“How?”
Cara gave her a self-satisfied smile and lifted one shoulder in a shrug. “I have contacts.”
“Oh, Cara…” Grace said.
“Don’t you worry about a thing, boo. Do you see me getting revenge on anyone from my own past? Believe me, I have a list. But I only use my powers to help others.”
“Yeah, you’re a real saint,” Logan said.
Levi leaned closer to him. “Dude, I wouldn’t get on her bad side.”
“Besides, I’m not the one who cheated on the beautiful and talented Skylar Stanley. He had it coming. He’s lucky all I did is ruin his career from afar.”
“Dude, that was amazing,” Gavin said. “Cara karma at its finest.”
Feeling a bit dazed, I slowly stood. “That was…”
Cara raised her eyebrows.
“That was one of the most amazing things I’ve ever seen. He made me feel so awful when he broke up with me, and I never thought I’d see him get his due. Did you see his face? That was…” I trailed off again and launched myself at Cara, wrapping her in a tight hug.
She put her arms around me, hugging me back. “I’m so glad you liked it. Wow, doing a good deed really does fill the soul. I should do that more often.”
I stepped back and swiped beneath my eyes. Maybe it made me a bad person for being so happy at seeing someone else’s life crash and burn. But I wasn’t just emotional over Cullen. It was the sudden realization that I had so many people in my life who cared about me. For a shy girl who had a hard time making friends, that was priceless.
32
Gavin
Ever since Ginny had told us she thought the Montgomery treasure was real, the idea that maybe she was right had been swirling around the back of my mind. I’d grown up hearing stories about it. Everyone in town had. But everyone also knew that this town loved its tall tales as much as the squirrels loved stealing our snacks. You couldn’t really believe any of them.
But Ginny was an outsider. She had a different perspective. If she thought the treasure might be real, maybe Harvey Johnston wasn’t as crazy as everyone thought. Although the tin can episode at the murder cabin didn’t exactly support his sanity.
But still. Maybe there was something out there.
What really got me going was the implication that someone—maybe the Montgomerys—had been trying to hide it. I wasn’t going to jump to the conclusion that there was a conspiracy that went back generations. But someone had hidden that stuff Grace had found. People didn’t randomly put shit beneath the floorboards of a house for no reason. Did that mean there was a reason to hide it? And had a Montgomery done it?
There was just the smallest whiff of intrigue, but it was enough for me. Plus, who wouldn’t want to be the guy to find an old town treasure? That sounded awesome.
Although if I was being totally honest, mostly it was just an excuse to do something fun with Skylar.
I picked her up and drove us over to the Haven House. It had a stupid name, but I had an idea.
She looked out the window at the old house. It was a big Victorian home with a pitched roof, a front porch, and a round tower on one side.
“If it was painted black, it would make the perfect haunted house,” she said.
“That’s what I’ve always thought. I feel like it’s a missed opportunity.”
“I don’t think it’s open today.”
“No, it’s not.”
Her eyes moved to me. “Uh-oh.”
“What? It’s not our fault they’re only open two days a week.”
“You’re about to tell me we’re going to break in, aren’t you?”
“Nope,” I said with a grin. “We don’t have to break in.”
“Because you arranged for a private showing?”
I pulled the key out of my pocket. “Because I have this.”
“Where did you get that?”
“The fire department has keys to certain buildings around town in case of emergency.”
“Don’t even tell me whether or not you asked my dad before you took it.”
I gave her my best wide-eyed innocent look. “I left a note.”
She put her hand on her forehead. “Oh my god.”
“We’re not going to steal anything. I just want to poke around without someone from the historical society looking over my shoulder. Plus, I’m about ninety percent sure there’s a secret basement in there.”
“Why?”
“A lot of these old buildings have plans on file with the fire department. It’s a safety thing. We have to inspect them once in a while and it helps us