Miz Scarlet and the Vanishing Visitor (A Scarlet Wilson Mystery) (16 page)

“Larry!”

“Surprised?” the homicide investigator asked, as she
hugged us, starting with a very delighted Jenny. “You didn’t think
old Auntie Larry would miss this moment, did you? Not after I saved
your butt up there on that mountain!”

Jenny did the honors, introducing her grandparents. I
noticed Larry looked them over carefully, like they were possible
suspects for some heinous crime, even as she shook their hands.
Still playing the role of bad cop, ready to jump into the fracas
should they turn out to be wanted felons...or unwanted
grandparents.

We got the party started. While Kenny fired up the
gas grill, Willow brought out her bean dip, salsa, and tortilla
chips, and I grabbed the drink orders, which Bur filled in the
butler’s pantry. By the time we sat down to eat, everyone was
laughing and swapping stories.

A little after seven, Jenny and her grandmother went
to the kitchen to carry out the pies. I followed with the vanilla
bean ice cream and a scoop. The oohs and aahs rose up in chorus as
the pies were placed on the table. I had to admit the lattice work
crust was perfect.

“So, squirt, when are you moving to California?”
Leave it to the Pouponmeister to bring the skunk to the picnic
table.

“Uh, actually we talked about it this afternoon.”

“Oh, please don’t tell me you’re leaving tomorrow.”
That was Laurel, her lower lip stuck out into a mock pout. “Who
will drive me to the mall on Tuesday? Can’t we have her at least
one more week?”

“And what about Mozzie? The vet hasn’t cleared him to
travel yet,” I pointed out helpfully.

“It’s all about you, isn’t it?” my brother scoffed. I
gave him a hard glare, which he completely ignored.

“I think you’ll have to clear it first with Sarge in
New Jersey,” Larry added. “It depends on what the District
Attorney’s office decides....”

“I’m not going anywhere,” Jenny cut in.

“What?” That was Lacey.

“You’re not?” Bur was shocked.

“I’m staying, at least for a while. With all the
things that have happened in the last couple months....”

“You’re staying?” I was stunned. “You’re not pulling
a vanishing act?”

“If it’s okay with you...unless you want me to
go.”

“Oh, that’s wonderful news.” I hugged her. “Please
stay.”

“Grandma and Grandpa thought your idea about me
taking a class or two was good. I’m just not ready to go to school
full time, not after my mom....”

“And we still have to sort out the mess with your
stepfather in probate court,” Kenny reminded everyone.

I looked at the Googins girls, Kenny, and Bur. We
still hadn’t given her the news about Christina.

“Besides, I want to make sure that my mother’s name
is on the headstone up at the cemetery in Maine.”

“I don’t understand, Jenny. I thought your stepfather
buried her.”

“No. We just had a memorial service. She left
instructions that she was supposed to be cremated and the urn with
her ashes was supposed to go next to her sister, my birth mother. I
don’t think Steve’s done that yet.”

Chapter Sixteen --

“Your birth what?” That was Willow. “You were
adopted?”

“My mom died right after I was born, and my aunt took
me in. She told me all about what happened when I was eight and
asked me what I wanted to do. I told her I wanted to belong to her,
so we went to the court and the judge declared me adopted. Why are
you all looking at me that way? It’s legal.”

“Does your stepfather know about it?” Kenny
wondered.

“I don’t know. Why?”

“Jen, do you have a safety deposit box at a bank, by
any chance?” he asked.

“Sure, my mother insisted I get one a couple of years
ago, when she first got sick. There’s no money in there, if that’s
what you’re thinking. It’s mostly papers and my certificate of
adoption. I have the key upstairs.”

“But not your birth certificate. The sheriff found
that in the box we collected from the garage,” Kenny told her.

“That’s not the original,” was Jenny’s reply. “It’s a
duplicate. For some reason, Steve sent for it. He said he had to
have it after Mom died.”

“But did he know Vivian adopted you?” I leaned
forward, curious.

“I don’t know. I don’t think the subject ever really
came up, Miz Scarlet. Mom and I didn’t need to talk about it.”

“Holy cow, kiddo! Do you have any idea how worried we
were that your stepfather had a legal claim to Vivian’s estate
because you were Christina’s daughter?”

“Really, Miz Scarlet?” asked the confused teenager.
“You mean you thought my adopted mom kept it a secret from me? No,
she wasn’t like that. She was very honest about it.”

