Skein and Bones (A Knitty Kitty Cozy Mystery Book 2) by Katherine Hayton

Author:Katherine Hayton [Hayton, Katherine]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2021-05-18T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eight

The next morning, Tash dragged herself into the store a minute before opening, feeling like she’d last slept a month ago. Her eyes were crusty, her mind bleary, and the only sharp thing about her was her tongue.

“Good morning,” Drew greeted her with characteristic enthusiasm. As Tash navigated the way through a dense forest of syllables to come up with a proper response, she wished she could turn everyone down a notch. Or, better still, mute them like a Netflix show until she could fetch another coffee.

“Did you have a chance to test out my new ordering system?”

Tash turned to face the backroom door as Tangle tumbled through the gap. It saved her face from broadcasting exactly what she thought of alternative systems and eager employees, especially given the circumstances.

“Did you hear about Vic Altruzza?” she asked, forestalling another round of ‘you’re too old to be doing this anymore.’ “Isn’t it terrible?”

“Did you know him?” Drew lifted herself onto the counter and swung her legs. “Dad said he was a complete muppet and intent on destroying his business.”

“Wayne said that?” Tash was flummoxed. It seemed out of character for the man she remembered, albeit with rose-tinted brain cells.

“Oh, not after he heard the guy died,” Drew hastened to assure her. “No. Before. When he found out Vic stitched him up by dumping the body over the road. He and Mum had a right go at him.”

“Your mum knew him?”

Drew invested so much energy in her nod that she reminded Tash of a bobblehead going over a speedbump. “They knew each other back in high school aaaaaages ago. She blamed him for granddad getting involved in that investment Ponzi scheme.”

“I don’t recall Vic being involved in that.”

“He wasn’t.” Drew grinned widely—an expression that abruptly fell away as Aura sluggishly passed by the window, barely raising her hand to wave. “Your friend looks pretty hard hit by the news. Dad said she was sweet on him. Is she okay?”

Tash didn’t feel like telling the young woman what it was like to get to your middle years. How the many futures you’d envisaged for yourself once upon a time had shrunk. How rare it was for a new possibility to strut over the horizon and be all, ‘Hey, look at me. Imagine this!’

Even if Aura would probably have driven the man away in a flat minute, over something inconsequential, to have the decision snatched away from her was bitter. Vic might have got on Tash’s nerves, but she would have happily complained about him for the next forty years if he’d brightened Aura’s life.

But that would be near impossible to explain to an eager teenager. The unpalatable truth would present itself to her, soon enough.

“How could it be Vic’s fault if he wasn’t involved?” she asked instead, bringing Drew back on topic.

“Mum reckons he knew all along the guy was dodgy and pressed her dad to sign onto the scheme while he stayed out of harm’s way.”

Tash raised her eyebrows. Oh, Jenna

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