Chapter Sixteen #2
Had it all just been an attempt to set up the sting on Fletcher? She thought of the meal he’d brought her, the apologies he’d made, the promises…
She closed her eyes, knowing he was watching, waiting for her to speak. React. Anything.
She couldn’t bring herself to look at him. Not when her emotions were all over the place.
“Are you sure you’re all right?” he asked quietly.
She didn’t need to answer. She chose to address the hovering Detective Finbar instead. “I assume the gallery’s under investigation now.”
“I’m afraid so,” Finbar said. “It’s just routine until we can rule out the possibility that this was an inside job.”
“I told you,” Nick bit off. “Sassy and Soledad were unaware of what was happening at their back door.”
“Like I said,” Finbar said, “we’re required to follow through with our investigative efforts. If Ms. Colton and Ms. Yazzie are clean, it won’t take long to rule them out as accomplices.”
Sassy mashed her fingers into the space between her eyes. A headache was starting to make tracks there. “Am I under arrest, Detective?” she drawled.
“No, ma’am,” Finbar stated. “But your cooperation will be noted in my report.”
She inhaled deeply, wishing she could paper over this entire nightmare. The night had been such a success for Zephyr. How had it all fallen apart so completely? “Do what you have to do,” she said, hearing the finality in her voice.
“Thank you, Ms. Colton,” Finbar said. “I’ll be in touch.”
Nick waited for him to walk away before he touched her, his palm spreading warm across the base of her spine. “They were supposed to catch him. This was all supposed to be over after tonight.”
“How?” she asked.
“How what?”
“How could you do this?” she hissed. Shaking her head, she fought for grace that wasn’t there. The horse’s head stared at her from empty eyes on the floor. She shook her head again. “How could you lie to me about what you were doing in the gallery with Olsen Security?”
“I didn’t lie,” he argued. “They did install a new security system. A better one.”
“And the hidden cameras?” she asked. “Are spy gadgets part of the standard security package or did they throw those in for free?”
He balked. “I—”
“A lie by omission is still a lie,” she reminded him.
“Twenty years of friendship haven’t taught you that?
” Before he could think of a reply, she stepped into him, asserting herself in the space between them.
“You’ve been planning this for God knows how long and you didn’t breathe a word of it.
Not one word. Is that what this—” she gestured from him to her and back “—has come to? You lying and sneaking around and planning to catch drug dealers in my wheelhouse without me any the wiser?”
“I told you,” he said, fixed and finite in the face of her fury. “I told you, Sassy, that I was going to protect you.”
“At the expense of our relationship?” she challenged, her voice escalating to ring off the walls.
“You two need a ref?” Jacob asked as he and Chayton edged closer.
“We’re fine,” Nick said, his voice maddeningly calm and even. He didn’t break the stare down between him and Sassy. “If you or Soledad had known about tonight, you might have inadvertently tipped Ryder off.”
“Oh, so she and I were the liabilities in all this?” Sassy asked, unable to stay quiet. “We were both blindsided by what just happened, but she is shattered. The least you could have done was soften the blow by being honest about something.”
“I did what I thought was best,” he said, shoulders straight, unrepentant. “For you, Soledad and Zephyr.”
“It wasn’t your call to make,” she tossed back.
“Do you have any idea what this investigation will do to us? Soledad will have to stand for questioning. I guarantee she’s humiliated already.
I won’t escape unscathed, either. They may not find anything in the surveillance footage or on the books, but this won’t put Zephyr in a good light.
There is such a thing as bad press. That doesn’t simply affect the bottom line, Nick.
It affects every single one of my artists.
Everyone associated with Zephyr will feel the repercussions in some way. ”
“He tried to break into your house!” Nick said, finally losing his cool. “What was I supposed to do?”
“You don’t know it was him outside my house that night,” she pushed back.
“Tell me you don’t believe it was him,” he challenged. “Tell me you don’t believe Fletcher was the one who tried to kill you on Main Street.”
“You’re not a detective,” she told him. “You were the first person I turned to when I needed someone. You were the first person I could call when anything went wrong. After this, how am I supposed to trust you ever again?”
“I’m still here,” he said, reaching for her hands. When she pulled back, he looked stricken. “It’s me, Sassy. I’ve always been here for you. Even when you went to New York, I waited for you to come back. I knew you would come back.”
She swallowed this new knowledge. “Maybe. But I can’t stand for your hero complex to get in the way anymore.”
“My what?”
“You always have to be the hero, the one who sweeps in and saves the day. You think you’re the only one who can fix things when they’re broken and to hell with anyone who gets in your way.”
“That’s not true!”
Tonight felt like a betrayal. Worse, it felt like the ending of something. That rush of feelings she’d felt when she’d accepted Margot’s wishes that they would go to the fundraiser as a couple. That this was maybe a real date and they could start over as more than just friends.
He’d been reckless. She’d been foolish. Now they’d both face the consequences.
Glancing around the gallery, she noted the investigation already in progress, the forensic team, the photographers crowded inside the storeroom.
She avoided the curious looks sent her way.
The catering staff needed help navigating the cleanup with the police in house.
If she was going to answer Detective Finbar’s probing questions, she would do so tonight.
She’d need to give him access to her computer and files, every business transaction she had on record, if she was going to clear the name of her business anytime soon.
She glanced at her cousin and Chay. “Thanks for staying. But I can handle things from here.”
“Are you sure?” Jacob asked. “I don’t mind staying longer.”
“I’m a big girl,” she reminded him and softened the words with a thin smile. “Go home. I’m sure Noah and Uncle Sam are going to have questions.” She looked to Chay. “Ava, too.”
“What would you like us to tell them?” Chay asked, hands deep in his pockets.
“The truth,” she said. “I have nothing to hide.”
“Of course you don’t,” Jacob said, gathering her in against his side. “Don’t hesitate to call if you need us. It was a good night.”
She nodded, feeling bereft on the back of the fundraiser’s success. “Maybe this won’t impact the family foundation negatively.”
“Let Dad, Uncle James, Sherry and your parents worry about that,” Jacob advised. “I’m sure everyone will come through just fine, especially once the police collar Ryder.”
Chay nodded, offering Sassy a commiserating embrace. “Call me, too, if you need to, anytime.”
She made a face. “You have a baby at home.”
“I want to help, Sassy,” he insisted. “Ava would want me to as well.”
“Thanks, Chay.” He raised his hand in a final goodbye as they both made their way toward the door. She tensed, feeling Nick at her back. “You should go, too.”
“I’ll stay as long as you have to.”
“Let me rephrase,” she said, biting the words off one at a time. “I want you to go.”
“Don’t do this, Sassy. I’m not going to leave you in the middle of this mess.”
“Then you shouldn’t have made it,” she stated, tired. All of a sudden, she was so tired. She wanted to slide to the bottom step of the staircase and curl in on herself. “Go. Please.”
He waited several seconds, as if expecting her to change her mind. Then he sighed. “I really did think I was doing the right thing.”
“Think different,” she suggested. “Good night, Nick.”
He didn’t respond before winding around her to the exit. Maybe because her “good night” sounded all too terribly like “goodbye.”