Chapter 37
“What a day,” said Vesta as she helped herself to a second serving of meatloaf and mashed potatoes.
“First that whole business with the terrorists at the police academy, and then…” She caught herself before she could let the cat out of the bag.
It wouldn’t do to start accusing her own daughter of murder, now would it?
This kind of stuff needed careful handling. It needed the delicate touch. And most of all, it needed her son to do the spadework, since she didn’t trust Chase not to go and arrest Marge on the spot.
Alec wouldn’t do such a silly thing. He would want to make sure they had the right person. And he wouldn’t want word to get out that Marge had become an official suspect in the case.
“You created quite a lot of trouble there, Ma,” said Alec, and he looked and sounded pretty upset.
He probably had reason to, since she hadn’t been able to catch the actual terrorists who had set off that explosion.
Apparently, she had mowed down a couple of recruits, but none of them had anything to do with the actual crime.
“How was I supposed to know that those were all recruits?” she asked with a shrug. “I mean, they were all waving their guns around and acting like a bunch of crazies. So I did my duty as a citizen and leader of the Neighborhood Watch and tried to stop them in their tracks.”
“So what about those explosions?” asked Charlene. “What was that all about, Alec?”
“No idea,” said Alec. “The powers that be have deemed it prudent not to clue me in on their investigation, which, I might add, is still ongoing.”
“So you have no idea who set off those explosions?” asked Chase.
“No idea whatsoever. Like I said, this investigation has been taken out of my hands.”
“Too bad,” said Vesta. “I would have loved to know who the terrorist actually was.”
They had told her that the man she’d managed to take down was an instructor, not a terrorist. She’d found that hard to believe, but Odelia had sworn up and down that it was true, so she’d had no choice but to accept that, for all the driving around she’d done in her wonderful vehicle, she had accomplished precisely nothing.
Quite frustrating, she felt.
“I think one of the recruits must have made a mistake,” said Marge. “They must have set off that explosion by accident, and now everyone is assuming that it was an intentional thing, when it was simply clumsiness.”
“But the recruits aren’t allowed access to where the ammunition is stored,” said Odelia, “so it can’t have been one of them.”
“I’ll bet it’s that instructor of yours,” said Vesta. “That what’s-his-face.”
Odelia lifted her chin in a rather haughty manner, Vesta thought.
“Zeke Hunkoff had nothing to do with any of this. In fact, he’s the one who tried to stop this from happening.
When he realized that intruders had gained access to the armory, he tried to stop them.
Unfortunately, they got away. And that was in no small part because you decided to ram the armory with that tank of yours, Gran. And then to go after poor Zeke.”
“Oh, so now it’s my fault, is it?”
More than ever, she was convinced that this Zeke fella must be involved somehow. He sure had acted suspicious. But clearly, Odelia was on the man’s side and wasn’t budging.
Time to try a different tack.
“I got some assistance today,” she said as she poured an ample measure of delicious sauce over her meatloaf. “From none other than the Germinator.”
“I heard about that,” said her son. “And I have to say that I don’t like you getting involved with this guy, Ma.”
“Oh, he’s fine,” she assured him. “All he wants to do is help. Make sure the citizens of Hampton Cove are safe.” She didn’t mention that when things got tough, the so-called superhero had skedaddled. Maybe he had his reasons for skipping out. “Really nice guy.”
“So is he a superhero, Ma?” asked Tex.
“No, he’s not,” she said. “I mean, superheroes don’t exist, Tex.”
“Right,” said the good doctor, though he looked mightily disappointed. “Are you sure?” he asked. “Because I saw some footage on the internet, and it looked real.”
“He’s just a guy in a suit, honey,” said Marge. “No doubt dressed up to preserve his anonymity.”
“As far as I’m concerned, he’s just a big troublemaker,” said Alec in that grumbling tone of his, which indicated that he wasn’t happy that the Germinator had been added to the mix of local crime fighters.
“He arrested Johnny and Jerry, didn’t he?” asked Charlene. “Trying to swindle people with some bitcoin scam?”
“Yeah, he did do that,” Alec admitted. “And in doing so, caused a serious traffic collision. Same way he did before, when he arrested those bank robbers. It seems as if every time he gets involved in something, things go boom and a lot of material damage is caused.” At this, he turned to his mother and gave her a look that wasn’t all that friendly.
“I would like you to stop driving around in that monstrosity, Ma. It’s not safe.
And also, I’m not sure it’s fit to be on the road. ”
“It’s just a car!” said Vesta. “Okay, so it’s a little bigger than a Peugeot, but it’s got four wheels, a steering wheel, and an engine under the hood. So what’s the big deal?”
“The big deal is that, in the space of a single day, you’ve already flattened a car and demolished a building,” Alec said sternly. “We can’t have you wreaking that kind of havoc in Hampton Cove, Ma. So I’m asking you again: get rid of it and get yourself a normal car.”
“I got myself a normal car,” said Vesta. “I got myself several normal cars, and they all got demolished. And that’s because you gave me the weakest cars in your car pool.”
“The cars I gave you weren’t weak. They were fine. Until you took them on the road.”
“Yeah, looks like you’re jinxed, Ma,” said Marge with a smile. “Every time you take a car on the road, it gets demolished.”
“And that is exactly why I need the BearCat! Nobody will demolish that.”
“No, but you will demolish everyone else,” said Alec.
