Amie looked at her hand. Her fingers were gently curled around phantom packs of balloons.
She dropped her arm. “I was just thinking.”
“Uh-oh.”
“Ha. Let’s leave.”
As they exited the store, Amie summarized what she had learned from Winston at the flower counter.
“So that was why Savannah went back to the store that night,” she said. “But here’s what I think. I think—”
“—the person who rescheduled the delivery wasn’t Savannah,” David finished.
“Yes!” Amie exclaimed, glad that they were on the same page. “It makes sense, right? Whoever killed her wanted to make sure no one else was in the store when they did it. So they rescheduled the flower delivery. Savannah received the delivery notification just as she got home, when Andrew saw her arrive. She went back to the store, and the killer followed her inside and …”
She waved her hands to substitute saying the words “killed her,” which in that moment was strangely difficult to say despite how similar it was to the word “killer.”
“It does make sense,” David agreed. “Though it’s looking less and less like your prime suspect is this mysterious calculating schemer you’ve conjured up.”
Amie frowned. “Benny? I mean, the timing works out. I saw him smoking a little after eight. Andrew saw Savannah outside the building at seven. If she went straight back to the store, that’s enough time for Benny to kill her, return home, and go out to smoke in time for me to run into him.”
“I wasn’t talking about the timing,” David said. “I was questioning if Benny has the capabilities to pull something like this off. I really can’t imagine him meticulously planning all of this out. He seems more like an ‘act now, think later’ kind of guy. Besides, would he have known about Savannah’s regular flower order?”
“Anyone who’d ever been to the store could see how much Savannah loved those flowers,” Amie pointed out. “It wouldn’t be difficult to figure out when and from where she had them delivered.”
She gasped, a new theory hitting her. “What if Savannahwasthe one who rescheduled the order, and when she got back to the store, she caught Benny looking for the photos? Then maybe he lashed out without thinking and killed her.”
“So you’re dropping your first theory?”
Amie rolled her head back with exasperation. “I don’t know. Benny seemed like the most likely suspect, but we don’t really know who’s blackmailing him. Or ifheeven knows who’s blackmailing him. The only thing that made him suspicious was all his sneaking around, but maybe hewasjust looking for the bathroom at the bookshop. Maybe hewasjust in the Harlows’ apartment looking for a package Savannah stole.”
Amie’s mind had returned to the bookshop, trying to remember how Benny had looked before infiltrating the back of the store. Had he been keeping a careful eye out for an opening? To her, it had seemed like he only had eyes for the cheese and cracker spread.
As she continued trying to sharpen the memory, the pair walked by Shelf Starter. Glancing through the window, Amie spotted Andrew sitting behind the counter, looking at his phone. In the aisle furthest from the cash register, Grayson was lounging against a shelf, also on his phone. A stack of books sat at his feet as he seemingly hid from Andrew to avoid doing work.
Hiding among the books …
“At the memorial,” Amie said slowly, remembering, “Raina was supposed to refill the iced tea. But she stayed away from the refreshments until Benny had left.”
“You think she was avoiding Benny?” David asked.
“Maybe. I don’t know why. I’m not even sure she knows him. But the more I think about it, the more sure I am that she was avoiding him.”
“Juicy drama,” David commented drily, “but what does it have to do with Savannah?”
“I think there’s more going on with Raina than we know,” Amie said. “I’m not sure if it has anything to do with Savannah’s death. But I’m gonna try to find out if it does.”
Amie paused as David fully stopped in the middle of the sidewalk. “No more breaking and entering,” he said firmly. “I’m not saying this for your sake. It’s for me and my poor nerves.”
Amie raised her eyebrows. “What if I do it and just don’t tell you?”
“My poor nerves would still know. They’d sense it.”
“I’m not going to break into her place,” Amie assured him as they continued walking. “I’m going to crash a bachelorette party.”
Chapter ElevenCompliment Shower
Day 3 A.L.
