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So she’d spent the last hour gathering her nerve.
If her imperfections had been enough to drive her mother away, what she had to tell her father might be enough to do the same to him.
As if sensing her gaze, her father glanced up from his iPhone.
“You’re quiet tonight.”
She swallowed. “I have a hypothetical legal question.”
He put the phone down. “In my experience, hypothetical questions usually aren’t hypothetical at all.”
She swiped her palms on her knees. “If you had a case where someone could give your client an alibi but that person would get in trouble for speaking up, would you still want the alibi?”
An eyebrow rose. “Define trouble.”
She looked at her plate, pushing the beef in a circle. “Her father would disown her.”
Now she had his full attention. Simon’s too.
“Are we talking about you?” her father said. His eyes narrowed. “Who needs an alibi?”
“Gabriel Merrick,” she whispered.
“For what exactly?”
“For arson.” Her father’s face looked like thunder now, so she rushed on, stumbling over her words, afraid she would cry before she got it all out. “They think he started the fires that have been in the paper, but I know I know ”
“You know what, Layne?” Her father’s voice was ice cold.
“What do you know?”
“He didn’t. I know he didn’t. At least ”
“You don’t know anything, Layne.” Her father’s fist was tight on the table. “Arson is a big deal. They don’t just arrest someone on suspicion. There will be proof, and an investigation ”
“Apparently someone reported him for starting the fire at the farm. But he didn’t do it. He couldn’t have done it.” Her hands were shaking. “Because he was with me.”
Her father was staring at her. Simon, too.
Neither said anything.
She took a deep breath. “We were lying on the hill by the back paddock. He ”
“Lying? On the hill? ”
“Talking!” she said. “Just talking! But the fire started while he was with me, so I know he couldn’t have done it.” Her father wasn’t saying anything, so she rushed on, feeling tears prick her eyes with sudden emotion. “Can you call the police? Can you tell them? You can ground me forever. You can hate me. Just, please ”
bsolutely no clothes.
CHAPTER 34
Layne had never been a clock-watcher in class. Now it seemed every class took sixteen hours, the minutes ticking by until she could see Gabriel.
She still couldn’t sort her feelings about him. Anger, at what had happened? She had no idea whether that was his fault. Curiosity? Absolutely. Intrigue, for certain.
Fury. Fear.
Desire. Longing.
