“It looks so beautiful. The decorations are perfect. You did it,” I gushed to my sister. “This is going to be the most popular store in all of Wahoo. You wait and see.”
“Wedid it. I couldn’t have done it without you. You prodded me to take the chance and open this, and you kept me on track. And you helped clear my name from a murder charge. Isn’t that wild to even say aloud? We got our happy-ever-after.”
And we had. Moments after Vera and I ran into the street outside of Bruce’s home, Alex Holt and a platoon of cops came roaring up. Alex had listened to my voicemail and then called Tyler, who continued to spill the beans about what he knew. Tyler simply couldn’t make up his mind on who to trust and what to confess, so he gave up and told Holt everything.
“It was a little dicey there for a day or two. But we make the best team. Always have, always will.”
Vera threw her arms around me and a sob escaped from her mouth. “I’m so sorry.”
I patted her back. “It’s OK. You don’t have to keep saying that.”
“No, it was my stupidity and terrible taste in men that led to all this.”
“It was not. It was greed and paranoia and a bunch of guys who were trying to bend the rules to get ahead. I’m just glad that in the end, Tyler did the right thing by telling Holt everything.”
“He was such a pile of old garbage,” she whispered into my hair. “Tyler, I mean. Not Alex Holt. He seems quite wonderful.”
Now both Tyler and Bruce were awaiting trial without bail. Tyler on election fraud charges and Bruce on a homicide charge. Even Chad, the boy toy in Barbie’s house, was caught up in the arrests; he’d been friends with Tyler, Bruce, and Gene, and was charged with obstruction of justice and a handful of other petty crimes. Somehow, Barbie remained unscathed. I’d like to think she was innocent, but no one knew. Plenty of folks were gossiping, though.
And yes, Bruce had survived. The alligator never attacked him. As I always tell people, gators are more afraid of us than we are of them, and that gator in the scrub was no different. Bruce later told the authorities that it had run off after the scuffle with me and Vera. He’d been so frightened that he’d curled up in a ball and waited to die. He’d also pissed himself.
Holt had found him like that and arrested him without a fuss. He was now in the county jail, along with Tyler.
There was a possibility that Tyler would be charged with being an accessory to murder. The governor had removed him from office, and a special election had been called. Dave, the dog trainer, had jumped into the race.
I’d sent him twenty-five bucks for his campaign, mostly because he seemed like a good guy, and I felt bad about deceiving him that day at his house.
My concern wasn’t with politics, though. It was with my sister.
“You sure you’re OK?” I broke apart from her and wiped my thumb across her tear-stained cheek.
She nodded. “Now that I have some space from Tyler, I realize he wasn’t good for me at all. Or for our business.”
That was the other unexpected positive thing to have come from all of this. Because Tyler’s assets were frozen, we didn’t have to pay back the money he’d loaned to Vera immediately. We would absolutely do so, because I didn’t want the karma of keeping Tyler’s dirty cash. But we just weren’t under extreme pressure to come up with it right away.
“You need to let me pick your next boyfriend, OK?”
She laughed and sniffled, dabbing her eyes with a napkin. “You’re probably a better judge of men than I am, I guess.”
“Dunno about that. But I know I have your best interests at heart, and I can see right through people who don’t.” I took a deep breath. “Are you ready for the party?”
It was five minutes to seven, and there were several people standing outside our door.
“Let’s open up,” Vera cried, and I unlocked the door.
Our fellow business owners, followed by some folks we knew from high school, streamed in. Vera and I chattered excitedly about the shop, and a few people took us aside separately, wanting to know more details about Tyler, Bruce, and Gene.
A tall, white-haired man pushing a stroller walked in. I recognized him immediately.
“Dave! Thank you for coming.” I’d sent an invite to Dave Smith, the wronged city council candidate. Never did I expect him to come, but here he was with a tiny dog in a stroller.
He opened his arms for a hug, which was surprising, considering how angry he’d been the last time I saw him.
“I couldn’t resist seeing your store. Also, I wanted to apologize for being snippy that day you came to the house.”
“Really, I should apologize. Jack and I were fishing for information and we used a ridiculous excuse to come talk with you. Of course cats can’t be trained.”
Dave chortled.