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“Good. Now let’s go finish our dinner because it was yummy and we have ice cream for dessert. And you know the rules…no dessert if you don’t finish your dinner.” Rolling off the bed, Chloe walked over and turned on one of the lights before holding out her hand to Ashlynn.
With a small sigh of her own, she accepted her sister’s hand and stood up.
“We’re good, right?” Chloe asked nervously.
“Always. Me and you, Chlo? We’re always going to be good.”
They hugged each other tight before walking back out to the living room to finish eating their Chinese food.
Neither talked about fires or mean girls or Frozen.
And it was a great night.
Reid was on his twenty-four-hour shift and it was almost midnight when he tried to summon up the willpower to try to go to sleep. His mind was racing in a dozen different directions and all he really wanted to do was call Ashlynn and talk to her.
But he couldn’t.
He was walking a fine line right now between his job and his personal life, and if anyone heard him talking about all the shit that went down today to her, he’d more than likely either get fired or put on probation. Still…he knew when he was off duty that they’d end up talking about what the inspector found out—so far—after going to Lavish Locks and looking things over. There wasn’t much left to examine, but it was obvious it wasn’t accidental.
The good news was that meant there was no physical evidence of Ashlynn being involved.
At least…he thought there wasn’t.
After briefly speaking to Inspector Rowe, Reid figured out very quickly that he wasn’t going to be included in any part of this investigation. He had a feeling his captain mentioned that he was dating Ashlynn. He spent a good part of the day doing his best to look unfazed by it all, but deep down, he was seriously starting to freak out.
The biggest hurdle was the fact that Becky was being very vocal about pointing the finger at Ashlynn, and now she had one of her employees backing her up. Someone named Sandy came forward and corroborated all the things Becky was saying.
He’d learned about that while in line for coffee over at Books & Beans. Gossip was starting to spread and he knew it wouldn’t take long to spread like wildfire.
Either way, those statements may cause charges to be filed and at that point, Reid had no idea how Ashlynn would fight them, if he’d even be able to help her, or if he was going to be facing charges himself.
What were the odds that he’d finally be on track to getting set in his career and then have something like this happen? If the charges were true? If Ashlynn was involved in this fire? It would potentially be a black mark on his career if not the thing that ended it.
Ugh…how much of a selfish prick can I be? Ashlynn’s the one in trouble and I’m only thinking about myself.
“You okay, Reid?” Bob asked as he walked into the break room.
“Yeah, why?”
“I just heard you groaning and wanted to make sure you felt alright.” He was holding a mug in his hand and he sat down in one of the recliners opposite Reid. “These long shifts are rough, aren’t they?”
He nodded. “Most of the time they don’t bother me, but I’ve got some stuff on my mind and can’t seem to relax enough to grab some sleep.”
“Lavish Locks?”
“Um…what?”
“You thinking about the Lavish Locks fire?”
Why deny it?
“I am. None of it makes sense, and the timeline doesn’t…well…it definitely seems iffy.”
Bob took a sip of whatever it was he was drinking. “In what way?”
For a moment, Reid wasn’t sure they should be having this conversation. After all, he wasn’t involved in the case and most of what he’d learned had been hearsay.
His hesitation led his captain to speak. “Reid, we’re a small squad in a small town,” he said mildly. “People talk. If you’ve got concerns—legitimate ones and not just that you don’t want anyone picking on your girlfriend—then I’d hope you’d speak up and say something.”
