Chapter 15
Hattie
Losing myself in books was easy. I had already found three must-reads and was grabbing a third one, which had an illustrated cover showing three cowboys hanging on a fence and gazing longingly at a plus-sized woman who glanced over her shoulder at them—an instant addition to my pile.
Omegaverse romance had become my latest guilty pleasure over the past month.
Usually, I wouldn’t buy physical paperback books because of all my traveling and would rely on my e-reader, but now that I planned to stay here for a while, the temptation was irresistible.
Paperbacks could be fun sometimes, and Chapter they were just crying on the shelf. ‘Buy me, Hattie. Buy me.’”
“Absolutely. Got to rescue all the books,” she said solemnly. “It’s our duty as readers, and I do try to find good titles. I’m not lying when I say that these are good ones. I especially enjoyed this one.” She tapped the Omegaverse, and her lips curved into a smile. “Even my fiancé enjoyed it.”
“Oh?” I loved hearing about partners who read. “Well, then I’m glad I picked it.”
“Can I get you some coffee or snacks before I ring you up?”
I had already moved over to the bakery case, so she wasn’t off base with the question.
Rattling off my coffee order, I pointed out a ham-and-cheese croissant that looked amazing, then longingly eyed the confetti-sprinkle cupcake but chose instead what appeared to be the special of the day.
I couldn’t be weak and have Kipp’s favorite.
“Can I have a croissant, and one of those? They look delicious.”
“Highly recommend if I do say so myself. The date and phyllo cups?” When I nodded, she maneuvered one of the sticky treats in its paper cup onto the plate she was assembling. They looked to-die-for. “Fresh this morning.”
“Did you make them?” I had to ask. If there was one thing I wasn’t good at, it was baking, which was a total shame because I had a sweet tooth.
It was tough when you worked from home and constantly craved snacks, so it was probably for the best that I couldn’t bake, or I would be doing it all the time.
“I did bake these. They’re part of our book club’s kickoff, so we only have them this month. The croissants, however, are made by my pastry chef. I can’t take credit for those. Phiny is amazing — she makes them way better than I do.”
“What’s the book you’re reading for the club?” The question was more idle curiosity than anything else since I wasn’t planning to be here longer than a month, but I’d never been somewhere with an honest-to-God book club. Could be fun. I shrugged and added, “Just curious.”
“You can’t find out until next week. Each lead-in is a bit of mystery until the big unveiling.
” She made jazz hands. “I make it into a whole thing with costumes, but I’ll put clues up so people can try to guess the next month’s pick a few weeks ahead of time.
” Her eyes twinkled. “I put drinks and specials out there with hints and maybe even postcards in the stacks that point people in the right direction. You’re welcome to join. ”
Squinting at the menu, I examined the items and immediately recognized what must be their usual offerings: brownies, lemon bars, and specialty scones.
The phyllo cups were called Votive Honeyed Knots, and a tea was listed as The Oracle.
On one corner of the board was a small scepter that had my mind already working.
It was a clever idea to get people excited for the next book and keep them coming back to your storefront—truly genius.
“Maybe I will.” I realized that I meant it. The idea was intriguing, and the prospect of the company made me want to come.
“I hope so. Are you staying nearby, or did you move here?” she asked while ringing up my total. “It’s a small town,” she added sheepishly. “We’re always curious.”
Swiping my credit card, I signed on the tablet. Small towns were definitely their own thing. “I just got here, but I’m staying out at some cabins pretty close.” Her eyes narrowed a little.
“Kipp’s? You said Hattie, right?”
“Um … yes and yes?” Edging my plate off the counter, I looked at my coffee and my books, wondering if I could ask for a bag.
Now I had too much stuff to carry. Kipp had known the girl at the counter when we came in, and his sister had been in here when we met for coffee.
Didn’t he say something about a brother’s fiancée?
The woman, Lila, laughed, according to her nametag. “Yeah, I know him. He’s my fiancée’s brother. The cabins are nice, right? I’m a little jealous that you get to stay up there. Let me help you to your table, and I’ll get you a bag for your books.”
