Dangerous Alterations (28 page)

“Is that the drug that was in his system?”

Tori read the highlighted listing above Lynn’s finger, the word starting exactly the way Margaret Louise had said. “That’s it! Oh my gosh, that’s it!”

Lynn shifted the book onto Tori’s lap and leaned her head against the back of the sofa. “I don’t know why I should be surprised. Garrett gets what Garrett wants. He always has.”

She looked from the book to Lynn and back again then slammed the book closed. “I’m sorry, Lynn. I truly am. I know how much you’ve been through with Garrett and the cancer and losing Vera.”

“It’s life.”

“That doesn’t make it any less unfair.” Inhaling every ounce of determination she could muster, she met and held Lynn’s gaze with her own. “I know the hardship his being in prison is going to cause you, but I want you to know that I’m going to do whatever I can to help. One way or another, we’ll find a way to make everything work out okay. I promise.”

The faintest hint of a smile momentarily pushed exhaustion from Lynn’s face. “I suppose I can look at the silver lining in all of this.”

Tori held her breath, grateful for the woman’s attempt to stay positive. “What silver lining is that?”

“I’m finally rid of Garrett once and for all.”

By the time she got back to the library, it was closed, the absence of patrons and related duties affording her time to work on getting the children’s room up to snuff once again.

“Dixie?” she called, locking the front door in her wake. “Are you still here?”

A chorus of muted voices grew silent followed by the sound of a familiar voice down the hall. “We’re in here.”

Smiling, she made her way down the hallway, her gait slowing as she passed the taped off doorway that led to her office. The fire had been a tragedy, there was no doubt about that, but like she and Lynn had both discovered, a silver lining could almost always be found.

In the case of the fire, it was the simple fact that her office was the least important room in the building. The only one affected by its current state was Tori. And Nina when Nina finally came back.

She followed the hall a few more steps then turned left, the sight of her sewing circle sisters dispatched around the children’s room further underscoring the notion of silver linings and lucky breaks.

Her mouth gaped open as she took in their collective efforts—the dusted shelves, the freshly washed and pressed stage curtain, the neatly folded dress-up clothes being transferred back to their trunk.

“You ladies are amazing. Absolutely, utterly, completely amazing.” She walked into the center of the room and slowly spun around, the magical aura of the room as unmistakable as ever. “But you didn’t have to do this.”

“You’re right, we didn’t,” Georgina said, peeking through a row of books one shelf over. “But we wanted to.”

She nodded in gratitude at every woman in the room—Georgina, Leona, Margaret Louise, Dixie, Debbie, Melissa, and Beatrice. “Thank you. So much.”

Dixie clapped her hands. “We’ll be able to get the children back in here tomorrow, won’t we?”

Slowly but surely she made her way around the room, taking in every shelf, every little chair, every article of clothes, every picture on the wall. Dixie was right. They were ready.

“I don’t see why not,” she finally said, the excitement she felt lifting her spirits tenfold.

“Not bad for a few hours work,” Leona boasted from her spot beside the stage.

Margaret Louise snorted a laugh. “That would be the case if Tori hadn’t already gotten a head start yesterday … and you actually
helped
, Twin.”

Leona’s chin jutted outward in indignation. “I helped.”

“Oh really?” Rose accused, her wrinkled hands working alongside Beatrice to refill the dress-up trunk. “Seems to me you haven’t moved from that spot since we got here.”

Leona stifled a yawn with dramatic flair. “Delegation is difficult work, Rose. It’s exhausting trying to make sure everyone is doing what needs to be done.”

Debbie nibbled back a smirk as Melissa laughed out loud. “Aunt Leona, I don’t know what we’d do without you.”

“I don’t either, dear.” To Tori, Leona said, “My sister said you went off on a mission?”

She met Margaret Louise’s curious gaze although her words stayed focused on Leona. “I guess you could call it that.”

“Were you getting something naughty for Milo’s return tomorrow evening?” Leona asked.

“No.”

Leona made a face. “Why on earth not?”

“Because I had something more important to do.”

