As she watched, the door to the sandwich shop opened and Madison came out. She remembered what Chloe told her about her mother not wanting to be involved in the businesses, but it looked like she was stuck at the sandwich shop for the time being, while her daughter ran the coffee shop.

  Eve frowned. She didn’t know Madison well. She had only seen the woman a handful of times and had barely spoken to her, but as she remembered Chloe’s complaints about the pressure of being responsible for two businesses, and how her mom wanted her to take them over, she began to wonder if overlooking the other woman had been a mistake. There was something cold about Madison, and not just in the way she treated her daughter. She hadn’t seemed all that worried about Ryan, either. Even if she hadn’t been close to her stepson, surely his murder should have affected her somewhat.

  Was it possible that she had killed her own stepson in order to ensure her daughter would inherit both businesses?

  “You look like you’ve got your head in the clouds, Eve,” Dr. Brent Clark said as he walked down the sidewalk toward her and Tiana hurried to unlock the clinic’s door. “What’s on your mind today?”

  “I was just looking at Superior Slices,” she told him. “They’re open again.”

  He glanced across the road and smiled. “Well, would you look at that. That’s wonderful. I know they’re a lunch favorite of you girls’. Here, I’ll give you my card. Why don’t you run across the street and put in a lunch order? We can pick it up in a couple of hours. Get one of their sandwich platters, and we can offer them to our clients this afternoon. Us small businesses have to stick together.”

  Eve took the card. “What sort of sandwiches should I get?”

  “Just get whatever sounds good. Stay away from the sugary sauces, though. We do have a reputation to uphold.”

  She could hardly complain about a free lunch, so even though she didn’t want to confront Jordan again, she crossed the street, her boss’s credit card clutched in one hand. She wished Dr. Clark had arrived at any other time because it looked like she was going to be walking into an argument. Madison was standing in front of Jordan, her hands on her hips and her sharp words loud enough that Eve could hear them from halfway across the street. Jordan seemed to be mostly ignoring her; he was pouring himself a drink from his thermos.

  “…sick and tired of dealing with this. First, you harass my husband here, then you harass my daughter at her coffee shop, and now you’re back here harassing me during our reopening. Do you have any human decency? Can’t you just leave us alone?”

  Jordan pulled his scarf down so he could sip from his thermos cup. He waited until he finished swallowing before responding.

  “I’m exercising my rights as an American citizen, ma’am. I’m not threatening you or your customers. I’m just sitting here, handing out flyers filled with verifiable facts about your business.”

  His lips parted in a smug grin and, two thirds of the way across the road, Eve froze in her tracks.

  The smile exposed his front teeth, or more accurately, the gap in his front teeth. One of his center incisors was missing.

  She thought back to the medical information transfer request she had faxed to the clinic in Foxglenn for him at the beginning of the week. It hadn’t occurred to her to wonder why he had made an appointment with a new dentist when he had just been in for routine in cleaning with them six weeks ago.

  But a missing tooth? That would explain it. In fact, that would explain a lot.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  A car horn blared, and Eve jumped, quickly getting out of the way of the vehicle that was trying to pass her on the road. Unfortunately, the commotion caught the attention of both Madison and Jordan.

  Madison didn’t even seem to recognize her, but Jordan certainly did. He raised his eyebrows and beckoned her closer. She complied, but only because she wanted to get to the sidewalk. Even during the morning rush hour, Granite didn’t have much traffic, but standing in the middle of Main Street still wasn’t a good idea.

  “Ah, it’s you. I figured I must have scared you off when I talked to you at the coffee shop.” He chuckled. “Did you look over the flyer yet?”

  She shook her head. “No, sorry. I’m just here to order some sandwiches for work.”

  With a sigh, as if the thought of taking a sandwich order was a burden, Madison pulled the door to the sandwich shop open and gestured her through. She hurried inside, her earlier suspicions toward the other woman all but forgotten. Even as Madison followed her into the building and let the door swing shut behind her, Eve kept glancing over her shoulder through the window to look at Jordan.

