“What are you doing here, Jack?” Her voice came through the intercom.
“I want to know how Hope is doing.”
“You could have just called.”
“I have something for her, Lorelei, and I would like to give it to her.”
The door buzzed and I let out a sigh of relief. When I reached her apartment door, she was standing there with it open.
“You didn’t have to get her anything,” she spoke as she moved to the side so I could come in.
“I know. I wanted to.”
“Jack!” Hope leaped up off the couch and wrapped her arms around my legs.
“Hi there. How are you feeling?” I bent down and picked her up.
“Not really good. But I’ll survive.” She smiled.
Carrying her over to the couch, I handed her a pink gift bag with a picture of Cinderella on it and pink tissue paper inside hiding the DVD. She reached her small hand in the bag and pulled out Charlotte’s Web. Her eyes grew wide with excitement.
“I didn’t know there was a movie!” she exclaimed. “Thank you, Jack.” Her arms wrapped themselves around my neck.
“You’re welcome.”
“Will you watch it with me?”
“Of course I will. That is, if it’s okay with your mom.” I glanced over at Lorelei as she stood there with her arms folded and her narrowing eye glared at me.
“Please, Mommy,” Hope whined.
She hesitated with a response for a few moments as her eyes never left me.
“I guess. But as soon as the movie is over, it’s bed time.”
“Okay. I promise.”
“Are you going to watch it with us?” I asked, trying to cut through some of the thick air that was around the room.
“I have to finish Hope’s Halloween costume, so I’ll be over at the table while you two watch it.”
Chapter Forty-Two
Lorelei
I put in the DVD and walked over to the table where I had my sewing machine set up. I couldn’t deny that what Jack did for Hope wasn’t sweet. It really was, but I still had my guard up where he was concerned.
As I was working on Hope’s costume, I silently smiled at the laughter and light conversation that was coming from the couch. Suddenly, the sound of sniffles took over. I turned around and saw Jack put his arm around Hope and pull her closer to him. I had no choice but to see if Jack was all choked up as well over Charlotte’s death. I called out to him.
“Hey, Jack?”
He didn’t turn around. He simply spoke, “Yeah.”
“Can you come here for a second?”
“Sorry, Lorelei. It’s going to have to wait.” He brought his finger up to his eye.
“Okay.” I smiled as I turned back around and continued working on the costume.
It wasn’t too long after that the movie ended and I could hear the subtle conversation between Hope and Jack.
“Jack, what was the point of Charlotte dying? She could have lived and they all could have been happy.”
“I agree, Hope, but the story of Charlotte and Wilbur was about true friendship. Even after Wilbur’s best friend passed away and she could no longer help him, he still helped her. Make sense?”
“I guess. You’re really smart, Jack.”
I rolled my eyes.
“Not as smart as you. Are you ready for bed?”
“I think I need my medicine.”
I stood up from my chair. “Yes, you do need your medicine. Go get in bed and I’ll bring it to you.”
“Can Jack tuck me in too?” she asked.
“Yes. Jack can tuck you in.”
Hope scurried off to her room and I went into the kitchen to get her medicine from the refrigerator.
“Yuck. I remember that stuff.” Jack made a face when he saw the bottle.
“It’s pretty bad, isn’t it? The good thing is Hope doesn’t seem to mind it.”
After pouring the medicine in the medicine cup to the correct dosage line, Jack grabbed the glass of water on the counter and we went to Hope’s room.
“Mommy, my head hurts again.” She pouted.
Jack placed his hand on her forehead. “She feels warm.”
I handed Hope the medicine and told her to take it while I went to the bathroom and got the thermometer. It read 101 degrees.
“Fevers always get worse at night. Hopefully, by tomorrow, it’ll be gone. I’ll go get you some Tylenol.”
“I can get it,” Jack spoke. “It’s on the kitchen counter, right?”
“Yeah. Thank you.”
After giving Hope some Tylenol, I kissed her head and told her good night. When I walked out of her room, Jack followed and pulled the door enough to where it was opened a crack.
“Thank you, Lorelei.”
“For what?” I asked as I sat down at the table.
“For letting me come in and give Hope that movie.”
“Like I had much of a choice. You were standing outside my building already.”
“You called me over earlier during the movie. What did you need?”
“Never mind. I did it myself.” I silently laughed.
He took a seat in the chair next to me. “My mother took off for Paris today.”
I looked up at him from my sewing machine. “What? Why?”
“Apparently, she had a talk with the girl this morning that Joshua is shacking up with. Come to find out, she was the one who she hired to spy on Flourishing and she just so happens to be the one that told Joshua everything. My mother paid her off and then fled the country. According to her, now that the girl has her hush money, Joshua doesn’t have a leg to stand on.”
I looked at him in confusion. “But why did she leave to go to Paris, then?”
“To escape the limelight of what’s about to come. Even though people will think he’s making the story up, she didn’t want to be here to answer any questions from the press.”
“So she ran and left you and Coco to handle it?”
“Yep. Mother of the year again. I have a bad feeling about all of this and I feel like there’s something she isn’t telling us.”
“Like what?”
“I don’t know. I haven’t figured it out yet.” He sighed.
I could see the anger and worry that consumed his eyes. Even though he’d never admit it, I could tell he was hurting.
“Enough about that. You seem to be feeling better.”
“I’m am. I’m still really tired, but overall okay.”
“I should get going so you can finish Hope’s costume.” As soon as he got up from his chair, his phone rang and he answered it.
“What!” he spoke in a panicked voice. “When? My God, I’m on my way over.”
He ended the call. The look on his face was terrifying.
“What happened?” I asked.
“That was Coco. Joshua was murdered.”
I cupped my hand over my mouth in shock.
“I need to get to Coco’s house. The police are there, questioning her.”
“My God, Jack. I’m sorry.”
“I’ll talk to you soon, Lorelei.” He walked out the door.
****
Jack
This was unbelievable. I hailed a cab and went straight to Coco’s brownstone where the flashing lights of a police car lit up the normally dimmed area. After stepping through the door, I headed straight to the living room and found my sister sitting on the couch crying while two male police officers questioned her. I ran to her side and she threw her arms around me, sobbing.
“Clearly, you can see she’s upset. Can you please come back tomorrow?”
“I’m sorry. You are?”
“Jack Sutton, her brother.”
“We apologize, but we have to ask where she was around six p.m.”
“What? Are you serious?”
“I’m sorry, Mr. Sutton, but we have to check all possible leads.”
“Coco, where were you?” I asked her.
“I was at the office.”
“Were you alone, ma’am,” one of the officers asked.
“No.”
“May I have the name of the person who was with you?” The officer took a pen from his pocket.
She hesitated for a moment and looked at me.
“Garrett Sullivan was with me.” She turned to the officer as she spoke.
“Why was Garrett at the office on a Saturday?” I asked.
“Thank you, Miss Sutton. We’ll be in touch if we have any more questions. We can see our way out.”