Elijah looked serious, though. Concerned. Troubled. “He said he was gonna prove to everybody that y’all killed Allie. He said he had actual proof, when somebody called bullshit on him. He said he had photos.”
“Photos?” Carter’s pulse gave a jump. “Of what?”
“Man, I dunno. But he’s out to get you guys, and I don’t think he’s playing.”
“What’s one seventeen-year-old kid gonna do to the Lean Dogs?” It was only after Elijah’s brows had lifted, and the boy had recoiled another small fraction, that he realized how harsh his tone had been.
Shit.
He tried to smile. “Thanks for telling me. We’ll be on the lookout for anything weird.”
Elijah held his gaze a moment, his own unreadable, then nodded. “Watch your back.”
~*~
Leah pushed through the door of the coffeeshop and took an immediate, grateful deep breath of its usual tangle of enticing scents. It had been a bit of a hectic day at work, but a productive sort of hectic. Numbers to crunch, emails to fire back and forth. She’d always loved numbers: the concrete efficiency of them. Numbers didn’t lie; numbers were dependable. She’d always thought of herself as whimsical and wild, a little, but she loved the orderliness of what she did for a living. The way it grounded her.
She headed for the counter, surprised to see Dustin and Sarah working behind it, neither of her parents in sight.
“Hey, Dust, is my dad here?”
“Your mom, actually.” He pointed toward the door to the back. “She had to make a phone call.”
“Thanks.”
Beyond a swinging door, the back housed the kitchen, break room, an employee restroom, and the office – whose door was cracked open. She could hear her mother’s voice coming from the other side – but the tone brought her up short, breath held.
“I understand,” Marie said, low, and raw, and crackling; she sounded near tears. “But if you could give us one more week to – you have a buyer? Well, what if we…I understand. But, Mr. Pearson….no, but.” Silence a long moment, while Leah’s heart pounded. Marie took a shaky breath. “Yes. Yes. I’ll talk with my husband. Thank you.” Clipped, and not at all thankful. The receiver clicked back into the dock.
Leah stood debating a moment, fingers and toes tingling with nerves. If she retreated, her mother would hear her footfalls, probably, and know that she’d heard. If she went in, she would find her mother upset, and Leah would ask why – she had to ask. Either way, there could be no pretending she hadn’t accidently eavesdropped.
Leah took a breath, rapped quickly on the door, and slipped inside.
Marie glanced around, startled, her eyes shiny with unshed tears. She looked unbearably thin, almost haggard, in that first unguarded moment, and Leah’s heart clenched.
“Leah!”
“Oh, Mom.” Her own eyes burned, on reflex, and she set her bag down and went straight to her mom, all thoughts of trying to skirt around this carefully deserting her.
Marie stayed sitting, and she wiped at her eyes – right up until Leah reached her. Then she pitched forward and wrapped both arms tight around her, squeezing hard.
Leah squeezed back, feeling her mother’s fluttering sadness seep into her, plucking at all her nerves. “What’s wrong? Who was that on the phone?”
Marie didn’t answer right away, breathing warm and ragged against Leah’s stomach. Then she finally pushed back with a deep sigh, and wiped at her cheeks, her eyes dry now. From this angle, Leah could see the gray in the part of her hair, evidence of an overdue salon trip. “Your father and I didn’t want to tell you until we were sure. We didn’t want to worry you.”
Her stomach lurched. “Worry me about what? God, Mom, are you sick?”
“What? No, no.” Marie waved away the notion and shook her head.
It was a big relief, one that left Leah weak-kneed enough that she dropped into the chair against the wall, the one beneath the coat rack. Soft jacket sleeves fell over her shoulders, cupped around her head.
“No.” Marie sighed again, and attempted a smile, one hollow and spare. “That was Mike Pearson on the phone. The landlord. He’s moving to Florida, and he wants to sell the building – but he wants an outrageous amount for it, and won’t accept our offer.”
Of all the things Leah had expected, this wasn’t one of them. She blinked stupidly. Then frowned. “How much does he want for it?”
“Almost twice the actual value.”
“What? That shithead. Why?”
