Page 26 of Cornered

“Hey, I’m here anytime you need to vent.” He took her hand and gave it a light squeeze. “Steph, this may not be the best time to ask, but now that it looks like you’re in the clear, would it be all right if I came over after I’m done at the hospital?” He ducked his head but looked up at her. “I’d like to get to hang out with you without the threat of someone trying to kill you.”

She smiled at him. “I’d like that.”

TEN

SUNDAY MORNING,Steph texted Cherry Bolin and asked to meet with her. While Tate and Cole had come up empty-handed after visiting the company again and were on the way to the hospital, Steph wanted to talk to Cherry personally. Now that the person who’d likely been after her was lying unconscious in the hospital, she felt safer driving to Bolin’s Nature Nurture Expeditions without an escort or self-appointed bodyguard. Safer, but not completely relaxed. She’d keep her guard up.

Cherry texted right back and said she was at work and to come on by. They’d talk in the café.

Twenty minutes later, Steph checked the café and found it empty except for a young couple huddled over a laptop in the back corner. She went to the counter and ordered a mocha. Once she had the drink, she looked around. Still no Cherry.

Taking a seat, she considered whether to wait or let Cherry know she was there. She finally texted her.

Give me ten minutes, came her friend’s reply.

“Fancy meeting you here.”

She jumped and turned to see Benji Bolin, Cherry’s brother. He was in his midthirties, tall, and in good shape, thanks to his physical lifestyle. He wasn’t what she would consider good-looking, with the scruffy beard and shaggy hair, but he had a nice smile. “Hi,” she said. “I’m just waiting on Cherry.”

“She said you were coming by. Hold on a sec.” He went to the counter and grabbed a water from the bucket, turned, and walked back to drop into the chair opposite her. “She got held up by a customer. I told her I’d keep you company.”

“Well, it’s good to see you. I hear you’ve taken over most of the operations of the place in addition to your guided hikes and rafting.”

“I have. Mom and Dad wanted to slow down a bit, so I said I’d handle the business.”

“Good for you.” That all seemed kind of weird to her, though, because Cherry was the one who was more business oriented and stable while Benji ... wasn’t.

“Any news yet on what happened to Brenda?” he asked. “The detectives were here this morning again asking questions, but they didn’t have much to share.”

“No, they don’t know yet, but they’ll figure it out before too long. Brenda left a notebook that will probably lead them to her killer.”

“Yeah, that’s what the detectives said. You know what was in it?”

She raised a brow. Should she say? Probably not. She didn’t want to lie, but... “Well, it was in code.” Which was true.

“Oh right. They said something about that. They also said Bolin’s was in it and that’s why they wanted to talk to us. Wanted to know why Brenda thought she needed to write the information in code. It was all very weird. And kind of insulting.”

She shrugged. “I don’t think you should find it insulting. Brenda loved this place. She loved you and your family. I’m not surprised she would mention this place. Whatever she said in her notes might not be negative.”

“Huh. Yeah, I guess.” He sipped his drink and seemed about to say something more when Cherry rushed in.

“I’m so sorry, I got held up. Benji, your rafting party is ready to go. They’re waiting on you.”

Benji stood and saluted her with his drink. “Duty calls. Nice to see you again, Steph.”

“You too.”

He left and Cherry took his seat. “I’m so glad you called and came over. I hear you had quite the incident the other night. Someone broke into your house?”

“Someone did. Oddly enough, it turns out it might have been Stan, my boss.”

“What! How do you know that?”

She sighed. “It’s a long story—and I don’t even know all the details—but I went looking for Stan and found him in a pool of blood on the floor. He’d hit his head on his glass coffee table.”

“I’m so sorry to hear he’s dead. That’s terrible. Stan was a frequent customer here. He loved the zip line.”

Steph stared at her. “He’s not dead, but he’s in the ICU. Cole and Tate are just waiting for him to wake up so they can question him. But hold on. Let’s circle back to Stan and zip-lining. He hated that kind of stuff. What do you mean helovedit?”

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