Page 38 of Tessa's Trust

There was no knife block on the counter.

Not that it mattered. Not everyone kept one.

I moved closer to the fridge to see pictures upon pictures hung there. Some photos were at least twenty years old and faded, while a couple looked as if they’d been taken at a town festival just last summer.

There was a cute one of Sadie and her brother smiling in the kitchen, surrounded by Christmas platters.

Awareness cascaded down my spine, and my shoulders went back. I moved closer to peer at the picture, pushing the flashlight closer. Behind Jonathan, on the very counter next to me, was a knife block. The knives looked exactly like the ones found in Rudy’s body and in my refrigerator.

Yet another thing Sheriff Franco hadn’t told me.

This was getting weirder and weirder. If Sadie or Jonathan had killed Rudy Brando, then why in the world would they leave one of Sadie’s knives in his chest? Unless they had just panicked, which made sense. But why would they have left the matching one in my fridge? It didn’t make any sense. Had somebody stolen her knives? I didn’t get it.

“Ca-caw, ca-caw.” The almost wild-bird sound came through the window.

I snagged the pictures off the fridge, shoved them into my pocket, and turned. “What?”

“It’s our signal,” Georgiana yelled. “A car’s coming. Get out here, Tessa. We have to run. Now!”

Chapter 14

I ran toward the window, belatedly wondering where I’d left my fingerprints. If this were a crime scene, which I didn’t think it was, I should have been smart enough to wear gloves. Sheriff Franco had said he’d already searched the place, but even so, this was probably one of the stupidest things I’d ever done. I made it to the window, and Nonna’s hands reached in to pull me her way.

“I’ve got it.” I planted both hands on the sill and all but catapulted myself free.

I flew out, and my grandmother yelled, jumping out of the way. I kept going, hitting the icy deck with my hands and somersaulting over to come up standing.

“Whoa,” Georgiana murmured. “Respect.”

“Thanks,” I said. “Come on.”

It was too late. The truck they’d heard had already stopped behind our vehicles, and it took me two seconds to recognize the driver. “Oh, no.”

“What’s going on?” Nonna reared up, her spoon in front of her, and then she was all smiles. “Nicolo Basanelli, how kind of you to come check on us,” she said.

I jerked my head toward her. “Did you tell him we were coming out here?” I asked through clenched teeth.

“Of course not.” She leveled me with a look. “When we break and enter, we try to keep it between us. Right, Georgiana?”

“It’s the detectives’ code,” she said, brightening up the entire day with her fluorescent outfit.

Nick stepped from the vehicle and looked at all three of us.

I swore I wasn’t a mind reader, but everything in me said he wanted to get right back in that truth and drive away. “New truck?” I asked.

“Just bought it off my brother,” he said mildly, looking at the assembled group. I couldn’t blame him for wanting to get away from us. Instead, and very much to his credit, he walked past the vehicles and up the stairs to the porch, his gaze taking in the window. “Anybody care to explain?”

“It was a bird.” Georgiana patted her chest and fluttered her eyelashes. “Came out of nowhere. So frightening. We were just sitting here trying to figure out how we could help our good friend Sadie with this problem.”

I felt heat rise from my chest, move up my neck, and into my face. I couldn’t help it. I blushed so hard it hurt. With my fair skin and my slightly reddish hair, I was sure I looked ridiculous.

Nick turned that formidable focus on me. “Anything you want to tell me, Contessa?”

“Aw, isn’t that sweet of him to use her full name?” Nonna whispered.

I really wanted to leave, just walk away, but this was my grandmother, and I couldn’t. “I have absolutely nothing I want to tell you,” I said honestly, right from my heart.

Nick wasn’t a police officer, but he was a prosecuting attorney, and I thought that made him an officer of the court or something like that. Anna had mentioned that to me before. He was probably duty bound to report a break-in if he had proof of one.

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