Page 79

It worried Andy when he did not hear from Quinn.

Granted, he had already been worried after speaking to Cyril Sirius. And his conversation with the criminal lawyer that Enoch Pratt of Pratt & Penby referred him to didn’t help any. Ms. Lamb believed Safehaven PD had the foundation of a strong circumstantial case against him.

“Thefoundation?” he’d asked uneasily.

“They don’t have enough to issue an arrest warrant. Not yet.”

He appreciated the fact that she was “looking forward” to the fight, but he’d have preferred reassurance that the police didn’t have a leg to stand on.

Clearly, there was no such reassurance to be had.

Also, Ms. Lamb had promised to find out what was happening with Quinn and update Andy, but he’d heard nothing all afternoon.

Not a word.

Was no news good news? Or was no news simply…no news?

He did hear from a reporter—the sole reporter—from theSafehaven Independent, which was liable to mean he’d soon be hearing from other reporters, which was liable to mean he’d soon be getting a call from the director of the Worley Foundation. That was probably the most worrying thing of all. If he lost his job…

Honestly, he couldn’t even contemplate the possibility. His position at the Worley Foundation felt like the last remaining certainty in his life. If that was also gone…

Not long after what felt like fruitless attempts to convince theSafehaven Independentof his innocence—why was it that the more you repeated the truth, the less genuine it sounded?—Clark phoned to apologize for Fleur giving Andy’s cell-phonenumber to “the press,” and to assure Andy they were one hundred percent behind him.

Waybehind him, Andy thought sardonically. As in staying totally out of sight and sound. Not that he blamed them. In fact, he appreciated Clark’s effort. Fleur’s efforts…not so much. Fleur clearly thought the answer to all her and Clark’s problems was Andy being sent down for murdering Marcus.

He held his tongue as Clark excused Fleur’s behavior on the grounds that she was under a lot of stress because of the holidays and depressed about her little shop going under and missing her New York friends.

“People in Safehaven just don’t understand her,” Clark was saying.

“I thought she only lived in New York for a year after college?”

Clark’s tone grew defensive. “That’s true, but she always says New York is the only place she felt like her true self.”

Andy managed to swallow theoh brotherthat nearly slipped out, but…oh brother.

Anyway.

Whydidn’t Quinn get in touch?

Andy had to assume Quinn had not been released and was not being permitted any additional phone calls. Andy’s own efforts to phone the jailhouse had been rebuffed.

Which meant it was all on him to get them both out of this mess.

However the hell he was going to do that.

He figured his best bet was somehow getting into Quinn’s place and retrieving the sales ledgers and receipt books from Time in a Bottle. If he could figure out where the other snow globes had gone, maybe he could strike some kind of bargain with Sirius wherein, in exchange for the missing snow globe,Sirius would hand over information about his murderous competitor?

It seemed pretty far-fetched.

Or maybe he could get the proof to convince Ruthanne of what was actually going on, and then they could set some kind of trap?

Again, it seemed pretty far-fetched.

But then the entire situation was far-fetched.

In the meantime, Andy was holed up in one of the tiny shorefront cottages at Belier’s On the Coast, set well back on fifty acres of private waterfront property accessible only to motel guests.

Not that there were many guests this time of year. In fact, given the lack of lights in other cottages, he suspected he might be the motel’sonlyguest.