The Shop by J. Carson Black Page A

report a substantial amount of income on his tax returns. But she didn’t say that. Her own daddy had brought her up to be better than that. “I wish I could help you, Riley, I really do. But there’s some question where the phone is. It was not put into evidence by the Gardenia PD. It’s not with the FBI, either.”
    Riley’s mouth dropped open in shock. “Are you serious? What am I going to do ?”
    “I don’t know.”
    “ No one knows where the phone is? How can that be? Mrs. Frawley said—”
    “Mrs. Frawley said the police searched Luke’s apartment, but she didn’t see what they took.”
    “But what do I do now ?”
    The phone’s GPS could be tracked, but all Jolie’s requests to date on tracking phones had been denied due to privacy issues. Law enforcement agencies big and small didn’t want to touch that hot potato unless it was absolutely necessary. “I don’t think there’s anything you can do.”
    Riley stood up. “Well, thanks,” she said, her voice like ice. “I guess I should’ve expected you wouldn’t help me.”
    “Could you sit down for a moment?” Jolie said.
    Riley sighed. “What now?”
    “How close were you to Luke?”
    “We were going to get married.”
    Jolie looked for an engagement ring, but didn’t see any.
    “We were keeping it a secret.”
    Because he was eight years older than you ? Jolie thought. Or because he worked for a landscaper blowing leaves?
    Riley said, “I need to be somewhere.”
    “Just a couple more questions. Do you have any idea why Luke would take that woman hostage at that motel?”
    Riley stared at her.
    She looked stricken.
    “Riley?” Jolie asked gently. “You must have wondered about that.”
    “They framed him. He wouldn’t do something like that. Why would he?”
    “Who framed him? The FBI? The police?”
    Riley said nothing.
    “How do you think that happened?”
    “They framed him. They made it up.” She stood up. “I’ve got to go.”
    Jolie said, “You must have thought about this. If they framed him, you must have a theory how they did it?”
    “I don’t know how they did it. That’s your job. We loved each other, and now he’s gone—why can’t you just leave me alone?”
    “Was he afraid of someone? Did he ever mention that someone was after him?”
    “Am I under arrest? Because if I’m not, I’m going. Come on, Zoe!”
    She walked out the door—clack, clack, clack.
    Zoe rose, purse clutched to her stomach. “I’m sorry, Aunt Jolie. She doesn’t mean to be rude. She’s just upset. She…”
    Jolie stood up too. “Do you think Luke was framed?”
    Zoe looked miserable. “All I know is something was going on.”
    “Something?”
    “What I meant was…” She looked around for help, but there was none.
    “Zoe, if you know anything, you owe it to your friend to tell me. Does Riley know why he went to the motel?”
    “No! There’s no way she’d know.”
    “Why is that?”
    Zoe looked miserable. “Because they broke up Memorial Day weekend.”

    When Jolie got to Skeet’s office, he was standing by the window. “Look at that,” he said. “You’d think the president was just here.”
    Jolie saw the two black SUVs follow Riley’s Boxster Spyder out of the parking lot.
    “Is it true you’re related to those people?”
    “Tangentially.”
    He stuck his hands in his pockets and gazed at the solar system poster that took up one wall of his office. “Hope you’re not planning on getting a security detail for yourself,” he said. “We’d have to move Louis into the cleaning closet just to accommodate them.” He nodded to a chair. He had his copy of Chief Akers’s case file in front of him on the desk.
    “You know we’ve been having budget cutbacks,” Skeet said. “We’re shorthanded. Everybody is, but with Louis out…Tim and I talked early this morning. We agreed that we just don’t have the manpower to keep up surveillance on Maddy Akers.”
    In a way she’d been expecting it. Maddy had