Page 25 of January

Kyle stood, left their mother’s old room, entered her grandmother’s bedroom, and found the journal where she’d left it on the dresser. She opened it and pulled out a piece of paper that she handed to Jolie, who had followed her into the room. Jolie unfolded it and read through it for a minute.

“Do you know what this says?”

“I read it, butyou’re the paralegal,” Kyle replied.

“This is just a piece of paper that says there’s more to it, but essentially, it says that she owns another house.”

“I thought so, but I was planning on calling the lawyer to see if he can explain all of this to us. I just wanted to show you first.”

“You think she left ustwohouses?”

“That’s assuming that the woman next door was even correct about her leaving us this one. There’s a key pressed in between a couple of pages there, though. I’m wondering if that goes to that house. It doesn’t look like a car key, and from what I’ve seen, she doesn’t have a car, anyway.”

Jolie pulled up her phone, went to Google Maps, and typed in the address.

“It’s in the Garden District. That can’t be right.”

“Why not?”

“Those houses are huge, Kyle. That’s the rich part of the city. Celebrities live there.”

“Then, itcan’tbe right.”

Jolie’s phone buzzed with a text message, and she said, “That’s them, my new Cincy friends. They want me to go out with them tonight.”

“You should go.”

“You’re coming with me,” Jolie stated. “We’re going to have dinner first. It’s a meal, Kyle. And if you don’t want to stay out late, we’ll go back to the hotel. But maybe we should stop paying for the hotel and just stay here. It’s free.”

“Let’s make sure it belongs to us first, at least,” Kyle suggested. “The Garden District? Really?”

“What if it’s true?” Jolie asked.

CHAPTER 8

Melinda had the day off, which was a rare occasion. Because she lived just upstairs, if they got a lot of walk-ins or someone called out sick, she was often asked to come downstairs and do a tour or two. She didn’t mind most days, but there were a few where she just wanted to relax in her apartment and think about something other than walking tourists around the city. She’d been assured that she wasn’t needed for today and that if there were a lot of walk-ins, they’d either add them to existing tours or the boss herself would give the tour. Melinda appreciated the woman who had become her second mother. She also appreciated a good cup of coffee first thing in the morning, along with a book she’d been planning to read for years.

As she sat back on her sofa across from the windows that gave her a view of the building across the street and a sliver of the city beyond it, she inhaled deeply and breathed in the scent of her coffee with just the right amount of cream in it and prepared to take her first sip. Before she could, though, her phone buzzed on her coffee table. She grunted because this could only mean that the first tour of the day hada lotof walk-ins or that Jill had called out sick. It was later than she usually woke, but it was still before ten, so there wasn’t anyone else who would be calling her. She picked up the phone and nearly choked on that sip of coffee when she saw that it was Kyle. It wasn’t just Kyle. Kyle wasn’t texting. She wascallingher. Melinda moved her mug to the table and stared at the screen as if it would tell her what to do. Answer it. She should answer it, obviously.

“Hello?” she said, likely sounding confused.

“Melinda?”

“Yes.”

“Hi. It’s Kyle Schafer,” Kyle replied. “Sorry to bother you.”

“You’re not bothering me,” she said, sitting forward on the sofa. “What’s up?”

“Um…”

Melinda smiled. For some reason, Kyle said that a lot, and Melinda loved it. She found it absolutely adorable.

“So, I found out something about my grandmother. Jolie and I were going to check it out today, but I can’t get ahold of the lawyer, and I don’t know if I should go on my own because Jolie decided she wanted to hang out with those new friends she made. They’re doing some tour outside of the city or something, so she said I didn’t have to wait.”

Melinda laughed a little and replied, “I know you just said a lot, but I’m not sure I understood any of it.”

“Sorry,” Kyle said, laughing a little, too. “Are you busy today? I’m sure you are. Am I bothering you at work?”

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