I fought the urge to roll my eyes. He knew damn well I was working on that project. Everyone in town knew. “Yes.”
“Had someone else in here a little while ago asking about it. Well, about where to find Detective Quartermaine, anyway. Said he had information.”
My gaze sharpened. “Tall guy? Runs a hunting operation?”
Kent paused in scanning my items. “Why, yes, actually. How did you know?”
“Mina mentioned she talked to him. Do you happen to know where I could find him?” I wanted to know more about the man he saw. While I had no doubt Ozzie would do his due diligence to locate and talk to the man Toren saw, I didn’t trust that we’dget the full story about him unless Ozzie needed opinions or information. And that wasn’t because he didn’t trust us. It was just his nature as a police officer to keep things close to the vest.
Kent read my total off the register. “He lives up off of Otter Bay Road. First turn past the twisted pines on your left.”
I tapped my card on the reader, then scooped up the boxes of screws. “Great. Thanks for the info.”
“You’re welcome. I sure hope this business gets sorted out soon. Rich and that poor girl’s family deserve answers.”
I agreed. “You were around back then, weren’t you?”
“Yep. I’ve lived here my whole life.”
“Did you know Moira?”
“Not personally. I knew Rich and his family because they’re locals. She was from Juneau, and I saw her around town with Rich. He was just devastated when she disappeared. He’s never really recovered.”
I grunted an ascent. “Did you ever hear any rumors about her disappearance?”
Kent stroked his beard, his bushy eyebrows drawing down over the bridge of his long nose. “There were the usual things: Rich killed her. She ran away. Normal stuff, you know?”
I nodded.
“Truthfully, I never thought she ran away or that Rich killed her, but I don’t have another explanation for how she ended up dead. Though now that she’s been found in Walter’s wall, well…” He shrugged.
My eyes narrowed. “What? Do you know something about Walter?”
“Walter is…” Kent trailed off and looked away in thought. “He’s calculating. Always looking for more ways to make the almighty dollar. It wouldn’t surprise me if someone paid him to let them tear a hole in his wall and look the other way. Now, did he know what was in the wall?” Again, Kent shrugged. “Can’tsay.” He wagged a finger. “But I can tell you he would absolutely take a bribe.”
A woman with a school-age child in tow walked up behind me to get in line, cutting off any opportunity I had to ask more questions.
Kent held out my receipt. “Watch yourself, Luke. This is dangerous business, and you might be better off just letting Oscar handle things.”
I knew that, but it didn’t mean I would heed his warning. One quick conversation with Kent had yielded new insights into Walter Shuman’s character. Insights I doubted Ozzie had, because he was focused on leads and not on the rumor mill.
“I’ll keep my head on a swivel.” Taking my receipt, I gave a quick wave and left.
Back at the soon-to-be café, I gave Kado his screws and got back to work, hoping the rest of the day went quickly. There were only a couple of hours left. I wanted to go talk to Toren.
CHAPTER 29
Mina
At one minute past five, I flipped the “Open” sign over and locked the door. While I would miss closing early once the café opened, I relished the thought of a quiet evening now. Ultimately, my plan was to appoint one of my baristas—probably Gwen—as the evening café manager, but until it was up and running smoothly, I’d be pulling some long days.
That was for this fall, though. Right now, I planned to head to the grocery store for some strawberry syrup, then head home for dinner and my highly anticipated dessert.
Flipping off the lights in the main dining area, I entered the back room.
“See you in the morning,” Kayla called on her way out the back door.
“Have a good night.” I waved as I walked to my office to collect my purse and keys. We’d been slow for the last hour of the day, so there was little to do except lock up. I tallied the day’s receipts half an hour ago.
