I flipped through the pictures, calling Dale every sort of bad name for cheating on Kate, until I spotted a shiny anklet on Dale’s partner’s ankle.
I knew that anklet.
Kate
I silently took back the bad names as I remembered what Dale had said about Kate, about how shy and prim she was.
A good Catholic girl.
If Greta had threatened to spread these pictures around the neighborhood, I could see why Dale would have gone to any lengths to protect her modesty.
My God. A man who loved his wife. Amazing.
I stuck the pictures into my back pocket and told myself I’d hold onto them until Dale was cleared as a murder suspect.
When—and if—that happened, he’d get them back.
As Tam loaded BeBe into her car, my cell rang. It was Kevin. Reluctantly I answered.
“Hypothetically,” he said.
“What’s with you and hypotheticals?”
“Bear with me.”
Tam waved and drove away, BeBe hanging her head out the passenger window.
“I’m bearing.”
“Hypothetically, if there were a search warrant to be served at Growl tonight, is there any possibility the missing accounting books might be found?”
“Hypothetically?”
“Of course.”
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Heather Webber
I could drop them off there when I dropped Riley off for work. Hide them, maybe, so Bill wouldn’t find them before the police did.
“Maybe.”
“Maybe yes or maybe no?”
“Hypothetically,” I asked, “if my prints are found on the books, am I going to be charged with anything?”
He groaned.
“Or Tam’s prints?”
“You brought Tam into this?”
“I can wipe the books clean . . .”
“No! Don’t do that. I’ll deal with the fallout of the prints.
Just be sure the books are there before eight tonight.”
“A search, huh? Are you looking for anything else?”
“Good-bye, Nina.”
I flipped my phone closed, noticed I had a message waiting.
“Hey. It’s Bobby. I’ll be home tomorrow afternoon. I was hoping we could meet up tomorrow night . . . to talk.
’Bye.”
I clipped my phone to my pocket and caught my reflection in the window of my truck.
I was smiling like a fool.
A lovesick fool.
I pounded on Ana’s door. Her SUV was in the lot and the lights were on. She had to be home.
“Let me in!” I shouted. “I have a key and I’m not afraid to use it!”
I heard the lock turn. The door opened slowly, and Ana stood there, wrapped in a robe, a bashful look on her face.
“I was going to call.”
I barged in. “Before or after I worried to death?”
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