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"But your mother will have you to help her get through it."
"She will. I'm just afraid of how difficult that path will be. Anyway…" She picked up the knife and finished slicing the tomatoes. Then she put a skillet on the stove to cook the steaks. It felt good to be back in the kitchen. This was her world, where she was comfortable, confident, and happy.
As Savannah excused herself to take a call, she cooked the steaks, hoping Flynn would make it home soon.
It felt both right and wrong to think of Flynn's townhouse as home. It was his home, not hers. And tomorrow their lives would go back to their individual realities. She would have to deal with her mom, return to work, figure out how they were going to bury Arthur, and Flynn would probably be wrapping up the case against Marcus and getting involved in whatever he was going to do next.
Frowning, she decided not to think about all that now. She wanted to just appreciate the fact that she was alive and safe, and that Arthur's horrible, tragic murder had been solved.
She'd just slid the steaks onto a platter to rest when she heard the garage door open, and a minute later, Flynn walked into the room.
Her heart soared with giddy excitement, and she found herself running into his embrace. She threw her arms around his neck as they kissed. She didn't want to let him go. Maybe tomorrow she would have to, but that was tomorrow.
Savannah's deliberate throat clearing finally broke them apart.
She gave Savannah an embarrassed smile. "Sorry."
"Please don't apologize," Savannah said, smiling at Flynn. "Everything okay?"
"It will be. Thanks for staying with Callie."
"No problem. I have her statement, and I will write it up tomorrow. It sounds like you had quite a day, Flynn."
"You could say that. By the way, it smells really good in here."
"That's because Callie has been cooking," Savannah said.
"I made dinner for all of us. It's actually ready."
"Good. I'm starving," he replied.
"Actually, I'm not going to stay," Savannah said.
"But you said you were hungry," she protested.
"You don't have to run," Flynn put in.
"I think the two of you need time together, and I have some of my own personal business to attend to. I'll talk to you tomorrow." Savannah smiled at Callie. "It was nice getting to know you better. I'm really glad you're all right."
"Thanks." As Savannah left the kitchen, she turned to Flynn. "Are you ready to eat?"
"In a second. How are you doing?"
"I'm fine. But I'm curious as to what's been happening. Is Marcus going to live?"
"He had surgery on his leg. His kneecap was shattered. But he will survive, and he will go to prison. He didn't do much talking on the way to the hospital, but there will be many more interviews to come."
"I told Savannah everything that I heard Marcus and Victoria say to each other, but there are still some blanks, like who adopted Marcus, how did he find out Victoria was his mother, and what was he really doing with Arthur? She implied that he was a fraud and that Arthur found out, but I didn't understand exactly what that meant."
"She told me that Marcus copied someone else's work, that he never had an original idea. He couldn't even kill someone in his own way. He had to use her method of murder."
"She was crazy. I could hear it in her voice. I could see it in her eyes. But she hid it so well for so long, maybe her whole life. My mother thought she was a great person, not that she's necessarily the best judge of character. But look how far Victoria rose in the art world. She was running one of the biggest museums in the world. She held the career of artists in her hands with her connections to gallery owners and art dealers. She had a lot of power."
"I think that's what it was about for her. She wanted power even more than money. But the money allowed her to do what she wanted. And anyone who got in her way went down."
"I never thought I would say this about anyone, but I am so glad she's dead. She was pure evil. I just hope Marcus never goes free, because I think he might be the same."
"Only not nearly as good at getting away with anything. We might not have ever caught her if it hadn't been for his bumbling mistakes and copycat crime." He took a breath. "Did you talk to your mom yet?"