I wasn’t quite finished with the story I was telling by the time 2025 ended and so decided to continue it until it reached an ending point. Then I will start a new one. Besides, I kind of want to see where Penelope ends up. And so we have…
Day 192: Penelope frowned.
Penelope frowned. “So getting back the charm will mean his life goes back to the way it was?”
“More or less,” Michaelson said. “He feels that if he can give it back to them all will be forgiven. His luck will change and he will no longer be ostracized by his former friends. Unfortunately it won’t work.”
“Because you don’t believe the charm can change his luck?” Penelope thought of the spent luck charm currently hanging on a chain around her own neck and tried not to smile.
“Gamblers always believe something will change their luck,” Michaelson said with a shrug. “I’ve seen people put their faith in a shirt or a pair of shoes, even a very specific routine they had to follow before they bet on anything. It seems to be a common thread. I meant it wouldn’t help with his friends.”
“Because after twenty years of so they aren’t going to welcome him back?”
“He mentioned something about missing a deadline.”
he explained. “I think the charm was created for a specific thing and the time when that thing mattered has passed. At least that is what I gathered. He is very much fixated on getting the charm to get his life back. After he lost it he tried to get it back from Jerome. While someone else is taking charge of interviewing Sinclair I listened long enough to know that his attempt to get it from Jerome resulted in Jerome’s accidental death.”
“Accidental?”
“Maybe arranged accident, they are exhuming the body and looking for more evidence,” Michaelson admitted. “With Jerome dead, Sinclair searched but couldn’t find the charm. He assumed it was passed to your mother as they had been together when Jerome won it even though she left him before he died.”
“Then Peter Sinclair went after my mother,” Penelope said. “So her death wasn’t an accident.”
“It was not and even if they can’t find anything concrete with Jerome, her death and his attempts on you will put him away. He will be less of a concern since he is not going to be released.”
“That’s good to know,” Penelope said. “Now I just have to worry about the neighbors and what they have planned.”
“Which is where I am going when I leave. I was planning to update you on Sinclair and ask if you had any specific seeds or plants you wanted to work with before going to pick them up, but I think now I will be joining the others in the interview.”
“More important than seeds at the moment,” Penelope agreed.
“Good, then make a list and I will keep you posted.”
Penelope nodded. She felt the pain radiating from her arm. “I will be out of commission most of the day,” she told him. “I will be pretty useless once I take the pain pill.”
“Then take it, rest and I will update you tomorrow,” he told her.
That does sound sensible,” she said. She walked with him back downstairs and let him out the front door. When he was outside, she closed and locked the door. She not only locked the main lock but added the deadbolt and chain as well.
Penelope went upstairs and went straight to her kitchen counter. She ignored the pain in her arm and shifted the books pressing the paper flat. The paper still had a curl to the edges but it was easier to read now.
Ten til Midnight 