Page 82 of Tessa's Trust

Gasping for breath, I stumbled to my knees.

“Get up,” Nonna said, pulling wildly on my arm.

“I’m okay.” I stood, worried about Gerty.

We hurried over to the edge of the deck and looked down. It was only a few feet, and the snow had cushioned their fall, but they lay in a perfect imprint of two bodies, at least three feet down in the snow.

“Oh, my,” Nonna said.

“Stop right there!” Deputy McCracken bellowed, turning the corner with his gun pointed at us.

Nonna yelled and dug into her purse, bringing out the wooden spoon.

“No.” I yanked it away from her, threw it to the ground, and held my hands up in the air.

“You put that gun down right now, young man,” Gerty yelled, standing up in the snow, which reached nearly to her armpits. She leaned down and helped Georgiana up.

Snow fell off Georgiana’s head, and she looked a little dazed, but she stood a good seven inches taller than Gerty. “Yeah, no guns,” she said.

I swear to all the saints, McCracken looked as if he might pass out. He holstered his weapon and looked at the three elderly women, and then at me. His jaw slackened. Oh, I bet he would’ve done anything to have called in sick today.

I brushed snow off my jeans as calmly as I could. “So.” I didn’t know what else to say.

Nonna straightened next to me, her chin up as snow fell lightly onto her dark hair. She was covered from head to toe, and she still wore the blue gloves, as did the rest of us. “I don’t suppose you’d believe we heard a noise from inside and went in to rescue Sadie?”

Georgiana nodded. “Yeah. It turned out to be the wind.”

“Who could’ve figured?” Gerty murmured, shaking her head and dropping clumps of snow onto her thin shoulders.

Chapter 29

After giving us blankets and coffee, Sheriff Franco questioned the four of us in the comfortable conference room.

I had to give it to my cohorts in crime. They stuck to their story. They insisted they’d just wanted to drop by and see if they could find Sadie and heard a noise from inside. I didn’t contradict them, but I also didn’t add much to the conversation because I wasn’t nearly as good at lying as the ladies. Finally, Franco shook his head and made sure everybody had a safe ride home.

“Tessa, I need you to remain here,” he said.

My chin dropped to my chest. Of course, he needed me to stay back. I hugged my nonna and then the other two women as a much-relieved Deputy McCracken escorted them out of the police station.

I waited. The sheriff waited. We looked at each other across the conference table. I crossed my arms.

He lowered his chin. “Do you have anything else you’d like to add?” He finally ended the silence.

“I absolutely do not,” I said, quite honestly. As I mentioned, my lying skills were nowhere near those of the elderly ladies, so I didn’t even try. “I’m sorry, Sheriff. I know we’ve been adding to your duties a lot lately.”

He snorted. “Do you think this is new? I’ve been dealing with Albertinis and O’Sheas my entire life, and that’s not even mentioning the Basanellis. I am a little taken aback that your grandma conscripted wild women from Timber City to come and make my day more difficult, but I suppose it was bound to happen at some point.”

I sipped my coffee. It was just as good as it had been last time, but I could taste hints of nutmeg in this batch. “I should probably get going.”

“Wait a minute.” He yelled for McCracken. “Bring me the blue file, would you?”

Within seconds, McCracken was back with a blue folder that he handed over. He patted my shoulder. “I’m glad you weren’t arrested. I did not want to face your nonna if I had to put her in cuffs.” He shivered and quickly exited the room.

Franco shook his head.

“Well, you can’t blame him,” I murmured. “The woman’s terrifying.”

“Yeah, I heard you grabbed the wooden spoon from her before she could smack him. I appreciate that.”

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