They walked far enough away that Bella couldn’t overhear their conversation. Liam turned his back to Bella and faced Sam. “I have no idea what’s going on here.” His voice was low.
“This is uncharacteristic for Bella.” Sam leaned a little to the right to keep her sister in line of sight.
“Sophia had been in a little bit of trouble before we moved here, but nothing like this.”
So his daughterwasa troublemaker.
As if he could read her mind, he narrowed his eyes at her. “She’s had a rough six months. Her mother just went to prison, and now she’s living with me. Up until this point, it’s all been attitude and back talk. ”
She felt sorry for Sophia, but just because she’d had a rough time didn’t excuse her behavior.
“Bella hasn’t been in trouble at all.” She crossed her arms over her chest.
Deputy Marshal Roberts rubbed his hand down his face and sighed. He pulled his wallet from his pocket and produced a business card. “I’ll be talking to Sophia and getting to the bottom of this. I’d appreciate it, if you find anything out from your sister,that you’ll let me know. My personal cell phone number is on there.”
She took the business card and looked from it to his face, which was etched with worry—the same worry she felt for Bella every single day. The professional wall between them thinned. “I’ll let you know what I can find out. If your daughter is more forthcoming as well, please let me know.”
He looked to the SUV and then back to Sam. “She’s my niece. Not my daughter.”
Interesting.
“Have a good afternoon.” He walked past her to his SUV.
Sam returned to Bella.
“So…he’s hot.” Bella all but drooled at the retreating marshal.
Sam would not give Bella the satisfaction of being distracted. No matter how handsome the marshal was. And he was, but that was hardly the point here. Her sister had messed up in a major way, disrupting everything and putting them on the Marshals’ radar in a way they shouldn’t be.
“The fire alarm, Bella. Really?” She gestured at her turnout pants and coat on the ground. “You wasted the department’s time today. For what?”
She shrugged her shoulders.
Sam’s eye twitched. Bella was pushing it with this tactic of not telling her that she’d been peer-pressured into doing it by her new friend.
A car turned into the parking lot, and Sam’s phone beeped. “Our ride is here. I want you to think about today long and hard on the way home. We are going to talk about this.” She picked up her turnout coat and stormed off to the waiting car.
Bella didn’t say a word the entire time. Not in the Renegade Rides car. Not at the station. Not on the car ride home. She went straight into the house and to her room.
Sam grabbed a couple bottles of water and gave Bella a few moments to get settled. They were going to sit down and talk about this. She just hoped her sister would be forthcoming.
She knocked on Bella’s door.
“Come in.” Bella’s voice was muffled.
Sam opened the door and found Bella curled up on her bed, hugging a pillow to her chest. Tear stains on her cheeks.
“May I?” Sam gestured to the bed.
Bella sat up and moved over.
Sam handed her a bottle of water and took a seat. “We need to talk about the fire alarm.”
“I’m not going to change my story.” Bella took a drink from her water and put it on the nightstand.
“Is whoever you’re protecting worth it?”
Bella glanced at Sam and then hugged the pillow back to her chest. “I’m not protecting anyone. I wanted to see what would happen if we pulled it.”
