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  “Oh, no,” I replied.

  There was more. Paige struggled to get the words out. “Oh, yes. I walked in on him kissing Celeste Cooper.”

  Celeste Cooper? I had to repeat it again in my head because it was just so crazy. I knew Mark didn’t mind playing with fire, but this was like dancing barefoot over an open flame.

  Excuse me for taking so long to explain myself. Of all the people for Mark to cheat with, Celeste Cooper was the most obvious choice, and yet also the most dangerous. There was one simple reason for this; Celeste’s husband, Ryan, was one of Mark’s old poker buddies.

  I gave her all the sympathy I had, but words could only comfort her so much right now. Still, it was better to say them than to leave them at the tip of my tongue. “That’s so awful.”

  “What’s really awful is, I don’t think Celeste even realized she was the other woman. If anything, she seemed to think I was his woman on the side.”

  “That’s insane. This whole situation is—”

  Paige didn’t let me finish. “Maddening. It makes my blood boil. Apparently, he’s secretly been dating both of us for months.”

  I wasn’t even the recipient of this mistreatment, yet I was still getting all worked up. My heart was heavy, my breaths shortened, and anger coursed through my veins. “I don’t even know what to say.”

  Paige simplified things. “He’s such a scumbag. That’s all there is to it.”

  “I’m so sorry.”

  She began beating herself up and questioning her own judgment. “I can’t believe I was so blind. How did I not realize this was happening?”

  “This isn’t your fault. This is his doing, and only his.”

  She looked at me with regret in her eyes. “You were right about him.”

  “I wish I wasn’t.”

  Now was not the time to say “I told you so.” I wanted to keep those words as far from my lips as possible. What she needed now was empathy and nothing else.

  Paige’s second guessing didn’t stop there. She had plenty more where that came from. “But you were right all along. I should have listened to you from the beginning.”

  “Don’t think about that,” I said. “You need to take care of yourself. I know it hurts now, but you deserve better than this slime ball. It may take a while, but you’re going to bounce back and find someone who will appreciate you.”

  “I hope so.”

  “There’s no doubt in my mind you’ll rebound from this. You just need some time. For example, time away from work,” I said.

  “Are you trying to send me home?”

  “Of course I am. I don’t even know why you’re here in the first place. You should be at home eating ice cream directly out of the carton with a glass of wine keeping you company. I’m not just saying it as your friend, but your boss too.”

  “Don’t think I didn’t consider it.”

  I was confused to say the least. “Then why did you come in today?”

  “The problem is, if I sat around the house, I’d just spend the whole day stewing. I’d keep going over in my head what he did to me and how angry it’s made me. It wouldn’t make me feel better, but worse. While I’m here, at least I can keep busy and try to take my mind off of him.”

  “Are you sure you want to work your regular shift?”

  “Yeah. As crazy as it sounds, I think I’m better off working today.”

  I gave Paige another hug to comfort her through this turbulent time. “Let me know if you change your mind.”

  She forced a smile. “Thanks for being there for me.”

  “Of course. The last thing I’d want would be for you to go through this alone.”

  “There’s no danger of that happening with you around.”

  The look on her face changed as she tried to detach herself from her emotions as much as she could.

  Paige continued. “I’m going to go clock in.”

  I had to admire her spirit. She was fighting the good fight at a time when I’d be throwing in the towel and picking up a carton of ice cream.

  While Paige went in the back to begin her shift, I tried to get my thoughts to focus on work as well. The shelter wasn’t able to hold my attention for long. A few seconds later, my focus was torn in a whole new direction.

  Chapter Three

  Just as I caught my breath after Paige headed into the back, a new form of drama came calling, this time in the form of a police detective. On the list of people I didn’t want to show up at my door, police were at the top of it, right next to tax auditors. The local authorities didn’t come carrying big foam checks worth millions of dollars. They were the perpetual bearers of bad news. No doubt that would be the case here as well.

  If I didn’t already have enough reason to be concerned, the detective wasn’t just any random member of law enforcement. He was family. I wish I could tell you that made things easier. That was far from the case.

  My younger brother Joe had a knack for doing everything the hard way. He was a clean-shaven, crew-cut, blue-eyed man in his late thirties with no neck to speak of, and who made his points loud and clear. I played a detective on TV, but he did it in real life. He never hesitated to tell me the difference between the two, much to my annoyance. It wasn’t the only thing he did that got under my skin, but it was the most grating. Apparently, he didn’t understand what taking a creative license meant. I’d never met a bigger stickler in my entire life, and I did not mean that as a compliment.

  As hard as it was to believe, I’d opened the place months ago, and this was his first time setting foot in here. That, combined with the tight-lipped expression on his face, and I couldn’t help but get the feeling that I wasn’t going to like the words that were going to come out of his mouth.

  “Morning, Hope.”

  With a greeting that joyless, it was hard to believe we were family. He addressed me with stunning indifference. It was no secret that I didn’t get the warmest welcome from my family when I returned to Florida, but I figured relations would have thawed at least somewhat by now. Clearly, I was wrong.

