“This system is so hard to work.” She sighs, peering through her glasses at the iPad.
“May I?”
“He’s a computer wiz,” I tell her. “He sold his company to Svensson PharmaTech for big bucks.”
“Oh! And now you’re making him pay you back for a nice wedding after he worked all those long hours away from home, aren’t you?” She winks.
“He’s definitely going to pay, all right.” I grind my teeth.
“Got the list.” Hughes hits a button, and the list prints on the receipt paper.
“Well, aren’t you clever?” She claps her hands.
“Not clever enough to wear a warm coat,” I mutter.
“Well, I think you look very handsome.” The jeweler smooths down the lapels.
“Thank you, ma’am.” He tips his fedora and everything.
“Seriously?” I hiss at him when we’re out of sight of the stall. “Your fiancée?”
“Hey, who got you that list?”
“I could have gotten it.”
“No, you couldn’t.” A smile plays around his soft, dumb mouth. “You needed a man to get that information for you. She wasn’t going to hand it over. You don’t look trustworthy.”
“I’m trustworthy!”
He points at one of Taylor Grace’s signs.
I tear it down and stuff it into an elf-shaped trash can.
It shrieks, “Merry Christmas!” at me.
“So, should I throw out the list…?” He waves it in my direction.
“No!” I snatch it from him.
He peers over my shoulder.
I expect him to smell like stale coffee and cigarettes for some reason, but instead, he smells crisp and fresh, like walking through an abandoned Christmas tree farm on a winter afternoon.
“I don’t see anyone I recognize on our suspect list.”
“I don’t know most of these people. Gran probably will.” I pocket the list and turn, but he’s right there. I look up at him. “You can go now.”
He stares down at me. “You can’t kick me out when the investigation’s getting good.”
“It’s not getting anywhere. I have to go buy some stuff for Gran’s party.”
“I’ll come too. I can help you carry it. I have to go back to Juniper Avenue in a little bit anyway. Nana’s expecting a delivery.”
I’m not taking him up on that offer, right? I grab the lapels of his trench coat. “Hopefully, you’ll get a real coat while you’re there. The temperature is supposed to drop.”
He briefly wraps his arms around me. “Or maybe I can just keep you to warm me up.”
8
