Chapter 18
Chapter Eighteen
I t was Friday morning. Sunlight beamed in through the kitchen window as Ida bustled around, brewing coffee and smearing peanut butter on toast. Stress-eating and stress-not-eating after the events of the past week were now in her rearview mirror, and she felt healthy, easy, and free. Outside, birds twittered, and she heard the familiar sound of Rick showering upstairs, preparing for the day ahead.
Their date night on Tuesday had electrified them. They’d spent three hours at the restaurant, talking about everything, exchanging old stories neither of them had thought of in years.
Only once had Frankie thought, If Rick really was the one to steal from the Nantucket Sunset Cruisers, he’s doing a great job of distracting me.
She’d promptly shook the thought out. It didn’t serve her.
Besides, if Rick really stole all that money for some “second family,” wouldn’t he be gone by now? More than two hundred thousand is gone!
Nellie appeared in the kitchen that morning before Ida left for work, rubbing her eyes and pouring herself a mug of coffee. Ida pressed a kiss onto her forehead and said, “Hard to believe you’re headed back to school soon. Breaks my heart!”
Nellie grimaced.
“You’re probably eager to get back,” Ida suggested.
Nellie raised her shoulders and sipped her coffee.
Ida hated when her daughters kept things from her. Now, with Nellie quiet and thoughtful like this, standing somber in the kitchen, Ida was reminded of May and June’s Frankie, listless Frankie, the Frankie who’d needed medication and doctor’s appointments, and many tear-filled conversations. What if Nellie went that way, too? Ida would handle it. No matter what.
“What’s on your mind, honey?” Ida asked.
Nellie shook her head. “It’s stupid.”
“Nothing you say is stupid.”
Nellie paused and gave her mother a look that meant, I don’t know if I should believe you. She said, “I’ve just missed Frankie. She disappears every day with that guy.”
Ida sighed and sat down at the table with her toast. Jealousy between sisters was bound to happen.
“I know. I miss her, too,” Ida said. “But I’m also really happy for her. The breakup with Colin was torturous.”
Nellie nodded and stared down into her coffee. “I know. We just don’t have much time left before I leave.”
How could Ida explain the truth? There was never enough time with the ones you love. No matter how many years Ida had with Rick, she felt there was never enough time left to gaze into his eyes, eat chips on the sofa, or walk on the beach together. There was never enough time just to exist alongside the ones you love.
Shelby wrote that morning that she was going to be late.
SHELBY: We have an incident over here with Stacy’s braces. I hope you can manage all right?
IDA: Of course! Good luck to Stacy (and to you).
IDA: See you later.
Ida drove to the docks, opened the office, and greeted the arriving catering staff, the sailors, and the skippers. The docks were milled with all manner of Nantucket Sunset Cruisers staff members, and it thrilled Ida to see her business electrified like this. She stood at the edge with her hands on her hips. She was so consumed by the view that she nearly forgot about her meeting with Susan Sheridan this morning.
“Ida?”
Ida jumped at the sound of her name and turned to find Susan. Susan was dressed in a soft navy-blue suit jacket and a pair of large sunglasses. She’d cut her hair recently to the shoulders, but it was wavy and dark and gave no indication that she’d once suffered from breast cancer and lost all of it.
“Good morning!” Ida shook Susan’s hand. “Thanks again for coming by.”
“Of course,” Susan said. “My husband, Scott, had a meeting this morning here in Nantucket, so it was no trouble.”
Ida led Susan into the office and poured her a glass of water and a mug of coffee. Susan set her briefcase on the desk and crossed her dainty ankles. She was all beauty, grace, and hard-edged legal tactics. Had Ida been on the opposite side of Susan Sheridan, she might have been frightened.
Whoever stole from us will pay. Eventually.
And Mr. Grayson will know we won’t go down without a fight.
“Things have gotten back to normal around here,” Ida explained with a smile.
“It seems like it,” Susan said.
