Page 61 of Beneath the Sapphire Sky

“What do I owe this pleasure to?”

He sent her a crooked smile. “I’m waiting for your dad and Jack.” He nodded at her. “And you. There’s something I need to discuss with you all regarding the vandalism.”

Belle’s eyes widened. “You want a coffee?” Belle grabbed the portafilter and started to make it. She spoke over her shoulder. “You’ve got some information?”

She glanced over to see her father and brother come through the door and added two extra cups to the bench.

May as well make them some before they ask.

She set the coffees down, with milk and sugar beside them. They could sort that out themselves.

They all looked at Mac expectantly. He sipped his coffee and closed his eyes.

“You always make a good drop.” He cracked an eye. “Almost as good as Cat’s.”

Belle laughed. “If that’s the comparison I’m getting, I’m running with it.”

Everyone raved about Cat van Alden’s coffee at the cupcake shop. Or rather, now it was Cat Hart. She and rock-star boyfriend Zac had married in a small, private ceremony only last autumn.

Mac sighed when he saw their patience levels were decreasing. “What I’m going to suggest may make you angry, but please bear with me, okay?”

Her father’s eyes narrowed, but he nodded. They’d all known Mac his entire life. The whole town trusted him and his sense of fairness and justice.

He took a deep breath. “I would like your permission to fingerprint Mrs Davis.”

Belle blinked, then went to speak.

Nope. She had nothing.

Jack looked equally as shocked as she felt. Her father’s face morphed through shock, anger, and rejection. Then he let out the biggest laugh she’d ever heard him release.

He slapped Mac on the shoulder. Tears ran down his face and he wiped at them, shaking his head.

“You had me there for a moment, boy.”

Mac’s mouth twisted in what Belle assumed was supposed to pass for a smile.

“The problem is, I wasn’t joking.”

The smiles fell from their faces, one by one. No one spoke. It was so quiet Belle could hear the tick of the small clock she kept on the front reception podium, metres away.

“Why?” she asked.

Mac looked at her, seemingly grateful for the opening. “We found what we expected—Jack’s, your dad’s, and your fingerprints all over the vat shed. There were several others on some equipment that matched up with Hayden and Rob, but they weren’t on the vats in question.”

Belle nodded for him to keep going. Hayden and Rob had worked for them for years.

“But there was one set that showed up again and again. Smaller prints. On the sides of the two vats, on the ladder, in the office on the chair that Mrs Davis sits in.”

Belle’s gut tumbled. Surely it was a coincidence?

No one else sat in that chair. Her father liked to keep it especially for her mother. It was an office chair, but a swanky leather version, in the softest butter yellow. Her mother’s favourite colour.

She looked at her father and brother. They looked as worried as she felt.

“It’s not possible,” her father whispered, frowning.

“There’s simply no other leads. Nothing. No motive, no suspects.”

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