Page 90 of Midnight Mooring

Satisfaction thrummed through me, even as confusion warred with the emotion. “Why did you lie about sleeping with Forde?”

Caoimhe shrugged unhappily. “I just … I thought maybe it would drive a wedge between you and between him and everyone else.”

“And what?” I frowned. “You’d swoop in to show him only you care?”

She shifted uncomfortably.

“You think he’d forgive you for that? Goodness, you’re very young for your age, aren’t you? Forde liked you, Caoimhe, and even felt bad that he inadvertently hurt you by not returning your feelings, but he’s going to despise you for this. Surely, you understand that?”

She lifted her chin in defiance. “I’ll just say Paisley’s lying. She’s a pathetic bitch with her head stuck in books. It won’t take much for everyone to believe she’s just causing drama because she doesn’t have a life.”

Wow. I was a woman who liked to give people the benefit of the doubt. To understand and recognize that sometimes there was trauma behind bad decisions and not to judge people for their worst mistakes and behavior.

But Caoimhe … I was judging the heck out of her. I had a feeling she was born a nasty wee turd. “One, you underestimate your position here. Paisley MacDuff is a beloved daughter of Leth Sholas. She’s Aodhan MacDuff’s granddaughter and if you don’t know what that means by now, you’re in for a rude awakening. People would march out with their pitchforks to force you off this island if they thought you were a threat to her.”

Uncertainty flickered in my opponents’ eyes.

That’s when I went in with my kill shot. “Two, convincing them you’re not a liar is going to be hard to do.”

I really, really took a lot of satisfaction from my next move. I lifted my phone, tapping the phone screen to save the audio file. Then I hit play and watched the young mechanic blanch. “Oops. Did I forget to tell you I was recording our entire conversation?”

37. Forde

“Are you sure you’re not looking to switch careers?” PC William Shearing had teased Cameron.

“I am turning into kind of a Holmes, aren’t I?” She’d flashed him a quick grin.

Yet there’d been a feral edge to it I understood.

My woman was pissed off.

And so was I. When I heard the recording Cameron made, I felt betrayed by my employee. And exhausted by the idea that there might always be someone in my life trying to prove I was a bad guy.

It turned out PC William and DC Alice did think Cameron had provided enough evidence to look into Caoimhe’s whereabouts. She couldn’t provide a reliable alibi for Sunday’s break-in, so they detained her to get her fingerprints.

“You should check to see if she ordered a case of condoms online too,” Cameron had suggested to the officers.

“Hey, that’s not a bad idea.” PC William nodded.

To my shock, though, the prints weren’t a match.

Caoimhe hadn’t sent the letters. Or at least if she was part of the harassment, her fingerprints weren’t on the evidence. Which meant they had no cause to get a warrant to search her online history.

Rina had come barreling into the police station after William’s crack about Cameron’s police skills. My employee was ready to take us out and I understood that. Despite Caoimhe’s faults, she was Rina’s only family.

After we’d calmed her down, we’d played the recording for her while Caoimhe agreed to be fingerprinted.

Her mum looked devastated as she blew out a shaky breath and raised her gaze to mine. “We’ll leave in the morning.”

Reluctantly, I offered her some time to find somewhere to move on to.

“No.” Rina shook her head. “My daughter has caused you enough problems. I think part of it is that she won’t admit she’s bored out of her mind here. She gets up to mischief when she feels … trapped.”

“Mischief?” Cameron scoffed.

Rina ignored her. “I think that’s why she latched so hard onto you, Forde. To give her a reason to want to be here. And … like I said, Caoimhe’s never liked the word no, though, trust me, she’s heard it often enough.”

I didn’t respond to her dry tone because I might feel bad for Rina, but I was still pissed way the hell off at the trouble her daughter tried to cause me.