Miss Frost Solves A Cold Case: A Nocturne Falls Mystery (Jayne Frost Book 1) (18 page)

“No. I don’t know. I just think anything’s a possibility.” I didn’t really think the elevator was tied in. How could it be?

“You know only town employees can access it.”

“I’ve heard.”

He leaned back and tapped the badge hanging off his utility belt. “You can’t even call the thing without swiping an official town keycard programed with the right permissions. No one at the shop would have one unless they also worked for the town. Did any of the employees that quit work more than one job?”

I gave the card a quick glance. It displayed his picture, his name, a town seal and a wide black stripe like a credit card. “Not that I’m aware of.” But I’d be checking the files again when I got home tonight, that was for sure.

The overwhelming sense of disappointment I’d had last night returned. I stuck my fork into my cake and stared blindly into the crowd. I needed to talk to my dad, maybe see if just going over everything we knew would help me make sense of something.

My eyes focused on someone in the crowd. I nudged Cooper and pointed with my cake-encrusted fork. “There’s that woman from the park.”

“Who?”

I got Juniper’s attention. I still hadn’t figured out where I knew the woman from, but it was bugging me like a loose tooth I couldn’t keep my tongue off of. “Hey, see that woman in the jeans and the pink sweater? Short blond hair? Is she a regular customer?”

Juniper swiveled in her seat. She shook her head. “Not that I recall.”

I started to get up and go after the woman, but she disappeared in the crowd that was headed out. I exhaled a frustrated breath as I sat down. I didn’t even feel like finishing my cake. I was ready to go home. But for Juniper’s sake, I put on a happy face.

A man in a sport coat got up and tapped a microphone, causing a squeal of feedback that made everyone cringe and laugh. “Now that I have your attention…” He chuckled nervously. “Sorry about that. Thank you to everyone who came out to support the school. We really appreciate it. And now, we’re going to do the basket drawings.”

Everyone cheered, and Juniper smiled at me and crossed her fingers. It wasn’t that big of a surprise when they read off the number of one of my tickets as the winner of the spa package.

Juniper let out a happy yelp. “You won!”

“
We
won,” I corrected her. “Next day off, we’re there.”

One of the volunteers brought the basket to me and checked my ticket number. The thing was half the size of Juniper and filled with about fifty pounds of lotions and balms and body butter and toner and cleanser and a ton of other stuff I couldn’t use up in a year if I showered every day.

Cooper’s eyes widened. “That is some basket.”

“Worth every penny.” I’d be sure to let my dad know his money had been well spent. “I might have to take a cab to get it home, though.”

I could lift the thing, I just wasn’t sure I could see over it.

“I’ll carry it home for you,” he said.

“Thanks.” That might give me another shot at quizzing him about the elevator, but at this point, I wasn’t sure I cared about that stupid thing anymore.

Juniper peeked around the side of the basket. “Since Cooper’s going to help you with the basket, Pete and I are going for a walk. I’ll see you at work tomorrow. Cool?”

“Cool.” I was happy for her. She deserved a nice guy. And Pete was about as far into the nice guy category as you could get.

As they left, Cooper and I headed out too. The air probably felt chilly to him, but it felt like summer to me.

“Which way?” I asked.

He tipped his head around the swathe of ribbons tying off the top of the basket and nodded to the left. “Main Street is that way.”

So was Greyson. I decided to head us in a different direction to avoid a possible testosterone show down. Which might be kind of hot, but I wasn’t interested in pitting these two guys against each other. “Can we go a different way? You know, so I can learn more of the town.”

“Sure.” He went right, and I followed at his side.

We walked without talking for a block, and I was happy to continue like that, but he cleared his throat and broke the silence.

“You think something bad is going on at the toy store. How bad?”

“Bad enough that employees are leaving.”

“Could be that manager. I’ve heard Juniper and Buttercup talk about him. He seems like he might be tough to work for.”

I nodded. “Yep. Could be.”

“But you don’t think so.”

“I don’t know what to think.”

He went quiet for a long time before speaking again. “If you haven’t figured anything out by the start of next week, I’ll see what I can do about telling you more about the elevator.”

A chance at the elevator was the only reason I agreed to let Cooper carry the basket all the way up to my apartment. Plus, he was already on the approved list, so there was that. But seriously, his potentially helping me with the elevator was the biggest break I’d had since I’d arrived.

Which was sad, because it was still just a possibility, not a definite.

He put the spa basket on my kitchen counter and looked around. “Nice place. It’s just like Juniper’s and Buttercup’s.”

“I suppose they all look the same except for the bigger apartments on the third floor.”

Spider came running out from the bedroom, meowing for food.

Cooper squatted down to greet him. “Hey, buddy, what’s your name?”

I leaned on the counter, watching. “I haven’t gotten around to teaching him to speak yet. His name is Spider.”

“Aren’t you a handsome fellow?” Cooper scratched Spider’s head and squinted at me. “You named your cat Spider?”

“I inherited him with that name.” I shrugged. “He seems to like it all right. I’d hate to change it and give him some kind of identity crisis.”

Cooper scratched him some more. Spider’s eyes were closed, his purring cranked up to eleven like Cooper’s affections were the best thing he’d ever experienced. Yeah, okay, they weren’t awful, but still. Spider could have liked him a little less. But Cooper had always had a way with animals. It was one of the things that had made me fall for him.

