25. Chapter 25
twenty-five
“Is there anything else I can get you, Mrs. Howard?” Amanda asked her customer as she plated the lemon tart.
Sanctuary was buzzing with people today. Saturday was always a busy time for their business, but it was more hectic since many came not just to browse for books or eat some pastries. They were there for gossips.
“That’s it, dear,” Mrs. Howard. “I’m surprised you’re working today after everything that happened yesterday. I can’t believe a crime like that happened in our backyard.”
Amanda stayed respectful of the Carsons’ privacy and simply smiled.
“It’s unfortunate, Mrs. Howard.”
When Amanda didn’t elaborate, Mrs. Howard pursed her lips.
“Have you learned more about Lydia’s condition?” the older woman asked, trying to get any info.
This one Amanda didn’t mind divulging.
“Miss Lydia is doing well. Dr. Rowland informed me last night she didn’t suffer more complications from her ordeal.”
“Oh, thank goodness,” Mrs. Howard said. “I told her she shouldn’t live alone anymore because of things like this. She was lucky you and Dr. Rowland found her last night.”
“I’m glad we did. Here’s your change, Mrs. Howard.” Amanda bestowed her with her friendliest smile. “Liam will bring your cappuccino to your table.”
The steady flow of customers coming in and out of Sanctuary kept Amanda, Jo, and their crew occupied well into the late afternoon. Each one came with questions about the Carsons’ case, along with their purchase. By the end of the rush, Amanda felt she’d managed a balance of answering their questions and being vague about details.
She couldn’t blame the town folks for wanting to get details about what had occurred. All the news channels ran the story this morning, but the information was sparse. Honestly, she didn’t know much more than the rest of them.
At around three, Amanda and Jo sat down in their office with cups of tea. It felt good to sit down.
“Yesterday was wild, huh?” Jo started. “Can’t believe you really found those children.”
Amanda grinned. “Technically, Max, the K-9 officer, found them.”
“That dog wouldn’t know who to find if you didn’t get the police involved,” Jo pointed out.
“That’s neither here nor there. Without Patrick’s help, we wouldn’t have gotten the sketch done. The mystery unraveled after that.”
“But is it true the kids’ parents were held hostage?” Jo asked.
“Yes.” Amanda nodded and told Jo what she knew. When she finished, her friend’s jaw was on the floor.
“Woah,” Jo breathed out. “But what did that woman Holly want?”
Amanda shrugged. “I don’t know. Patrick hasn’t told us yet. I don’t know if he’ll tell us. It’s police business now.”
A knock on the door startled them both. After Jo told the person to come in, Gene peeked through the door opening.
“Liam told me to come back here. Hope that’s okay,” he said.
“Absolutely.” Jo waved him in. “Amanda was just updating me about yesterday.”
Amanda smiled at him. “How long did you stay with Miss Lydia last night? Did you get any rest?”
“Yes.” Gene smiled back as he lightly brushed his hand over her arm, a gesture that should be benign enough in other people’s company, but still quickened Amanda’s heartbeat.
“Lydia’s niece, Carmen, arrived not long after and stayed with her aunt. Lydia gained consciousness in the ambulance and started feeling better right away. But due to her age, they kept her for observation for a few hours,” Gene explained.
“Thank you for staying with her,” Amanda said.
“Of course.”
“Seems you’re already doing your job before your first day, Doc,” Jo teased. “When are you starting with Dr. Bloom?”
“Monday,” he answered. “I’m just glad Amanda noticed something was amiss with Lydia.” He glanced at Amanda with something akin to awe in his eyes. “She has the most accurate gut feeling I’ve ever encountered.”
“Right?” Jo agreed.
Blushing—a phenomenon that happened to her more often since Gene’s return to her life—Amanda jumped to change the subject. “It was actually Loki’s gut. But my gut is saying you have something to share.”
“Not me, but Patrick’s on his way in. I think he wants to update us as a courtesy,” Gene said, then his phone buzzed. “That must be him now.”
“Awesome! Let’s meet him outside,” Jo suggested. “This office is getting cramped.”
They reconvened in the kitchen with coffee and snacks. Patrick looked like he needed some sustenance. Amanda handed him a plate with his favorite, a cinnamon roll.
“Have you slept, Patrick?”
She eyed the dark circles under the detective’s brown eyes.
