The Hothouse Deception by Patti Larsen

Author:Patti Larsen
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Patti Larsen Books

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Chapter Fourteen

Annie left shortly after that, no amount of comforting words assisting in any sort of recovery or retreat from the personal prison she carried around with her. Just like the rest of us, I suppose, but hers felt particularly confining and her case poignant enough I couldn’t help but feel sorry for her. I couldn’t imagine having to live with the fear Dad or Pops or even Jordan (or Reggie, for that matter, the gorgeous owner of After Hours on my list of favorite people, along with Elle Gordon and that stupid tomcat of mine who likely had his own rap sheet on the street, the scamp) had committed a crime that put me in prison for something I didn’t do. Only to set me up again to take a fall when things went south.

While I was sure it wasn’t true (at least the first half, if not the second’s more credible possibility), my own overactive imagination didn’t have any trouble creating scenarios that put all of us in mortal danger.

Except, of course, as I thought about it, I realized no matter what, the people I let in would never, ever fall on my watch. Not if I could help it. And if any of them did commit a crime, I’d happily take the blame to save them.

So, there was that. I wondered where Annie stood on her end? Didn’t look good for abiding love for her mother, that was for sure.

I suppose if I’d been betrayed, I would have felt that way, too… again, nope. Though I honestly didn’t have anything to compare her hurt to, so I really needed to get back to business and stop contemplating the ridiculous.

She did hug me on the way out, though, leaving me feeling like I’d let her down somehow and I now felt even more determined to find out who was really behind Maria’s murder and the drugs being uncovered all over the farm. The least I could do was solve this case (correction, give Elle what she needed to solve the case, right, Petal? Right? Glory hound) and set her mind at ease her mother wasn’t a murderer.

Or confirm her mother was and she really should move on and not look back.

I did a quick check for a text from Elle, confirming what she’d suspected. There was evidence not only of plants being harvested, she said, but enough scraps left behind it was obvious the two fallow greenhouses had been the source of all the marijuana. A quick chat with what few neighbors lived in the area and the local cops uncovered a few instances of reports of lights and activity, but all of it had been chalked up to the program and the Wests checking in on their property.

They’d picked the perfect location, on a legitimate site, with a legal operation to explain everything away. Really very clever, efficient and rather slick, to be honest. I found myself sort of respecting the chutzpah of whoever set this up and knew I was dealing with someone who I needed to be careful of.

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