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The chief still didn’t move. “The person on the surveillance video appears to be a lot smaller than you, Silas.”
Appears to bebut the woman couldn’t say for sure. “You don’t have a good look at the face though, do you?”Good job, Tess.Grainy surveillance images weren’t enough to provide proof.
“No.” The woman exaggerated a frown. “The images are too dark. All we can see is a hoodie.”
“So, what evidence will hold up better? A full confession or a grainy image?” Silas walked to meet her.
Natalie’s glower made it clear she already knew he wasn’t going to give in.
“Let’s go down to the station and—”
The front door banged open and Morgan stalked out onto the porch. “I’m going horseback ri—” She halted when she saw Natalie. “What’re you doing here?” She turned to her mom. “Why are the police here?”
Tess opened her mouth to speak but Natalie stepped in. “I’m investigating a break-in, honey. That’s all. Nothing to worry about.”
“Right.” Silas drew all of the attention back to him before this got out of hand. “I broke into the Klines’ garage and Chief Natalie here was just about to arrest me.”
Morgan gasped. “You’re gettingarrested?” She spun to Tess. “You’re dating acriminal?”
“Yep.” He held out his hands in Natalie’s direction again, but the woman rolled her eyes. “For the love of God, Silas. Get in the car. We’ll talk about this at the station.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Idon’t believe this,” Morgan huffed. “You’d rather date a criminal than Callie’s dad? That makes no sense!”
Her daughter marched back inside the house, but Tess could only stare at Natalie’s police cruiser while the taillights disappeared down the highway. Why had she let Silas take the fall for her stupid decision? She’d panicked. She’d never been in trouble with the law before…
“Silas is in big trouble,” Morgan was announcing on the other side of the door. “The police came and took him away!”
“He didn’t do anything.” Tess stepped inside and knelt so that she was eye level with her daughter.
Aiden and Kyra both still sat on the couch, and now Willow sat between them, but nobody said a word.
“Iwas the one who broke into the Klines’,” Tess told her daughter. Why hadn’t she told Natalie the truth when she’d had the chance? “Silas is trying to protect me.” But she couldn’t let him shield her from this fiasco.
“Youbroke into Callie’s house?” Morgan shook her head, her mouth gaping. “How could you do that, Mom? How could you break into my best friend’s house?”
“It wasn’t thehouse. It was thegarage.” Tess stood back up, torn between staying to offer an explanation and getting in her truck to follow Natalie to the station.
“Are you going to jail, Mommy?” Willow started to cry. “What’s gonna happen to us? Please don’t go away.”
“I’m not going away.” Tess opened her arms so her youngest could run into them. “Shh. Everything’s all right,” she soothed as Willow rested her head on Tess’s shoulder. “I need you to go to the station,” she said to Aiden. “Please. Go make sure you can get Silas out of this mess before it’s too late.”
“Sure thing.” Aiden stood.
Kyra jumped up too. “Do you want me to stay for moral support? Or Aiden can drop me off at home on the way.”
“You can go home.” She needed to handle this with Morgan and Willow alone.
Her friend passed by, giving her shoulder a squeeze. “Let me know if you need anything. I’m there whenever you need to talk.”
“Thank you.” Tess set Willow’s feet back on the floor. She actually needed to quickly chat with her friend right now. “Can you girls please go sit on the couch and wait for me? I need to talk to Kyra for a second.”
Morgan hesitated but then did as she was told with Willow following behind.
“I’ll be right back,” she said to the girls before following Aiden and Kyra onto the porch.
“What a disaster we caused.” Kyra winced. “I’m so sorry. We thought it would be safe to bring them back at noon.”
