“Boat?”
“Maybe.” Sherlock sprinted toward Gabe with something dangling from his mouth. “I’ve got to go. I’ll call you tonight.”
“Good luck with Natalie.”
“I don’t need luck. I’ve got a copy of the rental agreement and a screenshot of the original listing. If Natalie has a problem with that, she can talk to the person who rented me the cottage.”
“I’m looking forward to hearing how that conversation turns out. Call me after seven o’clock.”
Sherlock dropped an old shoe on the ground.
Gabe said goodbye to Caleb, then studied the rotting shoe. An idea started to form in his mind. An idea that might just get his dead body across to Delaware.
He knelt beside Sherlock and rubbed his ears. “Have I told you what a brilliant dog you are?”
Sherlock’s big brown eyes seemed to laugh at him. At least someone was having a good day.
* * *
As soon asNatalie stacked her groceries into the truck, she pulled out her phone. Her mom would know if someone was renting their cottage. The only problem was that her mom didn’t realize she was in America.
It only took a few seconds for Kathleen Armstrong to answer the phone. “Natalie? Why aren’t there a lot more digits in front of your number?”
The pounding in her head was getting worse. “Hi, mom. I’m in Sapphire Bay.”
“Our Sapphire Bay? In Montana? Why didn’t you tell me you were coming home?”
“It’s complicated.”
She heard her mother’s sharp intake of breath. “Calling me isn’t all that complicated. I thought you were in Venice getting ready for your next exhibition?”
If Natalie felt stressed before she’d called her mom, she felt worse now. “Someone broke into my apartment and stole two of my paintings.”
“Oh, my Lord. Were you hurt?”
“No. I was at the opening of a friend’s exhibition when it happened.”
“Thank goodness for that,” Kathleen sighed. “I worry about you. If something goes wrong, there’s not a lot I can do from Indianapolis.”
There was no point reminding her mom that she’d been living in Europe for nine years. Until a month ago, nothing had happened. “I need to paint two new canvases for Lorenzo’s gallery. I thought coming to Sapphire Bay would give me a better chance of finishing them. But someone told me grandma’s cottage has been rented.”
“Oh, dear. I didn’t know you were coming back. Gabe is a friend of a friend. He was desperate for somewhere to stay, so I let him rent the cottage. But he’s only using grandma and granddad’s rooms. Our side of the cottage is still empty.”
Natalie leaned against the side of her truck. Her grandparents’ cottage was originally a small two-bedroom home. When her parents divorced, her grandparents added another three bedrooms, a small living room, and a kitchen onto the cottage. She’d lived there with her mom until they’d moved to Bozeman.
“Why didn’t you tell me you rented the cottage?”
“I tried calling you, but you were at the Art Expo in Milan,” Kathleen said quickly. “I spoke to your landlord. He said he would tell you when you got back.”
Natalie sighed. Her landlord was a nice man, but he wasn’t the most reliable person on the planet. “He didn’t say anything.”
“Is there somewhere else you can stay?”
The chances of finding a property with enough space to set up a studio weren’t great. “I’ll call a realtor and ask.”
The traffic lights outside the general store turned red and a line of trucks stopped. “When did Sapphire Bay become so popular?”
“About three years ago. It’s less busy during winter. If you need anything—”
