by Sosie Frost
His text set my teeth on edge.
I hope you said goodbye.
Goddamn it. This ended now. No more threats. No more warnings. No more buying my body so I could buy my freedom.
Nolan wasn’t hurting either of us anymore.
I opened the app on the main screen, replaying the sound recording I made of Nolan.
“Like I would trust you around Maddox.”
“You can trust this, Josie. If I wanted Maddox dead, he’d be buried by now.”
“I’m tired of your threats.”
“Meet me at Jackson’s in an hour or it won’t be a threat any longer.”
My thumb hovered over the send button.
Even if Maddox left, I could still protect him from Nolan’s jealousy.
Maybe it was revenge, and maybe it would eventually destroy the little of me that remained, but I wasn’t letting Nolan Rhys control my life any longer.
First, I’d protect us from Nolan.
Then, I’d get the man I loved back because it was never a mistake loving him. It was a mistake to lose him.
I sent the text and recorded clip to Nolan, wrapped in my own dire threat.
Come near us, and I’ll end your campaign, your reputation, and your life. Your move, Mayor.
17
Josie
The knocking echoed through my apartment.
Damn it. I didn’t mean to fall asleep. The papers bundled over my chest. They made lousy blankets. I tossed them on the couch and checked my watch.
Seven o’clock. A three-hour nap?
Ew. I figured I’d be tired, but this was downright lazy.
The persistent thudding on the door chased away my grogginess. I listened, wishing to hear Maddox call for me. But the rapping was too light and feminine. Plus, she tapped out the rhythm of our high school marching band’s drum cadence. As relieved as I was that it was Delta on the other side of the door, two weeks had passed since Maddox left.
I guessed he wasn’t coming back tonight either.
I didn’t bother with a headband. My curls went wild, billowing around my head. Delta snickered when I let her inside, but she had endured my puffball pigtail phase in junior high with me. A little volume wasn’t scaring her away. She came bearing an accordion folder stuffed with insurance forms and a paper bag filled with Chinese food.
I wasn’t in the mood to eat. Didn’t even think I could.
“Whoa.” Delta nearly dropped her armload as she stared at my apartment. “Okay, Josie. It’s time for you and me to go out and get some air.”
She didn’t hand me the insurance paperwork. I took it anyway. More to add to the once meticulously sorted piles of newspaper clippings, police reports, and information I found on the fire.
Delta headed to the coffee table with the food. No room around the piles of papers there. She tried the kitchen but my counters sprawled with bags of chocolate chips, mixing bowls, and the construction plans for Nolan’s proposed bed-and-breakfast. Delta thumbed through my notebooks and ignored the whiteboard in the corner.
“All right, this is fucking weird, Josie. Even for you.”
“I’ve been a bit busy,” I said.
“No, you’ve been a bit crazy. What the hell is all this?”
I sorted through the papers on the couch as best I could. Nothing was giving me the answers I needed anyway, so I pushed everything onto the floor to make room for Delta and dinner.
“I’m trying to figure something out.” I edged away from the bag of Chinese with a quick swallow. “And it’s…hard.”
“And not at all obsessive.” Delta picked up the paper at her feet. A newspaper article from the fire. Next to her were the court documents and transcripts from when Maddox was tried. “Josie, what are you trying to do?”
Right now, I was desperately avoiding my once favorite Kung Pow Chicken. “I have to figure out who burned down my shop.”
“Oh.” Delta paused. She put it together pretty quick. “So Maddox left for good? Hasn’t been back?”
He hadn’t returned my texts, calls, anything. “He’s gone.”
“Did he know you were doing all this?”
“No.”
Delta cautiously balanced the container on her knees and speared a piece of General Tso’s chicken with a plastic fork that already lost a prong. “What’d you find out? Anything you didn’t already know?”
Yeah. I uncovered one big revelation that didn’t help any of us. “It wasn’t Nolan Rhys.”
Delta snorted. “I could have told you that.”
“I swear…it just made sense. He was so obsessed with me and Maddox. But the timeline is wrong, and he would have lost too much money burning it down just to buy the land and rebuild what he wanted.”
“You know who the criminal is, don’t you? Forget the papers and the charts and all the investigations.”
“It wasn’t him.”
“Josie, he went to jail.”
My chest squeezed. Guilt hurt worse than any loneliness. “I know. I framed him for it.”
“You what?” Delta stilled, the fork an inch from her mouth. “Did…you forget to bake the cookies before you ate the dough?”
“I’m serious.”
“Did you happen to leave the gas oven on?”
Goddamn it. It wasn’t a joke. I ruined my life, and I lost the man I loved. All because I was so stupid, so helpless to stop the inevitable.
“Nolan threatened his life, and I knew he was in danger,” I said. “I gave an anonymous tip to the police so they would hold him in a cell until I could get out of the hospital and prove it was Nolan who set the fire.” I kicked the papers at my feet. They scattered. I didn’t bother picking them up. They couldn’t help me now anyway. “It wasn’t Nolan. Goddamn it. It wasn’t Nolan.”