Once she helped me over to a nice table next to a cushy-looking armchair and brought my books over, she finally hit me with it. “So,” she eye-balled me. “You’re into true-crime?”
“I wouldn’t say I’m into it.” I disliked it when people phrased it that way. “I’m here investigating a disappearance.”
Lila’s face crumpled. “Oh, I didn’t mean it like that. I sounded like a total bitch, didn’t I?”
Usually, I didn’t let it bother me, but the whole thing with Kipp had thrown me off my game.“Don’t worry about it. Sometimes people are judgy, that’s all. You weren’t out of line or anything. Generally, I’m way better about it, and I try not to be too sensitive, but I’ve had a hard few days.”
“I get that for sure. I’m sorry that you haven’t had the best welcome. Let me guess, is Kipp being a dick about your podcasting? I love that guy, but he has a very black and white view of the world sometimes.”
“Yeah, he’s probably not going to be starting any fan clubs for me.” The disapproval on his face was pretty clear, but I was planning to let it go. Lila squeezed my shoulder. “It’s fine. The whole reason I do this isn’t for approval from random guys.”
“I think what you do is amazing, by the way. You give these cases a voice, and people who maybe didn’t get the attention they deserved— that’s really important.”
“Thanks.”
She gave me a little smile and opened her mouth as if she might say more, but I was hoping she wouldn’t tell me how great my new landlord was or that I should cut him some slack. He probably was pretty awesome even if he had his head up his ass, but I wasn’t in the mood.
“I hope you stick around for a while. We have a girls’ night at the Public House. Sage and I, you’ve met her, you should come, it’d be fun.”
“Kipp’s sister, the one with the rubber boots and all the hair?
” The idea of a night out with the girls sounded amazing.
It was pretty rare for me to have a moment to hang out and enjoy myself with female company in a bar.
My friend Sydney and I were close, but we didn’t get the chance to hang out very often.
“She seemed like a kick. That’d be nice. ”
Lila laughed. “Sage is definitely a hoot. She keeps me laughing. We usually go during the week when we can during happy hour. Give me your number, and I’ll let you know when we’re meeting up.”
After swapping numbers, Lila headed back to the counter, and I settled into my armchair to enjoy my croissant and coffee while swiping through my messages and emails. Excited to see one from Leo, I opened the thread.
LEO
Found the motherlode. Allison had her own bank account in Briar Falls, and her husband wasn’t even a co-signer. The kicker was that she had over a hundred thousand in there, so it wasn’t small. I did some digging on where it was coming from, and she was working as an online cam girl.
He’d also sent me an email with the statements backing up his evidence, and, like always, I felt that stab of guilt over the questionable morality of the hacking we were involved in.
It definitely wasn’t exactly legal. This was big news.
It was a lot of money, which meant motive.
The husband worked at a lumber mill, and that probably didn’t bring in that much.
Flipping through the other records Leo had attached, I saw Trent’s bank statements and confirmed my suspicions. It was a decent salary, but they seemed to be struggling to pay rent, which made me wonder even more why Allison was sitting on that much money.
LEO
Trent’s finances were pretty bleak. He’s worked at the mill for years and earned a decent salary.
It looks like he knew about the cam work, or at least some of it.
Allison paid for groceries and withdrew weekly cash for them.
She also paid their heating bill from her account, but went to the bank to have a draft drawn.
She never had any checks written or any other cosigners.
Looking through the other attachments, I saw what Leo was talking about, slotting it into what I knew about Trent. Would it have pissed him off?
LEO
I’ll start looking into getting more information on the cam work and see if I can pull records and conversations. We might get a lead there, but it might be tough cracking that system. I’ll get back to you. L8GTR.
Finishing my croissant, I added a few more items to my notebook list: talk to someone at Briar Falls bank, ask if they ever noticed anyone with Allison, and I underlined talk to Trent. That was a priority now. I needed to know if I could shake something loose there.