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“I—no. I thought you were related to the STM grant.”
“Me?” Hugh laughed loudly. “No way. I’m not rich.”
“But you . . .” My eyes went to the storeroom door. “Have money.”
He huffed. “Get out.”
“What?”
“Get. Out. I don’t want you asking any more questions.”
“And I don’t want to ask them either! But I feel like you’re lying to me. Tell me you run the grant. Tell me you didn’t sell that land.”
“I can’t!” he finally yelled. “I fucking can’t. I don’t run that damn grant. I could never. I do have cash, yes. But that’s my retirement fund. That’s all I have.”
“I . . . Why is it not in a bank?”
“I’m not trusting some stranger with my money! I keep it here where it’s safe.”
“Your door’s not even locked!”
“So?”
“Oh my God, Hugh.” I shook my head, trying to catch my breath. “This is a terrible idea.”
“Whatever! I didn’t ask you to come in here and audit me! So I ran out of money. So I sold my land. Who cares?”
“Goddammit. I thought—” I paused as his words registered in my mind. “Wait a second, what land did you sell? And who did you sell it to?”
Hugh rolled his eyes. “Now why did I have to go and say anything? You’re all panicked now.”
“Of course I am. You know we all talked about the offers we were getting to develop the land. All of us agreed not to.”
“And I wouldn’t have if I didn’t need the money. Plus, they were really convincing.”
“Hugh,” I said with a shake of my head. “Did you seriously—”
“No one’s going to move here.”
“Piper did. And Gabriel came back. People see potential here now. God, what if someone tries to develop what you sold? There would be whole neighborhoods! Do you know anything about who bought it?”
“I didn’t ask. I just sold what I had.”
“What you had? You mean even the spring?”
Hugh looked away. “Yes. Even that.”
“No. No. Tell me you’re kidding. This is just one of your cruel jokes, right?”
“Jade, I needed the money. This is why I didn’t want anyone to know. I’m sorry, but I have to make sure I have food on the table, especially since prices have been going up.”
“You could have applied for the grant.”
“The grant.” He scoffed and shook his head. “The grant that you’re investigating because you don’t trust it? I’m never using that thing. I don’t know who’s behind it and I never will. They own everything. What happens when they change their mind? What happens when they want to sell it?”
My shoulders went tight. These were many of the reasons I wanted to look into it myself. I thought I’d had it. I thought it was someone in Strawberry Springs and they would know to keep things safe.
The longer this stretched out, the more I wondered if they were in Strawberry Springs at all. What if this was some random person who had taken interest in us? What if this wasn’t someone who had our best interests at heart? What if this would all end poorly?
