Page 148 of Buried Too Deep

“Whew.” Cora mimed wiping sweat from her forehead. “I thought this was going to be the ‘don’t hurt him or else’ speech.”

Delores snickered. “It was going to be. You just saved yourself by being so in tune with him.”

Cora wanted to ask Delores what Phin had experienced that originally caused his PTSD. She wanted to know what had happened six weeks before to send him fleeing New Orleans for Ohio. But that was Phin’s business. He’d tell her when he was ready.

“Are you going to ask?” Delores asked. “I can tell you want to.”

“I can wait to hear it directly from him.”

“Right answer. I wasn’t going to tell you even if you’d asked.” She looked over to where her husband and Phin were lifting the buffet onto its side, looking for a hidden compartment, most likely. They’d been checking for secret hidey-holes in the furniture for the last hour. Burke had stepped up to help them and it was quite a display of muscles. “That’s a very nice view, isn’t it?”

Cora thought about denying it, but what was the point? “It really is.”

“Stone is the best of them, although I could be biased.”

Cora chuckled. “I’m finding myself partial to Phin, so you’re safe.”

Delores laughed merrily. “Another right answer.”

“You two are making me want to go home to my boyfriend,” Val complained from behind them. “Stop it. And Burke and Phin are like my big brothers, so…eww.”

Cora had almost forgotten that Val was back there looking through the shelves of books for hiding spots cut into the pages.

“Fine,” Delores said, sounding put-upon. “I’m going to work on another box. Cora?”

“I’m going to go through these boxes of photo albums,” Cora said, pointing to the box at her feet. “If my father tried to make it easy for my mother to find the Swiss bank account, I want to believe he left something for her to access the rest of that damn computer.”

“Well, it’s not in any of those old books,” Val said, “and it’s about time for my shift to end. Molly should be here soon. I’d love to stay, but I promised my son that I’d be home in time to watch a movie with him.” She tilted her head. “That reminds me. When you were running from the guy who shot Joy on Tuesday, did you happen to run across a young man who asked if he could call someone for you? Behind a bakery?”

Cora stilled, a stack of photo albums in her hands. “Yes. Why?”

Val smiled. “That was my kid,” she said proudly. “He was so worried about you. Described you to a T, right down to the pearls.”

“He was sweet. Tell him thank you.”

“When this is all over, you can come over to my place for a movie night and thank him yourself. You’re welcome, too, Delores, if you’re still in town.” Val checked her phone. “Molly’s downstairs.” She turned to the men, all crouched next to the buffet. “I’m heading out, Burke. Y’all behave yourselves.”

“See you tomorrow.” Burke didn’t look up, his gaze pinned to the buffet. He was nearly bouncing with excitement.

“What did you guys find?” Val asked.

“An honest-to-God secret compartment,” Burke said.

Cora put the photo albums aside and hurried over. “Really? What’s in it?”

Val huffed out a breath before picking her way around the boxes to join them.

“Phin’s trying to figure out how to open it,” Stone explained, his gaze fixed on Phin. “It’s like one of those puzzle boxes.”

“Phin’s good at those,” Delores said loyally.

“Phin’s good at just about everything,” Cora murmured, then winced. She hadn’t meant to say that out loud or for it to sound so dirty.

Phin glanced up at her, his lips twitching and his cheeks pinking up. “Thank you,” he said dryly.

Stone snorted. “Get back to work, lover boy.”

Which wasn’t fair. All they’d done was kiss, but Cora knew Phin would be equally good at what came after. She’d been letting herself think a lot about what came after as she’d watched him work around her house. It allowed her to feel something other than fear.

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