Total pages in book: 110
Estimated words: 103552 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 518(@200wpm)___ 414(@250wpm)___ 345(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 103552 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 518(@200wpm)___ 414(@250wpm)___ 345(@300wpm)
“They’re definitely up to something,” I murmured to Avery.
“Agreed,” she said.
Savannah and Kitty began serving the salad course and pouring wine. I considered strategies to get Edgar or Harvey to talk. Before I’d settled on a game plan, they went on the offense.
Chapter Eighteen
WEST
“West, glad you’re here,” Edgar said. “Saves me a trip.”
“Yeah?” I said, raising an eyebrow. “Something I can do for you, Edgar?” Considering his offices were a short walk from the police station, I didn’t figure he’d been doing much work to track me down. As one of the town’s leading citizens, he had all my numbers, but we could play this his way to start.
“I want to know what progress you’re making on that break-in at Sawyers Bend Brewing,” Edgar said.
“Edgar!” Avery protested. “Don’t badger West.”
“Hush, girl,” Edgar said with a wave of his hand.
She narrowed her eyes. “I’m not a girl. I’m thirty-one years old, and West isn’t some kid you can boss around. He’s the Chief of Police.”
I squeezed her knee under the table. When it mattered, I wouldn’t let Edgar push me an inch. But for now, I wanted him to talk.
“You know I can’t give you information about an ongoing investigation,” I reminded Edgar. Everyone knew it, and nobody cared. They could ask. Didn’t mean I’d tell them anything. I knew how to keep my mouth shut, even if no one else in this town did.
“You don’t have any fingerprints. They didn’t leave any evidence. How do we know she’s safe there?” Edgar asked.
“I have her covered,” Hawk growled from the far end of the table. “And when I don’t have her, West does,” he finished. “She’s as safe as we can make her.”
“Not safe enough,” Harvey said, his eyes going to her arm.
“That wasn’t about me,” Avery said, lifting a hand to trace the almost healed wound running down her arm. “That was about Ford.”
“Was it?” Edgar asked, his eyes shifting to Ford, sitting at the opposite end of the table from Griffen, observing us in silence. This was the Ford who’d come back from prison—watchful, quiet, seemingly content to let his brother run the family as he’d always been meant to. From everything I’d seen, it looked like Ford had learned his lesson. Envy and greed had led him down a path that sent him to prison for a crime he hadn’t committed. I would have guessed that if he got out of prison, he’d have been long gone. The strictures of Prentice’s will didn’t apply to Ford.
Ford had been disinherited. There was nothing for him here. Nothing except home and family. A family that had welcomed him back even as he remained withdrawn from them. The distance with Griffen hadn’t been healed, might never be. But Ford was fiercely protective of his younger sisters. He’d been fighting for them even when Prentice had still been alive. I didn’t know if he was hanging around to watch over them or because he couldn’t move forward while the cloud of murder hung over his head.
Finally, Ford asked, “What makes you think Avery was the target?”
Harvey munched on his salad, his eyes on Edgar, waiting. Edgar’s focus on me, he said, “Because whoever broke into the brewery stole Avery’s file on Prentice’s murder.”
“What do you know about that file?” I asked, quashing the surge of irritation at Edgar’s interference. He was so like Prentice, stirring the pot, manipulating everyone around him until he got what he wanted. I didn’t think he’d killed Prentice, and I didn’t think he was the one who’d gone after the rest of the Sawyers, but that didn’t mean I trusted him.
“I only know what Harvey told me,” Edgar answered smoothly.
“Bullshit,” Avery whispered beside me.
I agreed but squeezed her knee again, half to warn her to be quiet and more because I loved the feel of her leg under my hand and the casual intimacy of sitting next to her at a family dinner. How the fuck had I missed this my whole life? We’d practically grown up together. Granted, I’d been just old enough that she’d seemed like a kid for far too long, but she wasn’t a child. Far from it. As she’d reminded Edgar, she was a grown woman—one I was realizing I wanted at my side, not just in bed or for a beer. I pushed that thought aside for the moment.
“What are you getting at?” Sterling asked, leaning forward, bracing her elbows on the table. Harvey winced at her lack of manners, but Sterling could not have given less of a shit.
“Do you think Avery had something in that file that pointed to the killer?” Sterling asked. She sat up straighter, sliding her elbows back, her eyes sparkling with intrigue. She flashed a look at Avery. “Damn, I wish we had a copy of your file. I wonder if you saw something and didn’t know what it was. You know, like proof. And if we had more pieces to the puzzle, maybe we’d know it was proof.”