“Don’t be rude, Bailey,” Lorene chided.
“Mother, let me handle this.” Logan’s gaze never wavered from Bailey’s face. “I understand that you are unhappy with the situation.”
She narrowed her eyes. “I’m not unhappy. I’m pissed.”
“Language, young lady,” Lorene sputtered in outrage.
“Mother,” Logan snapped before deliberately softening his sharp tone as he tried to soothe Bailey with his slimy charm. “Of course you’re pissed. It’s been an unfortunate incident for all of us.”
“For all of us?” Bailey shook her head in disbelief. “You weren’t the one who was falsely accused of stealing money from an elderly resident in your care and being a potential murderer. If you were a decent employer, you would have had my back.”
Logan’s smile never faltered. “I’m sorry you feel that way, Bailey, but in all good conscience we had to investigate the claims.”
If Dorinda hadn’t revealed Nellie’s confession about catching Gage stealing from her and the fact that she’d told Logan what had happened, she might have swallowed his lies. They were said with such sympathy.
“No, you didn’t.”
He flinched at her cold rebuff. He’d expected her to back down. Like she had so many times before.
“Excuse me?”
She took a step toward Logan. “You didn’t have to investigate the claims because you already knew I was innocent, didn’t you?”
The smile faltered as the dark gaze darted toward the silent woman behind the desk. Logan could act like he was in charge, but in the end it would always be Lorene who was the driving force of the duo.
“Well, of course we believed in your innocence, didn’t we, Mother?”
Lorene pinched her lips, as if she’d caught a bad smell. “Certainly.”
Bailey released a sharp laugh. “You didn’t have to believe in me. You had proof that Nellie confessed that she’d caught Gage stealing from her.” She stabbed a finger toward Logan. “You, in turn, begged her not to call the sheriff, so she felt she had no choice but to change her will to punish her son.”
A nerve twitched beside Logan’s eye, but he waved his hand in a gesture he probably assumed was calming. All it did was make her want to kick him.
“As I said, it was never about your innocence, but Gage was creating such a fuss. What else could we do?”
“You told me you were investigating his claims when you knew they were false,” Bailey growled. “You let people in this town think it was possible I had conned an old woman out of her money.”
Logan shook his head. “We did what was right for the nursing home. As well as you.”
“For me?” Bailey made a sound of disbelief. “What would have been right for me is you admitting that Gage had been stealing from his mother and that was why she’d changed her will.”
“Okay, okay.” Logan reached up to smooth his thinning strands of hair. “In retrospect I can see it was a mistake. At the time I was worried about a scandal. You know how people in this town can talk. It’s vital that our residents and their families are confident they will be looked after with all the care and consideration we can offer.”
“And now that Gage is dead you assume that the scandal will be forgotten?”
In the blink of an eye, Logan had conjured an expression of grief. “Poor Gage. Such a tragic loss. First Nellie and then her son.”
Had Logan taken acting lessons or was he a natural? Bailey wasn’t fooled for a second. “But his death is why I’m here, isn’t it?”
Logan pressed a hand to the center of his chest. “I’m wounded you would think that, Bailey. I asked you to come here today because we’ve missed you. And more importantly, the residents have missed you. There’s not a day that goes by that one of them isn’t asking when you’ll return, isn’t that right, Mother?”
Lorene pinched her lips tighter, refusing to admit she might need Bailey.
Bailey shrugged. “And what do you tell the residents?”
Logan’s phony smile made a return. “I assured them that Nurse Evans will be back soon where she belongs.”
Bailey scowled. “You shouldn’t say that.”