A mumbled tsk from Leona was quickly drowned out by Debbie, who crossed to the doorway and pointed to a large plastic container stuffed to the top with pillows. “We’ve got thirty-three comfort pillows so far, Victoria, isn’t that wonderful?”

She pulled her gaze from Margaret Louise and fixed it, instead, on the fruits of the sewing circle’s labor. Blinking back an unexpected tear, she crossed the room and plucked a pillow from the bin. “I was excited about this project when Rose told us what she wanted to do and why, but now I’m even more excited.”

“Why?” Melissa asked, pausing the damp cloth over the top of the mural depicting Laura Ingalls’s first log cabin. “What’s changed?”

“I guess it’s the reality that breast cancer patients face. Instead of being something I simply read about in newspapers and magazines, now it’s something real, something that affects someone I’ve gotten to know. I see the physical toll it’s taken on her body, I see the way it’s changed her perception of herself, and I see the way it’s dictated some of her choices in life.”

Rose closed the gap between them. “These pillows are such a little thing, really. They can’t undo the physical toll, or make someone feel better about themselves, or do much of anything besides alleviating a little of the post-op discomfort. But I guess, when I came up with the idea, I was hoping it might let some of these women know we care,” the elderly woman said, her voice growing more shaky with each passing word. “Like I know whenever I have to go in for an infusion.”

“They give you pillows, too?” Dixie asked.

“No. But I have friends by my side, holding my hand. Not all of those ladies have that. And now that her mother-in-law is gone, I imagine Lynn won’t have much of that, either.”

Tori hugged the pillow to her chest. “I’m hoping that maybe she will.”

Margaret Louise stepped forward, a knowing smile on her face. “I’ll take a shift whenever I can.”

Rose grinned. “I will, too.”

“Count me in as well, Victoria,” Georgina added.

She swallowed back the lump that threatened to make it difficult to speak. “I was hoping you’d say that.”

Dixie waved her hand in the air. “Doesn’t this woman have a husband?”

Rose rolled her eyes in disgust.

Leona snorted.

The two nodded at one another in agreement.

“Don’t tell me you two are still gettin’ along,” Margaret Louise bellowed. “You’re startin’ to make me wonder if I’ve dropped into some parallel universe from one of them adventure novels Jake Junior keeps readin’. You know, where things that can’t really be happenin’ start happenin’.”

The first few notes of the
Hawaii Five-O
theme song filled the room and all eyes turned toward Georgina, a hint of crimson making its way across the mayor’s cheeks.

“That’s your cell phone ring?” Leona questioned.

Georgina shrugged and flipped open her phone as Beatrice closed the costume trunk. “That’s her cell phone ring when Chief Dallas calls. It’s the theme song from”—she looked to Tori for confirmation—“
Quincy
when it’s the medical examiner.”

Five mouths hung open as five sets of eyes trained on Georgina.

“Does she have a different ring for everyone who calls?” Melissa asked.

“She does,” Tori confirmed.

Dixie narrowed her eyes on Tori. “Does she have a different one for each of us?”

“I believe she does, yes.”

Leona shot her hands in the air. “I know mine. It’s got to be ‘Belle of the Ball’ or, possibly, ‘That Lady.’ ”

“Or, perhaps, something along the lines of ‘Devil in a Blue Dress,’ ” Melissa teased, earning herself an evil eye in the process.

“I hope mine is something by Kenny Rogers. Maybe ‘Lady’?” Beatrice mused. “Or ‘Islands in the Stream’?”

Tori tried to focus on the jokes making their way around the room as each member of the sewing circle hypothesized about the various songs Georgina may have selected for them, but it was hard. Especially when she knew the reason for the chief’s call.

Chief Dallas had been surprisingly open-minded when she’d stopped by the police station on the way back to the library. In fact, from the moment she mentioned Garrett’s profession, she’d had his undivided attention, his interest peaking at the details of Vera Calder’s will. By the time she’d finished and he’d made a number of phone calls, the chief was all but ready to issue a warrant for Garrett Calder’s arrest.

His call to Georgina was simply the cherry on top.

Which meant Lynn’s world was about to turn upside-down once again.

“How did Lynn take the news?” Margaret Louise asked as she moved in beside Tori. “Is she okay?”

