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  Clean Break

  Squeaky Clean Mysteries, Book 15

  Christy Barritt

  Copyright © 2019 by Christy Barritt

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Contents

  Complete Book List

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Also by Christy Barritt:

  Other Books in the Squeaky Clean Mystery Series:

  You Also Might Enjoy: The Worst Detective Ever Mysteries

  Holly Anna Paladin Mysteries:

  The Lantern Beach Series:

  About the Author

  Complete Book List

  Squeaky Clean Mysteries:

  #1 Hazardous Duty

  #2 Suspicious Minds

  #2.5 It Came Upon a Midnight Crime (novella)

  #3 Organized Grime

  #4 Dirty Deeds

  #5 The Scum of All Fears

  #6 To Love, Honor and Perish

  #7 Mucky Streak

  #8 Foul Play

  #9 Broom & Gloom

  #10 Dust and Obey

  #11 Thrill Squeaker

  #11.5 Swept Away (novella)

  #12 Cunning Attractions

  #13 Cold Case: Clean Getaway

  #14 Cold Case: Clean Sweep

  #15 Cold Case: Clean Break

  #16 Cleans to an End (coming soon)

  While You Were Sweeping, A Riley Thomas Spinoff

  The Sierra Files:

  #1 Pounced

  #2 Hunted

  #3 Pranced

  #4 Rattled

  The Gabby St. Claire Diaries (a Tween Mystery series):

  The Curtain Call Caper

  The Disappearing Dog Dilemma

  The Bungled Bike Burglaries

  The Worst Detective Ever

  #1 Ready to Fumble

  #2 Reign of Error

  #3 Safety in Blunders

  #4 Join the Flub

  #5 Blooper Freak

  #6 Flaw Abiding Citizen

  #7 Gaffe Out Loud

  #8 Joke and Dagger

  #9 Wreck the Halls

  #10 Glitch and Famous (coming soon)

  Raven Remington

  Relentless 1

  Relentless 2 (coming soon)

  Holly Anna Paladin Mysteries:

  #1 Random Acts of Murder

  #2 Random Acts of Deceit

  #2.5 Random Acts of Scrooge

  #3 Random Acts of Malice

  #4 Random Acts of Greed

  #5 Random Acts of Fraud

  #6 Random Acts of Outrage

  #7 Random Acts of Iniquity

  Lantern Beach Mysteries

  #1 Hidden Currents

  #2 Flood Watch

  #3 Storm Surge

  #4 Dangerous Waters

  #5 Perilous Riptide

  #6 Deadly Undertow

  Lantern Beach Romantic Suspense

  Tides of Deception

  Shadow of Intrigue

  Storm of Doubt

  Winds of Danger

  Lantern Beach P.D.

  On the Lookout

  Attempt to Locate

  First Degree Murder

  Dead on Arrival

  Plan of Action

  Lantern Beach Escape

  Afterglow (a novelette)

  Lantern Beach Blackout

  coming soon

  Carolina Moon Series

  Home Before Dark

  Gone By Dark

  Wait Until Dark

  Light the Dark

  Taken By Dark

  Suburban Sleuth Mysteries:

  Death of the Couch Potato’s Wife

  Fog Lake Suspense:

  Edge of Peril

  Margin of Error

  Brink of Danger

  Line of Duty (coming soon)

  Cape Thomas Series:

  Dubiosity

  Disillusioned

  Distorted

  Standalone Romantic Mystery:

  The Good Girl

  Suspense:

  Imperfect

  The Wrecking

  Sweet Christmas Novella:

  Home to Chestnut Grove

  Standalone Romantic-Suspense:

  Keeping Guard

  The Last Target

  Race Against Time

  Ricochet

  Key Witness

  Lifeline

  High-Stakes Holiday Reunion

  Desperate Measures

  Hidden Agenda

  Mountain Hideaway

  Dark Harbor

  Shadow of Suspicion

  The Baby Assignment

  The Cradle Conspiracy

  Trained to Defend

  Nonfiction:

  Characters in the Kitchen

  Changed: True Stories of Finding God through Christian Music (out of print)

  The Novel in Me: The Beginner’s Guide to Writing and Publishing a Novel (out of print)

  Chapter One

  “Gabby, I need to talk to you.”

  When I heard the anxiety in my best friend Sierra’s tone, I braced myself. Something had happened. Something bad.

  I opened the bathroom door. I’d come in from a run around the neighborhood and had taken a shower. Thankfully, I’d already gotten dressed in some jeans and a stretchy lime-green T-shirt reading, “4 out of 3 People Struggle with Math,” when I heard the knock.

  The water in my friend’s house—which was actually a small in-law suite behind my house—had stopped working. Until it was fixed, Sierra and her family were staying with Riley and me.

