Free Cranberry Bluff by Deborah Garner Page A

taken, but had really passed it off to someone else after running, someone else that ended up keeping it, thereby double-crossing the initial thief. Ducking below the counter might have just been coincidental.
    Or a more plausible theory: Molly had been set up. Bryce turned away from the window and paced. This was something that had crossed his mind before. It was an awfully big stretch to think that the robber looking so much like Molly wasn’t planned – same height, hair color and length? And wearing an identical coat? Molly had run errands on a regular schedule, according to several former co-workers he had interviewed before leaving Florida. It wasn’t inconceivable that the crook had staked out the bank, observed her daily routine and clothing and then set out to duplicate her appearance. Molly didn’t seem the fashionista type. She would have worn the same raincoat most of the time. That would have been easy to match. As for the hair, maybe the thief wore a wig to add to the disguise? No, the thief’s hair could easily have been cut and dyed to match Molly’s.
    His instincts told him Molly was innocent. He’d thought finding a stash of stolen money at the inn would be one way to prove her guilty, but that theory was out. The real thief must have passed it off to another person after leaving the bank, or might have stashed it somewhere along the way, intending to retrieve it later. Someone else could even have stolen it during the escape. That quick duck below the counter might have had nothing to do with the money. It could have been a threat for Molly to keep quiet. Still, he had a hunch it wasn’t accidental. The thief had set Molly up to look guilty, regardless of how the rest of the event played out.
    That still left the bigger question unanswered: Where was the money? If Molly was innocent, as he suspected, and the money disappeared before it reached Al, did the thief hide it or did someone else take it?
    One way or another, he’d need more answers to prove Molly’s innocence. And the more he mulled it over, the more it seemed clear. He was going to have to open up to Molly about why he was really in Cranberry Cove. He’d just have to hope this tactic didn’t backfire.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN
    Susie slipped back into the barn suite, hoping to find Dan napping. It was one of his only saving graces. Reading, television, heavy meals, you name it, put him out like a baby. His narcoleptic tendencies worked to her advantage in several ways. For one thing, she didn’t have to fend off his advances all the time. For another, it gave her breaks between his needy conversations. Why didn’t he get himself a real girlfriend or even a wife if he needed that much constant companionship?
    But the best perk to his napping was getting the chance to snoop around on her own and use assignments to her personal advantage. For example, maybe Molly had hidden the money in the inn. She and Dan weren’t responsible for recovering the exact dollar amount. Any thief could spend part and save part. Or divide a stash up into different hiding places. There was nothing to say how much Molly had hidden away, so who could say how much they would find? Susie figured a 20 percent cut alone was fair, just for putting up with Dan. If she found it on her own, she could skim her rightful share off the top and say she found the amount the thief had left over.
    Dan was crashed out on the suite’s sofa, a magazine draped across his chest. That left the living room off limits for exploration, but the bedroom was open game. Susie stepped into the room and closed the door silently, locking it. Even if Dan woke up and found it locked, it wouldn’t seem suspicious. After all, she locked him out every night.
    She looked around the bedroom. Even with her extravagant tastes, she had to admit it was nice. The four-poster bed was solid and expensive, with intricate carvings across the headboard. The bedding itself was of fine European fabric, an ensemble