Page 78 of Bit's Bliss

“Will you show them to me?”

Her eyes lit up. “Of course.”

“I see where you got the idea for the kitchen garden,” I said when we walked to the side yard that was off that part of the house.

“She and I used to make dinner together, and we’d come out here and get fresh vegetables and herbs to use. Sometimes, we’d base the whole meal aroundwhatever was ripe.” Eberly smiled again. “It drove my dad crazy when he’d return to the house after spending the day in the winery to find what he called ‘rabbit food’ instead of a real dinner.”

We continued around to the opposite side of the house, where a rock garden bordered one side of the patio with flagstone steps leading up to a seating area.

“We could go in this way, unless there’s more you want to show me,” I suggested.

“Most of the rest were around the tasting room and winery.” Her eyes scrunched. “I don’t have a key.”

“Right. Hang on.” I sent a text to Snapper, who came around the corner of the house a few seconds later. Like earlier, his expression troubled me. There had to be something else going on besides a disagreement between Kick and him.

“I need to give you an overview of the new security stuff that’s been added, but you won’t need keys anylonger. Everyone with access to the house will have a unique code, which you’ll determine now. It needs to be three letters and three numbers, none consecutive, and nothing too obvious.”

“Like my birthday?” Eberly said, rolling her eyes. “I swear that’s the only code we’ve ever used for anything.”

She wasn’t watching Snapper, but I was. Something about what she’d said made him flinch.

“Once everyone’s set up, I’ll get rid of my code. I have it now so I can do the programming and testing,” my brother explained. He looked between Eberly and me. “Let me know if you, uh, want anyone else to have access.”

She looked confused for a minute, but then it dawned on her what he was asking. “I definitely want Trevino to have access.”

“Are you sure?” I asked.

Her eyes widened but not in surprise. She blinked several times and looked away. “If you don’t think it’s appropriate, then…”

“I mean, I’m happy to, err, honored, really.”

Snapper nudged me. “Give me your code.”

“Hang on,” I said when Eberly punched hers in and was about to go inside. Something felt off to me. “Let me go ahead of you.”

She stepped aside, and I walked in.

“Someone’s been in here,” she said once we were a few feet beyond the door. She looked at Snapper. “Was it you?”

“I haven’t been in this part of the house.”

“Tell me what makes you think someone was,” I said.

She grabbed my arm. “It was Tiernan.”

I put my arm around her waist. “Why, Eberly?”

“His cologne. Green Irish Tweed, it’s called.” She shivered. “I’ve always hated it.”

“Do you want to return outside?” I asked.

“Let’s go into the other room instead,” Snapper suggested.

Once in the living room, he asked us to take a seat. “We did see someone on the surveillance footage entering the house through a walled-off area on the east side.”

“The secret garden,” said Eberly.

“While most of the property was wired, there were areas that hadn’t been completed yet. By the time we got over here, whoever it was, was gone.”