Lois Richer - Inner Harbor

“Did you hear me?”

Russ blinked, then nodded.

“Sorry, yes. I was just thinking of something he said.” What was the question? Why her? “Gramps claimed he got an impression of people the first time he met them. Knew right away whether they were guilty or innocent. That’s why he was so successful in his practice. People seldom managed to bamboozle my grandfather.”

She caught her bottom lip between her teeth as if she were rehashing something from her past. Russ decided to probe further.

“Gramps met you several times, didn’t he?” Russ was flying by the seat of his pants. He knew only what she’d said about their relationship and what Gramps had hinted. But he’d sure like to find out more. “When you settled your mother’s estate—that’s how you met?”

“I went to his office for a number of reasons. I’d never done any of it before, you see. When my father died, your grandfather was also the attorney, but my mother handled everything. I barely knew him then.” She shook her head, sighed. “When Mother died, I had no idea how to proceed. Fortunately, her death wasn’t unexpected, and your grandfather had already been to town once or twice to have her sign some papers, so her estate was settled quickly, without problems. He was very kind to me.”

“I’m glad.” If he knew Gramps, and Russ had known the old guy very well, every t was crossed, every i dotted. In fact, if you read between the lines of Gramps’s last letter, Annie Simmons was like the granddaughter he’d never had.

“He visited me, you know. Every so often.” She nodded at his look of surprise. “Really.”

“For what, I wonder.” Russ frowned. “He never cared much for this town when I was a kid. Claimed a person could get snagged in the relaxed lifestyle and never make anything of themselves. One day last summer he was talking about the potential I’d find here. By fall he said he’d made a mistake in ever recommending the place and warned me away, said it didn’t have what I needed.” Which was one reason Russ had chosen Safe Harbor. He’d been fairly certain his grandfather would not interfere in his plans.

Suddenly he wondered how deliberate that move had been. Another of Gramps’s chess plays?

“I don’t know about that.” Annie blinked her surprise. “He only told me he had business in town. I never knew what it was. He’d stop by the house, have a cup of tea, and we’d talk.”

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