Chapter 8
Chapter Eight
The wind ruffled my hair as I poked my head out from the safety of the sidewalk into the alley. It was still too dark to make out anything beyond the familiar shape of the dumpster. I shivered at the icy touch of the wind.
“Millie?” I whispered.
“I don’t scent anyone,” she said. “I think it’s safe.”
It was a drip of confidence in an ocean of fear. I trusted my cat. Truly, her senses were much better than mine, but I couldn’t make my feet move. A loud thump from down the alley sounded, and I screeched, ducking back to the sidewalk.
“What was that?”
Bright lights split the darkness, blinding me as I put my free hand up to block my eyes. My heart was pumping so loudly I could hear my pulse as it thundered.
“Olivia?”
The sound of Meg’s voice instantly soothed me, and a tortured laugh broke free.
“Oh, gosh, it’s you. I thought... I don’t know what I thought.”
“Is everything okay?” Meg said as she got out of her car. “I saw you standing here and, well, I don’t know what I thought, but...”
“I don’t know, Meg. I thought there might be someone in my shop, but I’m probably just being silly. Freddie was boarding it up when we left last night, and there wasn’t anyone inside. I just...”
Meg’s freckled face scrunched into a knowing frown.
“I know. Yesterday was awful. Do you want to call Rob? I guess I thought he’d be here with you.”
I rubbed my forehead.
“No. He was called out a few hours ago and I’m sure he’s busy. And I’m sure I’m being silly. I don’t want to bother him with something like this. I was just working up the courage to go into the alley when you showed up.”
Meg turned, rummaged around in her SUV, and came out holding a rolling pin.
“I’ll go with,” she said, smacking the rolling pin in her hand. “This sucker will stop anyone in their tracks.”
A giggle, half hysterical, bubbled up, and Meg soon joined me.
“We’re a pair, aren’t we?”
“The best. Let’s go see what’s going on.”
She walked beside me as we made our way slowly down the alley. The wind whistled through, and that loud bang sounded again, freezing us in our tracks.
“What was that?”
Meg’s voice was higher than usual. I knew when I spoke mine would be too.
“I don’t know. It’s coming from down there.”
She nodded and started inching forward.
“So, how was your first night at Rob’s house?”
“Uh, okay, I guess?”
“You don’t sound that certain.”
I let out a ragged breath and shrugged.
“It was fine. I fell asleep right away.”
“Darn. So, no salacious gossip?”
If she wasn’t holding a heavy rolling pin, I would have swatted her arm.
“Of course not. Well, there was the neighbor who was lurking when I left, but that’s nothing too surprising.”
“Tammy or Morris?”
“Uh, Tammy. Who’s Morris?”
“He lives on the other side of Rob. He’s a character. I don’t think you’ve ever met him. You’d remember if you did.”
I filed that away for future reference as we made it to the dumpster. I dug into my pocket and pulled out my cellphone, flipping on the flashlight app.
“I probably should have done that earlier, huh?”
“Eh, it’s not every day we go creeping about in alleys. Oh! That’s what the sound is. Your back door is open.”
It banged again, as if to confirm what she’d said.
“But... I was certain I’d locked this yesterday. Before everything started. Unless... maybe the fire crew unlocked it?”
Meg shot me a look and walked to the door.
“Bring that light over here. Look at this!”
I shone the light onto the lock and bit back a gasp. The door had been scraped, and the lock mechanism hung off it. Millie struggled in my grip, breaking free before rushing inside.
“Millie!”
I darted after her, scraping my shoulder on the splintered door frame. I flipped on the light, sending the fluorescents above whining as they flickered on.
“Well, shoot,” Meg said as she hurried after us. “So much for waiting to call for help. We probably...”
I slid to a stop, surveying the interior of the shop. Everything looked just how I’d left it, the remains of destroyed books, soaked through, heaped on the floor. Despite my fear, I could only think of the damage to the flooring underneath. I’d be lucky if the floor wasn’t warped.
Millie trotted past, nose to the ground, heading back the way we’d come. She skidded to a stop in front of the storeroom and looked over her shoulder, eyes blazing. I hurried over to her.
She nosed at something, and I knelt, shining the light of my phone down to the floor. A small tuft of brown, wiry hair lay there. My heart started pounding harder as I caught Millie’s whispered warning.
“Fang.”
“Olivia?”
“Look at this,” I said, waving her over. “I think I know who broke into my shop. But... why?”
“Who?”
“Declan Fairmont.”
“Who?”
“The guy in the park with the scary dog. I’m pretty sure this is dog hair.”
