Chapter 9
Much to my relief, Pen was upstairs sleeping. She looked like she hadn't slept in a while. My friend needed me more than I realized. That bothered me.
I was torn about how I was going to explain withdrawing so much money to clean up the mess she'd gotten into.
I blamed Aiden for it. Andrew Richardson, a senior at R&R Attorneys at Law, would question me about the withdrawal from my trust fund.
I had two options: tell him to mind his own business or lie.
Neither option appealed to me. The truth was out of the question.
As I spotted two detectives walking purposefully across the town square, I remembered that I hadn't told Pen about Riley. Relieved when they moved past the café, I decided I needed to figure out why they were in town. Oliver would be the best place to start.
As I left Bernie and Sam at the café, I realized that, as an employee, I would have lost my job by now.
With a purposeful stride, I crossed the town square quickly and, before I knew it, jogged up the front steps of City Hall.
Just my luck to bump into our esteemed mayor, who had been having a secret affair with my brother who had dressed as a buxom blonde. Discovering the secret life my brother led had been a shock in more ways than one.
"Miss James," Mayor Murphy said, blushing. "Is everything all right?" His eyes fluttered from the entrance to City Hall back to me.
"Just dandy," I replied, tempted to rush on. However, I asked, "Is Louisa Hawke still working for you? I haven't seen her recently."
"She does. However, she has taken an extended leave to visit her family in Alaska."
"Oh, how wonderful." I smiled. "If you'll excuse me, I have an appointment."
The mayor glared at my back as I quickly pushed through the door of City Hall. I turned briefly to see if he was still there. He was. I gave him a small wave, which he ignored.
I grinned as I turned and headed into the sheriff's office. Much to my delight, I found Oliver standing there. My smile widened at the sight of him. "Just the man I came to see."
Oliver smiled and opened the door to the inner sanctum. "It's nice to see you, Tallulah. I hope you are doing well."
"I am. Thanks, Oliver."
He showed me into his office and offered me a seat.
"So, what can I do for you?" he asked, taking his own seat.
"I'll get right to the point. Why are there three detectives from out-of-town sniffing around Sugar Briar?"
Oliver winced. "If anyone else had asked, I would have stayed quiet about it." He sighed. "But as it's you, and I trust you, I'll tell you. They're looking for someone and something. It's all related to Aiden."
The color drained from my face to my toes. The "something" had to be the money, and the "someone" had to be the creepy guy. I hoped I was wrong, but I had a feeling I was right.
"Tallulah, why do I get the feeling that you know what's going on?"
"I don't. Not really." I winced when I noticed that Oliver had narrowed his focus. Squirming in my seat wouldn't help, so I forced myself to sit still.
"Tell me what you do know."
"I don't know anything."
"Tallulah, I haven't had reason not to trust you, so please don't give me reason now. Yes, I'm the sheriff, but I'd like to think we're friends."
"We are friends." I sagged into the chair, knowing I could trust him.
However, I'd promised Pen not to say anything, which made things awkward.
“Can you tell me what’s going on that would warrant out-of-town detectives snooping around?
Then I promise to be honest with you about what little I do know. Or rather, what I think I know."
He sighed, twitching his lips. "It has come to light that Aiden took money that didn't belong to him.
An ex-con named Angel is rumored to be in town looking for it.
He's a dangerous man, and Detective Riley has been trying to catch him doing something illegal to send him back to prison. His team followed Angel to Sugar Briar.”
"I heard about a guy after some money, but I hoped the rumor was wrong." Dear Lord! What had Penelope gotten involved in? “How much money are we talking about here? I heard it was around a hundred thousand dollars."
Oliver scoffed. "Try two million."
My mouth dropped open in shock. "Two million—" I couldn't finish the sentence. My mind reeled at the thought of such a large sum of money. But what on earth was going on? Someone was lying, and it wasn't Penelope.
"Who told you how much money is missing?"
"Why does that matter?"
"Because I think someone is lying about the amount."
“Want to tell me why you think that?”
“Not really," I blurted out.
Oliver leaned forward in his lovely black leather chair and stared at me, looking slightly annoyed. I didn't blame him. I'd be mad at me, too.
My cheeks heated, and I fidgeted. "I'm a terrible friend." I burst into tears.
Oliver shot to his feet, moved over, and sat beside me with his arm around my shoulders. I buried my face in his shoulder to hide my tears.
"Pull yourself together, Tallulah!"
I pulled back and accepted the tissues he offered me.
"This is about Penelope, isn't it?" Oliver said. “Let me guess. She found the money, said 'fuck you' to Aiden, and got rid of the money somehow?"
I stared at the man in astonishment.
“Please don’t arrest her. She didn't know it would land her in trouble. I have the money. I'm going to withdraw it and give it to you. Then you can report that Penelope found it in the rim of her spare tire."
"Oh God!"
"It's not that bad. Please, Oliver. She spent it because she was angry and upset at what Aiden had done.”
"Don't get upset. As long as you have some money to hand over, we'll pretend this conversation didn't happen."
I threw myself into his arms and kissed him on the cheek. "Thank you so much."
Oliver helped me back into the seat and asked, "How much did she find? I can't imagine Pen spending two million dollars in such a short time."
"Well..." I told him everything Pen had told me, hoping she wouldn't be mad at me for breaking her trust. "So, you, see? Either Aiden hid the two million in different places, or Angel made up the figure he's looking for.”
"Or Aiden took the rest and left Pen to take the fall for it all."
"Oh, that could explain why it was in her car." I pondered that. "That bastard set her up!" I shot to my feet.
"That's what I'm thinking," he said, nodding grimly. He stood and reached out, holding my arms. "You have to stay away from Carlisle and Jessop for now, okay? Angel worked for them in the past."
“They know him!" I narrowed my eyes, annoyed that Carlisle always ended up involved in whatever was going on. It had to stop, and I would tell him so. "Let me talk to Aiden."
"I'm not putting you in the same room as that man.”
"Come on, Oliver. Please. You know he loves to gloat. At least let me try."
"Fine, what the hell. You might as well, because he isn't talking to anyone else." He squeezed my arms and then let go. "Come on. Aiden and Jane are in a holding cell downstairs. You don't know that, though. Okay?"
“What about Trevor?”
“Nashville. Aiden kept him in line with fear.” Oliver shrugged. “You knew that though.”
“I did. He wrote to me.” I shook my head and smiled. "I could talk to Jane while I'm at it."
He shook his head and snickered under his breath.