A Pleasant Story
Chapter Nineteen
Aftermath


Kaylie went back home to drop off the cow and showed it to Carla and asked her about the one on their counter.

"Did you put it there?" Kaylie asked her.

Carla shook her head.







"I didn't either," Kaylie continued, "So where did it come from? And then we find one at Brandi's? And yesterday I noticed one at my law office."

Kaylie set the new cow down on the counter next to the old one.

“They look identical,” she said.

Carla looked thoughtful. "That's really odd. Why don't you take one to the police station on your way to work? I'm not working today, but Carl's there. Maybe he knows something about them."





Kaylie agreed.







As she approached the door to the station, she saw Carl just standing still, doing nothing.






She entered and explained to him about the cows she'd found.

Carl didn’t seem to hear her.







He was acting oddly--swaying back and forth and sort of humming to himself.

"Carl?" she said, "Did you hear me? These cows are turning up all over town, and now Brandi's been murdered. Can you check this out, please?"

Carl continued to sway back and forth.


"Carl!" she shouted. "Are you all right? I need you to check out this cow and figure out what it is!"

He shook himself and seemed to notice her for the first time.

"Oh!" He said. "Hey Kaylie. Yeah, I'll check out the cow."








He took the cow from her and went back to his swaying, not seeming interested in the cow at all.







Kaylie suddenly noticed that there was a cow on the filing cabinet.

"Something is very strange here," she thought.





She snapped her fingers to get Carl's attention. "Carl, I want to talk to Daniel. Carla told me there was a cow in the loot he had buried."

"Sure!" He said. "Go right on back!"







Kaylie noticed another cow in the hallway leading to Daniel's cell, but ignored it for the moment.





When she got to his cell, Kaylie explained who she was and told Daniel of Brandi's murder.

He acted sad about it, but not surprised.

"So Daniel," she said, "I need to know whatever you can tell me about the things you had buried that Kaylynn found. Where did you get them? Who gave them to you?"

Daniel shook his head. "I don’t know anything. I'm sorry about Brandi, but I really don’t know ANYTHING about what happened."







Kaylie tried to persuade him, but he was immovable. She would have stayed longer, but had to get to work. On her way out of the jail, she grabbed the cow from the hallway and hid it in her inventory. She'd compare it later to the one left in her house.

















Dina Caliente put the phone down and screamed. She looked around her house in panic. Suddenly she just began to run. Out the door and down the street, until she was breathless. She stopped and looked around. Where was she going? The news of Brandi's death had stabbed her in the heart.

Suddenly she thought, "Mortimer!" and ran toward his house.







She pounded on the door and he answered quickly.

With one look at her, he knew something was amiss and asked in a caring voice, "What's wrong, honey?"

"Brandi," she gasped. "She's gone. I mean, she's dead. Murdered."





Mortimer hugged her, then led her inside to sit down and asked about the details. She told him what Carla had told her in her phone call.

"This is unbelievable," he said. "I didn't know her well, but I knew she was your good friend and she seemed like a sweet person."






"Mortimer," she asked, "Do you think we could host a memorial here? The kids are staying at Carla's but their place is really small."

"Of course," he told her, and took her in his arms to comfort her.






As she dried her tears, Mortimer said, “Oh dear. I forgot. We were supposed to have a party for Alexander's birthday today and we've already invited a few friends. Will you stay and celebrate with us? It's okay if you don't feel up to it. I think we’ll tone it down, under the circumstances."

Dina nodded. Anything to keep her mind off Brandi's death!

Mortimer shook his head. "I just can't believe this could happen in Pleasantview!"



When Alexander got home from school, they discovered that he already knew about Brandi. He'd brought Anthony Spitzig with him, and he had told Alexander about the new boys living at his house and why they were there.





Mortimer hugged him tightly and said, "I'm so sorry this had to happen, especially today. Are you okay? How's my birthday boy?"

"I'm sad for them. But I can't wait to be a teenager. Maybe I can help them babysit." Alexander said.

"That's very kind of you, son," Mortimer told him, then gestured toward Dina.


"Here's Dina,” Mortimer said. "She came over to celebrate with you!"

Alexander looked at her shrewdly. "I heard you're going to marry my Dad."

Dina nodded. "Is that okay with you?"

Alexander seemed to consider this. "I guess. As long as you're not a wicked stepmother."