  If Joe didn’t want to bother with chitchat, fine, neither would I. Instead, I cut straight to the point. “What brings you here?”

  He didn’t give me a lot to work with. “Business.”

  Did extra words come at a premium now? Had answering in full sentences been outlawed?

  “What kind of business?”

  He remained awkward and dismissive. “I’d rather not discuss this with you.”

  If he didn’t think I was going to call him out on that, he was dead wrong.

  “Why don’t you want to discuss this with me?”

  He still didn’t answer my question, opting for a standoffish reply. “Because it doesn’t concern you.”

  “Really, you’re going to come into my business and tell me something doesn’t concern me? Nice try.”

  As a resourceful detective, he tried to tackle this situation a different way. Joe tried to ignore me and began looking over my shoulder towards the back room.

  “Paige Richardson, are you back there?”

  He walked around me and headed towards the back room. I tailed him, peppering him with questions.

  “What do you want Paige for?”

  He didn’t answer this time. As he kept walking, Paige came out from the back room. She gave my brother the once over but mostly looked confused as she had no idea who he was or why he was here.

  “Yes?” Paige replied. “Who are you?”

  Joe pulled his police badge out and showed it to her. “Joe Hadley, Hollywood Police Department. I need to ask you some questions.”

  Paige was beside herself. She couldn’t make heads nor tails of this. Her mind was swirling with confusion. Her panicked thoughts came out as a stream of consciousness. “Hadley? Police? But wait, why?”

  “That’s what I’ve been trying to figure out,” I said.

  Joe turned to me with his eyes narrowed. “This is a private matter.”

  “Stop kid
ding yourself. You don’t think I’m going to find out what this is all about? Just come out with it already,” I said.

  Paige’s voice cracked as she replied. “Will someone please tell me what this is all about?”

  Joe finally broke down and came clean. “The murder of Mark Butler.”

  Chapter Four

  “He’s really dead?” Paige asked.

  “He was stabbed in the back in his garage with his own fishing knife,” Joe said.

  What an awful way to go. It was the kind of thing that made my stomach turn. As much as a scumbag as he was, and he truly was, to have his life cut short that way, was cruel and unusual.

  My brother’s expression didn’t change. He was as stoic as always on the outside. The only emotion I saw was in his eyes. There was something very striking about his stare. He looked at her like he was reading her reaction to his statement. That was very curious to me and sent a shiver down my spine.

  At first, I couldn’t figure out why my body was having such a visceral reaction. Then, it dawned on me. I knew why my brother was really here.

  “Paige, where were you last night between eleven and midnight?” Joe asked.

  My suspicions were confirmed. Just when I thought this situation reached a low point, it went from bad to decidedly worse.

  Paige was confused. “Wait, why do you want to know that?”

  My brother didn’t shed any light on the situation. “Just answer the question.”

  Joe’s abruptness put Paige on her heels. She searched her thoughts for the answer. “I uh…”

  My brother’s patience was razor thin. He got tired of waiting. “Paige.”

  Finally, Paige untied her tongue. “I was driving home--”

  My brother took her statement and ran with it in a highly disturbing direction. “From Mark’s place?”

  “Yes,” Paige answered.

  I had to keep my jaw from hitting the floor. Did I really just hear that right? I couldn’t have. Denial was a powerful thing, but it could only take me so far, especially when the truth was staring me down. I was so shocked that I couldn’t keep thoughts from spilling out in a stream of consciousness. “What? Tell me that’s not true.”

  The somber, remorseful look in Paige’s eyes gave me the exact answer I didn’t want to see.

  Paige turned to Joe. “How did you know I was at Mark’s house?”

  “We got an anonymous phone call placing you at the scene around the time of the murder.”

  That last statement didn’t sit well with me, the kind of detail that made it impossible for me to blindly accept it as the truth. “Anonymous?”

  Paige’s focus was squarely on Joe. She was desperate to plead her innocence. “I was briefly at his house, but it’s not what it looks like.”

  “Are you saying you didn’t kill him?” my brother asked.

  She was completely resolute and lightning quick with her reply this time. “I didn’t kill him.”

  “So you say,” he replied.

  Paige stated her case further. “It’s the truth. I’m not a killer.”

  Joe let his skepticism be known. “Are you saying it’s all just a big coincidence that you were at his house shortly before he was killed?”

  Paige stated her case again. “He was alive when I left.”

  My brother came at her from a different angle. “What were you and Mark arguing about last night?”

  The confidence that had been so prevalent in Paige just a moment ago eroded in a heartbeat. She fumbled around, trying to pick her words wisely.

  Joe grew tired of waiting for her and lobbed out his own theory. “Was it about how he cheated on you?”

  She sighed, then answered. “Yes.”

  “Your conversation must have gotten pretty heated.”

  “I was angry,” she explained.

  I almost put my head in my hands. She was playing right into his hands. Even more, she didn’t even realize it.

  Joe didn’t fritter away the opportunity Paige had given him. “Murder is often a crime of passion.”

  She became defiant. “I already told you I didn’t do it. Mark and I had an argument, then I got in my car and drove home. End of story.”

