Chapter 11 Hazel
ELEVEN
Hazel
Reid had to be gone. There was no way he’d stuck around after last night.
I’d overshared, my apartment was a disaster, and to top it off, I’d fallen asleep on the couch, practically draped across his personal space. But when I opened my bedroom door, there he was, bent over in the kitchen, rummaging through cabinets like he belonged there.
“Oh, good morning. Where are your mugs?” he asked when he caught sight of me.
I flattened my hair, currently thrown half-up into a loose bun, my bangs squished flat against the sides of my forehead. He looked perfect, already changed and somehow polished despite the early hour.
“In there.” I pointed to the large black buffet underneath the window in the kitchen. Reid slid open one of the doors, then his eyebrows shot up and he looked over at me.
“No person would ever need to own this many mugs.” He picked up one at the front. It had a worn mountain range on it, with the words “Rise and Shine” along the bottom.
“We used to collect them,” I said, taking the hot pink mug he handed me before he closed the cabinet.
“Did you also collect everything else?” he asked, gesturing to my apartment, basically bursting at the seams.
I just shrugged. “She loved a thrift store. I don’t want to get rid of any of it.”
His entire expression softened at that.
“I made coffee.” He pulled out the carafe, which was also basically an antique.
I think my grandma bought it in the eighties, and somehow, it still worked.
She always swore they used to build appliances better—sturdier and made to last. Unlike now, when every company just slapped together some cheap plastic and hoped you’d have to buy another one every other year.
“Do you need milk or anything?” he asked.
“I think I have some hazelnut creamer in the fridge.”
Reid filled up my mug and opened my refrigerator. He visibly cringed when he took in the sparse contents—half an onion on one shelf, and a door full of condiments.
He found the white bottle and set it on the counter.
I added a splash before bringing my mug to my lips and taking an appreciative sip.
The ordinariness of it all brought on a rush of nostalgia.
Gran and I used to sit down with a cup of coffee together most mornings until I moved out at twenty-two.
Even after that, we would meet for breakfast pretty frequently.
Bad diner coffee was her favorite. “The burnter the better,” she’d always say.
“Look who responded.” Reid held out his phone. My heart hammered in my chest as I grabbed it.
The catfish profile. I’d almost forgotten.
“What did he say?” I asked, even as I scanned the messages between Paul and the fake account.
Paul: “Hey babe, glad you like what you see.”
Barf.
AngelineRox: blushing emoji. “Do you like what you see?”
I looked up and raised an eyebrow at Reid. “You wrote this?”
His eyes narrowed. “Don’t judge me. I’ve had practice.”
That made me laugh as I continued to scan through the messages. Just a short, flirty convo. Nothing of substance, but also no damning evidence against him. The last text was a picture of the girl cuddled up with a cat to which he just said “Cutie” in response.
“He didn’t take the bait,” I said with a frown.
“Yet,” Reid added. “Let’s give it a couple days.”
“Would this be a bad time to point out that I know his address?” I handed his phone back and Reid tipped his head back and groaned.
“No more stakeouts, Hazel.”
I held up my hands. “Not a stakeout. Just a quick peep through a window, you know, see if we see anything.”
“And get caught trespassing.”
I shrugged. “It’s an apartment building in a busy area.
We could just be walking by. Plus we follow him on socials now.
” I pointed to his phone. “That man cannot go to the gym without telling the world about it, trust me. We could sneak over the next time we know he’s gone and just have a quick snoop. ”
Reid chewed his lip as if considering it.
“Maybe,” he finally relented. “But only as a last resort.”
“Yes!” I pumped the fist not holding my coffee. Some splashed onto the floor anyway, and I swiped my sock-covered foot over it to clean it up. When I met Reid’s eyes again, his chin had dipped as he looked at me over the frames of his glasses, the judgement clear in his gaze.
“What? Like I’m going to break out a mop for a spill that tiny?”
He said nothing in return, but I could see the disapproval written all over his face. I didn’t mind, though. There was something about the non-subtle way that he judged me that made me feel weirdly not judged at all. Accepted, almost.
We squeezed around the small table tucked against the kitchen wall, cradling our coffee cups as we tossed around more ideas, trying to piece together a plan for what to do next.
Reid was very against anything that involved illegal trespassing. Boring. I couldn’t say that I agreed, but I had to admit it hadn’t gone well for us the first time.
He was hung up on finding more suspects, but I had tried to explain to him that my world wasn’t all that big. Sure, I overshared on social media, but I really didn’t think I had droves of people willing to track me down, steal my cat, and go through with this elaborate blackmailing scheme.
“Shit! It’s almost eight,” I said, when I caught a glimpse of the stove. You could barely read the numbers because the light on the clock was so dim. “I’ve got to go. My first client is in thirty minutes.”
He balked at me. “Thirty minutes? You should already be there.”
I rolled my eyes. “But then I’d miss out on my morning with you.”
Reid bit back a smile. “I have to get home and log into work.”
“What do you do, again?” I asked as he started collecting his stuff and I made my way back to the bedroom.
“IT for a bank,” he said.
I laughed, as I partially closed my bedroom door so I could take off my pajamas and throw on an all-black outfit. “You couldn’t make that sound drier if you tried,” I called out.
“It’s remote, pays well, and is incredibly flexible. Plus, I like it. It’s basically just solving tech issues all day.”
I ran a brush through my hair and put on exactly one coat of mascara before returning to the living room.
“Sounds like the perfect job for you,” I said.
He shrugged. “It kind of is.”
