Piper walked beside her, unhurried and untroubled by the falling rain. “Is it just the old couple?” she asked.
“The old couple and their son, Chip.”
Piper groaned. “That guy again? He totally ducked out of all the cleanup for the Harvest Festival last night.”
“I know. He seems a little ... slick,” Kiersten admitted.
“And he’s the Influencer’s father-in-law?”
Kiersten smiled. Piper never called Aspen by her name. “That’s right.”
“And he’s going to be there because ...”
“I think he’s just trying to be helpful. He said he’d join us, if he had time.”
They glanced at the skeleton of the new home going up next to Richard and Margaret’s house. It had a roof now, and shingles, but no windows or doors.
“Listen, I’ve been thinking about the Harvest Festival,” Piper said.
Kiersten smiled. “It was great, wasn’t it?”
“Sure, it was great,” Piper said. “But I also think it was a commercial.”
Kiersten frowned. “A commercial? For what?”
“I follow Trey’s real estate company on Instagram and Chip’s property-development company too. And they’ve already turned all that footage from yesterday into an ad for the two new houses they plan to build here on Beaverbrook.”
“They had professional photographers shooting video and taking pictures all day long,” Kiersten said with a shrug. “I guess we knew they were planning to use it for something.”
“But I thinkthatwas the real purpose of the whole endeavor. We basically donated our time to organize an elaborate photo shoot promoting Chip and Trey’s companies.”
A feeling she couldn’t identify washed over Kiersten as they walked up the front steps. Disappointment maybe, mingled with a flash of anger. She’d baked three dozen cupcakes, an apple pie, plus all that macaroni hotdish, allfor a commercial?
“So it wasn’t about ... building community?”
Piper shook her head. “I think it’s about cramming as many homes as possible onto those two lots and then selling them to the highest bidder, who may turn out to be Bruce Orlov and his equally sketchy son.”
“What do you mean?”
She told Kiersten about the incident at the Harvest Festival with Alex Orlov.
Kiersten hunched deeper into the folds of her hooded sweatshirt. Piper’s theory had a ring of truth to it.
“Maybe that’s true,” she conceded. “But we still had a wonderful day. The kids had a great time.Ihad a great time. And maybe these new houses they’re building will bring us some lovely new neighbors whoaren’tthe Orlovs.”
Piper shot her a look that clearly saidYou are so naive.“Last night I asked them not to use any video of me, or my husband or my kids. I don’t want our faces on the internet with Hawkeye Slaughter on the loose.”
“Did they honor this request?”
“They did.” Piper jutted her chin. “But I still don’t trust Chip or Trey. So keep your powder dry, okay?”
“Keep my powder dry?” Kiersten pressed her lips together and managed to stifle a derisive giggle. “We’re having coffee with our eighty-something-year-old neighbors, not heading into nuclear disarmament talks with the Russians.”
Piper cocked an eyebrow. “Just ...be aware.”
“Okay, Matlock.” She pressed the doorbell. “I’ll keep my wits about me.”
A few moments later Margaret opened the door, her white hair perfectly coifed, wearing pearls and a floral dress. Behind her stood Richard, beaming at them with a welcoming smile.
