Page 23 of Smoldering Nights
“You sure it was him?”Mitch asked.
“One hundred percent.”Izzy nodded.“He just left here a few minutes ago.”
Mitch’s expression darkened.“Have you ever known him to do that before?”
“Never.”She took a breath, worried she might be getting Noah in trouble for something."Of course, I've never watched where he went after he left here."
She couldn’t explain the knot forming in her chest.It wasn’t just the odd timing.It was how casual it had seemed.Like Noah had done it before.He didn't knock or wait to be let in; he entered on his own.
“Could be nothing,” Mitch said, but his voice lacked conviction.
“Could be,” she echoed, though her skin prickled in warning.
He looked at her again, more serious now.“I’ll check into it.Quietly.”
She nodded, heart thudding against her ribs.She didn’t want to jump to conclusions.Noah had always been kind.Dependable.But if he was connected to Delilah in any way, she needed to know.
“I don’t want to believe he’s involved,” she said quietly.
“I know,” Mitch replied.“But if she’s using people to watch you, we can’t afford to ignore anything.”
The rest of the afternoon passed in a haze of tension.Izzy kept her hands busy, moving flowers to the cooler, repotting new arrivals, checking on her inventory system, rearranging what little product hadn’t been damaged, and sadly, taking pictures and tossing out the flowers she lost.Her insurance company told her she had to do that.But her thoughts kept drifting back to that moment.To the look of familiarity in Noah’s steps as he disappeared into Delilah’s office.
And the way Mitch’s entire demeanor had shifted was weird, too.But he wasn't sharing his feelings on what he thought was going on.The most worrisome feeling right now was that the tempo in her cute little shop had changed.Mitch was tense.Jayson was tense, too.They whispered to each other now, where previously they'd spoken out loud.
Something was wrong.She felt it now in her bones.
And this time, she was sure she wasn’t imagining it.
The bell above the door rang, and something on the computer screen Mitch held buzzed.Still reeling from Mitch thinking he saw something, she cautiously turned, praying it was someone friendly and not suspicious coming in.Her eyes widened as her friend, Sadie, smiled from the doorway.
“I thought I’d come down and see if you need help cleaning.”
Izzy’s heartbeat fluttered, and she quickly shortened the distance between her and Sadie.“I’d love your help.It’s so nice to see you.”
Sadie hugged her warmly, then pulled back and smiled.“I’m always here for you.Put me to work, what do you need from me?”
Chapter11
Mitch stood at the edge of Izzy’s workbench, one eye on the tablet displaying the live camera feeds, the other on the shop door.Jayson had finished wiring the last motion sensor and was now organizing cables into a labeled case, but Mitch’s focus was elsewhere.
Noah.
Mitch had caught only a glimpse of him heading into Delilah’s back door, but that glimpse had flipped something in his gut.A quiet alert.A shift in instinct.The easy-going delivery guy suddenly looked a little too casual, sliding into the back of a salon that had nothing to do with flower deliveries.
He didn’t want to say anything to Izzy yet, not more than he already had.She was already trying to keep it together, torn between suspicion and loyalty.And he didn’t blame her.From what he’d seen, Noah was professional, and Izzy said reliable.
Which made it worse.For her.
Mitch waited until Izzy stepped into the back room to email her insurance inventory photos before stepping outside to talk to Jayson.
“You got a second?”Mitch asked when Jayson turned toward him.
“Always.What’s up?”
“I need a background pull on a guy.Noah Grady.Works for SunnySide Floral Delivery.Drives a white delivery truck.Been delivering to Petal Pushers for almost two years.”
“Got it,” Jayson said, tapping on his laptop.“This about the fire?”
