“I was hoping everything would blow over, and they’d forget about me,” Wally said, rubbing his chin. “I was going to lie low here for a while, then take my girlfriend to California, where my cousin is. But I don’t know. I haven’t figured it all out yet.”
“Well, there’s no need,” Cora said briskly. “You’re coming to the station with us.”
To Liam’s surprise, Wally sagged in relief. “You’re locking me up?”
“That’s correct, Mr. Jensen.” Cora snapped handcuffs on his wrists while reading his rights.
They escorted Wally to the car without a struggle. Sloshed as he was, he still seemed to have enough self-preservation to recognize jail was the lesser of two evils. Better safe with them than facing the Booze Dogs’ method of justice. Maybe if his luck held, the law would shield him long enough for Eli Shelton to forget all about his betrayal. Not likely. Liam knew that would take a miracle, but he hoped, for Wally’s sake, he had one coming.
On the way back to the station, Liam contemplated his own poor luck. Given his lack of success over the past couple of months, and the fact that Cora was still no closer to loving Finn, the future was looking dimmer with every passing hour. Still... If there was even just asliverof a miracle out there for him—he didn’t need much, just a leftover scrap or a crumb from the celestial table—Liam would snatch it and run like the thief that he was.
2
“I CAN’T BELIEVE they let that slimeball walk free,” Cora muttered under her breath late Thursday afternoon. She stormed out of the police station alone, barely able to contain her anger. Captain Thompson had just announced Magnus Blackwell was released without charges.
Marching across the parking lot, Cora kicked a rock in frustration, sending it skidding under the dumpster. Then she kicked another, pretending it was Magnus’s backside. She’d only dated the crooked attorney a couple of times before she’d discovered the stolen money under his bed. After he’d tried to bribe her to keep silent, they’d fought, and in the struggle, Cora had almost drowned. If it hadn’t been for Liam and Finn arriving at Magnus’s lake house just in time... She shuddered to think what could’ve happened.
After he was arrested, Magnus told the police he’d been framed and had no clue about the money. Cora knew it was a flat-out lie, but Magnus had the power of his law firm, Johnston & Knight, behind him. Since there was no clear evidence connecting him to the theft—not even his fingerprints on the stolen cash—he’d somehow managed to evade justice, and now he was out there walking around as if nothing had ever happened.
It irked her. No, itinfuriatedher. The fact that Captain Thompson ordered her to forget Magnus and focus the investigation on the Booze Dogs was like a kick to the kidneys after she was already down. Cora had always respected the captain’s expertise and deferred to his better judgment, but not this time. How could a creep like Magnus Blackwell get away with theft and maybe even the murder of two innocent people? Where was the justice in that?
With a growl of frustration, she stomped out of the police station parking lot to speed-walk down the street. Cars whooshed past, the swirling scents of warm asphalt and exhaust fumes mingling with the sharp, crisp scent of freshly mowed grass from the nearby baseball field. For a midsummer afternoon in Providence Falls, it was unseasonably mild, with a light breeze rustling through the maple and poplar trees, but Cora was too annoyed to appreciate the gorgeous weather. With no destination in mind, she strode past storefronts and offices, determined to blow off steam.
Ten minutes later, she was turning down a side street when Liam pulled up beside her in his car. His glossy dark hair was disheveled, and there was a shadow of stubble on his jaw. In a rumpled black shirt and jeans, driving an ancient beige sedan, he really had no business looking hotter than Hades, but the man couldn’t seem to help it.
Rolling the passenger window down, Liam eyed her like she was a grenade sans pin. “There you are.”
“I’m fine,” she insisted, even though he hadn’t asked. That was what she was supposed to be, right? Fine, fine, fine. She continued marching down the sidewalk, staring straight ahead.
“I’m inclined to believe you,” Liam called, keeping pace with her in his car. “It’s only you have a bit of a bloodthirsty gleam in your eye, and I saw a fox with that same look once when I was a wee lad. She was defending her den and almost took my arm off.”
Cora gave him the side-eye but kept walking. “No doubt you deserved it.”
“Not at all. I was only trying to steal one of her cubs to take home and raise as my hunting hound. She had several, so I didn’t think she’d mind, but for some reason, the greedy vixen wasn’t feeling charitable.” He gave her a crooked grin that somehow managed to puncture the bubble of anger encasing her. Liam could always do that. Her best friend, Suzette, called it “lethal charm,” and Cora couldn’t deny it.
When she’d first met Liam, she’d done a pretty decent job of ignoring the initial jolt of attraction she’d felt, convincing herself she was immune to men like him. Sure, he was witty and gorgeous, with flashing dark eyes and a body that seemed sculpted from hard hours at the gym, but he wasn’t anything special. At least, that was what she told herself. Often. But somehow over the course of the summer, Liam had slipped seamlessly into her life, and now she couldn’t imagine living without him. Lord knew the man wasn’t a stellar roommate. He was overprotective and stubborn, and he didn’t know the first thing about working the dishwasher or folding laundry or paying bills online. But he was perfect in the ways that really mattered. He was kind and trustworthy and surprisingly intuitive. He always seemed to know what she needed, whether it was quiet companionship at the end of a long day, or some lively distraction to lift her spirits.
“Cora, it’s going to be okay,” Liam said in a melting-honey voice that soothed all her raw edges. “Do you want to get in, so we can talk about it?”
Her shoulders slumped, and she stopped on the sidewalk to face him. “You know that feeling where you justknowdeep down in your bones how things should be, but everything spins out of control, and all you can do is sit back and watch it all go to hell?”
A strong emotion flashed across his face, too fast for her to catch. “I do. Come, and let’s go home.”
Cora sighed and got in the car, grateful that Liam had brought her purse and jacket from the station. The last thing she wanted was to see the captain right now.
“Talk to me,” Liam said, slamming on the accelerator to speed through an intersection on a yellow light.
Cora pressed her hand against the glove compartment, not bothering to comment on his aggressive driving. She’d grown used to it over the past couple of months, and besides, asking him to slow down was as futile as asking the wind not to blow. Liam was a speed demon, but after his expert driving skills had helped save her life, she couldn’t fault him for it.
“It’s just so disheartening that Captain Thompson isn’t on my side about Magnus,” Cora said. “We’ve never been at odds like this before. And now what am I supposed to do if I run into the creep?” Her voice began to rise in frustration. “Act like nothing happened? Like he never hit me? Like I didn’t almost die in that lake? Something’s going on because none of this sits right with me. He shouldn’t be exempt from the law just because he’s a hotshot attorney.”
Liam punched the accelerator again, weaving through traffic with breakneck precision. He hissed something under his breath that sounded like “swiving” and “pig.”
Cora glanced sideways at him. “Now who’s got the bloodthirsty gleam in their eye?”
“I can’t help it.” He scowled at the road. “Every time I think of that night, Cora... You struggling in the water, your head disappearing below the surface—” He broke off as if he couldn’t bring himself to speak of it.
Cora stared out the window, willing the bright sky and billowy clouds to dim the memory of that terrible ordeal. She’d been having recurring nightmares about it. The freezing cold water closing in around her. The curling tendrils of dread squeezing her lungs as she started to lose consciousness. It was all too terrible to talk about.