Free Pains and Penalties: (A Geeks and Things Cozy Mystery Novella #1) (Geeks and Things Cozy Mysteries) by Sarah Biglow Page B

gone straight home after her stop off at the fairgrounds. She hadn’t heard anything else from Chris but she wasn’t expecting to. At ten minutes to nine, she flipped the front door sign to “OPEN” and settled behind the counter, ready for an influx of teenagers and older patrons. After all, she had a host of new arrivals waiting to be distributed. She’d given AJ the day off from helping out, given everything he had gone through. He seemed grateful to just be a kid for a little while. He had plenty of time to grow up. The stillness of the shop wrapped itself around her, seeping into her thoughts, and calmed her.
    The bell sounded above the front door and jarred her out of her trance. Chris stood in the doorway, framed by morning light. He was dressed in jeans and a t-shirt. He looked exhausted. Kalina stood up and approached him.
    “Hi.”
    “Uh, hey. I hope this isn’t a bad time.”
    She made a show of looking around the shop. “Perfect time. How are you?”
    “Honestly, I’m still trying to process everything. Dan, he wrote out a confession yesterday. He’s meeting with the prosecutor to discuss a plea. Avoid trial. He’s going to do time and a lot of it.”
    “I know you looked up to him.”
    “I thought he was a good guy. Good police officer. I guess I never realized just how much darkness he was carrying around with him. I can’t imagine going through what he went through. And it kills me that I even feel sorry for him.”
    “Vigilante justice isn’t right but sometimes the system is broken and making things right gets messy.” She motioned to the stacks of comics. “Isn’t that what most of these are about?”
    “I guess you’re right.”
    “Has there been any word on Mrs. Grant?”
    “It sounds like they got her stabilized. She’s going to make it but they said she’s probably going to have some nerve damage from the arsenic.”
    “How awful.”
    “I was going to head over and let her know that we caught Dan. Would you like to come with me?”
    “Are you sure that’s appropriate?”
    “If it wasn’t for you, Kal, she’d probably be dead and the case would still be open. I couldn’t have done this without you.”
    “If you can wait a few hours I’ll close up for lunch and we can go over.”
    “Yeah, of course. I don’t know why I expected you to just drop everything. You have a business to run.”
    “I’ll see you over at the hospital at noon, okay?”
    He didn’t say anything, just pulled her into a tight hug. She held on tight too. She hadn’t been imagining the way they were falling back into each other’s orbits. Maybe there was something there to rekindle.
    She let that thought buoy her through the morning. By noon she was ready to get out of the shop. She hung up the lunch sign and locked the front door. Chris waited for her just outside the shop. The hospital was at the other end of town from the waterfront. It afforded easier access in case of accidents on the highway. They checked in at the front desk and were escorted to the ICU. Mrs. Grant lay in bed, her skin ashen and her eyes half-closed. But she was most definitely alive.
    “Mrs. Grant? It’s Kalina Greystone. I wanted to see how you were doing,” Kalina said and took a seat at the woman’s bedside.
    Mrs. Grant roused herself and turned to face her. “You told him, didn’t you?”
    “I had to. But we know you didn’t do anything to Cynthia or Agatha. We caught the person responsible. He’s going to jail for a very long time.”
    “Who?” She coughed. “Who was it?”
    “Daniel Cahill. He was Samuel Gordon’s son.”
    Silent tears streamed down Mrs. Grant’s sunken cheeks. “I should have known.” She looked directly at Chris. “We were going to come forward and admit what we did. We talked about it. I’m sorry I wasn’t truthful with you before.”
    “Do you know who really killed Alice Beech?”
    Mrs. Grant’s eyes suddenly shown with tears. “Yes. There was a car speeding away that