Chapter 39: Sebastian - Hunter or Hunted

A Few Weeks Later

Mid-April

I kept my eye on that small Missouri town.

The police had arrested two people in connection to Evan’s disappearance. One, a drug dealer with several prior arrests. Apparently, he and Evan had been in communication earlier the day of his disappearance. The police believed Evan owed him money, but they had no evidence. Hours after they arrested him, they let him go. No prosecutor could press charges. After all, they had nobody. No proof he had even died.

The second suspect? Ava Kennedy.

From what I gathered in the articles, the police’s working theory was that Ava blamed Evan for her sister’s death. Over the last few months, she had been gathering evidence that he had more contact with Allie than he claimed. She found text messages from someone claiming they were Allie and asking him to meet the day that Allie died. She also noticed the discrepancy in his shoe collection. Like any decent detective, she made the connection with the odd shoes her sister wore while she hanged in that tree.

But Ava had an alibi. Evan had dropped her off at home that night. Security camera footage showed Ava walking inside that night, eating a snack on the couch while she scrolled social media around midnight, and another of her walking out the front door with her parents the following morning to go to school.

Had Ava planned to do what Gwen and I had? Maybe. I found comfort in believing so, because if anyone had to do it, Gwen and I made the most sense. Ava may have ruined her life. But me and Gwen? We were doing just fine.

Better than fine.

Since spring arrived, we made progress on the house. We probably had another year or two to go before we could call the place livable, but for the first time in my life, I saw the future. One I wanted to live in.

I loved Lizzie, I really did, but raising her had taken up all of my twenties. My world had revolved around her since graduating from college. I didn’t regret that, and I wouldn’t change it for anything. But now, I felt like I did when I got that acceptance letter in my senior year. I could make a life of my own. Back then, that thought had looked like a blank canvas in my mind.

Now, that canvas showed the prettiest picture I could imagine. Gwen Kane.

We were in this. We were both in this for the long haul. For forever.

I saw it every time she looked into my eyes. Whether she narrowed them in annoyance or widened them with excitement, they said words that may never leave her lips. You and me, best friends, partners in crime, for the rest of time.

Today, those eyes were the softest I’d seen them in months. Brows crinkled in the middle, watery beneath her thick eyelashes. Still, as I stepped through the door of Maple & Thyme, she forced a smile across her lips and leaned over the checkout, elbows propping her up. “Hey, you.”

“Hey.” I stretched over the counter to give her a kiss and pulled back with a hand on her cheek. “What’s the matter?”

She straightened up and gave me one of those annoyed, narrow-eyed glances. “How do you do that? How do you always know?”

“You’ve got a shit poker face.” I glanced around, in search of Molly or Andrew. “Are you still getting out on time?”

“Yeah, I’m good. Just finished clocking out and everything.” She untied the apron around her waist and let out a slow, shaking breath. “But Julia stopped in again today. She was with some guy, and he was taking pictures of everything, talking in hushed tones. We asked Andrew about it, and he snapped for us to mind our business. If I had to guess though?”

My shoulders sank with disappointment. “She’s gonna sell.”

“At which point, I’m out of a job.” Gwen grabbed her jacket from under the register and started around it. “I mean, I have enough in savings to handle my bills for a few months. Now that I have a steady stream of income from all the kids I’m teaching, I won’t be completely broke. But it’s bittersweet, you know? I love this place.”

“Did you talk to Julia about it?” I asked, trailing behind her as she started for the front door. “She and I went to high school together. She comes off a little harsh, but she’s cool. I don’t think she and her dad were really after a profit selling this place anyway. It was just going to go to Andrew. If you tell her you’re interested, she might be willing to work out some type of payment arrangement with you. Rent-to-own type thing.”

Beside the exit, she flipped all the light switches. Light still shone from the Tiffany lamp in the corner and the LEDs behind the checkout. “Aren’t we supposed to be having fun tonight? Isn’t that the point of the date with fancy reservations in the city?”

“Well, yeah, but if you don’t jump soon, she’ll probably sell to the highest bidder.” I held open the door for her and stepped out behind her. “Isn’t this, like, your dream and everything? Owning your own bakery?”

“Opening a bakery.” She slid her key into the lock, securing the front door. “My own bakery that I built from the ground up. No matter how nice Julia is, I doubt she’ll take the small amount of money I have saved for this place. It’s gotta be worth somewhere close to a quarter mil. And I definitely don’t have that, so I don’t want to think about this right now.”

Frowning, I stuffed my hands into my pockets. “If money is the issue⁠—”

“You’re not giving me another handout.” She held up her hand in a stop motion, but she still wore the barest smile. “I’m fine, Sebastian. I’ll figure it out. Please, let’s just go on our date.”

“You and your damn pride.” I crossed my arms against my chest. “We can do it all professional. Like a bank.” Rather than those annoyed, narrowed eyes, her brows furrowed at something behind me. But it was a silly thing for her to get worked up over. She needed money, I had money, and we were talking about spending the rest of our lives together. It just made sense. “We could get some type of loan agreement written up and notarized, if you absolutely insist. But⁠—”

“Did you see that on your way in?” She pointed behind me.

I looked over my shoulder.

Dark black smoke rose from somewhere on the edge of town. A bonfire, maybe?

But city law prohibited bonfires so close to town. The smoke couldn’t have come from a source more than a street away.

“I walked down from my office,” I said, squinting in that direction. “What’s over there anyway? That’s not residential, is it?”

A quiet gasp dropped into Gwen’s chest. “The salon. Simone’s salon.”