Page 19 of Love At Peace

Just because David was there didn’t have to mean anything. Eric wouldn’t know David. I couldn’t see him tracking him down because he’d bothered me at my cabin. Eric didn’t seem like that sort of a guy. And I couldn’t see any other reason why Eric and David would know each other otherwise.

And just because that woman said she saw David there, that doesn’t mean Eric would’ve been going to his apartment. If David has an apartment there.

Picking at my thoughts made me realize that I was riding on all these rumors and bits of secondhand information.

I had no actual connections to rely on. Until I did, I wouldn’t speak up about speculations.

“Jerry owns that place, right?” I asked.

“Yeah,” Marty replied. “One of a few. Does Eric deal with Jerry often?”

I shook my head but stopped midway. “Not that I know of. When I was moving back here, I was supposed to rent an apartment above the bakery. Jerry owns that one, and Eric arranged for me to rent it. But the night I got here, it was broken into.”

“Ah. I remember that now.”

“Did Jerry file a report?”

“Not at first.” He huffed a faint laugh. “But I heard about it. He was causing a big scene, trying to say you or Eric had to pay for the damages of the break-in. We did go there and file a report eventually just so it was documented. We think it was some teenagers from the next town over that had been causing trouble like this.”

“He did try to say I was responsible for damages, but I wasn’t. I hadn’t even signed a lease or anything. It was just word of mouth, that Eric told Jerry I wanted the place to stay.”

“You think that could be it?” Marty asked. “If Jerry holds a grudge against Eric for that, or feels like he can stick someone else with covering the costs of that break-in...”

I shrugged, scanning the streets as we drove further into town. “I doubt it. Besides, I can’t see why Jerry would honestly think he could get anything from Eric. Nothing had been signed for that apartment on Main Street.”

It was a flimsy connection linking my cousin and that conman.

“Well, let’s look here,” he said as he parked in the parking lot behind the tall structure. Burton was mostly flat, with the multi-storied buildings primarily lining Main Street. Here, the shadows of the sunset were almost fully obscured as evening turned more into nighttime.

Shadows showed everywhere in this alleyway, and it didn’t help my mood.

Car doors closed behind us as Gavin and Roarke exited the other truck.

“Todd said he’d hang back and wait for answers,” Gavin said.

“He didn’t want to make it a crowd,” Roarke added.

“Smart,” Marty replied as he walked to the rear entrance of the building. “We don’t need to make a big entrance here.”

Or at all.

“But we’re concerned,” Gavin added.

I appreciated that. I really did. Eric was just a coworker, not exactly a friend of theirs, but it helped to have all hands on deck with this matter.

I didn’t make eye contact with Roarke. I couldn’t. Not now. Every time I felt his attention on me was another test of me not bending to want his comfort. To seek his company. But it wasn’t lost on me that he wasn’t sitting out on this little investigation like Todd had.

Because he cares.

He told me that he did, and I wanted to believe that he held my interests at heart. Until he could stand up to his niece though, I wouldn’t risk it.

“Is the back door locked here?” I asked Marty as he approached it.

He put his hand on the door and pulled. “It used to be,” he replied, pursing his lips a little. “Jerry claimed he’d fix it but he obviously hasn’t yet.”

“Do you know who lives here?” I asked him as we walked into the foyer.

It seemed like this central opening spanned up all four floors. An elevator was built in at one side, but stairs and open hallways lined each floor going up.