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“The woman who came to us said she paid her for a”—Kushner did air quotes—“séance, but when she arrived at her house, Ms. Kent told her she never received the check, and requested cash instead. Then a month later, the original check was cashed, and when she called to complain, Ms. Kent’s phone number was disconnected.”
“Roxanna doesn’t do séances,” Tessa said.
Took the words right out of his mouth. But the twelve-hundred dollars…
“That’s just the tip of the iceberg,” the detective warned. “All we need is one thing to connect her to the hotline, and we’ve got her.”
Now Loyal’s jaw clenched hard as he shook his head in denial. Two months ago, he might have believed this. Now? Nope. No fucking way.
He paced toward the register. Kushner barked at him not to touch anything, so he swung back around and leaned against the wall next to Tessa. The clock dragged on as they watched the search.
“Rox didn’t do anything,” Tessa muttered after a bit. “This is bullshit.”
“I agree.” In fact—he pulled his phone from his pocket.
Kushner immediately turned from the door. “Sorry, but no phone calls.”
“Not even to my lawyer?”
The detective’s eyes narrowed. “Why would you need a lawyer?”
“It’s not for me. You’ve got the wrong person,” he told the guy just as a loud exclamation came from out in the back hall. Roxanna was back.
“Oh my God.” Fear rang in her voice. “What happened?”
“Which one of you is Roxanna Kent?” the officer outside asked.
“I am. Is everyone okay? Loyal? Tessa? Did something happen at the bakery?”
Honor and Mae’s alarmed voices joined in until the officer spoke over all of them.
“No one is injured. Settle down. Ma’am, we need you to step inside. No, not you two. Stay out here.”
Loyal caught a glimpse of Honor and Mae’s confused expressions, but the moment Roxanna passed through the door, everything else faded.
Her frantic gaze met his, darted toward Tessa, then back to him. “Are you guys okay?”
See? This woman couldn’t be who they thought she was. She cared too much about other people.
He loved her too much.
“We’re fine,” he assured her.
When they moved toward each other, the detective stepped between them. Finally, Roxanna seemed to see the other people in her shop. Her dark eyebrows dipped down in a fierce frown as she leaned past Kushner to look into the back room. “What are they doing?”
“Remember that hotline that scammed my ex?” Loyal asked.
Her head whipped around and all the color drained from her face. Her wide eyes met hi
s, full of fear. In that instant, he knew that she knew he’d found out. Exactly what, he didn’t know, but the detective did, didn’t he?
Seeing the guilt in her face…
His chest constricted so tight it hurt to breathe. He hadn’t thought anything could be worse than being left at the altar, but he’d been wrong. He hadn’t been in love with Lisa like he was with Roxanna. Lisa had left him, but she’d never really lied to him about who she was.
“Loyal,” Roxanna said, her voice vibrating with remorse. “It’s not what you think. I—”
He shook his head as even with his heart shattering into a million pieces, his first instinct was to protect her. “Shut up.”
