Charlotte was still fretting.“I should go with you.”
“This is the first day the bookshop is open again.You might get a few customers.”
Charlotte said, “I can flip the sign to ‘closed’ for thirty minutes or so.”
“I’ll be fine.Besides, Gerald might be more honest one-to-one.”
Charlotte shook her head.“I wish I’d told someone when I first figured out who Gerald was.Maybe this never would have happened.”
“You were respecting his privacy.That’s not wrong.”She gave Charlotte a quick hug, promising to keep her informed.Then she headed out of the store.
Chapter Sixteen
Afew minutes later, she pulled up at the bank.Mountain Trust kept Saturday hours from 10:00—3:00, which was something the big chains had given up on.Gerald, if he kept his same lunch break, was probably already outside on that bench with his book and brown bag lunch.
Sam checked to see if she’d gotten a text reply from Aiden, but he hadn’t responded yet.So Sam walked around the side of the bank to the wooden exterior stairs leading from the upper parking lot to the employee patio area on the back of the building.Then she headed down the worn but sturdy stairs to the concrete patio.Gerald was sitting on a stone bench near the bottom of the stairs, facing away from her.From what Sam could tell from the back, he was reading a book.He had a thermos and sandwich wrapper sitting beside him on the bench.Sam took a deep breath.
“Gerald?”she asked.
Gerald swiftly looked behind him, nearly dropping his book.“Sam.What are you doing here?”
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you.I wanted to talk to you about Geraldine.”Sam walked around Gerald to another bench that faced him.
Gerald froze.“You know about that?”
Sam nodded.“And Margaret did too, right?”
“She found out because I used the wrong email account one day.But it’s not how it looks, Sam.Listen, you can’t tell anybody about this.The cops will get the wrong idea.”
Sam said, “They’re going to find out anyway.They’re investigating everybody.And it’s not just the local police, but the state police, too.Wouldn’t it be better to tell them before they find out?”
Gerald slumped.“I’m not sure that’s a good idea.They’re just going to take that and run with it.They won’t even look at anyone else.”
Sam said, “How long have you been writing historical romances?”
“It’s been five or six years.”He shook his head.“I can’t believe this is happening.”
