Lily stared down at the black ink staining her index finger. It felt like a tattoo, a mar on her perfect record. She was a criminal for life now. Unable to stand looking at it any longer, she licked her finger and rubbed it on her jeans. Then she realized that she’d licked her jail finger, so she ran her tongue over her shirt, like that was going to clean it. Now it was just fuzzy.
The lingering alcohol in her system dragged at her eyelids, but she wasn’t ready to sleep. Too many questions whirled around her clouded brain. She eyed Ethan through the bars that separated them. It was time to get some answers.
Crossing the cell, she slid onto the bench closest to him. He was curled up on a metal bench like hers under one of the scratchy gray blankets they’d been given. She made a “psst” sound, hoping he wasn’t really asleep.
The gray lump shifted, and he sat up. His glazed eyes shifted to the small office tucked into the corner, confirming that the sheriff and his deputy were out of earshot. Through the open door, they could see Molly lounging in an oversized dog bed. She barked an order at the two men, and a moment later, a hand appeared with a treat.
At least one of us is enjoying ourselves, Lily thought.
“So,” she said. “You want to tell me why you made me a criminal?”
“You’re not a criminal,” Ethan said. “I knew that if we were respectful and didn’t piss them off, they’d go easy on us. You can’t reason with two drunk people, and since they couldn’t identify us, they weren’t about to let us sleep it off in the lodge.” He waved at their surroundings. “Consider this the drunk tank.”
“And that’s supposed to make me feel better?”
“I’m sorry. I am.”
And he looked it, but that didn’t change her less-than-ideal accommodations for the night.
“Why are we in here?” she asked.
He leaned against the wall and faced her, probably just as tired as she was. Then she realized it was so he faced away from the office. She supposed they should keep up some of the drunk act.
“I did it for our safety,” he said. “Our meeting with Skylar already had me on edge. And then our wallets went missing. When we found our rooms like that, it got me thinking—”
“You think it had something to do with the Phantom?” she whispered.
“It didn’t seem like anything was missing. Whoever did this was clearly looking for something specific. What if they were searching for the evidence?”
She rubbed her forehead, trying to massage the thoughts out. “But you don’t know that for sure. It could have been the two poachers from the Sacramento River. And if it was, then we definitely need to let the sheriff know. I don’t fancy dealing with them at the same time as all this Phantom stuff.”
Ethan’s lips pressed into a firm line. “No way. Call me paranoid, but I don’t want these guys digging into anything that’s going on right now. It could somehow get back to the Phantom. We can’t do anything that will force him to shut us up before we have everything in place.”
Lily tried to swallow, but her throat was dry. She definitely didn’t want to be shut up. “Okay, so if this was the Phantom, why get ourselves locked up? Now we’re sitting ducks.” She pulled her feet up and hugged her knees to her chest.
“Even on the off chance that these two are on the Phantom’s payroll, he wouldn’t dare touch us here. Besides, whoever ransacked our rooms came up empty-handed, so they could come back. We weren’t safe sleeping there. And I don’t know about you, but I’ve had way too much alcohol to be driving anywhere tonight.”
She chewed on the inside of her cheek, trying to work out an argument for why she shouldn’t be in jail. But his reasoning seemed logical. The man was clever, even after several rounds.
“Fine. I guess it makes sense.”
“Trust me,” he said. “It’s the safest place for us right now. In the morning, we’ll get it all sorted out, and the BMW will have new wheels. We can get on the road and come up with a plan.”
“But I thought we were avoiding cards. The bank will leave a paper trail, too, so how do you plan to pay for everything?”
“I’ve already thought about that. I’ll have to ask my sister for a favor.” His face twisted like the words were razor blades on his tongue.
She knew just how much it hurt his pride to say it, but she couldn’t see another way. The Phantom was unlikely to be monitoring Piper.
The sheriff and his deputy came out of the office then. She knew better than to let on that this was anything more than a drunken night gone awry, so she kept her mouth shut. As the men approached, Molly strutted next to them. She took a seat in front of their cells, barrel chest sticking out like she’d been promoted to deputy and they were in for a tongue lashing.
The sheriff read off a clip board. “Ethan Summers?”
