The Missing Dough(41)

“Grant was your ex,” I said. “I’ll go along with whatever you decide.”

“Are you telling me that you don’t even have an opinion about it?”

“I suppose that I do, when I think about it. Are you asking for it, Maddy?”

“I am.”

“Then I say let them help, even if it’s just a little bit,” I replied.

“Wow, thanks for the warm words of encouragement and support,” David said with a grin.

“Don’t get me wrong. I know that you’re both good at what you do. David, if you weren’t, they wouldn’t have put you in charge.” Then I turned to Bob. “As for you, if I ever get in a legal jam, you will be the first person I call. But neither one of you has ever done this kind of investigating before.”

“Eleanor, don’t sell me short,” Bob said. “A great deal of what I do is reading people and trying to get information from them that they might not necessarily want to share with me.”

“Maybe so, but because of your status as an attorney, I’m willing to bet that folks aren’t going to speak to you as freely as they do with Maddy and me. Sure, you can handle them on the stand, but my sister and I can get things out of them that they don’t even realize they’re divulging.”

“I don’t deny that about Bob, since he’s got a legal standing around here,” David said, “but nobody’s going to suspect that I’m up to anything.”

I hated to come out and say it, but he hadn’t left me any choice. “David, you just moved here four years ago. Nobody’s going to trust you enough yet to tell you anything.”

“Wow, this place is as tight-knit as a small town in New England,” David replied.

“I’m not saying that it’s fair, but it’s how things are,” I said.

“Surely there are more ways that we can help than just by interviewing suspects,” Bob said.

I thought about it and realized that Bob had a point. It was crazy not to get their input on what we’d found. They might have insights that my sister and I could have missed. “Maddy, do you mind if I share what we found with them?”

“No, go ahead. I’ll be right back. I’ve got to deliver this calzone, and I don’t want to leave Josh out there by himself. Is there any chance you could get Greg to come in so the four of us can do some sleuthing?”

“Sorry, but he’s got a major exam he’s studying for, and I hate to pull him away from his schoolwork. The test is tomorrow, so he’s coming in tomorrow night for the dinner shift, but I can’t get him here any sooner.”

“That’s fine. We’ll just figure something else out as we go through the papers we’ve got,” she said as she left the kitchen to deliver the food.

“What are these papers you’re talking about?” Bob asked.

“Before I can show you anything, there’s something you should know. We were doing a little snooping, and no one exactly gave us permission to look where we were hunting, so I don’t want to hear one word of scolding or disapproval from either one of you. Is that agreed?”

Bob frowned as he shook his head. “Perhaps I didn’t think this through thoroughly enough. It might be better if you didn’t say another word. As an officer of the court, I’m duty bound not to participate in any illegal activity.”

“I was afraid that might be the case,” I said.

“So, are you saying that you did come by this information illegally?” Bob asked.

“I refuse to answer that on the grounds that I might incriminate myself and my sister,” I said.

“You’re not under oath, Eleanor.”

“It doesn’t matter. I’m still not answering.” I took a step toward him and said, “Bob, Maddy and I both know the kind of pressure you’re under right now. We’ve both been suspected of murder in the past, and we know that it’s not fun. You’re just going to have to trust that either we or Chief Hurley is going to catch this killer.”

“I believe in you all, but it’s so hard to just not do anything,” he said.

“I’m sure that it is. Tell you what. If we come up with anything you can do to help, we’ll ask you. I promise.”

“I suppose it’s going to have to be good enough,” Bob said, clearly deflated.

“How about me?” David asked. “I never took any pledges or made any promises.”

“You can help, if you insist, but to be honest with you, I’d like it better if you weren’t involved, either.”

David looked a little hurt by my statement, but there was nothing I could do about it.