She left early enough to stop by the Granite Mug for coffee. She wasn’t sure if a latte would make her feel better, but it certainly wouldn’t make her feel worse, and that was all she could really ask right now. As she passed the clinic and Superior Slices on Main Street, she noticed the protester was still gone and felt a surge of gratitude that he wasn’t bothering the sandwich shop patrons anymore. It was probably a very small boon to Patrick after the loss of his son, but at least he wouldn’t have that added stress piled on.

  When she turned onto the street the coffee shop was on and spotted the same protester sitting outside of the Granite Mug in a folding chair with a blanket on his lap and a stack of printed flyers in his hand along with a cardboard sign that read Granite Demands Local Ingredients! in big, blocky letters, a surge of annoyance hit her like a train.

  Sure, peaceful protests were important, but she barely had the energy to get through the morning right now. She couldn’t spare the excess energy it would take to deal with whatever this was about. While she liked shopping local as much as anyone, it was hardly something she could bring herself to care about right this moment, so she ignored the man as she walked into the coffee shop.

  When she spotted Chloe behind the counter, her eyes puffy and rimmed with red as if she had been crying while she worked, her annoyance at the man sitting outside the Granite Mug turned into genuine anger. Chloe might be the owner’s daughter, but she didn’t own the coffee shop herself. She was just an employee, and as far as Eve was concerned, making employees cry about things they couldn’t control was completely unfair.

  “Hi, can I take your order?” the younger woman asked with none of her usual energy. She stared blankly at a spot over Eve’s shoulder. Eve hesitated, then did something she had never done before.

  “I’ll just have a black coffee today.” She grabbed one of the disposable cups, passed a five-dollar bill across the counter, and quickly made her way to the self-serve station where she could fix herself a cup of coffee.

  Chloe burst into tears.

  Eve hurried back over to the counter. “Are you all right? I’m sorry, I was just trying to make things easier for you. Do you want me to ask that man outside to stop bothering you? I doubt he’ll listen to me, but he’s got to realize he’s not helping anyone by making you cry.”

  The younger woman shook her head.

  “It’s not him,” she choked out. “Well, it is, a little bit, but only because it’s on top of everything else. We found out last night that my stepbrother was killed, and I didn’t get any sleep last night, and then my mom made me come in to work with her today because she says we can’t afford to close for the morning and there’s no one else to help this morning. It’s all too much. I just—I can’t be here right now.”

  The door to the kitchen opened and Madison came out. Chloe did her best to stop crying, but her mother gave her a disapproving look and said, “Chloe, why don’t you take over in the kitchen? Get yourself cleaned up. I know it’s difficult, but it’s not appropriate to act this way in front of customers.”

  Eve’s lips pressed together in disapproval as the older woman chided her daughter. Chloe, a sobbing mess, retreated into the kitchen. Only belatedly did Eve register the significance of Chloe’s words.

  Her stepbrother had been killed. Either there had been another murder, or Chloe’s stepbrother and Ryan Edwards were one and the same.

  “My apologies,” Madison said with frosty manners. “We had a loss in the family. I’m sure you’ll understand. I do apologize for her unprofessional behavior.”

  “Chloe has every right to be upset,” Eve replied, her words clipped. She hesitated, realizing this woman had just lost her stepson, and her being rude wasn’t going to help matters. “I’m so sorry for your loss.”

  The woman’s expression softened ever so slightly. “Thank you for your condolences. Ryan was a troubled young man, but he was taken from us far too soon. Now, is there anything else I can help you with?”

  Eve shook her head, thanked her, and hurried out of the coffee shop, her mind spinning.

  Chloe’s stepbrother was Ryan Edwards, which meant Madison and Patrick had to be married to each other, didn’t it?

  That meant the Granite Mug and Superior Slices were owned by the same family. She wondered if Tiana knew, because the revelation sure was a surprising one for her. She didn’t know what to make of it, or what, if anything, the connection had to do with Ryan Edwards’s murder.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  When she got to work, the first thing Eve noticed was that the owners hadn’t managed to get the glass in the door replaced yet. Instead, someone had drawn a cartoon tooth on the cardboard and written a brief note explaining about the break-in and promising the door would be fixed soon. It didn’t look good, exactly, but it was a lot less bleak than the bare cardboard had been.

  It wasn’t until she entered the building and greeted the Clarks that she realized she had no idea whether Sheriff Larson had told them about the connection between the murder and the stolen teeth. Sure, the teeth probably hadn’t been formally identified yet, but there really wasn’t anywhere else they could have come from.

  If they hadn’t been told yet, she wasn’t sure if she should bring it up, or if the sheriff was expecting her to keep it quiet. It felt a little strange to keep such a big secret from her bosses, but she decided it was probably better not to bring it up unless they mentioned it first.

  She kept her head down as she set up her station at the front desk, certain that her expression would give away that there was something on her mind. She distracted herself by sipping her coffee, which was better than what she would have made at home or here at the clinic, but was disappointing compared to her usual latte.

