Something in her voice gave him pause. Did he sense a tone of longing and regret, a feeling that maybe she’d made the wrong choice? He glanced over to see a pensive look on her face. He felt an unwanted bond, thinking they might be in the same position, questioning their career choices. He pushed the feeling away. He wasn’t here to make friends. He was here to save his dad.
“Well, it’s good your mom is improving the business now. Seems like it’ll pay off.” Cole was probing to find out about the money part of it, trying to get Sam to say she couldn’t have afforded it before.
But she didn’t say anything. She simply sat cross-legged on her mat, bowed her head, and mumbled some woo-woo word.
She stood and started rolling up her yoga mat. “Well, have a good meditation.”
He watched her walk off. Darn! He hadn’t gotten in all the questions he wanted to, but that was okay. He had some other ideas up his sleeve on how to prove Deena and Sam were up to something.
He adjusted his position. This meditation thing was a lot harder than the therapist had made it sound. Maybe a yoga mat would help.
He glanced down the beach, his thoughts turning to the fugitive Gary had sent a picture of. The picture was pretty grainy, but Cole thought he would recognize the person even though their face was partially covered by the hoodie they were wearing. And with this summer weather and beautiful scenery, he knew exactly what he would do if he were a fugitive in town. He’d camp out right on the beach.
To the north, the beach was isolated, not a house or building in sight. No people lounging around indicated there was no beach access, either. It was a perfect place for someone running from the law to make camp.
CHAPTER11
Gina cradled the phone between her shoulder and her ear as she reached up in the cabinet for a large canister of pastry flour. Ellie was on the other end of the phone and had just informed her that she’d located Holly. Bad news, Hugh was nowhere to be found.
“I don’t understand. Where would Hugh go?” Gina asked.
Did they break up? Maybe Holly did away with him, not that Gina would blame her, but she hoped that wasn’t the case because she needed Hugh to get her money.
“I have no idea, but don’t worry. I’m going to find out. In the meantime, though, there’s an interesting development. I have a friend in the FBI, and rumor is there’s an agent in town.”
“Here in Shell Cove? Looking for Hugh?” Gina reached for the sugar canister.
“I don’t know. I think it could be the person that was looking foryou.”
“Me?” Gina opened a drawer and absently rooted for the measuring cups, her mind trying to grapple with why the FBI would be looking for her.
Gina sensed hesitation on the other end of phone, and then Ellie said, “Look, I have to ask you something, but please don’t get offended.”
Gina pulled out the measuring cups and put them next to the canisters on the counter. “Okay.” She drew the word out.
“Is there any way that the authorities might think you were involved in whatever Hugh was into?”
“Me? No way! I had no idea what was going on.”
“I believe you. But Hugh and Holly are kind of shady. Maybe there is something that points to you and you just don’t know it. They could have finagled things on the way out to cast blame on you.”
Gina’s blood chilled. Could there be something implicating her? But after Hugh and Holly had disappeared, the police had gone over all their accounts. Everything in their office had been seized, computer records, bank accounts, customer files. At first, they had questioned her aggressively, but it soon became clear that she had nothing to do with any criminal activity, and they’d let up on their questions.
Except… there was one document the police hadn’t seen, the one she’d found in Hugh’s office safe. And that document was sitting at the bank in her safety deposit box.
“I don’t think there is anything. The police have already gone over everything from the office.”
But what if there was something in that document? Gina hadn’t looked it over thoroughly, and what she’d seen, she didn’t really understand. She’d just known that its presence in Hugh’s home office safe meant it was important. Why hadn’t he taken it with him? Had he left it because it was some fake document that implicated her? Perhaps she’d better scrutinize it further. If there was something that somehow implicated her, she’d have to destroy it, and if that were the case, that meant she really had no leverage to get her money from Hugh.
“Okay. Maybe the FBI is here for some other reason. Or my information could be wrong. Sometimes, these clandestine tips don’t pan out.”
“Right,” Gina said.
“Okay, well, I’ll keep searching for Hugh. I still have some avenues to follow. I’ll keep you updated.”
She disconnected from Ellie. It was only noon. She had plenty of time to get to the bank, but she didn’t want to wait. She swooped the ingredients up from the counter and shoved them in the cabinet then ripped off her apron and headed toward the lobby door.
But before she made it halfway through the lobby, the door opened, and an elderly couple came in.