His eyes opened but only halfway. “Already found a match for my fingerprints?”
“Yes, and I see this is not the first time you’ve been in touch with us. You spoke to one of my deputies yesterday afternoon before they took a trip out to Rattlesnake on a wild-goose chase.”
“Not a goose,” Ethan corrected. “Poachers.”
The sheriff huffed a laugh, but his mouth didn’t so much as twitch. He flipped the page on his clipboard. “You have an interesting background, Mr. Summers. I didn’t realize we had a celebrity in our midst or we would have rolled out the red carpet.”
“I see you’re already a fan.” Ethan dipped his head in a mock bow. “You must’ve been at karaoke night. You want my autograph?”
Lily couldn’t help but chuckle, despite the ridiculous situation.
The sheriff pointed at him with his pen. “You’re the lawyer from the Phantom case. You’re practically famous. Seattle’s golden boy.”
She didn’t miss the sarcasm in his voice, which made no sense. They’d won the case that supposedly put the crime boss behind bars, so why the tone?
“You must have me confused with somebody else,” Ethan said, his expression blank. “That lawyer is way better-looking than I am.”
Molly paced back and forth in front of the bars like this had turned into an interrogation, and she was ready to take on the role of “bad cop.”
The sheriff studied him through the bars. “You put him away only to insist he was innocent. What lawyer tries to ruin his own case?”
His younger deputy snorted. “Not to mention his social life. A week doesn’t go by without me seeing his face in a meme that’s making the rounds. I knew he looked familiar.”
The sheriff frowned. “What’s a meme?”
“Here, check this one out.” He pulled out his cell and scrolled for a minute. “The boys from the Deschutes office sent me this one the other day.”
Molly stood on her hind legs, pawing at the deputy’s shin like I want to see too.
Unable to help herself, Lily drifted closer to the bars. When he turned the screen so his partner could see it, she caught a glimpse. The image on the left showed a black-and-white photo of Al Capone. The one on the right was a photo of Ethan saying “He’s obviously innocent!” She hadn’t thought it possible, but the photographer had caught Ethan from an unflattering angle.
She recalled him saying something about the media being his friend one moment and then the next … She supposed this explained the “next.”
The deputy held up the phone for Ethan to see, just in case he’d missed it. “Still think the Phantom’s on the loose?”
Anger ignited inside her. Here was Ethan, putting his career and life on the line for the truth, and they were mocking him. They had no idea. She gripped the bars, knuckles turning white.
“As a matter fact, I’ll have you know that—”
“Nah.” Ethan interrupted her. “That’s all blown up in the media. I had my suspicions for a while, but I don’t really think that anymore.” He sounded so casual, so convincing.
Nostrils flaring, Lily clamped her mouth shut and returned to her bench.
“That’s a shame,” the sheriff said. “All that over a false suspicion. I really feel for you.”
The deputy frowned. “Why?”
“Something that public? He won’t be able to show his face in a courtroom again. It’s a small world.” He turned back to Ethan. “Speaking of which, the judge likes to stop by in the mornings before heading to his office, but I suppose I don’t need to explain how it all works to you.”
“Don’t worry. We’ll cooperate. I’ll pay anything Peggy wants me to and any fines the judge sees fit. I only need to make a call in the morning to sort out a money transfer.” Ethan crossed his arms over his chest and closed his eyes like he was settling in for the night.
The sheriff tapped the side of his leg with the clipboard. After a moment, he seemed satisfied and turned to leave. His deputy followed, but Molly lingered behind. She squeezed through the bars and nosed her owner’s leg. Ethan reached down and gave her a scratch on the head.
Lily checked that the two men had gone inside the office. “How could you stand to let them make fun of you like that?”
He petted Molly as he stared at the concrete floor. “Because they were right. I’m a laughingstock back in Seattle. After the court case … Well, I guess after my father’s death, I dug up everything I could on the case and obsessed over it for the next several years. My friends and coworkers tried to get me to stop before I ruined my career. I didn’t listen.”
“But if there was even a remote chance the Phantom was out there, walking free, then you had to. It was the right thing to do.”
