Chapter 12
TWELVE
When the sheriff didn’t make a move to leave my aunt’s room, I let him inspect the garment bag before I took Summer by the arm and carried my dress away.
The two of us, heads held high like the queens we could become, made our grand exit into the darkly wallpapered hallway while Katie scurried back to the Finch residence.
The thing was, I had no idea where to start in order to prove my aunt’s innocence or find Mr. Finch. I didn’t know the extensive palace layout, much less where an old millionaire who’d left a cryptic note and then disappeared liked to spend his time on the estate.
“I’ll see what Savilla and her stepmother are up to,” I told Summer, pretending to know what I was doing.
“They may be getting ready for the party tonight.”
I was taken aback by the suggestion. “But… Mr. Finch is… missing. You think they’ll still attend the party tonight?”
Summer shrugged. “Mrs. Finch herself said that the show will go on, at least for now.” She checked her watch.
“And it starts in an hour and a half.” She removed the eyelash extension from her other eye and wiped away streaks of mascara as if parts of her face falling off was all in a day’s work.
She looked down at the makeup and the wig that the sheriff had inspected before allowing her to remove it from my aunt’s room.
“I guess I should actually get these to DeeDee somehow?”
“If they’ll let you.” I wanted to be the one to go, but more than that I needed to stay here to clear her name.
“I’ll at least try. It’ll make her feel more like herself during… during all of this nonsense,” Summer said. A rush of gratitude to have someone besides Lacy in my aunt’s corner washed over me. “Then I’ll hurry back and fix my face and change. I have some milk of magnesia if you want.”
“For…?” I patted my stomach, assuming that she might be feeling queasy after all of this drama.
“Oh… sorry. No, although I do drink it after a long day with my students…” Summer laughed. “Milk of magnesia makes the best primer. Aftershave also works. Your skin will look like porcelain.”
“Thanks,” I said, more like a question.
“Seriously, I have everything in my cottage. I’m in number nine.
I’ll be there as soon as I figure out how to get these to DeeDee.
” Summer’s earnestness was clear as she touched me on the arm one last time before gliding away to find an officer who might pass along the treasures she’d filched from Aunt DeeDee’s room.
At that moment my phone rang with an unknown number, which meant it could have been another debt collector—but it could also have something to do with my aunt. Just in case, I pressed the green button.
“Hello?”
“Ms. Dakota Green?” a man’s baritone voice said.
“This is she,” I answered.
“This is Officer Micah Spradlin. Your mother took care of my wife when she…”
I vaguely remembered him and his wife, who’d survived breast cancer a few years ago.
“Anyway,” he breathed. “I have your aunt here at the station and you’re her one call. Would you like to speak with her?”
“Yes,” I almost shouted.
“Here she is.”
There was some shuffling and then my aunt came on the line. “Dakota?” Her voice quivered.
“I’m here,” I said, wishing I could reach through the phone and pull her close.
“Listen, hon. I wanted to tell you… well, I can’t really explain…” I could almost see her eyeing the officer listening over her shoulder. “I need you to work with the sheriff.”
This was not what I’d expected. “But—”
“I don’t get much time, sweetheart, but you need to know that he’s just doing his job. I was praying on my way to the station and—”
“All due respect, but this isn’t the time for a prayer meeting,” I interrupted her. Oh Lord, not praying. Aunt DeeDee often referenced God as if he’d sat across from her with a cup of coffee that morning, but unless he was about to show up and spring her out of jail, I wasn’t having it today.
“Dakota Deanna Green,” she said, using my full name in the way she had when I’d snuck a pack of cookies into my room and attracted the longest-ever trail of ants, which had been my goal. “Listen carefully to me.”
“Yes, ma’am,” I said, cowering in the hallway.
She took a deep breath. “As I was saying, I was praying and I had one of my feelings.” I knew what she meant without her having to explain.
She’d often credited it to discernment or “the Holy Ghost,” but she was right more often than not, so both Momma and I had learned to listen to her feelings.
“The sheriff is just doing his job, and as soon as he has all the missing pieces of whatever is happening here, he’ll come to his senses and release me. I can tell: He’s a good man.”
Even though she might be right about the sheriff’s overall character, I’d already found him to be difficult.
“He needs help though,” Aunt DeeDee continued.
“He’s new at this and you know that Aubergine doesn’t take kindly to outsiders unless they’re in a gown and heels or looking to spend a bunch of touristy money.
” She paused to let that reality sink in.
“You’ve been adjacent to the pageant world your entire life, and you can help him find what he needs to get me out of here. ”
“I don’t think he wants my help.”
“That doesn’t matter. I have faith that you can provide him with the evidence he might miss. Do you understand?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Good, then that’s settled,” Aunt DeeDee said, taking a calming breath as if she’d checked the final item off her to-do list. “I’ll just wait.”