Katy scoffs. “Why does everyone think I’m involved?”
“Do you know there’s a stack of cash on your table?” Pierce asks, his dirty blond hair gelled back perfectly as always. “I thought you needed a few more days to get me the rent?”
“You cut her slack on her rent?” Katy asks almost cutting him off.
“She said she needed a few extra days.” He shrugs.
Bennett stands beside me while I do my best to inspect every far and away corner of the bakery. “Are you having money problems? Do you need help?”
“No, I’m not having money problems. I switched banks and there’s a three-day lock on transfer funds. It’s no big deal.”
He shakes his head twice, my answer barely passing. “Okay, but if you’re short call me.”
“Uh-huh.” Tabitha shakes her head, her eyes wide, giving me a quiet look. This one I’m able to read instantly, but I refuse to view it as evidence Bennett likes me. He’s being helpful, that’s all.
“Is any one of you going tell me about the money?” Thank God at least Pierce can keep his eye on the prize.
Katy, standing next to Pierce, reaches over and pushes on his shoulder. He teeters for a second. “Of course you care about the money.”
“Anessa found the money hidden behind the stove. Do you have any idea where it came from?” Ridge throws a stack of soggy bills at Pierce.
He catches it, holding the mushy mess away from his body. “No, why would I?”
“You own this place. Who used to rent it?”
He hesitates. “You’re not going to like my answer.” Pierce lobs the stack of bills back at Ridge.
“That’s what I figured. Who?”
“Kevin Chambers.”
From the way Ridge and Katy both suck in a breath, I’m guessing they really do not like Pierce’s answer.
Tabitha leans on the counter. “We don’t like Kevin?”
“You rented out a building to Anessa that a known drug dealer rented before her?”
Pierce shrugs and finally turns his attention to me. “She’s cute. Of course I rented to her.” Katy grunts at his answer, but Pierce keeps on talking. “And besides the man was convicted of a drug charge not the building. I don’t discriminate when it comes to rent checks.”
“And what do you think he was doing in the building?” Katy asks tapping on the counter. If her eyes had lasers Pierce would be flayed right now.
“There is absolutely no evidence anything of a drug nature went on while he used this building as a storefront. You don’t burn the whole orchard down because it produced one bad apple.”
“What the hell are you talking about?” she responds.
Ridge steps between the two of them. “He was convicted of running drugs across the border. Where do you think he stored them?”
“Did you read the police report? He had two storage units in Whitecap. Why would I assume he did something here? Plausible deniability.”
Katy leans over and hits Pierce in the shoulder with enough force we hear the impact. He only rolls his eyes and rubs the area mockingly. “So you risk my best friend’s life to make a few more dollars?”
“What do you mean, risk her life? She’s fine.” Pointing to the money he finishes, “richer for it actually.”
“I thought you said nothing ever happens here?” I ask the room at large. This Kevin guy definitely sounds like something happened here.
Pelican Bay is not the quiet, sleepy seaside town I was promised.
CHAPTER FOUR
