Fic: Tell him it isn't true 2/2
MASTER POST | PART 1
Greta sobbed as she lay down in her jail cell. She was all alone. Her mother should be coming soon to bail her out.
"I didn't do it," she cried into the pillow provided. "I didn't kill my wife."
"Greta," a voice said.
She looked up and saw her mother. "Mother!"
Katherine sighed, "Come along."
A guard opened the cell door and let her out. Greta hugged her mother.
"I didn't do it, mother, I swear I didn't."
"All right, all right." Katherine patted Greta's back. "Let us go home. Dr. Beckett is waiting to see you."
Greta shivered. She hated to see what Dr. Beckett gave her next.
****
When Greta and Katherine got home, the house was already covered with reporters. Greta flinched as cameras flashed in her face. They cried out horrible things. One even stepped in her way into the house to snap a picture.
“Mrs. Salpeter-Colleen! Over here!”
“What do you have to say for yourself?”
“Did you kill your wife?”
Greta pushed past them all and ran into the house. She watched as her mother used her cane to beat a reporter and his cameraman. All the newspapermen did was laugh. Dr. Beckett came along next, ignore most questions. He, like Saporta, was tall and skinny. However, the most distinctive thing about him, was his huge glasses. Those glasses, plus his personality, made him very creepy. Greta didn’t like standing next to him or being in the same room as him.
“I just want to attended to my patient,” he said calmly, walking past them all.
Greta tried to strip her jacket off quickly and run upstairs, but Katherine stopped her.
“Greta! Come into the study! Dr. Beckett needs to see you!”
“Yes, mother,” she said softly. Greta looked longingly up the stairs. She just wanted to go into her bedroom and lock the doors until this was all over.
****
Greta moaned as her phone rang, she just fell asleep and didn’t feel like talking to anyone. She picked the phone up anyway; she was just too nice sometimes. “Hello?” she said groggily.
“Greta?”
“Vicky! Oh, Vicky, I was afraid you would never talk to me again!”
“Greta,” Victoria said fondly. “Of course I’d talk to you. You know how I feel about you.”
“I know,” Greta paused. “I should have married you. I don’t know why I didn’t.”
“I don’t know either,” Victoria laughed.
Greta laughed as well. Laughing was better than crying. She had the distinct idea that her life would have turned out a lot different if she had married Victoria.
“Vicky, you know I love you, don’t you?” she asked suddenly.
There was a pause before Victoria replied, “Greta, don’t do this to me.”
“I’m sorry, but I do love you. Maybe when this is over, we could try again?”
“I-I would like that a lot. Let’s give it some time though, huh?”
“Okay,” Greta smiled into the phone. “I need to stand on my own two feet first. Then, maybe you can take me out on a date.”
Victoria made a choked sound, which Greta knew was her shocked laugh. “Greta!”
Greta laughed again. This is what her life definitely should have been like.
****
Greta was next awoken at noon. Her mother knocked on her door.
“Greta! Greta, it’s time to take the pills Dr. Beckett prescribed to you!” Katherine yelled through the door.
Greta hugged her pillow. “I don’t want to take any pills,” she muttered into it.
“Greta, are you awake?”
“Yes, mother. I’m awake.”
“Then come take your pill with lunch. Dr. Beckett needs to talk to you about how you’re feeling after that.”
Greta sighed and quickly got dressed. Why can’t I just stand up for myself? She put her hand on the doorknob, but paused before opening it.
“Greta!”
“Coming, mother!” Greta took a breath and opened the door. Perhaps her session with Dr. Beckett wouldn’t be so bad.
****
Greta closed her eyes, as she lay back in her bed. The session with Dr. Beckett had been hell. It wasn’t so much talking about how she was feeling, but him being creepy and talking about how the pills were affecting her. Her mother had even been in the room, and Greta was pretty sure that was against the rules.
She rolled over and sighed. A nap would make her feel better. At least she hoped it would. She wondered how Victoria was holding up, before drifting off to sleep.
****
Greta sighed as she leaned into Victoria’s arms. This was her favorite place in the world.
“Why are you sighing?” Victoria asked. “Are you unhappy? I know how to make it better.”
Victoria wiggled her fingers in Greta’s face and then began to tickle her. Greta laughed uncontrollably.
“Stop!” she gasped. “I can’t-” She broke off into giggles.
Victoria finally stopped, laughing as well. She leaned down and kissed her fiancée. “Your laugh is infections, my dear.”
Greta blushed at the compliment. Victoria was always saying things like that. “You’ll give me a big head saying things like that.”
“As if,” Victoria scoffed. “You wouldn’t have a big head even if I complimented you for fifty years.”
Greta suddenly grinned widely. “Fifty years you say? Well, then I except compliments from you for the next fifty years of our lives.”
“Deal,” Victoria leaned down again and sealed it with a kiss. “Just don’t ever leave me, ok? I don’t think I could take it.”
“I won’t,” Greta promised.
Greta woke up sweating. She fumbled for the lamp by her bed and shakily made her way to the bathroom. Greta turned on the faucet and splashed her face with water. She looked at herself in the mirror and glared.
“Damn it,” she swore. “How could Victoria ever forgive me?”
Greta turned away from the mirror and walked back to bed. Victoria must love her very much to forgive her after breaking that promise. She smiled slightly, that was a better thought to fall asleep to than thinking about Keltie. Greta tucked herself into bed and thought of Victoria. She slept better that afternoon than any other time in her life.
****
“That man!” Katherine yelled as Greta sat reading in the study later that night.
“Who?” she asked.
“Whom do you think? Spencer Smith! He’s ordered us down to some, some slum! In the middle of the night no less.”
“Oh.”
“He even told us to bring Dr. Beckett along!” Katherine continued to rant. “Of all the people! I don’t know why Brendon lowered himself to marry that man!”
“Brendon loves Spencer,” Greta replied.
Katherine scoffed. “I’m sure that man only married Brendon for his money.”
That set Greta off. “Spencer loves Brendon just as much as Brendon loves Spencer,” Greta fumed. “How dare you say such things? You might not like Spencer, but he’s family now. He makes Brendon happy!”
Her mother stared at her. “I think it’s time for your pills.”
“Oh, hang the pills!” Greta yelled as she stomped off. “I’m getting ready to leave, you had better get ready as well, mother!”
Greta smiled as she thought of the shocked look on her mother’s face. That felt good. As she climbed the stairs, she wondered what Spencer had in store for everyone. Brendon told her of Spencer’s method of solving a case and Greta couldn’t wait to see it.
