Ridge turns his cool gaze in my direction and my shoulders go up with my rising nerves. I’m aware he’s a super nice guy, but when he gets his narrow-eyed look, one accusing you of putting his girlfriend in danger, nobody wants to be in the same room as him.
“You? I pegged you as the good influence.”
“Nessa found the money in the wall behind her oven.” Bennett steps up next to Ridge and winks at me. See? He has my back.
“What were you doing with your hand in a wall?” Ridge asks.
Seriously, are they trying to tell me none of them would get curious and look in the hole?
“Who owned this place before?” Bennett asks, thankfully distracting Ridge from my lack of response.
Katy’s answer has enough sarcasm and disdain to fill one of my large freezers. “Pierce owns the place, like he does half the town. He’s renting it to Flour for some outrageous price, I’m sure.”
Bennett’s silly nickname doesn’t sound anywhere near as good when Katy uses it. And Pierce is only charging me a thousand a month for the bakery and the apartment upstairs. It’s a pretty good deal. Of course, I don’t say any of this out loud because now isn’t the time for one of Katy’s “I hate Pierce” rants. When she gets going it takes a while to calm her down.
“Well, somebody get him on the phone and get his ass down here,” Ridge demands, not giving the direction to any one particular person, but we all jump.
CHAPTER THREE
Katy clears her throat for at least the sixth time in the last twenty minutes and looks at me, widening her eyes. Clearly she’s trying to tell me something.
What that something is, I have no idea.
I stop by the walk-in freezer with my hand on the door. “Would anyone like some cookies?”
Bennett and Ridge were huddled together in the corner of the kitchen speaking in low voices two seconds ago, but now both turn with similar questioning looks. Hasn’t anyone heard of cookies making everyone feel better? It worked in the Matrix movies.
“No, we’re good in the cookie department.” Bennett looks me up and down like he’s checking for a second head.
“I could go for a cookie.” Tabitha steps around the prep table headed for the large walk-in refrigerator where I keep racks of extra desserts.
“No cookies,” Ridge says a little louder than necessary. “We don’t know what the situation is yet. There could be evidence in there.”
Tabitha stops long enough to give him an are-you-serious look. “Ridge, I’ve been in the freezer a hundred thousand times. Trust me. There is no cash in there.”
“Tabitha, this is serious.”
“I know. That’s why we ended up telling you.”
“You mean you considered not telling us?” Ridge’s eyebrows turn up and he even takes a step back.
In truth we didn’t have time to decide if we were telling or weren’t telling. And while I’m thinking on the matter it’s odd no one has called the police. Isn’t this something they should be involved in? Don’t get me wrong, Ridge is all bad ass and everything, but discovering piles of money is kind of a police matter. Isn’t it?
“Do you think we should call the police?” I ask. Someone needs to.
Ridge shakes his head like he can’t believe he’s lost control of the situation, but he answers anyway, “We’ll call the police once we know what we’re dealing with.”
We know exactly what we’re dealing with—a lot of money and a wall.
The bell at the front of the shop dings and Katy closes her mouth. It’s probably a good thing. As each second ticked by, the tension grew while we waited for Pierce to show up.
The kitchen is stifling, but not from a hot stove. Someone is bound to snap sooner or later.
“Hello. Anyone here?” a male voice calls from the front of the bakery. There is too much excitement going on back here for any of us to watch the front of the store.
“Back here, Dumbass,” Katy yells at Pierce.
He walks through the double doors, the only person so far who hasn’t come through as if he’s Clint Eastwood “Well look at this. There’s trouble in Pelican Bay and Katy Kadish is involved. Hard to believe,” he says with dry sarcasm.
