“Preston speaking. Oh, hey, Travis. How are you? Uh-huh. Oh good, I’m glad to hear that.” He smiled warmly at me and tapped my nose with his finger as he listened. “Yeah, business is good. It’s been steady and I’m starting to get busy with fall orders already.” He turned away. “Wait, how many? What size? Wow. Yeah, I want to see them. I can be there in,” he glanced at his watch, “an hour? Maybe two? Will that work? Great. I’ll see you then.”
“Ex-boyfriend?” I teased when he hung up.
He poked me in the ribs. “Gross. He’s like 70. That was one of my suppliers. Travis and his wife own an antique store in the next town over called Sourced. She does normal stuff, clothes and things, but he sells more unique items.” At my look, he added, “Nothing illegal, just hard to find things. He has a whole basement of crazy stuff. I told him to keep his eye out for some wrought iron I need for a few projects I have in mind, and he kind of hit the jackpot. He’s been a great resource for me.”
Something hit me as he spoke and I squeezed his thighs. “Wait, what did you say the business name was?”
“Sourced.”
Everything clicked at once.It’s under sourced.That’s what Michael had said about the box. He hadn’t meant sourced with a little s, he’d meant it with a capital S! As in,Sourced!
“Oh my god, Riley!” I pulled him to me and kissed him hard, making him squeak. “You might have just solved my case!”
“What?”
“The only thing Michael told me about the box’s whereabouts was‘it’sunder sourced.’I had no idea what he meant, but your friend’s business might be what he was talking about. Right?”
“Maybe. He gets all kinds of weird stuff,” he agreed. “You can come with me if you want, to ask him if he’s seen it.”
I frowned. “Do we have to go right now, though? Things werejustgetting good.” I teased, trailing my hands up his back. As excited as I was to possibly solve this case, I was way more excited about getting Riley naked in bed… wherever his damn bed was.
I nibbled at his lips when he leaned down to kiss me, making him laugh. “Sadly, yes. He doesn’t have the room to store big collections like this, so I need to go claim it if I want it. It’s a little bit of a drive, but there’s a delicious Mexican restaurant there I think you’ll like. Do you still like enchiladas?”
“Love them.”
“Good. Let’s go.”