****
In the car, on the way to some cheap apartments where Spencer wanted to solve the case, Greta felt sick.
“What if Spencer can’t solve it?” she asked.
“I thought you said Spencer could solve anything,” her mother replied snidely.
Greta grimaced in the window.
“Here,” Katherine shoved a bottle of water in her face. “Drink this. It will make you feel better.”
Greta took the bottle and slowly drank. As she did, she saw her mother and Dr. Beckett share a look and Greta knew she’d taken some medicine. She set the bottle aside.
“I’m better now,” she said and watched they both frowned at her.
Greta glanced out the window again, just as the car stopped. “We’re here.” She took a deep breath and opened the door. “Come along then, let’s get this over with.” She got out of the car and made her way past the reporters and cameras and into the building.
****
“Greta!” someone called.
Greta looked up the stairwell to the apartments and saw Brendon. She smiled.
“Darling,” he crowed. “You are looking much better!”
“Thank you. Sleep and some backbone helped.”
“Backbone? You must tell me about it later. Now let’s get up the stairs before Aunt Katherine catches up.”
They laughed together and marched up the stairs.
****
Victoria paced inside the apartment. She was wearing a long coat again. A cop had tried to make her take it off, but she glared at him until he left her alone. She didn’t like it in here, it felt wrong. The door opened and Greta and Brendon came in.
“Vicky!” Greta cried and ran over to her.
“Hey, hey,” a cop said. “Break it up.”
“Get us a couple more chairs, will you Dave?” asked Spencer with a wink at the two women.
“Sure thing Spencer,” the man replied.
Brendon grinned at his husband, but was pulled outside.
Greta chuckled. “Those two, huh?”
“Yeah,” Victoria replied.
“Do you think we could have been like that?”
“Maybe. Greta, how are you?”
“Fine. Much better now that I saw you.” Greta tilted her head up. Victoria leaned down to kiss her. Greta pulled her closer, then slowly pulled away. “After.”
“After,” Victoria repeated.
“Here we are,” Spencer said loudly as he pushed open the door. Greta and Victoria jumped apart. Katherine, Dr. Beckett, and two men Greta had never seen before came in.
“Greta!” her mother called. “Over here.”
Greta hustled over next to her mother, but Brendon grabbed her and gently pulled her towards a couch. “Sit next to me. It is ever so exciting watching Spencer work!”
Greta smiled at him and turned to look at the apartment and then the people in front of her. It looked like a plain, empty apartment except for some random pipes in a corner. The two men looked scary, she decided. One had a mean look on his face and a cigarette hanging out of his mouth. He had short black hair covered by a fedora to match his suit. The man next to him had long brown hair and was covered in tattoos.
“That’s Mike Carden and Andy Hurley. Carden owns the Li Chee and Hurly is his muscle,” Brendon explained.
“Oh.”
“Who are we missing?” mused Spencer. “Oh yes, the singer.”
Just then, the door banged open. A cop had a young woman by the arm.
“Here she is, Spencer. We found her trying to sneak out,” he said.
“Let go of me!” the woman cried.
“Miss Williams, nice of you to join us,” Lieutenant Saporta spoke from his place by the door.
“Hayley, I assume you know Carden and Hurley. Have you meet Greta, Keltie’s wife?” Spencer asked with a wicked gleam in his eye.
Hayley flinched and nodded at Greta. Greta knew that she must have been the one Keltie was cheating on her with.
Spencer clapped his hands. “Fantastic. Saporta, can you shut that door please? Thank you. Now that we are all here, let’s figure out who did what.”
He walked around the room. “There’s been another murder. Tonight. And I think it’s someone you all know, Pedro Dominguez.”
Hayley gasped. “Pedro?”
Spencer nodded. “What do you know about it?”
“Nothing. I only saw him when I paid the rent. He was a nice guy though.”
“What about you, Carden?” Spencer asked.
“Sure. I know him, so what?” the man replied.
Spencer shrugged and moved onto Hurley. “What about you, Andy?”
The man shrugged as well. “I’ve never been here before.”
“You knew him, Greta,” Brendon said.
Greta thought about it. “No, I don’t recall him.”
“You know. He was my father’s gardener about six years ago.”
“Oh! Oh, yes. I remember him now. He was sweet.”
“Exactly!”
Spencer coughed and turned to Victoria, who had moved to stand behind a chair.
“What about you Vicky? You remember Pedro?”
“Vaguely. A man with a long, white mustache.”
Saporta jumped in at that moment. “What do you know about him, Ms. Asher?”
“Nothing,” she sneered. “It was six years ago. I haven’t seen him since.”
Greta smiled slightly. Victoria did have the best sneer of anyone she knew. Greta thought it was cute.
Katherine banged her cane on the floor. “Spencer. What does any of this have to do with us?”
“Well, Aunt Katherine. Pedro and Keltie were killed with the same gun,” Spencer replied calmly.
Greta gasped and sat back against the couch. Around her everyone was yelling and arguing. “Brendon, Brendon, is it true?” Greta cried.
“Yes, darling,” he smiled.
“Then, I’m proven innocent,” Greta exclaimed. She began to sob.
“There, there.”
“I’m just so happy!”
“I know.”
“Calm down!” Saporta yelled. “We still don’t know who killed them!”
“But we will tonight,” Spencer guaranteed. “There’s still some monkey business we need to solve. It seems one week ago, Pedro rented this room,” Spencer pointed to the walls around them, “to someone calling him-or her-self, Anderson. Did you ever see Anderson, Hayley?”
“No,” she replied.
“Did you ever hear anyone above you?”
“No.”
“I didn’t think so.” Spencer motioned to Saporta and they grabbed the pipes that Greta had noticed in the corner earlier. They unfolded them.
“A ladder!” Greta cried out.
“Yes,” Spencer said, pleased. “A ladder. Anderson intended to climb down into your apartment, Hayley, kill Keltie and leave you holding the bag for her murder. You know of anyone who would want to do that?”
Hayley bit her lip and looked around. “Er, no.”
“You’re Carden’s girl right?” Spencer asked, suddenly changing tactics.
Greta blinked in shock, how could that man make his own girlfriend sleep with other people? She tuned out the next bit as she wiped at her eyes with a handkerchief. “Spencer sure knows how to throw people, doesn’t he?” she whispered.
“It’s like his second job. But listen, important stuff is coming up,” Brendon whispered back.
Greta laughed softly and turned her attention back to Spencer.
“The only reason Anderson didn’t kill Keltie in Hayley’s apartment is because he was found out. Pedro looked around and saw some suspicious things. So he went to call me. Anderson overheard him and had to kill him.”
