Total pages in book: 76
Estimated words: 74214 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 371(@200wpm)___ 297(@250wpm)___ 247(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 74214 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 371(@200wpm)___ 297(@250wpm)___ 247(@300wpm)
“And by that,” I said, leading her into said kitchen, “you mean you wanted to drop in and pester me about Hazel.”
She didn’t even try to deny it. When I turned back from putting the food in the fridge, she was shooting me a smirk.
“You know me too well. So how is it going?”
“Let’s talk about something else. How are things with Dr. Sheldon?”
“Let’s talk about something else,” she said, brushing some dust off the counter. “This looks almost done,” she added, turning around.
“Yeah. Just the backsplash now. And a good cleaning. That’s what I was about to do.”
“You?”
“Yeah. Why not me?”
“Because you have a cleaning lady. It seems like you’re trying to distract yourself.”
“From what?”
“Your feelings for a certain pretty newcomer to town.”
It was pointless to deny it.
“It’s complicated.”
“Why is it complicated?”
“I can’t talk about that.”
“I’m assuming it’s the same reason I noticed someone following me whenever I leave the house.”
“Saw that, huh?”
“Sweetie, you forget that I’ve been in this Family longer than you,” she said, shrugging. “I can always tell when something is going on. Even if I know you can’t tell me about it.”
“It’s a precaution right now,” I assured her.
“I know. If there were an active threat, someone would be standing at my front door. And you boys would be hanging around a lot.”
“Can’t get anything past you.”
“So, whatever is going on, Hazel is somehow involved.”
“Sort of by proxy.”
“So something happened at the garden center.”
“Something like that.”
“Let me guess, this something required you needing to… lie to her.”
“Yeah, it did.”
“And now you feel bad about lying to her, so your feelings are, as you said, complicated.”
“That about sums it up, yeah.”
“I’m going to venture a guess that Hazel doesn’t know who you are. Who we are.”
“I don’t think so, no.”
“She hasn’t had questions about the guards at the garden center?”
“Not that Dom has mentioned.”
“She’s too fastidious not to have noticed.”
Therein lies the problem.
She knew they were there.
She knew they arrived right after she found the body that I told her wasn’t a body at all.
I didn’t know Hazel well, but she wasn’t dumb. She had to be having some reservations about believing me.
Honestly, for a moment or two when I showed up in the shop that night, I’d been wondering if she was staying behind late to try to snoop around in the work computer or our files.
Then, well, I’d gotten a little distracted.
I’d meant to poke around the day before, ask some questions, but when I’d caught her in the haunted house alone, well, it felt wrong to let a perfect opportunity go to waste.
Unfortunately, she rushed out afterward and made herself scarce, so I couldn’t ask her anything that might let me know where her head was at.
“Listen, your brothers and cousins have had some really complicated beginnings with their women. And look at them now. Happy. Married. Making babies.”
“Don’t get your hopes too high, Ma. It’s not like—excuse me,” I said when my phone rang in my pocket.
Dom.
“What’s up?”
“Yeah… you’re going to want to get down here.”
“What happened?”
“Well, no one’s dead. So there’s that. But it’s a good thing the place is closed for the night.”
“Alright. I’ll be over in a few. Are the others there?”
“Hazel is. She’s who called me.”
“Is she okay?” I asked, watching my mom mouth Hazel’s name and press a hand to her heart.
“Yeah.”
“Okay. Good. I’m on my way.”
“She’s okay?” my mom asked.
“She is. But something is up. I have to get going.”
“Of course. I’ll see myself out.”
She didn’t make an immediate move to do so, but I was too worried about what might be going on to really care. Besides, this was Giulia Grassi we were talking about here. If she wanted to be in my house, she would be.
I flew down the highway, wondering if there was another body at the garden center, if there would be another corpse to deal with, and another death to grieve.
I could see the problem, though, before I could even turn into the parking lot.
The corn maze was ripped down. Hay bales were unwrapped and strewn everywhere.
It was hard to tell at such a distance, but it looked like the pumpkins in the patch were all smashed.
“The fuck?” I said to Dom as I climbed out of my car.
“It’s worse than it looks,” Dom, never one to sugarcoat anything, said.
“How?”
“The decorations in the woods,” he said, nodding toward where Hazel was coming out of the woods with two lines between her brows, her lower lip pouting.
“Before she gets back, what are you thinking? Kids? Some early mischief night shit?”
“It’s possible. But if it was kids, they made sure to fuck with the cameras before they did the damage.”
“Did the footage catch them before they painted the cameras?”
“No, they didn’t spray them. They shot them out.”
“Well, that’s not good,” I said, raking my hand through my hair. “We have to get someone on new cameras. A fuck-ton of new cameras. And tell the other capos to amp up the security on any establishments.”