This Secret Thing, стр. 87
“You’d think I’d be freaked out now that it’s just me and the girls,” Bess continued. “But I’m weirdly OK with it.”
“Your ex giving you any trouble about splitting up?”
Bess pursed her lips. “Kind of hard to when he was MIA for hours after I’d been shot because he was with another woman.” She and Polly both laughed at this, even though it really wasn’t funny.
“And besides, you’ve got Jason,” Polly teased. She’d given Bess a hard time about that as soon as Bess confessed that she actually knew the homeless man who’d saved them, that she’d been helping him out for a while and they’d actually become friends, of sorts. Bess insisted she didn’t have feelings for him, but Polly wondered. She’d seen him when he had come by to visit Bess after she got home from the hospital. He’d showered and shaved and had on new clothes. He cleaned up good, as they say.
“Oh, I do not,” Bess groused. Then she smiled. “But he did get a job. And he’s looking for an apartment.”
“And how do you know that?” Polly asked, a teasing tone in her voice.
“Wouldn’t you like to know,” Bess teased back.
The doorbell rang, and Polly went to let Micah in. He was right on time. She threw open the door with a flourish, nearly hitting herself in the face with the wreath she’d hung on the door, festooned with fall leaves and gourds. She’d bought it at the same time she’d bought the pumpkin. The new pumpkin wasn’t as big as the one Norah had bought, but it was good enough. It was all they needed.
The man on the porch wasn’t who she’d expected to find on the other side of the door. It was a man she honestly thought she’d never see again, which would’ve been fine with her. She had to repress a sneer at the sight of the detective. “Yes?” she asked, making herself be cordial. He was a cop, and she didn’t make a habit of being rude to cops.
“Ma’am,” he said. “I don’t want to take up too much of your time, but I came by because I wanted to personally deliver some news. Some good news.” He smiled. She’d never seen him smile before. She didn’t even know that he could.
“We’ve had some new information come to light and, because of that, we were able to offer your daughter a plea deal. I just came from a meeting in which she accepted the deal. Her attorney was going to let you know, but I wanted to be the one to tell you.”
Polly clapped her hands together. “She’s coming home?” she asked, barely believing what she’d just heard.
His face darkened slightly, then went light again, like the sun emerging from behind a cloud. “Well, not right away. We negotiated a three-year sentence, including time served, with the possibility of parole after eighteen months. So in, say, a year and a half, it’s likely she’ll be home.”
“Well, that’s not nearly as bad as I feared,” Polly said.
“Yes, sooner than it would’ve been, had one of our men not found that drive on the grounds. We think she dropped it out there when she saw us coming for her. Not sure how we missed it the first time. But it’s what’s getting her home faster now,” he said. He reached out to shake her hand, but she pushed his hand out of the way and gave him a hug instead.
“You give me news like that, and I don’t settle for a handshake,” she teased him. He blushed and took a step back. He stood there and looked at her for a moment, studying her face, like he was trying to figure her out, trying to see what made her tick. She saw him give up, like so many men had through the years. He bid her goodbye and took his leave.
As the detective went down the front porch steps, Micah came bounding up. The two men passed each other with a nod. Polly greeted Micah much more warmly than she had the detective, calling out for Violet, shooing him into the kitchen to wait there. “Go get yourself a drink out of the fridge. Whatever you want.”
Polly shut the door as Violet came down the stairs. “Was that Micah?” she asked, not bothering to restrain her eagerness. “I thought I heard another voice down here, too.”
“Yes,” Polly said. “Micah’s here. He’s in the kitchen. That detective came by as well.” Better to go ahead and tell Violet the news.
The joy drained out of Violet’s face, quickly replaced by fear. “Did something happen to my mom?”
“Apparently they had a meeting, offered her a deal, which she took.” She smiled at Violet. Though Norah wasn’t being released, she wanted Violet to understand that, based on Norah’s crime, her sentence was light, and they should be grateful.
“Is she coming home?” Violet asked, her voice quavering, caught in the space between hope and disappointment.
“Not right away. She’ll have to do some time in prison. Because she broke some pretty serious laws. But it’s not as bad as I feared, Violet. It could’ve been worse.”
Polly felt the guilt that had been her constant companion since Norah’s arrest swell inside her. Though she felt guilty that the authorities hadn’t discovered her role in Norah’s business, leaving Norah to pay the price alone, she understood Norah had wanted it this way. If Norah was caught, she wouldn’t take anyone down with her. That had been Norah’s plan, and it had mostly worked. Besides, Polly had consoled herself, if she’d gone to jail, who would’ve taken care of Violet?
“How long?” Violet asked.