“And another wife,” said Dooley. “Since his own wife doesn’t want him anymore, and Dee doesn’t want him, and neither does Gladys.”
“So he’s gone from being involved with three women to none,” said Brutus with a grin.
“Serves him right,” said Harriet, who hates cheats.
“So Murder Club really was a murder club,” said Brutus. “But instead of solving murders, they actually committed them!”
“Yeah, I don’t think they understood the concept,” said Harriet.
“Or maybe they understood it too well.”
“So is Kirsten rich now?” asked Dooley.
“Not exactly,” I said. “Turns out that Henry Kaur? Was actually her granddad.”
“Her granddad!” Dooley said. “But how!”
“Well, it’s a long story,” I said. “And Henry wrote it all down in his memoirs—the ones he wanted Bob to write for him. Over the years he filled a lot of notebooks, and we found them in Bill’s possession, along with Henry’s original will.”
“Turns out that Henry’s real name was James Martin,” said Odelia, who was writing a series of articles about the man. “And James Martin is a famous fugitive from justice, who’s been on the FBI’s Most Wanted list for fifty years now. He once hijacked a plane, and demanded a big ransom for the release of his hostages, then jumped out with a parachute and was never seen again. Only what the story didn’t say was that James had a wife and daughter. And when he didn’t make it back, his wife eventually remarried, and had more kids with her second husband. But so James Martin’s daughter is actually Annette Williams, and so Kirsten is his grandchild. He must have kept track of his family over the years, and followed them from afar.”
“But why didn’t he return to his wife?” asked Scarlett.
“Because at that point he was the most wanted man in the country. He hadn’t expected to be identified, you see, but he was. And so he quickly realized he couldn’t go home. Not if he didn’t want to be arrested. So he had to watch his wife mourn him, and then move on. And when so many years later he suddenly found himself in the position to befriend his granddaughter, he was over the moon, and figured this was a way for him to make things right again. His wife had died in the meantime, but Annette was alive, and so was Kirsten. And so he decided to write his memoirs, and hand them to her, so that she knew the whole story, and when he died he was going to leave her everything he had in his will, which was a nice tidy sum, as we all know.”
“But Kirsten will have to return the money, right?” said Gran.
“Yes, she will have to give that money back to the airline. But she’s going to get a finder’s fee, which is still a sizable sum. At least enough to pay for the wedding, and maybe a down payment on a house.”
“Wedding?” asked Gran. “Are Isaac and Kirsten…”
Scarlett nodded happily.“They are! They even sent me an invitation, and you, too, honey. They figure I was instrumental in getting them together.” Turning to Charlene, she explained, “Isaac is this young nursing assistant I took under my wing, since he was too shy to approach Kirsten, and so I gave him a nudge in the right direction.”
“I’ll bet you did,” said Charlene with a grin.
“And it worked! They’re getting married! Yay!”
“And more good news,” said Gran. “Bob moved back in with his daughter Sharon. And Sharon and Pete are back together, and they’re also getting married. So looks like our time at Happy Home wasn’t in vain after all.”
“Who said your time was in vain?” asked Chase.
“Oh, I just figured, we couldn’t stop Henry from getting killed, and we couldn’t stop Desmond from getting killed, so it feels like we failed at our jobs,” said Gran.
“No, you did not,” said Odelia. “You did well, Gran. You and Scarlett and the cats—all of you. You caught three killers, and solved more than a dozen murders. So you did very well.”
“You actually caught three of the most notorious criminals in the country,” said Uncle Alec. “So in my book you guys are heroes.”
“And you brought together a young couple,” said Marge, who loves a good romance. “And that’s also very important.”
“Oh, and Ester is moving back to New York,” said Scarlett. “To be closer to her family again. Her daughter-in-law may not like it, but her grandkids are ecstatic, and so is Ester herself. And that’s another good thing that we did.”
“Yeah, I guess so,” said Gran. “It’s important when you see people suffering that you try to do something about it, and so that’s what we did.”
“I’m still relieved that we made it out of that place alive, though,” said Harriet. “Who knew that retirement homes could be so dangerous!”
“I knew,” said Brutus. “I could have told you, but nobody ever listens to me.”
“I think we all listen to you, Brutus,” I said. “But sometimes you have to brave danger if you want to save lives and do some good.”
“I know,” said Brutus. “And so even though I would never want to go back there, I still feel proud of what we accomplished. In more ways than one.”