“You don’t know who?”
“Like I said, not friends.And she didn’t exactly tell Aunt Deena anything.Deena just found out the reason because she called Claire’s mom to find out where she was.Mrs.Cox was losing her damn mind about her daughter leaving like that.”
Huh.I nodded.“Yeah, I...I guess I don’t blame her.”Shit.
“Claire or her mom?”Clarence laughed.“I mean, I get wanting to get out of a tiny town but Claire’ll be back by the end of the month.She always is.”
Nessie trotted out of the office with a box of tissues, frowning deeply."When Melinda gets here, she has a whole afternoon of work to do on those storage cupboards!Oh, you don't need these?"
Clarence sniffed, eyes welling up again."It's just so much!"
Hastily, I gave him a pat on the back and a wink while Nessie fussed over his tears."See you later?"I mouthed.He nodded, a smile flickering at the corner of his lips.
It was only ten past twelve when I headed out of the library and headed towards Buttermilk Road.If I played my cards right, I could get back to the house, set up my phone, and make a few calls before heading to Two Moons Inn to talk to The Ladies Who Lunch.
Chapter 14
The first message topop up when I got my phone working Monday afternoon was from my mom, asking if I was okay since she hadn’t heard from me in a few days and she’d seen some gossip posts and she was hoping I wasn’t involved in another murder.
“Phrasing, Mom, phrasing,” I muttered, giving Charlemagne a distracted scritch as he prowled along the back of the sofa.“Let’s hope no one decides to hack my messages and gets the wrong idea.”
The next several were from Max.
Max:Want to hear something weird?Hightower STFU about the money.Ask me why.
Max:Okay guessing you’re still in the Stone Ages without a phone.He GOT HIS MONEY.
Max:He was drinking his lunch and let slip ‘that bastard finally paid up.’
Max:Which is weird since he was aware Tubbs=dead.
“What the hell?”I muttered.
I called Max.“You’re back in the modern era,” he crowed as soon as he answered.“Now, for my next trick, I’m buying you a steel box for your phone because good god.”
“How about I just stop running into people who want to hurt me?”I asked, stretching out just a little.“I got your texts.”
