Page 86 of Shadow Sabotage
“But you knew about her relationship with Tony?” I watched her carefully.
A faint flush crept across her cheeks. She took a careful sip of her tea before answering, avoiding eye contact. “Of course. Leslie told us about her visiting for Christmas. It was a big deal, him bringing a girlfriend home for the first time. She was excited.”
I noticed that, unlike Darla and Leslie, she didn’t say anything to try to convince me that Tony couldn’t be involved.
“Afriend,” Leslie corrected. “I was excited that he was bringing a collegefriendhome.”
“One more question, Mrs. McGrath. Did you ever see Katelyn in town?”
“Why is that important?” she asked faintly.
“Because we think she returned to Wildwood on her own,” I said, leveling with her—curious to watch the reactions at the table. “We suspect she had another connection here. We’re trying to figure out who. So if you saw her in town with anyone, that would be helpful for us.”
Leslie’s head jerked. She cut her eyes to Darla. Darla’s eyes had turned thoughtful as she watched Serena.
Another flush, another sip of tea. This time, Serena’s hand shook slightly as she set her teacup down on the table. “No, I don’t think I did. I’m sorry I can’t be more helpful, Agent Weston.”
It was a lie.
Chapter Thirty
Claire
I watched closelyas Vance questioned the women about Katelyn Brown. Serena McGrath was hiding something. I hoped he would call her out on it in front of the others, but to my disappointment, he didn’t. After her lie about never having seen the girl, he thanked Serena and Darla for their help, and then he told Leslie he would follow up with her later in order to protect Tony’s privacy. Leslie smiled at that, for reasons that I was certain had nothing to do with her son.
The woman was practically throwing herself at Vance. Telling him to get theluscious, sensual peaches. Gag me. We all knew exactly what she was offering him.
Vance would never go for a woman like that. I knew that. Even so, the thought of his hands being on another woman’s body made me want to punch something.
Instead, I smiled politely and followed him to the counter, where we both decided to skip the peaches in favor of the vanilla bean creme brûlée and the chocolate croissants. He winked atme when he ordered, and I felt that annoying little flutter in my chest again.
He’s just a flirt.
Except he wasn’t. He flirted with Leslie because she responded to it. Offered that deferential head tilt and compliment to Darla because she’d respond to that. Was casual and easy with Pete, and acted like part of the boys’ club with Mayor Evans. He seemed to have an innate ability to recognize what people needed from him and a willingness to become that in order to further his own agenda.
I wanted to convince myself that he did the same thing with me—that he’d seen my need for a friend and stepped up to be that just for the sake of the case. Believing that would have made it easier to keep my heart guarded from him.
But even without Cheyenne’s spooky intuition, I knew better. He wore a mask with everyone else, but with me, the mask came down. He’d opened up to me, sharing things that were real. And the chemistry between us, the feelings that kept growing… They were real, too. On his sideandmine. I couldn’t deny it.
I just had no idea what to do about it.
While we waited for our desserts, I spied my friend Ben in the kitchen. He and Marcia were brother and sister, and they couldn’t be more different from each other if they tried. They were both still single, despite being in their forties, and had decided to open the business together. Marcia was responsible for the ridiculous decor and theme of the place. Ben was the talent in the kitchen.
I’d been surprised they lasted a week without killing each other.
“I’m going to say hi to someone,” I told Vance before slipping behind the counter.
Ben looked up when I walked into the kitchen, his gentle face lighting up with a grin. “Claire Hawkins. What’s a girl likeyou doing in a place like this?” He gripped a giant stainless-steel mixing bowl in one hand and a whisk in the other. His sleeves were rolled up to his forearms, showing off his impressive muscles. In another life, he’d been a boxer. Now, he used that strength to follow his true passion.
I grinned back. “Wasn’t my choice. I’m excited about trying one of your new desserts though.”
“Better be careful,” he warned. “You’ll get addicted, and next thing we know, you’ll start dressing like one of those women out there and coming here every day.”
“Doubt it.” I laughed.
“Yeah, me too.” He came over and threw an arm around my shoulders, squeezing tight before going back to the mixing bowl. Whatever he was concocting smelled like a heavenly mix of vanilla and sugar. My mouth started watering.
“What’s that?” I asked, walking over to get a look at it.
