Proof of Murder (Beyond the Page Bookstore Mystery #4) - Lauren Elliott Page 0,36
she went to Italy with him and then coming to Greyborne Harbor isn’t bothering you more than you let on? Because I think you’re losing it.”
“I am not, and no, I’m not bothered by it. At first maybe a bit—I mean, he only proposed to me three months ago, and I couldn’t believe he’d replaced me so quickly. Then seeing the two of them together made me realize that he’d found someone perfect for him: she’s professional, she plays by the rules, she’s everything I’m not. And then I thought about Simon. I realized that I’d found someone perfect for me. Because we’re both—”
“Rule breakers?”
“Rule benders is more like it. We never actually break the rules.” Addie chuckled softly. “But that’s not what’s concerning me.”
“What is then?”
“Doesn’t it seem strange to you that an FBI agent would let her emotions rule her actions? You’d think with all her training, she’d be a little less—”
“She’s still a woman, and maybe in her mind since she’s on vacation, this is her way of marking her territory. The only way she knows how is through an investigation.”
“Maybe, but she did tell me today that an FBI agent is really never off duty.”
“Do you think she’s on leave for some other reason than vacation time, or not on leave at all and still very much working?”
“I don’t know, but it does seem odd to me the way she’s jumped into this investigation, and how Marc seems to be letting her take the lead in it. I get the feeling there’s something else going on either with this case or with her.”
“Is there something about Blake Edwards or Charlotte that you don’t know? Like a reason either of them might be a person of interest to the FBI?”
“Not as far as I know. I didn’t know Charlotte personally, except by her company’s reputation, but I’ve known Blake most of my life. But then again . . .” Addie hesitated and glanced at Serena. “How well do we really know anyone? We might think we know someone, but then something happens and we discover that we really never did know that person.” Serena’s eyes flew wide open. “I wasn’t talking about you and me. I only meant people in general.”
“Are you sure? Because I don’t want to find out you’ve got a skeleton in your closet that’s going to come back and bite me one day.”
Addie threw her head back laughing.
“It’s not funny. It would break my heart if I found out you weren’t who I thought you were.”
“Don’t worry. There are no deep, dark, sordid secrets about me waiting to be revealed.” Addie draped her arm across Serena’s shoulder. “Look, we’ve both had a lousy day and need to take our minds off all this. Is Zach working at the Grey Gull tonight?”
“Yup.”
“Would it make you feel better if you saw him?” Serena’s eyes lit up. “I thought so. Let’s go say hello, and we’ll grab dinner while we’re there.”
“Perfect, let me get my purse.” Serena bolted up the stairs to her apartment and was back before Addie had fastened her seat belt.
Serena hopped in and Addie put the car in drive. Serena let out a horrifying squeal. “What’s wrong?” Addie slammed on the brakes.
“My phone’s dead.”
“Is that all? I thought you were dying.”
“I might as well be because there’s no time to charge it before we go.” Serena’s voice teetered on panic. “What am I going to do?”
“Take mine out of my bag and use it.”
“Oh . . . I never thought of that.” Serena snatched Addie’s phone and scowled at the lock screen. “Could you please put in your password?”
Addie stopped at the top of her driveway, punched in her password, and handed Serena the phone.
“Thanks, I thought we should call ahead and ask the manager if he could squeeze us into Zach’s section.”
“I’m glad it was life and death,” Addie mumbled under her breath as she pulled out onto the road. “Speaking of Bruce,” she added, “I better ask him about my cousin when we’re there.”
“What about her?” Serena asked, phone plastered to her ear. “It’s busy. I’ll try again in a minute.”
Addie glanced at her with her peripheral vision. “What are you doing? Going through my phone?”
Serena’s finger stilled on the screen. “Just looking at these pictures.” She flashed the phone screen in Addie’s face. “Is this your cousin? She’s gorgeous. Wow.”
“I’d forgotten we took those photos yesterday.”
“What were you guys doing? Here’s one of you almost standing on your head.”