“That’s great. You know every time I walked past Cox, I used to get this cold draft. I sensed something off about him, but sometimes intuition gets fogged by a friendly smile.”
“It’s okay—he’s locked away now.” And with any luck, he wouldn’t be getting out for a long time, if ever.
“Thank God. And thank God for our SAR team. We need them here.” Maureen leaned forward. “Catching one shadow often only makes others more obvious.”
“What do you mean?” Was she talking about the original missing women? Did she know that the ones dating back over twenty-five years might be connected?
Maureen just gave her an odd smile. “I should get going. I’ll see you both later. Remember to stay safe.”
Polly was still frowning as she watched the other woman leave. “Sometimes I wonder if there’s some merit to Maureen’s self-proclaimed psychic abilities.” She looked back at Maggie. “Is that crazy? Tell me it’s crazy.”
“I think we’d be crazy to discredit Maureen.” She sipped her coffee.
Basil stopped opposite them. “Polly. Nice to see you today. Guess I should be nice to you after your ordeal. Although, thatwasa month ago.”
“Basil, you can be whatever you want to me, as long as you bring me your biggest stack of pancakes possible.”
He eyed her suspiciously. “Would that be the same pancakes that you called lumpy and inconsistent a few months ago?”
“I think we should call a truce.”
“A truce?”
“Yeah. We should support each other. We do live in the same small town.”
Basil slammed his palms onto the counter. “Okay, who are you and what have you done with Polly?”
“I’m just someone who appreciates the best pancakes in the world.”
His eyes narrowed, and he held her gaze for a few moments like he was waiting for her to crack. When she didn’t, he muttered something indecipherable under his breath before walking to the kitchen.
Maggie chuckled. “I think you broke his brain.”
“I don’t understand why everyone is so shocked by my wanting to come here. Yes, Basil and I have had our moments. But one of us needed to be the more mature business owner, and I’ve taken that upon myself.”
“People are obviously being ridiculous.”
“Thank you.” She glanced around The Pancake Bar.
David Collins sat in his usual corner booth. Joe Ferris was standing by the guy’s table, and they were having what looked like a serious conversation. Anika and Mark were just outside, and, if Mark’s folded arms and Anika’s jabs at his chest were anything to go by, they were arguing.
Her mother had said she might pop in this morning. Maybe Jonah too.
Polly’s relationship with him had gotten better in the last month. She’d apologized for suspecting he was the Deep River killer and was finally seeing what her mother saw—hewasa good guy.
Hell, he’d supported Teagan through her AA meetings and kept it all private and confidential at her request.
He was also well suited to her mother. Possibly more than any man she’d been with before.
She wasn’t going to go so far as to say they were a forever kind of thing. Polly needed time, and a lot of it, to believe in that. But she could admit they seemed solid.
It wasn’t just her relationship with Jonah that had improved. A week after the incident, she’d had a long talk with her mother about the impact of her dating, even confessing her fear of small spaces that had developed from that one stepdad. Her mother had revealed that she actually felt regret for bouncing from guy to guy for Polly’s entire life.
They’d cried. They’d hugged. And now they were better than they’d ever been.
“I love this town,” she said under her breath. “And it feels just a little bit safer since Cox was taken off the streets.”
Maggie nodded. “I know what you mean. I just wish…”