“She’s trying to look at the bright side. The side that gets that creep out of her house once and for all.”

Margaret Louise squeezed her arm. “She’ll be okay, Victoria. We’ll all help see to that.”

She leaned against the wall, the weight of the reality she’d been so far ignoring, suddenly zapping her energy. “I know we can help with things like dinners and companionship and hugs, but this woman is
sick
. She needs insurance, something I imagine she’ll lose when Garrett is locked away.”

“One way or the other, things will work out. They always do.” Margaret Louise reached out, pushed an errant strand of hair from Tori’s face. “And now, you can finally put all this stuff to the side. Concentrate on Milo comin’ home and you finally givin’ that boy the answer he’s been waitin’ for.”

Margaret Louise was right and she knew it. The person behind the fire had been identified. The person behind Jeff’s murder was virtually certain. And the person who made her life even brighter was due home in a little over twenty-four hours.

It was time to look forward. To trust that the rest would fall into place the way it was meant to, her part in bringing the truth to life complete.

“Thank you, Margaret Louise.” She planted a kiss on the side of the woman’s cheek just as Georgina snapped her phone closed.

“Don’t think I didn’t hear all of you guessing about your ringtones. And you can speculate all you want. You just won’t be getting any confirmation from me,” Georgina explained before focusing on Tori. “Chief Dallas told me about your meeting. Said he wished we had money in our budget to hire you on as a detective.”

She couldn’t help but laugh. “I wouldn’t take the job even if you did.”

“Couldn’t handle working with Robert?” Debbie mused.

“Couldn’t imagine spending my days anywhere but right here at the library.”

“And neither could we,” Dixie said earning a few startled looks in the process.

Tori blinked away the tears that threatened to spill down her face, Dixie’s words meaning more to her than she could ever articulate aloud. Instead, she gestured into the hallway. “I’m going to give the main room a once-over and then maybe we can adjourn to the bakery for something sinful.”

Leona shot a look of surprise in Debbie’s direction. “Did you hire a well-built security guard? Or a handsome pastry chef?”

She couldn’t help but laugh as she wandered into the hallway and toward the main room, her feet traveling a path they’d traveled nearly every day since arriving in Sweet Briar. When she reached the main room, she flipped on a few lights, her gaze sweeping across the various tables and chairs strewn about the room.

“I tried to tidy up as much as I could before everyone showed up to help with the children’s room,” Dixie explained as she stopped alongside Tori. “The only thing I didn’t get to was Mr. Downing’s books.”

She waved aside Dixie’s concern. “You did a fine job, thank you. Why don’t you start herding everyone toward the bakery and I’ll be along as soon as I shelve his books.”

“Are you sure?” Dixie asked.

“I’m sure.” She watched as Dixie turned down the same hallway from which they’d both come, the woman’s help and support the past few weeks a godsend she hadn’t properly acknowledged. “Dixie?”

The woman turned. “Yes?”

“Thank you for everything these past few weeks. You’ve made operating without Nina a whole lot easier.”

Dixie blushed with pleasure. “You’re welcome, Victoria.”

When the woman disappeared into the children’s room, Tori crossed to the table and the lone stack of books waiting to be shelved. Glancing down, she leaned toward the familiar picture, the shot no better than the one she’d tucked on a shelf behind the information desk.

“‘Foxglove,’” she read aloud. “ ‘The common foxglove contains some powerful constituents, which are used in the medicinal world; the most active and important constituents of the common foxglove include digitoxin, digitalin, digitalein, and digitonin. Of these constituents, digitoxin is the most powerful and also an extremely poisonous drug. In addition, the constituent digitonin is a cardiac depressant.’”

Confused by what she was reading, she continued on, her finger leading her eyes down the page with rapidly increasing speed.

Foxglove poisoning can also occur by ingesting or sucking foxglove flowers, leaves, or any other part of the plant.

As she read, a frightening picture began to form in her mind—a picture so twisted it made her sick to her stomach.

“Oh no. Please, please, no.”

“What’s wrong, Victoria?”

She jumped at the sound of Margaret Louise’s voice, the sudden movement knocking the book to the floor.