"I thought we were going to the bakery?" Lainey asked, watching the trees out her window.

Okay, she might ask a few questions, but she wasn't running away or trying to escape yet, so we were still golden.

"We are, but first I have a minor detour." I slowed at a stop sign and then punched the gas once the speed limit increased outside of town.

Lainey held on to her door handle. "Where?"

"Clearwater. Don't tell Anderson."

Lainey hesitated in her agreement, so I had to take my eyes off the road to make eye contact and force her compliance. We had to be a team.

She wrung her hands together. "I don't know. He was pretty upset that I hadn't told him everything about Tyler."

I scoffed and fluttered my eyes, returning my gaze to the road. "Yeah, I'm sure he was because he's a busybody who likes to know everything."

Seriously, what did she see in the man?

"I thought you said he wasn't that bad," she said as I turned onto the main road to Clearwater.

Had I? Were drugs in my system at the time? "I probably thought we were discussing a different Anderson. A good one."

Lainey laughed. It was this soft and sweet sound. She needed someone to protect her-someone like me. Not Anderson, who just up and left her with me and didn't look back.

Okay, fine.

He looked back once. It was actually kind of sweet. But I'd never confess that.

"Where did Anderson have to go today?" I asked. The speed limit lowered, so I slowed the car as we drove closer to town.

"He might be gone all night," Lainey said, staring out the window.

We made it to the outskirts of Clearwater, and I turned toward the small inlet where the house I wanted to check out sat. "Right, but why?"

Lainey shrugged. "He didn't say."

I stopped the car in the middle of the road at the beginning of the subdivision we'd be visiting. "The man left you for an unknown number of hours, and you didn't ask him where he was going or what he was doing?"

She pursed her lips and shook her head before answering. "It didn't seem like my business."

"It's always your business." My word. If she was going to date the man, she had to get nosier.

Lainey had a lot to learn about being a bakery girl. She needed the entire rundown. Good thing we really were heading to the bakery after this stop.

I drove us closer, "So, it's really you and the cop, uh?"

Lainey's cheeks turned a slight shade of pink. She had it so bad. "Oh, I don't know. He's just being nice."

I spotted the house I wanted ahead a few doors and inched toward it. "Uh, huh. Yeah. That's exactly what we all say about Anderson. He's nice."

"Is it?" she asked, bright and cheerful.

"No." I stopped directly in front of the house number attached to the chief of police.

A sprawling brick building stretched out in front of us. I'd cased the place last month, but really took the time to look at it this time. It was a McMansion complete with a three-car garage. He was a bachelor. Why did he need storage for three cars? How did he afford the house, let alone the three cars, to fill the garage?

It didn't add up.

Wrong, Vonnie.

It added up to something, but not the image he tried so hard to push on everyone. Not the one I'd believed. The bumbling police chief.

"How do you think a single cop pays for that?" I asked, tapping my window at the chief's home.

Lainey stared at it as she twisted a piece of her red hair around her fingers. "I don't know. Drugs?"

"Or murder."

I hadn't put all the pieces together yet, but things were not adding up between the chief, Trish, and the dead guy in the bed-and-breakfast. If Trish was sleeping with Jerry from the diner, why hadn't he come forward on what he saw that night? How did he get out of the hotel without anyone seeing him? Jerry was an old marine and always talked about his civic duties. He wouldn't miss his chance to help the police.

Somehow, I had to get one of them to crack. Maybe it was time to meet with Jerry?

A neighbor drove out of the garage of their matching McMansion and stared at me while he drove past. Time to leave.

We made the trip back to Pelican Bay with Lainey telling me about her students and me trying to figure out which ones would one day be on Tony's bond jumper list. She didn't enjoy it as much as I did. But sorry, the kid obsessed with matches had high odds of taking a ride in the back of a squad car.

I led Lainey into the bakery from the back and tied one of the bright pink aprons around my outfit. Anessa set our new redhead up at a seat across from the register but not in Pearl's favorite spot in case she came in.

"You want a cupcake?" Anessa asked.

Lainey shook her head. "Oh no. I couldn't before lunch."

"Yes, she wants a cupcake, and she needs the standard Pelican Bay man advice," I shouted while pouring a customer a large coffee.

