It Had to Be You by Jill Shalvis Page B

I never saw the money. I grabbed the pot and left. I didn’t know the bill wrapper was there until the police found it, and I sure as hell don’t know where the money is. I’m thinking Teddy framed me.”
    “Is there any reason that he’d want to stop the building of that new rec center?”
    “I can’t imagine why. It’s his baby, a feather in his cap. And he likes feathers in his cap.” She shook her head. “I’ve never seen him lose it like he did this morning. He was…”
    “Scared,” Luke said.
    She nodded. “Yeah. I think he really believes I stole the money.”
    “It does have a woman scorned feel to it.”
    She didn’t say anything to that, not wanting to know if he thought her capable of being that scorned woman. “I’m meeting my lawyer tomorrow.”
    “Who?” Luke asked.
    “Zach Mullen.” She watched as he pulled out his cell phone. “He’s an old high school friend,” she told him. “What are you doing?”
    “How old is he? He looks twelve.” Luke showed her the screen. He’d brought up Zach’s Facebook profile, where indeed his pic revealed a young-faced Zach, clearly fresh from a haircut, since he had a ring of pale skin across his forehead and the tips of his ears. His latest status update—from an hour ago—indicated he was at a sports bar in L.A.
    Hooters.
    “He’s there for business,” she murmured. “You’re pretty quick with the research. I know you went back to your laptop. What else did you find out about me?”
    He just looked at her.
    “Come on,” she said. “You’re an off-duty detective, and I got taken from your house for questioning on the missing fifty thousand. What else did you dig up about me?”
    Luke shrugged. “A few things.”
    “Like what? That I hated elementary school so much I used to hide at the park and my mom had to take off work and come find me?”
    “You were a decent student though,” he said. “And you took dance.”
    “I loved dance,” she murmured. “But I quit early; I had no coordination.”
    He slid her a look. “Or you were worried about the cost.”
    Or that…
    “You moved around a lot,” he said. “There’s a few gaps in the known addresses.”
    She slid down a little farther in the seat. Yeah, there’d been gaps, which matched her mom’s gaps in income, when they’d bunked on friends’ couches here and there. “Sometimes my mom would lose jobs if she couldn’t keep certain hours. Or…whatever.”
    He nodded, no judgment on his face. And, thankfully, no pity. She hated going back there in her mind, but she hated even more that he knew so much about her. “What else?” she wanted to know.
    “You applied to transfer to several different state schools, even getting into a few of them,” he said, “but you didn’t go. No word why, though I can guess.”
    She felt a horrifying burning behind her lids. “You’re thorough,” she managed.
    He shrugged.
    Ali wasn’t sure what that meant, but decided she didn’t want to know.
    “Tell me about Zach,” he said.
    “We went to high school together. He’s a good lawyer.”
    “Yeah?” He slid her a look. “How long has he been practicing?”
    Ali hesitated.
    “How long, Ali?”
    “He just passed the bar.”
    His mouth tightened. “You need someone who knows what they’re doing.”
    “Zach does,” she said. She hoped. “And it’s not like I’ve been arrested.”
    But you could be… She knew he was thinking this but thankfully it went unsaid.
    “Where to, Ali?”
    She knew she should come up with a plan, but suddenly she couldn’t speak.
    Reaching out, Luke pulled something from her hair.
    Dried clay.
    He let his fingers linger, then tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “I’ve already asked,” he said very quietly, very seriously. “But I’m going to ask again. Are you okay?”
    She had no idea, but she suspected no. No, she wasn’t okay, not even a little bit. She’d been unceremoniously dumped, made homeless, and could be arrested at any