Page 79 of Tessa's Trust

“Fine. Geez, man. You make a person your partner, and they get all bossy.”

I softened. “I’ll be by later to check on you. For now, don’t worry about the diner. I have it covered.”

“All right,” he said. “Ooh, the nurse is coming back. She has Jello. Got to go.” He hung up.

I sighed. It had been a long morning, but everything was going smoothly now. I was still sore from playing mattress hockey with Nick, but I was more worried about my heart. I had tried to be smart about getting involved with him, but Nick Basanelli was a force of nature—one I was unable to resist.

Besides being harassed by Mert Smiley all morning, both of my sisters had called and demanded a recap of what was going on between Nick and me. I told them what I could between bussing tables before promising them we’d meet for a girls’ night soon.

Right now, I had to find Sadie. It was time to take things into my own hands. My phone buzzed just as the lunch crowd dispersed, and I lifted it to my ear. If it was Mert again, I was going to lose my mind. “Hello?”

“Hey, it’s Nonna. Can you come over the pass?”

I looked outside. The storm had abated somewhat, and flakes were falling slowly. “Yes, I can. Do you have something for me?”

“I do. Meet me at Sunshine, and be quiet about it.” She disconnected.

I sighed. She was definitely taking this whole private investigation thing a little too seriously.

I checked in with the cooks and the servers, telling them all to give me a call if they needed anything. They were doing a good job, so I felt somewhat okay leaving. I also informed them all not to tell Mert if he called. We needed his heart to mend, and that meant no stress. I carefully drove over the pass, noting the sun finally peeking through the thick grayish-white cloud cover. I would love to see it.

I reached Sunshine Eats but didn’t see my grandmother’s car anywhere. Frowning, I ran across the parking lot to get inside before the snow covered me completely. Nonna sat with Georgiana, Gerty, Larraina, and Bernadette, who was a retired county commissioner, over in the corner. I walked over, shaking snow off my shoulders. “Nonna, where’s your car?” I asked.

“It’s around the corner, honey.” A trench coat was draped over her seat. “Sit down,” she whispered.

I sat and nodded to the ladies. This all looked like trouble, yet I somehow settled into the moment. There was something fun about these women, and even though my life seemed to be spiraling out of control, I’d learned a long time ago to enjoy the good moments. This was about to be one, I could tell.

“What do you have for me?” I leaned forward.

Georgiana spoke up first. “Larraina here was telling us that Sadie liked to invest in properties.”

“I’d heard that,” I said. “I also heard that Sadie might not record deeds, so not everybody knows where her properties are.”

“Exactly,” Nonna said. “Apparently, which likely won’t surprise you, Sadie liked to keep track of all of her business in a ledger.”

I thought about when I’d gone through Sadie’s house. There wasn’t a ledger.

“She also liked sticky notes.” Bernadette waved a hand. “Sticky notes were everywhere.”

That was interesting. I didn’t see a bunch of sticky notes at Sadie’s house. “What do you mean?”

“Well, honestly, I saw her do a contract on a sticky note. I’m telling you, it’s all about the sticky notes,” Bernadette said.

Georgiana rolled her eyes. “Maybe we can have Thelma do a search for sticky notes all through the town.”

“How is Thelma?” I asked.

“Still has a cold. She’s manning headquarters,” Nonna said.

Should I be frightened that they had a headquarters? I wasn’t certain, so I didn’t say anything.

“So.” Nonna pushed away from the table. “We need to go search Sadie’s house again.”

“Wait a minute.” I stopped her. “We can’t go out there, Nonna. We don’t have a right.” I looked at the assembled group. “Did any of you know that Sadie was dating Lenny Johnson?”

Larraina shrugged. “They were a couple in high school, and I think they had an on-again, off-again thing throughout the years, but nobody really thought anything of it. Sadie was all about work and her business, and Lenny was, well…” Her voice trailed off. “About partying and nothing else.”

Nonna finished for her. “It was just sex.”

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