Madi’s stomach twisted.
“We’re going to be questioned again,” she realized.
“Sadly, that was going to happen no matter what,” her mom said. “This town is small enough that no one can be that easily dismissed.” She grabbed Madi’s hand and squeezed. “Even when they’re innocent.”
Madi knew that was true but that didn’t stop that stomach twist from mixing in with a little dread. She might not have killed Loraine but she’d still been complicit in a lie to the department. Her brothers’ department. If all of this blew back it wouldn’t just hurt her and her child, it would hurt the rest of her family, too.
And Julian.
Even with the table between them Madi felt him against her skin. Felt his body heat enveloping hers, comforting and strong. Immovable. Was it what she wanted now or just a memory dredged up thanks to worry and pregnancy hormones?
Once upon a time, Julian Mercer had made her feel safe.
“What about Hidden Hills?” she asked. Jenna had taken over locking up, but Madi realized now with more than a dose of regret that she had lost sight of what would happen next with the inn. “What about the other guest, Ray? I completely spaced about him in all of the chaos.”
“Desmond went to relieve Jenna this morning,” her mother answered. “As for Ray, he’s in a cabin at the retreat.”
Under normal circumstances, Madi would have been riled up. After announcing her pregnancy to her mother, her concern that she was competing with her family had been pushed low on her priority list. Now Madi was just grateful. Hidden Hills was a crime scene after all.
“Good,” Madi said. “Though I still want to head over there myself.”
Caleb was shaking his head before he ended his call.
“You can’t go snooping through it yet.”
“I don’t want to snoop,” Madi countered. “All of my clothes and things are there!”
Caleb rolled his eyes and addressed their mother.
“Jazz just got out of a meeting with Declan and two detectives from the local PD. Like we thought, they want to conduct interviews all over again, plus add a few. Declan offered the conference room in the department for convenience’s sake and they finally agreed. It probably would look better if we all headed there now. Show that we’re not trying to avoid anything.”
Madi’s gut twisted. Her mother stood, Julian rising in sync. Madi had a little more trouble. Her baby belly was relatively small, yet she still wasn’t graceful.
“Let me run and get some things from the house and I’ll be ready,” her mother said. Caleb started to dial another number.
“I need to touch base with Nina and Desmond.”
Julian reached out and helped Madi stand. His hand was warm, strong. Distracting. She was grateful when he looked down at his phone and not into her eyes when she was standing tall again.
“I need to call Chance,” he explained.
“Chance? Your friend from Alabama?”
He nodded. Then his voice was low.
“He’s the only person who could prove I wasn’t with you before the body was found.”
Madi felt her eyes widen but he didn’t give her more than that. Instead she was left next to the table as the three of them scattered. It made her feel even more helpless.
And that was when it hit her.
A detail she hadn’t focused on fully yet.
Something that had fallen through the cracks as the shock had paved over everything.
The shotgun.
She hadn’t heard the shot that ended Loraine’s life.
Someone hadn’t just killed the socialite; they’d done it somewhere other than Hidden Hills.
Why would someone go through the trouble of bringing her back?
And putting her in Madi’s bed?
Madi rubbed her stomach, chewing on the thought. It was a sour taste.
“I think we need to go over a few more things before we head out,” Julian said after a couple of minutes. He sidled up to her, close enough again that she was enveloped by his scent. “Especially if we’re about to be put through the wringer.”
“Agreed.”
The main house’s back door swung open. Madi’s mother hurried over to them, brow creased.
“This is probably more madness,” Madi muttered.
“Someone’s driving up the road but I don’t recognize the truck,” her mother said without preamble. It was enough to pull Caleb off his call. They turned as the sound of crunching gravel preceded an old black two-door Ford. Madi didn’t recognize the vehicle, either. It came to a stop on the side of the road between the houses.
The man, however, she did recognize.
Madi’s triplet telepathy flared to life. Caleb gave her the briefest of glances before squaring his shoulders. Their mother lost any and all signs of a polite, hospitable woman. Madi felt ice in her veins.
“What’s wrong?” Julian asked at her ear.
Madi didn’t have time to hold up the walls around her that guarded her. Not when he was walking across the grass toward them, badge glaring at them from his belt.
“Remember last time you were here and I told you that everyone in the county likes at least one of us Nashes?” she said, voice low. “So much so it’s like a running joke in town?”
“Yeah.”
“You’re looking at the one man who hates all of us.”
“The feeling’s mutual,” Caleb threw in despite the distance between them. Their mother didn’t deny either accusation.
Julian’s jaw hardened.
“Why?” he asked.
Madi didn’t take her eyes off the approaching man. She hadn’t told Julian about her past—why she had the scar on her cheek—but now wasn’t the time to be coy with the information. She had to bullet-point it for him. He needed to be on the same page when it came to the man.
“When my brothers and I were eight, a man abducted us from a park. We were held for three days in a cabin in the woods before we managed to escape. The guy who took and held us got away, never to be seen again. My dad had a theory that someone paid him to take us for whatever reason, but died before he could prove it.” There was steel in her next words. “You’re looking at the only suspect my dad ever had.”
