New Year came and went and things remained on an even keel as much as was possible. Jimmy was still taking the loss of his mother badly and spent most of his time clutching a bottle of hooch. After yet another conversation with him, Greta had thought she'd managed to talk some sense into Jimmy about how much he was drinking. Apparently, though, she had been wrong. Desiree had been to inform her that she and Maggie had walked in on him, roaring drunk, having sex with Barbara. Greta's eyebrows had almost disappeared into her hairline at that news, before she shook her head and frowned, deciding to go and find him.
A search of the camp had led her to the conclusion that he wasn't there. Running a hand through her hair, she considered going to speak to her mother, to find out if she had any idea where he was. Greta wasn't sure what Elsa had been up to lately, but she had almost been away from the camp as much as she was there.
In the end, Elsa had gone in search of her daughter, rather than the other way round. She found the younger blonde, surrounded by her reading and writing practise, in her tent. Eve was sitting on the bed, filing her nails, while Pepper and Salty were playing with a deck of cards in the corner.
"Ahh, good. You are both here." Elsa smiled at Greta and Eve, leaning against the tent pole casually. "I think it is time that Ma Petite and Ethel's banners came down. It has been long enough to show respect but it is a new year and we need to move on."
"Are you sure?" Eve asked, looking warily at her. "Have you spoken to Jimmy? He'll be upset…"
"I am in charge around here." The older woman snapped. "I am telling you to take them down."
Nodding slowly, the two women exchanged a look and left the tent. Neither was particularly happy about what they had been asked to do, but they didn't have much choice in the matter. Elsa clearly was not in the mood to stand for being questioned and it was easier to simply go along with her orders.
Greta moved to loosen the ropes holding Ma Petite's banner in place, while Eve did the same to Ethel's. Taking the tension in her arms, the blonde slowly let the rope out and watched sadly as it was lowered to the ground in a crumpled heap.
"What are you doing?" Jimmy demanded furiously, making both Eve and Greta jump as his voice came out of nowhere in the darkness. "Did Elsa put you up to this? Put it back! Where it was! I said put it back!"
"Jimmy..." Eve murmured softly, pausing with the banner halfway down.
Putting his bottle down unsteadily, he grabbed the rope and started hoisting his mother's banner back into place. "I'll do it myself."
"Jimmy..." The woman stepped forward, her voice cracking with emotion, but he stumbled away from her, scowling.
"Leave me alone! No…"
Eve walked away, leaving him on his own as he had demanded. She joined Greta on the other side of the entrance to the camp, helping her to carefully fold up Ma Petite's banner. They both watched in silence as Jimmy gave up attempting to raise his mother's portrait, letting it sink to the ground. He caressed the painted face on the fabric, before stooping to pick up his bottle once more and stumbling away in the direction of his caravan. The women watched him fumble with the handle, before yanking the door open and falling inside.
Moving back to Ethel's banner, once Ma Petite's had been placed in a neat pile on the ground, Eve and Greta finished taking it down and gave it the same reverential treatment as the first. Collecting up both banners, they carried them carefully to the storage tent, piling them on top of Meep's banner.
"That boy is going off the rails…" Eve sighed, shaking her head worriedly. "If Ethel could see him…"
"Hey…" Greta held her hands tightly, knowing that the older woman was blaming herself for not keeping a closer eye on her friend's son. "This is not your fault… there is nothing you could have done to help Jimmy. He is hurting and he is turning to alcohol because he thinks it will help." She stood on her tiptoes and kissed Eve gently. "He will be alright."
Eve wrapped her arms around the younger woman, lifting her slightly and kissing her again. Giggling as her feet left the ground, Greta returned the kiss, moaning softly as Eve took advantage of her laughter to push her tongue into her lover's mouth.
Feeling her feet touch the ground again a short while later, Greta sighed and pressed a final kiss to the corner of Eve's mouth, her hand lingering on the older woman's cheek as she looked at her seriously. "It will all be alright, in the end."