“So?” growled Carden.
“Hayley, who had a key to your place?”
“Um, Mike and Nate, my brother.”
“Anyone else?”
“No.”
Carden suddenly got angry. “You’re just trying to pin this on us, because she,” he pointed right at Greta, “is family. She killed her wife and we all know it.”
“I didn’t! I didn’t!” Greta yelled. She tried to stand up, but Brendon held onto her.
Carden ignored her in favor of point at Victoria. “Then you got your girlfriend here to throw away the gun!”
“That’s a lie,” Victoria yelled at him.
Spencer stepped in between them, before a fight broke out. He didn’t want Carden ending up in the hospital, after all. “Wait. Just wait. Carden, come clean. You, Hayley and Hurley were going to fleece Keltie of twenty-five grand, right?”
“Oh sure,” Carden glared. “And I suppose I knock her off before I get my dough. I don’t think so.”
“You were forging checks, though,” Spencer said. He turned to Greta. “I don’t suppose you knew about the five thousand dollars that Keltie cashed?”
Greta bit her lip. “Well, I don’t think¬-”
“Oh, yes she does!” Katherine spoke up. “You gave him that money, didn’t you, Greta?”
Greta was confused. She knew she hadn’t, but her mother insisted she had. Dr. Beckett suddenly appeared in her field of vision.
“You must have done it under the affects of the sleeping medication I gave you,” he said. “That must be checked out right away.”
“You can do your checking later, doc,” said Saporta. “Right now we have a case to solve!”
Dr. Beckett bowed and moved back to Katherine’s side.
“Don’t worry about it, Greta,” Spencer said kindly. “Aunt Katherine was paying Keltie to stay away and Keltie had to pay Carden. They just forged her name and cashed bogus checks until the twenty-five grand could roll in.”
“But, as you can see, I don’t have the twenty-five grand. So what kind of stumblebum does that make me?” Carden yelled.
“The kind of stumblebum who left fingerprints all over the room you killed Nate Novarro in,” Spencer replied.
“Nate? Nate’s dead?” Hayley gasped.
“Yes. Strangled. I’m sorry.”
“Well, I as sure in hell didn’t do it!” Carden cried.
“Then why were you at his place?”
“I thought he messed up my scheme. I thought he tried to hold Colleen up and killed her, so I had to teach him some manners. When I left, he had some dents, but he was alive.”
Spencer turned back to Hayley. “Who knew Nate was your husband?”
Greta and Brendon gasped. “This is better than soap operas,” Greta whispered. Now that she was in the clear, she was starting to have some more fun with watching Spencer work.
“I know!” Brendon whispered back.
“So Nate was your husband?” Carden asked sadly.
“As if you didn’t know,” Saporta sneered.
“I never knew until know.” He paused and glanced at Hayley. “I wish I had.”
Spencer brought things back on track. “Did anyone know?”
“No,” Hayley replied sadly.
“Would Nate have told?”
“No.”
“Did you two ever talk about it?”
“Yeah, one night last week. No one could have overheard though, we were in my apartment.”
“Ah.” Spencer walked over to the bed and kicked over a rug. He knelt down and pried up a floorboard. “This is what Pedro found.”
“What is it?” asked Victoria.
“A headset and microphone. Anderson just hooked it up right over your bed and he could hear everything.”
“Everything?” Hayley looked nervous.
“Yep.”
“Pervert,” she declared.
Greta laughed at Spencer’s double take.
“Yes, well. Anyway. Saporta, when was Nate killed?”
“Around two o’clock am.”
Spencer paced around the room. “At three-thirty, Anderson threw a rock with a note attached into my window. He had begun to use some of the information he’d gathered here.” Spencer pointed at Carden, “How to you spell married?”
Carden paused, and then shouted, “None of your business!”
Spencer laughed, “All right. Hayley, how do you spell married?”
“Um, M-A-R-R-Y-E-D.”
“You see, Anderson tried to pose as an illiterate person-”
“My parents were married!” Hayley cried out in offense.
Greta leaned onto Brendon to hide her laugh. The look on Spencer’s face was just too much for her to handle.
“Okay.” Spencer shook his head. “Anderson misspelled the easy words and correctly spelled the hard words. Want to see it, Hurley?”
Hurley stared back at him.
“No? This note,” Spencer held it up, “was meant to steer me to Nate’s, find his body, and your fingerprints, Carden. Someone’s trying to frame you,” Spencer grinned.
“Yeah?” Carden lit up a cigarette.
“Hurley, you say you don’t know Pedro?”
“No, I don’t know him.”
“Well, I happen to have a picture of him right here. It was taken six years ago-” Spencer walked over by Brendon, where the picture was, and had picked up the photo then stopped. He stared at it for a long time.
“Spencer? What’s wrong?” Brendon asked worriedly.
“Nothing,” Spencer said slowly. “It’s just that I’ve been waiting for someone to slip and someone has.”
“Who?” Greta asked excitedly. She wanted this to end so she and Victoria could make a new life together.
“We’ve been wrong all this time,” Spencer continued. “Keltie’s murder wasn’t about money, it was a murder of hatred. Hayley, why was Nate sent to prison?”
“Blackmail,” the woman replied confusedly.
“Blackmail.” Spencer turned to Victoria. “When were you to give Keltie the money to go away?”
“This morning,” Victoria said.
“In cash?”
“Well, yes.”
“But when she decided to leave last night, you had to give her bonds?”
“Yes,” Victoria said slowly.
“Where, exactly, were you going to get cash on New Year’s Day? It’s a bank holiday, too.”
“I-I forgot about that I guess. I just wanted her to get away.”
“You didn’t forget, Victoria. You never meant to give Keltie that money, did you? You didn’t want her to go away, you wanted to kill her, to get even with her for taking Greta away.”
Spencer stepped closer to Victoria, who backed farther away.
“Brendon, is he joking?” she asked.
“Sure, and you were joking when you said you hadn’t seen Pedro in six years. You said Pedro had a long, white mustache. Well he’s got a long, white mustache now, but he didn’t six years ago. Look at this picture,” he pushed the picture into Victoria’s line of sight, but she glanced away. “His mustache is not white or long. You didn’t notice him six years ago anymore than I did, but you did notice him last night when you shot him. You killed Pedro, then you killed Keltie. Nate saw you kill her and he was going to blackmail, so you had to kill him too. Then you threw the note through my window, hoping to get me off your trail.”