Dina chuckled. "Well, I won't make you sleep in the fireplace."







Alexander laughed. "You're funny!" He turned to his father. "I was going to have lots of friends over, but maybe not now. "

"That's probably a better idea,” Mortimer replied. “I need to talk to your sister, so you and Anthony can wait for us in the living room.”


Anthony told Alexander that Beau and Dustin hadn’t gone to school that day. “I guess they were really sad about their Mom,” he said. “Beau and I were going to play video games, but I think he was too sad. I’m glad I could come here for your birthday!”

“Who do you think hurt Brandi?” Alexander asked.

“I DON’T KNOW,” Anthony said, as his voice cracked. “I only met her once but she was really nice! I bet it was mean people.”









When Cassandra came downstairs, Mortimer and Dina told her about Brandi's death.

"Oh no," she cried out, “Who would want to do such a thing to her?”

Dina joined her in her tears. “It makes NO sense,” she cried.





"We're going to try and be happy for Alexander's birthday," Mortimer said. "I was going to do a lot of decorations and have a big hoopla, but maybe that wouldn't be appropriate now. Let's just have the cake with our friends."

Darren and Dirk Dreamer arrived, and Cassandra greeted them and informed them about Brandi’s death.





The sad group gathered around the cake as Alexander prepared to make the transition into being a young man.







He blew out the candles, then turned around and popped into his teenage form and grabbed a slice of cake.






Dina turned to Cassandra and said softly under her breath, "Did he get to choose his hairstyle?" Cassandra giggled softly. She thought Brandi wouldn’t have minded. She'd had a great sense of humor.






Everyone had a piece of cake, and did their best to be cheerful for Alexander’s sake.









When they’d finished, Alexander pulled Dirk aside for a private chat.

"I go to a different school from them, so I don't really know the Broke kids, but you know Dustin, don't you?" Alexander asked Dirk.

"Yeah," Dirk replied, "But not real well. But let me tell you what I saw the other night!"


Dirk told Alexander about what he'd observed when he'd been hired to do a delivery.






"Whoa," said Alexander. "Do you think that had something to do with Mrs. Broke's murder? I mean, was it illegal or something?"

Dirk shook his head. "I don't know, but I'll tell my Dad. Maybe he'll know what to do."

Alexander then excused himself. "I have to go do something about this hair!" he exclaimed, and headed for the bathroom mirror.







Mortimer took Dina's hand and led her upstairs. "I want to show you something," he told her.

As they climbed to the third floor, Dina was amazed to see Mortimer working on a painting . . . of her!






"Oh, it's so wonderful!" she said. "I had no idea you were so talented!"

Mortimer said, "Well, I've been working on my art since I retired. I was going to save this for you as a wedding present, and I thought maybe I could do some portraits of Brandi for the memorial."

"I think that's a wonderful idea," Dina said as she hugged him. "Let's walk over to their house and ask them about it. They might have some pictures you can copy."

"And we need to ask them about the memorial, too," Mortimer added. “Let’s make sure they’ll be okay with it. And when I’m done with this painting, I think it should hang over our bed.”









Downstairs, Cassandra was saying goodbye to Darren and the other guests.

"I'm glad you were able to come over," she said. "I didn't know Brandi well, but it is so sad what happened to her, and those poor boys."

Darren hugged her and told her to call if she needed anything.







Cassandra watched as Darren left. She felt fond of him, but wasn’t sure if her feelings were as strong as she’d imagined. She definitely loved him as a dear friend, but maybe not in a romantic way? She sighed. She’d think about it later. Right now she wanted to make plans for the memorial.






Alexander spoke to Dirk before he left. “I think we need to try and figure out what happened. Maybe we could check around town for anything unusual.”

Dirk looked concerned. “I guess so, but we need to be careful. This isn’t a game.”





Alexander nodded, “Yeah, I just think we might be able to find stuff out if we pay attention. Just listen to what people say—things like that.”

Dirk agreed, and said goodbye.












Dina and Mortimer walked over to the Spitzig home after their guests left. Dina felt terribly nervous as she and Mortimer approached the house. She loved those kids so much and didn't know how she could comfort them following the loss of their mother.








Suddenly Beau came running up to them shouting, "Auntie Dina! I'm glad you're here! I have a new space room!" His voice faltered. "But it's not for a good reason. My Mom . . ."

