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His last phone call was to Kat. Two minutes later, she appeared in the doorway, and raised her eyebrows at the sight of the two of them snuggled on the bed with Pixie and Zee.
“You might want to make yourselves less comfortable if Elliot is on his way over,” she said. “You know how he is.”
Anything that could be termed “physical affection” made the policeman immensely uncomfortable, and if he was uncomfortable, he might fail to notice important details.
“Good point.” Tione slipped off the bed, displacing Pixie, and returned to the chair by the fire.
Kat perched on the edge of the bed beside Megan. “Hey, sweetie. You want to tell me what’s going on?”
Megan’s eyes darted to Tione before returning to Kat, and she wet her lips. “Can I tell you when the policeman arrives? I don’t want to say it twice.”
Kat scratched Zee’s haunches. “Sure thing. He shouldn’t take long.”
He didn’t. As per usual, he knocked on the door three times and waited for someone to open it. Elliot wasn’t the type to let himself in, even when he was off duty. He didn’t want to see something illegal and then be accused of entering unlawfully. Tione thought the guy was a bit too concerned about abiding by the rules, but he was in his fifties and there was no changing his habits at this point.
“Afternoon.” Elliot nodded respectfully when Tione opened the door. “Came as fast as I could. What seems to be the problem?”
“Hello, officer,” a soft voice said behind Tione.
He jerked around. To his surprise, Megan had crossed the room and was offering a hand to the policeman, whose cheeks pinkened.
He shook her hand. “Well hello, little lady.”
“Megan,” she told him. “My name is Megan Talbot.”
“Nice to make your acquaintance, Megan Talbot.”
Tione turned away so they wouldn’t see him smile. Instantly, he could tell that Megan had acquired a new admirer. Elliot’s shoulders went back and his expression softened when he looked at her. She seemed to have that effect on people, with her gentleness and delicate frame. Elliot wasn’t the most progressive of men, and he’d want to protect her, exactly as Tione had hoped.
He cleared his throat. “Let’s sit down, and Megan can tell us whatever she needs to.”
She paled, and he brushed his hand against hers as they moved around the small table, hoping she’d take comfort from the touch. Her gaze flew to his, and he gave her an encouraging smile. She sat and wrung her hands. Elliot withdrew a notepad from his pocket and jotted the date, location, and time at the top, followed by her name.
“Megan,” he said. “Why don’t you tell me what happened?”
She studied a coffee ring on the table, refusing to make eye contact with any of them. Tione’s heart went out to her. He had a pretty good idea of what she was about to say, but it couldn’t be easy to verbalize.
“Where do you want me to start?” she asked.
“At the beginning.” There was no trace of irony in Elliot’s tone. He wasn’t like that.
“Okay.” She closed her eyes, her mouth set in a determined line. “Okay,” she repeated. “I met Charles—that’s Charles Wentworth Junior,” she added, for Elliot’s benefit, “around eight months ago, and we started dating. It was at a wedding. He was in the bridal party, and I was there to put the finishing touches on the cake. He was handsome, charming, likable. We flirted.” A puff of laughter escaped her. “I couldn’t understand why he’d be interested in me, but I drank it up like a little fool.”
“What next?” Elliot prompted, taking notes.
Tione’s fingernails dug into his palms hard enough to draw red lines on them. Intellectually, he’d known that Megan had dated the bozo from the beach, but hearing her speak about him this way made him want to drag the man back here and rend him limb from limb. Why wouldn’t any man be interested in her? She was a sweet, pretty woman with a heart of gold. Charles had been a lucky sonofabitch to be allowed to touch her, so why the fuck had he abused that privilege?
“We started dating,” she said, her eyes still squeezed shut, like she couldn’t bear to look at them. “As I said, he was charming. He swept me off my feet. Bought me flowers and jewelry, took me to expensive restaurants, invited me to work events and bragged to his colleagues about how perfect I was. Told everyone who’d listen that he’d known it was love the moment he saw me and that he intended to marry me one day soon.” She lifted her shoulders in a shrug. Tione couldn’t take his eyes from her, and based on the stillness in the room, he suspected Kat and Elliot were spellbound, too.
“Three months after we met, I moved in with him. I knew it was fast, but I didn’t care because I was crazy about him and I was certain he felt the same way.” She broke off, hauled in a deep breath, and pursed her lips, as though she was pulling herself together. Dread curdled Tione’s stomach. He had a feeling he didn’t want to hear what came next.
“Go on,” Elliot prompted.
“I’d always known he wasn’t perfect. He could be jealous, but he kept his temper in check. He’d just grumble if another man paid me attention, and to be honest, I was flattered. I didn’t see it as a red flag, but when I moved in, he changed.”
“How so?”
“He started criticizing me. Not in overt ways, and any time I called him on it, he made me feel like I was overreacting. He suggested I was tired because of the hours I worked, and he convinced me to quit my job and let him take care of me. I think he liked me being dependent on him.”