Greta stood up and shouted, “Vicky! Vicky, don’t let him say those horrible things! Tell him it isn’t true!” Brendon stood up as well and held onto her as she began to cry.
“Ask her why she got rid of the gun, Greta. She knew it wasn’t fired, she knew you only had to show it to prove your innocence. Yet, she still threw it into the river. Ask her why.” Spencer continued and ignored Greta’s crying.
“Vicky? Victoria? Say something! I know it isn’t true, just say something!” Greta rushed over and grabbed onto Victoria’s arm.
“Wasn’t it because you hated Greta as much as you hated Keltie? You wanted to get even with her too. You wanted to see her hang for Keltie’s murder,” Spencer finished.
“Vicky!” Greta cried.
“It’s okay, Victoria. You can tell her the truth now,” Spencer said softly. “You don’t have to pretend.”
Victoria pulled away and grew increasingly hysterical as she talked. “It is true! I hated you, Greta-and Keltie-ever since you dumped me for her! I’ve been watching you and waiting, waiting for the time when I could get even with the both of you for ruining my life!”
Greta bit into her hand and sobbed. She couldn’t believe it. Not her Victoria!
“I did kill Keltie, but not the way I wanted. I wanted her to suffer like I had. And you!” Victoria pointed a shaking finger at Greta. “I wanted to see you go gradually madder and madder as the day came closer and closer to when you were going to hang.” She pulled a gun out of her coat and watched as the others scrambled. “I won’t get to see you hang, but I will see you die!”
“Fascinating,” murmured Dr. Beckett. “She will need my help when all of this is over.”
“Put down the gun, Asher,” Saporta yelled at her.
“Don’t be a fool, Victoria,” Spencer stated calmly. “No one has to die.”
Victoria laughed. “I’ve got six bullets! One for me! One for Greta!” She pointed the gun at Greta, who was being held by Brendon. “And the rest for anyone who tries to stop me!”
“Grab her!” Carden yelled.
Carden, Hurley, Spencer, Saporta, and other nearby cops all jumped Victoria and struggled with the gun. The gun went off and Greta screamed. She felt Brendon flinch.
“I’m sure Spencer is fine,” she said.
“He’d better be!”
They watched as Hurley suddenly let out a punch. Victoria’s head flew back and Saporta was able to grab the gun.
“All right, get her out of here!” he yelled.
Dr. Beckett followed Victoria as the police hauled her off. She was still yelling about how she was going to kill Greta.
Greta shivered and hugged herself. She watched as Brendon kissed Spencer and made sure he was all right and wondered if she’d ever have that.
****
A few days later, Greta was on a train with Spencer and Brendon traveling east.
“May I ask a question, Spencer?” Greta asked.
“Sure,” he replied lazily.
“Why didn’t you get along with Vick-Victoria?”
“What do you mean?” Brendon asked.
“Well, she never cared if I called her Vicky, but when Spencer did it, she called him Spence, which he hates,” Greta replied. She looked at Spencer slyly, “I figured you did it on purpose. You two must not have gotten along, so why didn’t you get along?”
Spencer was silent while he thought. “She always dismissed Brendon. I hate when people do that.” He scowled into his drink.
Brendon smiled softly at his husband. Greta shook her head with a grin.
“With that, it is time for me to go. Thanks for having me along,” she said.
“It’s no problem, darling. You know we love to have you,” Brendon smiled at her.
“I don’t know how you convinced Aunt Katherine to let you go, though,” Spencer mused as he took a sip of his drink.
“Well, I just told her.”
“The backbone?” Brendon asked happily.
“The backbone.”
Spencer looked confused. Greta laughed, “It’s a cousin thing. Don’t worry about it. Well,” she sighed. “I am off to bed.”
“All right, have a good sleep,” Brendon said.
“I will!” She kissed her cousin on the cheek. Then she turned to Spencer. Her eyes twinkled as she asked, “May I?”
“Just this once though. I find it’s a hard habit to break,” Brendon joked.
Greta laughed again and kissed Spencer’s lips. “Thank you.”
“You’re family. It’s what I do,” Spencer looked pleased.
“Good night!”
“Night!”
Greta left their room and walked down the hall to her own. Tonight will be a good night.
****
Greta stretched in her bunk. Greta stretched in her bed, thankful for a good night’s rest. She sat up and got ready for the day. As she made her way to the breakfast car, she past Brendon and Spencer’s room. She considered about knocking and asking them to join her, but she thought they might like some time alone. Greta grinned and continued on her way.
****
Greta sat at a table, sipping her coffee, and looking out the window. As she watched the scenery pass her by, her mind drifted to Victoria and Keltie. She felt her eyes begin to tear up.
“Are you all right?” a soft voice asked.
Greta looked up and saw a young woman with brown and blonde hair standing in front of her, looking concerned.
“Yes, I’m fine,” Greta said shakily.
“You don’t sound fine.”
“I’ve been having some pretty bad days.”
The woman nodded. “I see. Care to talk about it?”
“I don’t even know you!” Greta exclaimed in surprise.
“I’m Cassadee Pope. Nice to meet you,” Cassadee grinned and stuck out her hand.
“Greta Salpeter.”
The two women shook hands. She has nice hands, Greta thought randomly, then she blushed.
“That must be a dirty thought, if you’re blushing,” Cassadee laughed.
“Well, it wasn’t dirty so much as improper. Especially after…” Greta trailed off.
“We can get to that later. Right now, we are new friends so, let’s get to know each other. The heavy stuff can be saved for when we are old friends, right?”
Greta blinked at Cassadee. The other woman grinned at her.
“Well, my name is Greta Salpeter. It used to be Salpeter-Colleen, but that’s for another time, like you said.”
Greta and Cassadee talked for what seemed like hours. Brendon and Spencer stopped by, but soon hurried back to their room.
“It must be great to be in love like that,” Cassadee mused.
“I think so as well,” Greta replied.
Cassadee smiled at her. “What’s your final stop?”
“New York. I’m going to take a ship over to Europe and travel.”
“Fantastic, I’m going there as well. Have you ever been to New York?”
“A few times. I haven’t seen the city, though, I never had the time.”
“Why don’t I show you around before you have to catch your ship?”
Greta beamed. “That would be wonderful!”
“Great!”
As Greta watched Cassadee describe all the places they would visit in New York, she thought about the last couple of days and the last few years. It all seemed like a dream, but she knew it wasn’t. Those years and days had changed her irrevocably; they had made her a stronger person. And perhaps, she thought looking at Cassadee, I can make a happier life for myself.
Greta smiled and Cassadee smiled back. Things were beginning to look up for Greta.
