Chapter 34: Chapter Thirty-Four

Annie woke in the middle of the night, something tugging at all the strings in her brain. She’d fallen back asleep before untangling the knots, and by the time she woke up, her head hurt with the confusion she felt. Crawling to the coffee pot, she remembered something her mother—or maybe it was Margie—had said about the homeowners’ manual. Had she seen that?

“Can’t see anything before coffee,” she muttered, pulling two pieces of bread from the bag and dropping them into the toaster. Once she’d taken several sips of her coffee, eaten one slice of toast, she took it to the living room, leaving her breakfast on the coffee table.

Remembering what Joseph had said about the calendar, she detoured back to the kitchen, grabbed it off the fridge and did a silent prayer to the caffeine deities to kick in soon. She had this intense, uncomfortable feeling that time was running short. She waited until she was settled on the couch to flip it over. Annie groaned out loud.

Margie had handwritten a list of other commitments Annie needed to honor.

-Secretary at all HOA meetings; your mother kept meticulous records -Liaison with outside agencies: landscaping, snow removal, and the man who takes care of our gate maintenance -Holiday Decorating Chair; your father suggests a theme each Christmas, researching where we can buy similar decorations for our lawns and homes “Seriously? Since when are my parents such joiners?” Taking a long drink of her coffee, she set it down so she could check the office for the binder. It wasn’t hard to find.

Her mother not only kept meticulous records, her bookshelves and office were pristine. Annie pulled the large book, clearly marked, from the shelf.

“Death by boredom,” Annie mumbled as she sank into the overstuffed chair in the corner of the office. The binder weighed at least as much as Shelby. That was a guess since Shelby would probably scratch her eyes out if she tried lifting her.

She flipped through the book. It was divided into years, then months, then meetings. There were special sections for written requests from residents, copies of correspondence with groundskeepers and city officials.

Gill had his own tab. It was filled with complaints he’d lodged against other residents. Everything from entertaining too loudly on the deck to parking crookedly.

“This requires chocolate.” She hefted the binder and brought it into the living room, setting it on the table. Thinking about the double-stuffed Oreos she’d picked up at the store, she started for the kitchen. The knock as she passed the front door startled her.

“I’ve had more visitors in a couple weeks than all the years I lived with Viv,” she said aloud to herself, stepping toward the door.

“Small towns are easily wowed by exciting city girls,” Ben’s voice came back through the door.

Laughing, she pulled the door open, her mouth watering at the sight of cinnamon buns.

He held them up in their clear covered case. “Grams said to say hello and bring these.”

“Come on in. I was just going to get some Oreos, but these are better.”

He shut the door behind him. “I don’t know. Oreos are pretty delicious, especially the chocolate-covered ones.”

When he followed her into the kitchen, she glanced over her shoulder. “How’d late-night surgery go?”

Ben’s smile was tired, and she wondered if he’d gotten much sleep. “Good. The dog is resting now. How’d last night go?”

While she plated up the cinnamon buns, which they took to the table, she told him about the police station, Tate, and then Ryan’s visit after.

“He just dropped by and asked for your help?” Ben licked icing from his thumb.

“Yes. I think he’s frustrated that the Trenton PD won’t let him be part of anything.” She stood up, grabbed a couple bottles of water.

“Thanks. He mentioned the other day that he’d tried to offer some help but that Rickers guy just laughed him off. The thing is our police department is tiny. There are only four officers, but they’re good at their jobs. You’d think they’d want to work together.”

Annie nodded in agreement. “You’d think. Unless they have an ulterior agenda like getting promotions.”

“The truth has to come out. It can’t stay buried, right?” He winced. “Sorry.”

“It’s okay. I don’t think Mira came back to the house. Do you think she’s okay?”

“She’s probably staying with Bethany again. I’m not sure what she’ll do with the house or who it goes to. Maybe that’s the trail Ryan should be following.”

“Maybe. It just feels like this was about more than money or an inheritance. Gill had the house and dealership, but from the sounds of it, he also had a lot of debt.”

Ben considered that, finishing his cinnamon bun, then taking both of their plates to the sink. He washed his hands, stepping to the side to dry them while Annie washed hers. He passed her the dish towel, their fingers touching over the cloth. The little spark of awareness was a complication she didn’t need to focus on, but it was hard not to when he stood so close. When he looked so good.

His smile was sweet, a little bit shy. “Speaking of Gill’s things, how are the kittens?”

Swallowing down desire to step into him and take one of his very comforting hugs, she smiled. “Great. Come say hi. Shelby misses you.”

Before they made it to the front door, Ben noticed the Binder of Boredom. “Some light reading?” He pointed.

Annie rolled her gaze, and they detoured. “It’s awful. On top of muffin duty and prescription pickups, I have to take notes at the meetings all the residents have. I’m beginning to suspect my parents sailed around the world to get away from Margie’s list of chores.”

Ben laughed, taking the book from her hand. “Whoa. Heavy.”

He sank into the couch, so she sat beside him as they flipped through. She showed him Gill’s many complaints. “You just have to take notes?”

She nodded, trying to ignore how good he smelled. Like the sea, but also like Ben. It was hard to cross lines that couldn’t be uncrossed.

Ben turned his head, their gazes connecting like a bolt of lightening.

“Have you looked through this for ideas on who might have had issues with him? If he was complaining about everyone, maybe there’s a clue.” His voice was low and husky.

Annie shook her head side to side, feeling as if it was weighted down with cloudy thoughts.

“No. I should familiarize myself with the last couple meetings, I guess.”

Ben cleared his throat and opened the binder to the last meeting they’d had at the beginning of the previous month.

They both scanned the pages, but she wondered if he was as distracted by her presence as she was by his. She started to say something, to tackle the delicious-smelling elephant in the room. But her gaze caught on her mom’s notes.

Ben must have seen it at the same time. “Looks like some of the meetings got pretty heated.”

“They really did. My mom wrote everything verbatim. Wow. Looks like these two didn’t get along at all.” Annie’s brows scrunched as she thought about what else she’d learned in the last day or so. With this documented argument and what she’d found out, she was pretty sure there was enough information to pull the spotlight off of Tate.

“We need to call Ryan.” Her heart rate accelerated—and not because she was sitting so close to Ben. “I think we know who killed Gill.”