As we waited to find out whether Tansy and the DA were going to call this a murder, I’d decided to do a little digging once I’d had some sleep. Now, here I was, three hours later and a million tweets deep, trying to decide if I was wasting my time.
Maybe Tansy and the coroner would have a reasonable explanation for the missing EpiPens. Though, I will tell you, I don’t for one second think it was anything other than an allergic reaction to peanuts. The question remained, was it an accidental reaction or a premeditated one?
Livingston hooted. “I think our Trixie has one of those feelin’s, don’t ya, darlin’?”
I shrugged my shoulders and looked out into the lobby of Inkerbelle’s, where I saw Knuckles and Goose enter the etched-glass door, ready for their shifts. “Well, like I said several times last night, it seems very suspicious to me that everyone knew Mitzy had a peanut allergy so severe it could kill her but when she went into anaphylactic shock, anyone with an EpiPen was either locked up in the basement or couldn’t find their purse.”
Knuckles rapped on the door with his wide fist and poked his head in. “Trixie girl, you and Coopie okay? I heard you had a pretty rough night.”
I smiled warmly at him and waved him in. Knuckles was probably one of my most favorite people on the planet, and had been since we’d met. “I’m just tired. Who knew makeup could be so cutthroat, huh?”
He stepped inside my office, bobbing his head, covered in his signature red do-rag and grinned. “Poor Coop. She sure loved that lady, Trixie. Looked up to her. She was all broken up this morning when we had breakfast together.”
Knuckles warmed my heart to its very depths. I’d overslept and he’d picked up my slack. “You took her to breakfast?”
He grinned. “I sure did. When I woke up, she was lookin’ mighty blue—I mean, blue for even Coop, and then she told me what happened. So I brought her to Betty’s and we shared the Farmer’s Special with extra bacon, because you know how much living her best life includes bacon. Then she had a big glass of orange juice. Thought that might cheer her up. Though, never can tell how she’s feelin’. You know our Coop and that beautiful blank face, but she seemed to feel a little better when I dropped her off here before goin’ to the bank.”
Knuckles paused and rustled around in his vest. “Speaking of the bank, I have a little something for you.” He pulled some papers out and put them on my desk. “The papers for the guesthouse, madam,” he said with a flourish.
I tingled from head to toe with excitement. The shop had been doing really well. Well enough, thanks to Coop, Goose, and Knuckles, that we’d been able to save a good deal of money, and we’d decided to make an offer on his guesthouse and call it our permanent residence. Coop and I had talked about it for a couple of months, and we’d done some serious market research and came up with what we thought was a fair offer.
Before we’d come along, desperate and broke, Knuckles had considered selling the guesthouse anyway, which was what had made us decide to make him an offer we hoped he couldn’t refuse.
I hopped up from my desk and gave him a kiss on his round cheek and a squeeze around his neck. “I guess this makes it official. We’re going to be your pesky neighbors for eternity,” I said on a chuckle.
Knuckles laughed and ran the tip of his index finger down the length of my nose. “I told you, you could stay forever without buying me out. You know I love havin’ you and my girl Coop where I can keep an eye on you. Specially the way you two keep finding trouble.”
I flapped my hands at him. “I know, but listen, things are going really well for us here at Inkerbelle’s, and that’s in large part due to you and your generosity and the clients you’ve brought in. Seeing as you kept refusing to take rent, we had to do something to cement our place in your life. We figured buying the guesthouse was the surest way to keep you from getting rid of us. I don’t know about Coop, but I don’t want to ever have to give up Thursday-night stroganoff.”
He popped his lips and scowled playfully. “Get rid of you? Never. But if it makes you feel like you have those roots you’re always talkin’ about, I’m happy to give you the garden to plant ’em. Now, all you two have to do is sign the title and pay the bank every month and it’s all yours for as long as you want it.”
“And if we ever do something crazy like decide to sell, and you approve of the buyers, we give you a percentage of the profit.”
He grumbled, making a growly noise in his throat. “You know I didn’t want to do that, young lady.”
That was true. He hadn’t wanted to do that, but we owed him for all the free rent he’d given us since we’d came to Cobbler Cove. It was the very least we could do.
“Ah. But if not for you, we’d have had to live under the Hawthorne Bridge. So I won’t hear any more about it, mister.”
As I looked at the papers, pride surged through me. We’d done it. We’d found a place to call home, and we could afford to take out a loan and pay a mortgage. Boy, had we come a long way since we’d left the convent. I couldn’t wait to tell Coop. I hope it cheered her up a little.
“I’ll get Coop’s signature and then get this right back to you. Thanks, Knuckles. You have no idea what this means to two orphans from a convent.”
He winked
