“That’s ridiculous.” Liv’s voice was flat.
“Yet he said it,” Ryan drawled.
“He’s stupid,” Liv muttered. And it was like they were sixteen again, rebelling against whatever teacher had given them too much homework or tricked them with a question.
All Ryan wanted to do was laugh and lean in, elbow her, until they were both giggling out of the sheer happiness of being together. But then Liv had pulled away, and things had ended.
“How are you, Liv?” Ryan asked, her voice soft. She could go back to Cairo’s topic in a moment. Cairo wasn’t going anywhere, as callous as that sounded.
Liv hesitated, opening and closing her mouth several times. She looked away from Ryan, not speaking.
Ryan exhaled slowly. She should have expected that.
“I’m fine,” Liv said eventually, turning back to her and flashing a fake smile.
It made Ryan’s heart ache, the reminder of what had broken them apart. Love wasn’t enough when trust wasn’t behind it. But even Liv seemed disappointed in her answer, her attention on the hand she sprawled out on the white marble countertop.
The silence hung between them for a moment, to the point where Ryan was about to speak.
“It’s hard.” The words Liv spoke seemed to startle her, and she shook her head slightly as if in disbelief.
In high school, Liv had spent most of her time working on Ryan’s problems. With parents who had died in elementary school and grandparents with unpredictable health, high school had sucked for Ryan. Liv had been her rock, even if she’d refused to talk about her own family.
There’d never been any scandalous rumors, she was just never talked about. It was a rarity in such a small town. Maybe she and her family were the exception. Or had her family done something to discourage the rumors?
“I know,” Ryan said, an acknowledgment of the small progress between them.
Liv didn’t meet her eyes, but she let out a breath. “What happened with the case?”
Ryan was more than happy to change the topic if it made her more comfortable. “Cairo was pregnant.”
Liv’s eyebrows shot up towards the ceiling. That obviously wasn’t what she had been expecting. “What?”
“I wanted to go talk to Steven, see if he knew, but the Chief wouldn’t allow it.”
“Of course not,” Liv muttered, clearly not very pleased with the Chief of Police. Ryan wouldn’t admit that it gave her great pleasure to see how grumpy she was getting.
“Politics,” Ryan said with a shrug, but she wasn’t even sure she believed it herself. But that was a mystery for another time. She had this one to get to the bottom of first.
“Let’s go,” Liv said, straightening up and looking directly at Ryan.
“What?” Ryan blinked.
“To Steven’s.” Liv was already moving around the kitchen and gathering her belongings. “If you can’t go, you can come with me.”
“I’m pretty sure that’s still against the rules,” Ryan said. Even though she couldn’t deny that she was quite tempted. That was a lie. Secretly, she had hoped this would happen.
“You want to know what happened, don’t you?” Liv’s gaze was challenging.
“Yes.” She wasn't going to let politics stop her from finding out the truth. Sometimes, to get justice you had to circumvent the justice system.
“Let’s go, then.” Liv headed out of her shop.
Ryan didn’t hesitate this time, following her. Liv was telling River to close up.
“Your car?” Ryan asked.
Liv looked at her, then let a small smile cross her face. She nodded. “Let’s try his office first. He’s a workaholic.”
“Like you have any room to talk,” Ryan pointed out.
“Did you ever find anything out about the settlement?” Liv asked, turning the car on as they both buckled up.
“Lawyer denies it, but the lawsuit looks legit.” Ryan grimaced. “Her bank is being stubborn about turning over records of her accounts. So is her husband.”
“Fiancé,” Liv corrected absently. “What do you think he’s hiding?”
“Maybe some of the money from her time as a poker player?” Ryan guessed. “Tax fraud is a big thing.”
“A RICO case?” Liv made a spooky face.
“Do you even know what that stands for?” Ryan laughed.
“Nope.” Liv grinned, and for a moment, the air between them was light and familiar.
It was like being transported into the past. Ryan exhaled slowly. “I also haven’t heard a ton of positive things about him.” She grimaced. Character testimony was hard to judge, but the fact there wasn’t anything explicitly nice being spoken about him worried her.
Liv pulled up against the sidewalk, down the street from Steven’s office. “I didn’t think we should park in front of it.” She paused. “Since we’re not here on official business.”
Ryan opened her mouth to protest, then closed it. “You have a point.” The last thing she wanted was for word to get around to her Chief that she was investigating someone she had specifically been told not to investigate. Especially since it had only been a couple hours since he had forbidden her.
They got out of the car, and Liv came around to the passenger side. They stood together, then started forward as if their steps were intentionally synchronized.
It was just easy for them, Ryan guessed, to fall into the rhythm. When she was younger, she’d told Liv it was like being two parts of the same person. Soulmates.
Maybe that was the mistake she’d made, talking about emotions when Liv clearly didn’t like them.
“Here.” Liv reached out and put a hand on Ryan’s arm, stopping her. They were in front of Steven’s large, busy plaza.
Ryan led the way in, fighting back any semblance of nerves. She would be fine. “We’re here to talk to Mr. Blackstone?” She looked at the secretary.
The secretary frowned slightly. “I’m sorry, but he’s out.”
“Do you know when he’ll return?” Liv asked.
The secretary shook her head. “No.”
“Thanks.” Sensing they weren’t going to get anything more, Ryan nodded to Liv to leave.
Liv went quiet, her brain turning over. Ryan liked Liv’s thinking face. It was cute.
“What about Cairo’s house?” Liv asked, turning to
