Georgie Be Good (8 page)
Authors: Marg McAlister
A
little after
nine that night, just as she had finished filling Scott and Layla in on Rachel’s visit, Georgie got a call from Sarah.
“Georgie? I know it’s late, but could you come visit?” Her voice sounded flat.
She knows about Izzie,
thought Georgie. She nodded at the others, who were listening intently. “Yes, that’s fine.”
“Thank you. See you soon.”
She closed her phone. “Sarah. She wants me to come over.”
“I’ll go with you,” Scott said immediately. “I don’t have to go inside. I’ll wait in the car.”
Georgie felt a rush of gratitude. He knew without even asking that she needed someone. “Thank you. I’d like that.”
He stood up and touched her once on the shoulder, a simple but reassuring gesture that meant the world. “Come on, then. We’ll talk more on the way. If you want.”
They reached her truck and she turned to him. “Would you drive? The address is in the GPS. I need to think.”
“No worries,” he said, taking the keys and walking around to the driver’s side. “I know how it goes.”
And he really did know; that was the good part. Growing up with a mother who had spent a lifetime interpreting signs and giving readings, Scott clearly knew when talk and when to keep quiet.
Georgie leaned across impulsively and kissed him on the cheek. “Yes, you do know.” She settled back, and used the journey to drop down into a state of calm. She didn’t try to reason things out or make connections. She just let snippets of conversation and impressions float through her mind.
When they reached the West residence, Scott pushed his seat back and turned to her. “You good?”
With Scott, it was a simple question, not an irritating play on the family name.
“I’m good.” She opened the door and swung out of the car. “See you soon.”
The door opened within seconds of her pressing the buzzer, revealing a tense-looking Grace. It was obvious she had been crying again. She reached out and took Georgie’s hand, drew her inside and flung her arms around her. “Thank you. Thank you so much. If Izzie had…had…” her voice broke.
Fighting emotion, Georgie hugged her back. “It’s your doing, Grace, coming to me for your friend. You’re the one who saved her.”
Grace sniffled and let her go. “They’re out the back, in the sunroom.”
She walked as far as the kitchen with Georgie, and then disappeared, presumably to her own room.
Sitting at the same table as before, three faces turned in her direction. Sarah, James and Rachel.
Sarah had her arm around Rachel’s shoulder. James was patting her hand.
That looked promising.
Georgie walked across the room, and took the fourth chair.
Rachel managed a pitiful smile. “What, no crystal ball?”
“No,” Georgie said lightly. “I don’t need it now.” She smiled. “Izzie’s okay?”
“She’s going to be fine.” Rachel drew in a deep breath. “Thank God I’d left a key next door. My neighbor knew enough to control the bleeding until the paramedics got there…” her voice dried up on her for a moment, and then she went on, “She cut her wrists. It was touch and go.”
“I’m sorry she felt driven to do it. And I’m so glad they got there in time.”
“I owe you an apology.” Rachel shook her head. “That seems tame, after what you did for us. And you were right, about what happened to Izzie, what brought her so low. How can I thank you? After what I said to you…”
Georgie smiled. “You’re not the first to find it hard to believe a gypsy fortune-teller, and you sure won’t be the last.”
Rachel took a deep, quavering breath. “There’s more.”
“Rachel, you don’t have to,” Sarah said. “You’ve apologized. You’ve thanked Georgie. That can be the end of it.”
“No.” Rachel’s voice was decisive. “I know I can’t really make amends, but I’m going to try.”
So,
Georgie thought,
we were right.
“I was the one who passed on the company secrets to their rivals.” Rachel stared straight ahead, her face grim. “I can’t excuse it…but there was a reason.”
“Money?” Georgie asked. “I had a feeling you might have been blackmailed.”
“Close, but it’s worse than that. I didn’t do it for money. The man who… who took Izzie…” Rachel quailed for a moment, but then went on. “He drugged her and took photos, of her with other men. Nude photos. Then he came to see us both late one night, said he would post them all over the Internet. Sell them to pedophiles.” Her voice dropped to a near-whisper. “Izzie’s a small girl for her age, undeveloped.”
