Total pages in book: 75
Estimated words: 77576 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 388(@200wpm)___ 310(@250wpm)___ 259(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77576 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 388(@200wpm)___ 310(@250wpm)___ 259(@300wpm)
“I’m not sure it’s supposed to make sense,” Dad says. “The other one didn’t make sense either. There’s obviously some kind of code here that we need to break.”
“I talked to my mom,” Ava says. “I thought she might have some ideas from her years of investigation.”
“And did she?” Hardy asks.
“She thinks it’s a puzzle of some sort. But we’re not sure why it’s coming to me and to Brendan. She said she would check some things with her software at home, but she hasn’t gotten back to me.”
“Hasn’t she?” Hardy asks.
Ava shakes her head. “No, and to be frank, it’s upsetting. It’s almost like she doesn’t want to—”
“Doesn’t want to what?” my father asks.
Ava looks at her feet. “I can’t. I love my family. I love my mom. I’m just making things up at this point. There’s no reason why my mom wouldn’t be investigating this.”
“Wait,” Hardy says. “Are you saying that you think your mom is deliberately not looking into this?”
“Have you looked into it?” Ava asks.
“No. It’s not an issue for my office.”
“How can it not be an issue for your office?” Ava asks. “The message for the Murphys—and this time for us as well—came through your office.”
“It did, but no crime has been committed here.”
Ava says nothing then.
Hardy’s right. It’s not a crime to send an email to the sheriff’s office.
“We haven’t looked any further into it other than letting you guys know it’s here.”
“Fair enough,” I say.
“What’s interesting, though,” Dad says, “is that these two messages are seemingly unrelated. Which means there is some kind of code at work. I can look into that.”
“That’d be great, Dad. Now that you’re retired, you have more time than Ava and I do.”
“Absolutely. I’m glad to do it.” He turns to Hardy. “If there’s nothing else, I’ll get out of your hair, and I’m sure my son would like to get back to his date.”
Ava’s cheeks turn pink.
My God, she’s so beautiful.
“I’ll walk you home,” I say to Ava.
I plan to walk her to my home, but I don’t want to embarrass her in front of all these other people.
She nods. “Thank you.”
We walk, hand in hand, through the back alleyway, passing her bakery along the way.
But when we reach the bakery—
I stop, staring at two figures. “What are they doing here?”
Ava’s cousins, Donny and Brock, are waiting at the back of the bakery.
“Guys?” Ava says.
“We need to talk to you, cuz.”
“All right.” She unlocks the door. “You coming up, Brendan?”
Donny and Brock look at each other.
“We need to talk to you alone,” Brock says.
“It’s okay,” I say. “If you need me, I’m only three buildings away.”
I brush my lips over Ava’s.
Then I head for home.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
AVA
“Thanks for interrupting my date,” I say snidely, as they follow me up the stairs to my apartment.
“Got anything to drink up here?” Donny asks as we enter my place.
I point to the kitchen. “Help yourself to whatever you can find. I’m not a waitress.”
“What’s with the attitude?” This from Brock.
“Sorry.”
I do have an attitude, and I realize it’s because of what I read in my cards.
The secrets my family is keeping. The hypocrisy that may lie within them.
But it’s only a feeling at this point—an interpretation. I could very well be wrong.
It wouldn’t be the first time my interpretation of a reading was off. It happens to everyone who practices the tarot.
“Brendan mentioned that he’s only a few buildings away,” Donny says. “Does that mean his place is fixed already?”
I nod. “Apparently the insurance payoff was huge, and he was able to get everything expedited, so now he’s back home. They even waived his deductible, which is strange.”
“It’s not that strange,” Brock says.
I lift my eyebrows. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means,” Donny says, “that because of a bad decision I made, Brendan’s place was empty and available to be trashed.”
“Oh my God.” I rub my forehead. “Please don’t tell me you subsidized his insurance payoff.”
“We paid his insurance payoff,” Donny says. “You really think any insurance company would get money to a person that quickly?”
“Damn it,” I say. “Brendan and his family will hate that.”
“Which is why Brendan never has to know,” Brock says.
“I’m dating the man. I’m not going to keep secrets from him.”
“No one is asking you to,” Donny says. “Just don’t tell him.”
“What if he asks me straight-out?”
Donny laughs. “Is he really going to ever ask you, ‘Ava, did your family pay my insurance claim?’”
“Seriously?” I rub my temples against a headache I know is coming. “You guys have put me in a shitty position. I hate this. Sometimes I just hate our family’s money.”
Brock rolls his eyes. “That’s pretty clear, since you’ve chosen not to use it.”
“That’s not what I mean, and you both know it. But you know what? Money doesn’t solve everything.”
“It solves a hell of a lot,” Donny says.