My stomach dropped through the floorboards at the mention of her name by someone else.
“Explain?”
“She's well known,” she shrugged. “Her family was one of the founding families of Glades Bay. Their name is on half the town. Fotherington Hall, Fotherington Park. It’s more of a name cred thing now though. I don’t think there’s any money left in the family, and all the buildings were donated decades ago. Plus, she's a snake.”
I shuddered at the idea of Miss Lissy being a town darling. Maybe that’s how people got away with so much in that place for so long.
“No one cared she worked at the children’s home, even after things came out?” I asked.
Breeze shrugged again. “It’s like being a movie star. If people love you, it’s hard for them to believe you could do anything wrong.”
I bit my bottom lip and tried not to think about it.
“Where can I find her?”
“With the enemy,” Breeze replied, crouching to call Taco to her. I felt a stab of sadness as the warmth on my lap disappeared.
“She starts her day at Bean There. Every morning. Like clockwork.”
“Let me guess. The only other café in town?”
Breeze nodded.
“I don’t know how my new boss will feel about me going there,” I teased. “Pretty sure I was bribed never to accept coffee from anyone else ever again.”
“Your boss sounds lovely,” Breeze smiled. “Although I’ve heard she hates being called that. And I doubt she’d mind—especially if you left a scathing review after.”
My mouth curled into an evil grin.
“Noted. I’m thinking the coffee’s burned, the service is terrible, and the rats in the women’s bathroom were off-putting.”
Breeze chuckled. “A tip? That woman will do anything for a free breakfast.”
Didn't I know it. Breeze scooped Taco carefully into her arms.
“Thanks!” I called as they pattered down the hallway towards the kitchen. A sour taste curdled up from my stomach. If someone had told me one month ago that I was going to spend some of the last money I had on Miss Lissy, I’d have laughed them out of the room. Or punched them. Depends how much I’d had to drink.
I couldn’t let my brain entertain the idea of what it was going to feel like to see her again. She’d already taken so much.
CHAPTER SIX
IfSteamy Sipswas a cottage-core,light-filled cafe, thenBean Therewas its evil twin. The black exterior housed automatic doors and a charcoal sign that melted into the wall. It was 8.30 a.m., and my arms ached from scrubbing Breeze’s ceiling this morning. The flies were giving the Sistine Chapel a run for its money in artwork. I had to force my feet to move forward as people fumbled around me to speed in towards their morning caffeine fix.
Miss Lissy isn’t dead, so why am I here? I already know she didn’t leave the house to me.
I hesitated, murmuring an apology as someone ran into my back.
I wanted to talk myself out of finding her.
She might know someone who would have left it to you,said the annoying part of my brain that dressed in a top hat and tails.And you’ve got nowhere else to be. Loser.
Stupid conscience.
The interior was like walking into a swanky cave. Narrow room, leather bench seats along one wall, bar leaner and stools on the other, stacked tight like books on a shelf.
I acclimated by pretending to study the menu while my periphery scanned for her. I wanted it to be easy. In and out. Like checking under the bed for monsters and secretly hoping one would be there. Better to know what direction the tornado was coming from.
“Can I help you?” asked a man with purple hair and a gaze so dark that his pupils disappeared.
