"I know," he said smugly. "But you can show me just how wonderful after I do these dishes."
One of the best things about Jack was that he liked to do dishes. Since I loved to cook and bake, we were obviously made for each other.
"And that hug at the end?"
He laughed. "After I shifted back, I told him I'm going to be restoring an old motorcycle I found in my uncle's garage, and I needed an assistant. In case he knew anybody who might be interested."
"And he was?"
"Twelve-year-old boy. Motorcycle. Dirt. Oil. Tools. What's not to like?"
I rose on my tiptoes to kiss him over the armful of dishes, and then we cleaned up from the party. When I was turning out the lights, Jack's phone rang.
"It's Sam," he said. "I should get this."
"Of course. I'm going to have a shower."
When I came out of the bathroom in my summer PJs, Jack was sitting on the bed, staring into space.
"What happened?"
"Sam said he got a video call from her, and she looks awful. Too thin, exhausted, and wild, like she might be using drugs."
"Oh, no! That poor girl. What are you going to do?"
"He recorded the call. I sent it to the Fox brothers. If they can get anything that might give us a clue to her location, I'm going to have to go try to track her down."
"Absolutely. If it were Shelley …"
Our gazes met. If it were Shelley, we'd never stop until we found her. He had to do the same for Katherine.
"There's one thing," Jack said, tapping his phone with one fingertip.
"What's that?"
"She knows about me. Sam said she might head here to find me so I can help."
14
Tess
Jack dropped me off at the shop at seven on Wednesday morning, so he could get a start on searching for Katherine. The Fox twins had texted him a tip that she'd been caught on camera at a gas station in Jacksonville, so he was driving up there.
I had plenty of work to do, including the rest of my tax filing, so I was glad to get an early start. I'd be on my own all day. After Jack had called and filled Eleanor and Bill in on what was up with Oscar, they'd decided to take him to the beach for the day.
And I bet his parents got an earful. I still can't believe they didn't bother to tell Bill and Eleanor what was going on with their divorce. Oscar's mom was Bill's daughter, for Pete's sake. I knew not all families were as close, or shared as much, as mine, but this was ridiculous.
I still hadn't decided what to do with the brooch. First, I needed to retrieve it from my car and put it in the vault, but the minute I thought about that, a rush of customers came intothe shop and kept me busy for an hour. Then, my best friend Molly called for a catch-up chat, since we hadn't talked since the wedding. She and her indie rock band were doing great, touring and juggling record company offers. One of her bandmates kept switching between playing drums and playing bass, which was making Molly nuts, but, as she said, "Musicians! What are you gonna do?"
At lunchtime, I put out theClosedsign and ate the sandwich and slice of pie I'd brought from home while I finished up all urgent paperwork. Then, feeling the tiniest bit smug for being so productive, I mopped the floor. When it dried, I walked over to the door to unlock it and open the shop back up, only to find Cletus McKee standing on my porch.
The sight of him startled me and, worse, sent a nasty twinge of nausea through me when I got a flashback to watching him die.
I guess I took too long to speak, because he started fidgeting, but he kept the large, overly cheerful smile on his face.
"Hello, Cletus. I'm … surprised to see you here." Also surprising me, he was dressed up today, in an actual suit, which was a rare enough sight in Dead End to make me blink.
He glanced away from me, his smile faltering. "Yeah. Uh, yeah. About that. I'm sorry I was so rude yesterday. Shouting at you and all at Beau's."
