Free Iris Avenue by Pamela Grandstaff Page A

door. He locked the door, hefted the trash bags and flung them in the dumpster in the alley behind the bar. He walked with Mandy down Iris Avenue, and stood outside Ed’s house with her. She seemed reluctant to go inside.
    “If this isn’t working out,” Patrick told her, “you say the word and I’ll have you moved back in your trailer in no time.”
    “I thought you liked living there,” she said.
    “Oh, I’m not moving out,” Patrick said. “I’ll just make room for you and Tommy.”
    “No thanks,” Mandy said. “I told you, don’t worry ‘bout it. I can take care of myself.”
    “I mean it,” Patrick said as she walked down the path to the front door. “Just say the word. I won’t even beat him up if you don’t want me to.”
    Mandy shook her head and then waved as she let herself in the door. Ed was sound asleep on the recliner in front of the television. He woke as she turned off the TV.
    “Hey,” she said.
    “I waited up,” he said.
    “I’m beat,” she said. “Do you mind if we leave it until tomorrow?”
    “Let’s leave it altogether,” Ed said. “I was just jealous when I saw you and Patrick. You have a right to your privacy and your own friends.”
    He stood up and wrapped her in a bear hug, then kissed the top of her head.
    “I don’t have to know everything,” he said. “But if I can help in any way, I hope you’ll let me know.”
    Mandy said, “Okay.”
    Later, after Ed was sound asleep in bed, Mandy went into the bathroom and looked at the letter again. When Margie confronted her with the Melissa Wright letters and this one, she’d felt like a cornered criminal, desperate to keep her secret safe.
    All Margie demanded was that Mandy pretend to be her friend in return for her silence. Mandy put her off for a long time, until finally Margie threatened to reveal what she suspected. When Margie disappeared after mailing several poison pen letters, Mandy was worried. When Hannah found Margie’s body in a snowdrift at the Winter Festival, Mandy was ashamed at how relieved she felt.
    Later, lying in bed beside a snoring Ed, Mandy stared at the ceiling and let the tears roll down onto the pillow beneath her head. The old feelings of desperation and despair returned and she wondered what she could do. The problem was she’d been Miranda for so long she’d almost forgotten what it was like to be Melissa. Lying in the dark, crying softly to herself, she remembered.
     
     
    When Scott knocked on Ian Fitzpatrick’s front door, the recently retired police chief answered right away. Scott knew that Ian was a night owl, and through the window he’d seen the flickering blue glow of the television in their living room.
    “Come in, come in,” Ian said. “It’s good to see you, son.”
    Scott entered the modest house Ian shared with his wife Delia and followed his former boss to the kitchen. Ian filled the tea kettle and turned on the gas ring.
    “Sorry to come by so late,” Scott said. “I’m in a tough spot and I need to talk it through. I hope you don’t mind.”
    Ian put two mugs on the table and dropped a tea bag in each. He sat down across from Scott and took the lid off the sugar bowl.
    “I’m always glad to help you, Scott,” he said. “What’s on your mind?”
    “While going through the mail Margie stole I found out something about Mandy, something serious enough that Margie was blackmailing her over it.”
    “Is this about Melissa Wright?” Ian asked.
    Scott sat back in surprise as the kettle began to whistle. Ian got up, turned off the gas ring, and poured hot water into each mug.
    “You know about that?”
    Ian sat back down and put several teaspoons of sugar in his mug.
    “Do you really think I’d let some stranger come into my house, sleep under my roof, and break bread at my table if I hadn’t thoroughly checked her out beforehand? Her story was flimsy and she was obviously scared of something or somebody. I got in touch with the Pinellas County