  He had a missing tooth. For the first time, a motive for the theft of the teeth from the dental clinic came to light. What if Jordan had lost that tooth in a struggle? What if he had lost it in a struggle with Ryan, and hadn’t been able to recover it before it was time to flee the scene?

  Which meant all those other teeth she and Atlas had found near the body? Those must have been decoys. He had stolen the collection of teeth from the dental clinic in order to make sure his own missing tooth didn’t stand out.

  That might be why he had switched dental providers as well. If he needed work done to replace his missing tooth, her clinic might be just a hair suspicious after everything that had happened.

  This was the first time that the facts of the case felt like they were beginning to make sense, but she still couldn’t understand what his motive for the murder had been. What did Jordan stand to gain from Ryan’s death?

  “Can I help you?” Madison said sharply. “You said you wanted to order sandwiches?”

  “Yes, sorry,” Eve said, forcing her attention back to the menu. “I’d like to order one of your party platters for lunch. Can we do a third of the sandwiches turkey and havarti, one third ham and cheddar, and the last third roast beef and Swiss? Someone will come pick the platter up at noon.”

  Madison sighed. “I’m going to need a second to put in your order. Please be patient. My husband usually handles all of this, but he’s not up to coming in right now.”

  “I completely understand,” Eve said. “Take your time.”

  While she waited, she kept glancing out the window at Jordan. She was sure she was on the right track, but she didn’t know how to get the evidence she needed to take her theory to the police. She was on good terms with Sheriff Larson, but even so, she suspected she would need more than what amounted to a wild guess before they could do anything.

  “Please, don’t tell me you’re buying into all of that malarkey he’s been spewing,” Madison said, apparently having noticed where she kept looking. “I’ve had about enough of him.”

  “I think he should give your family the space to grieve,” she said honestly. In her opinion. The question of whether Superior Slices’ advertising was unethical was irrelevant at the moment. “Did he know Ryan?”

  The question had been an impulsive one, and she regretted it the second she asked. Ryan was sure to be a sore subject at the moment.

  Madison paused in trying to figure out the computer system to give Eve an odd look. “What does that have to do with anything?”

  “I was just wondering,” Eve said, quick to backpedal. “It’s not important.”

  “No, what are you thinking?” Madison asked, suddenly intent. “Ryan did know him. Ryan had been getting involved in activism recently, and it was a point of contention between him and his father, who thought activists were a waste of space. I always suspected Ryan was the one who gave Jordan the information about where both our stores purchase their ingredients from.”

  “You think Ryan was trying to sabotage Superior Slices?” Eve asked.

  Madison shook her head. “No, I think he just didn’t realize what consequences his actions would have. He couldn’t have cared one whit about either business, but he loved his father. He wouldn’t have done that to his old man, especially not after Patrick’s cancer diagnosis. He was livid when Jordan started protesting in front of the store. He kept saying he was going to take care of it, but I suppose he didn’t get a chance.”

  “I see,” Eve said, her mind racing. She glanced at Jordan again. What had happened between him and Ryan?

  “You know something,” Madison said. “You think Jordan is involved in what happened, don’t you? I can tell because you look like you’re scared of him. Tell me now. Did that man kill my stepson?”

  Eve wasn’t sure how she had ever thought Madison was cold and unfeeling about what happened to Ryan, because now, looking into the woman’s eyes, it was clear she was livid.

  She didn’t know what to say. All she had was a guess, a gut feeling with nothing but a few circumstantial facts to back it up.

  Her silence must have been enough of an answer, because Madison’s eyes flashed with anger. She strode around the counter and headed for the door.

  “Wait,” Eve called out as she hurried to catch up. “What are you doing? He could be dangerous.”

  “I’m dangerous,” Madison said. “If that man killed my stepson, I’m going to get the truth out of him one way or another.”