"Oh, it's one of those situations," Anessa said, not bothering to ask other questions. "I see."

I filled the coffeemaker with fresh water and set it to brew, only slightly burning my hand on the top. "You want a tea, hot chocolate, or coffee?" I yelled at Lainey.

She'd need something warm to get her through the hard parts. Like when Anessa started peppering her with questions about Anderson.

"Umm, tea," she replied.

I delivered the tea and a small selection of bags to her table as the door to the bakery opened and the chief walked in.

He wore the standard dark blue uniform of the local cops and had his pants pulled up too high. His shirt was tucked in perfectly, and he even kept the cop hat on as he strutted inside like he owned the place.

"Morning, Chief," Anessa said as he approached the register. She was always so friendly. Probably because this was how she made her money. She had the chance at a literal fat stack of cash she found behind her stove when she first moved into the bakery, but rather than keep it, Anessa handed it over to Bennett and the rest is their relationship history. And why she has to keep working.

He smiled back at her and perused the display case. We all knew he'd order twelve glazed donuts. He was a cop.

"Give me twelve of your best glazed," he said, and I stopped my eye roll mid roll. "And fill me up with black in this."

He handed me a mug so large and heavy I almost dropped it, even though it was empty. The mug was black plastic on top and bottom with a metal middle and looked like a mini whiskey barrel, suspiciously familiar. He'd burst a kidney drinking that much coffee.

I filled it, using almost an entire pot, and studied the mug as closely as I could without looking suspicious.

"Nice mug, huh?" the chief asked.

"Yeah. I'd like to buy one for a friend. Where'd you get it?" I asked, passing it over for him to attach the lid. I'd poured almost the entire pot into his mug and the coffee didn't reach the brim.

The chief smiled, but something about it came off too... smiley for him. "A friend gave it to me. A congratulations gift for all my hard work on the bed-and-breakfast shooting."

I nodded, still checking out the mug while he held it. I wish there was any kind of identifying marker on it.

"You heard how I single-handedly took care of the shooter. Put him away myself. The DA says it's a slam dunk case."

"They're lucky you were there," I deadpanned. "And quick. How did you manage it?"

The chief literally patted his chest. "Just good old fashion police work."

"Yeah. Right," I said, trying to sound sincere, but I turned and rolled my eyes at Anessa.

She put a hand over her mouth to cover the smile. "Can I get you anything else, Chief?"

"Nope, I'm all set. You ladies have a nice day," he said and plopped a shiny quarter in the tip jar.

A quarter. He didn't pay for the donuts or coffee-Anessa never charged him-but then he only tipped a quarter?

I pulled it out of the jar and held it up. Anessa shook her head. "Worse than the normal fifty-cent piece he leaves."

"That man!" He lived in a literal mini mansion, got free food, and didn't tip.

Lainey watched as he walked out. "I guess we know how he affords that house."

"What house?" Anessa asked.

I waved a hand at her. "Nothing. Just something I'm checking into."

Ridge had the bakery wired with cameras. Yes, it had saved the day in the past, but I didn't want his guys knowing about my lead. It was mine. They couldn't have it.

"Can Lainey stay here for just a few minutes? I have to make a quick run to the diner."

Anessa closed the door to a display case. "Of course. We'll girl chat. Right, Lainey?"

Lainey swallowed hard and dunked her tea bag a few more times. "Sure."

"Great." I wanted to help her out but needed an answer first. One only Jerry from the diner could give me.

I left the ladies there and walked out the front door without Broadrick's leather jacket that I liked so much and planned to steal for myself. Before I reached the diner and had a chance to check for Jerry's old truck, Trish walked out the back door.

She had her hair in a half ponytail and half of it was falling out on one side. Her mascara was thicker on one eye than the other and dark circles lined the bottoms of both. I'd never seen her such a mess.

"You okay, Trish?" I asked.

She wasn't her normally put together peppy image. She stopped dead in her tracks. Her eyes widened as she saw me, and she searched to either side of her like she expected me to tackle her in the parking lot. "You alone?"

Was I? Did I misread her, and she wanted to jump me? I had to take the chance.

"Yeah, you want to talk?" I walked up to her until we were right next to one another. So close our shoulders were almost touching.

She leaned in closer until her lips were practically touching my ear. "Can I trust you?"