Looked like her son was being unreasonable again, Vesta thought. But since she was going to need his help in dealing with this Marge problem, she kept her tongue. No need to antagonize the man any further.
Odelia had supplied her with more meatloaf and she had shoved more into her mouth when Tex piped up, “Are you sure he’s not a real superhero? He looks like a real superhero.”
“He is not a superhero, honey,” said Marge, starting to lose her patience a little.
The woman was a saint for dealing with Tex for the past twenty-five years, Vesta thought.
And that’s why she would do everything in her power to make sure no miscarriage of justice was taking place and her daughter would get a fair shot at proving her innocence.
At that moment, there was a loud sound of cats crying out, and she looked up.
“Did you hear that?” she asked. “I think the cats are in some kind of trouble!”
She was out of her chair first, followed by her daughter and her granddaughter.
As they emerged into the backyard and searched around to determine what was going on, a strange sight caught her eye: a man was lurking in the bushes, and he didn’t look happy at all. In fact, he was sort of dancing on the spot.
“Look,” she told her daughter. “An intruder.”
“Must be the arsonist,” said Odelia, a grim-faced expression plastered all over her features. “Let’s go get him!”
The men had also emerged from the house, and when Alec caught sight of the intruder, he uttered a cry of surprise. “Marvel!” he cried. “What the heck do you think you’re doing?”
“Please save me from these cats, boss,” said the guy. “They’re nipping at my ankles, and so is the dog!”
As they moved in closer for a better look, Vesta saw that he wasn’t lying: four cats and one dog were indeed nipping at the man’s ankles. Clearly, they didn’t like the fact that someone was intruding on their private domain any more than their humans did.
“Max, Dooley, Harriet, Brutus, and Pippy,” said Vesta. “Off. Now!”
“But Gran!” said Harriet. “This man is the arsonist! He tried to set fire to the house!”
“Just let him explain himself,” she returned. She crossed her arms in front of her chest. “Well? What do you have to say for yourself, young man?”
“Yes, Marvel,” Alec grumbled. “What is the big idea?”
“I’m sorry, boss,” said the guy. “But you told me to arrest the Germinator. And since the Germinator seems to have joined forces with your mother, I just figured…”
“You just figured that you would keep an eye on her, and that she might lead you straight to him,” said Alec, who needed but a single word to grasp the full gist of the man’s blabberings.
“Marvel is one of my officers,” he told them.
“He’s been trying to arrest the Germinator since I told him to.
” He turned to the officer. “But this is not the way, Marvel. Spying on my mom? And on the rest of my family?”
“Yes, boss,” said Officer Marvel, looking mightily shamefaced now. “I’m sorry, boss. It wasn’t my intention to cause trouble.”
“Have you at least found out who this Germinator is?”
“No, boss,” Officer Marvel admitted. “But I do know he probably lives underground, most likely somewhere near the spot where your mother picked him up this afternoon.”
Alec turned to her. “I told you not to get involved with this guy, Ma. See what you did?”
“What I did? What he did, you mean!” she said, pointing to the hapless officer. “Spying on the leader of the Neighborhood Watch? And why? Because one man has been more successful in catching criminals than the entire Hampton Cove Police Department.”
“She is not wrong, Alec,” said Charlene. “The Germinator has made four arrests in the space of a single day. His record is pretty impressive.”
“And he has demolished plenty of cars in the process,” Alec grumbled.
“Let’s just all take a breath,” Marge suggested. She turned to the officer. “So you are not an arsonist?”
“No, ma’am,” said the officer. “I’m not.”
“Dang it,” she said. “We need to catch this guy before he tries to scorch your place again, Odelia.”
“I know,” said Odelia.
“Maybe that is something your Officer Marvel should take on,” said Vesta. “Arrest that arsonist. That’s a darn sight more important and useful than hunting that poor Germinator, who is only doing his duty.”
“It’s not his duty to arrest people!” Alec cried, getting a little worked up now, she saw. “That’s my job! And Officer Marvel’s job! And Chase’s! And soon it will be Odelia’s job.”
“All right, all right,” said Vesta. “Watch your ticker, honey. And that blood pressure.”
“Yeah, don’t let yourself get riled up, honey,” said Charlene as she placed a hand on her husband’s back and rubbed it gently.
On his wife’s instigation, Alec took a couple of deep, steadying breaths and tried to regain his equanimity.
“I’m all right,” he said finally as he shrugged off Charlene’s ministrations.
Then he pointed a finger at his mom. “You are getting rid of that BearCat.” Then he turned to Officer Marvel and repeated the procedure.
“And you…” He hesitated. “You find me that arsonist. And arrest him.”
“Well done, honey,” said Charlene as she clapped her hands.
Alec muttered something under his breath that didn’t sound all that complimentary, but at least he wouldn’t hound the Germinator anymore.
And as far as her BearCat was concerned, the last thing Vesta was going to do was to get rid of it.
It was the best darn car she’d ever owned, and no one was going to tell her to get rid of it. Least of all the son she’d dandled on her knee until he was six and whose underwear she’d laid out on his bed every morning until he was twelve.
As things started to settle down a little, she took her son aside.
“What is it now?” he asked, looking mutinous, like he often did when people were trying to tell him what to do. In that sense, he was just the same as she was.
She looked around to make sure they weren’t being overheard, then lowered her voice and said, “We need to talk about Marge.”