Total pages in book: 103
Estimated words: 97032 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 485(@200wpm)___ 388(@250wpm)___ 323(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 97032 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 485(@200wpm)___ 388(@250wpm)___ 323(@300wpm)
“The truck is here. We need to get moving,” Danny said, rushing up on them and turning to Pepper. “Where’s Kelly? Did you see her? Is she feeling all right? I think something is troubling her, but she won’t talk to me about it and I—”
“Slow down, big guy. She’s with Mom and they’re talking while having tea. Everything is under control.”
Danny sighed so heavily his shoulders dropped. “Thank goodness. I was so worried.”
“No reason to worry anymore. Mom’s got it,” I said. “And I’ve been ordered to get some houseplants for Dad’s office at the police station.”
Danny and Thomas both laughed.
“I feel for him if Mom wins the election,” Thomas said.
“So do I,” Danny agreed.
“You’re both idiots,” I said. “When Mom wins, she’s in charge of the town and has the final say in things. Have you two yahoos asked yourself what she might ask of the both of you?”
They both stared at me in horror as my words soaked in their addled brains. With a smile, I grabbed one of the large open carts and walked away, one of the four wheels squealing as I went.
I made my way back to the area that was closed off to shoppers and into the Employees Only greenhouse. I got lost looking around, seeing a couple of plants I liked for myself before picking out plants for my dad’s office. The sizeable fiddle leaf fig plant was in the back, and she was a beauty. I pulled the cart along the aisle and stopped abruptly when I spotted a boot sticking out from across the aisle.
I hurried to help whoever had collapsed and stopped short when I caught sight of the guy that Ian and I had found in the mausoleum. He lay on his back lifeless, his face pale, and no signs of an injury or any blood. Though the bruise on his jaw didn’t look like it had healed much. I reached for my cell and wanted to scream at myself for having left it in the truck.
I wasn’t about to run for help until I checked to see if he was alive. He had to have been alive the last time I saw him since he disappeared, but this time I was going to make sure.
I leaned down.
“Pepper! Pepper! Are you in here?”
It was Kelly and there was no way I was going to let her get a look at the guy lying here like this, the shock possibly sending her into labor. I rushed down the aisle and all but shoved her out of the greenhouse.
“I need help. Please get Danny or Thomas for me.”
“Can I—”
“No, you can’t help. I need someone with muscles,” I said with a smile, hoping she didn’t see through it.
“Okay, be right back,” she said.
“I will meet you out front. There are some flowers I want to ask you about,” I said, worried how she would react if the guy turned out to be dead.
“Okay,” she said, looking much happier than when I had talked with her.
I rushed back down the aisle and stopped so suddenly that I almost tumbled over.
The body had once again vanished.
CHAPTER 6
“Call Dad,” I said for the third time.
“I will not call him,” Danny insisted. “I do not want to upset my wife now that she’s back to her calm self again. Besides, do you know what this would do to the business if word got out that a body was found in one of our greenhouses? People would pour in here out of curiosity, not to shop.”
“But Dad should be made aware of it,” I insisted right back.
Danny crossed his arms over his chest, a tell-tale sign I had learned when I was young that he was about to think he out-smarted me.
“What do you think Dad will say when he finds out you not only lost the body again, but didn’t have your phone on you to at least get a picture and solid proof that a vanishing body even exists?”
Okay, he had me on that one.
“Please, Pepper, let this be. I have enough to worry about with the baby on the way. I don’t need the police here and crowds of curiosity seekers.”
Danny was right. I had no proof, and he didn’t need the hassle.
“Do you mind if I take some pictures of the area?” I asked, though I didn’t need his permission since I was part owner of the garden center.
His arms fell away from his chest. “Thanks, Pepper, I appreciate it, and you know you don’t have to ask me if you can take photos, but thanks for doing so anyway. Now to figure out what to tell, my wife.”
“That’s easy. Tell her I accidently knocked over the rubber tree plant and created a mess and I worried she might try to clean it up, which would then have you mad at me.”