Page 44 of Little Shattered Dreams

“I don’t care,” my mother said. “I say we all stay, find this psycho together.”

Aunt Laura, who was gifted at exercising a great deal of patience when it came to my mother, decided now was one of those times she needed to speak her mind. “Foley’s right. We should go. Georgianacantake care of herself. If we stay here, she’s going to be focused on whatwe’reall doing. She needs to focus on the investigation and bring some closure to Quinn’s daughter and unborn grandchild. And don’t you try to say otherwise. You know I’m right, Darlene.”

My mother plopped down on the sofa, burying her head in her hands. “I just don’t know. I don’t like this … I don’t like it at all.”

Phoebe sat beside her, putting her arm around our mother’s shoulder. “I agree with Aunt Laura, Mom. The faster we get out of here, the faster Gigi can do her job, and the faster life returns to normal.”

My mother sat back, eyeing each of us in turn. For a moment I thought I needed to brace myself for round two, and then, but she threw her hands up and said, “Oh, all right. I may be outvoted, but just know I’m not happy about this decision, and I expect you to check in, Georgiana. Let us all know what’s going on, mmkay?”

She’d said it out of concern, but also because for all her talk about avoiding drama, she always seemed to find herself in the middle of it.

“I’ll check in,” I said.

“Is Hunter or Simone staying too?” my mother asked.

As if on cue, Simone did a knock-and-walk, rapping on my door a few times before showing herself inside without invitation. She rounded the corner and said, “I don’t know what you’re all talking about, but I caught the tail end. I’m not leaving. If Georgiana stays, I stay.”

CHAPTER22

As my family packed their things, I stopped by to check in on Hunter. As soon as she opened the door, I could tell everything wasn’t all right. I also noticed she’d packed a few bags.

“I wanted to stop by,” I said. “I haven’t seen you since dinner.”

“I was just going to call you. After what happened to your mom, I … uhh, I needed some time to myself. I have to admit, I’m becoming more and more uncomfortable here. I bet you’re thinking I’m being lame, and you’re right. You’re here, and Simone’s here, and this is what we do. We take out the bad guys. It’s just … I can’t …”

I threw my arms around her and pulled her in close. “It’s not lame. When we started the business, we agreed to keep you in the background, working behind the scenes, where you’re comfortable. After Quinn was murdered, I should have checked in with you to see if you were okay to stick around. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. You’ve been busy doing your job. It’s what you should be doing. I just got off the phone with Rochelle. I thought she’d think I was crazy for dumping all my feelings on her about what’s going on here, but she was great. I’m feeling a lot better now.”

“How are things going with Rochelle? You haven’t talked about her much since she moved in.”

Hunter tucked a lock of hair behind her ear and grinned. “Everything is great. I should have gotten a roommate sooner. I have no idea why I waited so long.”

Indeed.

I gestured toward the bags on the bed. “Looks like you’re heading out. I don’t blame you. I was coming here to suggest you leave with my family tonight.”

“They’re leaving?”

“My mother, sister, and Aunt Laura are all headed home. Simone and I will stay. If you’d like to leave with them, Foley will make sure you get home safe.”

“I appreciate that, but Rochelle’s already on her way.”

“Oh, okay.”

“And just so you know, I want to keep doing what I’ve been doing on the investigation. I just don’t want to do it here, this close to the … well, you know … the killer. I haven’t been able to find out much more about Quinn yet, but I’ve been looking into the employees like you asked. I discovered they all have something in common.”

My interest was piqued.

“What is it?” I asked.

“Ready for this? They’ve all served time.”

“You mean jail time? All of them?”

“Yep.”

“For what?” I asked.

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