  She yanked the door open and stepped outside. Jordan looked up at her from where he was reclining in his chair and raised an eyebrow.

  “I don’t care how much you shout; I’m not going to move. I have a right to be out here, same as anyone.”

  Madison grabbed his thermos from where it was sitting on the cooler, unscrewed the top, and poured the steaming contents over his head.

  Jordan yelped and leapt to his feet, knocking over his chair in the process. Eve stood back a few steps and just stared.

  “What was that about, you crazy witch?” he shouted, yanking off his sodden hat. “That tea was hot!”

  “What did you do to Ryan?” Madison snapped. “I know you did something!”

  “You’re insane, lady,” he said as he straightened his chair. “Where is this coming from?”

  Eve didn’t like how he glanced at her when he said that, or how Madison turned to look at her as well.

  Madison said, “What do you know? If you care anything about justice or doing what’s right, you’ll tell me right now.”

  Madison was right. Wasn’t this the break she had been waiting for? Hadn’t she been hoping she would somehow be able to figure out who killed Ryan and why? Now the answer was staring her in the face.

  “His missing tooth,” she said after a second’s hesitation. She nodded at Jordan. “He’s missing his front tooth. I’m the one who found Ryan’s body; I have a cadaver dog who specializes in—well, it’s not important. What’s important is there were a bunch of teeth scattered around his remains when I found him. Teeth that were stolen from the dental clinic across the road earlier that same morning. It’s been bothering me all week. The inclusion of the teeth at the crime scene didn’t seem to make any sense. I couldn’t figure out why anyone would do that, but then I saw Jordan’s missing tooth, and I realized there was a reason after all. I think he stole those teeth from the dental clinic to cover up for his own missing tooth.”

  Madison’s eyes widened, and she rounded on Jordan, who ducked as she swung the thermos at his face.

  “You’re crazy,” he shouted, ducking under it. “You’re going to hurt me, lady. Stop it!”

  “You did something to Ryan, didn’t you? Tell me why. Why did you kill him?”

  Jordan backed away from her swings with the thermos until his back was pressed against the wall of the sandwich shop. He raised his hands as Madison swung the thermos at him again and it collided painfully with his forearm.

  “I didn’t mean to!” he yelped. Madison froze midswing. Eve could only stare too, and wonder how her morning had turned into this.

  “Why did you do it?” Madison asked, her voice low and dangerous.

  “I didn’t mean to,” Jordan said, unable to meet her eyes. “I didn’t. We used to be—not friends, but acquaintances. He was interested in some of the same causes as I was. I have this old hunting blind—I don’t hunt much anymore, but I like to go sit out there and drink when I need to think about something. That night … he insisted on meeting me to talk, but he didn’t want anyone to know we were working together, so I offered to meet by the hunting blind. It’s far enough outside of town, I didn’t think anyone would see us. He told me he wanted me to stop protesting outside of his father’s restaurant, that his father had a terminal cancer diagnosis and he wanted the old man’s last weeks to be comfortable ones. I told him no. Everyone has a sob story, but justice stops for no man.”

  “You don’t have a single shred of human decency, do you?” Madison snapped. “You killed Ryan because he wanted you to stop harassing his dying father?”

  “He’s the one who attacked me!” Jordan said. “He threw the first punch. I swear.”

  He opened his mouth and touched the place where his missing tooth used to be with his tongue.

  “Knocked my damn tooth out, though I didn’t notice that until later. I hit him back, expecting him to try to dodge or block it or something, but he didn’t, and I hit him a lot harder than I meant to. He dropped like a rock, and by the time I realized something was seriously wrong, he was gone. I panicked. I tried to move his body, but he was too heavy for me to drag all the way to the truck, and by then I had my fingerprints all over him. I had a gas can in my truck, I’d just filled it up earlier that evening to have on hand in case I needed to use my generator this winter. I figured burning his body was the surest way to get rid of any evidence I might have left behind. It wasn’t until after that I realized my tooth was missing. I couldn’t find the darn thing, and I knew the police would track me down if they did. I remembered the folks at the dental clinic saying something about clients donating their teeth or something or other, so I broke in and took what I could find and scattered them all over the area. I figured if there were enough teeth there, mine wouldn’t stand out. Thought the whole thing might throw them off my trail too.”

