William Jarvis - Sky Valley 04 - Murderous Coffee Crumble by William Jarvis Page B

Tripp said, but the fear in his voice was evident. “I will tell the police about this. Let’s see how they react.”
    “The police or Lena?” Emmy shot back. “Because as far as I’m concerned, something wrong’s going on here. And you and Lena have a lot to do with it.”
    “That is a very strong accusation.” Tripp said and walked towards Emmy. “I’ll take you down, Emilia. You don’t belong here. You and your family do not belong here.”
    “That’s enough, Tripp.” Troy said. “I don’t know what your business around here is but you have no right to be around Time for Coffee.”
    “Why? Because you’re scared of the secrets that I may find? Because you’re scared that I can tell everyone that you’re capable of killing others the way you killed my daughter? Because you do not want to deal with the fact that another unfortunate incident happened at the resort months ago? Isn’t that enough reason for you to back away from business, Troy?”
    “I have no secrets, Tripp.” He said. “And we didn’t kill your daughter so go away now. Go and don’t ever come back.”
    Tripp laughed. “I won’t bulldoze your beloved shop,” he said, “but be prepared. I have something far bigger coming up. And you’re going down, Troy. You’re certainly going to go down.”
    “We’re not scared of you, Tripp.” Emmy spat. “You should be scared and ashamed of yourself.”
    Tripp shook his head, called his bodyguards and went inside his car and sped away. Emmy then looked at the bunch of people around. “Go away!” She said. “Go away, all of you!”
    People shook their heads and murmured as they all went their separate ways. It was close to midnight but it felt like the day was just starting.
    “Oh well,” Audrina quipped as almost everyone left them, “that was quite a homecoming.”

CHAPTER 3
SEWING THE TIES
    “Thanks, Anja.” Daniel said as Anja served them tea when they got home that night. He was sitting next to Emmy who was sitting next to Audrina. Troy was sitting down across them.
    “She’s very pretty.” Audrina quipped and everyone looked at her. Some things have never changed.
    “What?” She said with a playful smile on her face.
    “You’re not her.” Troy said.
    “Oh god.” Emmy said at the awkwardness of it all.
    “Sorry.” Troy said. “I know you’re having a tough night, Em, I didn’t mean to—“
    “No, dad, it’s okay.” Emmy said. “I mean, this is all crazy but it seemed like Audrina came home for you so…”
    “Hey!” Audrina said, “it’s not just about that. I mean, I had a feeling that things are going crazy again and as you can see, I’m right. Plus…that Frank guy seemed sketchy. I wish I called you earlier, Em. I mean, I searched for him everywhere on the web and he has no single profile whatsoever. I found that to be really weird so I decided that maybe, it’s high time for me to get back. And looks like I’m right…what happened at the party?”
    “It was a disaster.” Emmy said. She told them about how Frank acted like he didn’t know her and that he didn’t want her there, and how he lied to her about Serena. She also told them that Serena was Lena McMahon’s daughter.
    “What?!” Audrina said. “Now that’s really weird!”
    “I know.” Emmy said. “I just find it so hard to believe that this is all just a coincidence and that they never planned for this to happen.”
    “Of course it’s not a coincidence.” Daniel said. “The question is, why? Why are they doing this? What’s their angle? Of course, they’re going to deny that there’s something behind this but we’re not stupid. Their angle is what we have to focus on.”
    “Easy, kids.” Troy said. “That’s a strong accusation.”
    “Oh come on, dad.” Emmy said. “They’re trying to bring us down and it’s so obvious!”
    “Lena is a police officer. She probably won’t allow herself to deal with things like this.”
    “You are so naïve!” Audrina