Cold River - Carla Neggers [24]
Sean could have gone after her, but he got out of the truck and headed across the parking lot, trying to ignore just how tense and aggravated he was. He’d sit across a negotiating table with the worst of the sharks he’d encountered in Beverly Hills before taking on Hannah Shay.
No one, he thought, had ever gotten to him the way she did.
He could feel the approach of dusk in the cold, still air. Nightfall would come early. He had never noticed the relentless winter dark as a kid, only later, when he’d come home for the holidays. He’d had no intention of returning to Vermont to live, but he’d always thought he could.
Now he wasn’t sure. His father’s death…Hannah…her brothers…
His brothers.
Sean waited until Hannah’s old car was rattling down the road before he joined A.J. and Elijah on the walk.
“Let’s go inside,” he said to his brothers. “We need to talk.”
Seven
Hannah smiled as Lester and Gloria McBane both came to answer her knock on the side door of the old Four Corners tavern. They were in their eighties, white-haired and noticeably frailer in recent months. Reverend McBane had performed the funeral service for Hannah’s father but had already retired when her mother died. He and his wife, a former librarian, had attended her funeral and supported Hannah’s decision to become her brothers’ legal guardian. The run-down tavern had been their home for the past twenty years. They liked to say the place was as comfortable and familiar as a worn-out pair of slippers. Hannah had heard rumors that Sean Cameron had his eye on it, but she couldn’t fathom what he needed with another property in Black Falls.
She held a small box that she, Dominique and Beth had packed last night. Hannah had set it in her car before bed, figuring she’d make her way up here at some point during the day. She hadn’t imagined it would be after hiking up Cameron Mountain. She handed the box to Gloria McBane. “We thought you might like a few goodies for a cold winter night. Beth says she got the coffee cake recipe from you.”
“You all are much better cooks than I ever was,” the older woman said. “I hardly cook anymore these days. Won’t you come in and have some with us?”
Suddenly aching with the cold, Hannah glanced down the road for a Cameron on her tail. None so far. She turned back to the McBanes. “I should get back to town. I’ve been hiking.”
Lester McBane pointed a thin finger at her. “I can see that. Your face is chapped from the wind and the cold. Were you hiking with Sean Cameron?” The old man smiled. “You look surprised. Gloria and I saw you two in Elijah’s truck a little while ago.”
“Ah.” Hannah laughed. “No secrets in a small town.” But she felt herself blush and added quickly, “Not that Sean and I…We just ran into each other up at his father’s cabin and he gave me a ride back to the lodge.”
“It’s terrible, what happened out there before Thanksgiving,” Mrs. McBane said, setting the box of goodies on a counter behind her. She was a small woman, her fine white hair neatly curled. “We only get out twice a week in the cold weather. We haven’t seen any of the Camerons since before Christmas. How are they? And how are you, Hannah?”
“Everyone seems to be coping. My brothers and the café keep me busy, and I’ve just started to study for the bar. Devin had a rough time with those killers, but the Camerons lost their father.”
Reverend McBane nodded thoughtfully. “It’ll take time.”
“It would help if the police could figure out who triggered the bomb in Melanie Kendall’s car.” Hannah didn’t mince words. The McBanes had been through plenty in their lives and were well aware of what had happened down the road at Black Falls Lodge. “If you were the one watching and waiting for her to get in the car, where would you be? Would you be out in the open and subtly dial your cell phone? Or would you hide? Those are the kinds of questions everyone’s asking.”
“We’ve been thinking about that,” Mrs. McBane said. “Lester