All Roads Lead Home (Bellingwood) (38 page)

"Anyway, another friend opened it up and found
the file. Then, Lydia also remembered you said you had emailed yourself numbers
from Joey's phone, so this other friend opened your email.

"When they scanned through it, they saw my name
and read the email I had sent about Joey. Then, Lydia remembered you mentioned
something about some Italian boys and put that together with my last name.

"They found my phone number and called me and
told me
what they thought had happened,
so
I
called Jon and Ray, who called their chief of police
friend. He contacted Aaron and they began setting it up.

"Polly, we've been watching every flight from the
Midwest come into Logan today. I was so afraid we had missed you or that he
would stay somewhere tonight and not come in until tomorrow or there could have
been a million other things he might have done, but I counted on him being dumb
and predictable and showing up here as fast as possible.

"When I saw you get off the plane, I didn't want
you to react, because I guess that anything that happens inside the terminal
would be handled by the FBI, not that they aren't going to be involved anyway. We
had to get him out of the terminal and onto the street so that Boston PD could
manage him. I'm not sure anyone planned for Jon to drop him right there, but my
brothers didn't want you to get hurt, so they took care of it the best way they
knew.

"And girlfriend, you had a little anger in you
when you kicked in him the balls."

Polly finished her wine and smiled.
"Yeah.
He had that one coming."

Drea went back out to the kitchen and brought the
bottle back with her. She poured some more wine into Polly's glass and got
comfortable again.

"They found your truck in Omaha," Drea
continued.

"Oh!
” Polly
said, “
I need to call Aaron back. There's
a gun in the glove compartment of
an
SUV in the Kansas City long-term parking. Here, just
a second. I've got the ticket. Can I borrow your phone again?" Polly set
her glass down and drew the ticket out of her back pocket. "I don't know
why I took this with me and didn't give it to Joey, but they need to
have
that. It
will be more evidence against him."

Drea said, "I doubt they can get anything done
tonight," but handed her phone to Polly.

Polly dialed Lydia again, "Hi Lydia."

"Polly, is everything alright?" Lydia's
voice sounded concerned.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Yes. I'm fine. Is Aaron there?"

"Sure, just a moment, dear."

It took a minute and Polly could still hear noises in
the background, then Aaron’s voice came through.
"Hello Polly," he said.

"Hi Aaron.
Say…
" she
started.

He interrupted.
"I'm
glad you're safe, Polly. You had us all worried sick."

"I'm sorry, Aaron. I tried to find ways to let
you know where I was, but I couldn't."

"Oh, Polly.
I didn't mean that. I'm just glad you're alright. What
can I do for you?"

"I have a ticket for a green
SUV in the Kansas City airport long-term parking
. It's the car Joey bought from the lot in Omaha. There's
a gun in the glove compartment. That's how he got me out of there."

"You know what
?
That's terrific. Tomorrow morning, when you go to the police station with the
Renaldi boys, give it to the detective in charge and we'll get our hands on it
right away. Good thinking, Polly."

"Thank you, Aaron. I'm sorry.
I suppose it was silly of me to call you again
tonight."

"No way, Polly.
Not silly at all. But, you go ahead and trust those
friends of yours and their police force. We've got you covered on this.
Oh, and Polly?"

"Yes, Aaron?" she responded.

"I have your laptop. We're going to pull that
recording off that you made. Is that alright? We're awfully lucky you stowed
that away instead of taking it back upstairs to your room. I don't know how
else we would have found you today."

Polly gave a weak laugh. "I guess sometimes lazy
works out for the best, doesn't
it!
"

"Now, you relax for the night and tomorrow will
be a better day. Come home soon to us, Polly."

It was all she could do not to start sobbing on the
phone again, but she sucked back her tears and said,
"Alright, Aaron, I will. Thank you."

Polly handed the phone back to Drea. "Well, that
was stupid. I didn't need to bother him."

Drea rolled her eyes, "Stop it. It wasn't stupid.
He's the person you know and he's in communication with the police out here. It's
fine."

Polly shook her head. "Just yesterday I was
whining at all of them about how they couldn't leave me alone and let me be the
adult that I was. My 32-year old self was getting a little tired of them being
so protective. And now I don't feel like I can make a single decision without
consulting someone."

"You'll be fine," Drea said. "You need
a couple of days to get over the
stress
of everything
."

"No kidding on the
stress
. Drea, you can't believe
how bat-shit crazy that family is! How did I never see it?"

"None of us can really figure that out,
girlfriend." Drea retorted.

"Do you know I called his mother yesterday and
she sounded like a total
headcase
,
too?" Polly said. "I was so floored when I
got off the phone with her I didn't know what to think. She thought it was
completely appropriate for her son to stalk me and she kept talking about what
a great wife I'd make for him. Why are these people not locked up somewhere
far, far away?"

"You're starting to feel better, aren't you?"
Drea laughed.

