“Who’s your boss?” Caleb asked. “Your real boss.”
Russ didn’t even glance toward Pandora. Instead, he closed his eyes for a second, took a deep breath, then whispered, “Sheriff Kendall.”
The chorus of gasps around the room was deafening.
Pandora pressed her hand against her stomach, afraid she might be the one to ruin the rug.
“Did he just accuse…?”
“He can’t be saying that the sheriff…”
“Drugs? The sheriff? No…”
“I always knew he was shifty-”
“Enough,” Caleb said. He didn’t raise his voice or take his eyes off Russ, but the room immediately silenced.
“That’s a major accusation.”
“It’s the truth.”
“It’s bullshit,” Kendall said from the other side of the room. Furious, he looked as if he wanted to pull the gun from his hip and shoot someone. Tension expanded in the room like an overstretched rubber band, ready to snap at any second. Finally, thankfully, he slammed his arms over his chest instead, glaring at one and all.
Pandora met her mother’s eyes, though, and tilted her head to indicate his stance. Shoulders rounded, chin low. He was lying. Her mother nodded in agreement.
“Who else?” Caleb asked quietly.
Pandora’s heart raced. She glanced at Fifi, who had tears pouring down her face and had already chewed off three fingernails.
“Nobody. I mean, nobody I know.”
She noted the set of his chin, the way his fingers were clenched together. She figured he was telling the truth. Her own shoulders relaxed.
“Why here? Why Moonspun Dreams?”
“I don’t know. I mean, he, the sheriff, he said it was the most convenient place. That with all the changes going on, the customers being a little weird and all, it’d fly under the radar.”
Offended, the “weird” customers muttered among themselves.
“You used the storage out back. How did the store owner not catch on?”
Russ shot Pandora a guilty look, his face miserable and just a little green. “Um, well, I used to come in and hang out. I pretended I wanted to learn about all this stuff. Cards and magic and all that. I flirted a little, convinced Fifi that I could help out. That’s it. The ladies, they didn’t know anything.”
“As far as he knows,” the sheriff interjected smoothly. He’d gone from sounding pissed to looking like a lawyer trying to convince his jury. “But I’ve been watching this place for weeks. Pandora’s made a name for herself selling more than just those sandwiches and cookies she’s always pushing. Every one on the street knows to come to her for their pills. Her reputation precedes her. Just check.”
Pandora’s outraged gasp was drowned out by her mother’s furious roar. But neither of them had even inhaled again before Caleb moved. He strode over, and without a word or warning, plowed his fist into Kendall’s face with a loud, bloody crack.
His hand grabbing his nose, the sheriff stumbled backward. He glanced, wild-eyed, at the crowd, then ran toward the beaded curtain leading to the cafe.
He didn’t make it, though. As usual, Paulie had plopped himself in the doorway to sleep. Pandora didn’t know if the cat sensed the drama, or if all the noise bothered him, but he jumped up on all fours and scurried between the sheriff’s feet, sending the man flying into the far wall with another loud crack to his face.
Cheers rang out, but Caleb didn’t smile as he strode over and grabbed the guy, hauling him off the floor. He started reciting something, probably the Miranda Rights, but Pandora couldn’t hear anything through the buzzing in her head.
She, along with what seemed to be half the town, watched the tall, dark and mysterious Hunter slap handcuffs on her newest employee while Caleb did the same to Sheriff Kendall. Her gut roiled with horror.
“Darling?”
She shook her head at her mother. She couldn’t talk about it. Not now. Not here, in front of all the gawking eyes. It had been bad enough last time, when she’d come home to hide from her relationship with a failed criminal and everyone in town had whispered about her stupidity.
Now they were all here to watch, live and up close, as she confirmed it.
“Darling, come on. Let’s go home. We’ll have a nice pot of tea and some chocolate cake.”
“No,” Pandora said, sniffing as a single tear rolled down her cheek. She watched Caleb, one hand on the sheriff’s back and the other on the gun holstered at his hip, stride out the door. He never looked back. “No. I don’t think I ever want chocolate cake again.”
13
“MORE TEA?” CASSIOPEIA asked, holding up her prized Hummel teapot she used for tea-leaf readings.
Her hands wrapped around her almost-empty cup, Pandora shook her head. “I should get back to the store. Or just go home.”
Fifi had been a mess, blubbering and bawling as if she’d been the one arrested. Finally, calling it an executive decision, Cassiopeia had declared that the store be closed for the day.
“You need to go talk to Caleb, is what you need to do.”
Pandora cringed, taking a sip instead of answering. The still-warm tea soothed her tear-ravaged throat. Then she stared into her cup, wishing she could find answers in the floating dregs.
“You’ve proven that you’re a strong woman who knows what she wants and can make it happen,” her mother continued, her voice both soothing and commanding. “Are you going to just let him go?”
“He lied to me. Worse, he made me look like a fool in front of everyone.” Just remembering sent a hot flush of horrified embarrassment rushing through her. The whispers, the stares. It had been terrible.
“Dear, do you really think people care about that? They’re so busy talking about Kendall that you’re not even going to enter their heads. I’d imagine that’s why Caleb played that scene out the way he did.”
Pandora tore her eyes off her murky tea leaves to frown at her mother. “What do you mean?”
“He could have asked all those questions at the sheriff’s office. Much easier, too, I’d imagine. He did that, made that big scene, just to make sure that people knew the drugs had nothing to do with you. That they had plenty of other things to talk about instead.”
Pandora stared, first in shock, then in dawning hope. Her heart raced and she bit her lip. “Do you really think so?”
“What I think is that you need to go ask Caleb.”
She was scared to. Pandora dropped her gaze back to her cup and took a shaky breath. She was afraid to hear that this had all been a scam on his part. That he’d used her.
Her mother gently laid her hand over hers and squeezed. “Darling, you have to face this. You can’t move forward until you do.”
“Is this why your clients all love you so much?” Pandora asked with a teary laugh. “Because you’re so good at telling them what they need to do in a way that makes them feel great about themselves?”
“You mean because I’m a nice bully? Of course. Now listen to your mother and go get the answers you need.”
Ten minutes later, her face washed and makeup reapplied, Pandora stood at the door of the sheriff’s office. Her hand shook as she reached for the handle, so she pulled it back. Maybe she should wait. Come back later. Or better yet, take the week off from the store and wait to see what people really thought about the situation.
Then she realized that none of that mattered. All she cared about was what Caleb thought of her. So she took a deep breath of the cold night air and forced herself to grab the handle. Her knees were just as shaky as her hands, but she stepped through the entry.
Caleb wasn’t there. She looked around the sterile, tan room, with its two desks and a few chairs scattered
