“The earrings or the cross?”
“The cross. It’s too ornate compared to your usual jewelry. The earrings look perfect, simple but elegant.”
Mystery didn’t have a mirror so she couldn’t comment. Heath was probably right, but she wanted to wear the cross. It made her feel as if death, along with nearly a decade and a half, didn’t separate her from her mom.
She lifted the stack of notes to open the first one and peek at the contents. As she did, she noticed something totally new underneath.
A little electronic disc of some sort, small and almost square. The kind capable of holding a tell-all book that might have gotten her mother killed?
Mystery’s blood turned to ice.
Heath took the disc from her numb fingers. “It’s an SD card. We need to read this quickly and decide on our best course of action.”
She knew that, even if everything inside her violently disagreed. “How?”
“My laptop is in the car. It will read this disc.”
Just like that, he’d open his trunk, and inside two minutes she would be reading whatever secrets her mother had kept until the day she died. Was she really ready for this?
Did she have a choice?
“I’ll read on the drive back to Aunt Gail’s farm,” she murmured.
He gave her back a soothing pat. She may have insulted or upset him at the café today, but he’d put all that aside to comfort her because she needed it. Mystery wished she could have loved him in return. Heath would be a devoted protector and lover. He could be serious or funny. He was highly intelligent and had a great sense of adventure. Unfortunately, kissing him hadn’t given her a fraction of the giddy, heart-beating thrill that simply being in the same room with Axel did.
She shoved the letters and the SD card in her purse, leaving the jewelry on. She signaled to the bank manager that she was done. Once the empty safe-deposit box was locked up, she signed the paperwork necessary to terminate the box, then left with Heath and Osborne, the attorney mentioning just a few more papers she needed to sign in his office.
A warm breeze brushed her face and the late afternoon sun blinded her as she walked between them back to the office building. The attorney led the way, while Heath watched her back. Heart pumping, Mystery kept vigilant, almost expecting someone to jump out at her and demand she turn over her mother’s effects.
Inside the office building again, the air was almost too still. The carpenters renovating the empty suites on the lower floors were either packing up for the day or already gone.
Finally, they reached the fourth floor and Osborne’s office again. Inside, they found Aunt Gail reading a paperback she’d likely pulled from her purse, and sipping coffee. She’d poured several other cups and left them on the corner of the desk.
As soon as they entered, she jumped out of her seat. “Were you successful?”
Mystery didn’t really want to talk about it, but of course her aunt wanted to know what her only sister had left behind before her death. “Yeah. I found letters and jewelry.” She showed off the earrings and the cross. “And some other stuff. We’ll look at it more carefully in the car.”
“Excellent. Coffee?” Aunt Gail asked her.
“Sure.” Mystery didn’t actually want any, but as evidenced by the cookies and lemonade, the woman liked to feed others. She didn’t want to refuse, so she set it on the desk in front of her.
“No, thank you,” Osborne murmured as he retrieved some papers in a folder. “At my age, caffeine past noon keeps me awake half the night.”
“Luckily, I haven’t run into that yet.” Her aunt took another sip. “I sleep like a baby. Heath?” She all but pressed the cup into his hand. “It’s really delicious. I noticed you drank nearly a whole pot this morning. You’ll appreciate this brew.” She turned to the attorney. “What sort of beans are these, Mr. Osborne?”
He smiled almost smugly. “It took me over a decade to find the perfect coffee. It’s a Kona-Colombian blend. I have it specially roasted in Mexico, but it’s about the best coffee I’ve ever tasted.”
“Wonderful.” Her aunt all but moaned around the lip of her Styrofoam cup, then turned to Heath. “Cream or sugar?”
“Black is fine.” He sniffed the brew, then sipped it. “It’s strong, the way I like it.”
Her aunt smiled, then settled back into her chair, shoving the book in her purse as Mystery and Osborne got down to business.
Several conversations and a handful of forms later, she stood and shook the attorney’s hand. Her aunt did the same. Heath nodded. As Mystery looked his way, she noticed he was slow to push away from the wall.
“Are you all right?” she asked.
“Sure.”
He looked pale. His lids drooped tiredly. His mouth looked a bit slack. Mystery didn’t think he felt all right. But she knew the stubborn man. He could have a limb hanging off or be dying of a hemorrhagic fever and he’d still insist that he felt fine.
With a sigh at his stubbornness, they made their way out the office. Heath stopped at the receptionist’s desk. “Can you show me where to find your loo?”
At the slur of his words, Mystery frowned and wrapped a hand around his arm.
The woman barely peeked over her magazine to send him a confused stare. Then she narrowed her eyes at him. “Loo? I’ve never heard it called that, but no way am I lifting my skirt for a total stranger—I don’t care how hot you are—and showing you my—”
“He means the bathroom,” Mystery clarified for the clueless receptionist.
She had the good grace to turn pink. “Sorry. Across the hall, to the right of the elevator. Second door.”
Heath nodded. “Thanks.”
When he tripped over his own two feet heading across the open space, Mystery tugged on his arm. “Are you sure you’re all right?”
His expression looked a tad unfocused until he blinked and spent some effort focusing on her. “I’ll be all right. The jet lag and lack of sleep lately just have me a bit knackered.”
While his answer made sense, his words sounded even more slurred than before. Mystery didn’t like it.
“You want more coffee?” she asked.
“No. I’ll step in there and splash some cold water on my face.”
“We’ll wait in the car,” her aunt said, tottering on her feet. “I’m afraid I find myself a bit dizzy, too.”
As the woman put a hand to her head, Mystery watched them both, wondering if someone had slipped something in their coffee. After all, she and Mr. Osborne had been the only ones not to drink it.
With a nod, Heath shoved the car keys in her hand, then pushed into the restroom, not quite steady on his feet. As she watched him with a concerned frown, her aunt nearly lost her balance while standing perfectly still. Mystery cursed. She didn’t want to leave either of them alone.
Axel would really have come in handy right now, a voice whispered in her head. Yes, he would, but she needed him for far more than helping her ailing traveling party. Her heart needed him. As soon as Heath reached the car, she’d return to the café and hunt her man down. They had to talk. She just couldn’t believe that today’s lunch was the end of them. It couldn’t be. Mystery didn’t think she could live without him. She didn’t really want to try.
Was this why her mother had taken so long to work up the gumption to leave her father? Had she known it was in her best interest but she just hadn’t been able to break away from the charismatic man she’d fallen for?
Disquieted by the parallel between her life and her mom’s, she turned to Aunt Gail, firmly focusing on the present. “I’ll help you to the car.”
The older woman gave her a shaky nod, then grabbed her arm to steady herself. “Thank you.”
“One second.” Mystery leaned her aunt against the railing, then pressed against the door to the men’s room. “I’ll be back to help you as soon as I can.”