“No wonder the girl wasn’t upset when her
grandparents arrived,” Lacey shook her head in amazement. “She knew
about Christina.”

“Boy, you people really are something else,” Larry
quipped, giving us all a big grin. “That’s some detective work you
did. Maybe you should stick to finding lost cats.”

“Lost cats? You mean like him? He walked in one day
and never left.” Scrub Oak, perched on the arm of a wicker settee
in the corner by the dog crate, looked up briefly at Bur before
resuming his paw bath, one eye on the napping spaniel. “We
plastered posters all over the neighborhood, but nobody wanted the
old flea bag.”

“He has his own charm,” Laurel said in the feline’s
defense. “He grows on you.”

I turned the conversation back to Larry’s contention
that we were not high caliber detective material.

“We did okay on that New Jersey case,” I insisted,
standing my ground. “How long would it have taken Sarge and his
buddies to crack that puzzle of the Hinson house?”

Larry snorted derisively in my direction, gold
bangles clinking on her wrist as she tried to erase the importance
of the discoveries we made on her invisible air blackboard.

“Oh, pull-ease! You think the judge is going to look
at your handiwork and say, ‘Whoopee! The case is solved, courtesy
of Miz Scarlet...’? Nope. Naw. Un-un. No way, no how, and hell, no!
You didn’t crack the case. It’s more like you hammered a teeny tiny
little nail hole into the wall and got the ball rolling. In real
police work, the investigators have to meet certain requirements.
There has to be physical evidence, not just supposition. Right now,
it’s still just a theory that is not even prosecutable. Richie was
left as shark bait, floating on the ocean and no one has yet been
fingered for that. And we still don’t know who actually
masterminded the whole scheme.”

“Oh,” Kenny laughed, “I guess you haven’t heard.
Sarge called me a while ago. The New Jersey State Police raided
Aura Cleanse, based on information Bobby told them as part of his
plea deal. Are you ready for the identity of the person behind the
whole shebang?”

All eyes were on Kenny, who knew it and enjoyed the
long pause. He put his hands on the table and began drumming
softly, then gave it a little more oomph, and then abruptly
stopped.

“Well?” I demanded.

“Come on!” Bur insisted. “Don’t hold back!”

“You haven’t figured this out yet?” Kenny was having
fun at our expense. That had to mean the actual answer must be
somehow obvious. Paolo, Lyric, and Opal were in on it, and they
financed their dream jobs by defrauding the suckers who bought into
their con game, but none of them was the mastermind. Nor the killer
of Richie.

“Oh, wait. This wasn’t about jewels. The gems were
used to finance the construction, and the goal was to sell the
hurricane-damaged properties at a profit to fund their financial
empires. That must mean that the mastermind is Opal’s
husband....”

“Lars Weims!” The Poup shouted out, trying to beat me
to the punch. “So much for not solving the case, Larry!”

“Oh, you got lucky! You still can’t
call
that
solving
the case. Hell, you didn’t even muss up your pretty boy hair,
Slick.”

“’
Slick’? Did you just call me
‘Slick’?” My brother feigned dismay.

“
Oh, brother!” Larry groaned. “Are
you really shocked by this?”

Jenny, holding Mozzie in her lap while she gave him
his medicine, giggled. The homicide investigator watched her for a
moment, her look softening. “Poor Jenny went from having no family
at all to having too much family. Look at you, surrounded by all
these people who love you.”

“I know. Isn’t it just amazing? I still can’t believe
my luck!”

“Luck has little to do with it, Jen. We’re just
delighted that we’ve had the chance to know you,” Laurel told the
girl. “You’re a wonderful addition to this extended family.”

“Besides, how can you ever have too much family?”
Lacey wanted to know. “We may be feisty and opinionated, but by
Jove, we’re fun people!”

“That’s one way to look at the Googins dynasty,”
Willow laughed. “Others might suggest we’re all a bit bonkers.”

The conversation quickly spiraled into silliness, as
we recalled some of the family’s most inventive exploits and
hysterical mishaps, including the time Bur was chased by an angry
beaver after he disassembled the critter’s dam.

“Getting back to the subject of California,” Tony
broke in at last, “we’ve asked Jenny to visit us, so she has a
chance to meet the rest of her father’s family and see where we
live. We’re hoping that when she’s ready to go to college
full-time, she’ll consider something near us.”