“Shelby and I can’t believe it,” Ida said. “Just last week, I thought it was all over. But we’re still kicking. We might come back from this stronger than ever.”
If Mr. Grayson doesn’t take us for all we’re worth.
“My guy looked into the Tyson Rogers Advertising company,” Susan said, clicking the end of her pen.
“And?”
“The website was created in New York City,” Susan said. “But when my guy went to the location, he found an apartment that rents out individual rooms to tourists.”
“Could you find out who was renting that particular room when it was created?”
Susan shook her head. “No. We’re pretty sure the person who made the website in the first place put a fake name down on the forms he signed for the rental.”
Ida’s thoughts raced. Whoever this criminal is, he knew to cover his tracks. But was he really in this hotel room in Manhattan, thinking about conning the Nantucket Sunset Cruisers?
“It has to be bigger than just us,” Ida said. “I mean, maybe he was targeting other businesses?”
“My guy is looking into that right now,” Susan said. “He seems to think there’s been action with the Tyson Rogers Advertising group in Providence, Boston, and Cape Cod.”
Ida’s eyes widened. “Wow. It’s a huge operation, then.”
“It very well may be,” Susan said. “Which is a good thing for your case with Mr. Grayson.”
They held the silence. From the docks came the sound of a sailor calling out to a skipper to get him something from the boathouse.
“Mrs. Grayson is back up and around, by the way,” Susan said. “There was a rumor she was milking her injuries for the good of the lawsuit, but it seems those rumors are unfounded.”
Ida breathed a deeper sigh of relief.
Susan furrowed her brow. “There’s no easy way to ask this. But have you interviewed members of your company? Anyone you suspect might have done this?”
Ida remembered that she’d insinuated to Susan last time that she’d look into this.
“We’re looking for links between members of your staff and members of these other businesses that sent money to the Tyson Rogers Advertising company,” Susan said.
“I just really can’t imagine anyone here doing anything like that,” Ida said.
Ida knew she sounded naive. Susan’s nose twitched.
“You said it was only you, your business partner, and your husbands who had access to the accounts, correct?”
Ida nodded.
Susan took a breath. “This is delicate. But you trust your business partner. She wouldn’t do anything like this. Right?”
Ida felt it like a punch to the gut. “What? No. Shelby would never. This business is our dream. We talked about it from the minute I brought Shelby home to meet my family.” Ida pressed her lips together. “Shelby and I would do anything for this business. Full stop.”
Susan nodded and made a note on her pad of paper. Ida yearned to see what she’d written but held herself back from looking.
“Listen,” Ida said, “I know there’s a history of drug abuse and drug sales on the island. It’s affected my family pretty heavily in the past.” She remembered Sophie Patrick. “Is it possible that this has anything to do with drugs?”
“It’s very possible,” Susan said.
“Does your guy think so?”
“He’s mentioned that, yes,” Susan said. “But there’s very little we know for sure right now.”
Ida’s stomach felt sour. She wasn’t sure what threw her off. Was it the fact that Susan wanted to accuse Shelby? Or was it the memory of Sophie’s drug addiction?
Ida forced herself through the rest of her meeting with Susan, then walked her out and shook her hand with thanks. “I really do appreciate this,” she said.
“It’s my pleasure,” Susan assured her. “I’ll be in contact soon.”
Ida returned home at six thirty that evening to find every other car accounted for. It meant that Rick, Nellie, Frankie, and Ida were all at the house at the same time. It meant that they could finally share a family meal. Pizza, maybe? Mexican? Ida hurried inside. Rick was sunning himself on the back porch with his shirt off and a magazine on his lap. He waved through the window and smiled. Ida came outside to kiss him hello and offer him a drink. “I’m going to make something. A cocktail,” she said. “What can I get for you?”
Rick agreed to a cocktail and kissed her again. They locked eyes and felt their love balloon.
“Where are the girls?” Ida asked.
“Nellie’s talking to a friend on the phone about the logistics of moving into the new apartment,” Rick said. “I heard her say something about a projector and a sofa someone named Jay offered them.”
