Chapter 9

"Molly, you need to call your mom and dad," Grace said. "We need a list of the names of people they suspect may have invested with Jeremy, if they know."

Molly bit her lip and looked doubtful. "I found out about Ginny Windom from my roommates, but I don't know any of the people my folks know."

"The only way to find out is to call."

"I know, but I'm not on the best terms with them. They were pissed when I left Jeremy. On the outside, he was perfect son-in-law material, you know? Handsome, made good money… They thought I should've given him another chance."

"Maybe now they'll have a different opinion of him," Grace said. "He was a criminal. Surely, they wouldn't have wanted you to stay with him knowing that."

"No, probably not," Molly said with a sigh. She picked up her phone, stared at it for a minute, then thumbed her mom's number. "Hey, Mom. It's me. Yes, I'm fine. I'm okay. Of course, I heard about it. I'm the one who found his body."

Grace could hear Molly's mother yelling over the phone for her husband, then demanding to know what had happened, why hadn't Molly answered her phone? They'd been calling for two days. And was Molly really okay, and was it true Jeremy had been murdered?

"Oh, you poor thing!" Molly's mom sobbed. "We read about it online. You must be devastated." She said Molly should come home immediately; her father would book her a ticket.

"No, mom. Don't be ridiculous. It's only a four hour drive – it would take longer than that to fly out of Grand Junction or Montrose. Besides, I'm not coming home. First of all, I can't, because the police told me to stay in town. Secondly, Jeremy was a creep and a thief. I tried to tell you that when I left, but you wouldn't listen. I'm sorry he's dead, but I don't miss him at all."

"Was he really a thief? You know, your father and I invested with him and made some money. Maybe not as much as he thought we would but…"

"Mom, he was running a Ponzi scheme. You're lucky you got out when you did. People lost everything investing with him."

"Oh, my God…" Molly's mother sniffled loud enough for Grace to hear. "That can't be true—"

"Molly? Molly is that you?" a deep voice rumbled through the phone.

Molly rolled her eyes. "Yes, Dad, it's me. Listen, I'm fine, but I need a favor. Did Jeremy ever mention the names of people who may have invested with him?"

"Why?"

"Dad, can't you just trust me?"

There was silence for a long moment. Then Molly's mom got back on the phone. "Dad went to look for the papers Jeremy gave us when he was trying to get us to reinvest."

"You mean he tried to get you to give him money again ?"

"Yes, and a lot of it. More than we were comfortable giving him to invest. We didn't tell you because we didn't want to come between you and him."

"Mom, I stopped loving Jeremy over a year ago. That's when I left. When did he contact you last?"

"About six months ago. I always thought you'd go back to him. Now I'm glad you didn't."

Molly's eyes widened. "I'm so happy you didn't give him another red cent. That's when things went really bad, and the scheme collapsed." She turned to Grace. "Jeremy tried to get my parents to reinvest just before the whole thing went south."

"Who are you talking to, dear?" Molly's mom asked.

"My friend, Grace. She's been helping me."

"Oh, how nice, dear. But I really think you should come home. Daddy can call and talk to the police. Surely they know you didn't have anything to do with Jeremy's death!"

"I don't want to come back, Mom. Summit Springs is my home now. I'm happy here, and even dead, Jeremy isn't going to ruin this for me, too, like he did Denver."

"How did he ruin Denver?"

"He took money from all my friends' parents, and lost it all, that's how. Nobody was speaking to me. That's why I moved out here."

"Oh, hon…"

Then Molly's dad got on the phone again. "Do you want me to email you this list? It's pretty lengthy."

"Yes, Daddy, please. That would be great."

"Listen, kitten. You want to come home, you just say the word, okay?"

"Yes, Daddy. Thank you. I love you, and I love Mom, too."

"We love you. Stay out of trouble."

"I will." She ended the call.

"My dad is going to email me the list of names he has," Molly said. She leaned against Grace, resting her head on Grace's shoulder. "We can check around to see if any are in town."

"I don't know if it'll help, but it can't hurt," Grace said. "Hey, listen — and you can tell me to shut up or go to hell if you want — but are you out to your folks?"

Molly nodded. "Yeah, but they still think it was a phase. Being with Jeremy made them think I was straight."

"Da-yum. Your taste in men sucks."

Molly chuckled. "Yeah, but my taste in women seems much better."

Grace pulled back and looked at Molly. "Are you talking about moi ?"

Molly giggled. " Oui . Shouldn't I be? I thought we had a, you know, connection."

"Oh, baby, we do," Grace whispered. Then she leaned in and kissed Molly. It was more than just sweet kiss. It was deeper, more passionate, and served to remind Grace that she had a concussion and a whopper of a headache. "And I swear as soon as my head feels better, I'll give you a proper kiss."

"That felt pretty proper to me," Molly said softly. She tenderly brushed a strand of hair out of Grace's eyes. "Now, lay down and take a nap."

