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second, she went into the office, and a moment later was followed back out by Jesse.
    “Hey, buddy. What’s going on?” Jesse was his usual friendly self. “Missed you at the beer tasting the other night.”
    “Got tied up with a project.” Cam could have added that he’d been working on a table he was making as a surprise gift for Jesse and his fiancée, but didn’t feel like getting into that right now. “Got a minute?”
    “Sure. Come on in.” Jesse led the way back into the office, and Cam closed the door behind him.
    “You finally getting around to writing that will, or are you—?” Jesse began as he seated himself behind his desk and pointed to one of the side chairs as an invitation for Cameron to sit.
    “Is it true?” Cameron cut him off and ignored theoffer of the chair. “Has Lilly Cavanaugh’s house been sold?”
    “Well, yeah.” Jesse looked uncomfortable. “Where’d you hear that?”
    “I stopped at Cuppachino this morning and Grace Sinclair mentioned it. She said some woman from up north bought it and she’s—”
    “Where did Grace hear about it?” Jesse asked.
    “Someone saw lights on in the house and a car in the driveway a few nights ago and called the police. Beck stopped over to see what was what and was informed that the house had changed ownership.”
    Jesse nodded. “It did.”
    “Why didn’t anyone in town know it was on the market?” Cam folded his arms across his chest. “More specifically, why didn’t
I
know it was for sale?”
    Jesse stared at Cameron for a long moment, then said, “The previous owner had given instructions to her lawyer in New York for the disposition of the house. Everything was handled there.”
    “By the previous owner, you mean Lynley Sebastian.”
    “That’s right.”
    “She’s been gone for how many years now? And the house is just now being sold? And sold so quickly that no one around here even knew it was on the market?”
    “There may have been some entanglement with the investigation into her husband’s affairs. I don’t know the particulars because as I said, it was handled by the attorneys in New York who handled Lynley’s estate on behalf of her heir.”
    “That would have been Lynley’s daughter? I remember she had a little girl.”
    “I suppose.” Jesse shrugged. “Want to tell me why you’re so pissed off?”
    “I would have liked to have had an opportunity to bid on the property.”
    “You’ll still have that opportunity. The new owner is planning on doing some renovations before selling it.”
    “Seriously?”
    “From what I understand, she has no interest in staying in St. Dennis any longer than she has to. She just wants to clean the place up, make some necessary repairs, maybe spiff it up a little, then get what she can for it before moving on.”
    “She a professional?”
    “A professional what?” Jesse frowned.
    “House flipper. You know, people who buy houses that are run-down or outdated or that have serious problems, fix them up, then sell them for a profit. Such as myself.”
    “I didn’t get the impression that she’s done this sort of thing before.”
    “So you’ve met her.”
    Jessed nodded. “The firm still represents some interests of the estate.”
    “What’s her name? The owner.”
    “Ellie Ryder. She’s from—”
    “Ryder?
R-Y-D-E-R
?” Cam felt a tickle on the back of his neck.
    “I think so. Why?”
    “Lilly Cavanaugh’s maiden name was Ryder, spelled just like that.”
    “I’m sure it’s just a coincidence.” Jesse brushed off any possible significance with the wave of his hand.“But just out of curiosity, how would you know that?”
    “I knew the Cavanaughs pretty well when I was a kid. It’s how I came to take care of the place,” Cam said, his voice softened. “We lived on Bay View for a while. Miss Lilly was … well, she was a special lady.”
    “If you knew her, you must have known Lynley.” Jesse sat back in his chair, a thoughtful expression on his