Beguiled by Bourbon by Lucy Lakestone

Author:Lucy Lakestone [Lakestone, Lucy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781943134397
Publisher: Sky Diary Productions

16

My head spun. “Chloe and Gavin were married? I thought they were just engaged!”

“That’s what they told everybody,” Royce said. “They planned a big wedding to please their families, but they quietly did a justice-of-the-peace ceremony because they were anxious to get it done. No one knew about it, but I was a witness, along with someone who works at the courthouse. I agreed to keep it secret so their families wouldn’t be disappointed.”

My head did a little involuntary shake of disbelief. “So Chloe now has a stake in Coppercopia?”

“Not a big one, but a profitable one, at least so far.”

Neil spoke quietly. “That’s motive. Have you told Detective Evans?”

“No,” Royce said. “It just never occurred to me.”

I thought back to that night. Gavin had said he had to pick up Chloe for the party. She’d come on her own because he didn’t show up, or at least that was what Royce said she’d told him. She had plenty of time to get up to no good if she wanted to. Surely Gavin told her where he’d be. I shuddered at the thought.

And didn’t Chloe just say she felt invested in the success of the new bourbon? No kidding. She was literally invested.

The others had climbed aboard the shuttles, and the first one trundled out of the parking lot to the road.

“We’d better go. We’ll talk later,” Royce said. “I’d hate to think … she’s been behaving strangely, but …”

“You have other things to attend to,” Neil said. “But when you get a chance, it wouldn’t hurt to talk to the detective.”

“You’re right.” Royce rubbed his temples. “It just hurts. All of it.”

I squeezed his shoulder, and we got on the second shuttle.

A few minutes later, we pulled up to the restaurant and disembarked. While my friends scattered, I spotted Beau slouching against his van. He stood up straight when he saw me and walked toward me.

“I don’t want to talk,” I told him as he got close.

“Don’t you think we have to talk? Like it or not, I’m in your life already.”

“I just met you. You’re not in my life.”

“But I will be. I’m your brother. I’ll be part of your family. We can have Thanksgiving together.” He sounded so earnest, just a mild-mannered folk singer who happened to be related to me. And his words hit a chord, pricked me with a familiar pain, reminding me that I hadn’t seen my parents in years for a big holiday. Aunt Celestine was my only real family now.

“Please, little Pepper. I’m your mother’s son,” he continued. “I work in their church. They already love me. And I think you’ll at least like me once you get to know me better.”

Yet everything I’d seen so far suggested quite the opposite. Maybe some advice columnist—I loved reading advice columnists—would tell me not to judge too quickly. To talk it out. To take my time. And Neil, who’d lost his brother, had made a good case for giving Beau a chance. But something in my gut rebelled.

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