Staring at her was like stepping back into time. Did she have the same sweet personality she used to, or had time warped that as well?
“Beth?”
She had just straightened from helping the older woman sit when her gaze fell on me and her eyes widened. I could tell she was looking at me the same way I’d looked at her as she stared from my feet slowly up to my face. It was hard not to squirm. Not to wonder if she was thinking how much thinner I had been back then, or how I hadn’t needed a special bra to keep my boobs looking decently perky. And could she tell my hair was dyed instead of natural now.
When her face lit up, some of the tension eased inside of me. “Emma! I didn’t know you were visiting.”
I was ashamed of how long it had been since I came home to visit. My brother had driven out to see me a few times, but it had been too many years since I came home. Still, it was no excuse for not keeping in touch with the people who had mattered to me the most.
I forced a smile. How do you tell people that you have nowhere else to go? That you’ve moved back into your parents place because your husband was a cheating asshole and might now be a toad? “Yeah, I decided spur of the moment to come for an extended stay.”
She walked away from the door and pulled me in for a hug. “Well, come have a cup of coffee.”
Even in high school, I’d loved my coffee. So, we walked through the cafe together, even though she already had a cup. I ordered their biggest size and tried not to to tap my fingers while I watched her pour the sweet liquid of life. Then I paid the cashier, gave her a tip, and we headed outside.
“Do you still own the detective agency?” I asked, hoping I was remembering correctly.
She nodded. “Just two shops down. Have time for a sit down?”
I only had a few cold things in my groceries and it was a fairly cool day. They could wait. The worst I’d get was some melted ice cream, and even that was iffy. “Sure. Let’s catch up.”
We passed a shop full of what looked like a tea store, lots of jars of leaves on the shelves and some fancy-schmancy tea pots in the window, then came to stop in front of a building with the words, “Private Psych,” on the front door. There were big picture windows that looked out on the parking lot, the sidewalk lined by trees, and the main city road. She unlocked the door and we stepped into the strangest building I’d ever been in. The front had a sitting area with comfortable, worn-looking couches that were a cream color, a coffee table that was all dark wood and glass, matching end tables, and lamps with stained glass enclosures that were made up of different animals. After the neat sitting area, there were shelves covering the walls. Most were filled with books, especially toward the top and bottom, but there was also a mouse cage on one of the middle shelves, and a lamp sitting over a cage with a lizard or gecko or something that reminded me of those car insurance commercials. The back wall had more books, but also cat climbing trees that went from floor to ceiling with cat-sized walkways between them, where several cats snoozed. There was a big desk covered in papers, and near it an open bird platform with something that looked like a crow sleeping.
And yet, as crazy as the room was, it kind of fit Beth’s personality perfectly.
Trailing my hands over the dark velvet-like fur of a tabby cat snoozing in a ray of sunshine, I settled into one of Beth’s oversized chairs in front of her desk and sipped my coffee.
We didn’t have a chance to really start talking when the soft chime over her door started tinkling. A woman barged in carrying a bright pink smoothie, and slammed the door behind her. The cat that had just been sleeping so peacefully jumped up and hissed before streaking out of the room to somewhere past beaded curtains in the back.
“You were supposed to prove he’s a cheating bastard!” she yelled.
Beth took a deep breath and stood before walking toward the woman. “April, what is this? I did. I got the information you requested.”
“I talked to my husband and he denied everything. You made it all up.”
Beth looked at the woman like she was totally nuts. “April, I gave you pictures. There was no doubt that your husband was a cheater.”
“You’re a fraud, Beth Ari! A fraud and a shyster!”
Beth shrugged. “It’s not my fault if you don’t want to believe the truth.”
The woman froze and her chin rose. “You’re just angry because Roger left you. Trying to ruin everyone else’s relationships because yours didn’t work. Oh, he had so many promises. Didn’t he? But we all knew he was with her the whole time. It seems you can figure out any secret, except the secrets in your own house, huh?”
Beth’s normally warm toned skin went absolutely pale as all the blood seemed to drain from her face. The worst part was that she didn’t say a word, which was completely unlike her.
The woman grinned in a way that said she knew her words had hit their mark before she spun on her heel and headed for the door.
Rage filled me. Even if none of what the woman said was true, which I seriously doubted, it was a cruel thing to say. Beth was one of the kindest people I’d ever met. She didn’t deserve to be hurt like that.
I eyed the woman’s
