“I’m surviving. Your maid of honor will be using a crutch. That’s all,” said Maggie. “How’s the bride. Nervous?”
“Haven’t had time!” said Gussie. “And I need you and Will to help. We have a bit of a challenge.”
“Yes?”
“The manager of the Winslow Inn just called. Seems the hurricane flooded their dining rooms last night. There’s no way we can have the reception there.”
“Oh, no!”
“The good news is, they have a generator, so they can cook. And we have a generator, because I need one to keep my scooter battery charged. So we’re moving the reception to our house. They’re bringing the food here. The guest list has shrunk anyway; I’ve been getting calls all morning from people who can’t get here. But we’ll still have thirty-five or forty guests, and the show must go on.”
“Oh, Gussie. I’m thinking of your house. That means—”
“Right! We need the plywood off the windows, and the house decorated, and I still have to get dressed. We’ll serve the food buffet-style so that has to be set up. The hotel staff’s going to bring tables and dishes and silverware, so all that’s good, but we have to make space. Diana’s here. She’s going to help, and Lily will, too. Jim said he needs to see you right away, so could Will drop you at Jim’s office, and then bring Lily here, and stay and help?”
“He will,” Maggie said.
“You and Will had better bring your clothes for the wedding here, too. We’ll all get dressed and go to the church together. That will save time,” Gussie added. “And we have hot water.”
“That works,” Maggie agreed. “Weren’t you going to have your hair done this morning?”
“Lucky Ladies doesn’t have power,” Gussie said. “Which reminds me I’d better call the bakery and tell them to bring the cake here, not to the restaurant.”
“Keep calm. I’ll get there as soon as I can!” Maggie put down the phone and turned to Will. “We’re on wedding duty. The restaurant where the reception was to be is flooded, so they’ve moved the reception to their house.”
Will caught on immediately. “Those windows!”
“Exactly. And a hundred other details. You’re to drop me at Jim’s office, and take Lily to their house. Jim will bring me over as soon as I finish whatever he wants me to do.”
Will looked at her. “Don’t get too far into that legal mess, Maggie. It’s Jim’s wedding day.”
“I am aware. I also know I have to head for New Jersey tomorrow and you’ll head for Maine, and I can’t forget what happened yesterday. Any of it.”
“We have to get through the wedding, Maggie. And then I have to get back to Aunt Nettie.”
Maggie nodded, turning away to fix her hair so Will wouldn’t see the tears in her eyes. “Thank goodness she made it through the storm fine. Although I know you’re not thrilled with those dents she said that tree made in your RV.”
Will shrugged. “Dents aren’t critical. I’ll see how bad they are when I get back to Waymouth.”
“And right now we have to get going. Where’s your suit?” Maggie asked.
“I’ll get it. Tell me what you’ll need for this afternoon. You get yourself and your cast down those stairs to the lobby. I’ll take everything to the car.”
Fifteen minutes later, after a few detours to avoid streets blocked because of downed trees or wires, or both, Maggie was knocking on the door of Jim’s office.
Andy Sullivan was there with another man Maggie hadn’t met. The three men stood when she came in.
“Maggie, thanks for coming,” Jim said. “I’d like you to meet John Tolland. He’s a special agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation in Boston in charge of investigating drug trafficking. John, this is Dr. Margaret Summer, a friend of mine from New Jersey. While she’s been visiting my fiancée and me, Maggie’s learned some things about drugs sales here in Winslow that we feel the FBI would be interested in.”
“Dr. Summer, I appreciate your willingness to share whatever information you’ve found out. Do you mind if we record you?”
Maggie shook her head.
“Then, let’s go ahead.”
Maggie spent the next hour telling the three men everything she had learned about Dan Jeffrey, aka Roger Hopkins, and Diana Hopkins, and especially Cordelia West, Annie Irons, and Rocky Costa.
“We’ll be getting you a copy of this statement to sign,” said John Tolland, taking Maggie’s business card and giving her his. “And we may be contacting you to clarify details. For now, however, I think we have everything necessary to proceed.”
“What’s going to happen?” Maggie asked.
“I can’t tell you exactly,” said Tolland. “But I suspect your friend Jim will keep you updated when he can.”
“He will,” Jim agreed. “But right now Jim has to get going. Because in about two hours he’s getting married.”
Chapter 42
Pleuronectes Passer. Der Lincke Strachlflunder (The Flounder).Rare 1783 hand-colored copperplate engraving by Dr. Marcus Elieser Bloch (1723-1799), a German medical doctor and naturalist, and the most important eighteenth-century ichthyologist. His series of folios (Berlin: Ökonomische Allgemeine Naturgeschicte der Ausländischen Fische) illustrating the world’s fishes, from which this flounder comes, is often cited as the best work on ichthyology until the twentieth century. The beautiful engravings are on thick, cream-colored paper. Folio-sized, in excellent condition. 10 x 16.5-inch sheet. Price: $295.
Diana’s bows on the pews looked lovely, and the extra-large bow on the house door did help guests find their way to the new location of the reception after the ceremony.
Steffie, the flower girl, arrived from Connecticut at the last minute, bearing a large basket of rose petals. When she forgot to drop them until she was almost at the altar, and then threw them liberally at guests seated in the front pews, everyone smiled.
Gussie’s hairdresser, worried about a bride not having her hair done on her wedding day, arrived at Gussie’s home an hour before the wedding and managed to shampoo and pouf her hair into a miracle of elegance, and set her veil perfectly in place. She looked beautiful, as every bride should, and Lily beamed as people admired the heirloom veil.
Gussie’s bouquet smelled a little unusual, but was the subject of much conversation, and Diana said someday she wanted one just like it.
Jim kept smiling and accepting congratulations, while Andy and Ben stood straight and proud. Ben only giggled at the flower girl’s antics once.
After the interview with John Tolland Maggie popped one of the pain pills they’d given her at the hospital, hoping he wasn’t the sort of drug agent who checked everyone’s pocketbooks, and was able to gamely hobble down the aisle in her blue cast while Gussie’s sister Ellen followed, sure Maggie would tumble with every step.
To make up for the lack of a reception hall the Winslow Inn chef had turned the dinner into a constant array of hors d’oeuvres. There were platters of miniature crab cakes and lobster puffs, and small pieces of filet mignon with dabs of horseradish sauce en brochette that were, as Will said to Jim with a sly look, “To die for,” along with bowls filled with cold shrimp, and platters of both fried and raw clams and oysters, and bowls of steamed mussels in wine and herbs. Small potatoes filled with cheese and chives. Mushrooms stuffed with sausage. And of course, flawlessly arranged platters of raw vegetables and fruits.
Champagne flowed. Maggie’s one regret was that because of the pain pill she had to drink club soda, although she did allow herself one glass of champagne for the toast. No extra libation was needed to make the day any better.
Late in the afternoon Jim told her quietly that her new FBI friend had gone directly from their meeting to the jail to talk with Rocky Costa and offered him a deal to testify against Annie Irons. He’d agreed. Annie would be in the hospital for at least a week, and the FBI was requesting a search warrant for the Irons home based on Maggie’s information and what Rocky’d said. It looked as though the drug case would be a simple one to close. The murder investigations would be turned over to the state, not to local police because of the potential conflict of interest.