Lily’s world had turned on a dime. Yesterday, she didn’t have much, but she did have a ray of hope thanks to Aiden. When she got to work that morning, disaster was waiting in the form of Wilkins and Deluca.
Cell phone in hand, she was about to do the unthinkable—call Aiden. What choice did she have? The sheriff and his deputy were there, in her diner, in her office with a search warrant.
“Go ahead,” she’d said when Deluca handed the warrant over. “You won’t find anything.” She knew that was the truth. But unbelievably, they had found something.
Deputy Deluca headed straight to her old leather couch and pulled it away from the wall in one heavy-handed heft, and there it was. A bulge under the carpet. She had no idea what “it” was, but panic swelled her throat.
In the moment before Deluca whipped back the carpet, it came to her with absolute certainty what that bulge was. It was her gun. What scared her most was how on earth it had gotten there.
With the weapon bagged, Wilkins stood in front of Lily and dangled it. She could see it through the plastic. The pearl-handled gun that had been her mother’s.
“Can you identify this?”
Lily was too stunned to answer.
“Is this yours?” Wilkins said again, pulling her from her stupor.
She felt her head moving, nodding yes as if an invisible puppeteer controlled her. In her mind, she screamed, No. Stop. Don’t admit to anything.
Wilkins turned away. “Antonio, make a note that Ms. Valier has admitted this is her gun.” He faced her again. “We’ll have the ballistics report back by this afternoon. I strongly suggest you stay in town.” Then, before leaving, he asked, “Is there anything you want to tell me?”
This time she had the good sense not to answer.
* * *
Aiden knew immediately from the wobble in Lily’s voice something wasn’t right. “What’s wrong?”
“They found it,” she said in a voice devoid of hope.
“Who found what?”
“Wilkins and Deluca came to the diner with a warrant. They found my gun. Only…”
“At the diner?” A million things ran through his head. Why the hell hadn’t she told him she had the gun? Then again, if he knew what would he have done about it? Help her to get rid of it or turn it in to Wilkins?
Aiden realized she hadn’t finished her sentence and hoped it wasn’t more bad news. “Only what?”
A shuddering sigh came from the other end of the line. “Only, I don’t know how it got here. It was in my office under the rug. I didn’t put it there. Please, Aiden, please believe me.”
The desperation in her voice brought something out in him he hadn’t expected. He wanted to hold Lily in his arms and reassure her everything would be fine. That he would take care of her. Something very close to fear edged in on him then. What if he couldn’t help her?
After some thought, fear was replaced by fury. Where had all this come from? He knew nothing about a warrant. Wilkins hadn’t told him a thing. Why was he being kept out of the loop?
“I’ll come as soon as I can, but first, I have to find out what’s going on. Don’t go anywhere. Wait for me, OK?”
It didn’t take long for Aiden to find Deluca at the station. “Mind filling me in on what’s going on with Lily Valier?” he demanded when he spotted the deputy.
Deluca smiled his twitchy little smile, but his eyes were lit up. “You’re just the hired help,” he said. “We’ve got all we need now. As soon as we get confirmation Lily’s gun is the murder weapon, you’ll get paid and you can get the hell out of town.”
Aiden’s hands fisted at his sides. “How did you find out about the gun?”
“Good old-fashioned police work,” Deluca said, a grin in his voice.
Aiden wasn’t buying what he was selling. His gut told him Lily was being framed. “She didn’t do it, Deluca. You’ve got it all wrong. I spoke to Zander Lyons and his charming wife yesterday. That’s who you should be shining a big-ass spotlight on. By the way, I’d like to have a look at the proof Zander provided you with. You know, his alibi for the night of the murder.”
Deluca laughed. “Maybe it’s time you go back to the big city.” He turned to walk away, but Aiden planted a hand on his shoulder.
The deputy looked down at it and then his gaze rose to Aiden’s eyes, but Aiden didn’t move his hand. He held the small man in place and spoke again, “I’m not finished. You hired me to do a job—”
“Wilkins hired you. I told him we didn’t need the help. Just a waste of department money.” Deluca pulled away and Aiden let him go, but followed him to his office.
Once there, Deluca picked up the receiver of his desk phone. “As a matter of fact, I’m so confident we’ll get a match on the gun, I’m gonna get Julia to write up that check for you now. That way you’ll beat the traffic on your way back home. I’m sure Wilkins won’t mind.”
“Don’t bother. I don’t want your money.”
Deluca replaced the receiver and sat in his chair. “Well then, thanks for the work you did for us. Call if you need a recommendation. Hope all that snow won’t make your drive out of town too hellish.” His smile was wide, and Aiden noticed for the first time how small his teeth were.
Aiden’s eyes narrowed. He turned to Wilkins’s office but found it empty. He went to the reception area looking for Julia.
“Where’s the sheriff?” Aiden asked when he spied her hunched over the front desk.
She looked up from her crossword puzzle. “Gone to Bangor. He took the evidence up there himself.”
“By evidence, I suppose you’re referring to the gun that was planted in Lily Valier’s office?”
Julia’s eyes widened and her jaw fell open just a little. “Planted?” Her voice dimmed to a whisper.
Aiden nodded. “Why did he take it himself?”
“He’s waiting for the report personally. Wants the results as soon as he can get ’em.”
Time was running out for Lily Valier.