“Shouldn’t we just buy her a new sofa?” Ida asked.
Rick laughed. “No. College students are meant to inherit horrible sofas from men named Jay until they can afford to buy sofas on their own.”
“Right. What about Frankie? Is she upstairs?”
“I believe she’s in her room.”
Ida went inside, promising to return with cocktails after she changed her clothes. Upstairs, she passed Nellie’s room, where she overheard Nellie say, “But remember how many plants we killed last year? I just don’t think we can trust ourselves.”
Ida smiled to herself.
But outside Frankie’s bedroom, Ida heard nothing. Not the television. Not music. It was ominous. Strange. Ida paused and tilted her head, wondering if Rick had it wrong. Maybe Frankie had slipped out with the guy she was dating. But she should have told somebody she was leaving, Ida thought.
Just as she’d once done when the girls were younger, Ida knocked once and turned the knob. She did it so quickly, so automatically, that she hardly thought about it at all.
That was how she found Frankie cross-legged in the middle of the floor, surrounded by towers of bills. There had to be more than a thousand dollars. More than two, even. Where had it come from?
Ida’s jaw dropped. She and Frankie stared at each other in horror. Frankie was on her feet all at once, screaming, “Mom! Get out of my room!” Like she was still the teenager she’d so recently been.
But Ida wasn’t going anywhere. This was her house. Frankie had no reason to have two thousand dollars in cash on the floor of her childhood bedroom.
“Where did you get that cash?” Ida demanded.
Frankie was on her feet. “Why did you just open my door like that? Haven’t you heard of privacy?”
“You’re going to answer me right now, Frances Benson,” Ida shot. “Where did you get that cash?”
“I told you! I’m making money on the side!”
“You get paid for your copywriting in cash?” Ida demanded, incredulous.
Frankie gave her a half nod. Ida didn’t believe it for a second.
The drugs. The money. Sophie’s lifestyle. It’s all here. I couldn’t leave it in the past. It’s caught up to me. It’s caught up to my family.
Ida’s heart pounded. She stepped deeper into Frankie’s room. Her lips shivered.
Did Frankie steal from the Nantucket Sunset Cruisers? Did she steal the money to buy drugs?
It seemed impossible. Frankie could hardly remember to pay her rent on time. Frankie only went to the doctor if you nagged her to. Frankie hardly ever flossed her teeth.
“I don’t understand,” Ida blared. She sounded far angrier than she meant to. “Help me understand!”
Frankie screamed, “Get out of my room!”
But Ida was on her knees, reaching for the towers of cash. Is it blood money? Is it dirty drug money?
Frankie grabbed the money before her mother could and shoved it into her backpack. Ida blinked at the carpet where the money had just been stacked.
“I’m making ends meet,” Frankie shot. “I’m trying desperately to save so I don’t have to live under my parents’ roof. Remember?”
Ida’s hands were in fists. She didn’t know what to do.
“Is it this guy? This new guy, Frankie?” Ida rasped. “Is he making you do something you don’t want to do?”
Frankie balked. “No! He’s not making me do anything. I told you. My client wants to pay me in cash. It’s easier this way.” She paused. “I’m going to deposit it tomorrow.”
Ida’s heart cracked around the edges. “You’d tell me if this guy was off, right? You’d tell me you were in trouble?”
Frankie rolled her eyes. “I’m not in trouble, Mom.”
“I know.” Ida fell into stunned silence. Slowly, she got to her feet and brushed off her pants. “I know,” she said again, unable to meet Frankie’s gaze.
Ida went back into the hallway and closed the door behind her. She felt helpless. Weary. Once inside her bedroom, she got out of her work clothes and put on shorts and a big T-shirt. She needed to find Rick and tell him everything—everything about the robbery, Susan Sheridan, and the lawsuit. Everything about her fear.
What if my daughter’s in danger?
But Frankie was in the house now. She was under Ida and Rick’s roof. She was safe.
Ida had to make sure it remained that way.