Georgie felt a growing rage. Poor girl. Poor mother.
“He didn’t want money. He wanted information.” Rachel swallowed. “He told me what he wanted and how to get it. I had to wait until James was out of the room, or in a meeting, and had forgotten to shut down his computer. It took weeks, but I got it all.”
Georgie sneaked a look at Sarah and James. Their faces mirrored Georgie’s outrage, but she didn’t feel it was directed at Rachel.
Sarah’s next words confirmed her thoughts. “We don’t blame Rachel,” she said. “I might have done the same if it were Grace.”
“I’m going to the police,” Rachel said. “And Damian and Cory. I’m telling them everything, so they can get the evidence they need. James will get his job back. If he wants it.”
James said nothing, and Georgie could imagine how he felt. Betrayed, not only by Rachel, but by everyone who had been ready to believe that he would do this.
“The thing is, I was ready to do anything to protect Izzie. Anything. But in the end, what drove her to try to kill herself wasn’t just the photos, or what happened to her. She told me, tonight, at the hospital.” Rachel slumped, looking too exhausted to cry any more, and went on, “It was what happened after it as well: betraying our friends. My best friends, Sarah and James. Izzie’s best friend, Grace. She couldn’t live with it all.”
James let go of her hand and put his arm around her shoulder, resting his arm across Sarah’s. “We’ll see you through this, Rachel. We’ll go to the police with you, and to see Damian and Cory.”
“Yes. We will.” Sarah nodded, and then her face hardened. “And we’ll catch this bastard. There’ll be a trail, somewhere.”
Georgie looked at them, and thought what good people there were in the world. It made her heart warm.
“Well,” she said. “I’m glad it all worked out. Give my regards to Izzie, Rachel.” She stood. “Thank you for letting me know.”
Sarah stayed with Rachel while James escorted her to the door.
“Rachel is not the only one who owes you an apology,” he said. “I was pretty tough on you.”
“Water under the bridge. I’m glad the truth is out.” Georgie held out a hand. “I’m glad you and Sarah are standing by Rachel, too.” On impulse, she added, “You’ll be even closer after this, you know. Tell Rachel that.”
“I will.” He shook her hand. “If there’s ever anything I can do for you, let me know.”
“I will,” she said, not really meaning it but knowing he needed to hear it. “Goodbye, James.”
Back at the truck, Scott was leaning on the passenger door. Without a word, he opened his arms and Georgie walked into them, leaning on his broad chest and sighing deeply. They stood like that for several minutes, while Georgie felt the stress melt away.
“You were right?” he asked eventually, breathing into her hair.
“We were right,” she corrected him, with a small smile into his shirt. “Our little CBI team. I got the message right about poor Izzie, but Tammy was the one who made the breakthrough. It was blackmail, but not for money.” She told him Rachel’s story.
He smoothed her hair, thinking. By the light of the moon, she could see that his face was serious.
“What?”
“I was thinking,” he said, “that you should give yourself more credit. You doubt yourself so much, but you don’t have to.”
“That reminds me. I was going to ask you something about your mother. I always notice that if a reading is all in fun, I get hit after hit… but if it’s something important, I have to fight for information. It’s so frustrating. Is it just me, or is it like that for her too?”
“Yes, sometimes. Even now, when she’s been doing it forever. You’re new to it.”
“I’m just going to have to find my own way, I guess.”
“Hmm.”
She could tell his mind was still working it out. “And…?”
“And I was thinking, this whole thing—meeting me, and Layla, and now Tammy. I know it started as a joke, CBI instead of CSI. But what if this is all part of your journey? We’re all good together. Perhaps you’re not meant to do it all alone.”
Wordless, she stared at him.
“You’ve been wondering why Rosa doesn’t give you more help. Did she do it this time?”
“Only once,” she admitted, thinking back. “Her face popped up When I was talking to Grace about Izzie.”