* * *
THE CHANGE IN all three Nashes was more than alarming. Madi’s hurried explanation of why was enraging. Julian pictured the scar across her face and replayed the small limp that Desmond walked with. He’d never asked about either but now wondered if both were born from that trauma.
The man of the hour closed the distance between himself and their group.
The mood hadn’t just gone cold, it had plummeted into arctic waters. Even the Nash matriarch was as stiff as a board.
“Good morning, Nash family,” the man greeted. He smiled but it was as off as the surrounding mood. His eyes roamed to Julian. “And guest.” He reached his hand out, bypassing Caleb and Dorothy until he got to Julian. “I don’t think we’ve met. I’m Christian Miller. Lead detective from the Kilwin Police Department.”
Julian shook. The man’s grip was a little too tight.
“Julian Mercer. Nice to meet you.”
Miller didn’t seem to share the sentiment.
He stepped back to face them as a group.
Julian placed him in his upper fifties. He was bald on top but had a salt-and-pepper beard shaved close. It highlighted the frown that had deepened at the sight of them. He wasn’t a big man, but there was a severity to him. He was also easy to read. He held no love for the people he was around and they held no love for him.
Not that Julian expected anything less after the bomb that Madi had just dropped. That was one more conversation he wanted to have with the woman with balled fists at his side.
“Well, I’m assuming the sheriff has already informed you a
bout us handling the case,” he started, voice gruff. “I just want to let y’all know there are no hard feelings. This investigation is going to be conducted in a professional manner. That’s what Mrs. Wilson deserves and that’s what she’s going to get.” His eyes wandered to Madi’s. Julian had never seen her so rigid. It inspired an almost primal reaction within him.
He wanted to protect Madi. He wanted to protect all of the Nashes. Even if he didn’t understand all the nuances to the situation, Julian knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that Christian Miller was a threat. And he had made a career out of assessing and dealing with those.
“So...” The detective’s demeanor changed. He smirked and waved between them. “I know how tight this family can be so we’re going to go ahead and have Madeline come with me. I think it’s a damn shame how this case has already been handled. The department shouldn’t have even responded. All it did was give you time to get your stories straight. Really a damn shame, if you ask me. It’s just another example of how the Nashes always seem to get their way. That stops today.”
“I’m not going anywhere with you.”
Julian wouldn’t have believed the words came from Madi had he not seen her speak them. Each held a knife’s edge, sharp and biting.
The detective’s demeanor changed yet again. This time there was no smirk.
“A woman was found in your bed, killed by your father’s shotgun, which was found on your coffee table,” he said. “A witness claimed to have heard you talking about wanting that same woman dead several times that day. The call that you claimed not to have made to the victim was found in your phone log. And let’s not forget the glaring detail that everyone seems to have glazed over because you just happen to be pregnant—” His eyes narrowed to almost slits. A new wave of tension moved across the Nash matriarch and her children. Julian took one small step forward. “You have violence in you, Madeline. You may smile, you may say nice things, but at the end of the day I know you’re more than capable of doing exactly what was done. And this time, this family is going to pay the consequences for their actions. Pregnant or not.”
Caleb looked ready to lunge. So did Dorothy. Julian moved closer before either could.
“Watch out there, Detective,” Julian ground out. “I think your bias is showing.”
The man laughed, an embittered sound.
“If I were you, buddy, I’d cool my jets,” he said. “You just so happened to be the perfect alibi for the Nash daughter, but I’d bet my badge that everything you’ve said so far has been a lie. You want to know what else I think? I think you didn’t come to see her at all. You just happened to be in the right place at the wrong time.” His voice dipped into a sharpness that rivaled Madi’s. “That’s when she convinced you to lie. That’s when you broke the law. And that is what I intend to prove.”
Caleb started to rally but Julian spoke over him.
“You’re right. I didn’t come to see Madi.”
The innkeeper placed a hand over her pregnant stomach, eyes wide in confusion. Julian hoped what he said next wouldn’t hurt their case more than it helped. Then again, whether or not they would admit it out loud, everyone in that yard was nearing the edge of a cliff. One that they could be pushed off at any second, whether it be by a murder with no leads, a rich and recently widowed husband on the warpath, or a lawman with a grudge. If they didn’t start building a bridge soon, what hope did they have to get on the other side of it all?
Julian might have lied about the alibi but Madi was innocent. He was going to help her the best he could. So he aimed to control the one part of the investigation that he could at the moment.
If Detective Miller was accusing him of being a stranger, then Julian needed to correct him.
He looked the man right in the eye and spoke clearly.
“I came to see my daughter.”
In front of God and everyone there, Julian placed his hand over Madi’s. Both were resting against her stomach.
Against their daughter.
Chapter Six
Madi had to hand it to her family—their poker faces were fantastic.
