The Fading Twin (Lost Coast Mystery Book 1) by I.O. Adler

Author:I.O. Adler [Adler, I.O.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Lucas Ross Publishing
Published: 2024-09-02T00:00:00+00:00

15

Had the Saturday Market jewelry vendor been prudent or protective? Trip realized his approach had been anything but subtle. Even if she didn’t know Rose, she was reacting to a strange man asking questions about an employee.

How would Sebastian have handled it?

By not being shy with his investigator’s ID, most likely.

As he returned to his car, Trip worried the woman would call the police. He had broken no laws, but acting creepy would earn him unwanted attention. The market ran until three in the afternoon, and he needed to watch the place. The cops would come up with a dozen ways to harass him.

He let out a sigh and drummed his fingers on the steering wheel. Come back later. Swing by and scan the place from a distance. He was about to turn the ignition key when someone knocked on the window.

Rose grinned at him. Barely contained by a floral sun hat, her tangled reddish-brown hair hung around her face. She was wearing a baggy gray sweatshirt and jeans. Fit right in with the Saturday Market crowd.

He got out of the car. Emotion choked his voice. “You’re here.”

She gestured widely. “Ta-dah!” They embraced. “What are you doing here, Trip?”

“Looking for you. I thought you might have been hurt. Or dead. What happened to Mom?”

“She got sick. I took care of her.”

He waited for more. Kept his hands on her as if he was afraid she would evaporate before his eyes. “I called. I called a lot. And you stopped visiting.”

Her mouth tightened. “There are things that happened that had nothing to do with you. I needed to get mom and leave.”

“And you couldn’t have made contact once to let me know you were okay?”

She took his hands and squeezed them. “It was the last thing I wanted. Let’s get off the street.”

They waited for a delivery truck to pass them before heading for the opposite sidewalk. She led him to a courtyard next to a dress shop and they sat on a bench. It was cold enough to see their breath.

Trip rubbed his hands together. “Can we go inside somewhere? Like the diner?”

“I can’t talk for long.”

“Why? What’s going on?”

“I’m working and I need to get back soon.”

He said sharply, “At the market? Can’t it wait?”

“No, not the market. I have a nursing job.”

“You’re going to have to do better than that. You cut me off. And then you took our mom away from home and ditched your place, all to wind up here, and you couldn’t once call to tell me what was happening?”

“I owe you an explanation. Mom was very sick. And she had a last request to come up here to the coast before she passed.”

“You moved her out of her apartment. This could have been a day trip.”

“She was dying. I didn’t know how long we were going to be gone. I took care of it my way.”

“That doesn’t make any sense. If she was sick, she needed to go to a doctor.”

“She went. They didn’t help.

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