“Grandpa’s an almond farmer,” she told Larry. “He has
a hundred acres of land and thousands of trees.”

“It’s a nutty job, but someone has to do it,” he
joked. We all groaned.

“And he keeps honeybees, to pollinate the trees.
Grandma tends to the hives and bottles the honey. She’s also a
potter and has her own studio. She’s going to teach me to throw
pots.”

“An artist? How lovely,” said Laurel. This was news
to all of us. There were so many more pressing issues when Tony and
Maria first arrived. Now we were getting to learn the ordinary
details of their lives.

“And guess what. They want me to spend Thanksgiving
and Christmas with them.”

“Wonderful idea,” several voices said at the same
time.

“You’ll let me take some time off from work?” Jenny
looked at me expectantly, and that’s when I realized how much it
meant to her to call the Four Acorns Inn home. The little bird
wasn’t quite ready to leave the temporary nest.

“Well, I think we can arrange something,” I promised.
I looked up in time to see Tony watching me, so I winked. He
relaxed his shoulders, leaving me to wonder if he was nervous about
having a granddaughter who was a stranger. Did he worry about her
rejecting the effort? I raised my glass in salute. “To the Jenny
Project!”

“
And happy endings,” Kenny
added.

“Here, here!” we all cheered. The teenager beamed her
beautiful Martinez smile at us.

“Damn!” Larry grabbed her beeper from her waistband
and looked down at the message. “Wouldn’t you know some idiot has
to go and spoil a perfectly lovely day by whacking some poor
schlub? I’ve got to go. Bur, do you mind driving me home, so I can
pick up my car?”

“Not at all.”

“What a pity you have to leave,” said Laurel. “At
least finish your pie, dear. That stiff isn’t going anywhere any
time soon.”

“Story of my life,” she said, taking another bite and
savoring the flavors. “Every time I get invited somewhere fun, I
get called away. I’m getting too old for this nonsense.”

“You know, you ever want a job as a private
investigator, you call me,” Kenny said as he poured himself some
more wine. “The hours are better, the benefits are decent, and the
pay is pretty good, too.”

“Tempting offer, Captain Peacock. No more calls in
the middle of the night. No more traipsing up the mountain after
wayward teenage girls.” She pretended to glare at Jenny, who burst
into a giggle. “I would, but I have to stay in Connecticut until my
kid’s off to college.”

“I understand what you’re saying. Your daughter’s
wellbeing is a priority. What do you think about working out of
Hartford?”

“She already does,” Bur pointed out.

“I’m talking about a job with Mercer Security,
Poup.”

“For Larry?”

“Certainly not for you, buddy.”

“You’re opening an office in Hartford?” My brother’s
mouth was open wide enough to catch some pretty large flies.

“Sometime in November,” Captain Peacock responded, a
sly little smirk on his face.

“Kenny’s moving back here?” Laurel wanted to know. I
turned to him and he nodded.

“He just told me a little while ago,” I admitted
somewhat sheepishly.

“Oh, boy! That’s great news,” Jenny declared.

“Does that mean there’s going to be a....” Laurel
looked a little pale, a hand to her chest. What was she trying to
say?

“Do I hear wedding bells?” Lacey interrupted, putting
a hand up to her ear.

“I’ve got dibs on matron of honor,” Larry announced.
“And just remember that with my looks, I can carry off a really hot
color. Fuchsia or tangerine. ”

“What about me?” the teenager shot back. “I should be
in the wedding party. I’m like a daughter to Miz Scarlet.”

“Naw, you’re too pale. You need something dainty.
Pink polka dots maybe, or lavender butterflies. You can be flower
girl.”

“Says who?”

“Says me.”

“Ha! I’m eighteen! I’m too old for that.”

“What, you think you should be maid of honor? Over my
dead body!” Larry tossed her dark curls back with a big flourish
and sniffed haughtily, diva-like. “Besides, you’re too skinny to
carry off a halter dress. It would just hang on your bony body. A
woman like me, with curves, now that’s a different story!”

“You two done discussing Barbie’s dream wedding?” I
asked, leaning back in my chair as I watched the pair of them
bickering. “Because I didn’t hear anyone directly involved utter
the word ‘marriage’ or ‘wedding’. You know something I don’t
know?