I shot Millie an apologetic glance. She was never wrong, especially about things like this. But I couldn’t tell Meg that my cat knew it was dog fur, and which dog it belonged to.
My cat walked into the storeroom, sniffing intently at the floor. Meg watched her, a puzzled expression in her hazel eyes.
“What’s she doing? I mean, obviously she’s sniffing, but... It’s just so un-cat-like.”
“Millie’s got a good nose,” I said, jumping to my cat’s defense. “She does this all the time.”
I watched as Millie wound between the shelves of the storeroom. She came to a stop in the corner and pawed at something, looking at me over her shoulder. I walked closer as Meg followed on my heels.
“What did you find, girl?”
“Hopefully, it’s not Timmy in the well,” Meg whispered.
I bit my lip to keep from laughing. If she only knew the gifts my cat possessed.
Millie stepped aside, and I peered into the shelves. There, at the back, was a black bag. It looked familiar.
“There’s a bag back here.”
Meg grabbed my arm so hard that it hurt. I startled, bumping my head on the shelf above.
“Ow!”
I looked back to see Meg’s pale face.
“Oh my gosh, Olivia. It could be another bomb!”
I barely had time to get my cat before Meg hauled me backward, ignoring my protests as she dragged me out of the room.
“We need to call Rob,” Meg said, her eyes full of fear.
“But... I know that bag! It belongs to Moorehead. I don’t think he was carrying around a bomb.”
“What?”
“I’m almost positive that’s his bag. I remember looking at it when he was waiting for me at the door.”
“Why did he leave that behind? Wouldn’t he have noticed he was missing it?”
“I’m sure with the explosion, he just got carried away trying to get every moment on social media and forgot he left it here. I’m going to open it.”
“Olivia, no!”
I ducked back into the storeroom and crawled down to the shelf while Millie sniffed curiously next to me.
I wanted to ask her if it was safe, but with Meg hovering in the doorway, wringing her hands, it just wasn’t an option.
As I pulled the bag free, I looked at my cat.
She seemed to get what I wanted and sniffed the bag, her eyes half-closed.
When she blinked at me, I figured that meant it was fine. At least I sure hoped it was.
“Let’s open it in the front where we have more light,” I said, as Meg stepped out of the doorway to let me through.
“I don’t know about this, Olivia,” Meg said, still twisting her hands together. “But if you’re sure.”
“As sure as I can be. Let’s see what’s inside.”
I ran a hand across the smooth leather, marveling at the texture. This was an expensive bag. It likely cost more than my entire purse collection, which wasn’t saying much given that I had only three and used one of them.
I pinched the zipper between my fingers, said a quick prayer, and slid it open. Meg peeked over my shoulder.
“It’s just papers.”
I slid the stack out of the bag and nodded.
“It’s a manuscript. Written in Blood by Jackson Moorehead. Huh, I haven’t seen this title on his upcoming book list.”
“Maybe it’s a secret project,” Meg said, her eyes wide. “We’d better put this back.”
I was already leafing through the pages and frowning.
“That’s odd.”
“What?”
Millie hopped onto the counter, her fur brushing my arm as I continued to read through the first chapter.
“This sounds nothing like any of the books of his that I’ve read. And trust me, as soon as I knew he was coming for this signing, I forced myself to read his entire series.”
“Forced?” Meg asked, wrinkling her nose.
I nodded and kept scanning.
“His style really isn’t my cup of tea. I love a good mystery, but his books are very dark. Disturbing. This reads... just totally differently.”
“Well, maybe he’s just changing up his style. We should put that away, Olivia. What if he comes back and finds us going through his private things?”
“I wish I had a copier. What time is it? Dang, it’s still too early for Ruthie to open the library. There’s something about this that isn’t right, Meg. I don’t know why I think that, but... I don’t know. Maybe you’re right.”
I re-stacked the pages and put them back into the bag, but couldn’t resist the urge to poke further. I came up with a few pens, an ancient piece of gum, and a tiny baggie filled with white powder.
“Oh boy,” I said, stepping away from the bag as if it held a snake instead of contraband. “He’s definitely going to want this bag back.”
A knock on the door made both of us jump, and I leaned around Meg to confirm that, yes, my worst fears had just been confirmed.
“Shoot. Quick, Meg. Zip this up while I let him in.”
I darted around the counter and headed for the door. Moorehead was peering inside, hands cupped around his eyes to see past the glare. I unlocked the door and let him in.
“Mr. Moorehead, I was just thinking about you.”
“Oh? All good, I hope,” he said, flashing a grin with his straight, white teeth.
If only he knew. I simply smiled and gestured toward the counter.