His humorless laugh was barely audible. “Tell that to my ex-fiancée. Anyway, just when I thought I was close, I went public with my allegations. Like, really public. I guess I thought that if anything were to happen to me, the news was out there. And if somebody knew something, it might encourage them to come forward because everyone else had put the case behind them.”
“It obviously worked,” she said. “Carson Moore came to you.”
“Yeah.” He rubbed the dark scruff on his face. “And look what happened to him.”
“I’m sure he knew the risks. That wasn’t your fault.”
“Wasn’t it?” he asked seriously. “I don’t know. Looking back, I realize how foolish I probably seemed, but all that mattered at the time was putting the right guy behind bars. It still matters.”
She picked at her cuticle. “So, I guess you didn’t quit your job, then.”
“They strongly suggested I resign. You know, before they fired me.”
Lily grew quiet, considering this new puzzle piece to the truth, the one he’d hidden from her during all his talk of family and jobs. Sure, they’d just met, but they were far from strangers. She felt betrayed.
“Why did you hide all this from me? You made it sound like you’d quit because you wanted to make a change, to focus on family. But it sounds like your job might have had more to do with your recent move.”
“The move has everything to do with family.” He stood and gripped the bars that separated them. “And I didn’t lie. I omitted some facts.” His somber face cracked into a weak grin.
“That sounds like a lawyer's answer. I’m not here looking for counsel. I’m the woman you were grinding on your bed a few hours ago.”
“That’s fair. I’m sorry.” He stared down at his hands before rubbing at the ink on his fingers. “I’ve got a lot of cards in my hand right now, and I’m used to playing them close to my chest. Knowing who to trust and who’s got my back has been an issue for a while now.”
“Haven’t I had your back this whole time?”
“I guess I worried you wouldn’t if you knew everything.”
Did that mean there was more? Maybe they hadn’t been on the same page this whole time after all.
Relief suddenly rushed through her like an antidote to whatever spell she’d been under earlier. It was strange to feel grateful that someone broke into her room, that she’d been arrested, but she was. Because it saved her from potentially making a huge mistake by sleeping with Ethan. She obviously didn’t know him as well as she’d thought.
She got to her feet and moved closer to him. “There’s a lot more at stake in uncovering the real Phantom. You can clear your name and regain a whole new level of notoriety. You could be Seattle’s golden boy again.”
“That’s true.” He drew out the words like he wasn’t sure how he felt about them. Or maybe he was worried about what she thought.
“And once you’re vindicated? What then?” She stared through the bars, needing to see the truth in his eyes when he answered. “Your life in Seattle would be better than ever. You’d probably have your pick of jobs. Would you go back? Or would you choose your family in San Francisco?”
As he held her firm gaze, his mouth opened and closed, but nothing came out. Was it because he was truly struggling to find the answer … or just the one he hoped to feed her?
“I … I wish I knew the answer to that. I really wish I did. That life, that career, was my identity for so long. And before it was my identity, it was my dream. But even when I almost had everything I wanted, it felt like there was something missing.”
“Do you know what that was?”
“I think I’m starting to figure it out.”
The look he gave her was so sincere, so earnest, she felt her frostiness melt a little. Needing to hold on to her anger a tad longer, she turned away. However, she couldn’t judge him for not making up his mind when she didn’t know what she wanted. Didn’t know or couldn’t say yet. But what exactly was he starting to figure out? Himself? Them?
She peered through the bars again, but Ethan was asleep on the bench. She could tell it was real this time because there was a soft snore coming from under the gray blanket.
Molly grew bored and squeezed into Lily’s cell. Needing a little comfort, Lily scooped the dachshund up and laid down on the bench, covering them both with the scratchy blanket. While she rubbed Molly’s belly, footsteps approached.
Lily lifted her head. The sheriff stood outside the bars, holding her phone.
“I’m getting tired of listening to the constant ringing.”
She gasped. Setting Molly down on the floor, she leaped to her feet. “My mum. She’s probably beside herself right now. I told her I’d check in every night. Can you text her back and tell her I’m all right?” Then she held up a hand. “Wait! But can you make it sound like it’s from me?”
He slipped the phone through the bars. “Why don’t you just call her yourself.”
“Really?” She took it. “Thank you.”
