Iris Avenue (28 page)

“Gabriel and Luis went with my nephew to look at the river,” Lily said.

“I feel sorry for the people who have lost their homes.”

“They may not lose them,” Lily said. “But they will have a lot of cleaning up to do.”

“It feels so safe here,” Maria said. “I am grateful to you for letting us stay.”

“You’re very welcome,” Lily said. “I’m sure you must miss your family.”

“My family is not happy that we are here,” Maria said. “Even though Gabriel is my husband, they do not approve. Because of my religion I cannot divorce him, but I also cannot live with him and be welcome in my family home.”

“What will you do?”

“We will start over in another place, and make our own family. If my parents see that Gabriel is a good man who provides for his family, in an honest way, they may forgive him.”

“Isn’t that also a part of your religious beliefs?” Lily asked. “Forgiveness?”

“It’s supposed to be,” Maria said. “If it were not for Luis building a bridge between us I would never have considered forgiving Gabriel.”

“Luis is very special.”

“He’s always been sheltered, so he’s very young for his age. He has a wish for the kind of father and mother that Gabriel and I may not be able to be.”

“I wish you luck,” Lily said.

“You know this person Gabriel was involved with,” Maria said. “The one who I met in the bookstore.”

“Maggie Fitzpatrick.”

“Do you think he still loves her?”

Lily paused, then reached over and held Maria’s hand.

“I think you can love more than one person. What’s important now is that Gabriel has chosen you and Luis, and that you both go into this wholeheartedly, giving it your best.”

“I am not so sure that Gabriel loves me with his whole heart,” Maria said. “I think he may only love me with a tiny piece, a very old piece.”

“You’re a beautiful, kind, intelligent woman,” Lily said. “If he loved you once, he can love you again. Remind him why he fell the first time.”

“I don’t want to beg.”

“Pride won’t keep you warm at night,” Lily said.

“There is a man in Florida,” Maria said, “someone I am hurting very much by doing this.”

“Ah,” Lily said. “So a part of your heart belongs to someone else as well.”

“Yes,” Maria said. “Do you think Gabriel and I are doing the right thing to try to make Luis happy when it will make so many other people unhappy?”

“Simon and I never had children, so I’m no expert,” Lily said. “But there’s no guarantee that you and Gabriel can make Luis happy even if you do stay together. Life has a way of making us pay dearly for our good intentions.”

Gabriel, Luis, and the federal agent posing as Lily’s nephew came in, and Luis excitedly told his mother all about the flood. Lily listened with one ear while she observed the body language between Gabriel and Maria. They could barely make eye contact, and were awkwardly formal with each other. It was painful to watch.

Luis and Maria went upstairs and Gabriel sat down with Lily. The agent excused himself and went to the front room.

“I saw Maggie,” Gabriel said.

“I figured as much,” Lily said. “You need to be careful wandering around town when so many people are being killed.”

“Maggie doesn’t want to see me again,” Gabriel said. “She hates me.”

“She’s hurt,” Lily said. “When people are angry they say lots of things they’re sorry about later.”

“I made a commitment to Luis and Maria,” he said. “While I was in prison, it seemed like the right thing to do. I couldn’t wait to be with them.”

“And now?’

“Seeing Maggie again,” he said. “I wanted to confess my sins, say I was sorry, and say goodbye. But seeing her, being near her, it’s got me wondering what if. What if she could be persuaded to forgive me? What if we could be together again? Do you think it’s possible?”

“It seems to me you shouldn’t rush into any decision right now,” Lily said. “Talk to Maria, just the two of you. Be honest. If you can’t be honest with each other, what chance have you got?”

Gabriel looked toward the stairs.

“It will be hard enough for me to find work to support myself, let alone support the two of them. I don’t want them to suffer because of what I have done, but I don’t want to hurt Luis.”

“What is it we achieve when we sacrifice our happiness for someone else’s?” Lily said. “I know there’s a lot to be said for putting your child first and doing what’s best for him. But what’s best for him? Is it giving him what he wants or helping him deal with life as it is?”

“If I disappoint him now, I’ll lose him.”

“Are you so sure? Can’t you be in his life in a way that works for all of you?”

Gabriel looked toward the stairs again.

“I need to see Maggie again,” he said. “I need to convince her to give me another chance.”

He put his finger to his lips as he got up and put his coat back on.

“Be careful,” Lily said. “Remember Mrs. Wells wants you dead.”

Scott knocked on Ava’s back door and Delia answered.

“How’s Ava?” Scott asked as he entered the warm kitchen.

“She’s upstairs with the baby,” Delia said, and then shut the door to the family room, where Charlotte was reading and Timmy was napping on the couch.

“I want to talk with you privately,” she said. “But we can’t do it in here.”

“Okay,” Scott said. “Do you want to go for a walk?”

“I’m supposed to be watching the kids,” she said. “As soon as Theresa gets back, I can go.”

A little while later they left Theresa in the kitchen and walked up the alley behind Ava’s house.

“Do you have a cell phone on you?” he asked.

“No,” Delia said. “Why?”

“I think the feds have mine bugged.”

“Good gracious,” Delia said. “Ian asked me to stay away from Ava’s until this is all over, but I thought it was only the drug dealers we needed to worry about.”

“What’s going on?” Scott asked, as soon as they were far enough away from the house.

“I’m fond of you,” Delia said. “And I’m fond of Maggie. I don’t want to see you both miserable.”

“I don’t know if Maggie and I will be able to work it out or not,” he said. “Right now her life is turned upside down; it’s not the right time to pressure her about anything.”

“I know that; I want to warn you about Ava.”

“About Ava?”