"It might be the wine," Polly said, taking
down the last of her second glass. She wiggled it in front of Drea, who filled
it again. "This is probably going to hurt in the morning, isn't it?"

"The boys are coming over about 9:30 to take you
down to the police station. I
've canceled
my class tomorrow, so I will be around all day to help you get things sorted
out.”

Polly snuggled deeper into the couch.

"I am starting to feel a lot better," she
murmured and shut her eyes.

"Polly? Are you about to fall asleep?"

"Nope.
This has been a
wild
day and my
adrenaline is still running high, isn't it?"

"
I don’t
think so,” Drea remarked. “
Let’s get you
into bed."

"Don't make me move,” Polly whined. “
I don't want to move again. I'm fine right here. That way
you won't have to change your sheets when I leave."

"I made the bed up for you, my friend, and you
are going to sleep in it, not here on this couch. Get up!" Drea took the
wine glass away and set it on the table in front of them.

"Polly, you have to help me," Drea said when
she tried to pull Polly up out of the couch. "I am not big enough to throw
you over my shoulder."

"Ray is," Polly giggled. "He could
throw us both over his shoulder and then probably run a marathon."

"Too much wine and not enough
food.
Let's go, Polly. Stand up
straight."

Polly stood straight up and then began to lean. She
caught herself by placing her hand on the arm of the sofa. "You're right.
Too much wine.
Let's
take me to bed."

She snickered. "If I said that to Ray, it would
mean something different entirely. Why didn't I ever say that to Ray?" she
asked.

"Because you're my friend and I would have had to
kill him. It's much better this way. L
ove
him from afar, girlfriend."
Drea
wrapped her right arm around Polly's waist and guided her down the hall toward
the bedroom.

"Wait!" Polly exclaimed.

"What
now?
"

"I need to pee. He didn't let me pee but once
today and I think I'd better pee."

Drea giggled, "Of course you do. It's right here.
Go on in and I'll be here waiting when you're finished."

"Drea?"

"Yes, Polly."

"I love you, thank you for helping me today."

"I love you too, sweetie. Now, go pee."

Polly went into the bathroom and shut the door. Drea
waited a few moments and realized this might be taking too long, so she opened
the door and peeked in. Polly was still sitting on the toilet
with her pants down around her ankles, and
her head resting on the counter, gazing off into
space.

"Polly, are you
finished
?"

"Sure! OH! I was supposed to come back out,
wasn't I! But, the seat is so comfortable."

"Let's get you into bed and you can tell me
tomorrow morning how comfortable my toilet seat is."

Polly giggled again. "
Wow, that wine went to my head,
didn't it!"

"Yes it did. I'd forgotten what a nut you were
when you’ve had too much to drink. Let's go."

Polly stood straight up again and reached down to pull
up her pants, then decided against it and walked out of them. "I'm
just
going to
have to take them off in the bedroom in a few minutes. I'll save a step." She
bent over and held on to the counter. "Oh look," she said, "I
had my purple underwear on. Doug would be so proud. Maybe that's what saved me
today." She picked up one leg, then the other and slipped those back on
and left her jeans on the floor of the bathroom.

Drea helped her get into the bedroom and pulled the
covers back, then watched as Polly crawled in between them.

"I'm in someone else's bed again.
” Polly said, “
I
can't wait until I can sleep in my own bed every night, but this is nice."

For a moment, lucidity seemed to return to Polly's
eyes.

"Drea.
I'm sorry I'm so out of it, but thank you for
everything. You saved my life today."

"Polly, I love you. You're my best friend, even
if you live clear on the other side of the Mississippi River. I'd do anything
for you. Now, go to sleep and tomorrow will be a new day."

One more uncomfortable plane ride and she’d be home.
Finally
Polly
chose to close her eyes
, even if she couldn’t sleep,
and
try to ignore the rest of the world. The week had been exhausting and she was
glad to be on her way home. That seemed funny, considering that for the last
nine years she had considered Boston her home. She'd had lunch with both Sal
and Bunny and everyone was able to catch up on their worlds, but s
he missed her
new
friends
, her own bed
and
even
the
craziness of construction.

Yesterday had been fascinating. Polly had gone to the
Library to talk to her old boss and deal with a stupid little girl who seemed
to have no brains. At the end of the conversation with her boss, Margaret, that
stupid little girl no longer had a job. It had been one thing to help Joey
stalk Polly through online searches, but breaking into Margaret's office to get
a phone number from a personnel file was more than she could justify.
Polly knew she was only young
and gullible and Joey
was smooth and could talk anyone into anything, but that was no excuse
and the girl needed to figure out what real life looked like before she damaged
someone else's life. Margaret felt awful for all Polly had gone through, but
she assured Polly that she finally looked happy and healthy and wished her the
best. Polly spent time talking to her friends who worked at the library and
left feeling as if she was heading for a new life, not leaving her old life.