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He was ninety-nine percent certain that she did not know what had happened to the stolen money.
Since she’d slipped up and admitted she was still hiding some detail about the crime, he was also ninety-nine percent certain that that detail might help straighten everything out.
And he was ninety-nine percent certain that they could make it as a couple. Nix that. A trio.
Since he had talked to his clients only yesterday, he was one-hundred percent certain of one thing: the insurance company wanted to recover the stolen money. They didn’t care who had it.
He folded his hands on the steering wheel and rested his chin atop them, brooding.
Ninety-nine percent.
That one lousy leftover one percent was annoying him beyond measure.
Dusk approached. The flea market emptied itself of vendors and shoppers alike, the stragglers casting long shadows along the grounds. Tyler continued to brood.
Then he sat up suddenly. Holy Hannah! He had it! It was a wild idea, but—all he needed was Stormy Maxwell’s trust. He wasnotninety-nine percent certain he could manage that. Still, he was drowning in ideas on how to find the truth and the money.
Stormy was weary but euphoric.Spread out before her on the kitchen table were the proceeds of the weekend. On Saturday, she had pulled in more than she even made in her sandwich shop in a day. Today, Sunday, she had done double that. Had she not run out of inventory, she would’ve done even better. Since her items were cheap garage sale items, her profit margin was nearly ninety percent. Even the cost of renting the space was ten times less than her sandwich shop had been.
Tyler Mangus had not put in an appearance their second day at the flea market, but much to Stormy’s dismay, he might as well have.
All day long, Liane’s chatter had begun, “Tyler this… Tyler that… Tyler said…” And, of course, Stormy had to listen to every Tyler-attributed comment—to ascertain that it was harmless.
With cash in hand, though, she felt better able to cope with life—even with Tyler. Thank every good angel in the heavens; she was solvent! She had enough money to put a new set of tires on the car, to buy Liane a spring outfit or two, enough money to set aside a deposit on an apartment, to redeem her things at the pawnshop, and still have cash left over to work yard and moving sales for more inventory.
As she began to put rubber bands around the stacks of bills, a shadow fell across her. She looked up into Nina’s astonished face.
“Did you make all that at the flea market?”
Stormy laughed. “Unbelievable, isn’t it?”
“You’d better put it in the bank.”
Stormy shook her head. “I’m not ready to go anywhere near a bank.”
“You can’t leave that much cash lying around.”
“I’m not going to leave it lying around, Nina. I’m going to put what I don’t need right away in Dad’s old safe.”
“It’d make me nervous having that much cash in the house. Suppose we’re burgled?”
“I don’t think we will be.” Stormy gathered up the money and put it into a paper sack. “It’s late. I’m going to bed.” The odd, hesitant look on Nina’s face stopped her. “Was there something else?” she asked.
Nina tossed her head. “Now that you have money, don’t you think you ought to contribute toward household expenses? It’s unfair to expect Tully to carry the whole load.”
Stormy was beginning to believe that Nina’s sense of fair play and reality was completely warped. Her sister had milked her trust-fund income without a hint of a guilty conscience.
“I’ll pay the water bill, Nina, and help buy groceries,” she said with barely restrained impatience. “But that’s it because I expect to be out of here within the month. And please stop invoking Tully’s name every time you want something from me.”
“I only want what is rightfully mine. If Dad hadn’t given you the money to open your sandwich shop, there’d be a lot more money in the trust now.”
Stormy’s jaw dropped. “Dad loaned me that money, and I paid him back. Every penny, with interest.”
“So you say.”
Stormy scrutinized her younger sister. “Nina, why are you so down on me? What’s going on inside your head?”
“You think I’m a pushover, don’t you? You’ve always been arrogant, snubbing your nose at what’s respectable, what’s moral.”