  Just before their first patient arrived, while Tiana was preparing the exam room with Amelia, Dr. Brent Clark stopped by the front desk and handed her a fax. “One of our patients is leaving. Can you fax his info to Wholesome Teeth in Foxglenn and send out the usual email telling him we’ll miss him?”

  “Sure thing,” she said, falling back into her helpful, professional persona as she took the fax from him. It felt strange not to mention the break-in or the missing teeth at all, so she decided to lead with a probing question to try to figure out what he knew. “Have you heard anything back from the police about the break-in?”

  He shook his head, his expression remaining unconcerned. “No, but I don’t think it’s anything too serious. We ordered a new security system, which should be here next week. Don’t worry yourself about it, Eve. Oh, I’m expecting a call back from the glass company today. They’re supposed to have a quote ready by this afternoon. Will you write it down when they call and make sure to get it to me or Amelia as soon as possible?”

  She promised she would. As a dental assistant, her duties were varied, but in a small clinic like this with only a handful of employees, she often ended up taking on the role of a secretary. She didn’t mind. It wasn’t exactly a difficult job, except for on their very busiest days, and she could hardly complain about working in the same clinic as Tiana. On slow days, they spent most of the day chatting, and even on days where everyone was in a rush, they got to spend their lunch break venting to each other.

  She checked the information transfer request and frowned when the name on it rang a bell. Where had she heard the name Jordan Green before? She hadn’t been working here long enough to recognize the majority of their patients by name, since most people only came in for dental work once or twice a year, but he sounded familiar enough that she typed the name into the computer just to see if he’d had a recent appointment.

  He had been in about six weeks ago. That might be where she recognized the name from, but she was almost certain she’d heard it a lot more recently. Tiana hadn’t been talking about him, and it wasn’t Jan either…

  With a jolt, she realized it had been Sheriff Larson. Jordan Green was the man who had called in the original tip about the body.

  She processed the information transfer request, sending his files over to the other clinic and scheduling an automated email to let Jordan know he would be missed and to offer him a discount on his next cleaning if he came back. While she was waiting for confirmation that Wholesome Teeth had received his faxed medical information, she took another peek at his file. It was such a weird coincidence, and she wasn’t sure what it meant. Did his switching dental clinics have something to do with what he had witnessed?

  It had to be a coincidence … but there was still the matter of the teeth.

  Whoever stole the teeth almost had to have been a patient. They had known the layout of the clinic well enough that the fridge the teeth were stored in was the only thing that had been touched, other than the lock on the closet door, and the fact that they knew the teeth existed in the first place meant they almost had to be a patient. Only patients who came in for an extraction were offered the release form to sign that would allow Eve to use their tooth for training.

  The problem was, Granite was a small town, with only one dental clinic. The majority of the town had been a patient here at some point or another. Saying the thief had to have been a patient didn’t narrow it down much, especially since she still couldn’t fathom what the motive behind stealing a bunch of teeth was.

  Jordan Green leaving them for another dental clinic was probably just a coincidence, just like the fact that everything seemed to tie back to the dental clinic was a coincidence. In a town as small as Granite, where everything was connected, coincidences were a dime a dozen.

  Whatever the motive behind Ryan’s murder was, she was almost certain it had nothing to do with dentistry.

  CHAPTER NINE

  “Eve? Are you napping?”

  Tiana leaned on the front desk opposite Eve, casting a shadow over her and effectively snapping her out of her reverie. It was ten to five, and she could hear the last patient of the day saying goodbye to Dr. Brent Clark in the exam room. Amelia had already left for the day, and Eve had long since gotten all of her daily chores done. All that was left to do before clocking out was sanitize everything after this last patient.

  “Sorry,” she said, looking up at her friend. “I was lost in thought.”

  “I don’t want to tell you what to feel, because obviously your feelings are valid and important, but you’ve been shut down all day, girl. Probably all weekend, but I wouldn’t know, since you haven’t seen Levi and I since Saturday morning, despite two board game night invitations and one beach picnic invitation.”

  “I wanted to give you time to catch up with each other,” Eve said. “He only just got back.”

  “We’re both worried about you,” Tiana said. “I know how much doing search and rescue with your dogs means to you, but I don’t think this is healthy for you, Eve. You can’t go through this for years, every time you go out on a call with Atlas.”

  “I’m fine,” she replied. “Really. I’ve just been thinking about the teeth that were stolen and how it’s all connected. It’s been a slow afternoon, and trying not to think about it is impossible.”

  “Mm-hmm. Well, if you’re fine, why don’t you come to Lake of Pints tonight? Levi and I are planning on going around eight.”

  “It’s Monday, isn’t it a bit early in the week for that?”

  “It’s appetizer night,” Tiana said. “Half-off of all apps. I think they’re doing a freezer cleanout or something. Didn’t you say their deep-fried ravioli is heaven wrapped up inside a heart attack?”

  Eve snorted as she waved goodbye to the patient, who was leaving the exam room. “I don’t think I said anything that poetic, but they are pretty good.”

