in the eye. “I’d committed to buying a house, and set up the perfect writer’s studio for myself.”
But when he had told Bradley he wanted to cash out, Bradley had stalled him. William had become more insistent. He needed the money to pay for the house and he’d given notice at his job. Finally William became suspicious and called the SEC and instigated an investigation.
“I believed Bradley had killed himself at first. If it was true he’d lost everybody’s money and the SEC was after him, it made sense. But then I overheard things at the bookstore and began to think Bradley had faked the whole thing. It made me wonder if he’d really lost all the money after all.” By chance William said he’d been paying attention when Adele was ranting about the afghan pattern and when he heard Emily demanding it back at the holiday event, he figured there was more to it than crochet. It had taken a little while, but he’d figured out what was hidden in the afghan. The problem was Adele had changed the tassels and messed with the numbers of flowers, so that there was no way he could get the correct sequence of numbers.
“All I wanted was the money he owed me,” William insisted. He’d been in the bookstore when we’d been following Emily. Adele was glad to tell him about all our theories and crazy sleuthing. He’d realized we might know something and followed us. He’d been planning to ride his mountain bike anyway and it was in a rack on his car.
As he said that, I remembered that when I’d parked behind the bookstore, the car next to me had had a bike in a rack on it. It must have been William’s.
“I passed the three of them and hid in the bushes until I saw where they were headed. I know all the trails up there. It was easy for me to go another way and not be seen. I waited until his wife gave him the crocheted thing and left. I saw Molly Pink and her friend take off. This was my chance; I was going to make a deal with him. I’d keep quiet about everything. All I wanted was what he owed me.”
William claimed he tried to reason with Bradley, but he kept insisting the money was all gone, that he’d lost it gambling. When William tried to grab the afghan, Bradley had pulled out the knife.
“I held on to the afghan and tried to make a run for it. Bradley wouldn’t let go and neither would I. He stepped back and tripped over a branch. When he fell, he pulled me and the afghan with him. He was going to stab me. We struggled over the knife and I got hold of it. I was just defending myself when I stabbed him.”
But that didn’t explain why he’d stabbed Bradley so many times and then left him there to die. And why did he say he was going to Switzerland with the afghan? “I was going to get the money and then share it with all the investors.”
Right. Like any of us believed that. I think William was truly surprised when Detective Heather didn’t agree with him about it all being a misunderstanding and didn’t let him go.
Detective Heather told me William would most likely be charged with second-degree murder and tampering with evidence, but under the circumstance, the incident with the toy gun would probably be let go. Detective Heather said it would be up to a jury to decide whether they believed the self-defense story, but she was betting they wouldn’t.
And was William A. J. Kowalski? No. He really had been planning to write
Barry was a little awkward when he came by the next day to finally help install my new front door. “What can I say?” he said, looking at me with a sheepish smile in his eyes. “You done good.”
Meanwhile Ryder’s video of the episode at the airport made it to the news, and when he intercut it with William in his clown attire doing the holiday rap, it was number three on the YouTube top ten for the day. He came over just as Barry was finishing the door and, with a flourish, bowed to me.
“M, thank you for letting me ride along.” Then he straightened and asked me if I would explain to his mother why her SUV was gone so long, when he was just supposed to be getting gas for it.
Mr. Royal kept his word and showed me his mountain bike in the bike rack on the back of his Prius. Nicholas came by with a brochure from the bike store. I was glad neither of them knew why I’d wanted to see the bikes.
Emily came across the lawn and thanked me. She wasn’t off the hook exactly. She was still trying to convince everyone that she had no knowledge of Bradley’s fraudulent activities, but it didn’t look like she was going to get charged because they didn’t have a case. It seemed likely she would lose the house and she was broke. She had talked to her mother in South Carolina, and as soon as she could, she was going there to try and make a fresh start.
The SEC investigators were embarrassed about not figuring out what Mason and I had about the money not being lost. When the numbers of flowers were written out, they identified the bank and the account number. Word spread quickly among the investors that all was not lost. Not that they’d get the big profits on their investments they’d hoped for, but they’d get back at least a hunk of their original investment. The SEC investigator said what had thrown him off was Bradley’s lifestyle. Most swindlers were flamboyant and lived high. Bradley was the first one they’d encountered who’d been frugal. They figured he looked at the money he was taking as savings for his retirement.
Mrs. Shedd thanked me deeply. She knew her share of the money wouldn’t cover all that she’d borrowed to invest, but she hoped it would cover a lot of it. In the meantime, Mr. Royal was going to keep the bookstore afloat with his own money. It turned out all those years of adventuring, he’d lived very cheaply and banked the rest.
By now Adele was telling everyone that she’d figured there was something fishy with William all along and had really been planning to break up with him.
And then all thoughts turned to the midnight launch party and the unveiling of Tarzana’s own vampire author.
CHAPTER 28
THE NIGHT OF THE BIG EVENT, WE CLOSED THE bookstore at 9 and said we’d reopen at 11 P.M. There were already people gathering, so we junked the idea and unlocked the door. I had the plan down. We gave out different-colored wristbands that corresponded to when their group would get their book signed, then we let them shop. Under the circumstances, Mrs. Shedd had removed the display of the Koo Koo books. Adele was still in shock about William and said she was going to skip the big night, but she showed up anyway, saying she’d come to support me.
“We’re musketeers,” she said, grabbing me. “I couldn’t let my musketeer sister down.” She instantly became lord of the wristbands and corralled the people by the color of their band and started ordering them around.
The parking lot was filled with TV trucks, with their satellite dishes extended. The crowd was overflowing the bookstore. It was cold outside, but nobody seemed to care. The excitement generated warmth. We’d rearranged the cafe and hired extra help. Some of the people were wearing vampire scarves they’d made from the kits, though by now they were calling them Anthony scarves. Logan had come with Elise. They had put together a bunch of kits, which sold out quickly. The dust hadn’t settled on the whole affair with Bradley, but now that it was clear that Logan hadn’t been in cahoots with Bradley, people were talking to them again. Still it was going to take a long time to regain their trust. In the meantime he had ideas for the vampire-accessory business working with his wife. He wanted to talk to A. J. about endorsing the scarf.
The excitement level kept building and by eleven thirty we’d given out all the wrist bands. Mason had come by, not for a wristband, but because of his curiosity about who the author was. Barry came by, as well.
“Vampire shampire,” Barry said, shaking his head.
“You’re out of touch, Greenberg. Vampires are hot.” Mason smiled and I saw that he’d put on wax fangs.
I had set aside a spot for the Hookers. Maybe it wasn’t fair, but they were part of the bookstore family. And Anthony was a crocheter and so were they. Sheila was the most dressed up I’d ever seen. I was surprised to see Rhoda elbowing through the crowd.
“No way was I going to miss this. Who knows, maybe this A. J. Kowalski looks like Quentin Tarantino,” she said. She looked at Elise with her vampire scarf wound around her neck. “You know that she still thinks A. J. is a real vampire,” Rhoda said. Dinah slipped in and announced that Commander was home with the kids. Instead of her trademark long bright-colored scarves, she was wearing a long vampire scarf. CeeCee and Tony arrived and got
