Shit, Elenore. Don’t mention killers.
Both our faces fell.
“But that’s how it is with moms? Right?” I asked around a forced laugh.
Although honestly, as I stood beside him trying my best not to give away my fake reason for being in Savannah, another—more troubling—thought hit me. My mother hadn’t called or texted me in over twenty-four hours. That was strange. There’s no way she’d stopped going through my boxes in her garage.
An even worse idea came to me.
What if she was sorting through things to host a yard sale? A different type of nervous tremor ran through my bones.
I had to call my mother.
Pronto.
Casey gave me another quick laugh, but I was too busy pulling my phone from my back pocket, getting ready to text my mother to leave my stuff alone. Sometimes you had to threaten a little to get her to listen.
A bright red convertible pulled into the city parking lot behind their home. The same one Casey came from. Music blasted from the speakers and abruptly cut off with the car.
“Hey!” a blonde woman yelled and gave Casey a wave.
He waited to introduce us until she’d made it through the metal gate. “This is Samantha, Selene’s sister. This is Elenore,” he said, pointing to me but without more information. “She’s in the short rental.”
From the way her eyes lit up at the mention of my name, she didn’t need more. “The newlyweds?”
I didn’t like the way she emphasized newlyweds or the hand clap she made after it. “Um… maybe?”
Did admitting it mean I’d agreed to something unspoken?
Her smile grew, stretching half her face. “Selene said you got a good view of the bathroom at Savannah Brewing.”
She laughed as my cheeks turned a bright shade of pink. Casey stared at both of us. Clearly, Selene hadn’t mentioned our meeting to him. Thank God. “If you’re into ghosts, you should visit the old theater. It’s more haunted than the bar, and it has better bathrooms. I can get you tickets.”
“Oh, no.” I held up a hand to stop her. “I’m so tired from the bar trip. There’s no way I could handle another late night like that with ghosts. Plus, when we made it home, we had to help Bud inside. It seemed like he had a long night. It will take me a week to recover from the missing sleep.”
Just thinking about the late night made me yawn. It stretched out, and I had to shake my head to remove the remnants even after my mouth had closed. I needed a nap.
Samantha’s easy-going smile faltered at the mention of Bud. “That man is an alcoholic. I’m always telling Casey and Selene to kick him out. He’s up to no good, and I swear, he has a temper. I’ve heard he tries to fight people at the bars.”
“He didn’t seem too angry.” Just very drunk.
She shook her head. “Stay away from him. He’s bad news. They need to get rid of him.”
Casey blew a loud breath out of his nose, like he’d already heard this argument from her. More than once. “He takes good care of the place, pays his rent on time, and we’ve had no complaints. I can’t just kick someone out because he gives you bad vibes.”
“He’s trouble. You can see it in his eyes.” She pointed at her own for emphasis. “Don’t believe a word that comes from his mouth. It’s probably all fake. You can’t trust a drunk.”
I bit my bottom lip in thought. Clearly, Samantha had strong feelings about Bud.
But why?
Did she know something I didn’t? Was it more than vibes? Or did she have a way to read someone’s character? I’d gotten bad feelings from someone that turned out to be true before, so I didn’t think it was a crazy thought. My previous boss rubbed me the wrong way from day one. His poor management cost the company sales and ultimately the loss of one hundred jobs—including mine.
“There you are,” Reed said as he turned the corner of the house to find us standing in a small group on the sidewalk. “I didn’t want your coffee to get cold.”
I accepted the cup from him and did my absolute best not to visualize what the black polo he had on hid of his chest. “Thank you.”
We hadn’t talked about coffee and I was too scared to taste test what he’d given me since he had no idea I needed like a quarter cup of sugar in mine. Reed wrapped his arm around my middle and tugged me close in his signature move. The more he did it, the more I liked it. And I didn’t like that.
