Whoa.Julia felt overwhelmed. “Thank you!” she said, her face flushing.
Gianluca looked around the circle, his eyes shining. Leni woke up.
Bennie emerged from the station and hustled toward them through the throng, smiling and waving a set of papers. “Courtney, you’re officially a free woman!”
“Thank you so much!” Courtney gave her a hug, then Paul hugged Bennie, too.
“Yes, thank you, Bennie! You sure you can’t come back with us?”
“Thanks, but I have to go.” Bennie hugged Julia and Gianluca. “Goodbye, it was great meeting you. We have to stay in touch.”
“Yes, thank you,” Julia said, meaning it, as Bennie headed off.
Courtney caught Julia’s eye, and they held each other’s teary gaze for a moment. There was so much to say, and Julia wondered if they’d have the chance to say it, now that they weren’t alone. She experienced a deep sense of loss over so much death, and she knew Courtney would be feeling even worse, having lost her beloved Kay, and Alex.
Meanwhile the cops were still applauding, like a standing ovation.
It looked like a proverbial happy ending.
But oddly, it didn’t feel like one.
62
An hour later, they’d settled down in Julia’s motel room, having ordered pizza that turned out to be free after the restaurant realized it was for her. Her name had become public, which made her uncomfortable, and she ignored photos of her that flashed by on the muted TV, or the closed caption that readPRITZKER CURRENTLY RESIDES IN THE CHIANTI REGION OF…
They’d run the gauntlet of reporters when they arrived back at the motel, and the media was staked out in the parking lot in front. The noise filtered into the room, but luckily Leni was back asleep, stretched out on the other bed.
Julia, Gianluca, Courtney, and Paul ate pizza sitting on the bed and two chairs. They all pieced together the awful events of the night, with Julia and Paul recounting what had happened with Alex when he left the room in the prison, which made Courtney cry. She’d composed herself, then told them what had happened when she’d gotten sick, then been taken from her cell to the infirmary, leaving Soroya behind in theircell. The conversation was gut-wrenching, and they all grieved Alex and Soroya, even though they felt relieved that Courtney had been freed.
Courtney looked exhausted, her expression pained and her eyes puffy. “I am glad to be free,” she said, trying to rally. She hadn’t eaten because her stomach was still bothering her. “What scared me was that I didn’t know if I’d ever get out.”
“It must’ve been awful.” Paul touched her arm.
Courtney nodded, rubbing her face. “It kills me to think that Alex and Soroya were murdered because of me.”
Paul frowned. “Don’t say that, honey. Don’t put that on yourself.”
“But it’s true,” Courtney shot back, agonized. “Alex died trying to save me and Soroya was killed in my place, mistakenly. It’s on me.”
Julia interjected, “No, it’s not, Courtney. The people to blame for their deaths are the people who killed them, not you. We’re going to get to the bottom of whoever killed them and make sure they get punished.”
Courtney’s face fell into heartbroken lines. “I won’t rest until they do.”
“I won’t, either,” Julia said, feeling for her.
“I’ll say a prayer for them,” Gianluca added.
Courtney’s mournful gaze met Julia’s. “Girl, I’m going to be thanking you the rest of my life. You got me out. You caught Grandma Kay’s killer.”
“Not just me.” Julia couldn’t begin to process what had happened before Valley Forge. “You and I did some girl-sleuthing together, and Paul helped, too.”
Paul looked over. “No, it was you, Jules. All I did was knock over the muskets. You were the one.”
Courtney nodded. “Julia, don’t be modest. He’s right. Now we know that Novak did it and we know why.” Her eyes narrowed. “It sounds harsh, but the fact that Novak is dead feels like justice to me.”
Julia didn’t reply, flashing on Novak being shot point-blank. It was a horror.
“He was totally the man I chased out of the house. The detectives showed me his picture, and I recognized him as Matt Winger. Did you, Julia?”
