Once Upon A Time ~ Book 1

Chapter 81 - The Phone Records

Mary Margaret pulled Leroy to the side of the room. "How could you tell Astrid that we sold all those candles?" she whispered, furiously, her hand grasping the collar of his coat. "That is five thousand dollar, Leroy. Five thousand dollars we don't have." she said, gritting her teeth.
"Don't worry about it, all right? I got a plan."
"A plan? A plan like going door to door and having everyone in town laugh in out faces?"
"Just give me till the end of the day. I'll figure something out."
"And why is it so important to you?"
He looked over a Sister Astrid with the other nuns. "The nuns, they're gonna have to leave."
Astrid smiled by happily at him when she saw him.
Mary Margaret looked from him to Sister Astrid and back again, her face full of shame. "Oh my God! You like her!" she let out quitly. "She is a nun, Leroy. Could you possibly pick anyone any less available?"
He gritted his teeth. "Says the girl went after a married guy? At the end of the da, you're no better then I am. You got your reasons for being here, I got mine and when I say I'm gonna get five thousand dollars m, I'm gonna get that five thousand dollars."
Mary Margaret said nothing, shameful.
Leroy then walked away, out of the volunteer centre.

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Dreamy ran through the woods in the dark until he finally reached Firefly Hill. He looked around to see not a soul. Only the beautiful view ahead, the warm little lights that glowed in the village below.
"I didnt think you were going to show up." said Nova's voice from behind him.
He turned on his heel and beamed. "I was afraid I was too late."
"Well, you did cut it pretty close. Come on." she took his hand and pulled him closer to the edge so he could get a better look.
"Wow! Look at all those lights! Are those the fireflies?"
"No! That's the village." she laughed.
He smiled sheepishly.
"And beyond that, all the lights of the kingdom."
He sighed. "You've seen a lot of this world, haven't you?"
Her face fell. "From a distance, yes."
Dreamy looked around at her. "What's wrong with that?"
"Flying over the world and being a part of it aren't exactly the same thing."
"Well, at least you've seen the world. Me, I live in the mines. Underground. All I ever see is diamonds and dirt and dwarfs."
She smiled a little, but her face was still down.
"You know.............we could see it together. Get a boat, sail all over. Explore everything the world has to offer." he smiled excitedly.
She smiled then it turned into a beam as the fireflies began to fly from the village, glowing in the darkness. "Oh! Look!"
He beamed too. "Oh........" he gazed at them.
Nova then turned to Dreamy and cupped her hands around his cheeks and pressed her lips to his. They kissed on Firefly Hill, the only light being the fireflies and the village lights. They broke away from one another and looked into each others eyes.
"Okay. Let's do it. Tomorrow night." said Nova, still beaming. "After I drip off the dust, let's meet back here....... We'll run off together........ Well see the world." They looked back at the view, their eyes sparkling.
Dreamy slipped his hand into hers. "Sounds like a dream come true."

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Leroy stood with Mr. Gold at the docks by a little sailing boat.
"Now, I know it's a bit of a fixer-upper. Could probably use a new coat of paint, a few spritzes of Febreze here and there. But you can't tell me that five thousand dollars is not a reasonable price for this beauty." said Leroy.
"Three thousand, I think." said Mr. Gold looking and examining the sailing boat from the dock.
Leroy turned directly to him. "I need five."
"You need five? To want do we owe this specificity?"
"Trying to help out a friend."
"Oh, I see." he smiled.
"Look, you don't even have to pay me anything. Just forgive one month's rent for the nuns."
"The nuns?"
"You can have the boat. They'll pay you back eventually. I mean, it's a good deal. You get everything."
"So, that's what this is about."
"Come on, you're a rich guy. You can afford c to give them time to make up on month's, right?"
"You're right, I could."
"So great."
"But I won't." he argued. "I have a fairly specific rental agreement. If they miss a payment, I'm within my rights to evict."
"Oh, come on, why would you......" he started.
"And quite honestly, it's gonna be a great relief to be rid of those distasteful tenants." he interrupted.
"You don't like nuns? Who doesn't like nuns?"
"Oh, I have my reasons. And they're mine........... Let's just say I have a long and complicated history with them. And leave it at that." he turned and walked away from the docks.
Leroy rowled his eyes and went down below into his sailing boat. He shuffled around inside, thinking of another plan.
"Hello?" said Sister Astrid's voice from the docks.
Leroy peeked head out from inside the sailing boat. "Astrid!" he said, pulling on a smile.
She smiled. "Mary Margaret said I might find you down here."
He walked back onto the docks.
She held up a freshly baked pie. "I made got a pie."
Leroy took it and looked at it guiltily.
"It's the least I could do after all your help."
"Wow."
"Oh, this boat is great!" she looked at the boat, admiring it as Leroy pulled the plastic cover tight over the unsold boxes of candles, at the other side of the boat.
"It's gonna be amazing when you get it out on the water." she turned around to him again. "I can't even remember the last time I was on a........" she stopped when she noticed some of the boxes beneath the plastic cover. "What.......What's this?" she stepped closer to it and pulled off the cover. Her face dropped and she looked up at Leroy inquringly.
He looked down at the wooden dock beneath his feet, ashamed.
"If you sold all the candles, why are they still here, Leroy?"
"............I didn't sell them all. I tryed to, but nobody wanted to buy them from me. I was going to tell you the truth, but I was afraid of letting you down."
"So, you lied." she said quitly.
Leroy bent his head again. "I'm sorry, Sister Astrid. Guess you believed in the wrong guy."
Astrid opened her mouth to sat something, but she couldn't, she glanced at him once more then turned and walked away.

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Emma stood in the Sherif's station, looking at the poloryd photo's of the scene of Kathryn's disappearance on the notice board.
Sidney then walked into the station.
"You find something?" she asked, turning to him.
"Kathryn's phone records." he held up an envelope and Emma took them. "Every call she made the day she crashed the car."
Emma took the phone records from the envelop and looked at them.
"Including an eight minute call between her and David within an hour of the accident."
She looked up from the phone records, uneasily. "That's not possible. He said he didn't speak to her that day."
"Then he's lying."
"No. I know when someone is lying and David........." she started.
"It's right here on paper, Emma....... Phone records don't lie, people do. And our friend David does it better than most. Don't beat yourself up over this. You're not the only person David fooled."
Emma looked at him not wanting to believe his words, fear in her eyes.