“I understand.”
He smiled but then let go of her hand. Then his face went stony.
“Are you sure there’s no one who could corroborate your side of the story, though?”
Madi shook her head. She brought her hand down to her stomach.
“It was only the two of us.”
Declan left soon after. Another hour went by. Madi’s thoughts went between everything that had happened and the other surprise she’d gotten that night.
Julian Mercer.
In the flesh.
This might be too much for me to handle, Grandma, she thought ruefully.
The third person to visit her finally was Caleb. He moved into the room like they were teens again and sneaking out of the house to go to the barn loft to meet their friends. He hurried to her side and crouched down next to her. There was an undeniable excitement in his movements that she didn’t understand.
“Why did you lie to us, Madi?” he asked in a rush. “Pride be damned, you’re looking at murder charges!”
Madi felt her eyes widen. Did Caleb really think she killed Loraine?
“What are you—”
“You should have told us about your alibi the moment we showed up on scene!” Madi didn’t know what he was talking about. She said as much. Caleb looked exasperated. “I know you didn’t want to get him in trouble with his boss, but my God, Madi, this is serious.”
“His boss?”
“Julian Mercer. Your alibi.” He thumbed back to the door. “He just wrote his official statement about you two being together. I mean, yeah, I have some personal questions I’d like to ask—for instance, who the heck is this guy—but right now he could be that creep you dated in college and I’d be happy as punch.”
Madi didn’t have time to correct her brother before the door opened and in walked Declan and a man who must have been the lawyer.
They expressed the same sentiment.
Madi should have come clean about being with Julian during the afternoon and leading up to the discovery of Loraine’s body, instead of trying to cover for him so he didn’t get into any trouble with his boss. No one’s job was worth the risk of her being suspected of murder.
Now they couldn’t charge her. Which meant they couldn’t hold her there any longer.
The air in the interrogation room became lighter. Her brothers’ shoulders were no longer sagging. There was new life behind every word and movement. The entire mood had changed.
It made Madi realize how dire her situation had been before Julian’s lie.
And that was what it was—a lie.
Yet with one hand resting on her pregnant belly, Madi realized it was a lie she wouldn’t correct.
Not until Loraine’s real murderer was caught.
“So I’ve been downgraded to lead suspect instead of a shoo-in for murder.”
Madi was as beautiful as Julian remembered but undoubtedly tired. Her eyes were red and swollen. She rubbed her hands together, fretting with nervous energy. They stood outside the Wildman County Sheriff’s Department. A hint of the sunrise colored the distance. The air was cool and seemed to add to her discomfort.
Julian wanted to reach out and take all of the concern and worry away, but truth be told, he was out on his own limb of uncertainty.
He’d just lied to the authorities. In a big way, too.
“They’re going to find the real person who did this,” he said, hands shoved into his pockets to curb the urge to tuck a loose strand of her hair behind her ear. “Now that they aren’t focused on you they can do that.”
Madi shot a nervous look toward the front doors. They were standing next to the sheriff’s truck in the parking lot. Declan and Caleb were still inside. This time with the husband of the murdered woman. He’d been out-of-his-mind angry and had to be kept in a separate part of the building.
I don’t care if she’s pregnant! She killed my wife! She killed my Loraine! She needs to pay!
The man had been so certain of Madi’s guilt, so incensed by it, that he had spit as he’d yelled. His fervor had solidified Julian’s urge to help Madi.
He knew without a doubt that Madi was innocent. He’d felt it in his bones the moment she’d yelled out to him that she didn’t do it. He’d jumped into his SUV and flown to the station, ready to watch as the rest of the department believed her, too.
Yet it didn’t happen.
Or at least, the evidence forced their hands.
The looks across the local deputies’ faces changed as the hours wore on. Julian stayed in the lobby with the flimsy reasoning of being a friend of Madi’s. He waited to be questioned but no one ever came for him. In all the uproar he’d seemingly melted away into the scenery. He’d only had the chance to talk to Jenna to get the quick and short story of what had happened before she’d had to leave. The sheriff and Caleb could be seen, angry and whispering. The entire department’s mood went from determined to find the alternate story to souring. Then on edge. When Julian had seen the lawyer come in through the lobby, wearing a suit and an expression that meant he was in for a rough ride, the need to help Madi had punched through Julian’s gut until he was standing in front of her brother and lying through his teeth.
Now he was standing in front of Madi and telling the same lie.
“I sneaked in an hour before Jenna called you, parking my vehicle off the road and hiding in the trees so no one knew I was there. That’s why you didn’t want to eat dinner with the guests, which is unlike you,” he spelled out. “I was with you in the bathroom when Jenna called. You found the body, but I was next to you. Realizing the cops were going to be involved, I went out the window and made it to my car. Then I pretended to come in for the first time so no one would suspect I’d been there at all.”
Madi’s eyes were wide and blue. Oh so blue.
“And the reason I didn’t want to be caught up in an investigation was because I was worried that it would get me fired before I ever started my job next week.” Julian shrugged. “Not a noble story, but everyone in there knows you didn’t do it so it made sense to them.”
The innkeeper ran a hand over her belly. Her pregnant belly. Julian wanted to ask how far along she was but getting their story straight here, now, was the most important thing they could talk about. As she’d already said, it was a lie that had made the difference between murderer and lead suspect.
“Why?” she finally asked. “You... Well, you don’t know me. This could absolutely