“I caught a few hours this morning, but yeah, not much,” he answered. “This Carson case blew up into something much bigger.” Patrick then made eye contact with Gene, Amanda, then Jo. “Nothing I tell you leaves this room until GBI makes an official statement, you understand?”
“GBI? The Georgia Bureau of Investigation is involved now?”
Gene straightened in surprise.
“Yes, we had to loop them in,” Patrick said. “I’m telling you what’s going on because we wouldn’t have stumbled on this if it weren’t for you and Amanda. But I need your discretion. I know the town is abuzz with speculation about the Carsons.”
“Yeah, people have been coming in almost non-stop trying to get something out of Amanda,” Jo said.
“I told them nothing. Just that we should respect the family’s privacy,” Amanda assured.
Patrick nodded. “As it turns out, the Carsons were being used. Well, not the Carsons themselves, but their business. Holly D’Beech, Pete Carson’s Chief Operating Officer, was deeply involved with a drug cartel which had been using the Carsons’ car transports to run their products all over the state. They came through the port in Savannah with their imported cars to their headquarters in Gainesville before being distributed to their other branches.”
“Holy shit,” Jo exclaimed, her eyes huge with shock.
“When he woke up from his surgery last night, Pete Carson gave us a detailed account of what happened,” Patrick continued. “He started getting suspicious about the timing of the transport arrivals. Miss D’Beech scheduled some of them at odd hours. He didn’t catch on until only a few weeks ago.”
“That’s crazy,” Gene said.
“Tell me about it,” Patrick agreed. “The guy we caught spilled about the incoming transport. We looped in GBI, and they intercepted it. It was one of the top ten biggest drug busts they had this year.”
Amanda couldn’t say anything. Her mouth just hung open in disbelief.
“Why did Holly D’Beech get involved with a drug operation?” Gene asked. “You’d think she made enough money being the COO of one of the biggest car dealers in the state.”
“This is yet to be proven, but based on the call logs and messages on the burner phone we found on her, she might be romantically involved with someone in the cartel. Either they manipulated her into helping them, or she could be the head of the operation. Who knows at this point? She can’t speak for herself, so now it’s all conjecture based on the other guy’s testimony and the evidence we have. Once GBI unravels this distribution ring, maybe we’ll learn more,” Patrick finished.
“Wow,” Amanda finally said. She sighed heavily. “I’m just glad the children didn’t get caught deeper in that craziness. And you stopped drugs from further infecting our state.”
“Thanks to you.” Patrick gave Amanda a nod of respect.
Gene held Patrick back as their group filed out of the kitchen and let the ladies go ahead of them.
“Hey, thanks for updating us,” he told his friend. “We know you didn’t have to.”
“I think you and Amanda deserve to know what your search unraveled,” Patrick said.
“Crazy, huh?” Gene said, but pivoted. “I was wondering about you. How are you doing?”
When Patrick only lifted an eyebrow in question, Gene added, “I put two and two together, and I know you had to take a life yesterday.”
Patrick inhaled deeply as he gave a slight nod.
“I’m handling it, Gene. Thanks for asking.”
“You know I’m here if you need to talk, right?” Gene offered.
Patrick gave him a solemn smile and reached out his hand for a shake. “Much appreciated, brother. I could use a beer tonight if you were free, but it looks you’re quite occupied these days.”
Patrick gestured with his head toward Amanda’s back and lifted his eyebrows twice to tease Gene.
Gene chuckled. “I can always make time for a beer with a friend.”
“Amanda,” someone called. “There you are. Thank god!”
Gene and Patrick turned their attention to the voice. A man with light brown hair, broad muscled shoulders, and a big smile on his face rushed to Amanda.
“Noah,” Amanda said to the man, stunned, but she smiled.
The smile turned into shock when the man hugged her tightly. Gene’s frown was immediate.
Who the hell is this guy?
He glanced at Patrick with the unspoken question. His friend answered with a small shrug.
Amanda pulled back from the hug and asked, “What are you doing here?”
“I heard you were in an accident,” Noah said. “When you didn’t reply to my text, I thought you’d blown me off. But I didn’t know you were in an accident right after our date, or I would’ve come sooner.”
Their date?
As if sensing Gene’s growing unease, Jo came to stand next to him. “Um, that must be Amanda’s date from last Sunday.”
“She’s been seeing this guy?” Gene asked.
“They’ve only gone on two dates. I haven’t even met him.”
“But you’ve heard of him.”
