Witcher Upper - Amy Boyles Page 0,39

you.”

Was he angry with me? “I can give you a ride to the bed and breakfast.”

“It’s just down the street.”

Lady sat by Rufus’s feet as if she didn’t want to leave him. I patted my thigh, and she padded over and scrambled onto my lap.

“You’re not going to Dooley’s tonight, are you?”

He shook his head. “I don’t want to involve you in my activities. You’ve been kind enough to help me, but some things I must do alone.”

I frowned. “Why won’t you just say it?”

“Why does it matter to you what I do? You don’t know me.”

My lips parted and I nearly blurted out, but I do, yet I kept my lips shut. “Because I like helping people.”

His eyes narrowed. Rufus closed the distance between us in a flash. I sucked air at how close he was. The fresh scent of rainwater from his skin wafted up my nose while those long eyelashes framed dark eyes and his marble-like flesh nearly glowed.

He spoke, his words biting. “The next time you decide to lie to someone, make sure that they can’t see through the thin veil of your words.”

As I sat there, mouth gaping, engine running, Rufus backed away from the truck and stalked off down the street. He left me wondering why it was me who suddenly felt so bad when it should have been him.

Though it was tempting to chase him down and force him to bend to my will, I left Rufus alone. He wouldn’t be going out to Dooley’s farm anytime soon, at least not before changing his clothes.

Speaking of, since I was still drenched, I decided to head home myself to shower and change. While driving, I mulled over the events of the day. My mind zipped back to Sadie. Fact—she had received phone calls that bothered her on the day of her death. Another fact, her phone was missing.

I wondered if it would ring. Keeping my eyes on the wheel, I fished around in my purse until I located my phone. Miraculously it had power once again. Sadie’s number sat at the top of my favorites. My heart tightened.

“Oh Sadie, why didn’t you tell me about the money? We could have worked through it together.”

I had figured that my best friend took money from the mobsters and put that back into the bank so that we’d have something until we received payments from whatever job we were working on. Once the dough rolled in, that money went to me and Liam, so that we were none the wiser, and then the cycle began again.

Still, I was angry as much with myself as I was her. Sadie had relied on my lack of interest in our bank account to take advantage of me. What friend did that?

If I had to guess how long the theft had been occurring, I would say years. From the line of withdrawals that I had seen on the account, they spanned back months and months.

Y’all, I’d been hoodwinked by my own friend.

I pressed the button for her number, but the call went straight to voice mail. Looked like I wouldn’t be tracking down her killer that way.

The house was a welcome sight when we arrived. “Come on, Lady. Let’s get cleaned up.”

She wagged her tail as I scooped her into my arms and exited the truck. After setting her down, I grabbed the tool belt and headed inside.

Twenty minutes later and I was showered, warm and drinking a cup of hot coffee with chocolate syrup in it. The bag of Sadie’s things called to me, and I went through her purse again, finding her keys.

Hmm, I wondered if she had any money or anything at her house? What if Sadie had stashed loot there? It would be rightfully mine. Deciding it wouldn’t be a bad idea to investigate her home, I dropped the keys in my purse.

My phone buzzed, and I glanced at it to find a text from Shane. I know we said we’d get together soon. How does tomorrow night sound?

It sounded amazeballs.

It sounds great, I replied.

Great. Pick you up at six. The town’s antisocial social will be happening. Maybe we can stop by.

Every year Peachwood put on a party called the Anti-Social Social. Essentially it was an ice cream social, but instead of being social, you were supposed to be anti-social and not speak to anyone.

Yes, y’all, I know that Peachwood had some weird quirks about it.

I was just putting the phone down when it rang and Liam’s