It took two hours for them to load and head to the storage unit. Andi hadn’t called Luke back because she’d felt embarrassed about jumping to conclusions and phoning him with her fears. She didn’t want him to think she was half-hysterical, crying wolf at every opportunity. The more she thought about it, the more she was sure she’d let her fears take over.
Don’t let your pride make you stupid, though.
“No,” she said aloud, picking up her cell and listening to Luke’s voice-mail message before returning his call. He answered on the second ring, though he sounded distracted. “How’s it going?” he asked.
“Okay. I guess. But . . . oh, damn. Maybe I shouldn’t have called. Do I seem kind of panicked? Sorry. It’s just that . . . I thought I saw one of the Carreras in the Wren parking lot, but I could be slightly paranoid. Now I’m not so sure.”
“You aren’t panicked. You have a right to worry.”
“So, you haven’t heard back from Ted Bellows’s widow?”
“Not yet. One of the reasons I want to check with Bolchoy is that he was working with her. I don’t know how much help she was. I think there may have been some medical problem. Ray got frustrated, and well, we know the rest of that.”
She wanted to ask him if he would come by the house afterward. The desire to have him with her was almost overwhelming. She kept that thought to herself and instead said, “I’ll be at the cabin tomorrow, when the movers take over the pieces that belong there. I hope the lock’s fixed.”
“It is. I went to take a look at it, and it was taken care of.”
“You went to the cabin?”
“I said I would. Sorry it took till today.”
“I’m just happy it’s fixed. What did you think of the place?” she asked tentatively.
“It’s great. Nice location on the lake. It’s not that far from the Bellows place. They’re both on that southwest side.”
“Mrs. Bellows still owns the cabin? I thought they were coerced out of it.”
“After Ted’s death, the Carreras backed off.”
“For good?”
“There is no ‘for good’ with them.”
“I suppose that would be too much to hope for.”
“I’d say the Carreras are just biding their time. My guess is they’ve been distracted by your family’s recent acquisitions.” There was a pause in their conversation, then he asked, “What time’re you going to be at the cabin tomorrow? I’ll come on by.”
“Late afternoon, probably.”
“Unless you’d like me to stop by the house tonight?”
Andi realized he was picking up on her nervousness and said, “Tomorrow’ll be great. Oh, and I told my brother-and sister-in-law that I’d hired you.”
She considered adding that Carter had met with Blake Carrera about selling the Allencore block of ten cabins, but before she could, he asked, “How’d that go over?”
She smiled. “What do you think?”
He chuckled, and she found her smile widening at the sound of his amusement. “I’m looking forward to meeting them both,” he said.
“Remember you said that,” she warned him, to which he said good-bye, still chuckling.
Chapter Seven
September shoved her cell phone in her pocket, grabbed her coat off the back of her chair, and called to Gretchen as she headed for the squad room door, “Tynan Myles is at Tiny Tim’s. Hannah just sent me a message.”
Gretchen grabbed her coat as well, camouflaging her gun and holster. “I hope to hell they have air-conditioning,” she grumbled, making her way outside.
Gretchen climbed behind the wheel of the department-issue Jeep and backed out of the lot expertly. Strapped into the passenger seat, September rechecked her cell and added, “He’s managed to sidestep us too many times for it to be coincidence.”
“Eh, he could just be lucky that way. How’d you get the daughter-in-law to tip us off?”
“She’s sick of me asking to talk to either Tynan or Caleb. She doesn’t want us talking to either of them, apparently, but she chose to give up her father-in-law before her husband.”
“Think there’s a reason for that?” Gretchen asked, squinting against the sunlight bouncing off bumpers and windshields as she eased into the traffic
“Other than she doesn’t want to deal with it? No. I get the sense that neither Caleb nor Tynan will be all that excited about being interviewed by the police, and that Hannah thinks they’ll get pissed at her for being the liaison.”
“It’s a little early to hit the bars, or is this Tynan’s usual?”
“Hannah acts like he spends a lot more time out of the house than in, but that may be because of Greer.”
“Tynan’s grandson.”
“Or granddaughter. Could you tell?” September asked curiously.
Gretchen gave a thin smile. “Likely one or the other.”