“Amanda told me a bit about him after the first date, yeah,” Jo answered hesitantly. “He lives in Cumming, so I don’t know him. He owns a gym there, a single dad. Sounds nice.”
“Right.” Gene watched Amanda’s interaction with the man. “Amanda never mentioned him.”
“Well, Amanda hasn’t mentioned him once since you came home,” Jo added awkwardly, but Gene’s focus was on the flustered Amanda.
“I’m sorry,” Amanda said. “I wasn’t…”
“Don’t worry about it. You were injured.” Noah smiled and rubbed Amanda’s arm too intimately to Gene’s liking. “I understand texting me back probably wasn’t your top priority after an accident.”
“I appreciate that.” Amanda stepped back, putting a bit of space between her and Noah. “I’ve been preoccupied. How did you hear about my accident?”
“From friends. We read about the shooting in Gainesville, and we heard something big went down. But the rumor is it all started with a car accident on Browns Bridge,” Noah said. “When we looked it up, your accident popped up. Did you really see the woman in the blue dress?”
Gene scoffed at that. The rumor mill made it all the way to Cumming? But he supposed the part where they gossiped about Amanda and him didn’t make it to Noah’s ears.
Amanda turned her gaze back and realized she had an audience. Her cheeks pinked as her eyes locked with Gene. Was that guilt in them? The whole week as they were searching for the kids, bonding with each other, screwing each other’s brains out, not once had she said she was dating another man.
She didn’t have to, you asshole. It’s not like you had any claim on her.
“Are you gonna introduce us?” Gene asked, his voice level, not betraying the uncertainty he was feeling.
Amanda’s jaw tightened with discomfort. Heads in the store swiveled around, but she introduced them.
“Noah, these are my friends: Jo, Gene, and Patrick.”
Friends. Right. Gene noted the classification bitterly.
“Hi, Noah. Nice to meet you.”
Jo came forward first, intercepting Gene’s advance toward the other guy, giving Gene enough time to check himself.
With a big inhale, Gene reminded himself, he had no right to Amanda more than what she was willing to give him. Besides, technically, Noah was in her life first.
Patrick elbowed Gene lightly on his side. “You need backup?” he whispered.
Gene looked at his friend, appreciative of his loyalty.
“No, but I can get that beer now.”
Noah nodded at both Gene and Patrick. “Nice to meet you.”
“Did you come for books or pastries?” Gene asked Noah, friendly enough.
“Maybe both,” the other guy said, smiling at the ladies. “Amanda told me so much about Sanctuary, I just had to come visit. Sorry, it took me so long. You know how hard it is to find time between the gym and Hannah. Oh, I want you to meet her.”
Who’s Hannah?
“Oh.” Amanda’s face paled a bit. “Is she here?”
“She’s at the children’s books section,” Noah said. “I was thinking you might join us for dinner if you were free tonight.”
“I…” Amanda’s gaze darted from Noah to Gene, then to Jo in a panic.
Jo, the good friend she was, scrambled to come up with something to assist her best friend. But Gene was quick to intervene.
“That sounds fun. After the week you had, you should go enjoy yourself.”
Amanda’s gaze sharpened at him as her lips parted in silent bewilderment.
A girl, whose light brown hair was neatly braided, ran to Noah with a book.
“Daddy, daddy. Can I get this book? There are funny looking creatures in them.”
“Let’s see.” Noah bent down to scan the chosen book. “This sounds interesting, sweetheart. Sure, we can get it. But first, I want you to meet a very nice friend of mine.”
Though she might feel uncomfortable that Noah sprang his daughter on her, Amanda graciously smiled and reached out her hand to the little girl for a handshake.
“Hi Hannah. It’s lovely to meet you. I’m Amanda. What a pretty braid you have there,” Amanda said.
“Daddy braided my hair for me,” the girl said.
“Where’s your manners?” Noah asked gently.
“Oh, sorry. Nice to meet you, Miss Amanda.”
The girl beamed at Amanda, showing a mouth with a couple of missing teeth.
Fuck. This guy was perfect. Tall, in great shape, personable, a business owner, and a great dad.
And he’s local. Permanently.
Gene didn’t have to witness anymore.
“Patrick and I are gonna get a drink or two,” Gene said, decision made. “You guys have a wonderful dinner. It was good meeting you, Noah.”
Patrick threw Gene a disapproving glance, but he took his cue, said some pleasantries and followed Gene out of the store.