Like I don’t already know he’s here for Piper.
“Is she in?” James Taylor makes eye contact with me briefly and sticks his head through the door. Does he want to make a cup of coffee for us all while he’s at it? Talk about an invasion of privacy.
I close the door a little, careful not to bang it against his precious face. He’ll probably find a way to file a lawsuit against me.
“If you are referring to Piper Hart—yes, she’s in. But your visit will need to be brief.”
“All due respect, Mr. Rourke, the visit will take as long as it takes.”
When will it be time for me to punch this prick in the face?
11
PIPER
I slinga robe around me and hope that this is up to James’s standard. Nothing ever seems to be.
“There were signs of a break-in and I think it took place before the fire,” he tells me after I shut the door.
I’m standing out on the porch in my pajamas, having only just woken up five minutes ago, and now he’s telling me this? At least allow a woman to drink her morning coffee first and do her hair before you talk shit right to her face.
“Sir,” I sigh. “I think I’d know about it if someone broke into my house.”
“How can you be so sure when you had no cameras installed?”
Is that what the ash told him when he was running it through his fingers like a psycho? Jesus Christ.
“This is Maple Crossing. Crime doesn’t exist around these parts.”
“Living in remote towns actually promotes it.” He steps closer. “Anyway, that’s by the by. I have been investigating your property, Ms. Hart, and my findings are still inconclusive. Yousay that you’ve been paying off the mortgage—for how long have you been doing this?”
We’re going around in circles here. “Nine years.”
“Which is when your father left?”
I nod, which still doesn’t answer James’s question.
He looks up at the house with an upturned nose, like the property isn’t quite to his taste. I’d love to see where he lives. I bet it doesn’t have windows. “Mr. Rourke and you are friends, correct?” he continues.
Somewhat.
“Yes.” I keep this simple to get him out of my hair. “He was visiting the town nine years ago.”
“And now you’ve moved in with him?”
“Temporarily. Just until all of this is sorted out.” I a polished smile, hoping he gets the hint.
But he’s taking the hint and making a goddamn cake out of it. “I had a read through the case file that the station gave me.” He grimaces. “Sounds like it was a lot of damage.”
You should know that yourself, seeing as you were inspecting each speck of ash.
“I later went through some of your financial records.”
“Those are private,” I remind him, fist clenched at my back. He has no right to go snooping through financial records.
“You work at Bean There, correct?”
I nod curtly.
