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)
Harvey flushed. “I told you I was sorry about that.”
“Not sorry enough to report it to the police,” Sterling said. “It wasn’t yours to lose.” Her last words had an edge.
Harvey shifted to face Griffen. “Can’t you put a stop to this?” His gaze flicked to me. “You’re the police chief. Tell them you’ll arrest them if they interfere with your investigation.”
“I would if they were,” I said, keeping my tone mild, “but they’re not.”
“Edgar, Harvey,” Griffen said, waiting until he had their attention. “Drop it. As Hope said, change the subject, or you can go. Avery and Sterling are fine. They don’t need you to step in for Dad.”
“Your sister got stabbed,” Edgar erupted. “She could have been killed. I don’t understand—”
The silverware jumped and clattered as Griffen smacked his hand on the table. “Drop it, or leave,” he said. “Those are your choices. I would hate to rescind your welcome at this table, but we’re done talking about this.”
Edgar and Harvey exchanged a glance, seeming to conduct a whole conversation in silence. Edgar shook his head and stabbed a lettuce leaf with his fork. “Fine. I’ll drop it.” And he did, at least for the rest of dinner.
Not that we finished the remainder of the meal in peace—conversation touched on everything and nothing. The food was amazing, as it always was, but when I wasn’t puzzling over Edgar and Harvey’s behavior, all I could think about was getting Avery alone. I’d rather have taken her back to my place, but staying at Heartstone was a solid second choice. We’d only spent one night together, but I wasn’t interested in going to bed without her.
The second we finished dessert, Avery grabbed my hand and pulled me out of my seat. “Come on, I want to show you something,” she said.
“Really?” I asked, following her from the dining room, jogging up the stairs beside her. We took a right into the family wing, stopping at her bedroom door.
“Come on,” she said, pulling me inside.
“What did you want to show me?” I asked.
Her eyes bright, a smile curving her full mouth, she whipped her t-shirt over her head, taking her tank top with it. A second later, her jeans and underwear hit the floor around her feet.
“This,” she said brightly.
“It’s the best thing I’ve seen all year,” I said, reaching for her. I had enough presence of mind to flip the lock of the door behind me before scooping her into my arms and heading for her bed.
Chapter Nineteen
AVERY
“Did you put the address in the nav?” I asked.
West shot me a quick grin. I loved the way it made his eyes crinkle in the corners. “I got it,” he said. “Should take about forty minutes to get to Wolf Mountain, give or take.”
“Cool,” I said, settling back into my seat, sipping from the latte I’d grabbed when we’d stopped by Sweetheart Bakery. “I hope this isn’t another dead end.”
“Could be. We won’t know until we get there. I’m just hoping she’s home.”
“True,” I agreed. “Considering she doesn’t like answering her phone, who knows where she is? At the least, we can look around outside, see if we can pick up any signs she’s been around home recently.”
We had tried calling the designer three times over the last two days, but had struck out—voicemail every time.
He reached across the console to squeeze my hand. “Don’t stress about it. It’ll be what it is.”
“How are you so chill?” I asked. We might be forty minutes from answers about the necklace—about my father and who’d killed him—if the necklace was related. I shifted in my seat, my fingers tapping on the armrest, unable to calm the tension inside me.
He shrugged. “Because this is what investigations are like. One step forward, two steps back. Things you think you know but can’t verify. Witnesses who disappear. It’s all about building a case piece by piece, and those pieces rarely fit together cleanly or as fast as we want them to. So, you just keep going, digging away until you find enough. Maybe this will be enough. Likely it won’t. But one way or another, we’ll know more at the end of the day than we do right now.”
“That’s encouraging,” I said. “I think. But kind of unsatisfying. I want to know everything, not bits and pieces.”
“I’ve heard that before.” West rolled his eyes. “People think it’s going to be fun and dramatic, like stumbling on the secret diary filled with evidence or someone confessing everything. And sometimes—rarely—that does happen. But most of the time it’s more like this—little pieces that eventually add up to enough.”
I sipped my coffee and watched as the last of the town faded behind us. Trees flashed by, a riot of fall color. It wouldn’t last much longer. It was getting decidedly chilly in the mountains. Snow seemed to come later and later these days, but we’d get some, eventually.