  “Half off,” Tiana said, wiggling her eyebrows. “That includes those weird, spicy crab rangoon things you and Levi like so much too. Come on, it will be fun. We won’t drink much; we’ll just pig out on cheap appetizers and figure out our holiday plans or something. You are joining us for Christmas again, right?”

  “Uh, I was actually planning on visiting my mom.”

  “See? We need to talk about this stuff. We can invite Aidan and Alice too. You know Levi’s always glad to spend an evening with friends. He spends weeks alone in that truck of his. He wants to see everyone when he has time off, not just me.”

  “All right, all right,” Eve said, relenting. “I’ll go out with you guys tonight.”

  “Great!” Tiana said, beaming. “Eight o’clock. I’ll see you there.”

  As Eve got ready to go that evening after spending some time throwing a ball for the dogs in her back yard, she had to admit that it felt good to be doing something. Maybe spending most of the evening moping around in her house hadn’t been the best thing she could have done.

  She put a little extra zing into her outfit and tried to tell herself it wasn’t because she knew Aidan would be there and spritzed on some of her favorite perfume just for the fun of it. Tiana might have strong-armed her into going out tonight, but now that she had committed, she was determined to make the best of it. Her number one goal was to relax and to have fun.

  Her number two goal was to pull Levi aside and ask him what his plans were for the proposal. She could hardly wait to start helping Tiana wedding plan, and wanted to see her friend’s joy when he got down on one knee.

  She made it to Lake of Pints at eight o’clock, right on the dot, and ran into Aidan at the door to the pub. He was dressed in a casual outfit of jeans and a T-shirt featuring a rock band that had been popular a few decades ago. She recognized it as the same one he had worn to the Rock Festival a few weeks ago and smiled at the memory.

  “Hey,” she called out. “No Alice tonight?”

  “She had some work thing to do,” he said, pulling open the door for her. “You look great, by the way. I mean, you always do.”

  “Thanks.”

  She paused to smile at him until someone called out for them to move, and they both guiltily got out of the way of the entrance. Flushing, Eve searched the room and found Levi and Tiana jealously guarding a small bar table at the back of the room.

  Tiana spotted her and waved, and Eve waved back. The pub was busier than it usually was on a weeknight, and someone had cranked the jukebox way up, so she touched Aidan’s arm to get his attention, then ended up grabbing his wrist to lead him toward Tiana and Levi when someone pushed past and threatened to separate them.

  She let go quickly as soon as they reached their friends, realizing that her dating life or lack thereof was another thing she was overdue on figuring out. She had sworn off dating for years, and was mostly happy, if a bit lonely, but she really did like Aidan. It wasn’t like she had been planning on dying alone, anyway. Her life was probably about as settled as it was ever going to get. Maybe it was time to start taking some risks when it came to her emotions again.

  “Did you two drive together?” Tiana asked after the four of them exchanged greetings. Her eyes darted between Eve and Aidan with hopeful curiosity.

  “No, we just ran into each other outside the pub,” Eve said. “Alice couldn’t make it.”

  “Oh, really? That’s a shame.”

  Eve had known Tiana for long enough that she could read her friend’s face like an open book, and something flashed across it that made her narrow her eyes in suspicion. It was almost like she was faking her surprise at learning Alice hadn’t come.

  Was her friend playing matchmaker behind her back?

  Levi put an arm around Tiana’s shoulders. “I don’t know about you, but I’m starved. We should put in an order soon; the kitchen looks like it’s busy, so the food might take a while to come out.”

  No one argued with that. They spent a few minutes pouring over the menu and agreeing on who wanted what, and who was going to share which dish with who else. Eve was getting an entire order of the deep-fried ravioli to herself on the off chance that the pub stopped carrying it after tonight, and she and Levi agreed to split the spicy Rangoons and Tiana and Aidan ordered an absurd amount of chicken wings. They tied everything off with some fried Brussels sprouts to share as a vague gesture towards eating a well-rounded meal.

  “We need to leave someone at the table while we order so we don’t lose our spot,” Tiana said, squinting up at the bar.

  “I’ll just go and order for everyone,” Eve volunteered. “We can split the bill later.”

  She wanted to make up for being such a dud this weekend. Being out with her friends felt good, and she was beginning to realize how much happier she would have been if she had gone out with them this weekend too, instead of staying home searching through the internet for clues about the case.

  Sometimes she really was her own worst enemy.

  After repeating the order to make sure she had everything right, she left the table and joined the crowd at the bar. There were two waitresses; one who was taking the food orders and the second, who was bringing food out from the kitchen. The bartender told three different people he was taking drink orders only while she was listening, so she knew not to even try to get his attention. Instead, she focused on flagging down the waitress.

  Even after she got her attention, the waitress signaled that it was going to be a minute or two before she could take her order, so Eve leaned against the bar counter to wait. She turned to wave to her friends and signal that she was in line, and when she faced forward again, she bumped into the woman on the stool next to her.

  Only when the woman looked up at her did she realize she was Chloe, the barista from the coffee shop.

  “I’m so sorry,” she said, raising her voice so Chloe could hear her over the music and chatter in the pub.

  “It’s all right,” the younger woman said. “You’re Eve, right?”

 

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