THE END
Greta sobbed as she lay down in her jail cell. She was all alone. Her mother should be coming soon to bail her out.
"I didn't do it," she cried into the pillow provided. "I didn't kill my wife."
"Greta," a voice said.
She looked up and saw her mother. "Mother!"
Katherine sighed, "Come along."
A guard opened the cell door and let her out. Greta hugged her mother.
"I didn't do it, mother, I swear I didn't."
"All right, all right." Katherine patted Greta's back. "Let us go home. Dr. Beckett is waiting to see you."
Greta shivered. She hated to see what Dr. Beckett gave her next.
****
When Greta and Katherine got home, the house was already covered with reporters. Greta flinched as cameras flashed in her face. They cried out horrible things. One even stepped in her way into the house to snap a picture.
“Mrs. Salpeter-Colleen! Over here!”
“What do you have to say for yourself?”
“Did you kill your wife?”
Greta pushed past them all and ran into the house. She watched as her mother used her cane to beat a reporter and his cameraman. All the newspapermen did was laugh. Dr. Beckett came along next, ignore most questions. He, like Saporta, was tall and skinny. However, the most distinctive thing about him, was his huge glasses. Those glasses, plus his personality, made him very creepy. Greta didn’t like standing next to him or being in the same room as him.
“I just want to attended to my patient,” he said calmly, walking past them all.
Greta tried to strip her jacket off quickly and run upstairs, but Katherine stopped her.
“Greta! Come into the study! Dr. Beckett needs to see you!”
“Yes, mother,” she said softly. Greta looked longingly up the stairs. She just wanted to go into her bedroom and lock the doors until this was all over.
****
Greta moaned as her phone rang, she just fell asleep and didn’t feel like talking to anyone. She picked the phone up anyway; she was just too nice sometimes. “Hello?” she said groggily.
“Greta?”
“Vicky! Oh, Vicky, I was afraid you would never talk to me again!”
“Greta,” Victoria said fondly. “Of course I’d talk to you. You know how I feel about you.”
“I know,” Greta paused. “I should have married you. I don’t know why I didn’t.”
“I don’t know either,” Victoria laughed.
Greta laughed as well. Laughing was better than crying. She had the distinct idea that her life would have turned out a lot different if she had married Victoria.
“Vicky, you know I love you, don’t you?” she asked suddenly.
There was a pause before Victoria replied, “Greta, don’t do this to me.”
“I’m sorry, but I do love you. Maybe when this is over, we could try again?”
“I-I would like that a lot. Let’s give it some time though, huh?”
“Okay,” Greta smiled into the phone. “I need to stand on my own two feet first. Then, maybe you can take me out on a date.”
Victoria made a choked sound, which Greta knew was her shocked laugh. “Greta!”
Greta laughed again. This is what her life definitely should have been like.
****
Greta was next awoken at noon. Her mother knocked on her door.
“Greta! Greta, it’s time to take the pills Dr. Beckett prescribed to you!” Katherine yelled through the door.
Greta hugged her pillow. “I don’t want to take any pills,” she muttered into it.
“Greta, are you awake?”
“Yes, mother. I’m awake.”
“Then come take your pill with lunch. Dr. Beckett needs to talk to you about how you’re feeling after that.”
Greta sighed and quickly got dressed. Why can’t I just stand up for myself? She put her hand on the doorknob, but paused before opening it.
“Greta!”
“Coming, mother!” Greta took a breath and opened the door. Perhaps her session with Dr. Beckett wouldn’t be so bad.
****
Greta closed her eyes, as she lay back in her bed. The session with Dr. Beckett had been hell. It wasn’t so much talking about how she was feeling, but him being creepy and talking about how the pills were affecting her. Her mother had even been in the room, and Greta was pretty sure that was against the rules.
She rolled over and sighed. A nap would make her feel better. At least she hoped it would. She wondered how Victoria was holding up, before drifting off to sleep.
****
Greta sighed as she leaned into Victoria’s arms. This was her favorite place in the world.
“Why are you sighing?” Victoria asked. “Are you unhappy? I know how to make it better.”
Victoria wiggled her fingers in Greta’s face and then began to tickle her. Greta laughed uncontrollably.
“Stop!” she gasped. “I can’t-” She broke off into giggles.
Victoria finally stopped, laughing as well. She leaned down and kissed her fiancée. “Your laugh is infections, my dear.”
Greta blushed at the compliment. Victoria was always saying things like that. “You’ll give me a big head saying things like that.”
“As if,” Victoria scoffed. “You wouldn’t have a big head even if I complimented you for fifty years.”
Greta suddenly grinned widely. “Fifty years you say? Well, then I except compliments from you for the next fifty years of our lives.”
“Deal,” Victoria leaned down again and sealed it with a kiss. “Just don’t ever leave me, ok? I don’t think I could take it.”
“I won’t,” Greta promised.
Greta woke up sweating. She fumbled for the lamp by her bed and shakily made her way to the bathroom. Greta turned on the faucet and splashed her face with water. She looked at herself in the mirror and glared.
“Damn it,” she swore. “How could Victoria ever forgive me?”
Greta turned away from the mirror and walked back to bed. Victoria must love her very much to forgive her after breaking that promise. She smiled slightly, that was a better thought to fall asleep to than thinking about Keltie. Greta tucked herself into bed and thought of Victoria. She slept better that afternoon than any other time in her life.
****
“That man!” Katherine yelled as Greta sat reading in the study later that night.
“Who?” she asked.
“Whom do you think? Spencer Smith! He’s ordered us down to some, some slum! In the middle of the night no less.”
“Oh.”
“He even told us to bring Dr. Beckett along!” Katherine continued to rant. “Of all the people! I don’t know why Brendon lowered himself to marry that man!”
“Brendon loves Spencer,” Greta replied.
Katherine scoffed. “I’m sure that man only married Brendon for his money.”
That set Greta off. “Spencer loves Brendon just as much as Brendon loves Spencer,” Greta fumed. “How dare you say such things? You might not like Spencer, but he’s family now. He makes Brendon happy!”
Her mother stared at her. “I think it’s time for your pills.”
“Oh, hang the pills!” Greta yelled as she stomped off. “I’m getting ready to leave, you had better get ready as well, mother!”
Greta smiled as she thought of the shocked look on her mother’s face. That felt good. As she climbed the stairs, she wondered what Spencer had in store for everyone. Brendon told her of Spencer’s method of solving a case and Greta couldn’t wait to see it.