“Hey,” I said. “Don’t go trying to make my cat like you more than he likes me.”

Grinning, Cooper stood. He stared at me for a long moment. It was a little unsettling. “You know, you remind me of someone.”

I laughed, trying to cover the sudden onset of nerves. “I get that all the time.”

He walked over and planted his hands on the counter, framing me in his arms. That left about three inches between us, chest to chest. Not nearly enough for proper airflow. Then he leaned in closer. “I know it’s just my mind playing tricks on me, but I feel like I know you better than I really do.”

“Is that why you agreed to tell me about the elevator?”

The right corner of his mouth quirked up. “I said I might.”

I shrugged like it didn’t matter. “I don’t know what the big deal is about that thing. It’s just an elevator.”

“I could say the same thing to you. What’s it matter? That elevator doesn’t have anything to do with toy store employees leaving. How could it?” He laughed, a deep throaty sound that sent a shiver through me. “You winter elves are so nosy.”

“Why? Did Buttercup and Juniper try to get you to tell them about it too?”

He shook his head, his eyes lit with a dark, wicked gleam I remembered very well. He was going to kiss me.

I did
not
want that. Except I sort of did. I closed my eyes and groaned at the battle going on in my head.

Cooper must have read that as me being all swoony with need, because a second later his hot mouth was on mine.

Warmth seeped through me from that single point of contact as though I’d drifted into a sunbeam. It spiraled into me, slow and lazy, turning my bones soft with the kind of languid heat normally brought on by an August afternoon.

Damn summer elves.

My hands went to his chest and I was about to push him off when I realized doing that might ruin my chances at finding out about the elevator.

Also, he was an amazing kisser. I let the kiss go on a little longer, because I’d kind of missed them. Even if the jerk had dumped me. Good kissing was good kissing. But letting this happen was only making things worse, and no matter how we’d ended in college, using him now wasn’t right. Even if my end game was solid.

Snowballs
.

With a soft sigh, I broke the kiss and pushed him away. “I can’t do this, Cooper. I like you.” Sort of. “But I can’t be more than friends with you.” And even that would take some doing once he knew who I really was.

He took a step back and bent his head, whether in disappointment, anger or regret, I couldn’t tell. Knowing him, though, anger wasn’t likely, but without being able to see his eyes, I wasn’t sure.

I was about to say something placating, when over his shoulder, I caught a glimpse of the snow globe on the side table. A blizzard stormed inside the glass bowl. Nice timing, Dad.

“Look, Cooper, thanks for everything, but I should really get to bed. It’s been a long day, and I have work in the morning.”

His head came up, and he finally looked at me. “I know you.”

I froze, stuck between panicking and deciding if I should tell him the whole truth before this got really ugly. “What—”

“I mean, I know your type. You’ve been hurt before. I get it. I’ve been hurt too.”

I exhaled and nodded quickly. Good enough for me. “That’s right. That’s why I just want to be friends.”

He stuffed his hands in his pockets. “Exactly. We need to get to know each other. Take things slow. I shouldn’t have kissed you. It wasn’t the right time. I’m sorry.”

Now I felt like a heel. “No, it was fine. But yes, too soon. Don’t feel sorry about it, okay? It was a good kiss.” Too good. I hadn’t really wanted to stop. On the side table, snowmageddon raged on. “Thanks for tonight. I had a great time.”

He smiled. Crisis averted. “Me too. See you soon?”

I nodded. “Definitely.”

His smile stayed in place as he let himself out.

The door closed and I bolted the lock, then ran for the snow globe and pressed the button. “Hey, I’m here.”

My dad’s face appeared. Looked like he was in his office at the house. “Hi, honey. Did I catch you at a bad time? You look flushed.”

“Must be the lighting.” Not the kissing. “I was just getting in from a dinner at the fire hall. I met the sheriff and asked him about John Does, that sort of thing. He said there’s been nothing, but I also got the sense he thought there wasn’t really anything for me to worry about concerning the missing employees.”

“That’s because he probably doesn’t know what we know.” My dad’s eyes narrowed. “Maybe you should pay him a visit, tell him who you really are and see if that changes his reaction.”

“Shouldn’t you be the one to do that? You are the Winter King.”

“No. That would make this an official inquiry, and I don’t want to tip off anyone just yet.”

“Okay. I can’t go see him tomorrow, and the day after is Sunday, and I don’t have any idea if the sheriff works Sunday, but Monday definitely.”

“Good.” He shuffled some papers. “So I called because I had the Financial Department send me a complete reporting of the Nocturne Falls store. Expenses, overages, the whole lot. I figured that would make it look more like a general inquiry than a targeted search. Anyway, it took some digging, but I found the name of the cleaning service.”

I didn’t have the heart to tell him I’d already done that after he’d gone to so much trouble. “Great.”

He pulled out a sheet of paper. “This is a copy of an invoice. Says Brite Star Cleaners.”

I squinted at him. “What’s the date on that invoice?”

His gaze shifted. “Last month.”

“Okay, something’s not right. Is that the only cleaning service he had listed?”

“As far as I know. Why? What’s wrong?”

I sighed. “I slipped into Toly’s office late last night and did a little investigating on my own.”

“Jay, I don’t like the sound of that. What if you’d been caught?”

“Then the gig would have been up, I guess. Depends on who caught me. What’s the worst Toly could do? Fire me?”