this new marriage, with both of them talking and trying together? She thought maybe these would be the best years of all.
chapter thirty-four
Frail and a little unsteady, Alice still looked so much better than she had a week ago that the women broke into applause when she walked proudly to Wanda’s car. Since her release from the hospital four days ago, she had been using a cane Janya bought at a garage sale and painted in pastel swirls. All the women had signed it with get-well messages in silver and gold, and Alice claimed that even when she didn’t need the cane anymore, she planned to use it occasionally, just because it made her feel so good.
“Nana, you sit up front,” Olivia said, holding out her hand to help her grandmother into the car.
“Like…a queen.”
“Queen Alice,” Wanda said. “Queen of Happiness Key.”
Olivia made sure her grandmother was comfortably tucked in; then she got in the back with Tracy and Janya. Tracy swung her legs to the side so Olivia could crawl over her and sit between them. She knew Olivia felt most secure being sandwiched between her friends.
“The new earrings really are so beautiful,” Janya told the girl. “They suit you perfectly.”
Olivia smiled shyly. Last week, with Alice’s permission, Tracy and Olivia had made a trip to a local jeweler, where Olivia had picked out sapphire chip studs to match her pretty blue eyes. She held Tracy’s hand when the man pierced her ears, but Tracy figured that after everything else, Olivia had found the pain a minor inconvenience. They would be almost healed by the time school started next week.
“Now you’re sure you feel up to this?” Wanda asked Alice before she started the car.
“Ready and willing.”
Properly medicated, well-fed and hydrated, Alice had regained much of the strength and mental clarity she had lost in the weeks before Lee’s arrest. She had also regained some of her funds. A forensic accountant who worked with the police department had discovered an extensive paper trail leading to accounts Lee had set up for himself, guaranteeing prosecution on those charges. Although some of Alice’s money would never be recovered, it looked as if her final years might be comfortable enough.
Wanda pulled away from the cottage. While Alice had been in the hospital, the neighbors had scrubbed every inch of her house, repainted, and rescreened all the windows and doors, hoping to remove some of the unhappy memories of the past weeks. The aquarium was pristine once again, and they had added several fish, including the prettiest angelfish Olivia could find. The bedroom Lee had used now belonged to his daughter, who had helped Yash paint it turquoise. Tracy had found curtains of just the right pink, and a fluffy pink rug, and two days ago they had added a pine bookcase, and a matching canopy bed and dresser, more garage sale finds of Janya’s. There were no traces of Lee in the house now, except in Olivia and Alice’s worst memories.
“Well, our reservation’s not until seven,” Wanda said. “No early bird for us tonight. We’re celebrating Alice’s return, and I recommend the grouper to all you meat eaters. Nobody cooks grouper better. Our cook said he’ll do a special vegetarian lasagna for Janya.”
“Why so late?” Tracy asked. “That’s an hour away.”
“We’re going to scout out Allamanda Street. According to Gloria Madsen, that’s where Clyde was living right before he turned himself into Herb.”
Tracy leaned forward, intrigued. “Wait a minute. I thought you couldn’t find a street with that name. Didn’t you look it up after you talked to her?”
“I did. But I said something to Kenny about it last night, and he said Gloria’s memory might be fine. Seems the city regularly changes the names of streets, and I should look it up in an old directory instead of a new one.”
“This being married to a cop’s a good thing.”
“In more ways than you know. Anyway, I called city hall. Turns out back in the sixties, somebody got it into his head to change all the streets over by the bird sanctuary to bird names. Big stink when they did it, too. Allamanda Street is now Pelican Way.”
Tracy knew the area. She’d actually been to the sanctuary with Marsh and Bay to see a bald eagle’s nest. Even harder to admit, she’d enjoyed herself.
“They built a lot of condo complexes in that area,” she warned. “Wild Florida forced the developers to donate an extra hundred yards of property rimming the sanctuary before