Dina reassured him, "It's okay to be excited about a new room. Your Mom would want you to be excited. I'm sure she knew how much you loved her. Tell me about your space room!"

Beau excitedly described the room he was now sharing with Anthony and Dina responded, glad that he seemed to be handling the tragedy well.

“Your Mom would be very glad that you have a nice place to stay now and that you like it here.”






Beau seemed comforted by this. "I'm going to have new Moms too!" he said. "But you'll still be my Auntie Dina, won't you?"

"Always," she told him.






Beau grabbed her hand and pulled her into the house, and Dina introduced everyone to Mortimer.




Mortimer sat at the table and explained what they had in mind; that they'd like to have a memorial for Brandi at his house.





They all agreed this was nice idea, then Mortimer asked Dustin if his Mom had any favorite flowers.

"I'm not sure," Dustin replied. "We didn't have money to buy . . . I mean, we didn't usually have flowers in the house. But I think she liked orange lilies. We saw them at the flower shop one time and she said she liked them."


Dustin was embarrassed to admit to his family's simoleon troubles in front of the richest man in town.






"Well that's fine," Mortimer said. "I'll make sure to have some orange lilies."



Mortimer then pulled Carla aside and said to her quietly, "I'm sure you know that Dina is very close to this family. I want you to know that if you ever need anything for the boys that you can come to me."

Carla thanked him, but explained that Brandi's bank account was in good shape because of a large child support settlement that had been received.





"It was enough that we'll be able to look for a bigger place so the boys can have more room. We just have to check with Tom's father to get permission. Dustin said he didn't think that would be a problem, but we don’t want him to think we were just spending Tom’s money for our own benefit."

Mortimer looked relieved. "I'm so glad. And you know, there's a lovely house on my street that might be just right. But I mean it—let me know if you need any help."

Carla thanked him for his concern and advice.






Dina was looking at the small area in the hall where Dustin’s bed was. She noticed that he’d kept the flamingo wall light that had decorated the Broke family kitchen. As Dustin came up to her, she asked him, "Mortimer would like to do some paintings of your Mom to display at the memorial. Do you have any pictures of her he could use to copy?"

Dustin showed her the photo collage over his bed.

"This was from the last time we went to the mall together."






"Oh Dustin," Dina said, "That's so cute! But I'm not sure a goofy picture would make a good portrait. Do you have any other pictures?"

Dustin reached under his bed and came out with a wrapped box and handed it to her.

"Here's all my pictures," he said. "Maybe Mortimer can find one in here. I'll get them back, right?"

"Of course!" Dina exclaimed.







Beau climbed up on his new bed and looked at his new room. He really did like space, and he liked Anthony.

But then sadness about his Mom filled him, and he stared vacantly at nothing, which is how Dina found him when she went to say goodbye.


“Are you okay, Beau? Mortimer and I need to leave now, but we’ll see you at the memorial tomorrow.”





Beau made the effort to look at her and replied, “I’m just thinking about Mom. I miss her.”

Dina nodded. “Me too, honey. But you can call me whenever you feel sad about her. And for your teenage birthday, I’ll get you a cell phone so you can call me from anywhere.”










When they got home, Mortimer climbed into his attic studio and set up another easel and worked into the night on a portrait of Brandi based on one of the pictures Dustin had loaned them.









The next morning, Kaylie and Carla got a nanny to watch Tom while they walked over to Mortimer's street to look at the house he'd mentioned. They stared in disbelief at a huge home near his.

"This can't be right, can it?" Kaylie said. "Look at all those columns! Is this what he meant? This must be over 100,000 simoleons!"






Carla checked her lot catalog and shook her head. "Oh no, this isn't it--there's two more on this street."

They walked the few paces down the street to look at another house.

“Well, it’s pretty nice,” Kaylie said, “But I don’t really love the modern look. What do you think?”

Carla shook her head. “I’m with you. I’d like something more homey.”





They went back down the street and stopped at the house directly across the street from the Goth Mansion.

Kaylie took a deep breath. "Oh, this looks like a home! That big yard would be perfect for a playground for the boys! How much is it?"

Carla consulted the catalog again. "It's only 24,000 simoleons!"

Kaylie smiled. "Well, that's it then. I think we could afford this even without Tom's simoleons. This is where we'll start our new life, with our new family."