Something Read, Something Dead by Eva Gates

Author:Eva Gates
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Crooked Lane Books

Chapter Sixteen

“Hang on a sec,” Josie whispered to me. She pulled me aside as Amos asked Connor how plans were going for repairs to the pilings under the pier and Jake told Steph he was considering enlarging the restaurant’s deck. Last summer they’d been full most weekend evenings, meaning customers had been turned away.

“What is it?” I asked my cousin.

“I didn’t want to say anything in front of Jake, but that ex-girlfriend of his was hanging around the bakery today.”

“What do you mean, hanging around? You’re closed.”

“Precisely. We might be closed, but I have invoices to send out and bills to pay.” She sighed. “I still have expenses, rent and such, although at the moment, no income. But that’s beside the point. Detective Yarmouth said I can work in the office but not do any baking, so I spent some time in there today. My car was parked outside. Anyone could have known I was there. It wasn’t long after you and I talked on the phone. When I finished what I had to do and came outside, there she was. She was standing on the sidewalk on the other side of the parking lot, holding a shopping bag from the accessories store a couple of doors down from me.”

“Maybe she was genuinely shopping.”

“I might have thought that except for the way she stared at me. She didn’t move, she didn’t say anything. She just stared. It creeped me out, badly.”

“What did you do?”

“I decided to confront her.”

“That wasn’t wise.”

“Doesn’t matter. Soon as I took a step toward her, she gave me one last look and jumped into her car and drove away.”

“You’re not going to tell Jake?”

“The last thing I need is him deciding he has to have it out with her and the police being called. Nothing happened. I needed to tell someone, that’s all.”

“What’s her name again?”

“Toni Ambrose.”

“Jake said she found a job in town. Do you know where?”

“At the Blue Lagoon, waitressing. He told me so I’d be sure to stay far away. Why do you—” Josie was cut off when Jake said, “Ready, babe?”

“Coming.” She wrapped me in a tight hug, and then we went out into the night. The winter storm had arrived and an icy cold wind hit us full in our faces. A perfect match to our moods.

* * *

Bertie had called an emergency meeting of the board of the Bodie Island Lighthouse Library for Tuesday at noon to discuss work needed on the lighthouse building. As the board was going to meet in the staff break room at the library, Bertie had been unsure if it could go ahead. Sam Watson called her Monday evening and said the library could open the following morning. Bertie let us know, and then she contacted the members of the board to tell them the meeting would proceed as scheduled.

At eleven o’clock Tuesday morning, she said she’d watch the desk for me while I went into town to pick up food for the meeting.

“Is everyone coming?” I asked.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.