Chapter 14
Keep the ball rolling – go in search of the next clue in a mystery
“Hey, Ashlyn Bashlyn,” Moon greets as I enter Naked Falls Brewing with Aspen.
After we hug, I introduce Aspen. “You remember my sister, Aspen.”
Her cheeks darken. “You bet I do. It’s hard to forget the first time you observe people who aren’t your parents or on the movie screen having a romantic encounter.”
Aspen groans next to me. “Could you try to forget?”
Moon giggles. “Are you kidding? I need some images for my lady spank bank.” She sighs. “Although, since you and Lyric are back together, I’m certain I’ll have some new material soon.” She winks.
“But now we’re adults and have a house with a bed and don’t need to sneak around at the river,” Aspen tells her.
Moon barks out a laugh. “Please. I know you went skinny dipping with Lyric this past weekend.”
“Why did I want to come back to this town again?” Aspen mutters.
“Because it’s awesome,” I remind her.
“Do you two want a table for lunch?” Moon cranes her neck to peer behind us. “And where are the rest of the West sisters? Do I need to prepare the fire extinguisher?”
“Maybe if Rowan shows up. When he’s in the same room as Ashlyn, sparks fly. Whoosh!”
I glare at her. “Sparks do not fly.”
She laughs and gestures toward my face. “Wrong. They’re flying out of your eyes right now.”
I ignore her to reply to Moon. “We don’t need a table. We need a favor.”
Moon motions us to the little alcove near the hostess station. “Tell me more. What kind of favor? Are we playing a prank on someone? I still have some ipecac syrup from the time when—”
I slap a hand over her mouth before she can give away all my secrets. The act causes me to lose my balance and I tilt forward on my way to falling flat on my face.
Aspen steadies me. “Actually, we’re here about something else.”
Moon cocks her eyebrow.
“We need to find out if there are any old boxes from before the building was a brewery,” I explain.
“You mean from when the Winter Falls Post was in circulation?”
“Yes,” I agree, although we’re searching for something older. I don’t fill her in on the mystery, though. I trust Moon with my life, but she does have a tendency to blurt things out. She nearly told Aspen about the whole ipecac incident less than two minutes ago after all.
Moon wiggles her nose as she thinks about it. “I don’t know about any boxes, but there is an old safe.”
“An old safe?”
“Yeah. You know one of those old-fashioned safes people used to have embedded in the walls of their houses.”
I don’t know anything about old-fashioned safes people used to have in their houses. What I do know is we’re searching for a clue from before this building was a newspaper. Could this safe contain the answer to our questions? If I could bounce on my toes, I would.
“Have you cracked the safe?” Aspen asks.
“Me?” Moon snorts. “Not hardly.”
Next to me, I hear Aspen grind her teeth. “Let me rephrase. Has the safe been opened?”