"How can you be so sure?" Eve asked, shaking her head. "Everything that's been going on round here… it's like this is cursed ground."
"There is no such thing."
Pulling her by the hand, Greta led the way out of the storage tent and back through the camp, heading for their caravan. Spotting a figure walking slowly towards them, the blonde's mouth dropped open as she realised who it was. Unable to believe it, they sped up, hurrying towards the other person.
"Mein Gott…" Greta murmured as they stopped in front of the other women. "Dot, Bette, you are back!" She threw herself at them, hugging them tightly, before pulling back to look at them. "You would not believe how much I have missed you."
"We all have." Eve told them, pushing the blonde aside gently so that she could hug her friends as well. "Where have you been?"
"We… I… almost made a terrible mistake." Dot informed them. "But that is behind us now. The Tattler sisters are back for good."
"I am glad." Greta said, smiling brightly at them. "You are not allowed to leave again!" Her expression clouded over slightly. "We have already lost so much…"
"We heard about Ethel…"
"Mmmm…" Eve nodded sadly. "Jimmy's taken it hard."
"We saw him." Dot admitted quietly.
"He said he's in love with a girl." Bette added, earning a frown from her sister. "Is it with you, Greta?"
Greta laughed and shook her head. "No, liebling, it is not me. I love Jimmy, as a brother, but I am not in love with him." She shot Eve a quick look and saw that the brunette was smirking at her feet. "It is Maggie, although they have had a fight."
They all looked up at the sound of sirens. "Not again…" Eve sighed, tired of the police dropping in on them to cause trouble.
"What the hell do you want?" Jimmy raged, leaping from his caravan just in front of the women and facing up to the police.
"Jimmy Darling… you're under arrest." The detective, who seemed so eager to spend all his time at the camp, announced. He grabbed Jimmy by his arms and pushed him into the side of the police car before cuffing him.
"What?"
"For the murders of Sylvia Mills, Myrna Austen, Joanne Gallagher…"
"Wait, what? Wait, I don't even know any of those ladies." Jimmy protested as they dragged him towards the car. Maggie ran over and tried to stop them taking him.
The detective smirked and shook his head. "We have evidence. You left your glove at the crime scene, Lobster Boy. What kind of sicko goes after a bunch of sweet housewives just looking to buy some Tupperware?"
"Wait, wait, wait, you got it all wrong. I didn't... I didn't do anything!"
"No, he has been here all day with me!"
Greta hurried to Maggie's side. She nodded, agreeing with the other girl's story. "He has, it is true. He has been helping with jobs around the camp."
"You need to back up. This has to be–"
"Back up!"
"Hey!"
"Do not touch her!" Jimmy roared as the detective shoved Maggie. She stumbled into Paul's arms as the officer walked around the car without a second glance.
"Where? You can't take him! He didn't do anything!"
Greta grabbed the detective's arm in a vice like grip. "He is innocent of any crime." She stated firmly. "You are just looking for an easy target to pin this crime on."
"If you don't let go of me I'll charge you with assaulting a police officer." He threatened in a low voice. "Do you want to share a cell with your buddy over there?"
"Greta!" Eve pulled her off the man, wrapping her in her embrace and not letting go. The blonde struggled, but she couldn't free herself. "Please, don't."
"I didn't do anything!" Jimmy's shouts could still be heard from inside the car as it drove away. "Maggie! Maggie! I didn't do nothing!"
They stood and stared after the vehicles, long after the taillights had disappeared into the darkness. Greta shook her head, furiously, before turning and striding off into the night. She ignored all the shouts for her to return, making her way out into the woods where she could be alone and think for a while.
Jimmy might have been drunk and missing all day, but there was no way he was a murderer. There must have been a mistake and the police were just looking for someone to blame for the murders to show they were doing something. It was completely unfair, she raged internally, that they were such easy targets just because they were outsiders.