  “That’s your official statement then?”

  “It’s the truth,” she declared.

  The critical look was still in Joe’s eyes. “We’ll see about that. My forensics team is running a slew of lab tests right now. I have a feeling this won’t be the last we’ll be seeing of each other.”

  I’d heard enough. The situation had turned dire. I had a series of questions of my own that needed answering before I could jump to any wild conclusions.

  “Joe, I need to talk to you,” I said.

  He wasn’t having it. “Not now. This isn’t your business.”

  It was a bad time for my little brother to underestimate me. “Joe, I’m not joking.”

  He glared at me. “Neither am I.”

  While Joe and I were going toe to toe, Paige was completely beside herself.

  She blurted out her biggest fear. “Are you going to arrest me?”

  Joe gave her the first bit of good news she’d heard all day, although it came with a strict caveat. “Not at the moment. At least not until I get the test results back. But don’t you even think of leaving town on me.”

  Like that, Joe was done. What he didn’t realize was that I was just getting started.

  Chapter Five

  Joe was in a hurry to get out of the shelter, and I didn’t blame him. He no doubt knew what was coming, although he was trying to do his best to avoid it. He could attempt to make tracks all he wanted; it would do him no good.

  “Joe, I need to talk to you.”

  He stopped but didn’t turn around. I figured it was because he was trying to compose himself. He let out a faint groan. It was probably the first of many to come.

  “Can’t it wait?” he replied.

  Joe sounded as dismissive as could be. That was the thing about my brother; he never made any bones about his feelings. When he loathed something, he made sure the whole world knew it. His distaste was abundantly clear at that moment.

  “No. We have to talk about this now,” I said.

  He groaned again, this time louder, and without even trying to conceal his displeasure.

  So, what was the cause of our squabbles? That was easy. Joe had a massive chip on his shoulder, largely stemming from my acting career. Don’t get me wrong, we had our spats during my pre-thespian days, but they really ramped up once I headed out to California.

  One of the issues was my pursuit of an acting career in the first place. See, law enforcement was in my blood. My father spent over four decades on the force. His father did the same. Even my mom was in law enforcement, working as a 9-1-1 dispatcher. That’s how my parents met.

  Suddenly, I started to get a little choked up. That always happened when I thought of my mother. It had been seven years since she passed away, but the wound was still as fresh as ever. That was probably because of the way she died. Her heart attack came out of nowhere. One minute she was baking cookies, the next she was keeled over on the ground.

  I had to compose myself before I began to tear up. Paige needed me to be strong right now. The last thing I could afford to do was blubber over my mother’s death. I took a few deep breaths and then refocused.

  My mother’s death aside, we were a blue-blooded family. It was just assumed that my brother and I would join the Hollywood Police Department in some capacity. My brother fell right in line, first as a deputy, and now as a detective. No doubt one day Joe would retire to the Florida Keys and take up fishing, just as my father had when he turned in his badge.

  Given that kind of lineage, artsy-fartsy things like acting weren’t encouraged in my house growing up. Even so, the acting bug proved more unshakable than mosquitos on a muggy summer Florida day. Unfortunately, when I moved to California to pursue my silver screen dreams, I did so with a distinct lack of encouragement from
my family.

  The end of my acting career became the ultimate “I told you so” moment for him. It didn’t help that Joe was the most vocal voice of dissent when it came to my acting career in the first place. He’d always warned me that Hollywood would chew me up and spit me out, which was exactly what happened. At the same time, eating crow was hard enough. Having it shoved in my face was infinitely worse.

  That was the emotional baggage we both brought to the table now. And, as much as we tried to ignore it, the past was never far behind. It was a powder keg ready to explode at any moment.

  Joe put his foot down, dismissing me as clearly and definitively as he could. “I’m really busy here. I don’t have time for this.”

  That wasn’t going to fly with me. I kept after him. “Make time, Joe.”

  Joe let out a reluctant sigh. “All right, make it quick.”

  I knew he wasn’t kidding. He wasn’t going to give me a second to spare. I had to launch right into it. “You can’t really think Paige did this, can you?”

  “Are you kidding? The only reason I haven’t arrested her is because I like to be extra thorough before I cuff a suspect, and she’s not a flight risk. A lot of other detectives would be dragging her off to jail right now.”

  “I can’t believe this.”

  “No, you don’t want to believe it. There’s a big difference. Look, I know it’s hard for you to believe that your friend could do something like this--”

  I corrected him. “It’s impossible for me to believe. This is Paige we’re talking about. She’s a sweetheart. The kindest person I know--”

  He didn’t let me finish. “Who found out her boyfriend was cheating on her and was spotted at the scene around the time he was killed. There’s motive and opportunity.”

  “Doesn’t the fact that the call you got was anonymous bother you? Don’t you think she’s being framed? What if the killer was the anonymous caller, using Paige as the perfect frame for the crime?”

  “That’s a big if. I prefer to work in facts. We have the murder weapon, and my team is running a whole slew of tests. Regardless of how much you argue with me, if her prints show up on the murder weapon, she’s going to be spending the rest of her life behind bars.”