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And look where that had gotten us. I was being accused of doing something I hadn’t done. If I had done it, we never would have ended up in this mess in the first place. A perfect Catch-22.
“Do you think she might have been faking her pregnancy?” Denny suggested, still even-keeled as ever.
“No,” Sarah said emphatically, then paused, brows knitting together and lips pursing. “I mean… I guess, maybe. It’s possible. But it looked real when we spoke in person. She had a baby bump and everything.” Her brows inched a little closer together. “Although, I guess she never posted anything without her shirt covering it up. Maybe, if she was wearing a fake belly… But who would do that?”
I clenched my jaw to keep from laughing in disbelief.
Melony would. It was exactly the kind of batshit thing Melony would do.
“Do you know where Melony is now?” Denny asked.
Sarah opened her mouth, then closed it again before speaking. “Of course not.”
Yeah, and I bet you’ve got a bridge to sell us, too. I kept my mouth shut, though. If Sarah really thought I was capable of hurting an innocent woman and child, then every word I said set us back.
No wonder she’d been in such hysterics yesterday. The evil she must’ve thought I was capable of would’ve undone anyone.
“Do you know when Melony will be back?” Denny asked.
“No,” she said, quicker this time. “I don’t know anything.”
“She left you here with her child and didn’t tell you where she was going? When she’d return?” I couldn’t stop myself from speaking. This woman was lying to us, and Denny was letting her get away with it.
“Melony’s had a hard life. Harder than most. And I know what it’s like to fall in love with an abusive man,” Sarah said, every word dripping with venom and directed straight at me. “I just wanted to help her however I could.” She hung her head. “It’s what I wish someone would have done for me. That’s all.”
“Thank you, Sarah.” Denny placed the donuts down on the floor. “Have as many of these as you want, okay? They’re yours.”
She looked up hopefully. “Are you going to let me go now?”
“We are in a bit,” Denny said. “But I want to emphasize again—the baby you were watching was registered as a missing person, the victim of a kidnapping.” He paused, like he wanted that to really sink in. “Now, I don’t think you meant anyone any harm. You were lied to, and it got you wrapped up in some shifter business. Shifters deal with their own shit. Unless Xander and his mate want to press charges—”
“We don’t.” I crossed my arms over my chest, hardly in love with this turn of events. Sarah had done wrong, but she’d had bad information. She’d clearly been burned by a man before—someone who would hurt a woman and who might even hurt a baby. Her heart had been in the right place, just in the wrong fucking zip code.
I wanted to see her punished for how she’d kept Rylan from us, how her actions had hurt Felicity. Badly. But I also knew, deep down, it was wrong to throw the book at someone who’d only been trying to do good.
“In that case, let me offer you some advice, Sarah,” Denny said gently. “Get out of this now. Don’t go to the police, or you’re going to find yourself facing some nasty criminal charges you don’t want to deal with. Go back to your normal life. Go home, get some rest, and don’t contact Melony Houghton again.” He pulled his wallet out of his back pocket as he rose and drew several hundred dollar bills out of it. “These are for you. My guys say there was an incident with your phone.”
She sniffed a little, wiping her nose on her sleeve as she took the money. She was crying again.
“What’s going to happen to Grayson?” she asked.
“That’s not his name. Rylan is back with his mother,” Denny answered. “His real mother. He’s safer there than he’d ever be anywhere else.”
We emerged from the pantry to find the kitchen empty. Rabbit and Beauty were posted up in the living room, eyes focused on the windows facing the drive.
“That’s it, then?” I asked Denny once we were out of Sarah’s earshot. “You’re just letting her go?”
“We can’t keep her in the pantry forever,” Denny said. “And I don’t suspect she’ll be paying attention to my instructions. Once she’s free, she might help draw Melony out.”
“You don’t believe her story, either, then.”
He shrugged. “I believe she believes it.”
“What about the part where she doesn’t know where Melony is?”
“Oh, that’s for sure a lie, but my guys will keep tabs on Sarah and this house for a few days. Melony will turn up eventually. When she does, you’ll be the first person I call.”
“So, where do we go next?” I asked. “Back to the hotel to wait?”
