“My beautiful friend Maggie here found something at the Old Campbell Place,” Silas began.
“Did she chuck it straight in the dumpster or dust it off first?” Wallace sniped.
“Now, Wallace—”
Maggie cut Silas off. “We found this under the mantel, embedded in the wood in Mr. Campbell’s study.” She turned the camera screen toward Wallace.
He gave it a cursory glance and then stilled. He grabbed the camera from her and peered at the screen first by holding it out at arm’s length and then by pushing his glasses to the top of his head and bringing the screen to his nose.
“Under the mantel, you say?” His mustache twitched to the left.
“I thought it was one of those souvenir coins they sell in town,” she told him.
“Pretty sure it’s real, Wally,” Silas said, sliding his arm along the back of her chair.
“I’m curious where it came from and why Aaron Campbell would have hidden a gold coin almost in plain sight like that,” she said. “Was it some kind of superstition? Was it handed down in his family?”
“Could be nothing,” Wallace said, still squinting at the screen.
“Here,” she said, taking the camera and zooming in on the image. She handed it back. “Would you be able to find out anything about the design on the coin?”
He glanced up before looking over his shoulder. Gladys was absorbed once again in her magazine. “Dunno. Maybe,” he said brusquely. “If you can get me a real picture of it. Not something on some tiny, useless screen. Maybe I can look into it. If I find the time. And if you’re not going to pry it out of there with a crowbar and take it to the nearest pawnshop,” he added.
“I will not pry it out with a crowbar and pawn it,” Maggie promised.
“I’ll drop off a printout tonight,” Silas promised. “Seein’ as how I don’t have any plans since I was dumped for girls and tequila.”
Wallace heaved a sigh. “I guess maybe I could take a look. But don’t get your hopes up. It’s probably one of those plastic coins some yahoo stuck there with chewing gum.”
But Maggie could read him. Beneath that bluster, he was excited. Well, Wallace-level excited.
TerdBurgler57: I call bullshit. No chick that hot can use a nailgun.
DadofTwinGirls: @TerdBurgler57 My seven-year-olds can and will nail your forehead to the carpet.
AlpacaWhisperer: I want more Dean! He’s so grumpy and snarly!
CurlzGurl: I wanna be Maggie when I grow up!! Only I want to fix up a beach house and then actually live in it.
SquatGoals: Did anyone catch Maggie’s Insta story today? She said they found something amazing in her new house! Guesses? I’m betting voodoo dolls.
22
Maggie gave the brace on the table leg a whack until the lock clicked into place.
It wasn’t the greatest setup, she thought, glancing around the sunporch. But with the windows open to the breeze, some candles on the paper tablecloth that disguised the paint splatters, and the trio of mismatched chairs, it might look kind of charming and bohemian.
Or her guests would realize that Maggie was a hot mess incapable of living life as an adult with things like matching furniture and dishes that weren’t made out of paper and plastic.
At least she had the new serving plate from Kinship Mercantile to class things up. It was in the fridge now with its caprese skewer appetizers next to the store-bought cheese-and-meat tray and pecan pie.
After leaving Wallace to his research, she’d insisted Silas make a pit stop at the grocery store. The man had chuckled his way through the store as she hurled impulse buys into the cart. She couldn’t very well serve guests fluffernutter sandwiches.
Coffee was brewing. A pitcher of water was chilling in the now crowded refrigerator. Her jeans were clean-ish. And she’d managed enough time to run the Shop Vac over every square inch of hallway between the front door and the sunporch.
It was as good as it was going to get. Unless maybe she had time to—
The morbid organ of a doorbell echoed menacingly through the first floor. Her time was up.
She took a breath, straightened her shoulders, and headed for the front door.
“We come bearing gifts,” Kayla said when Maggie opened the door. She held up a bottle of tequila in one hand and a woven shopping tote in the other. She was wearing cute, lipstick-red pants that cut off above the ankle and a plain white T-shirt with a big, dangly statement necklace.
Nirina was gorgeous in a long magenta dress that brushed the tops of gold sandals. She held the spiral-bound proposal to her pregnant belly. “I vote we skip the small talk and go straight to the part where you give us a tour of this place. It’s incredible!”