No one, not even her triplet brothers, had known who the father of her unborn child was. She’d decided not to tell anyone after realizing she might not ever see Julian again. It had been the sore spot between her and her mother. Dorothy Nash was a fierce protector when it came to her children but she couldn’t protect them without all of the details. Madi had taken a stand after another round of questioning from her mother and brothers. She would tell them who it was when the time was right.
Now? So close to a man she’d loathed for years and hurtling toward an investigation that made her look like a murderer? It certainly didn’t feel like the right time.
Though it was effective.
Detective Miller hadn’t been able to hide his surprise as well as her mother and Caleb had. His smug and righteous attitude had zipped away, replaced by a critical look split among her, Julian and the stomach they were both touching.
“You’re the father,” Detective Miller said.
Julian nodded.
“And I’d be happy to confirm that during my interview.” He dropped his hand from her stomach. Its heat went with it, leaving Madi in want. His admission that he was the father had shifted something inside her. Sure, she’d known—and for much longer than him—yet now it felt different. It made the guarded part of her heart feel even more vulnerable than it had.
Julian motioned to the detective’s truck. His expression wasn’t giving anything away.
“Which I think it would be more professional to do at the department instead of out here in the yard,” he continued. “So why don’t we all head that way now? That SUV parked at the main house is mine. You can follow us there if it’ll make you feel better, but unless you have something to charge her with right now, I think it’ll be better for all of us if Madi rides with me.”
Julian was absolutely thrumming with authority. One second he’d been the quiet yet hard-to-miss man at her side. Now his words carried more power than anything Detective Miller had said. It had affected her mother and Caleb, too. The first had loosened her shoulders; the latter had unclenched his fists. With a few sentences Julian had managed to flip the tables.
Now it was Miller who was on unstable ground.
“Fine,” he said, not at all sounding like it was fine. “I’ll follow you but if you do anything, and I mean anything, that seems even remotely suspicious, I’ll call the whole county on you. On all of you.”
He didn’t give them another word. Madi and her family didn’t speak, either. No matter how badly she wanted to say a few words that might have made Grandma Nash roll over in her grave.
Caleb was the first to break their formation.
He turned to Madi. His eyes dropped to her stomach before going to Julian.
“Was that the truth?”
Madi nodded. There was no point in keeping the secret any longer.
Caleb seemed to assess Julian with new attention. What conclusion he came to, Madi couldn’t tell.
“The longer we wait to go to the department, the more ammo we give Miller,” he added. His face twisted in anger. “I get why the case was moved to another agency but giving it to him? That’s on the far side of the professional spectrum. But don’t worry. Declan and I will fix this.”
Her mother still hadn’t moved. Madi couldn’t tell if she was angry at Miller’s sudden reappearance or if there was something else moving beneath the surface.
“Mom?” she tried. “Do you want to ride with us?”
Dorothy Nash kept her expression unreadable.
“No, dear, but thank you. I think I’ll take my own car.”
Madi tried to smile, tried to give her something that would make everything better, but there wasn’t much she could do. She felt no joy in the wake of one of the Nash family’s ghosts
of tragedies past.
Julian and Madi went straight to his SUV. Detective Miller lurked in his truck, waiting. Julian was a cool cucumber. Only belatedly did Madi wonder if that was because of his military experience.
“I bet you’re sorry you came to visit me this time, huh?” Madi asked after they were moving down the ranch’s main road.
Julian shrugged, eyes ahead.
“Sometimes things happen,” he said. “You can either hang on for the ride or jump off before it gets anywhere good. You just have to adapt.”
“Adapt,” Madi repeated. “That’s a word I used to hear a lot.” Absently she brushed her fingers across the scar on her cheek. Most days she forgot it was there; others it was impossible to pretend it wasn’t. “Adapting or not, Miller isn’t going to back down,” she added on. “There’s too much bad blood there.”
“And he’s not making it a secret that he holds some serious anger for your family. I can’t imagine it’s ethical for him to be the lead investigator.”
Madi sighed. Her ankles were starting to swell. The heat never helped.
“I need to go to Hidden Hills after the interviews. If I’m not charged with anything, that is. Everything I own is in that house.”
Julian nodded to the road.
“We’ll get you there.”
Madi didn’t like that his words made her feel better, but there was no denying that they did. She let out another long, deep breath and rubbed a hand over her stomach. There was so much they could talk about that it muted them. Silence filled the vehicle.
Which topic would they even focus on?
The murder? The lying? Their reunion? Their daughter?
The weather?
“Madi?”
They were moving down the county road toward town. The sun was shining. Madi longed for a normal summer day. Swimsuits, sun and carefree fun. No mystery. No Miller. No death. “Madi,” he repeated again. “Something’s happening.”
His eyes were on the rearview mirror. Madi turned, worry flooding her system. Caleb had broken their caravan. He sped around them, flashers on. Detective Miller had his on, too, but was motioning through his window for them to pull over. When they were on the shoulder, Miller stopped on the road next to them.
Credible Alibi Page 5