****
In the car, on the way to some cheap apartments where Spencer wanted to solve the case, Greta felt sick.
“What if Spencer can’t solve it?” she asked.
“I thought you said Spencer could solve anything,” her mother replied snidely.
Greta grimaced in the window.
“Here,” Katherine shoved a bottle of water in her face. “Drink this. It will make you feel better.”
Greta took the bottle and slowly drank. As she did, she saw her mother and Dr. Beckett share a look and Greta knew she’d taken some medicine. She set the bottle aside.
“I’m better now,” she said and watched they both frowned at her.
Greta glanced out the window again, just as the car stopped. “We’re here.” She took a deep breath and opened the door. “Come along then, let’s get this over with.” She got out of the car and made her way past the reporters and cameras and into the building.
****
“Greta!” someone called.
Greta looked up the stairwell to the apartments and saw Brendon. She smiled.
“Darling,” he crowed. “You are looking much better!”
“Thank you. Sleep and some backbone helped.”
“Backbone? You must tell me about it later. Now let’s get up the stairs before Aunt Katherine catches up.”
They laughed together and marched up the stairs.
****
Victoria paced inside the apartment. She was wearing a long coat again. A cop had tried to make her take it off, but she glared at him until he left her alone. She didn’t like it in here, it felt wrong. The door opened and Greta and Brendon came in.
“Vicky!” Greta cried and ran over to her.
“Hey, hey,” a cop said. “Break it up.”
“Get us a couple more chairs, will you Dave?” asked Spencer with a wink at the two women.
“Sure thing Spencer,” the man replied.
Brendon grinned at his husband, but was pulled outside.
Greta chuckled. “Those two, huh?”
“Yeah,” Victoria replied.
“Do you think we could have been like that?”
“Maybe. Greta, how are you?”
“Fine. Much better now that I saw you.” Greta tilted her head up. Victoria leaned down to kiss her. Greta pulled her closer, then slowly pulled away. “After.”
“After,” Victoria repeated.
“Here we are,” Spencer said loudly as he pushed open the door. Greta and Victoria jumped apart. Katherine, Dr. Beckett, and two men Greta had never seen before came in.
“Greta!” her mother called. “Over here.”
Greta hustled over next to her mother, but Brendon grabbed her and gently pulled her towards a couch. “Sit next to me. It is ever so exciting watching Spencer work!”
Greta smiled at him and turned to look at the apartment and then the people in front of her. It looked like a plain, empty apartment except for some random pipes in a corner. The two men looked scary, she decided. One had a mean look on his face and a cigarette hanging out of his mouth. He had short black hair covered by a fedora to match his suit. The man next to him had long brown hair and was covered in tattoos.
“That’s Mike Carden and Andy Hurley. Carden owns the Li Chee and Hurly is his muscle,” Brendon explained.
“Oh.”
“Who are we missing?” mused Spencer. “Oh yes, the singer.”
Just then, the door banged open. A cop had a young woman by the arm.
“Here she is, Spencer. We found her trying to sneak out,” he said.
“Let go of me!” the woman cried.
“Miss Williams, nice of you to join us,” Lieutenant Saporta spoke from his place by the door.
“Hayley, I assume you know Carden and Hurley. Have you meet Greta, Keltie’s wife?” Spencer asked with a wicked gleam in his eye.
Hayley flinched and nodded at Greta. Greta knew that she must have been the one Keltie was cheating on her with.
Spencer clapped his hands. “Fantastic. Saporta, can you shut that door please? Thank you. Now that we are all here, let’s figure out who did what.”
He walked around the room. “There’s been another murder. Tonight. And I think it’s someone you all know, Pedro Dominguez.”
Hayley gasped. “Pedro?”
Spencer nodded. “What do you know about it?”
“Nothing. I only saw him when I paid the rent. He was a nice guy though.”
“What about you, Carden?” Spencer asked.
“Sure. I know him, so what?” the man replied.
Spencer shrugged and moved onto Hurley. “What about you, Andy?”
The man shrugged as well. “I’ve never been here before.”
“You knew him, Greta,” Brendon said.
Greta thought about it. “No, I don’t recall him.”
“You know. He was my father’s gardener about six years ago.”
“Oh! Oh, yes. I remember him now. He was sweet.”
“Exactly!”
Spencer coughed and turned to Victoria, who had moved to stand behind a chair.
“What about you Vicky? You remember Pedro?”
“Vaguely. A man with a long, white mustache.”
Saporta jumped in at that moment. “What do you know about him, Ms. Asher?”
“Nothing,” she sneered. “It was six years ago. I haven’t seen him since.”
Greta smiled slightly. Victoria did have the best sneer of anyone she knew. Greta thought it was cute.
Katherine banged her cane on the floor. “Spencer. What does any of this have to do with us?”
“Well, Aunt Katherine. Pedro and Keltie were killed with the same gun,” Spencer replied calmly.
Greta gasped and sat back against the couch. Around her everyone was yelling and arguing. “Brendon, Brendon, is it true?” Greta cried.
“Yes, darling,” he smiled.
“Then, I’m proven innocent,” Greta exclaimed. She began to sob.
“There, there.”
“I’m just so happy!”
“I know.”
“Calm down!” Saporta yelled. “We still don’t know who killed them!”
“But we will tonight,” Spencer guaranteed. “There’s still some monkey business we need to solve. It seems one week ago, Pedro rented this room,” Spencer pointed to the walls around them, “to someone calling him-or her-self, Anderson. Did you ever see Anderson, Hayley?”
“No,” she replied.
“Did you ever hear anyone above you?”
“No.”
“I didn’t think so.” Spencer motioned to Saporta and they grabbed the pipes that Greta had noticed in the corner earlier. They unfolded them.
“A ladder!” Greta cried out.
“Yes,” Spencer said, pleased. “A ladder. Anderson intended to climb down into your apartment, Hayley, kill Keltie and leave you holding the bag for her murder. You know of anyone who would want to do that?”
Hayley bit her lip and looked around. “Er, no.”
“You’re Carden’s girl right?” Spencer asked, suddenly changing tactics.
Greta blinked in shock, how could that man make his own girlfriend sleep with other people? She tuned out the next bit as she wiped at her eyes with a handkerchief. “Spencer sure knows how to throw people, doesn’t he?” she whispered.
“It’s like his second job. But listen, important stuff is coming up,” Brendon whispered back.
Greta laughed softly and turned her attention back to Spencer.
“The only reason Anderson didn’t kill Keltie in Hayley’s apartment is because he was found out. Pedro looked around and saw some suspicious things. So he went to call me. Anderson overheard him and had to kill him.”
