No Good Tea Goes Unpunished by Bree Baker

Author:Bree Baker
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Sourcebooks
Published: 2019-01-14T16:00:00+00:00

Thirteen

I excused myself and went to my room to breathe.

I splashed cold water on my face, then stared at my heartbroken expression in the bathroom mirror. “Pull it together, Swan,” I said, using my best Grady Hays impression. I’d let Ryan get under my skin. Rude reporter: one, delightful iced-tea-shop owner: zero. I wouldn’t let it happen again. Who cared if Wyatt was in town? Not me. Who cared if he did or didn’t think I was cursed? Not me. I couldn’t feel responsible for the things that went on in his head. He was a grown man. Who’d clearly taken one too many blows to the noggin. I grabbed a hairbrush and worked through my tangles, then reapplied lip gloss and mascara. Once I felt a little more like myself, I changed into soft blue jeans and a long-sleeved white T-shirt, then grabbed my laptop from the nightstand.

Muddled voices carried through the vents from downstairs, along with soft classical music from my café radio. A lazy rotation of red and white flashers swept across my window from the remaining police cruisers below. I leaned closer and peered behind the curtain. Two uniformed officers accompanied Grady on the sand, roaming the beach in search of clues. I dropped the curtain back into place before Grady saw me watching, and I climbed onto my bed.

I opened my laptop and brought up the Town Charmer blog. I couldn’t go back downstairs until I knew more about the Wild Bunch Rodeo Team and memorized their schedule for the week so I could actively avoid them. I scanned for recent articles, but found nothing. No reference to any cowboys, the Wild Bunch, or our wild horses. The Town Charmer was too busy following up on Craig’s murder to waste time covering festival acts.

When I couldn’t find a website for the Wild Bunch either, I put that frustration aside and refocused on an equally infuriating man: Ryan O’Malley.

I’d already seen his social media profiles, but I hadn’t taken the time to read any of his articles or trace the course of his career. I typed his name into the search bar and examined the results. Ryan’s name appeared on dozens of wedding-themed pieces over the last four years. Before that, there was a gap of time where Ryan seemed to be silent. Going back further, his name appeared regularly again, this time in articles related to technology. He was a busy guy back then. Online articles. Magazine articles. Guest blog posts. Exposés and investigative stories.

One particular headline caught my eye: TECH DYNAMO CRAIG MILLER FACES OFF WITH UNDERCOVER REPORTER. I skimmed the article in a state of shock: Ryan had done more than simply follow Craig’s career, as he’d said. He’d known him. The year Craig and Pete’s company was breaking into the news, Ryan was already working there, posing as an intern.

“I knew it,” I whispered to the screen as I scrolled. Ryan had spent time at Craig and Pete’s company, pretending to be

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