I sighed. “He wasn’t in the slammer. My guess is he and Grady were sitting around shooting the bull and swapping fishing stories.”
He sniffed. “Well, he still shouldn’t have taken him to the station.”
I raised one eyebrow and waited for him to actually answer my question.
“I don’t know. I guess I feel weird about asking him. I mean, he tried to tell me about it for all these years, and I completely blew him off. Shoot. I thought he was nuts. It feels wrong to be like,Now I believe you, tell me everything.”
“He loves you, and he’ll be thrilled to share it all with you. Don’t be so hard on yourself.”
He shrugged. “Maybe.”
We started around the corner, and I saw Perry coming, just in time to grab Declan and pull him out of the way with one handwhile securing his coffee with the other. I swear the man was a walking, talking wrecking ball.
Perry ducked his head and moved quickly around us, but I heard him mutter, “Sorry,” as he went by.
“It wasn’t your fault,” Declan called after him before looking at me. “Was he mad?”
“No, Perry’s really, really shy. Bigfoot are prone to be that way.”
Declan gaped at me for a second before eyeing me suspiciously. “Okay, now you’re messing with me.”
“Nope. Perry’s a bigfoot shifter.”
“Hold on. Bigfoots—or is it Bigfeet? No, that doesn’t sound right at all. I’m just going to say bigfoots. So bigfoots are real and they’re shifters?”
“Sure. Why do you think no one can ever find one when they go looking? If someone gets too close, they shift into their person form and slip away. They’re notoriously shy, though.”
We stopped in front of Winston’s office. It looked like there was a light on inside, so I wasn’t at all surprised to find the door unlocked. I opened the door, taking a step back to let Declan go inside.
“Can I help you?” Janis asked when she saw Declan, but then she saw me behind him. “Oh, Gideon. Hello.”
“Hello, Janis. I wasn’t sure if you’d be here today or not.”
She shrugged. “Someone has to keep the business going. Mr. Wilcox was a very important man, you know.”
I thought about what Declan had said earlier about him being the good cop and tried really hard to look sympathetic. Which of course meant I didn’t respond with,well, he sure thought he was, like I wanted to, because if Jim was right and he and Janis were more than boss and employee, that would just be mean.
“Janis, my name is Declan Hawthorne. I’m Elwood Hawthorne’s grandson. He has the shop across the street.” Hepaused and waited for her to nod. “Anyway, I was wondering what will happen with the old Nook now that Winston is gone.”
Her eyes lit up. “Why do you ask? Are you interested in buying it? I never understood Winston’s fascination with the place, to be honest, so I’d be interested in selling.”
“Oh, will you be taking over for Winston?” I asked.
“I assume so. Winston didn’t have any family, and I was… well, we were close, so I assume all of this”—she motioned around her like there was a lot to see, although it really was just a couple of desks and a filing cabinet—“will all fall to me to manage.”
So Janis assumed she inherited everything. Good to know. Now we were getting somewhere.
“I don’t really know what I’m going to do,” Declan continued, “but if I stay in town, a shop next to my grandfather would be ideal. I’ve heard there were other people who wanted the shop, though. I don’t want to get into a bidding war, so could you maybe give me a heads-up on who my competition might be?”
“There were some people who really wanted the place, that’s for sure. There was some silly rumor about treasure in the walls, but that’s just an old legend. Winston ran a metal detector around all the walls just to be sure, and he didn’t find a thing. But you know how people are. They love a good story. So I wouldn’t sit on it if you’re interested.”
“Did Winston have a will?” Declan looked at her, all wide-eyed and innocent. “I only ask because how it was written might affect how we’d need to proceed.”
I’d thought the people in town would be more likely to talk to me because they perceived me as their alpha, even if that could never be the case, but it looked like I’d underestimated Declan. He was really good at this.
“I’ve put in a call to Mr. Wilcox’s attorney to find out, but rest assured, once everything is dealt with, you’ll be in good hands with me.”
“Thank you, Janis, I appreciate that, but still—about those other bidders?”