“So?” growled Carden.
“Hayley, who had a key to your place?”
“Um, Mike and Nate, my brother.”
“Anyone else?”
“No.”
Carden suddenly got angry. “You’re just trying to pin this on us, because she,” he pointed right at Greta, “is family. She killed her wife and we all know it.”
“I didn’t! I didn’t!” Greta yelled. She tried to stand up, but Brendon held onto her.
Carden ignored her in favor of point at Victoria. “Then you got your girlfriend here to throw away the gun!”
“That’s a lie,” Victoria yelled at him.
Spencer stepped in between them, before a fight broke out. He didn’t want Carden ending up in the hospital, after all. “Wait. Just wait. Carden, come clean. You, Hayley and Hurley were going to fleece Keltie of twenty-five grand, right?”
“Oh sure,” Carden glared. “And I suppose I knock her off before I get my dough. I don’t think so.”
“You were forging checks, though,” Spencer said. He turned to Greta. “I don’t suppose you knew about the five thousand dollars that Keltie cashed?”
Greta bit her lip. “Well, I don’t think¬-”
“Oh, yes she does!” Katherine spoke up. “You gave him that money, didn’t you, Greta?”
Greta was confused. She knew she hadn’t, but her mother insisted she had. Dr. Beckett suddenly appeared in her field of vision.
“You must have done it under the affects of the sleeping medication I gave you,” he said. “That must be checked out right away.”
“You can do your checking later, doc,” said Saporta. “Right now we have a case to solve!”
Dr. Beckett bowed and moved back to Katherine’s side.
“Don’t worry about it, Greta,” Spencer said kindly. “Aunt Katherine was paying Keltie to stay away and Keltie had to pay Carden. They just forged her name and cashed bogus checks until the twenty-five grand could roll in.”
“But, as you can see, I don’t have the twenty-five grand. So what kind of stumblebum does that make me?” Carden yelled.
“The kind of stumblebum who left fingerprints all over the room you killed Nate Novarro in,” Spencer replied.
“Nate? Nate’s dead?” Hayley gasped.
“Yes. Strangled. I’m sorry.”
“Well, I as sure in hell didn’t do it!” Carden cried.
“Then why were you at his place?”
“I thought he messed up my scheme. I thought he tried to hold Colleen up and killed her, so I had to teach him some manners. When I left, he had some dents, but he was alive.”
Spencer turned back to Hayley. “Who knew Nate was your husband?”
Greta and Brendon gasped. “This is better than soap operas,” Greta whispered. Now that she was in the clear, she was starting to have some more fun with watching Spencer work.
“I know!” Brendon whispered back.
“So Nate was your husband?” Carden asked sadly.
“As if you didn’t know,” Saporta sneered.
“I never knew until know.” He paused and glanced at Hayley. “I wish I had.”
Spencer brought things back on track. “Did anyone know?”
“No,” Hayley replied sadly.
“Would Nate have told?”
“No.”
“Did you two ever talk about it?”
“Yeah, one night last week. No one could have overheard though, we were in my apartment.”
“Ah.” Spencer walked over to the bed and kicked over a rug. He knelt down and pried up a floorboard. “This is what Pedro found.”
“What is it?” asked Victoria.
“A headset and microphone. Anderson just hooked it up right over your bed and he could hear everything.”
“Everything?” Hayley looked nervous.
“Yep.”
“Pervert,” she declared.
Greta laughed at Spencer’s double take.
“Yes, well. Anyway. Saporta, when was Nate killed?”
“Around two o’clock am.”
Spencer paced around the room. “At three-thirty, Anderson threw a rock with a note attached into my window. He had begun to use some of the information he’d gathered here.” Spencer pointed at Carden, “How to you spell married?”
Carden paused, and then shouted, “None of your business!”
Spencer laughed, “All right. Hayley, how do you spell married?”
“Um, M-A-R-R-Y-E-D.”
“You see, Anderson tried to pose as an illiterate person-”
“My parents were married!” Hayley cried out in offense.
Greta leaned onto Brendon to hide her laugh. The look on Spencer’s face was just too much for her to handle.
“Okay.” Spencer shook his head. “Anderson misspelled the easy words and correctly spelled the hard words. Want to see it, Hurley?”
Hurley stared back at him.
“No? This note,” Spencer held it up, “was meant to steer me to Nate’s, find his body, and your fingerprints, Carden. Someone’s trying to frame you,” Spencer grinned.
“Yeah?” Carden lit up a cigarette.
“Hurley, you say you don’t know Pedro?”
“No, I don’t know him.”
“Well, I happen to have a picture of him right here. It was taken six years ago-” Spencer walked over by Brendon, where the picture was, and had picked up the photo then stopped. He stared at it for a long time.
“Spencer? What’s wrong?” Brendon asked worriedly.
“Nothing,” Spencer said slowly. “It’s just that I’ve been waiting for someone to slip and someone has.”
“Who?” Greta asked excitedly. She wanted this to end so she and Victoria could make a new life together.
“We’ve been wrong all this time,” Spencer continued. “Keltie’s murder wasn’t about money, it was a murder of hatred. Hayley, why was Nate sent to prison?”
“Blackmail,” the woman replied confusedly.
“Blackmail.” Spencer turned to Victoria. “When were you to give Keltie the money to go away?”
“This morning,” Victoria said.
“In cash?”
“Well, yes.”
“But when she decided to leave last night, you had to give her bonds?”
“Yes,” Victoria said slowly.
“Where, exactly, were you going to get cash on New Year’s Day? It’s a bank holiday, too.”
“I-I forgot about that I guess. I just wanted her to get away.”
“You didn’t forget, Victoria. You never meant to give Keltie that money, did you? You didn’t want her to go away, you wanted to kill her, to get even with her for taking Greta away.”
Spencer stepped closer to Victoria, who backed farther away.
“Brendon, is he joking?” she asked.
“Sure, and you were joking when you said you hadn’t seen Pedro in six years. You said Pedro had a long, white mustache. Well he’s got a long, white mustache now, but he didn’t six years ago. Look at this picture,” he pushed the picture into Victoria’s line of sight, but she glanced away. “His mustache is not white or long. You didn’t notice him six years ago anymore than I did, but you did notice him last night when you shot him. You killed Pedro, then you killed Keltie. Nate saw you kill her and he was going to blackmail, so you had to kill him too. Then you threw the note through my window, hoping to get me off your trail.”
Greta stood up and shouted, “Vicky! Vicky, don’t let him say those horrible things! Tell him it isn’t true!” Brendon stood up as well and held onto her as she began to cry.