  Steam seeped out from behind me, along with a faint scent of lavender body wash as I dried my hair with a towel. “What’s going on?”

  Sierra bounced eleven-month-old Reef on her nonexistent hip. The boy reached his chubby arms toward me and babbled happily. I crossed my eyes and puffed out my cheeks. Reef giggled, drool dripping from his mouth as he stared at me.

  This new stage of him being mobile was giving Sierra and Chad a run for their money. Reef was busy. And teething. And getting over an ear infection. It was the best and worst of times as a parent, apparently.

  “I’m so sorry, Gabby.” Sierra pushed her plastic-framed glasses up higher on her nose and frowned at me. The fact she was hesitant to tell me what happened said so much. Though motherhood had softened my friend, the animal rights activist was usually still brassy.

  “Sorry for what?” I continued to towel-dry my hair, knowing I had to leave soon and that multitasking would be my only hope of getting up to Pennsylvania for an investigation on time.

  Sierra grimaced. “I put Reef down for a second so I could fold some clothes. The next thing I knew, he’d toddled out of my bedroom. I went tearing down the hall looking for him and found him in your room.” Her cheeks flushed.

  She looked so frazzled right now. My friend was many things—passionate, focused, smart. But not usually frazzled.

  “It’s okay if he goes in my room.” I abandoned drying my hair and draped my towel over my shoulder instead. I’d hang it in a second. My friend clearly needed my undivided attention.

  “That’s the thing. When I found Reef, he was standing beside your nightstand.” Sierra paused, her lips pulling down in another frown—a large animated one this time.

  “Okay . . .” I still wasn’t sure where she was going with this, but I tried to prepare myself.

  “And your wedding band was gone!” Sierra blurted, her hand flying over her mouth. “I saw your engagement ring there, so I assumed you probably took your rings off before you showered and left them. Right?”

  “Yes, that’s what I usually do. Did you check the floor? Reef must have knocked it off.”

  “I checked everywhere. It’s gone, Gabby.”

  I scoffed. “It can’t be gone. I’ll move a few things around. I’m sure I’ll find it somewhere.”

  Sierra glanced at Reef and frowned again.

  That was when I understood the subtext of what she was saying. “Wait . . . you think . . . you think Reef swallowed it?”

  She shrugged and pulled Reef closer. “It’s the only thing I can figure.”

  Alarm spread through me as I realized the implications of her statement. “Is he choking? Maybe we should call 911. Or go to the ER. Or perform the Heimlich. Is there an essential oil for this?”

  “No, Reef seems fine.” She raised a hand to indicate I should slow my thoughts. “There are no signs of distress.”

  I released my breath. “Reef couldn’t swallow a ring . . . could he? His
little throat can’t be that big.”

  “Apparently, he can. It’s happened before. I looked it up online after I called the doctor.”

  I leaned against the door. As Reef reached for me again, I planted a playful kiss on the tips of his fingers. I couldn’t handle the thought of anything happening to this sweet little boy.

  “What did the doctor say?”

  “To keep an eye on him for any changes in behavior. Otherwise, we just have to wait for the ring to pass.”

  Had all of this really happened while I’d been in the shower belting out my favorite tunes from Hamilton?

  “You mean . . .” I blinked, trying to make sure I understood exactly what Sierra was saying.

  “He’ll . . . you know.” Sierra grimaced before shrugging sheepishly. “We should find it in his diaper in a day or two. But the doctor gave me a whole list of things to look out for, just in case it doesn’t pass as expected.”

  “I don’t know what to say. But I’m seeing a certain theme in my life lately.”

  I knew it was uncouth to say, but that theme was . . . excrement.

  I didn’t like it any more than anyone else, but it was the truth.

  First, I’d been introduced to the most delicious coffee ever. I’d later found out it was made from cat poop. Then I found out the argan oil I used in my hair was made from . . . what else? A fruit that was first eaten by tree-climbing goats and then defecated. Now my wedding ring would pass through the valley, so to speak.

  What was God trying to teach me? That sometimes the best things in life came after a big stink? That you had to dig through a lot of muck to find the gold? That it was possible to find beauty in unexpected places?

  As I looked at Reef, I knew I couldn’t be mad. “I’m just glad he’s okay. I’m thankful it was my wedding band and not my engagement ring.”

  “Me too. I’m so sorry, Gabby. I’ll make this up to you . . . somehow.”

  “Don’t worry about it. I’m going out of town for a couple days. When I get back, I’ll return to being an old, married woman, right?” The doctor had made it sound like it would be that easy.

  Sierra nodded, but her trembling hands showed she was still nervous. “Let’s hope.”

