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“I think there’s more to the story. You know how Mom never wanted to talk about your father? Mine, sure. She trash talked him all the time. Not yours. I always thought it was weird. She had an opinion about everything, but not your dad? What if someone wanted to shut Mom up, and that’s what the fund was all about? Threats wouldn’t work. They would have to make it worth her while.”
“So someone set up a fund to keep her quiet? But why?”
“Maybe because of who your father is. Maybe he’s not some no-name musician. What if he’s someone more high-profile? Someone who didn’t want anyone knowing about you?”
Like a set of dominoes falling in succession, it all clicked into place. Gault knew a lot of famous and high-profile people. Maybe he’d been a go-between for someone. If so, the money hadn’t come from him, it had come from Granger’s father.
He realized he was standing in the middle of town, phone to his ear, like a boulder with a river of people streaming past him. If Gault had set up the fund for someone else, surely there must be a record of it hidden in his files. Could Bliss access them? Carly was the executor of the estate, but Bliss probably had just as much right to see Gault’s files as anyone else in the family.
But he didn’t want to bother Bliss with this. Things had been awkward between then since his second failed proposal.
Glancing around, he realized he was just a few steps from Conor Gault’s office on the second floor of a red brick converted bank building. Conor knew all about financial shenanigans; would he be able to trace the original source of the money in his fund?
“I gotta go,” he told his sister. “I have to check something out.”
“No, you don’t. Don’t worry about all that now. You have to figure out how you feel about Bliss.”
“I know how I feel. She’s…everything.” He didn’t know how else to put it.
“So you love her?”
“I love her.”
Goddamn.The words came out so naturally, as if they’d been there all along, waiting behind those nailed-up boards his sister had mentioned. Helovedher. This was love. The softness she brought out in him, the tenderness, the sense that he’d follow her anywhere and that heknewher, and she knew him. And that she accepted him, no matter how different they were.
“Then why didn’t you tell her?” Marqui asked.
Because this was all new to him. Because his strength was facts, not emotions. Because she’d surprised him by the pool and all his nerve had deserted him.
He cleared his throat. “She must know how I feel. I moved to New York for her, then I came here. I got stabbed for her. I love her. It’s probably written all over my face.”
“Yourface? Have you seen your face? You look like a brick wall crossed with a granite cliff.”
“I’m hanging up,” he told his sister. “Thanks for the convo. I only frightened an old lady, a checkout girl, and about three dozen tourists while we talked.”
“But you’re all sunshine and rainbows inside. You should go tell Bliss that you love her right away, before some other disaster happens.”
Disasters did tend to follow Bliss around, that was true.
He dismissed the thought. “This is Lake Bittersweet. Unless we’re talking kids sneaking beer cans onto canoes, it’s all good.”
When Granger explained the situation, Conor shook his head.
“I’ve been through all of Gault’s finances. I know the fund you’re talking about. Alvin Carter’s been managing it, right?”
Granger nodded. He didn’t want to say more than that because of the fifty thousand.
“There’s no hint about the money coming from somewhere else.”
“Not even records of a transfer or something? I can tell you almost the exact date it would have happened.”
Conor gave a sympathetic shrug. “If this person went to such lengths to keep his identity hidden, I’m sure he found a way to mask the source. Unless we brought in some kind of forensic accountant, or the FBI…” He broke off with a laugh. “You know, one with subpoena powers. But even then, it’s unlikely.”
“Guess I picked the wrong time to go on leave.” Granger forced a laugh as he got up to go. “Thanks for trying.”
“Hey, before you go—I heard you got offered the constable job. Does that mean you and Bliss are staying?”
The job. Jesus. He’d forgotten to even give them an answer. Bliss’ rejection had completely knocked him off his game.
