Page 71 of Secret Baby for Mr. Grump

TWENTY-SIX

MARCUS

“The bad news is that we didn’t get anything off the car,” Sean let me know the next morning. It had been a few days since the incident, and I waited until Allie went out to the store with Athena to finally call him to discuss it. I didn’t want her around in case it was bad news.

“Either whoever it was was very careful,” Sean continued, “or the snow destroyed any evidence.”

“The latter is more likely,” I said, annoyed that we couldn’t get fingerprints. That would have made this whole ordeal a lot easier.

“What about that murder all those years ago?” I asked. “Any news on that?”

“Nothing as of now. The issue is that in small towns, the cops don’t exactly keep very good records and are typically behind on all the new technology, so the hackers can’t even get access. We would need the physical copies, and we’re working on getting that through less-than-ideal means.”

“Alright. Keep at it.” I didn’t know why, but I had a gut feeling that whoever was doing this was linked to the crime all those years ago. Someone angry enough to spray paint my car would likely be the family of the victim.

The problem was the old man had no known family.

He was, however, very well-liked, and that was a good enough place as any to start the search.

But wouldn’t someone who wanted revenge just try and kill me? Why on earth would they warn me first?

“Whoever it was is trying to drive you out of town for sure,” Sean said, confirming my thoughts.

“Might be the same person who drove me out the first time,” I said. Not for the first time, I mused if someone had intentionally framed me for the murder. I’d thought it was simply a robbery gone wrong, and it was a coincidence that I just happened to be the last person who saw Old Man Clancy alive. But from what Sean said about what little information he got, nothing of value was stolen besides some cash taken from the cash register. A few hundred dollars at most.

A robber would have been more interested in the watches and trinkets that were locked behind the glass case.

Which made me think that someone was possibly framing me for the crime but didn’t want to hold on to too much merchandise in case something was traced back to them.

“You said your old man pissed a lot of people off,” Sean said.

“I never told you that,” I responded wryly.

“You said, or I researched,” he said offhandedly. “Same difference. Anyway, do you think it could be one of his victims doing this?”

I thought about it. “Maybe.” I rubbed my face tiredly. If that was the case, the list of people who could be targeting me just got longer.

Even though we managed to pay off most of what we owed, I still knew people who’d gone out of business because of my father. People who lost their entire life savings.

And all of them probably wanted me gone.

I could ask my mother who the most likely culprits were the next time I went to visit her. She would know better than anyone who treated her the worst after the news came out. I just had to make sure I knew what was real and what was just her paranoia talking. The last time I’d gone to see her, she’d spoken at length about this imaginary person snooping around her house.

“We’ll keep working on our end,” Sean said. “Try to find out anything you think could help the research.”

“Yes,” I answered and then hung up the phone right as Allie was coming in through the front door. She had a troubled look on her face as she carried Caleb. She put him down, and he ran to me to hug me first. I returned the hug, then pulled his mother onto my lap, kissing the lines off her forehead. “What’s the matter?”

“I’m not sure.” She glanced over at where Caleb was running up the stairs, likely to take a shower. “I think people are spreading nasty rumors about us in town. Wherever I went today, people kept watching and staring at us.”

“Oh.” I cocked my eyebrows. I knew this would happen eventually, but it was curious that it coincided with the threat. “What did they say?”

“Nothing.” She waited for a beat, then added, “Cal mentioned that I helped you get away with murder.”

I smirked at her, amused at the incense on her face. “Didn’t you?”

She gaped at me, then glanced over to the stairs to make sure Caleb wasn’t still there. She smacked me in the chest, and I laughed.

“I’m sorry.” I continued laughing. “But you did lie.”

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