“Yeah, I’d like that,” April replied softly, and she felt her phone buzz in her hand. As she pulled it away from her ear, she saw Luke had already texted her the info. “Thanks, Pointer.”
“Not sure what you’re thanking me for. I’ve not done anything,” he said dismissively, and April let out a quiet laugh. Luke Pointer, helping her out for the second time? Literally unheard of. The ghost of a smirk passed across her lips as she thought what Emma and Izzy would say if they knew about this turn of events.
“Anyways, I’m heading to bed. Goodnight, Jones,” Luke said briskly.
“Night, Luke,” she replied, before hanging up.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
The familiar sounds of the coffee shop put April at ease as she sipped on her iced matcha. It was sunny again outside and maybe that was why she felt more hopeful that everything would work out the way she wanted it.
She had chosen their usual spot by the window and was pleased to see pink beginning to show outside on the trees. Spring had officially sprung, and the magnolia trees seemed to know it too. There had been so much going on with the shop and with researching the buildings that she’d barely looked up lately, so the sight of pink buds and even a few early full blooms was as welcome as it was surprising.
“April?”
Glancing up, she smiled at the man hesitating beside the chair opposite her. “Adam?”
He breathed a sigh of relief and she gestured for him to sit. “Luke told me to look out for the pretty blonde.”
She rolled her eyes. “How helpful of him.” The door opened and Em and Izzy walked in and waved as they headed to the counter to order their drinks. “Myfriends are going to join us, but feel free to get started without them.”
Adam sat down, the chair looking too small for his tall frame. “You brought the paperwork?”
“Yep.” April slid the plastic folder across the table so he could inspect what they’d found. “The deed has a duty-of-care clause, but I can’t make head nor tail of whether it’s boilerplate or not.”
Papers rustled as Adam flicked through what April had brought, pausing on the deed and withdrawing it to read fully. Emma and Izzy approached, claiming the other two seats left around the table, and greeting Adam with a smile and a wave which he returned distractedly.
Izzy in particular seemed … peppier than usual, and April narrowed her eyes, desperate to ask her friend what was going on with Noah. But this wasn’t the time. Later, when this was all sorted out—then she would interrogate Izzy.
“OK, so this is fairly standard,” Adam said, looking up and adjusting his glasses on the bridge of his nose as disappointment flared in her stomach. She’d really thought they had something. “But I do think in this case it’s referring specifically to the building’s heritage.”
She sucked in a breath. “You mean …?”
Adam nodded. “It’s fuzzy on the details, so you’ll need to do some research there, but the building is definitely protected by the laws of heritage and culture.”
Emma whooped and April smiled in response. It wasn’t a fix, not yet, but it was a start.
“Honestly, it was a good catch. There’s not many buildings where this kind of thing would apply nowadays, especially in the States …” Adam rambled on about the history of the cultural heritage law while April’s mind spun. If what Adam was saying was true, then they might not have found any of this without Luke’s help.
“I really appreciate this, Adam,” she said, cutting him off mid-spiel and leaving him blinking. “You’ve been a massive help.”
“Hey, I owed Luke a favor. So I guess it’s him you should be thanking.”
“I was thinking the same thing,” she murmured and then shook herself. “I have to run—I’ve got painting to do, and I guess some more research if we’re going to make this evidence watertight.”
“No problem. Glad I could help.”
Emma and Izzy stood, following April to the door with their drinks in hand, and the fresh air hitting her face was exactly what she needed to clear away some of the anxiety that had settled heavily on her chest over the last twenty-four hours.
“I’ll walk with you to the store but then I have to get to work,” Izzy said as they moved off in the direction of the trail that led through the park. “I need to update you on what Noah and I found, anyway.”
Noah and I.Was there a sense of familiarity there that hadn’t existed before?
April nodded and Izzy began to recount the eveningat the library as they walked. The remnants of dead leaves littered the ground, the breeze carrying them onto the grass from the tidy piles they’d been swept into. April smiled as she watched a dog make a beeline for one of the piles, no doubt planning to launch itself into the mound of leaves.
“We found several mentions of a famous architect, Lisandro Conti—an Italian artist who made his mark in the Americas with his mission of small-town beauty. Practicality meets elegance,” Izzy said and April nodded. This really was promising, maybe even the other half of the problem. They knew the building was protected, but maybe Conti was the reason why. “We couldn’t find the history group, and the librarian didn’t have any contact info for them, but based on the old newspaper clippings in the archive, we think Conti was responsible for the design of at least some of the buildings in Magnolia Springs. His work has been considered rare since his untimely death in 1843.”
“That’s great work, Iz. Thank you.”