“I know, but he’s refusing to speak without a lawyer. Aren’t you supposed to be on shift right now?”
“Shift’s ending. I’m on my way back. Do you want me to take you to the station?”
“To do what? I can’t be anywhere near this, or Ian might get in trouble.”
Darren blew out a breath. “Yeah, you’re right. Okay, I’ll get us some coffee and croissants. I’ll be home soon.”
When he hung up, Sophia made her way into the hallway with Teddy hot on her heels. She crept into the main house and down the stairs to the backyard. Giving the backdoor a firm tug, it wrenched free with a slight creaking sound. With a gasp,Sophia glanced over her shoulders, relieved not to find her dad at the foot of the stairs.
Once the front door clicked open and Darren stepped in, Sophia was sitting on the steps of the back porch, a blanket around her shoulders and her phone in her hands. She offered Darren a tight smile as he paused to pat Teddy and lowered the brown paper bag on the floor between them. Teddy sniffed at the bag, and Darren playfully shoved him away.
“Has Ian called back?”
Sophia didn’t look at Darren when she answered. “No, not yet. What if it’s just random, though? Like, what if none of it meant anything?”
Darren wrapped an arm around her shoulders and squeezed. “We’ll figure it out.”
Sophia was sipping on her coffee when Ian called. Her palms were sweaty, and she nearly dropped the phone a few times. Darren took it out of her hands and set it down on the steps between them.
“Is Darren there? I’m going to need you to sit down for this, Soph.”
Darren cleared his throat. “I’m here. What’s wrong?”
A door opened and shut in the background.
“It turns out that the intruder was hired by Eric Alrich, Lily’s dad.”
Sophia’s blood began to roar in her ears, and she tasted bile in the back of her throat. “What? That doesn’t make any sense. Why would he hire someone to break into people’s homes?”
It felt like someone had punched her in the stomach.
She half-expected the room to start spinning around her.
“He didn’t hire someone to break into people’s homes. He hired some skeezy private eye who hired this guy to look into the Wilsons.”
Sophia’s stomach clenched. “Allof the Wilsons?”
“And the Cheffs,” Ian added in a tight voice. “He’s been following us for months, trying to gather evidence and build a case against us.”
Sophia looked over at Darren, and her blood turned cold. “A case to dowhat? We don’t have anything he wants. Ian, how do you know all of this? I thought he wasn’t talking.”
“Terry made a few phone calls. Apparently, she knows someone at the public prosecutor’s office, and she called in a favor. This lawyer walked in a short while ago, and the guy is talking because he’s hoping to strike a deal.”
“A deal?”
“Protection in exchange for information,” Ian clarified, his voice rising toward the end. “You should’ve seen the look on his face, Soph. He’s terrified of Eric. I don’t know what the man has on him, but it’s obviously enough to scare the bejeesus out of him.”
Sophia swallowed. “I still don’t understand. Why is Eric trying to build a case against us?”
“According to the guy, it’s because he thinks we’re to blame for Lily turning against him and for Amy leaving him.”
“I wonder if that’s why Amy was freaked out the other day when I was chasing the guy. What if she saw him and figured out who it was?”
“I’m trying to get in touch with Lily, but she doesn’t have a signal.”
“Try Ben,” Sophia suggested, pausing to run a hand over her face. “He practically lives there, but even if he isn’t there, he’ll be able to get a hold of her.”
“What can we do?” Darren took Sophia’s hands in his, and he rubbed his thumb along the inside of her wrist in slow, soothing motions. “Should I bring Sophia and Stu to the station? What about Zoe?”
