The Tessa Randolph Collection, Books 1-3 by Paula Lester (best ereader for comics .txt) 📗

sighed. “I know. I know how you act in situations like this. And I wanted to tell you not to.”

“Not to what?”

“Not to do whatever it is you’re doing right now. You’re trying to get me out, aren’t you?”

“Well, sort of . . .”

“Just don’t. Okay? That’s why I called. I want you to sit this one out.”

“Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me!” Tessa groaned.

“What? What’s up?”

Tessa couldn’t tell Silas the real reason she’d blurted out those words—because they’d undermine her cause. He’d just asked her to do the opposite of what she was doing. She couldn’t exactly tell him that Nathaniel had pulled into her old nemesis, the Sweetwater Golf Course.

“I can’t just let you rot in prison.” Tessa pulled into a spot toward the back of the lot.

“I’m not in prison. It’s jail. And yes, you can. I’ve got a lawyer. The police can find the real killer.”

“They won’t,” Tessa argued.

“You can’t know that. I’ve got to go. Please, just listen to me for once. I’m fine. I don’t need your help.” He hung up before she could get another word in edgewise.

NATHANIEL WENT INSIDE the clubhouse and came back to his car with a golf cart. He loaded it with a set of clubs from his trunk, then set the brown paper bag, which was getting soggier by the minute, on the seat next to him.

Seriously?

Lark and Mrs. Cross hadn’t been wrong about Nathaniel. There were so many other things he could be doing right now in the middle of the day. He could be working. He could be comforting his wife, who’d just lost her father. Instead, he was spending his father-in-law’s money to play a round of golf.

Tessa seethed, not only at Nathaniel but also at the golf course. It was the scene of her very first reap and also where she’d had to perform some reaper trickeration to send Chet Sanborn’s killer to the white lights that greeted everyone when their time came to an end. She hated this and every other golf course. It was like some sort of cosmic joke that she ended up on one so often.

Tessa did some quick thinking. What would Gloria do in this situation? Gloria would have the perfect outfit in the trunk of her car. Tessa wasn’t so lucky. But she did have a paid-off credit card. She went in the clubhouse, found a pastel polo, a skirt, and some golf shoes, then bought a half dozen drinks from the cooler.

The cashier asked if she’d like to pay for a round of golf, but when she saw the price, her eyes bulged. It was the same as she’d pay for the outfit and drinks! She lied and told him that her husband would be there shortly, finding a random name on the tee times list somewhere below Nathaniel Neilson.

“Ah! Very good, then,” the cashier said.

Tessa smiled and hoped he wouldn’t notice when she stole a golf cart to chase Nathaniel down on the first tee.

She changed in the lady’s locker room, then made her way to the practice green where a line of golf carts sat with the keys inside. Stealing a golf cart had to be the easiest thing she’d done all week.

But Nathaniel wasn’t on the first hole. He wasn’t on the second tee either. He played fast. She found him at the turn before the third tee, sitting in his golf cart and enjoying the greasy burger from Sheila’s.

“Need something to wash that down?” She pulled alongside him.

Momentarily, he was taken aback. “Do you work here?”

She nodded. “I’m the new cart girl.” She hoped she remembered the lingo. Hadn’t her first reap thought that’s who she had to be?

“Oh.” Nathaniel scowled. “I thought you folks had a special cart.”

Tessa wanted to slap her forehead. Of course the cart girl had a special cart to carry the snacks and beverages. Here she was with a regular cart and six cans of various soda. “It’s, uh, it’s in the shop. We had to make do with this. You want anything or not?” A little attitude always helped in situations like this.

“Uh, sure.” He nodded, still skeptical, but dug in his back pocket for his wallet. He handed her a twenty, picked a diet soda, and told her to keep the change.

Twenty dollars for a soda. Yeah, he really doesn’t know anything about money.

His face told her she’d already worn out her welcome. Tessa gave the cart a little gas but stopped abruptly. “Hey! Wait.” Her tone made a one-eighty from before. “You’re Nathaniel Neilson, right?”

“You . . . you know who I am?”

“Of course I do!” she said. “You’re practically as famous as your father-in law. You work at Green Holdings, right? I was so sad to hear about Mr. Green’s passing.”

“It’s a tragedy,” Nathaniel said mournfully.

“Does that mean you’re running things there now?”

“I, um. Yes, I guess it does.” He glanced around the greenery, maybe a tad embarrassed he wasn’t there working now. “It basically runs itself these days, though.”

“I’m sure.” Tessa nodding encouragingly. “I’m just glad they caught the guy who did it. I’m sure you are too.”

Nathaniel winced. “I’m afraid I don’t think they’ve got the right person.”

“No?” Tessa wondered if he was truly being honest. Did he really think Lark was the culprit? Maybe so. But Tessa wasn’t convinced.

“It’s a very complicated family dynamic. I’m sure you understand.”

“Not really,” Tessa replied.

“I’m sure you have other golfers to attend to. “This time, it was crystal clear he was meaning to shoo her away. He stretched and rubbed at his back. “And, you know what? I think I pulled a muscle in the last sand trap. I’d better be heading back. It was nice meeting you.”

He nodded, threw his cart in reverse, and looped around her, heading back in the direction of the club house.

Now, Tessa was sure he was lying. Only she didn’t know about what.

Chapter 12

EXHAUSTED WASN’T THE right word to describe how