“I think this belongs to you. I had to go through the storeroom to check for damage. Luckily, the firefighters got the blaze out before it reached the rest of the shop.”
His eyes lit with a feral gleam, and he hurried to the counter, shouldering Meg aside. She leveled a glare at him that would melt the thickest ice. Millie’s hackles went up as she backed away from him.
“This is my property. You had no right to move it.”
He whipped around to stare at me, and my instincts screamed at me to step back, out of the line of fire. I held firm and raised my chin.
“It was in my shop. You didn’t mention wanting to store anything in here.”
“I bet you old biddies went through it, didn’t you? Didn’t you?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I said, praying he wouldn’t turn to see Meg’s face, which had gone bright red. “I think you should leave.”
He yanked the bag off the counter and sneered at me.
“Stupid little bookstore in a stupid little podunk town. I don’t know why I listened to Nat when she insisted I come here. This whole place can rot as far as I’m concerned.”
He threw open the door and stormed out, coat flapping behind him.
“Old biddies? Podunk town? Why, I outta...”
I flapped a hand and shivered, pulling my coat tighter to fight the chill that went through me as I locked the door behind him.
“He’s just a terrible person. We can’t put any stock in what he has to say.”
“Well, I can’t wait for him to get the heck out of this town. I wonder how he’s going to do that? We don’t have a rental car agency here.”
I groaned and leaned against the counter.
“That’s right. Oh gosh, I hope he doesn’t ask me for a ride. I’d be tempted to head for the nearest cliff if I had to be trapped in a car with that guy.”
Another rap at the door had me spinning in place, ready to do battle if Moorehead had decided to come back to throw more insults around. My anger instantly fled when I saw Rob standing on the other side of the door.
“Rob!”
I hurried over to the door and let him in. But instead of the warm smile and teasing light I’d come to expect from him, his blue eyes were rather wintery and his expression was stern.
“Olivia, it’s not safe for you to be here. Meg.”
She shot me a look and then gave him a feeble wave.
“Hi.”
“I heard a noise when I pulled up, Rob. I just wanted to see how bad the damage was, but we found the side door open. I know I had it locked. The lock is broken, and we found some dog hair...”
“So you came into an unsecured building, alone, when there’s an active attempted murder investigation going on?”
“I wasn’t alone. I had Meg!”
My friend started taking small steps toward the door. Rob heaved a sigh, pinching the bridge of his nose.
“You know what I mean, Olivia. You shouldn’t be here. You’ve got more sense than that.”
I frowned.
“I have plenty of sense. And if you’re itching to lash out at someone, Jackson Moorehead just left here with a bag containing a white powdery substance.”
“And he called us old biddies,” Meg said, piping up. “If that’s not an arrestable offense, I don’t know what is.”
Her attempt at humor fell flat. Rob tilted his head to the side, and I realized I’d just messed up. Big time.
“And how do you know what is in the bag? What do you mean he left with it?”
“Uh, so, I need to go get the cafe ready for the morning rush,” Meg said, not even bothering to hide the fact she was fleeing. “See you two later!”
She unlocked the door and rushed outside, waving goodbye with her rolling pin. I turned to look at Rob.
“Olivia?”
My shoulders slumped, and it was my turn to sigh.
“I know I shouldn’t have looked inside, but I was curious. Millie found the bag in the storeroom, and I recognized it. I just wanted to see what was in there. I found a manuscript, and here’s the thing...”
“You tampered with evidence. During an active investigation.”
“Well, sort of. But it was really weird, Rob.”
“No, Olivia. There is no sort of. Now he can claim that any ‘white substance’ I find on him was planted by the owner of the bookstore. Who I happen to be dating.”
I felt very small indeed as he looked at me, frustration evident in every beloved line of his face.
“I’m sorry. But...”
“Until the building is cleared, you shouldn’t be in here, Olivia. I need you to take Millie and go. The engineers should be here in a little while, and I’ll let you know what they say.”
“But...”
“No buts, Olivia. You need to go. And I’ll need your keys. So I can lock up after you.”
I stared at him, surprised by the sudden gulf that sprang up between us.
“You don’t trust me?”
“It’s not like that. I’ve got a job to do. And you’ve just made it that much harder. I’m sorry, Olivia, but it’s the way it’s going to be.”
I fished in my pocket and grabbed my keys. When I handed them over, I could feel the sharp sting of tears pricking my eyes.
“Come on, Millie. Let’s go.”
“Olivia...”
I ignored him as I picked up my cat and headed for the front door. I refused to look back as I walked to my car. I didn’t want to see his face. Not right now. This day was quickly going from bad to worse, and the sun wasn’t even fully up yet.