She hit the screen and gaped at all the notifications. Fourteen missed calls. Thirty unread messages.
She rang her mother right away, who picked up immediately.
“Lily?! Are you okay?”
“Yeah, Mum. I’m fine. Sorry I didn’t answer your calls. I …” Got drunk, made a fool of myself, nearly slept with a man I clearly don’t know, then got arrested and thrown in jail. “My battery died, and I lost the charging cord.”
“You promised you would keep in touch. But here you’ve kept me up all night, wondering if you were lying dead in a ditch somewhere.”
Lily wondered why it was always a ditch. She imagined all these random ditches filled with irresponsible daughters who broke their mother’s hearts. “I’m sorry. I am. I had a rough day.”
“Oh, Lilypad. What happened?”
Her mother’s concerned voice wrapped around her like a comforting blanket. Lily recalled all the times she’d needed a sympathetic ear over the years. Her mother had always been there with a cup of tea and time to listen. Suddenly, she felt so very alone.
“Nothing. It’s just … Everything’s gone a bit pear-shaped. Maybe you were right. I shouldn’t have come here.”
But if she hadn’t come to America, she wouldn’t have met Ethan. And despite everything that had passed between them, she didn’t regret that. At least she’d have a good story to tell the girls at the pub when she got back.
Her heart twisted to think of him that way, to think that, in less than a week, she was going to be talking about him and their adventures together in the past tense. And as much as she’d hoped for more, adventure was all he’d promised her—and boy, had he delivered. They just wanted different things. That was all.
Her mom clicked her tongue. “Darling, I’m sorry it’s not going well. You know, there’s no shame in coming home early. You can come back and sleep in your own bed, in your own room. I could have a cottage pie waiting for you and Coronation Street on the telly. You love to watch that with me.”
Home. That sounded really great at the moment. Then she thought of her aunt, Marilyn, who expected her to return to San Francisco. Lily had planned for a proper visit with her aunt, but what she hadn’t planned for was her recent bad luck, not to mention the whole Phantom thing. Besides, the road trip was her aunt’s idea in the first place, since she was too busy at the dachshund rescue center. Perhaps it was best for everyone if she left after all.
She watched the gray blanket rise and fall with each one of Ethan’s soft snores. But what would she be missing out on here?
I think I’m starting to figure it out.
His words had felt like a tiny ray of hope shining in that dark cell, but it just wasn’t enough. Sure, Lily had her own things to figure out, and she was “starting to” as well. However, she was certain about making her family a priority. And that family was back in England.
She couldn’t shirk her responsibilities because a guy thought they might be “starting to” figure things out—and that may or may not have something to do with her. Especially not when, at the first opportunity, he’d go running back to his old ways, his old life, and she would take a backseat to all of it—albeit a backseat in a nice BMW.
“You know what?” she finally said. “I think coming home sounds like a brilliant plan.”
Her mother squealed on the other end. “Really? I’m so chuffed to hear that. Don’t worry about a thing. I’ll book you a flight for tomorrow.”
“Actually, make it for the next night from Seattle. I’ll need some time to get there and have a rest before the long flight.” She’d need it after sleeping only a few hours on a metal bench. Plus, a red-eye flight meant she’d sleep most of the way, and that would limit the damage she could do. Otherwise, she’d probably find a way to injure someone with a warm towelette or take the plane down with a scone. “Plus, I’d like to tell Auntie Marilyn myself first.”
“Will do, luv.”
“Thanks, Mum.”
After she hung up, Lily handed the phone to the sheriff, and he returned to his office. Molly raced him back, diving into the oversized dog bed by the door. Clearly, a metal bench wasn’t her idea of a comfy nap spot. It wasn’t Lily’s either, but she didn’t have a choice.
Alone again, she laid back down on the bench. Her family really did want to see her happy. How could she have doubted that? Sure, she did most of the heavy lifting, but they were there for her emotionally. And back home she might not have the most exciting life, the most adventurous, but it was a good one: comfortable, predictable, and she’d never been to jail in England. And that all sounded pretty great at that very moment.
But as sleep dragged her under, she recalled what Ethan had said about his perfect life. It felt like there was something missing.
Would her old life be enough?