AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I suspect not if she’s selling both properties.”
“That’s one thing I don’t understand. After ten years of making payments, she should’ve taken care of a good portion of the debt. She should have equity in the properties.”
“Not if you only pay the interest on the loans,” he said.
“I assume you discovered that online as well. How was such a thing allowed?”
“Walter’s brother was a banker. He did the deal himself.”
“Wow. I imagine he got in trouble for that.”
“He doesn’t appear to have suffered. He has a huge place on Long Island. A young wife.”
“It runs in the family. Maybe he’ll help Carla out.” She should ask him.
“I doubt he will. According to what I discovered online, he was opposed to their marriage.”
“I was a teenager when they got married.” I smiled at the memory. “She asked me to be her junior bridesmaid. Grannie helped me pick out a dress, and I got to straighten her long train when she stood at the altar beside Walter. You could be right, however. I might’ve seen things with a dreamy eye back then. Walter was old. No denying that. But he was a nice guy, and he doted on Carla. She seemed to feel the same, and I took it at face value.”
“She may have loved him. It wouldn’t be the first time.”
“I always thought she did. I’m sure on the surface, it looked like she didn’t. He was so much older than her. Many in town thought she was only after his wealth.” Supposed wealth. If she was, her eyes had been opened after he died. “For what it’s worth, she seemed to care for him. They were happy.”
“It’s really hard to tell with something like that.”
“Does any of this tie Carla to the Xylitol?” I was confident Alfred had done it, but maybe Elrik was looking at this from an angle I hadn’t seen.
“I’m not sure. I’m still following a few leads.”
“Well, keep me informed.”
“I will.”
I hung up and stood, realizing that I’d had no customers for longer than I could remember on a warm summer day.
A human couple with two small children were walking my way.
“Half price sale,” I said cheerfully. “Two cones for the price of one.”
They stopped and while the kids hopped around in excitement, the parents stared at me in horror.
“That’s the place we read about online. Johnny. Janie. Come with me.” The woman jutted out her hands to her children, and once they’d latched on, the family pivoted and hurried down the walkway in the opposite direction.
Read about online? My reviews were excellent. I hadn’t even picked up a one-star troll yet, though I expected it would happen one of these days.
With fear jarring through me, I hurried inside and pulled my phone out of my back pocket. I scrolled to the Mystic Harbor website, the one where my five-star average consistently winked. Creature Cones had even been featured at the top of the “places to try” section on our town’s home page.
My business now had a one-point-six review average.
Days ago, my business had been rated four point nine with thousands of raving reviews. Now, my ice cream shop had over two thousand new one-star ratings.
Many of the reviews warned people not to go anywhere near Creature Cones.
Unless they wanted to be poisoned.
12
ELRIK