Molly's phone beeped, and she found the email from her father. Grace tried to take it, but Molly held it out of her reach. "Oh, no. You nap. We'll go over the list later."

"Then you nap, too. You were in the same accident I was in, and you broke your arm," Grace said. If she couldn't look at the list, Molly couldn't either. It might be petty and kindergartener-y, but that's the way it was.

Molly smiled at her. "Can I trust you not to open that email while I get undressed?"

"You can trust me with your life," Grace said solemnly, and nodded, holding her hand out for the phone. She knew if she peeked, Molly would never trust her again, and that wasn't something, Grace realized, she ever wanted. She wanted what she'd told Molly to be true.

That Molly could trust Grace, with her life if necessary.

***

Naptime flew by. Before Grace knew it, Zoe was calling her softly from the bedroom door.

"Grace? Grace, hon, it's suppertime. I'm going to bring you and Molly up plates."

"No, no. We'll come down. Seriously, it's okay," Grace answered. She waited for Zoe to leave, then turned to Molly, ignoring the stabbing pain in her head. "Molly? Wake up, babe."

Molly yawned and stretched her good arm over her head as she sat up. "Time for school, mom?"

"Very funny. Zoe says it's dinnertime. Let's go down. We don't want them waiting on us, do we?"

"Nope. And oh! We have an email to open, don't we?"

"That we do, hon. That we do."

They made their way to the dining room downstairs, where Zoe and Emily had set out four place settings and a highchair.

"Sit anywhere, but be aware, if you sit next to the magic chair, you get to feed Lily," Emily said with a smile.

"Magic chair?" Molly asked, returning Emily's grin.

"Yup. It takes Lily on exciting gastronomic journeys, from CheerioLand to Fresh Strained Peas Country."

"Oh, yum!" Grace said, with more than a trace of sarcasm in her voice. "Can I pass Fresh Strained Peas Country and go straight to Chocolate Pudding Place?"

"No shortcuts," Zoe said, and they all laughed — everyone except Lily, who at a year old, wasn't old enough to appreciate the adults' silliness.

Dinner was thick, juicy burgers, fresh tomatoes, and sides of homemade potato and macaroni salads.

Grace wouldn't have thought she eat more than a bite considering she was still feeling a bit nauseated, but she was hungrier than she thought and ate almost an entire burger.

After dinner, once Lily had been fed, played with, bathed, and put down for the night, the four women gathered in the living room.

Molly opened the email from her dad and sent it to the printer Zoe kept in a corner of the living room, printing out four copies.

There was a list of ten names on the paper, but only two were familiar to anyone in the room.

"Winston Haversham? I know him! He's a very nice British man who lives off Buena Vista Road. He has tea at Caffeine Ivy's almost every morning," Zoe said.

"And I know I've heard this name before," Emily said, pointing to one on the list. "Anna Bonnet Sanders. She's Albert Herves' administrative assistant, and the scuttlebutt is she's having an affair with him."

"Was," Zoe said. " Was his assistant and was having an affair with him. I heard they broke up with hard feelings, something about her losing money, and him breaking up with her over it."

"Oh, that sucks," Emily said. "Well, it wouldn't be the first relationship to end over money."

"Or the last," Zoe said. "Now, who wants dessert? It's finally time to head into Chocolate Pudding Place."

"Mmm, Zoe made pudding pie for dessert. It's the best." Emily grinned and went into the kitchen to fetch the pie.

Turned out, Zoe's version was chocolate pudding layered over graham crackers and topped with homemade whipped cream, and it was delicious. If Grace's stomach would've allowed it, she would've had two pieces, but she decided not to push it.

"So, tomorrow, we'll go and have ourselves a chat with the proper Brit Mr. Haversham, and maybe see if we can find Anna Bonnet Sanders to talk with about bad boyfriends. You can certainly commiserate with her on that one, Molly. Your boyfriend was the pits."

"First, let's not speak ill of the dead. Yes, Jeremy was a thief and an all-around asshole, but he's dead, so we should have a little respect. Second, you're not going anywhere for at least another two days. You are going to park your ass in bed and stay there while I wait on you hand—" Molly raised her good arm — "and foot."

"Molly, I'm perfectly—"

"Concussed. You are perfectly concussed, and we're not taking any chances." Molly held her hand up to cut off any further discussion. "We can tell the Sheriff about Haversham and Sanders."

"I'm sure she already knows. I'm just nosy. I want to talk to them myself."

"You might get in trouble for interfering with an investigation."

"I'm not interfering. I'm just…having a conversation."

Molly put her foot down. "That's a moot point, because you're going to bed right now."

Grace felt a bit put out but had to admit it was nice to have someone care about her enough to give her grief over disobeying the doctor's orders.

"Okay, Nurse Ratched, take me back to bed," Grace said, then laughed when she realized from her puzzled expression that Molly was too young to get the reference to One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest . Hell, Grace was too young to get it and only knew it because she was a movie buff. "I'll explain it to you later. Let's go. I'm beat and my headache is coming back again."