The Bookstore on the Beach - Brenda Novak Page 0,68
a big piece. Wait till you taste the frosting. Oh, my God—it’s amazing.”
She laughed. “I’ve had it before. Where’s Taylor?”
“She was going to stop by and say hello, but Sierra called, so she went over there instead. She said to tell you she’ll be home for dinner.”
“Is she bringing Sierra with her?”
“I don’t know,” he said with a shrug. “Was she supposed to?”
“Not necessarily, but we’ve been here since school let out, and I have yet to meet her. I’ll text Taylor to suggest it.”
“I’d like to meet Sierra, too,” Mary said, coming out from the back. “Maybe I’ll make lasagna. Taylor loves my lasagna.”
Autumn loved it, too. “That would be wonderful—” she started to respond but Caden cut her off.
“Oh, Mimi! That reminds me. I have something for you, too.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out what looked like a business card. “The woman who was waiting on our table before Quinn took over said that this guy came into the restaurant recently and was asking about someone named Bailey North. She thought, with as long as you’ve lived in town, that you or Aunt Laurie might know who she is and how to find her.”
Autumn took the card from him. She was going to pass it off to her mother but hesitated once she got a look at it. “Drake D. Owens,” she read aloud. “It’s a private investigator from Atlanta. Wonder what he wants with this Bailey person. Do you know her?” she asked, looking up.
Mary took the card and threw it away. “No. Unfortunately, I won’t be able to help him.”
“Shouldn’t we check with Laurie before we get rid of that?” Autumn asked, surprised by her mother’s quick dismissal of something that was a rather strange occurrence for Sable Beach. How many PIs did they get coming through town, trying to locate someone?
“If I don’t know her, Laurie won’t,” Mary replied.
“You don’t know all the same people, do you?”
“Most of them.” She gestured toward the trash. “But here, give it back to me. I’ll ask her.”
Autumn dug the card out of the garbage. “Even if Laurie doesn’t know her, maybe Chris does—or someone else.” She looked back at Caden. “Did the waitress tell you what Mr. Owens wanted with this Bailey North?”
“Someone left her some money or something. It would be a bummer to miss out on that, right?” Caden hefted his backpack higher. “But I’d better get started on the website. Shawn and Adrienne want to go surfing later.”
“Except it’s Sunday, and you’re going to be home for dinner, right?”
He made a face. “Of course.”
“Laurie emailed you the list of changes. Did you get it?” Mary asked.
“I did, but it’ll be easier to show you as I get various things done—to be sure I get it the way you want it. That’s why I came in.”
“You’re such a good kid,” Mary said and smiled, but Autumn got the impression that she was upset about something.
“Are you okay?” she asked, catching her mother by the elbow before she could walk away.
“Me?” Mary pressed a hand to her chest. “Of course. What makes you ask?”
“Nothing, I guess.” She couldn’t point to anything specific, so she decided she must’ve imagined it.
* * *
Mary nodded and smiled in all the right places while talking about the website with her grandson but felt extremely distracted the whole time. She hated that another business card of Drake D. Owens’s had surfaced in town. How many others had he left behind? And how determined would the citizens of Sable Beach become in their attempts to help an unknown individual get their inheritance?
She wanted to believe that most people would toss his card and forget about him and his questions. But all it would take was one Good Samaritan to try to do more. A simple Google search on the name Bailey North would get people talking, wondering if the woman he was searching for was the same girl who’d been kidnapped by a wealthy young couple and used as a babysitter and housekeeper, when the husband wasn’t using her for more.
And once people realized he might be looking for that Bailey North, it could lead to someone remembering that Mary came to town shortly after Bailey escaped from her captors, would’ve been close to the same age and had been secretive and skittish for the first few years—until she started to trust that, with the Skinners behind bars, she was finally safe.