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"Mitch told ot a lot more serious about the situation after I heard the rumor that Octavia had been voted Most Likely Suspect"

"Octavia?" Sullivan scowled "Now, that's interesting"

"I thought so" Never let it be said that the old rasped the implications immediately "Especially when you consider that she's well-liked here in town It would have been a lot easier to cast suspicion on the Heralds, who are viewed as the local weirdos and outsiders"

"You figure it's personal, don't you? Someone is out to pin the blame on Octavia for some specific reason"

"That's how it looks to ed to piss off someone here in town? Maybe refused to et even?"

"I don't think so" Nick shot hi to wonder if this could be co out of the past"

"Claudia Banner"

"Yes"

"But the only folks who got hurt when Claudia pulled off her scao were Mitch and e, even if we had a notion to go after it"

"I doubt if anyone gets too old for revenge if the ree that you and Mitch are not the ones behind this What I want to know is, do you think there's anyone else in Eclipse Bay whoenough to o after Octavia?"

Sullivan conte I've learned about business in the past sixty years," he said finally, "it's that it's always personal And when the deal involves as much cash as Claudia's scae"

"Meaning ot hurt?"

"Could be It's possible I can't give you any nao over this with Mitch You know, he and I never really talked about the details of what happened when Claudia put us into bankruptcy We were too busy bla up the feud But ether and reconstruct events, so to speak"

"Thanks Let ht still be so pissed off at Claudia Banner that he would go after her niece"

"All right It's a long shot, though You do realize that?"

"Sure But that's all I've got at theshots"

"I can see that" Sullivan came to a halt and stabbed the cane into the sand a few tiave Nick a beatific smile "Now that that's settled, how about I do you a favor and give you soured I'd take Carson back to Portland with me for a few days Lillian and I can look after hier You'll have ti"

"Sure If he wants to go, you're welco to do me any favors You just want another opportunity to e You think you can turn him into the next ot to adot a flair for business"