Page 50 of The Fall Back Plan
“And you came here. Because this felt like home.” I think she’s going to argue, but she opens her mouth, says nothing, and snaps it shut. “Want to know how I know?”
She settles back in the chair. “Lay it on me.”
“Because you didn’t have to leave Chicago. You could have stayed. But we’re mammals when we come right down to it, and when we need to burrow, we go home. Sounds like Harvest Hollow is in your DNA.”
“Maybe my lizard brain,” she grumbles.
“Can’t argue with prehistoric programming.”
“Can’t I?”
I smile. “You’re here, aren’t you? Has it been that bad?”
She gives me a long look. “Today hasn’t been great. How soon are you going to catch this bandit? Because I don’t need this sticking to me.”
“This case has gone to the top of my list.”
“How is it that you’re having to deal with two cases involving me in less than two months?”
“Just lucky, I guess.” I grin, but she doesn’t smile.
“I hate this, Lucas. Sloane pulled this because she wants to make sure I know I’m not welcome back. That I don’t belong. The funny thing is, my overwhelming instinct right now is that I do.” She leans forward, resting her hands on the edge of my desk. “Ido.And I’m going to prove it.”
“Jolie . . .” My tone is a warning.
“No, listen. I’m good at patterns. I can look at complex systems and see things other people don’t. It’s why I was good at my job before. Let me help your deputy. If you know I didn’t do it, use me as a resource to help figure out who did.”
“That’s not a great idea.” Honestly, I know how sharp she is. She’d be an asset—except for the optics of it. I wouldn’t care if it was only going to cause me a headache, but it’s going to cause her problems. Fanning the flames, basically.
As if reading my mind, she says, “I’ll keep it quiet. Look at it in my office. Or better yet, my house. No one will see you coming or going and start stupid rumors. Or keep them going.”
“They’re all going to bounce back on you,” I say. “Better not.”
“Lucas, I know how this is going to sound, but I’m not sure you understand how good I am at this kind of thing. Seeing links, anticipating what comes next. I’m sure I can help. You know Sloane is only going to make this a bigger deal now that she gets to play victim. And that means her dad is going to be in here huffing and puffing regularly.”
“He already is.”
“Then it will be worse.”
“It doesn’t matter on my end, Jolie. We would have had to follow up that claim no matter who made it. Wayne Oakley doesn’t tell me how to do my job, but I’ll say this: him coming in here and throwing his weight around is why I decided to get involved directly. I don’t take kindly to people making unsubstantiated claims against my friends.”
“Friends?”
“If that’s okay.”
A long pause. “Yeah. That’s okay.” She scoots her chair closer so she can lean even farther across the desk. “Let me help.” Like she senses that I’m about to shake my head, she adds, “I’m hoping it will make you forget that I barreled over here to . . . you know.”
“Know what?” I ask in a far too innocent voice.
She sniffs. “I was laboring under a misapprehension. My apologies.”
“Accepted.”
“Let me make it right by helping you with this stupid doll thing that is trying to ruin my life.”
“When you put it that way . . .”
“Yes!” She straightens and gives a quick clap of her hands.
