“Yeah, Alec and Brad hired some guy off the internet to open it up. They thought they’d find some loot, or I don’t know what in there.”
Loot? Do Alec and Brad, the out-of-town owners of the brewery, know about The Mystery of the Black Hat Bandit’s Missing Loot? Is the mystery why they decided to locate their business here? Why they pushed and pushed to establish a business in a town where out-of-towners need permission from the chamber of commerce to establish a business?
“And?” Aspen leans forward. “Did they find anything?”
“Not really.” Moon shakes her head. “Just a bunch of old papers. Deed for the house and other boring stuff.”
“Deed for the house?” Aspen’s eyes sparkle and I know she’s got a plan. Great. My plan was basically to stroll in here and ask around. I’ll admit it wasn’t my most brilliant plan.
She clears her throat. “Actually, as the person who’s in charge of the town’s tourist center, boring old papers is why we’re here. We’re hoping to get more information about the history of the town.”
“Yeah,” I agree, warming up to her idea. “Mercury’s book about the history of the town centers on his own experiences. We need a less biased picture.”
Listen to me. I sound like I know what I’m doing.
“I doubt the guys will mind if you have a peek at the documents. Come on.” Moon motions us toward the door marked ‘employees only’.
We follow her as we pass the kitchen, the breakroom, and a storage room until we enter a second storage room. She leads us to the back of the room where there’s a safe built into the wall. She pulls the door open to reveal a stack of papers.
“Why don’t Alec and Brad use the safe? They can’t remove it from the wall without damaging the structure of the building anyway.”
There’s a slight possibility someone may have been doing a bit of research on renovating houses as of late. I’m not going to agree to renovate the storefront next door to make a recording studio. I’m not. I’m merely obsessed with home renovation shows is all.
“What would they need a safe for? There’s hardly any cash at the end of the night as most people pay with their bank cards anyway.”
Oh, right. I should have realized.
Moon checks the time on her phone. “Shoot. I need to get back. My tips live or die by the swiftness of my service.” She dashes out without a backwards glance.
As soon as she’s gone, I hiss at Aspen. “Do you think Alec and Brad know about the missing loot from the bank robbery?”
She wrinkles her nose at me. “What makes you ask?”
“Moon said they were searching for loot.”
“Moon also has an overactive imagination.”
I can’t deny it. She’s my best friend, but she does tend to exaggerate a lot. Take the time we stalked … er… ran into Aspen and Lyric at the river. They were just kissing, but Moon talks as if they were having full on sex. Ew. I don’t want to watch my sister having sex.
“Take a load off.” Aspen motions to a box and I sit down. She grabs half of the papers from the safe and dumps them in my lap. When I don’t immediately dive into reviewing them, she taps the top sheet. “What are you waiting for? Get to reading.”
“Yes, ma’am. Whatever you say, ma’am.”
She ignores my sarcasm. Truth be told, she has a whole lot of experience since – according to our mother – I came out of the womb being sarcastic. I don’t know how a baby can be sarcastic, but I’ve learned to let my mom’s words glide off of my back.
Aspen takes a spot on the floor next to the safe and begins sorting through her pile. I scan the top document. An old copy of a receipt for services rendered. Boring. The next document isn’t much more interesting. Buy eggs. I throw the paper on the ground next to the first one.
“Oh my god!” Aspen squeals.
I freeze as I wait for someone to rush into the room at her shout. When no one comes crashing through the door I hiss at her, “Shush. Do you want everyone to know about the mystery?”
“Sorry, but you have to see this.” She waves an envelope at me.
“It’s sealed. What are you excited about?”
“Read to whom it’s addressed.”
“To Patricia,” I read aloud. “Patricia? As in Patricia Hall? As in the black hat bandit’s lover?”