  “But … you’re the one who called in a tip about the body,” Eve said. “Why did you report his murder if you’re the one who did it?”

  He sighed, bowing his head. “I figured his identity would get out eventually, and someone might know I knew him. There’d be questions raised about why his body was so close to where my hunting blind is set up. I figured calling the tip in like I did would make me seem like less of a suspect. And by switching dental clinics, I was hoping the cops wouldn’t be able to find records of me getting an implant to replace my missing tooth as easily.”

  Madison blinked back tears. “So you knew Patrick was dying of cancer. You knew that you had murdered his son. And you still kept harassing us. You don’t have a single shred of decency, do you?”

  “I thought it would look suspicious if I stopped,” he said. She raised the thermos again, threatening to hit him with it, and he raised his hands. “Please, ma’am, stop. I’m sorry, all right? I’m sorry.”

  EPILOGUE

  Eve sipped her coffee and gave a morose sigh at the bitter, watery taste. The Granite Mug and Superior Slices were both temporarily closed while Madison and Chloe took care of Patrick in his final days, which meant Eve hadn’t had a good latte in a long time. She had heard they were planning on launching a new advertising campaign when they reopened, one that didn’t use any misleading language about where they got their ingredients from.

  She didn’t think either of them could care less about what Jordan thought, but the two businesses were all they had left. Eve suspected they wanted to make sure they kept up their good reputation here in Granite. She had no idea what the future would bring for the Granite Mug and Superior Slices, especially since neither woman seemed eager to fully commit to running the sandwich shop, but at least Ryan’s killer was behind bars.

  In the other room, Tiana was chatting with a client as she cleaned their teeth, and Dr. Clark was sanitizing some equipment in the back. Eve glanced around to make sure the other Dr. Clark wasn’t lurking somewhere nearby, then surreptitiously checked her phone. There was a message waiting from Levi.

  Made the reservation. I hope she likes it.

  Smiling, Eve typed back, She will love it! I’m so excited for her, and for you. I can hardly wait!

  Two weeks, then I’ll be an engaged man, he replied with a fingers crossed emoji.

  He had finally locked down the date he was planning on proposing to Tiana. It would have to happen during his next break from work, since Ryan’s murder had overshadowed his last visit, but she had been helping him get everything scheduled in the meantime. Tiana was going to get exactly what she wanted: a big, public proposal from the man she loved. Eve had never been happier for her friend.

  It would also be nice not to have to keep this secret anymore. She was so used to telling Tiana everything that it was hard to keep from slipping up about this.

  The last two weeks had been difficult, between Atlas’s debut as a cadaver dog and her getting so tied up in Ryan’s murder investigation. The journey to recovery was just beginning for Ryan’s family. She wasn’t sure if she was completely recovered herself yet, but she did know one thing.

  Next time she got a call from Jan requesting her and Atlas’s help to find a body, she would be there, ready to give it her best effort. Part of the reason Ryan’s killer had been forced to face justice was because of the role she and Atlas had in finding his body and the teeth Jordan had scattered around the scene of the murder. She might not be saving lives, like she did when she and Willow went out to find people who were lost, but she was still making a difference. She didn’t think it would ever be easy for her, but knowing she was making a difference in the world made it all worth it.

  ALSO BY PATTI BENNING

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  AUTHOR’S NOTE

  I’d love to hear your thoughts on my books, the storylines, and anything else that you’d like to comment on—reader feedback is very important to me. My contact information, along with some other helpful links, is listed on the next page. If you’d like to be on my list of “folks to contact” with updates, release and sales notifications, etc.… just shoot me an email and let me know. Thanks for reading!