“When it was urgent. Maybe she just knows, at her end, when you need a nudge. Or a boost.” He shrugged. “I can’t guess at Rosa’s motives. But the rest of it, that was all you.”
“And the rest of you.”
“OK, all of us.” He tipped up her chin and kissed her gently.
Oh,
thought Georgie.
That’s nice.
‘Your Leo’, Rosa had called him.
She didn’t mind the idea of that at all. A new man to go along with her new team. She breathed out a huge sigh, and felt a calmness descend. He was right. She didn’t have to do it alone.
She kissed him back to see if it felt as good as the first time—which it did—and then rested her head on his chest, thinking about their little team. A laugh bubbled up. “I can imagine what the police would think. You realize nothing we come up with will ever be admissible as evidence, don’t you?”
“Might be part of the fun. We can be the stealth team. Can’t fight a crystal ball.”
Georgie grinned into his shirt. “I guess we’d better get back to the others and tell them the news. They’ll be waiting up.” She remembered that Jerry would be there too, and her joy dimmed somewhat. “Jerry will be there looking at me with that superior smile and patting me on the head and saying “Now, Georgie, be good.”
“Just keep telling yourself you
are
good,” Scott said, “and that you’ve got a good team.” His teeth glinted in the moonlight. “As for your brother: his days are numbered. All you have to do is picture Tammy fixing those big blue eyes on Jerry and saying,” he wagged a finger, “Now, Jerry, be good!”
Laughter felt good.
“Let’s go,” she said. “Time to tell the team that they’ve wrapped up their first investigation.”
This time, she drove. It felt good to sit up high and hurtle along the roads, back to her little gypsy trailer and her little team.
“Yep,” she murmured to Scott, “we
are
good.”
D
ear Reader
,
About eighteen months before I started writing about Georgie, two things happened that eventually came together and resulted in this book…and the rest of the Gypsy Caravan Cozy Mystery Series.
The first thing: I was traveling with my husband in our own RV and we stopped at an RV park in a small country town. It happened to be the day after a festival, and one of the first things we saw was a fantastic old gypsy caravan. I discovered later that it was called a Bowtop, and it had been rescued from obscurity and pressed into service by a gypsy fortune-teller. She took it to various markets and towns, and set up a tent nearby to tell fortunes; she used the caravan for sleeping.
I took photos, thought how great it was, and moved on to explore the rest of the country.
Fast forward a year or so, and we were in an entirely different part of the country—and this time, we found ourselves in an RV park surrounded by gorgeous vintage setups. I was completely won over. I took photo after photo, and chatted to lively women dressed in retro fashions and cats-eye sunglasses, visited rockabilly events, and enjoyed afternoon tea eaten from delicate plates with floral retro patterns. I realized that this was a whole lifestyle for some people: vintage trailers, vintage cars, and vintage clothes.
A few months after that, I decided I’d write a mystery series—a cozy mystery series, which would actually be more cozy puzzles, because I didn’t really want to have a corpse in each story. Hmm, I thought, who could the sleuth be? Where could I have these stories take place?
In a variety of locations, I thought. Someone could be traveling around, as I like to do, and find a mystery—or puzzle—in each place. That’s when everything suddenly came together. Travel, vintage and retro trailers, and a gypsy fortune-teller who finds herself solving mysteries!
So here you are, at the end of the first book in the series. If you’ve enjoyed it, I’d really appreciate it if you would give a few minutes of your time and leave an honest review.
** Don’t forget…I have a FREE book for you! **
Read more about Great Grandma Rosa in
FORTUNE’S WHEEL
Whether she wanted to believe it or not, from birth Georgie was destined to follow in Great-Grandma Rosa’s footsteps—as well as inherit her crystal ball! Here’s your chance to find out more about the crabby old lady that Georgie sees as a kind of taciturn genie. Visit my website below and get your complimentary copy of Rosa’s story in “Fortune’s Wheel” and other bonus books as they become available.