Delta quieted, and I hated it. Without her talking, she could hear the break in my voice. I’d collapse in tears, and it’d do nothing but humiliate me and waste more time that I could have been finding answers and researching. I rubbed my eyes. It hurt, but it stuffed the tears down.
“Josie, when was the last time you slept?”
I didn’t have time to sleep. Not like I could anyway, not with him gone and my mind racing and my heart shattering and my stomach flipping and my body aching—
“I just napped,” I said.
“When was the last time you ate?”
“I’m really, really not hungry.”
“I’m officially worried about you.” Delta sighed. “I talked to Sean. He said you called off from the paper three days in a row. Have you left the house at all?”
“I saw Granddad.”
“Good.” She sounded too relieved. “How is he?”
I didn’t want to answer that one. “Worse. Sullen. He’s not eating much, and the last time I visited him he only said one thing.”
“What was it?”
I gritted my teeth. “I’m sorry.”
“For what?”
“He didn’t say. Just…everything probably. We moved him to the different wing, and he knows we don’t have the money for it. That guilt is killing him, and there’s nothing I can do to…help. I can’t pull him out of this depression.”
Delta shifted the papers on the coffee table and dug out the framed picture Granddad gave me. She flashed the photo at me, and I didn’t realize how much I missed Granddad’s smile until I saw it beaming from that perfect time years ago when the shop kept us all together.
Just another reason to find the man who destroyed it.
I pointed to the wall where I hung police reports and newspaper articles with details on the chief.
“I have two other suspects,” I said.
Delta laughed. “Suspects? Are you setting up an interrogation room in your kitchen? A forensics lab in the bathroom?”
“Chief Craig was blackmailing Maddox.”
Her smile faded. “He what?”
“He paid him thousands of dollars, but the chief was looking for a reason to throw him in jail befo
re Maddox exposed him.”
“Exposed…what?”
“His affair with Chelsea.”
Delta blinked, completely shocked. “But that’s impossible. He’s been married for fifteen years. They have kids!”
Revealing Chelsea would destroy the chief and his family, but exposing the abuse and prostitution? No wonder he wanted to keep it quiet.
I handed her a stack of papers from the town’s zoning office—every complaint and letter and hearing notice about our property line.
“And Bob Ragen threatened Maddox and me after the town meeting. He said if he knew Granddad would have been hurt in the fire, he’d have lit the match years ago.”
“Holy shit!”
“Given all the problems with our property lines and survey markers and uh…” I shrugged, suddenly aware of how pale my blonde best friend was, and how identical she looked to the rest of the town. “He didn’t like my family. Bob’s not stable. He could have easily broken inside and caused the fire.”
“Okay.” Delta paced the room, rapping a finger over my whiteboard. “But…what can you do with all this information? What do you hope—”
“If I can prove Maddox was innocent and have his record wiped, I might be able to win him back.”
Her shoulders slumped. “Even if Maddox is innocent in this crime, he’s guilty of others. If he hadn’t been jailed for arson, he’d be behind bars for something else by now, maybe something worse or bloody.”
“That’s not true.”
“I know how you felt for him, but his leaving is for the best. You haven’t slept, you haven’t eaten. And honestly?” Delta bit her lip. “Your apartment is one copy of Catcher in the Rye short of an NSA watch list. Maddox is not worth this stress. He just isn’t.”
“I’m in love with him,” I said.
“He’s not right for you.”
“He’s the only one who’s right for me.”
Delta didn’t believe me. “He’s dangerous. He was back for only a few weeks and look at how much trouble he caused. How many times did he get into Nolan’s face? And the Chief? Josie, he’s too frightening to even get a job in this town.”
“That because no one will give him a chance.”
“He’s not a man who deserves a second chance. I know you blame his parents, and I know you think it’s just his upbringing and that he can be changed…but he thinks with two things—his cock and his fists. Neither of those will get your store back or help you take care of Matt.”
I sighed. “I really don’t have time to be lectured.”
“Make time. You need to listen. Maddox leaving is the best thing that could happen to you.”
“Delta—”
“I came here to give you another file I found at work—the reports we had to re-do after we conferred with the police.” She prevented me from reaching for the folder. “But I’m not helping you drive yourself crazy.”
“I’m close to figuring this out.”
“No, you aren’t. Put it down, come outside with me, and we’ll walk so you can clear your head.”
“You don’t understand.”
“You hurt now, but I promise. One day you’ll see that Maddox was the wrong man for you—”
“I’m pregnant.”
The air trapped in my chest. It was the first time I admitted the truth out loud. It still shocked me more than Delta.
She sunk onto the couch. I followed.
“You’re…pregnant,” she said.
“Yeah.”
“With a baby?”
God, I hoped so. “It’s not a gingerbread man.”
“And you’re...it’s…”
“Maddox’s baby.”
Delta paled. “I thought you were on…”
“We…no. Not anymore. We were trying.”
More than a few times.
Her mouth dropped open. I was lucky she was too shocked to chastise me. “Does he know?”
“No.”
“Does anyone know?”
My smile forced the words out. “You?”
“Oh God, Josie.” Her eyes closed. “How far along are you?”
“I just found out earlier this week.”
