“Everybody wants to know about that. Are you with the press?”
“No. I’m a lawyer. I’m not involved in the case. I was actually in the jewelry store when they robbed it.”
Her eyes widened. “You were? Were you scared?”
I thought back to my extreme adrenaline rush. “Yeah, especially because the tallest guy, the fit one, he shot an arrow into my friend.”
“You’re friends with Basanelli. Yeah. I read in the paper how he was injured.”
“Do you know him?” I asked.
She winked. “No, I just saw a picture of him in the Gazette. He’s pretty damn hot. Is he dating anybody?”
“Yes.” I smiled, trying not to get my hackles up. “He’s dating my sister.”
Jenny looked over my shoulder at Tessa and Donna. “That’s that, then. I heard the robbers gave a lot of the stuff away, which is good because I got my phone back.”
It was probably difficult to pawn off nice phones. “You did?” I asked. “Was there anything different about it? Did they do anything to it?”
“No, and the police took it to try to track the GPS.”
“That was smart,” I said. “You don’t have it back yet?”
She rubbed down the bar. “No. It’s not like I want to go buy a burner phone to use for a few days. I wouldn’t even know where to get one.”
“They’re pretty easy to get,” I admitted. “But yeah, giving everybody a new number is a pain. Hopefully, the police will return your phone. Do you mind telling me about the robbery here? I know I’m not involved with the case, but I’m really curious.” I took a seat on a barstool.
“Sure. They came in, and the tall guy in black, the one with the nice body, kept the arrows pointed at everybody while the other two ran around with bags and collected jewelry, cell phones, and then hit the cash register. They took money and wallets off everybody, too.”
It sounded like they’d improved their strategy after hitting Duke’s. “Wallets, huh?”
“Yeah, but it’s my understanding that most of those were found intact at the women’s center with credit cards but not cash.”
I let one of my eyebrows rise.
She grinned. “I have a friend who works there, so I got the scoop.”
“Ah, nice,” I said. “Do you have any idea who the guys were?”
“No, do you?” she asked.
I shook my head. “Absolutely no clue, but I’ve heard they’re being called the Robin Hood Cupids.”
She rolled her eyes. “Yeah. They could take a charitable name if they gave everything back, but they’re keeping plenty for themselves.” She tossed the bar rag into the sink. “I was surprised they hit us. But now that I think about it, if they got everybody’s jewelry and cash and then the bar’s, it probably wasn’t a bad haul.” She dropped her voice.
I nodded, thinking the same thing.
“So,”—she leaned toward me—“Nick Basanelli is obviously taken. He doesn’t have brothers, does he?”
“He has two brothers, and to the best of my knowledge, neither is dating anybody.”
After leaving the Clumsy Penguin,I hopped into Aiden’s truck and headed to his cabin, unsurprised to see the home dark. I didn’t think he’d be back this quickly, but still, I had hoped. I parked in the drive and hustled inside to grab a shovel out of the hall closet.
Even though it was cold and dark, I hurriedly shoveled the walkway, feeling like it was a decent enough workout for the day. I hadn’t been running in quite a while, and I really needed to find my tennis shoes.
Returning inside, I did some laundry, my mind on the cases. I wanted to call and speak with Violet, but I had to trust that Aunt Yara knew what she was doing. Heck, she knew a lot more about how to raise teenagers than I ever would.
Finally, my eyelids grew so heavy I had to go to bed. The pillows smelled like Aiden, wild and foresty, and I sank right into the mattress. Even so, I slept fitfully, dreaming about Cupid chasing me around the lake. Early in the morning, the nightmare hit—the one where I was ten years old again, skipping rocks by the river with my cousin Lacey before being kidnapped. I snapped awake.
