Years ago, Miss Greer had offered free room and board to Sara Kaufman, one of Allie’s best friends, in return for minor repair work and painting. Sara, on her own for the first time, had jumped at the chance. She’d lived there ever since.

But Sara wasn’t here now. She’d taken off a few weeks ago, as she was prone to do.

Cooper Remington’s beautiful silver BMW was parked in the street in front of the B and B. Pretentious creep. Another car, a flashy red Corvette, was parked across the street. Not a lawyer car. She wondered who carried the keys to that one in his pocket.

Realizing she was wasting time, she turned off the motor of her own car and got out. If she was lucky she would catch Cooper here, and she could plead her case. She took a deep breath and ordered herself to keep her temper firmly leashed. Flying off the handle wouldn’t serve her purposes.

“Allie. How nice to see you,” Miss Greer said pleasantly.

Allie folded her in a hug. At first the old woman was stiff as a plank, but Allie held on to her until she softened slightly and returned the hug, sort of. “It’s nice to see you, too, Miss Greer. How’s business?”

“It was a little slow, with Sara gone and the last of the snowbirds checking out yesterday. But these New Yorkers are filling in and the tourists are almost upon us.”

“Is Mr. Remington here?” she asked politely.

“Which one?”

“Any of them.” Maybe she wouldn’t have to talk to Cooper directly.

“Mr. Cooper is in the dining room, working on a computer no bigger than a slice of bread. On a lovely day like this!”

Probably drafting eviction notices to serve on women and children somewhere. Lawyers just loved paperwork. “I’ll only keep him for a minute.” A minute was all it would take to state her case and find out whether Cooper was a sensible sort or a complete jerk. She would put her money on the latter, if she’d had any money left to put.