Page 67 of Search for the Truth
She was so angry. So heated. Her hands shook, her heartbeat sped.
Had the fight been the reason Beth had been speeding? Had it distracted her and led to the accident that killed her?
Why hadn’t a town that thrived on gossip not spread that tidbit around?
And why was it making her so angry?
And why wasthatmaking Cassandra so angry right on back?
The other woman stood so fast her chair fell over behind her.
“Do you think just because I run a coffee shop that I get every piece of news that this town has to give?” she countered. “Do you think that everyone in this town runs tomelike I’m a bartender and tells me everything?”
“Yes!”
Cassandra stood firm.
“No!” she exclaimed. “They don’t. I had no idea that Beth fought with Mr. Grant, and even if I had, it’s not like I know to tell you every single little detail. Who do you think you are and who do you thinkIam? I mean, is that what you and your sheriff think of me? Do you really think I need to tell you every little piece of information I hear? Every little detail? And even if I did, am I supposed to remember everything I see and hear?”
Blake had apparently hit a nerve. Cassandra was fuming. She walked around the desk, anger in every movement.
“The last time you two barged in here, I was nice,” she continued. “I was polite. I told you about Missy, about her mood, her personality, her laptop with the little panda sticker, what I thought about her death, and did all of that without anyone forcing my hand. Now you come in here, hanging up my phone to vent to me about—”
“Panda sticker?” Blake interrupted.
Cassandra looked ready to fight even harder at the rudeness but stopped. She must have noticed the shift in Blake’s tone.
“Yeah. Missy’s laptop had a little panda sticker on it,” she said a moment later. “I only noticed it because it was covering the logo.”
Blake’s mind stalled for the second time since walking into the coffee shop. She didn’t explain to the second person either what had caused it.
She turned on her heel and went back out into the hallway. Cassandra’s footsteps hurried behind her.
“You’re just going to yell at me and leave?” she asked. “Why? What’s wrong?”
Blake didn’t answer her. She didn’t answer Corrie’s questioning look from behind the counter either. There were only two people she acknowledged.
“Sorry, I’m going to have to cancel this time,” she told Kyle, his face nothing but confused. She didn’t wait around to explain more.
Instead, the second person she acknowledged came to her side without a word.
Liam followed her to the truck and had it started, no explanation needed. Even when Blake asked for him to drive them to her house, he did so without follow-up.
There was police tape still across the back door, but it had been repaired, so it was still locked when they searched the house to make sure no one was inside. Then Blake went with purpose to the guest bedroom that used to be her sister’s study.
She went to the desk, took a key from the top drawer and unlocked the side bottom one with it. She set her eyes on a panda sticker covering a logo.
Before she did anything, she finally gave Liam an explanation.
“After going through all the paperwork and legal things it took to adopt the kids, to take over the house and to sort out her life insurance and get my head around all the new bills, accounts and leftover debt, I let the easier stuff rest.” Blake waved a hand through the air. “This room became where I put things I wanted to look at more closely when life settled down. A few months ago, I had a burst of inspiration and decided to come in and finally start combing through Beth’s things and boxing up what I wanted to save and donating what I thought she would be okay with.”
She reached into the bottom drawer and put the object she was aiming for on the desktop.
Her finger traced the panda sticker on the laptop’s cover.
“Cassandra said that Missy’s laptop had this same sticker covering the logo. I’d almost feel like waving it off as a coincidence, butthisparticular sticker is a one of a kind. I know because Beth sent me a picture of it after she made it. Forherlaptop.”
“Her laptop,” Liam repeated.
