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“I don’t blame you,” Wendy assured her quickly. “Now that I know what is happening here, I’m not surprised at all. And you know how my dad felt about funerals. He was probably scowling down at me for the small one I did have for him.”
Birgit nodded, seemingly choosing to let it go, and then gave Wendy a small smile.
“So. A four-million dollar inheritance. That’s pretty incredible.”
“It is,” Wendy agreed with a dry laugh. “I’m not sure exactly what I’m going to do with it just yet, but I know I’ll be retiring and taking a nice long break at the end of the year. I just wish I knew how Anita found out about it.”
Before either of them continued, Wendy spotted Erik coming toward them, with Tucker, Davis, Pierce, Heidi, Frieda, Lorrie, Cynthia, and Chris right behind. Birgit followed her gaze, and a bright smile spread across her face. Wendy noticed it immediately.
“So, Chris O’Patrick, huh?” she asked, nudging Birgit with her elbow. “Going well?”
“More like going perfectly,” Birgit whispered as their friends approached. “Who knew relationships could actually be fun?”
Wendy giggled, and they both said hello to everyone as they took their seats. Frieda, who was in charge of the restaurant’s cooking staff, informed them that she had already placed a large, family-style meal order for them all and that bottles of wine and water would be out shortly.
“Shall we get down to it then?” Tucker asked, lacing his fingers together on top of the table.
They all agreed to do so, and then Tucker looked at Erik to continue.
“So, we were all hoping we would find or see something today,” Erik began. “Unfortunately that didn’t happen. But we do have some new intel. Regarding Lorrie’s old phone?—”
“That mysteriously ended up in my bag,” Cynthia cut in. Tucker chuckled and rubbed her shoulder.
“Yes, that one,” Erik stated with a small grin. “I had a buddy take a look, and see if they could pull up anything that the perpetrator might have deleted. There was only one number that was pulled, the same one that’s shown up on the phone’s call list, and it was never saved.”
“Who’s the number attached to?” Chris asked, his arm going around Birgit’s shoulders.
“It’s a burner phone,” Erik continued. “The kind you can pick up at almost any convenience store. My friend was able to find the purchase code, and it was sold from a Walgreens over in Cashmere at the end of November. That’s as much as he could get me.”
“Wow,” Wendy murmured, impressed.
Erik looked over at her and gave her a quick wink.
“Now, I think whoever made the drop wanted Cynthia or Lorrie to try to answer the calls from this number so that it looked like the calls were consecutively being taken through the whole month of December. We’ve got to interrupt that pattern, so while we’ve kept the phone charged and on, we haven’t attempted to answer any of the calls. So far, it rang five times, at the same times as the previous dates on the phone log.”
“So this will do what?” Chris asked. “Just be kept for proof once we solve this thing? There’s no way to actually use it to find who’s doing this?”
“Correct,” Erik agreed. “It’s not great, I know. But it’s something. Now,” he paused, turning his gaze to Wendy, “your turn. What happened when you went home last night?”
Wendy recounted her story, telling them about Anita’s surprising knowledge of her inheritance, and her persistence to stop being around all of them.
“It was a threat,” Pierce stated, his eyes full of protective angst.
“Possibly not,” Erik replied, still looking at Wendy. She nodded.
“Erik and I talked this morning,” she explained, “and we believe that it might not have been a threat, but more of a push to move me in a different direction. Me joining your little group?—”
“Family,” Heidi interjected kindly, smiling.
“Family,” Wendy agreed, smiling back at her, “isn’t good for her. And, since she mentioned my inheritance, we assume that it doesn’t really have to do with me as a person, but more that she wants access to my incoming finances.”
“Well, that doesn’t make much sense,” Chris interjected. “The Holsteads are the richest family in town. They have more money than what most of our tourists do, and those multi-million dollar folks.”
“Unless they’re having trouble,” Erik stated, pressing his pointer finger to the table. “Think about it. Anita’s a flashy woman and likes to flaunt her lifestyle any chance she gets. Even if things took a financial turn, she’d still want to keep up appearances.”
“True,” Chris agreed.
“So what do you suggest, secret agent man?” Frieda asked, grinning as her one eyebrow rode high. “More subterfuge?”
