Page 126 of Secrets in the Deep

“Here you go.” Polly set coffee on the table before studying Ryan. “You look like you’ve aged ten years.”

“Double it.” He touched the coffee but didn’t lift it to his mouth. He was missing something. He could feel it.

“Figured out why she did it yet?” Polly asked.

Ryan shook her head. “Last I talked to Ward, which was yesterday, Faye still hadn’t admitted guilt. She’s still insisting that she was set up. That she really was attacked in The Pancake Bar that day. I’ve asked to question her, but Ward won’t let me.”

Polly scoffed. “How does she explain giving you guys the wrong location for Preston?”

“She said she made a mistake,” Zac answered. “Said she doesn’t know the town well enough, and she honestly thought that’s where she left him.”

“That wouldn’t be a huge leap,” Ryan said, almost under his breath.

The eyes of his team fell on him, and it was Ethan who asked, “You believe her? You think she was set up?”

“I think until we have an admission of guilt, we can’t rule anything out.”

He glanced at his phone again, suddenly wishing he was with Emily. He should have stayed. Hell, he could have just remained in a back room.

“The bracelet though,” Joel said. “There were drops of Preston’s blood on it. And not even twelve hours later, it’s on Faye’s wrist.”

“Wait.” Polly frowned. “Ward was in here earlier, and he said something to his deputies about Faye sleeping with someone. Something about furthering her career.”

Ryan straightened. “What?”

Polly looked at him. “Whoever it was, the guy could have a key card to her room. He could have taken her bracelet. Worn it that night, then returned it before she woke up. He could have set her up.”

“Who?”

“Oh, God…what did he say his name was?” Polly pinched her nose. “It started with a B.”

“Boone?” Ryan asked.

Her eyes widened. “Yes! Who’s that?”

“Roscoe Boone.” Ryan glanced around at his team. “If they were sleeping together, Polly’s right, he could have had access to her room. He could have framed her.”

“She certainly wouldn’t have checked it for blood before putting it on,” Joel said. “Not if she wore it every day.”

“She was the killer in the movie,” Ryan half whispered, half growled. “Maybe he was trying to bring his movie to life.”

Polly wrinkled her nose. “That’s sick.”

He pulled out his phone and called Emily.

She didn’t answer.

Emily sether phone on the kitchen island and clicked her nails against the counter, nerves trickling up her spine.

She didn’twantto talk to her mother alone. This was more of a need. Things felt so complicated. Her mother had sacrificed plenty to get Emily to where she was in her career. But it hadn’t just been for her daughter, and it hadn’t all been out of love. If it was, her mother would just want her to be happy. It shouldn’t matter if that happiness came from the peak of fame or a small life in Deep River.

She scanned the street outside the living room window, waiting.

It felt so strange that, after spending almost every day of her life with the woman, today, her mother was flying out of Deep River, away from her.

It also felt freeing. A bit like having her own life handed back to her.

She grabbed two mugs from the cupboard and had just set them on the counter when the doorbell rang.