Page 107 of Chasing Your Ghost

“What took you so long?” Noah asked, sounding remarkably distracted for someone so concerned with how much time Riley had spent in the kitchen.

“Nothing.” Riley’s reply was admittedly ridiculous, but she sent Asher another scowl when he did a face-palm.

“Why are you blushing?” Chris asked her after she’d handed him his drink.

“I’m not blushing.” Only, even if she hadn’t been blushing before, she definitely was now.

“Yes, you are,” Noah helpfully pointed out.

The urge to punch her stepbrother was stronger than ever. “Stop being difficult. Asher and I were talking, okay.”

“So, Asher went with you, huh?” Chris asked, his eyebrows waggling suggestively. “And here I thought he’d stayed here with us.”

“Tell them we were making out,” Asher urged her, his grin pure evil. “I dare you.”

Riley shot him an unimpressed look, resenting the tiny twitch of her lips that she couldn’t keep in. “Can we stop the childish antics? I need to get back to reading.”

Chris looked annoyed at having his fun put to an end, but it was Noah’s reaction that was worrisome. He stared at her with narrowed eyes for several beats longer before returning his attention to the book in his lap. Riley was simply thankful that he hadn’t pressed her further on the matter.

She settled onto her bed, crossed her legs, and reached for the book she’d left open on the mattress. Movement outside the window caught her eye before she could find her place, and she frowned. “That guy gives me the creeps.”

“Who?” Noah asked.

“The gardener.” He’d begun trimming one of the shrubs outside the pool house, and she had the strong urge to close her curtains so he couldn’t look into her bedroom.

There was something disturbingly grisly and ominous about the way his shears cut off pieces of the plant, the stems and leaves falling to the grass like limbs of an unsuspecting victim he was in the process of dismembering. Not even the browning purple hydrangea flowers were safe from the blades of his cutters. Yes, Riley thought, definitely disturbing. Every precise and quick cut sent a chill down her spine and had goosebumps rising on her arms.

“I don’t blame you.” Noah sent a disgusted glance outside the window. “You know how I feel about Ella, but I was thrilled when I heard she fired him. Without her parents there most of the time, she would have been a sitting duck to that guy.”

Riley sat up straighter, Noah’s words buzzing in her ears like excited gnats. “Wait. What? Gabe used to work at Ella’s house?”

Noah shrugged. “Uh, yeah.”

“It’s a gardening business,” Chris explained. “He works at a lot of houses in the area.”

“Including my house,” Asher said, his voice sounding off. Too quiet. Riley’s eyes swung to him. He looked much the same way she expected she did. Parted lips. Eyes wide with dawning realization.

“Including Asher’s,” she murmured for Noah and Chris’s benefit. She got off the bed, needing to stand and pace. “You’re telling me Gabe, the guy who has a habit of staring and is about the least friendly person I’ve ever encountered—and I’m from New York!—worked at both Asher’s and Ella’s houses?” she asked them in a hissed whisper, not wanting the man who’d just jumped to the top of her previously non-existent suspect list to overhear her.

“And Ella, whose bedroom we found the watch in, fired him,” Noah added, standing up as well. He ran a hand through his hair and muttered a swear. “His dad was the one who used to own the business and work here. He was great, which is why my dad recommended him to Asher and Ella’s parents, but when he retired last year, Gabe took over.”

“When did Ella fire him?” Riley asked.

Noah tilted his head in thought, his face twisting into an expression of uncertainty. “About three months ago, I think.”

Asher nodded, and Riley lifted her hand to signal Chris and Noah to be quiet. “It was just after her parents had left again. She called her dad and asked him to let Gabe go.” The lines on his forehead deepened when he looked out the window. “I don’t think Gabe took it well, but Ella never mentioned him again.”

“Guys, don’t you think the cops would have already looked into him?” Chris asked once she had relayed everything Asher had said.

“Would they have?” Riley asked. “Asher wasn’t taken from his house, and we only found the watch in Ella’s house today. They might not have seen the connection.”

“But how would he have known where Asher was that night?” Chris pointed out. “How would he have known exactly where he’d be driving?”

Riley thought about it for all of five seconds before admitting defeat with a sigh. “I don’t know. But this is the first real lead we’ve had. We have to check it out.”

Noah tossed his book aside and rested his chin on his linked hands. “What exactly do you mean when you say ‘check it out’?”

Riley grinned. It looked like her days of breaking and entering weren’t over yet. “Anyone know where Gabe lives?”

---