Hidden in the Blood: A Novel of the Terribly Acronymed Detective Club (Book 5)

Chapter Sixty-Six: One Month Later, Sunny, Friday

Sunny visited the house in Queensborough on the day probate cleared and Agnes was given full legal ownership. She'd already been living there since the aftermath of that deadly evening (two men shot dead, one seriously injured and Joanie nearly killed) was cleaned up, but Sunny was bringing her the last paperwork to sign to make it official.

"It actually takes a professional crime scene cleaner to do the job," Agnes remarked as she sat him down and made tea. "They call it biohazard remediation, because if it's not done properly it can be dangerous to anyone exposed to it. There wasn't only blood, which can carry diseases like HIV, that had to be cleaned,  but there were other... um... tissues that had to come out of the carpet, the hardwood floor and the drywall. Bullet holes needed to be spackled over and repainted." She shook her head in wonder. "I'm glad I didn't have to do it, but I was the one who had to pay for it, can you believe it?"

Sunny shrugged awkwardly. "I couldn't say with authority, but I think, since the police weren't actually responsible for any of the violence that evening, since they only showed up after it was all over to make arrests and arrange medical intervention, I don't think they're actually liable for any of the clean up costs. You did give Joanie your key to stay there that weekend."

"And boy, do I regret it," she grumbled.

"You can pass the bill to her if you like."

She sighed and shook her head. "No. She's been through enough. And anyway, she was almost certainly responsible for the death of one and the arrest of another of the men who killed Patrick, so cleaning up after her is the least I can do."

"Are you all right for money? Is that the issue?" he asked.

"Well, I have the money left over from the sale of the Kelowna house after this house was purchased, plus whatever was in our joint bank account. There's the life insurance payout from Patrick's death, plus my children and I receive a survivor benefit from his pension plan; he never removed me as the beneficiary. Plus, I finally got a full-time position at the library, so I'm making a steady income now, and I can pay for your services handling my divorce."

He waved that off. "Like I said, you don't owe me a thing for my time, and you'll only get an invoice for administration fees for filing documents, which I can't control. Congratulations on getting full-time work, though. That must be a relief."

She nodded. "It's at the Champlain Heights branch, which is actually the closest to us here. After dropping the kids off at Queen Elizabeth Elementary, I just take the Queensborough Bridge across, then connect with Marine Way in Burnaby, then go up Kerr Street just past the Vancouver border, and I'm there. A twenty minute drive on a good day."

Sunny smiled. "So, Patrick and Melissa are going to Queen Elizabeth. You know that's where we all went, Al, Rachel, Joe and I, and Lauren in Grade Seven. Except we didn't go to that Queen Elizabeth; the building we went to was on Ewen Avenue and it burned down years ago."

"Yes, I think Al told me that once; you all lived on Lawrence Street, not far down the road from here."

"That's right. So, you're settling in, then. This is your home, now."

She smiled and nodded. "And my parents are as close as I want them to be, which is also a twenty minute drive away. I'm out of their house, and I'm out of Al and Rachel's townhouse; as generous as they were to offer it, and as much as I enjoyed Joanie's company while we were there, I'm happy to have a place of our own again, and I'm sure Al and Rachel are relieved to be finally moving into their own home again."

Sunny was sure that was mostly true, but maybe not entirely. Living together had provided a network of child care and school carpools that would unravel now that they were two households again, and Emma and Naomi were going to miss sharing a room. One advantage of being in their own place, though, was that Al and Rachel, Emma and Logan had their own rooms, now, and that all spaces were legal and to code, unlike the rooms in Joe and Lauren's basement. The move was easy, too, as most of the furniture was already there from when Agnes and her family were living there.