Spooning Leads to Forking (Hot in the Kitchen #2) - Kilby Blades Page 0,67

to give her a hug. He and Trudy had always been close in a way that felt special to Dev. She had been his mother’s best friend.

“You look like the only thing you want to see is a bed,” she deadpanned.

“Oh, I’m going home to get my sleep. Long night up with Duff.”

Trudy blinked as she set her purse on the end of the bar and made her way behind it to get to the small coffee machine the whole staff used in the morning.

“Up all night, were you? I thought it would’ve been with a different girl.”

Dev took a seat at the bar. There was no such thing as a secret in a small town, but this thing with Shea…suddenly, it felt very real. Twenty-four hours before, he’d never kissed the woman. Suddenly, it seemed as if everybody knew. He wondered what Shea would think of all of this. They’d give it to Dev worse, but she’d get it, too: the questions and comments about their status. If she wasn’t getting it already, it was only a matter of time.

“Your momma would’ve liked her,” Trudy announced as she started to make her coffee.

“My mom would’ve liked anyone who meant I wasn’t spending Friday nights by myself with my nose in a book,” Dev managed with a tired look.

“She worried about you was all,” Trudy said with the sad smile and the gentle voice she always did when she talked about Josie Kingston.

“That, she did,” he conceded, nodding his thanks as she put an empty cup in front of him.

On the counter, the coffee brewed, and the first tendrils of aroma reached Dev’s nose. He’d had some at Duff’s but could use a bit more. Not too much—he needed to sleep whenever he got home.

“I’m here in an official capacity.” It was the phrase he always used to let someone know they weren’t talking to Dev their friend, but to Dev the man who was there on town business. Though, with every passing day, he wished there were less drama with the mills and that Duff would resume her post.

“I need the name of the attorney who’s been helping us out whenever we have trouble with lakefront property. Duff said you’ve been dealing with this guy since your own days on the Development Council.”

“More developers?” she asked.

“Something like that,” Dev hedged, letting Trudy think it was about the work he was doing with the council and not with the investigation. Dev had vaguely known that such an attorney existed—one who had helped the town for years. Regrouping at Duff’s house had taken half the night, but their brainstorming had yielded this reminder. Dev had no illusions that stopping development on the riverfront by someone who owned the land was a different ballgame. But seeing what leverage they might have was worth a shot.

“Hewitt,” Trudy replied, traveling back to her purse on top of the bar and fishing out her phone. After a few clicks on her screen, she turned it off and dropped it back in. At the very same moment, Dev’s own phone vibrated with a text. Trudy had sent him the contact.

“Law offices of Hewitt & Hewitt,” Dev read aloud as he opened his text.

“The father is “William.” The son goes by “Bud.” William’s getting up there in years—might even be retired—but he’ll remember all the cases.”

“He work with his own investigator?” Dev asked, thinking about the process he’d seen his company’s California attorneys go through.

“His firm takes care of everything.” Trudy punctuated her words with a wave of her hand.

Apart from having dinner with Shea and kissing her earlier, this was the only other good news he’d had all week. Someone else taking care of the development case would free him up to take on the other monster he had to slay. As Duff had handily reminded him, the new information they had about motive was circumstantial. They still didn’t have enough hard evidence to make an arrest. However much Dev had dedicated his career to fighting it, corporate greed won battles like this every day. Packard owned the land and there was a good chance they’d already lost.

“I just need him to buy me some time.” Dev spoke out loud the scheme he’d come up with at some point overnight. “Bury the other side in paperwork for a while until I come up with a better offer for the land.”

That was Dev’s Plan B—to make Packard an even better deal than the great deal he was