The Mighty Quinns: Devin Read Free

thanks to you. Now, if he could wash windows, I might have work for him.”
    Dev looked over at the café’s huge plate-glass windows that faced the street. “I could probably help you out with that,” he said.
    He chatted with a few of the customers as he finished his breakfast, then grabbed another coffee to go before he waved goodbye to Joanie. “I’ll send someone by to get at those windows,” he called as he walked out the door.
    Dev stood outside the café and took in the street, his gaze drifting from one end to the other. Most of the buildings were empty, windows revealing one failure after another. But here and there, small entrepreneurs had found a way to make something new. Winchester had always depended upon the mill for its livelihood, and now the town needed something different. But what?
    Dev fixed his gaze on a white sedan he didn’t recognize at the far end of the block. He watched as it slowly drove by. Rental plates. He looked up at the driver and his breath caught in his throat. Their eyes locked for a moment and his pulse leaped. Elodie Winchester?
    She was there in front of him and then just as quickly disappearing down the road. He glanced down at the car’s license plate and quickly memorized the number. When he got to the cruiser, he grabbed the radio and called in to dispatch. “Sally, this is Dev. I need you to run a plate for me. It’s a rental car, probably out of Asheville.” Dev recited the numbers and then sat back and waited for Sally’s results, sipping his coffee as his mind spun with the possibilities.
    It didn’t make sense. The Winchester family had cleared out six years ago. And after the mess they’d left, most folks didn’t expect to see a real Winchester ever again—and didn’t want to.
    Hell, maybe he was just imagining the whole thing. Would he even recognize Elodie? They’d spent a single summer together. He’d been seventeen, she’d been sixteen, and they’d been madly in love.
    Her family never would have approved, so they’d sneaked around, meeting on the sly, stealing kisses whenever they could and pledging their love to each other in silly teenage sentiments. Of course, they’d been found out, but neither one of them could have predicted the devastating repercussions.
    Without warning, Elodie’s bags had been packed and she was sent away. She no longer attended the private girls’ school an hour away in Asheville. She wouldn’t be home every evening for dinner and wouldn’t be able to sneak out and meet him once the sun set. There would be no long lazy summers at the lake or cozy winters sitting by a campfire. It was over.
    There’d been a lot of women since Elodie. He’d forgotten most of them, but Elodie Winchester had stuck with him. Maybe it was because they’d never had any kind of closure. She’d never called, never written. When she’d come home for Christmas holidays, she’d been invisible.
    Dev hadn’t tried to contact her. Frederick Winchester had made it clear that if Dev tried to contact Elodie, Mary Cassidy would find herself without a job, without a home to live in, and without any prospects for finding work in Winchester in the future. So he’d let her go. At least, on the surface.
    â€œDispatch to RC zero-one.” A blast of static followed and Dev reached for the radio.
    â€œThis is Dev. What do you have for me, Sally?”
    â€œYou were right. That rental came out of Acme Rentals in Asheville.”
    â€œWho rented the car?”
    â€œElodie Winchester,” Sally said. “She’s got it for a week.”
    Dev let out a tightly held breath, sinking back into his seat. “Thanks, Sally. Keep this to yourself, all right?”
    â€œSure, boss. What do you think she’s doing in town again?”
    â€œI don’t know.”
    â€œWill there be trouble?”
    â€œPeople haven’t