Page 50 of Silver Player

“I was in the back as well.”

“Your exact position?” June questions, and I swallow. She isn’t serious, right?

“Between the shelves,” Roxie clarifies. “The last row.”

“I see,” June draws out. “You were both in the back, and what exactly were you doing that you couldn’t hear anything other than bells?” Her lip crooks up, fighting a smile, and I’m ready to tell her it’s none of her business when I realize it’s important to explain Roxie and I were busy, which is why we didn’t see anything.

“We were…”

“Shelving a book in a place I couldn’t reach,” Roxanne blurts. “Billy is very handy.”

I choke, and June’s smile grows a little broader. “So I’ve been told.” Dammit. Why can’t she move along in her questioning?

“Yes, well, because we were in the back, I didn’t see or hear anyone breaking in.” Roxie’s voice begins to tremble, and my hand clenches and unclenches, wanting to reach for her again.

“Well, no one broke in, it appears,” June states rather formally. “There’s no forced entry.”

Roxanne’s head turns to me. “Didn’t you lock the door?”

“It wasn’t locked?” I’m peering at June as I speak, hesitant in my confidence. I can’t recall hearing the lock click into place as I was fixated on Roxie. Her shy grin when I entered. The rush of heat along her neck. The way her eyes latched onto mine. All I could think about was getting her between the shelves and having a do-over of what wasn’t done earlier.

June glances back and forth between Roxie and myself with one brow arched. Her smile wavers. “The door wasn’t locked when I walked in. Did you unlock it, expecting me?”

“I haven’t moved,” Roxie states.

“I went through the back and up the stairs to check on Roxie’s niece.” The words draw Roxie’s attention, and she turns on me with a scowl. I hold my face still, hoping not to give away what I discovered up there or rather who I didn’t see.

“You have a niece?” June asks.

“She’s newly moved in with me,” Roxanne clarifies, and June makes a note on her tablet.

“Can you tell me a little bit about her?”

Roxie explains details, like Sadie’s name, age, and the circumstances of her moving to Blue Ridge. Thankfully, she leaves out my involvement. It isn’t relevant.

June nods, no longer teasing either of us with the information she received. “I’ve heard of your girl.” Roxanne bristles beside me and stands taller. June’s addressing me as she speaks, and for a second, I think she knows my secret. My girl. She knows Sadie is my daughter.

“Heard she’s a little troublemaker up at the high school.”

“Now, wait a minute…” I begin, but Roxie steps forward, her hands fisting at her side.

“She’s had a lot of things happen at once. More than any child should have to bear. Her mother died. She moved here. She discovered…” Roxie pauses as she looks at me, but I shake my head, just a slight twitch, and her face hardens. “She needs some compassion, and she isn’t getting it from the other kids.”

This is the first I’ve heard these things. I mean, I knew there were issues up at the school, but this sounds a little more serious than just a conflict or two.

“Does sound like she’s had it rough,” June sympathizes. “But I can’t deny this looks like an inside job, and as the two of you seem to be each other’s alibi, I’d like to question Sadie, if I may.”

“She’s sleeping,” I interject, turning to Roxie for approval of this defense, but I’ve lost Roxanne. She’s stepped a foot away from me, putting some distance between us.

“I can assure you my niece would never do such a thing as steal from me.” Roxie’s voice trembles again with conviction and anger. The sheriff deputy is Butch Marshall, and his radio crackles from where he stands by the front door. He tugs the receiver up to his mouth.

“Barne,” he addresses his superior. “We have a possible break-in at Hetty’s Flower Shop down the street. An alarm is going off.”

June slaps the tablet cover closed and gives Butch permission to follow up. Then she turns narrowed eyes on Roxanne.

“Doesn’t your niece work there?”

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