He already had his duffel shrugged onto his shoulder.
“So,” he started.
“So,” I said.
“You planning on staying here tonight?”
I laughed. “I do live here.”
He rubbed his face with both hands, sliding his hands underneath his glasses. “You really can’t go to a friend’s? Or anywhere else?”
I thought about my very limited social roster.
Jackson was cool, but also kind of…a lot.
Plus we worked together. Sharing a space could be awkward.
What if I pissed him off, and then we still had to see each other every day?
The same went for Natalie and Ruby. Our friendships were still new, hovering in that awkward space between coworker and acquaintance.
“I should offer to stay another night,” Reid continued. “And I don’t want to be difficult, but it’s really hard for me to be away from home and break up my routine. I hardly got any sleep last night.”
That stirred a mix of guilt and irritation in me. “I didn’t ask you to stay here. I promise you, I’ll be fine.”
I walked to my front door and Reid trailed behind me. This topic had run its course. His attempt at chivalry was sweet, and even though I’d kind of enjoyed our sleepover, I was a grown woman. I didn’t need him. I’d be fine staying here by myself.
“I also won’t get any sleep if I know you’re here alone,” he said with a sigh.
“Can’t help you there, champ.” I held open the door as he shuffled past me.
I closed it behind him and locked the door right as Mrs. Edenbury was about to walk into her own apartment.
“Morning,” I said cheerily. She looked a little surprised to see us, jumping before carefully closing the door she’d just unlocked, keeping her back to it.
“Morning, sweetie. How are you doing?” She eyed Reid up and down with raised eyebrows.
“I’m hanging in there,” I said.
“And who’s this young man?”
“Reid,” he said, holding out his—quite large—hand. I hadn’t realized the size until it engulfed hers.
“I like your sweater,” Reid said to her, noting the black crewneck with a variety of kittens embroidered across the chest.
“Oh, this old thing. Thank you.” She smiled, looking down at it.
“We should really do tea sometime this week,” I said.
“Only if we do it at your place, mine is a mess,” she replied.
“Sounds good.”
“And before I forget…” Her words trailed off as she rummaged around in her red leather bag. “This got delivered to my mailbox by mistake.” She handed me a letter with no return address.
Reid and I shared a look. It was the same envelope as the notes from yesterday. It had to be another letter from the blackmailer.
Great.
“Thanks for this,” I said, holding it up. “I’ll see you later.”
She nodded and waved goodbye before slipping into her apartment.
Reid opened the door to outside and held it open for me. I ducked under his arm, my body brushing against his as I stepped outside.
When we were at our cars, mine parked behind his on the street, he whirled around, glancing toward the building and then back at me.
“Well, that was suspicious as hell,” he said.
My mind snapped to high alert, but Reid’s words blurred. I had zero clue what he was talking about. “What was suspicious?”
“Are you serious?” he looked flabbergasted. “That neighbor of yours.”
“Mrs. Edenbury?”
“Ms. Cat Lady herself? Yes! And she lives right across from you. Talk about opportunity. What does that letter say that she just handed you? Bet it’s something threatening.”
“You’re reaching, dude. She’s frail. Plus, the sweetest person alive.”
“Does she know you won the lottery?”
I paused. She had been one of the first people I’d told. I’d run into her the next morning, and she’d asked me about my grandmother’s funeral. I’d told her about the winning lottery ticket, and she’d rejoiced with me.
“So what if she does? That doesn’t prove anything.”
I opened the envelope to reveal exactly what we thought we’d find. A typed note that said, you only have two more weeks. Reid arched an eyebrow and gave me an “I told you so” look.
“This proves nothing.” I stuffed the note into my bag. “In fact, it’s further proof of her innocence. Why would she just hand it to me? That’s so obvious. If it was really her, she’d keep putting them at the front office, or mail them, or something. And she obviously knows my apartment number.”
“Is she really all there?”
I bit my lip. She was quite forgetful. There was that time a couple months ago, where I’d run to the grocery store to grab her some sugar. When I’d knocked on her door to deliver it, she’d forgotten she’d even asked me.
Could someone like that even pull off stealing a cat?
“It wasn’t her,” I insisted.
He held up his hand, raising a finger with each point.
“She has means. If she has all these cats, it’s not like taking care of one more would be that hard.
Opportunity. She would have been right here when you ran inside that day, making Vermont an easy grab for her.
And she has motive, if she knew you won the lottery… ” he trailed off.
“She might not even need the money. I don’t know her situation.”
“I mean, she lives here. She can’t be loaded.”
“Hey!” I exclaimed, swatting him in the chest with the note I still held. “I live here.”
“What, no offense.” He held up his hands. “I’m just saying, clearly she isn’t rolling in disposable income.”
I couldn’t be upset with him for stating the obvious. This apartment complex was one of the cheapest in the area, complete with small units, chipped paint, outdated appliances—the works.
My eyes swept back to the building. “You really think it could be her?”
“I think we’d be crazy not to look into it.” His tone was gentle. As much as I still found the idea incredibly unlikely, I relented. It couldn’t hurt to look into every possibility.
“Alright,” I said with a sigh, hating the idea that the only person in my building who’d shown me kindness could be the culprit. “You’re the sleuth. We can look into her. Any idea where to start?”
“I’ll think of something.” He walked around to his car and opened the driver’s side door before sliding into his seat in one smooth motion. He rolled the window down and added, “Whatever you do, don’t break into her apartment without me.”
A smile crept onto my face. “You have no faith in me,” I called out as he drove away.