Open for Business, Chapters 20 & 21
We're wrapping up here... but let's reveal a lot of secrets with a trip across the Sound.
A trip on the ferry leads to too much discovery for our favorite villain. Other people continue their own sabotaging and investigating before everyone collides.
The end, chapter 22 and epilogue, out later this week.
Previously on OFB:
Let’s binge from the beginning:
Chapter 20
Georgie got off the ferry and breathed in the briny air. Kingston was sleepy yet charming. She almost wanted to slip into an open restaurant for a coffee, but she had a job to do.
She walked two blocks from the downtown lights and then all the way down Sandy Trail Way. The house had beige siding with cream trim according to the county tax assessor’s web site. Her pace picked up, but she tried to look like a normal pedestrian going for a nightly stroll. She tried to calm down and figured that she wouldn’t even be able to get into the house, and she would be back on the 11:10 ferry after a few glimpses inside the house from the windows. She still didn’t want to look suspicious, so she tried to change her glide into something more leisurely. Neighbors knew each other here, but with so many Airbnbs popping up, many were used to seeing random vacationers.
And here it was: 2450 Sandy Trail Way, just like the photo on the assessor's site.
Though there was a dim street light, Georgie used her phone (not the flashlight, she thought that was too bright) to light the way to the front door. She had to move around curves and beach foliage to make her way to the hidden porch.
Georgie peered into the windows. The inside was dark aside from a light on over the kitchen sink. She figured she would try all the windows and hopefully find one open. Then she thought with Natalie living here, along with it being loverboy’s occasional hideaway, there must be a key somewhere. With her fondness for spending, Natalie probably got packages that she would have been grateful to have a neighbor set inside for her. And anyway, Georgie didn’t care how much she changed; Natalie was still Natalie. Clumsy. She needed access to a spare key.
Georgie ran her fingers around the window and door trim and under the porch railing. Nothing.
She was about to give up and try the windows when she saw a small upside-down terra cotta planter in the corner of the porch.
No way. Too easy.
She lifted it up, and yes, it was too easy.
Georgie squealed as she hurried to unlock the door.