“She’s having an affair with that agent.”

“Jamie and Ava?” Scott asked. “I don’t believe it.”

“You haven’t been in the house lately. You aren’t seeing what I’m seeing.”

“Are you sure about this?”

“I’ve seen them together and there’s no doubt in my mind.”

“I don’t believe it,” Scott said.

“Then tell me what this means,” Delia said. “Jamie goes up to her room late at night, after the kids are in bed, and comes back down in the morning before the kids wake up.”

“You don’t sit there all night and watch. He’s probably just checking on her and the kids.”

“I don’t watch but Theresa does,” Delia said. “She’s been dropping some big hints.”

“It would jeopardize his case if he carried on with a witness,” Scott said.

“I don’t trust that man,” Delia said. “He’s way too smooth and charming.”

“He’s certainly not what he seems to be,” Scott said.

The alley ended at Morning Glory Avenue, and they turned left toward the library.

“I’ll tell you something else,” Delia said. “When the call came about Brian, I was in the room, and Jamie wasn’t surprised.”

“You think he had something to do with it?”

“Ava’s next door neighbor said Jamie left with another agent early this morning in an SUV and it came back covered with mud. First thing the other guy did when they got back was wash it, even though it was raining. You tell me why that was so important at eight o’clock this morning.”

“You think they ran Brian off the road and left him for dead?”

“I’m just telling you what I heard.”

“It’s possible,” Scott said. “Maybe it would be wise for you to take your husband’s advice and stay away from Ava’s for now.”

“Maybe it would be wise for you not to get in between this man and what he wants.”

“You think he’ll kill me if I try to intervene between him and Ava?”

“Or look a little too hard for the SUV that left the scene of the crime.”

“That’s Sarah’s crime scene, not mine.”

“She’s already been to see him.”

“How’d that go?”

“I couldn’t hear them, but they must have come to some agreement. As she left I heard him say he would commend her to her superiors.”

“If what you suspect is true, she must have agreed not to pursue the SUV that left the scene.”

Scott and Delia passed the library and walked out Possum Holler toward the cemetery.

“What about the guy who got murdered in the cemetery maintenance shack?” Scott asked. “Do you think Jamie had anything to do with that?”

“I don’t know,” Delia said. “Ian thinks that was probably just Mrs. Wells warning her employees to keep their mouths shut or get the heck out of town.”

“That’s the county’s crime to investigate as well,” Scott said. “In case you haven’t noticed, I’m more of a night watchman around here than a detective.”

“Don’t underestimate yourself,” Delia said. “Ian thinks you’re doing very well.”

“This is going to sound incredibly naive,” Scott said, “but I had no idea all this stuff was going on. I knew there was drug traffic, but not that business was being transacted at the cemetery, or that Simon and Lily Crawford were involved way back. I’m not sure what to do about it.”

“You can’t be everywhere and control everything,” Delia said. “If you knew the nights Ian paced the floor, wrestling with his conscience over what to do, or whether to do anything at all.”

“Right now I just want to be sure that Ava’s family is safe.”

“I think Jamie has that covered.”

“You’ll think I’m stupid,” Scott said. “But I thought at one point this week that Ava was interested in me.”

“Oh, she’s interested,” Delia said. “You’re not out of the woods yet.”

“I don’t believe she would have an affair with that agent in the middle of all this.”

“No,” Delia said. “I can see how you wouldn’t.”

Scott remembered that the first time he met Jamie, the agent was holding Ava’s hand.

“I think you’re reading too much into the situation,” Scott said. “Ava’s a warm, affectionate person and the situation is intense. I think they’ve probably become close, but I don’t think Ava would have an affair with someone she just met. If you’d said Patrick was with her, then I’d believe it. They had a long relationship and I don’t doubt there are still feelings there.”

“I’ll wager I know Ava Fitzpatrick better than anyone,” Delia said. “She’s a lovely woman and a wonderful mother, but she’s a curse to any man foolish enough to fall in love with her.”

At the end of Possum Holler was Lily Crawford’s farm. As they approached, Betty Lou came waddling down the driveway baying at them, with the little cat right behind her.

“Gabe said that Maggie doesn’t want to see him again,” Scott told Delia.

Lily came out the back door to see who it was, and then called to them to “come on in and get warm.”

“He may still love her,” Delia said. “But she loves you.”

After they had their coffee, Delia went back to the bed and breakfast and Lily took Scott out to the barn. Penny was in her stall and snuffled at them as they passed. Lily gave the pony a carrot from her pocket, and all the feral cats scattered as they approached.

“I want you to see this,” she said, and Scott watched her climb the loft ladder. She used a key to remove the padlock securing the trapdoor in the ceiling.

Scott was amazed to see the laboratory and green house Simon had created in the loft. Lily showed him how the panels on the south side of the barn roof slid back to allow the sun to shine into the greenhouse, with a circuitry of supplementary lights to back it up. There was a sophisticated irrigation system and a dated-looking computer system.

“My husband, the mad scientist,” Lily said, taking a seat on one of the high stools.

“I had no idea,” Scott said. “I’m guessing no one in town did.”

“Theo knew,” Lily said. “That’s one of the reasons he wanted the property.”

“What will happen to it now?” Scott asked. “After the trial?”

“I don’t know,” Lily said. “They’ve promised me immunity if I testify, but then everyone in this town will know about my scarlet past, so I’m not sure I’ll still be welcome here.”

“I’d hate for you to leave,” Scott said. “Where would you go?”

“I don’t know,” Lily said. “I don’t have any family left and Simon’s brother is in Canada. They fell out over the war and I haven’t talked to him in years.”