AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“How much money are we talking about?” Carly asked.
Kelly pressed her lips against her baby’s head. “A hundred thousand dollars.”
Lucas exchanged a long glance with Carly. That much money meant the mysteriousheknew about the egg. Nothing else in the attic could warrant that much.
Carly shifted the sleepy baby to her other arm. “Eric let them rummage around in my workshop?”
Kelly shook her head. “He changed his mind two days before he died.”
“Andhekilled Eric?” Lucas asked.
“I don’t know for sure, but it makes sense.”
“Hashebeen in contact with you since then?”
“I haven’t answered calls from any unknown numbers. I’m afraid.”
Lucas didn’t offer Kelly any reassurance. When you lay down with dogs, you got up with fleas.
He grabbed the diaper bag and followed Carly to the door. Neither of the women spoke as they made their departure from the condo. This was a blow Carly hadn’t been prepared for, and likely Kelly hadn’t imagined it would all come out. And it wouldn’t have if Lucas hadn’t found those keys.
His hand slid into his pocket. The keys. Could there be something in the cottage that would help them figure this out?
He waited until they were out in the sunshine. Once Carly got Noah into his car seat and came around to slide into the passenger seat, he pulled out the keys and handed them to her. “Where is the cottage?”
“Not far from here. Lake Moultrie.” Her brown eyes narrowed. “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”
He started the engine and put the truck in Drive. “Yep. It’s not far out of our way. Let’s swing by there and see what we can find. You haven’t been there since Eric died?”
She shook her head. “I couldn’t find the keys. I meant to have the locks changed, but it had been Eric’s bachelor pad, and it was more of a hangout for him and his fishing buddies. I never felt it was my space.”
No wonder they’d had a struggling marriage. So many parts of their lives unshared. What had Eric been thinking? Maybe that was the problem—he hadn’t been thinking ofthem. Only of himself as a single guy. Lucas had seen that problem often enough in his buddies. If he was honest, it might even be the reason he’d steered away from a serious relationship. He knew a good marriage was hard work, and he wasn’t sure he had the focus to pull it off.
He drove out of town for now, but he planned to return to find out more. Soon.
Twenty-One
The cottage had never looked welcoming to Carly. It was a low-slung ranch with fading white paint and no landscaping to soften the block foundation. A half-dead palm tree cast a bit of shade over the spotty grass in the front yard. In the distance came the rumble of boats out on the lake.
Carly grimaced as she approached the stoop with Noah in her arms. Lucas had the key out, and he unlocked the door. Stale air rushed to greet them when she stepped into the small foyer off the living/dining room that opened into the kitchen.
She noticed white cabinets lining the kitchen wall and frowned. “The last time I was here, the cabinets were still worn pine.”
Lucas walked into the main area and glanced around. “When was that?”
There was something sad about walking through these rooms Eric had loved and realizing he’d never again sit on that worn sofa with his boots propped on the chipped coffee table. He’d never build a fire in the blackened fireplace or dart out the back door with his fishing pole in hand to head to the lake, which could be glimpsed through the trees lining the weedy yard.
It was all gone. The grief she’d felt had been replaced by a huge sense of betrayal.
“Carly?”
She looked up to realize Lucas had been talking to her. “Sorry. What did you say?”
“When was the last time you were here?”
“Um, about six months before Eric died. So it’s probably been about a year.” She walked through the tiny space to the kitchen. Gleaming white paint covered the pine cabinets, and new brass pulls and handles had replaced the old wooden knobs. The Formica counter in a fresh blue color was new too.
“He never mentioned he was giving the kitchen an update.”