Now she got pissed. She slapped my arm but immediately apologized like I was carrying Maddox’s secret baby in my shoulder.
“You didn’t tell me! How could you let this happen?”
“Once upon a time, Maddox and I wanted to start a family.”
“And now?”
“He wants nothing to do with me. I don’t even know how to get in touch with him.”
She snorted. “Call the nearby jails.”
I groaned, rolling off the couch to hide from the smell of the food. “Don’t start.”
“Seriously. Call his parole officer. He can’t leave the state, right?”
“Somehow I don’t think he cares.”
This was supposed to be a happy occasion, but everything turned inside out, upside down, and then tangled itself in a knot of bad decisions and heartache.
Maddox would have been so excited. All he ever wanted was a baby and me and a life where we could just love each other. He deserved nothing less.
“It might be for the best.” Delta broached the subject gently, but not cautiously enough. “I don’t know if he’d be a good father.”
I stiffened. “Why not?”
“It’s not like he comes from a good family. And his dad?”
“He’s the reason Maddox wanted to be a father. He wanted the family he never had, Delta. We take it granted—your parents, what Granddad and Nana did for me when mine died. No one tucked Maddox in at night or threw a ball with him or helped him with school. He grew up with abuse and drugs and…” I didn’t even want to think of it. “I’m going to clear his name and win him back. He should know that kind of love.”
Delta quieted. “He might not forgive you for what you did.”
“I have to try.” The tears prickled my eyes. They stung, but not as much as the loneliness gnawing at my heart. “The baby needs a father. Maddox deserves a second chance. And I…”
I didn’t even know anymore. I just wanted answers. The mystery exhausted me, and every second it went unsolved tore me further from Maddox’s arms. Delta took my hand.
“What can I do to help?” she asked.
“You don’t happen to have a spare candy shop lying around do you?”
She giggled. “I’ll check my closet at home. Haven’t cleaned it out in a couple years. Maybe I’ll find something.” She picked up the papers at her feet, absently sorting through the piles. “You know, I used to have a ton of Nancy Drew books. Maybe…we could sort the suspects again?”
For all the good it’d do. I had two suspects, and neither made sense to me. Still, two heads were better than one, especially when mine was jammed full of anxiety, frustration, and baby names.
Delta woofed down her dinner and settled in on the floor. She agreed with me. We were missing something. No matter what angle I approached it, I couldn’t find enough evidence that proved or denied Chief Craig or Bob Ragen had anything to do with the fire. Every lead led to more uncertainty. We’d never figure it out without a confession.
But that meant confronting someone. I wasn’t prepared to piss off two of the most dangerous men in the city without Maddox at my side.
“Maybe it was Benjamin!” The idea struck Delta so suddenly she spilled her soda and tore the papers in her hand. Her smile grew into a hysterical laugh. “He wanted a new place where he could take Jean-Baptise on a walk, so he made his very own parkette.”
“Oh, right.” I rolled my eyes. “Mrs. Greentree too. They’re in cahoots. It was all a puppy conspiracy. They meant to breed Jean-Baptise and Millie so they could start a pet store!”
“A puppy mill!”
“Shih Poos everywhere!”
Delta giggled and checked her watch. “You should sleep, Josie. It’s late.”
“I will.”
“Seriously. You’re sleeping for t
wo.”
I frowned. “I don’t…think that’s how it works.”
“Do you have any idea how a baby works?”
Good question. “I knew how to make one?”
“I don’t need the details.” She grabbed her purse and pointed me to the bedroom. “Go. Now. Seriously. And call Sean and tell him you need another day off. You should go to a doctor tomorrow and get checked out.”
“I will.”
She smiled and let herself out. “Night-night, Momma.”
Oh Lord. I wasn’t used to that nickname. I didn’t mind it though. I just wished Maddox was the one to hear the news first.
I peeled myself from the couch and avoided the containers of leftover Chinese. The smell wasn’t doing anything for my appetite. I battled my wavering tummy and stole the files Delta brought for me. I made it to bed without throwing up. A minor victory.
The papers from the insurance company weren’t new, just copies of the original documents filed after the adjustor walked with the fire marshal.
Except for a few.
Some of the pages were stamped VOID. I wasn’t sure why they were kept, or why they were stapled to the official paperwork. No one ever said Delta wasn’t organized—even if most of Saint Christie politely referred to her as dedicated instead of OCD, just like her mother.
But something was weird with the pages. Both the voided copy and official were signed by the adjustor. The official paper detailed the police findings—citing ARSON in bolded letters as the cause of the fire. I checked the second. That was the same. And they both detailed the same method—electrical tampering.
Except the voided copy included two additional words.
INSURANCE FRAUD.
“What in the world…” I stared at the page. It didn’t make any sense. I flipped to the official copy. Those words were missing, and the paper was signed and stamped a day later.
Weird.
I reached for my phone to call Delta and ask about the discrepancy, but a violent knocking rattled my door once more.
I leapt from the bed, clutching the reports. I couldn’t catch my breath, and the hope surged through me, mending a heart that shattered like peanut brittle and the guilt that poisoned me in bitter regret.
Maddox.