  “This too shall pass.” I cringed over my word choice, but Sierra didn’t seem to notice.

  I glanced at the bathroom counter where I’d left my phone. I had a meeting in six hours. However, I had a five-hour drive to get there. Because of a tight schedule, I couldn’t be late.

  “I’ve got to get moving.” I made one more silly face at Reef and held it until he giggled. “Keep me updated on this little guy. I’m sure he’ll be fine.”

  She pushed her glasses up again, uncertainty still hovering in her gaze. “Thanks. I hope so.”

  The location of my wedding band was the least of my concerns right now.

  My immediate priority was helping an old friend find some closure in her life . . .

  So far, there had been no gold at the end of her less-than-pleasant situation. I was determined to remedy that.

  Spring was blooming late this year. It was April, but everything was just now beginning to turn green again after a chilly winter. As I headed north on the desolate road along Virginia’s Eastern Shore, my phone rang.

  I smiled when I saw the number. Riley.

  I hit Talk on my Bluetooth. “Hey, babe. How are you?”

  “Sorry I missed you before I left.” His deep voice rumbled across the line. “Court took longer than I expected. You ready for this new case?”

  “As ready as I can be.”

  I hated to sound like a downer, but my Cold Case Squad had already done a bunch of investigating online, which had yielded nothing. We’d had no choice but to meet up in Pennsylvania and investigate our latest case in person.

  I’d been on the road a lot lately, traveling all over the region doing workshops for Grayson Tech. Through my bread-and-butter job, I taught law enforcement officials how to use various equipment at crime scenes. I only worked the Cold Case Squad on the side.

  Coffee mogul Garrett Mercer had started and now funded the Cold Case Squad. Computer nerd Sherman MacDonald and cool but brilliant psychologist Evie Mason were my colleagues. We were on our third case together. Some might not even consider our current investigation a cold case, but all the leads had dried up.

  We were looking for Angela Vance, the foster mom Evie grew up with. Angela had disappeared six weeks ago, and no one had heard from her since.

  Though none of us were cops, we’d be doing some good, old-fashioned police work by hitting the streets and talking to people in an effort to find information we couldn’t gather online.

  I hoped we’d find some answers. But I could already feel that this case was going to be challenging.

  “I’ll be praying for you guys. I know this means a lot to Evie.”

  “Thank you.” I took a sip of my coffee. The Americano with heavy cream and sugar had become one of my road trip essentials.

  The fact that the case was personal, in some ways, made it even harder. So much was riding on finding these answers. Without closure, I wasn’t sure Evie would ever be the same.

  “It’s probably good timing that you’re working on this case now,” Riley said. “Work is keeping me busy this week.”

  Riley’s career as an attorney had been very demanding lately. I bit back a frown.

  Neither of us loved how much time our work took us away from each other. In fact, Riley had mentioned a few times that he desired to start his own law firm again.

  I’d also been feeling restless lately, but I figured this was just the stage of life we were in. I chided myself for feeling that way. I supposed it could be, in part, due to the fact that every time things began going well in my life, a big catastrophe struck. Coincidence? Maybe.

  But life experience had taught me to be aware.

  Just then, my phone beeped. I glanced at the number. It was my boss, Margo Grayson. “I should probably take this.”

  I said goodbye to Riley and switched over to hear Margo’s voice on the line. “Gabby, I hope I’m not catching you at a bad time.”

  Something about the way she sounded put me on edge. Her voice was too stiff and formal for our usual easygoing, professional relationship.

  “I always have time for you,” I told her, hating the fact I sounded like a kiss-up.

  “I don’t want to beat around the bush, Gabby. I respect you too much for that.”

  My body instantly tensed—just as it had when Sierra knocked on my bathroom door earlier. “What’s going on?”

  “I wanted to let you know that Grayson Tech has been bought out by Titov Industries.”

  I sat up straighter, unsure if I’d heard her correctly. “What? What does that mean?”

  “It means you will no longer have a job.”

  Chapter Two

  “I don’t understand . . .” I pulled the car over to the side of the road so I could process what Margo had just told me. The company was doing so well. Why sell out? Why did this mean my job was eliminated?

  “This new company . . . they’re forcing us to cut about 60 percent of our work force. They want to bring in their own people. It’s not entirely unusual in these kinds of situations. I realize this is upsetting for you.”

  Upsetting was an understatement. This would change my life. “How much more time do I have?”

  “A month. We’re making the official announcement tomorrow.”

  I leaned back in my seat, trying to process that. One month. That didn’t leave me much time to find a new job. It could take months to go through the search, interview, and hiring process . . .

  I was overthinking this. Still, worries came at me like Nazis searching for the von Trapps in The Sound of Music.