Page 33 of His Virgin Woman
Chapter Ten
The following morning, Peyton was in the kitchen, fulfilling the orders her customers had paid for.At the same time, she was making breakfast for the ranchers.Shae was in his office with Sheriff Hyde, as they looked at the street footage from the security cameras.
He’d already checked the footage for the guy who had taken Leah’s bag from her.Now, they watched as not one but two people opened the door to the bakery and entered.
“Holy shit,” Sheriff Hyde said.
Shae didn’t need to see any more.There were no lights on inside the bakery.They snuck in, and within ten minutes, the damage was already done.They had gasoline and were setting fire to the place.They stepped out of the building, and Shae saw her—Lily-May, with a big old smile on her face—and a guy.The same guy wearing the exact same hoodie he had been wearing while snatching the bag from Leah.He didn’t need to know rocket science for this kind of shit.It was right there in black and white.
Lily-May had stolen the keys, let herself into the bakery, and then burned it down.Did she think there was going to be money on an insurance claim?Peyton didn’t own the building.He did.He would be the one who got any money.
“Are you all right?”Sheriff Hyde asked.
“Yeah, I’m good, but you need to do me a favor.Lose this,” he said, and pulled the tape out of the VCR.
“Fine,” Sheriff Hyde said.“But you’ve got to be the one to tell her what her sister did.”
Peyton was not happy this morning.She was going through the motions, of that he was certain.Leah had come to the house to help out.Peyton had called her.
“I will.”
He had a couple of ways to resolve this, and he didn’t know how Peyton was going to handle it.
They had gotten back into Fort without him realizing.He had figured Lily-May wouldn’t be that fucking stupid.It was fucking insane, and it pissed him off.
He shook the sheriff’s hand, then headed to the kitchen.Peyton’s hair was bound up at the back of her neck, and Leah was bustling around the kitchen, trying to keep up with Peyton.The counters were full of cupcakes.This was Halloween, one of the best nights of the year.And Peyton wasn’t going to be able to make a single cent because of what her sister had done.
“Peyton, babe, can I talk to you?”he asked.
She looked up from where she was putting the buttercream icing into bags.
“Uh, yeah, sure.Will you keep an eye on everything?”
“You got it,” Leah said.
She offered him a smile, but he put his hand at the base of Peyton’s back and walked her into his office, where he shut the door.
“What is it?”she asked.
“A couple of nights ago, Leah’s bag was stolen.Inside were the keys you had given her to the bakery.”He moved back toward his VCR and rewound the tape for her to see the evidence of what Sheriff Hyde had shown.It started to play, and Peyton pressed a hand to her mouth.
“What is going on?They stole Leah’s bag and took the keys.That means they must have been watching the shop.How can ...who can ...oh,” Peyton said.
He watched the shock and horror be replaced by anger.That is not what he expected.He pressed “pause.”
“It’s Lily-May.”
“I see who it is.”She gritted her teeth, and her hands clenched into fists.
“I have a feeling she thought you still owned the building.”
Peyton was silent and then she laughed and started to bend over as if it was all just too much and hysterical.
“Oh, my, you just can’t make this shit up.”She was laughing.“She burned down our bakery, the only way for us to survive, because she thought there was money in it.The insurance money that will go straight to you.”Peyton burst out laughing again.
