Page 55 of No More Secrets

Ivy shakes her head, her expression curious.

Shiloh doesn’t wait around for her to poke more holes into her stories.Shoot.She needs to learn to not say more than she needs to, or she’ll screw up this whole arrangement. Pushing hard through the glass storefront door, Shiloh rounds the corner of the building to the stairs for the apartment and runs smack into somebody.

“Oh.” A woman gasps. Her purse drops to the ground.

“Sorry.” Shiloh ducks to retrieve the purse. From habit, her hand dives into the bag. She pockets the woman’s wallet and gives her the purse, avoiding her face.

“Thanks.” The woman juggles a small duffel bag, sleeping bag, and pillow to take the purse.

“No prob.” Eyes averted, Shiloh turns to leave. Her sneaker lands on the bottom concrete step when the woman says, “Are you Shiloh?”

The skin behind Shiloh’s ears tightens at the sound of her name. She turns, her heart taking a leap. It’s the same woman from yesterday. “You ordered a turkey and cheddar on sourdough,” Shiloh says, recovering quickly. She’s feared Ellis would catch up. He’s probably the one pressuring her mom to email her to come home. She wouldn’t put itpast him to send someone after her to bring her back. Ellis needs to be in control. She got away from him, and that’s a blow to his ego.

The woman smiles. “Yeah, I did. Good memory.”

“Nah. I only made five sandwiches yesterday. Yours was my first.”

“You just started to work here?”

“Mm-hmm. Yesterday.” Shiloh rolls her lips over her teeth so she doesn’t say more.

“Interesting.” The woman tilts her head, looking at Shiloh curiously for a beat. She thrusts out an arm, her purse dangling on her elbow. “I’m Zea.”

She shakes her hand. “What’s with all the stuff.”

“I’m moving in. Got the empty apartment behind you. Don’t tell anyone.” She leans in close. “But I’m kind of nervous.”

“Why?”

“I’m a city girl. Never lived in the country before.”

Shiloh glances around. “I wouldn’t call this place the country.”

“Okay, the desert, then.”

“Sick.” She wants to ask Zea why she came. Who would want to move here? But the longer she chats, the greater the risk she’ll say something she shouldn’t. She’s also itching to leave before Zea realizes she lifted her wallet. She backs up the stairs. “See you around, I guess.”

“Yes. Tonight. At dinner. Ivy invited us.”

“Awesome.” Shiloh grins stiffly, calculating how she’ll return the wallet before then. If she’d known the woman was going to be their neighbor, she wouldn’t have taken it. Maybe. Probably. Because Lucas would go ballistic, and for a reason she can’t explain, she doesn’t want to screw up around him. He’ll make her leave. But she also wants to count Zea’s cash. The wallet feels loaded. Zea probably wouldn’t miss the few bills Shiloh kept for herself.

She jogs upstairs, feeling Zea’s eyes burning through her back. When she reaches the top, she glances back. Zea is smiling up at her.

“Creepy,” Shiloh mutters, and hurries to Lucas’s apartment.

Inside her room she flops onto the bed and opens the wallet. “Holy shit.” She whistles. It’s loaded with cash, but that’s not all. Shiloh counts six different ID cards, all from different states, each with a different name. But only one ID is tucked in the pocket behind the clear plastic cover, the ID Shiloh suspects is the woman’s legit identification.

Whoever moved in behind them is not Zea Dawson. Shiloh will bet the $261 she pockets into her jeans the new neighbor’s real name is Sophie Renau.

Who is she? Why did she lie about her name? And why does she have so many IDs?

Like recognizes like, and Shiloh quickly sums up she isn’t the only thief in their midst. This woman could be conning them. She could be extorting Ivy, that sweet old lady. Other than the building, Ivy doesn’t have much else. So what is Zea’s endgame?

Only one place to start looking.

Shiloh puts the wallet back together and goes searching for Lucas’s laptop.

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