zing
was best. Finn was best. And if it meant she
’
d have to fight harder and longer and messier with Mary Ellen Neeley and the State of Vermont to keep her sister, then damnit, she
’
d do it.

B
ut whatever she had to do, she wasn
’
t going to let Finn go. Not without a fight. Not this time.

She opened the door to the woodstove and poked around with a log, spreading out the fire so it would die down. But, damn, that would take too long. She grabbed
the bucket on the floor. She could fill it with snow from outside, melt it on the woodstove, douse the woodstove
—
fifteen minutes, tops.

Then she could go find Finn, even if it meant driving out to New York to get him.

It was a plan. She grabbed the bucket
and raced for the door, screaming in surprise as she opened it to find Vickie and Margie standing there.

“
Oh, shit!”
Tessa said, putting her hand over her chest. “
You scared the hell out of me.”

“
We found her; she
’
s at the shack,”
Vickie said, then flippe
d the phone shut and smiled at Tessa. “
Izzy
’
s on her way.”

“
Why?”
Tessa said. “
What
’
s going on?”

“
I
’
m so glad we found you,”
Margie said, stepping inside. “
Luckily, you
’
re always in one of three places
—
your house, Max
’
s, or the lake.”

Tessa felt slightly o
ffended by that. “
I go other places,”
she said weakly.

Both Margie and Vickie grinned at her. Tessa looked back and forth between them.

“
What?”
she said, her voice suspicious. When those two got together, things tended to get out of hand. Besides, she need
ed to go out and talk to Finn. “
Look, ladies, I
’
ve got something I have to do
—”

“
Not right now, you don
’
t,”
Vickie said, grabbing her by the arm and leading her back into the shack. “
We
’
re waiting right here until Izzy gets here.”

“
Don
’
t worry,”
Margie sai
d, hugging Tessa
’
s shoulders. “
This is gonna be worth it.”

Chapter Twenty-four

Finn sat in the combination interrogation/visiting room at the Lucy
’
s Lake sheriff
’
s office. It was a small box of a room, with cement-block walls painted a sickly shade of g
reen. It hadn
’
t changed in the decade since he
’
d last sat there, but back then, he
’
d never sat there as a visitor.

The door opened and Marshall Evans escorted a handcuffed Matt Tarpey into the room. Finn stood up, looked at Marshall.

“
Thanks, man,”
he said.

Marshall smiled. “
No problem.”
He glanced at Tarpey. “
You have ten minutes. That
’
s all.”

Finn looked at Tarpey, who was settling into the chair on the opposite side of the long table.

“
I
’
ll have him back to you in five.”

Marshall nodded and shut the door.

“
I don
’
t know what you want with me, Finn,”
Tarpey said, his voice sounding rough and tired. “
This has nothing to do with you.”

“
You killed Tessa
’
s mother,”
Finn said. “
That has something to do with me.”

Tarpey met his eye. “
Karen Scuderi died in a car a
ccident.”

“
Running from a fire, which you set,”
Finn said.

Tarpey shrugged. “
What do you want? You want me to say I
’
m sorry? I
’
ve confessed. It
’
s done.”

Finn watched him for a moment. It was just the one question. He needed the one question in his mind ans
wered, and then he could leave, let the police deal with this asshole.

“
Isabella Scuderi hired me to look into this case,”
Finn said. “
I just need you to fill in the blanks for me.”

Tarpey let out a breath and sat forward, his eyes on the table as he spoke
in a monotone voice. “
I set a number of fires over the course of seven years. I used defective or recalled electrical items, things that wouldn
’
t raise suspicion. Karen Scuderi suspected I was setting the fires, and she confronted me on it. I went into h
e
r shop one night to burn it down. I intended to scare her into keeping quiet. I didn
’
t know she was there. She must have been working in the back. As is typical in these cases, she suffered from a certain amount of smoke inhalation, which can cause dizzin
e
ss and disorientation. Getting behind the wheel of a car in that state is just as bad as driving drunk. She drove into a tree, and that was it.”

Tarpey finally raised his eyes to meet Finn
’
s. Finn leaned forward.

“
So you went ten years without setting a fi
re?”

“
Yes,”
Tarpey said. “
Then I saw a classified ad in the paper. I concluded it was Vickie Kemp, causing trouble, so I set her place on fire as well, to shut her up.”

Finn nodded. “
Okay. Couple things. Why would Karen be in the shop at two in the mornin
g?”

Tarpey shrugged. “
I think Karen
’
s the only person who can answer that question.”

Finn locked his eyes on to Tarpey
’
s. “
I have to give it to you. It was a stroke of genius, keeping that locket all these years. That never would have occurred to me, to us
e something like that.”

And in that moment, Finn got what he
’
d come for
—
that flash of surprise in Tarpey
’
s eyes. It was just a flash, and if he hadn
’
t been watching carefully, Finn might have missed it.