One Book in the Grave: A Bibliophile Mystery

stalked by bloodletting survivalists and Minka LaBoeuf?
     

Chapter 28
     
    Two weeks later, my living room was cleansed and purified of all lingering dead-body vibes and their associated cooties. My bookshelves arrived and we assembled them during a party that I’d actually planned. We all had much more fun than at the previous impromptu gathering, the one ruined by that party-crashing zombie Angelica.
    Mom reported that the dust had finally settled in Dharma and the survivalists had crawled back into their Hollow. Of course, the whole town would be dining on the gossip stirred up by Solomon and the Byers sisters for the next two years.
     
    Emily had recovered fully from her kidnapping ordeal. She and Max had traveled back and forth to the Cleveland Clinic, where her father was responding positively to the latest round of drug therapy. Emily was hopeful that he would be able to come home in the next month or so, in time for the wedding.
     
    Crystal and Melody Byers were in jail. And if there was a God in heaven, the sisters would be wearing matching orange jumpsuits for a long, long time.
     
    At the farmers’ market in Dharma, all the local Ogunites were out in force, collecting money for the Byers Sisters Defense Fund. All of them, that was, except Mary Ellen Prescott, the manicurist who was only nowproclaiming loudly that she always suspected that the sisters had murderous intentions.
     
    Solomon had been held for questioning in Joe Taylor’s murder, but a clue emerged that proved Angelica had been there on the day Joe was killed. Two of her long, curly hairs were found, one trapped in the screen door leading to the alley behind the store, and one on the back of the blue chair in the antiquarian room.
     
    Solomon and his lawyer did everything they could to blame Angelica in the harassment and attempted-murder charges Max had pressed. The he said/she said strategy appeared to be working, and Solomon was eventually released.
     
    I was no longer certain that Solomon was a psychopath, but he was a ruthless bully and a manipulator. The one bright light was that Inspector Lee had taken such an instant dislike to Solomon that she was determined to work like a bloodhound tracking down enough evidence to send him to prison. Several weeks later, Lee’s efforts came to fruition when she found an eyewitness who had seen Solomon rigging Max’s staircase a few hours before Emily’s mother arrived and was hurt so badly. With any luck, more witnesses would be found and Solomon would end up spending a few years behind bars after all.
     
    It was a sunny Saturday afternoon when Derek and I traveled back to Dharma for the official reengagement party for Max and Emily.
    I’d invited everyone who had anything to do with the odd adventure we’d been through recently. Gabriel, Ian, all my neighbors. Even Mary Ellen Prescott, but only because she’d seen right through the Byers sisters’ perky-blond facade.
     
    The party was held on my parents’ terrace and even Guru Bob was in attendance. We’d had a little talk beforehand that had left me with more questions than answers. But I would think about that later. Now it was time to party. The champagne was flowing and Savannah had catered the affair, so the food was spectacular.
     
    I left Derek talking with Dad and Austin, and went to find Emily. She looked adorable in a pink dress with striped white and green piping around the waist, neck, and cuffs.
     
    After we greeted each other with a tight hug, I said, “Emily, you look so beautiful.”
     
    “Thanks.” She blushed and moved closer to whisper, “Your mother suggested a quick trip to the Laughing Goat sweat lodge and I think it worked wonders.”
     
    I tried not to roll my eyes as I backed away to scrutinize her more intently. “Mom swears by their fifteen-point detoxification program, and I have to admit it’s definitely working for you.”
     
    I didn’t care how refreshed Emily appeared; I wasn’t about to slather myself in curried ghee and huddle inside a sweat lodge for a week. Mom swore by a lot of things I wouldn’t dream of taking her up on, including cosmic bilocation, espresso enemas, and gandoosha. Don’t ask.
     
    I was all for a healthy complexion, but I was just as happy to leave the purging and gargling to Mom.
     
    Emily told me she’d already found a new job teaching second graders in Marin County. She would start after the winter break, when she would move into Max’s farmhouse in