Sealed with a Kill by Lucy Lawrence Page B

for my baked goods, after all.”
    Tenley gave her a watery smile. “Actually, I was thinking more along the lines of you helping me find Uncle Harvey’s killer.”
    “Oh.” Brenna blew out a surprised breath. “Okay.”
    “Oh, thank you, Brenna,” Tenley cried and reached across the table to lock her in a tight hug.
    “I wonder how Dom is going to feel about you putting yourself at risk again,” Marie said to Brenna.
    “Never mind him; what about Nate?” Ella asked. “He is going to forbid it.”
    Brenna let go of Tenley and raised her eyebrows. “I don’t see where either one of them has any say in the matter.”
    Marie and Ella exchanged a glance. It was a sneaky look and before Brenna could say buttinsky, the two of them shot out of their chairs and headed for the door, leaving nothing behind but the scent of Chanel No. 5 and the sound of the jangling bells hanging on the door.
    “That can’t be good,” Tenley said.
     
    Brenna was driving back to her cabin when her cell phone chimed in her purse. She pulled into the lot and fished it out. The number was Dom Cappicola’s. Hmm.
    “Hello,” she answered.
    “Please tell me that I heard wrong and that you did not find a body in the woods this morning,” Dom said. His deep voice was made even richer, as it was laced with concern, and Brenna wished not for the first time that she was free to like him as much as she was pretty sure he liked her.
    Out of habit, she glanced up at Nate’s cabin and was surprised to find him standing on the porch with Hank. He raised his hand in greeting and began striding across the lawn toward her.
    “Brenna, are you there?” Dom’s voice buzzed in her ear.
    “Okay, I won’t tell you,” she said, forcing her attention back to the conversation at hand.
    “Oh, man, at least tell me you’re not a suspect,” he said.
    “I’m not!” she said. “Isn’t that great?”
    “But . . .” he prompted.
    Brenna glanced up. Nate was halfway here. She needed to wrap this up.
    Speaking very fast in the hope that he couldn’t catch every word, she said, “But Tenley’s father is a suspect, and she’s asked me to help her find the real killer. Okay, I’m driving into a tunnel now—gotta go, bye.”
    She closed her phone and shut it down in case he tried to call back. She would call him later and explain everything in more detail, but for now she had her landlord, who was frowning at her, to deal with.
    She opened the door to her Jeep and was greeted by Hank, who was standing on his hind legs while he tried to lick every bit of her face that he could reach.
    “Good boy, Hank,” she said. She ruffled his ears, and Nate handed her a soggy tennis ball, which she tossed down the hill. Hank did a double-toe-loop leap of glee and set off after it.
    Brenna wiped her face with her sleeve, aware that Nate was still giving her his unhappy face.
    “What?” she asked. “Is my rent overdue?”
    “You know that’s not it,” he said. “What’s this I hear that you and Tenley are going to look into the murder of Harvey Lester?”
    “How did you . . . Have you been talking to the Porter sisters?”
    “I went into town to return a library book, and Lillian Page told me that Sarah Buttercomb said that you and Tenley were going to try to clear her father.”
    “Since when have you been on such good terms with Lillian?”
    “She always saves the latest Robert Crais novel for me,” he said. “We were just making idle chitchat and . . .”
    “And it just happened to turn into a conversation about the body in the woods and Tenley and me.”
    “Well, the body in the woods is news all over town,” he said. “So, it’s really not that surprising that we’d be talking about it.”
    “No, I suppose not,” she agreed.
    Hank bounded back with the ball in his mouth and dropped it at Nate’s feet. He threw it overhand much farther than Brenna ever could, and Hank bolted after it, kicking up leaves and grass in his wake.
    “Is it