Page 126 of Proof of Guilt

“If Chad had known my parents or had anything to do with that watch, why would he have asked me out?” Ivy questioned. “Why would he have married me? Because I can promise you that he never asked a question about my parents, and he certainly never tried to hurt me. So you’re wasting your time trying to link Chad to Lacey’s prints on that watch.”

“You’re wasting your time to link me to it, too,” Lacey said.

The woman came into the doorway. Cameron was right behind her, and judging from the deputy’s frustrated expression, he’d been trying to hold her back.

Lacey aimed glares at all of them, including Cameron, and her glare was still in place when her attention landed on the watch. “That’s why you brought me in here?” she asked Gabriel.

Gabriel gave her a glare of his own. “Your prints are on it. Why?”

Theo carefully watched her expression, and if she was the least bit concerned about the accusations against her, she didn’t show it. Instead, she shrugged. “About a week or so ago, I was at the mall, and when I came out, that watch was lying on the hood of my car. I picked it up. I figured someone walking by had found it, thought it was mine and left it for me.”

Theo didn’t glare, but he was certain he looked skeptical. Because he was. “How’d the watch get from you to here?” he demanded.

“How should I know? I tossed it on the ground, got in my car and left. I didn’t want to leave it on the hood because I thought it might hit my windshield and chip the glass.”

“And you didn’t think it was suspicious that someone would put a watch on your car?” Ivy asked. There was skepticism in her voice, too.

Lacey hadn’t seemed to object too much to Theo’s question, but she clearly didn’t like Ivy’s. “No, because like I said, I thought someone believed it was mine. Obviously, it’s not my style, and it belongs to a man. I don’t even have a current boyfriend.”

If Lacey was telling the truth, then someone indeed had set her up. But Theo wasn’t convinced that it’d been the truth that had come out of Lacey’s mouth.

“Did you see anyone near your vehicle before you spotted the watch?” Gabriel pressed.

“No. Now, what’s this about? Why is that watch so blasted important?”

“It belonged to my father,” Ivy answered after everyone paused. “It went missing the night of his murder.”

Now Lacey had a reaction. Her eyes widened, and she shook her head. “Oh, no. You’re not going to try to pin that on me. It’s bad enough that I’m stuck in this cowpoke town because the sheriff here thinks I might be behind the attacks to kill the likes of you. I won’t have you accusing me of your parents’ murders.”

“How about your father?” Theo asked, ignoring the insul

ts Lacey had peppered into her comments. “Could Chad have killed them?” He knew that wasn’t going to earn him a kind look from Ivy. It didn’t.

Lacey howled out a protest, but she didn’t limit it to just Theo. She snapped toward Ivy, too. “You’re behind this, aren’t you? You think if you can get me out of the way, then I can’t get what’s rightfully mine.”

Ivy blew out a long breath and stood, facing Lacey head-on. “I’m not behind this. If I’d found my father’s watch, I would have given it to the cops because it might have some kind of evidence on it. I darn sure wouldn’t have put it on your car, knowing that you could toss it.”

That didn’t seem to soothe Lacey any. The veins in her neck were practically bulging, and her nostrils were flared. “Please. You’d do anything to stop me from getting my father’s money.”

“Not anything,” Ivy argued. “But there is something I can do to make sure my son is safe, and I did it. I had a lawyer redo my will. Since I’m trustee of Nathan’s inheritance, I can make decisions about that, too. So if anything happens to Nathan and me, all of your father’s money will go to charity.”

The color drained from Lacey’s face, and she looked at Theo for confirmation of that. He had no idea if it was true or not, but he nodded. “This way, you have no motive to come after our son.”

“I never tried to kill him!” she shouted. Then she snapped back to Ivy. “You have no right to a single penny of my dad’s money.”

“Neither do you.” Ivy huffed again, and Theo could see she was having to wrestle with her own temper. “Look, I would give you the money but your father asked me not to do that. It was his dying wish, something he told me many times over, and I’m going to do what he wanted.”

Good call, because at this point just giving Lacey the money might not put an end to the danger. It seemed to Theo that Lacey wanted Ivy and Nathan completely out of the picture.

“My father loved me,” the woman stated through clenched teeth.

“And he knew you,” Ivy agreed. “He didn’t think you were responsible enough to handle another large sum of money. Plus, he knew you wouldn’t share it with me.”

“Because it wasn’t your money to have! You brainwashed my father. You got him to fall for you because he’d always wanted a son. Well, your brat kid isn’t his son and never will be.”

“No, because he’s my son.” Theo probably shouldn’t have blurted that out, but Ivy wasn’t the only one having to put a choke hold on her temper. He started to address the brat comment but decided against it. He’d already said too much.

“Like I care whose kid he is,” Lacey grumbled. “This isn’t over,” she added to Ivy, and she turned as if to leave.

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