She stood, kicking at a tree trunk angrily. All that she managed to achieve, however, was a sore foot. Reluctant to return to the camp and the no doubt gloomy atmosphere, she headed towards the town instead. By the time she reached it everything was closed, but she didn't care.
Heading for the police station, Greta stood at the desk and waited for someone to notice her presence. Finally, an older officer appeared and looked at her strangely. She ground her teeth as his eyes roved over her, appraising her lecherously.
"Can I help you, Miss?"
"I want to see my brother, Jimmy Darling. He was brought in not long ago."
"I'm afraid I can't help you." The man said bluntly. "No visitors."
"Please…" She allowed tears to well up in her eyes and her lip wobbled. "Since our mother died he is all I have left."
Clearly feeling uncomfortable as she started to cry, the man rubbed his neck and looked around. "Fine." He sighed. "You've got five minutes."
She smiled at him as he unlocked a door and led her down a dingy corridor. Stopping outside a metal door with a tiny, barred window in it, the officer pointed towards it with his thumb.
"Can I not go in and see him?"
"No, sorry. Through the door only."
Greta looked at him hard until he turned and walked a little way along the passage, giving them some privacy. "Jimmy?"
"Greta?" He jumped across his cell and grasped at the bars of the window between them. "What are you doing here?"
"I told them you were my brother and I needed to see you." She explained hurriedly. "What is going on? Why are they saying they found your glove at the crime scene?"
He sighed deeply. "I was there…" He admitted, earning a gasp from the girl. "It was business… I would go to the house and use my talents to get them off… if you know what I mean?"
"I do…" She agreed, frowning lightly. "Why?"
"The cash, Greta. Most of those bored, frustrated housewives were desperate for it… it was easy money. But… I wasn't in the mood today. I was too drunk to do it and I just wanted to get out of there."
"So you came home?"
"I swear they were all alive when I left." He leant his head against the bars. "You've got to help me, Greta."
"Time's up, Miss." The officer told her, sidling up beside her and folding his arms. "You're going to have to leave now."
"I will find a way to sort this, Jimmy, I promise you." She said as the guard pulled her away. "We will get you out of here."
"Where the hell have you been?" Eve demanded furiously the second that Greta stepped foot into her tent just under an hour later.
"Scheiße!" The blonde swore, jumping a mile as her lover switched the light on and flooded the tent with a soft glow. "What are you doing in here?"
"I was waiting for you! After you just ran off into the woods… I was scared… after Ma Petite…"
Greta closed her eyes, her heart sinking as she realised what she had done. "I am sorry, sweetheart, I am so sorry. I did not mean to scare you."
"So where were you?"
"I went into town to see Jimmy."
"They let you see him?"
She nodded quickly, moving to sit beside Eve on the bed. "The guard let me speak to him for five minutes. He said that he was at the house, on business, but that he left because he was too drunk to perform. He swears that they were all alive when he left."
"Business? What kind of business?"
Greta arched an eyebrow at her and Eve's eyes widened with understanding. "Yes… but he is innocent. He did not murder anyone."
"Of course he is."
Exhaling deeply and allowing herself to fall backwards so that she was lying across the bed, Greta clasped her hands over her stomach and stared up at the canvas. "I am starting to think that you are right; this is cursed ground we are living on."
"Hey, it's not worked out so bad for us."
"No," the blonde agreed, sitting up, "it has not."
She leant in and kissed her lover tenderly, running a hand up her thigh as she deepened the kiss. Eve leant backwards and pulled Greta on top of her, running her hands up her sides slowly, before moving them to the blonde's ass and squeezing.
Greta moaned softly and pulled away, resting her forehead against Eve's. "Come on… let's go back to our caravan and I will do that thing…"
"The tongue thing?" The brunette asked, biting her lip in anticipation.
"Mmm-hmm." Greta agreed, keeping eye contact and nodding slowly.
She laughed as Eve almost launched her across the tent as she stood up quickly, linking their fingers and pulling her towards the door. Only just managing to flick the switch and turn off the light, the blonde squeezed the hand in hers and smiled.