Monday, September 5, 2011

Handful of Sand Chapter 42 Page 3

Sandy put on her hat and walked over to the edge of the parking area, where she sat on a bench. From there, she had a closer look at the park behind her. There were a few young women reading their books under a tree. There was a mother taking a group of children for a walk. There was a couple walking their canine friends.

Everyone was out to enjoy the fine weather.

That park was where it had all started, where Sandy had heard her fortune. Well, the fortune teller's tent had been deeper in the park but she was in the general area. Her fortune card was no longer with her - she had left it behind on that rainy night when she had run from the police safe house. Hopefully she would get it back after it was all over. The card deserved to be framed for accompanying her through most of her journey, one that would end soon, with lots of money!

Then Sandy noticed a brown sedan enter the parking lot. It stopped a short distance from her. Out of the passenger side of the vehicle stepped Detective Brunel with his familiar fauxhawk hairstyle.

The detective stepped up to the teenager. "Hi, Ms Gould," he greeted.

Sandy smiled at him. "Hi, Detective."

Detective Brunel glanced around. "She's gone?"

"Yeah, Selina's gone."

"I've got a million questions for that girl." The detective sighed. He gestured an invitation towards the car. "Let's go."

Detective Brunel sat in the front passenger seat while Meir, his bald partner was the driver. Sandy took off her hat and entered the back.

"We'll drive you home," Detective Brunel looked back to tell Sandy, "I hope you'll come by the station tomorrow to answer some questions."

In the back seat of the car, Sandy asked, "Did you get whoever wants me dead?"

"We're getting there," Detective Meir at the wheel replied evasively, "We've an idea who it is."

Sandy sighed. "I'm just glad that Selina was there to keep me safe. I wonder who hired her."

Detective Brunel answered her, "We believe that she's part of a team hired to safeguard the heiress. The whole affair's a mess. Someone wants the money and is willing to kill for it. Someone else doesn't want this someone to get the money. Someone thinks that the heiress should get all the money." He sighed. "Don't worry about it."

"But I'm the heiress, right?" Sandy asked.

"What do you mean?" Detective Brunel asked back.

"I'm the one who'll inherit all the money, right?" Sandy asked again.

Both detectives glanced at each other. "She didn't tell you?" Detective Brunel asked.

"Who didn't tell me?" Sandy asked, confused.

"She's a crafty one," Detective Meir muttered.

Detective Brunel looked back at the teenager. "Look, Ms Gould... Sandy, you're not the heiress. There's no money for you."

Sandy sat up. "What!? Why?" Anxiety grew within her.

"You were never in the will, you're not one of the beneficiaries."

Sandy stared at the detective. "This can't be."

"The meeting to read the will and distribute the estate of Oscar Killington had been concluded this morning," Detective Brunel informed her.

"Shouldn't I have been there!?" Sandy was in a panic.

Detective Brunel shook his head slowly. "Sandy, you were never one of the beneficiaries," he repeated, "The real heiress was there and she inherited all the wealth that was stipulated to her in the will."

Sandy remained silent for the rest of the trip. There had never been any money for her? Had her fortune been a lie? Then why had Selina protected her the past few days, the past few months? What had Selina's role been in all that?

The car pulled up in front of the Sunshine Girls Home.

The teenage girl quietly got out of the car. Belatedly, she remembered to take her hat with her. She saw that Momma Lois and Celeste had stepped out of the house and were waiting for her.

When Sandy had been locked in that basement, in that filthy room so many months ago, she had not cried. When her best friend had tried to kill her, she had not cried. When she had been alone in the woods with an assassin, when her life had been in danger, she had not either. She had survived kidnappings and murder attempts and each time, she had not cried.

It was because she had believed in her fortune. She had looked forward to the time when she would inherit her great wealth. All her trials and tribulations had paled in comparison to the reward that she would receive.

But then she had discovered that her promised wealth had been an illusion. The goal that she had reached for had never existed.

Sandy ran into Momma Lois's arms and cried.

***

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