Christmas at Fireside Cabins - Jenny Hale Page 0,57

she might uncover something Theo didn’t want people to know.

“Not at all. Take your bread with you,” she said, handing her a napkin to wrap it in. “I’ll bring you a Christmas box when I’ve finished packing them all.”

“Thank you, that would be nice,” Lila replied, getting up and sliding her coat on. She grabbed the napkin and pinched the piece of bread within it, cradling the treat in her hand. “I’ll let you know if I find out anything else.” She let herself out and jogged over to her cabin, unlocking the door and setting the bread and napkin on the kitchen counter while simultaneously dialing Piper.

“Hey, girl!” Piper said after the first ring. “Holding the fort over there in the hills?”

“Sort of…” Lila said. “Do you still have that article you read about the coffee shop here in Pinewood Hills, by chance?”

“What article?”

“The one about someone named Brian Brown owning the shop.”

“Oh!” Piper said. “Yes! It’s in one of my magazines. Why?”

“I can’t find Theo.”

“What?”

“He’s been missing since yesterday, and I’m thinking I might report it to the police—you know, just to be on the safe side,” Lila said, trying not to panic herself with unnecessary thoughts about Theo being in some kind of trouble.

“Oh my gosh,” Piper said through the phone.

“Yeah. But I kind of need to find out his last name before I call. No one seems to know it. I’m wondering if there are any clues at all in that article.” She explained to Piper what had happened, catching her up on all the details.

“Here, I’ve got the article now. Let me read it aloud to you,” Piper told her. “Stop me if I say anything that might help.” She began to read. “The obscure coffee shop hides on the back of a hill in the small town of Pinewood Hills, Tennessee. You haven’t heard of it? Don’t feel bad. Not many have. The aging little village has more than meets the eye with its Christmas festivities, but it’s the coffee shop that we feel will garner the most interest. Its mysterious owner, Theo, is known for his lack of hospitality and run-down premises.

“The townsfolk will tell you it’s just a ploy to keep tourists from frequenting the spot, but everyone else wonders if all the secrecy is to produce the opposite effect. The enigmatic barista is not only tight-lipped about his recipes, but everything else about him as well. Most people don’t even know his name. Try to talk to him, and he’ll close up faster than a mousetrap on a piece of stolen cheese. We tried to request an interview, but when we reached out for comment, our calls were ignored. When we visited, we encountered the burly mountain man—all muscle with a thick beard and long hair—and we were asked not so politely to move along. When our reporters attempted to get the public sales records for the coffee shop, they were told that all the transactions had been made under the pseudonym Brian Brown––who no one appears to know. If you ask the barista, residents say he won’t utter a word about any of it. Is it all a publicity stunt? It got us to write this article, didn’t it? That’s all it says,” Piper finished.

“He must have shaved for us,” Lila teased. But then she sobered. “So nobody knows his name,” she said, shaking her head in disbelief, the phone pressed against her ear. “At least nobody who will say anything…”

“He never told you?” Piper asked.

“He may have. When I was asleep, I swear he said it, but I can’t remember it. I’d been teasing him for not telling me.” She squeezed her eyes shut, willing the moment to come back to her.

“While you were asleep?” Piper asked in a playfully suspicious tone. “Why was Theo with you while you were sleeping?”

Lila laughed. “You know how I get after long days. I dozed off.”

“I don’t buy it.”

“I swear!” Lila said, squeezing her eyes shut in amusement. “Literally, nothing happened. I was exhausted. I might have even snored a little.”

“Ugh, you have no juicy details?”

“Sorry,” Lila replied. She continued to ponder his last name, thinking out loud. “Percy? Parker? I just can’t place it.”

“Theo Parker, Theo Percy,” Piper said, dropping her banter and trying the names on for size. “Something with a P then?”

Lila’s thoughts returned to that envelope she’d found in Theo’s office. “Hey, I’m going to run into town to see if I can find any answers. I’ll go