“Ask her why she got rid of the gun, Greta. She knew it wasn’t fired, she knew you only had to show it to prove your innocence. Yet, she still threw it into the river. Ask her why.” Spencer continued and ignored Greta’s crying.
“Vicky? Victoria? Say something! I know it isn’t true, just say something!” Greta rushed over and grabbed onto Victoria’s arm.
“Wasn’t it because you hated Greta as much as you hated Keltie? You wanted to get even with her too. You wanted to see her hang for Keltie’s murder,” Spencer finished.
“Vicky!” Greta cried.
“It’s okay, Victoria. You can tell her the truth now,” Spencer said softly. “You don’t have to pretend.”
Victoria pulled away and grew increasingly hysterical as she talked. “It is true! I hated you, Greta-and Keltie-ever since you dumped me for her! I’ve been watching you and waiting, waiting for the time when I could get even with the both of you for ruining my life!”
Greta bit into her hand and sobbed. She couldn’t believe it. Not her Victoria!
“I did kill Keltie, but not the way I wanted. I wanted her to suffer like I had. And you!” Victoria pointed a shaking finger at Greta. “I wanted to see you go gradually madder and madder as the day came closer and closer to when you were going to hang.” She pulled a gun out of her coat and watched as the others scrambled. “I won’t get to see you hang, but I will see you die!”
“Fascinating,” murmured Dr. Beckett. “She will need my help when all of this is over.”
“Put down the gun, Asher,” Saporta yelled at her.
“Don’t be a fool, Victoria,” Spencer stated calmly. “No one has to die.”
Victoria laughed. “I’ve got six bullets! One for me! One for Greta!” She pointed the gun at Greta, who was being held by Brendon. “And the rest for anyone who tries to stop me!”
“Grab her!” Carden yelled.
Carden, Hurley, Spencer, Saporta, and other nearby cops all jumped Victoria and struggled with the gun. The gun went off and Greta screamed. She felt Brendon flinch.
“I’m sure Spencer is fine,” she said.
“He’d better be!”
They watched as Hurley suddenly let out a punch. Victoria’s head flew back and Saporta was able to grab the gun.
“All right, get her out of here!” he yelled.
Dr. Beckett followed Victoria as the police hauled her off. She was still yelling about how she was going to kill Greta.
Greta shivered and hugged herself. She watched as Brendon kissed Spencer and made sure he was all right and wondered if she’d ever have that.
****
A few days later, Greta was on a train with Spencer and Brendon traveling east.
“May I ask a question, Spencer?” Greta asked.
“Sure,” he replied lazily.
“Why didn’t you get along with Vick-Victoria?”
“What do you mean?” Brendon asked.
“Well, she never cared if I called her Vicky, but when Spencer did it, she called him Spence, which he hates,” Greta replied. She looked at Spencer slyly, “I figured you did it on purpose. You two must not have gotten along, so why didn’t you get along?”
Spencer was silent while he thought. “She always dismissed Brendon. I hate when people do that.” He scowled into his drink.
Brendon smiled softly at his husband. Greta shook her head with a grin.
“With that, it is time for me to go. Thanks for having me along,” she said.
“It’s no problem, darling. You know we love to have you,” Brendon smiled at her.
“I don’t know how you convinced Aunt Katherine to let you go, though,” Spencer mused as he took a sip of his drink.
“Well, I just told her.”
“The backbone?” Brendon asked happily.
“The backbone.”
Spencer looked confused. Greta laughed, “It’s a cousin thing. Don’t worry about it. Well,” she sighed. “I am off to bed.”
“All right, have a good sleep,” Brendon said.
“I will!” She kissed her cousin on the cheek. Then she turned to Spencer. Her eyes twinkled as she asked, “May I?”
“Just this once though. I find it’s a hard habit to break,” Brendon joked.
Greta laughed again and kissed Spencer’s lips. “Thank you.”
“You’re family. It’s what I do,” Spencer looked pleased.
“Good night!”
“Night!”
Greta left their room and walked down the hall to her own. Tonight will be a good night.
****
Greta stretched in her bunk. Greta stretched in her bed, thankful for a good night’s rest. She sat up and got ready for the day. As she made her way to the breakfast car, she past Brendon and Spencer’s room. She considered about knocking and asking them to join her, but she thought they might like some time alone. Greta grinned and continued on her way.
****
Greta sat at a table, sipping her coffee, and looking out the window. As she watched the scenery pass her by, her mind drifted to Victoria and Keltie. She felt her eyes begin to tear up.
“Are you all right?” a soft voice asked.
Greta looked up and saw a young woman with brown and blonde hair standing in front of her, looking concerned.
“Yes, I’m fine,” Greta said shakily.
“You don’t sound fine.”
“I’ve been having some pretty bad days.”
The woman nodded. “I see. Care to talk about it?”
“I don’t even know you!” Greta exclaimed in surprise.
“I’m Cassadee Pope. Nice to meet you,” Cassadee grinned and stuck out her hand.
“Greta Salpeter.”
The two women shook hands. She has nice hands, Greta thought randomly, then she blushed.
“That must be a dirty thought, if you’re blushing,” Cassadee laughed.
“Well, it wasn’t dirty so much as improper. Especially after…” Greta trailed off.
“We can get to that later. Right now, we are new friends so, let’s get to know each other. The heavy stuff can be saved for when we are old friends, right?”
Greta blinked at Cassadee. The other woman grinned at her.
“Well, my name is Greta Salpeter. It used to be Salpeter-Colleen, but that’s for another time, like you said.”
Greta and Cassadee talked for what seemed like hours. Brendon and Spencer stopped by, but soon hurried back to their room.
“It must be great to be in love like that,” Cassadee mused.
“I think so as well,” Greta replied.
Cassadee smiled at her. “What’s your final stop?”
“New York. I’m going to take a ship over to Europe and travel.”
“Fantastic, I’m going there as well. Have you ever been to New York?”
“A few times. I haven’t seen the city, though, I never had the time.”
“Why don’t I show you around before you have to catch your ship?”
Greta beamed. “That would be wonderful!”
“Great!”
As Greta watched Cassadee describe all the places they would visit in New York, she thought about the last couple of days and the last few years. It all seemed like a dream, but she knew it wasn’t. Those years and days had changed her irrevocably; they had made her a stronger person. And perhaps, she thought looking at Cassadee, I can make a happier life for myself.
Greta smiled and Cassadee smiled back. Things were beginning to look up for Greta.
THE END