Audrey shifted her weight awkwardly, shrugging one shoulder, not knowing what to say to that.She wasn’t afraid exactly.Or maybe she was a little.But it wasn’t like they wererealthreats.
Nothing like what Cassidy had dealt with, with her ex.
“I just hope I didn’t take you away from something important.”
“This is important.”He pulled on a plastic glove, taking a plastic baggie out of his other pocket.“You’re David’s little sister, first of all, and second of all, no one deserves to be dealing with creepy notes.”Picking up the note in his gloved hand, he bagged it.“Unfortunately, I don’t have the results of fingerprinting back from the first note yet, but we’ll add this one to the queue just in case there’s nothing helpful on the first note.”
“Oh, that’s something!The person who left it was definitely wearing gloves.”Audrey perked up at being able to give an additional bit of information.“It’s kind of cold out, so I know that doesn’t mean they were always wearing gloves when handling it… but, ah crap, that’s bad, isn’t it?”
“It might be.”He sounded amused.“But, like you said, they might not have worn them the whole time while handling it.If they did, that also tells us something about them.”
“What does it tell us?”
“That they’re smart enough to think ahead and worry about their prints being taken, which would likely mean their prints are on file somewhere.”
Audrey’s breath caught in her throat.
“So, a criminal?”
“Not necessarily.A lot of people have to have their fingerprints taken, even if they’ve never been arrested.Government jobs, teaching jobs, all sorts of things.”He hesitated as he pocketed the baggie with the note.“But yes, one of the reasons would be if they’d been arrested before.It doesn’t mean a violent crime, though.It could have been for something like marijuana possession.”
“Right.”Audrey released her apron and flattened it out again.“Well, I should show you the camera footage and see if you can get anything from it.”Scooting from around the counter, she found she was hyperaware of him as she moved to the front door and flipped the sign that said she was on a break and would be back soon.
They had about an hour before people would start looking for lunch.She wasn’t sure they’d get much of a lunch crowd anyway, though she was hoping for people to stop by for dessertafterlunch.
When she turned around again, Mason was still standing by the counter, watching her.Her heart did that weird little flutter thing as she met his dark eyes and felt the heat bloom on her cheeks all over again.
“Um, this way.”She tried to ignore the way all the little hairs on the back of her neck stood up as she led him through the door to the back.
As they walked in, Alexis’ head came up like a startled prairie dog, then she relaxed when she saw it was just Audrey.Poor Alexis.She’d been very concerned when she found the note.Audrey hoped she didn’t quit over this.
“Hey, Alexis, this is Mason.Mason, this is Alexis.Mason works with my brother at Black Fox Security.I’ve given him the note, and he’s going to take a look at the camera footage.”
Pure relief slid over Alexis’ expression as she wiped flour off her hands and came forward to greet him, holding one hand out for him to take.Her sleek black hair was pulled into a high ponytail, and she was wearing a t-shirt and jeans under her apron, as usual.
“Oh, great.I’m so glad to hear that.It’s so nice to meet you, Mason.”She beamed at him.
Mason smiled as he reached out to accept her handshake.
“It’s nice to meet you, Alexis.I’m sorry it’s not under better circumstances.Hopefully, we can get this squared away.”
“I hope so.I like it here.I can’t imagine why anyone would have a problem with a bakery.”Alexis shook her head, letting her hand drop.
“Is there anyone that’s been bothering you anywhere else?Or anything weird happening at home?”he asked her.
Alexis immediately shook her head again.
“No.Nothing like that.And I don’t really get out much, so I can’t imagine anyone who would leave a note like that.”
“Audrey said that you moved here from Savannah.Was there anyone back there who had a problem with you?”
“Not that I can think of.”She shot Audrey a worried glance, her brow furrowing.“Is there some reason to think this is because of me?”
“No, I just want to eliminate all the possibilities.I know of at least one person who has a major grudge against Ashley, for instance.”Mason smiled reassuringly.“That doesn’t mean she’s behind this, but in order to find out who’s leaving notes, I want to eliminate all the possibilities.”
“Notes?”
“Sorry I didn’t tell you earlier.Yes, there was another note left before we opened Saturday morning,” Audrey said in a rush.Part of her kind of wished Mason hadn’t mentioned it because she didn’t want to freak Alexis out, but he was right.Now that there was a second one, both Alexis and Ashley needed to know.“It just said ‘get out’.I thought it must be a prank or kids or maybe even left mistakenly.”
