Summer Breeze Kisses - Addison Moore Page 0,273

was and is a damn good mother, to me.

“I’m sorry,” I mouth, and she waves me off, right back to her ornery self.

“Marlin said you had a run-in with the corpse before he was a corpse.” She’s back to stink eyeing me on a serious level. If those lasers could bear holes into my head, I would have been Swiss cheese over a decade ago.

I look to Shep. I’ve already relayed this to him, and to the police, although I may have omitted this to my sweet and sour sis because I didn’t want to entice a level five panic. But I can see it’s too late for that.

“I bumped into him at the door.” I can’t help but scowl at Lex. “I was tying my apron, and he was trying to walk through me. It was an accident, really. He dropped his phone and this—” My mouth hangs open a moment.

That piece of paper with the string of numbers on it comes to mind. My hand pats down the front of my apron before digging in and, sure enough, it’s still there. I clear my throat, pretending to have lost my train of thought. There’s no way I’m going to whip something like that out at the table. Lex is liable to jump right out of her skin and set this entire building on fire with her rage. At this point, that receipt is tantamount to having Barry Larson’s detached finger roaming around on my person. And as gruesome as that sounds, it’s exactly how it’s beginning to feel.

Axel leans in, eyes bulging as if I just admitted to slaughtering the man myself. “Did he say anything? Do anything that might have indicated he was in trouble?”

“He was in a hurry, and he was a complete annoyance.” I shoot a quick glance to Shep because he happened to be my second annoyance of the night.

“Did you see him with anyone?” Axel continues his interrogation.

“He was sitting with some guy at the bar. I’m pretty sure Bryson turned over the surveillance evidence to the police.” For some reason, that toasted bride comes to mind, and I shoot a wry smile to Shep.

“What?” Lex demands. “I know that look. You’re hiding something.”

“It’s nothing, I swear. It was a crazy night, and the place was crawling with mental cases. Case in point—Shep”—I steal a moment to sneer at him—“and an entire flock of women dressed up in defunct wedding dresses. They were pretty toasted.”

“Divorce party?” Lex perks up at the thought. Lex is happily married, but something about the bitter side of life has always appealed to her. She’s pleasantly damaged that way.

“You’re close,” I offer a congratulatory nod. “Breakup bash. Fortunately for the bride-to-be, they never made it to I do.” I try not to rewind that psychotic night back in my mind. “Anyway, it was definitely some testosterone-based vitriol happening.” I slit a glance Shep’s way. It’s still happening, and I’m the one carrying the bitter baton.

Baya delivers our food, and we knock it all out in record time. Axel and Lex get up to leave, and we hug it out.

“I’ll be calling you,” Lex says it like a threat, and I certainly appreciate my sister’s brand of hostile concern.

They take off, and it’s just the nuisance and me.

“Well, my shift is starting in a few. Be gone, boy.” I slap him over the chest with a set of spare napkins I pulled out of my apron, and that tiny piece of paper flutters through the air like confetti. “Oh my God!” My limbs flail in a genuine panic, and Shep snaps the paper up effortlessly, holding it over his head as I try my best to snatch it back.

“What’s this?” He tips his head to the side, that cocky grin blooming on his face, and I can’t help but notice those dimples of his digging in deep.

“You infuriate me!” I shout as I leap up and try to take what’s rightfully mine, even if I did inherit it in a rather horrific way.

Shep spins around and examines the paper. “07-45-22-20? What is this?” He turns back, that obnoxious smile wiped from his face. “Your locker combination, sweetie?”

I snap it back and fold it neatly before settling it back where it belongs. “Yes, that’s exactly what it is.” I don’t bother rolling my eyes because it just so happens I like Shep believing he’s right in this case. It’s my murder memento, and as dark as that sounds, I’m not