Page 73 of Tessa's Trust

Clark cut her a look. “You already connected to my new truck via Bluetooth?”

Anna laughed. “Of course I did. Hi, Nonna,” she said. “I need some details.”

“Well, of course, dear. What can I do for you?”

I leaned forward between the two seats. “Nonna, I’m sorry we woke you up. I didn’t want Anna to call.”

“Oh, I wasn’t asleep, dear. I was planning the menu for next week’s family get-together. What’s going on?”

I bit back a wince but let my sister tell her the full story, worrying that she would only agitate our grandmother. I had to hold back a protest when Anna alleged that the assistant prosecuting attorney browbeat me.

“Are you kidding me?” Nonna asked. “That idiot Backleboff actually wants to charge you?”

“The evidence is okay,” Clark murmured. “There is enough to charge her, but we’ll combat all of it.”

Anna reached forward and turned up the heat in the vehicle. “What do you know about Brad Backelboff?”

“Well,” Nonna said, her voice warming with the gossip, “he moved up here from San Francisco a couple of years ago, as you know. He’s married—or rather, he was.”

I hadn’t paid attention to the guy, to be honest. Until this week, I’d lived in Timber City and voted there. “What do you mean?”

“His wife divorced him within a year of moving here and returned to the golden state,” Nonna said. “I don’t know why he stayed, but he ran for office, and we weren’t paying any attention—which is common knowledge—and the idiot won. He hasn’t even lived in Idaho for more than a couple of years. It’s just a travesty.”

I thought maybe that was a little strong, but considering the guy wanted to charge me for murder…all right.

“What do you know about him?” Anna asked. “Anything else?”

“Nothing. He likes to fish on the weekends. He’s been fairly consistent in prosecuting cases, but he’s only been on the job since November, so I really don’t have much to tell you. I could contact the ex-wife, but—”

“No, no, no,” Anna said. “We don’t have to go that far. I just wondered if you had any details.”

Nonna hummed for a moment as she obviously thought it all through. “Well, he clearly has higher aspirations than being a prosecutor in our small town. My guess is he’s been waiting for a high-profile case.”

“I don’t think I’m very high-profile,” I argued.

“You would be if you committed two murders,” Nonna said reasonably.

Well, that was true. I sat back against the comfortable leather, feeling defeated all of a sudden.

“I think we need to find Sadie,” Nonna asserted. “The girls and I are on it. Don’t worry.”

Anna cast a worried look over her shoulder. “Nonna,” she said gingerly, “you, Thelma, and Georgiana haven’t really created a detective agency, have you?”

“Of course, we have, dear. I told you we were going to. We even filed for an LLC with the state. We named it Three Hens Investigations.”

“Three Hens,” I said weakly. “Nonna.”

Clark’s shoulders shook, and it took me a second to realize he was laughing silently.

“Yes, we kind of like it, and we have the best logo. You should see it. Thelma drew it and combined all the first letters of the agency’s name. It’s quite impressive. We’re having T-shirts made. I’ll make sure you get one.”

Anna dropped her head into her hands, and Clark just shook his head.

“All right, Nonna,” Anna said. “If you come up with anything, let us know.”

“Thanks, Nonna,” I whispered before she ended the call.

Clark snorted and then stopped laughing. “Calling her was a mistake.”

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