He rubbed at the scruff on his jaw. “If she took Hank’s money, you’d be helping his enemy. You realize that, right?”
“Do you really think I’d help her keep Hank’s money?”
“No, but did you even tell Hank you know that Louise is back in town?”
“No, and I don’t think I should tell him. He’s going to tell me to stay away from her. He’s up to something, and he doesn’t want me to know anything about it, which is why he kicked me out.”
“So he just told you to pack up and leave and that’s that?”
“He said I need to leave for a few weeks, and he’ll let me know when I can come back.” I groaned. “Honestly, I didn’t handle it well. At. All.”
He reached over and took my hand. “That’s understandable.”
“Is it, though? In my head, I know he’s protecting me, but it feels like another rejection. Like one more person has found me unlovable.”
He pulled me into his arms across the console. “You are very loveable, Care. Everyone at the tavern loves you. Hank considers you a daughter. I love you.” I looked up at him, and sadness filled his eyes. “I hate what your father and Jake did to you. I hate that they’ve made you question your worth, and if I have to spend the rest of my life proving to you that I do love you and that I’m not leaving you, I want you to know I’m okay with that.”
I shook my head, looking away. “I’m so messed up.”
“Everyone is messed up in some way. You know my parents’ relationship messed me up. I think it’s a rule that parents are supposed to mess up their kids.”
I laughed. “You might be right.”
He cupped my cheek and nudged me back to face him, kissing me softly on the lips. “Not always, but when I am, it’s usually a good one.”
I sat back and gave his shoulder a soft shove.
“I still think you should tell Louise you’re not goin’ to help her. If Hank catches wind that you’re workin’ with her, he could see it as a betrayal.”
“Then what if I don’t work with her?” I said. “What if I go about it another way?”
“How so?”
“She told me she’d be in touch. But I’m not waiting around. I’ll do some digging. See if she could have stolen Hank’s money. If we find something, we can use it as leverage to obtain her proof that Bart was behind Jerry’s murder.”
He gave me an empathetic look. “Care. Do you really think that’s going to work?”
“I don’t know, Marco, but if there’s even the smallest chance, shouldn’t I at least try?”
“Look, I know you want proof that Bart had Jerry killed—I do too—but don’t let Louise use that to her advantage. She wouldn’t have to dig deep to find out that Jerry’s death hurt you, and from what I’ve heard about her, it’s just the kind of thing she’d use to manipulate you. Don’t forget that she strung Lula, her own daughter, along for years. She wouldn’t hesitate to use you.”
He was right. Hadn’t the same thing occurred to me earlier? Still . . .
“I can’t let this go, Marco.”
He leaned over and kissed me again. “I know, and your tenacity is one of the many things I love about you. Just don’t let your guard down, because Louise is up to something. No question about that.”
I nodded.
“So what do you want to do?” he asked.
“I say we talk to someone who worked for Hank. I need to find out if Louise and/or Walter worked for him too, and in what capacity. See if it’s plausible for her to have stolen his money.”
“So dig into Hank’s past first?”
“Yeah.”
He was silent for a moment. “You’re about to jump into a swamp. You might not like what you find beneath the surface.”
I swallowed. “I know.”
He drew in a deep breath, then pushed it out. “Okay. Got any idea where to start?”
“Thelma Tureen at Greener Pastures Nursing Home. She’s given me lots of information about the goings-on in Drum’s past. Seems like she could drum up a few names.” Thelma knew a lot about a lot of people, including Bart Drummond and Louise Baker.
“Then let’s go together.”
“You sure about that?” I asked. “The last time you went there, you nearly got mobbed by Roberta and her cronies.”
He laughed. “I’ll take my chances. Besides, I haven’t seen Thelma in a while. I’d love to tell her hello.”
I leaned over and kissed him. He charmed women, old and young, just by being himself, but he genuinely liked and appreciated my friends at Greener Pastures, which only made me fonder of him. “I hope you don’t mind me moving in with you for a while.”
He grinned. “That’s the best thing to come out of all this. I was tryin’ to play it cool and hide my excitement when you told me. How’d I do?”
“Remarkably well,” I said with a laugh. “I never would have known you were excited.”
“Honestly, my worry about how you took Hank’s decision seemed more pressin’.”
Just one more piece of evidence that Marco had my best interest in mind.
“Do you want to take both vehicles?” he asked. “If we’re headed to Ewing, it might be easier. Do you still have Tutoring Club this afternoon?”
“Yeah,” I said with a grimace. I wasn’t looking forward to dealing with the gossip about my encounter with Wyatt, but I still believed it would die down more quickly if I didn’t start avoiding my usual commitments. Marco hadn’t mentioned Wyatt, so I was hoping he planned on letting his visit to the garage go. Although I understood his position, I didn’t want a fuss. “Did you get your laundry out of the dryer?”
He grinned. “I did. I got it started early, so it was mostly dry. I didn’t want to look too suspicious when Louise showed up.”
“The only car in the parking lot was yours. How did she get there?”
“I didn’t see anyone drop her off. She walked in with her laundry basket, though, and I would have seen if she’d come lugging it down Main Street. I suspect someone dropped her off in the alley and she walked to the door, probably not wanting you to see how she got there.”
“So she has an accomplice.”
“Seems like it.”
Maybe I could ask Thelma about that too. Given that Louise had only just returned to town after being locked up for years, it was probably an old friend. “When did she show up?”
“About five minutes before you did. She shot a glance my direction. Didn’t seem to recognize me then. But when she came back in from talking to you, she addressed me by name and said I had three minutes to clear out or she was reporting me for harassment to the sheriff’s department.”
I gasped. “Can she do that?”
“Sure, she can report me. Does she have a case? Not even close. I was doing laundry before she even showed up, and I never spoke to her. Did I want to call her bluff? No, I’d prefer the department not have any idea what I’m up to.”
I agreed.
“Besides, I was eager to talk to you, so I pulled my laundry out early, stuffed the basket in back, and came here to meet you.”