“Whoa, slow down.” I finally gave in to the urge to touch her, holding her by the shoulders. “You saw Danny again?”
“He showed up at Ollie’s school this afternoon. Ollie’s going to have dinner with him, and it’s probably fine, but I donotbelieve this is a coincidence.”
Yeah, neither did I. “We can go get Ollie right now if you want.”
“No, that’s probably what Danny is hoping will happen. For me to freak out and make a scene in front of Ollie likeI’mthe problem. I just hate it. I’m sorry you got dragged into it.Again. And I’m sorry for defending you because apparently that was wrong too.”
“Piper—”
Milo cleared his throat, reminding us we had an audience.
She looked past my shoulder to see into the house. “Someone else is here?”
“Some friends. Come on. Come inside.”
“You sure you want me to?” she snarked. “I’m not interfering? Your annoying landlady, showing up when she’s not welcome?”
“You’re always welcome.” I put my arm around her shoulder and ushered her through the door.
I still had dangerous contraband to deal with. But if I told Piper to leave now and insisted on handling all of this myself, it was entirely likely she’d never forgive me.
I was just trying to figure this out one moment at a time.
“Piper, this is Milo, Zach, and Earl. They work at the motorcycle shop.”
She nodded at them distractedly. “Sure, I know Milo and Zach. Nice to meet you, Earl. You were all here when the police showed up?”
Earl stroked his bushy beard and lifted his equally bushy eyebrows at me, probably unsure of how much I wanted to say in front of Piper.
The answer: everything. Now that she was here, I couldn’t do this halfway.
“It was more than just an anonymous tip.” I grabbed the box from the corner and dragged it over. Pulled back the flap, showing her the plastic-wrapped brick inside.
Piper stared at it, her face going pale. “Oh my God,” she whispered.
“Zach and I found it in the bedroom when I was looking atthe quilting fabric,” Earl said. “Just sitting there inside the box, right on top. Wasn’t even hidden.”
Milo crossed his arms over his leather jacket. “Piper, you really think your ex planted this?”
“Danny?” she said hoarsely, her eyes fixed on the package. “Yeah. I think so.”
Yet she sounded far less confident than she had moments ago with Chief Nichols.
“Danny doesn’t like Grayden,” she added.
“Yeah, no shit,” Milo muttered. “Good luck, man.” He clapped me on the shoulder. “You better get rid of that stuff before anything else happens.”
I nodded. “Planning on it.”
Once they were gone, I shut and locked the door. That had been far more excitement than I was anticipating for today.
What a damn mess.
When I turned around, Piper was pacing back and forth across the front room. She still had her coat on, her arms crossed over it like she was cold, though I had the heat on.
Every time she came here, something bad seemed to happen.
“There’s just something I don’t understand,” she said.
