The coffee shop was on the far side of town from the police station, but just across the street from the auto shop where James worked. It was extremely convenient for him, not so much for me. Nevertheless, it had been our usual meetup on weekdays when we were both at work. Shocker, I know.
I grabbed my bag and headed out of my office, pausing in the hallway. Should I let Dylan know? He probably wouldn’t let me go alone. James was harmless, I knew that, but Dylan didn’t. He was trained to think everyone was a threat.
Was this really a situation where I would need protection? We were meeting in a busy public place. And I just wanted to see why James was even on the video. He could have parked his car on that street and gone to the bakery. But on a Friday afternoon? That just didn’t track for him.
I walked quickly out of the station and turned right, heading down Main Street. It wasn’t that far, maybe only fifteen or twenty minutes, and on a nice day I enjoyed the walk. But the walk over also brought back memories of too many times we’d met there when it was raining or cold. Definitely more of an inconvenience for me, and there were closer places to my job we could have met. Just one more example of things being all about him.
Well, not any more. Fake relationship or not, whatever I had now was better than anything I’d had with James.
Inside the small space, I glanced around. James was at a table in the far corner. Once I reached him, I pulled out the chair across from him and sat down.
“You’ve ignored me for days and now you desperately need to talk?”
I sighed. It wasn’t my fault he couldn’t take a hint. “It’s work-related. About the fire back in May.”
All the color drained from his face, and he looked around the shop and then back down at the table in front of us. “What about it?”
Geesh. Why was he acting so weird?
“Why didn’t you tell me you were in the area around the time of the fire?”
He whipped his gaze up and his eyes widened. “What?”
Did I want to lay all my cards on the table? If I wanted his help, I had no choice. “I’m going through a bunch of video footage and saw you walking up the street minutes before the call came in.”
He stared at me but didn’t say anything.
I shifted slightly in my seat, starting to feel a tad uncomfortable. “You knew I was brought in to help, so I’m confused why you didn’t tell me. Did you see anything?”
He shook his head and looked away, refusing to meet my gaze again. He was almost acting paranoid, on the verge of suspicious. Suddenly, I felt nervous that I came by myself. But I was in a public place, and there were plenty of people in here, so I took a deep breath and asked the question that came to mind.
“It wasn’t you, was it?” I muttered, instantly regretting it. It wasn’t like he would admit it or anything.
His gaze met mine again and he narrowed his eyes. “No, of course not.” Then he sighed, dropping his head and fiddled with the napkin on the table.
“Then why are you acting so weird?”
He leaned forward, placing his forearms on the table. “I was meeting Evelyn,” he finally whispered.
My stomach turned in the worst way. “But—” That was a month before I showed up at his apartment and caught him with her. “You said?—”
I didn’t need to finish that sentence. Obviously, he’d lied when he said it was a one-time thing. A fucking month. Bile rose in my throat. He was sleeping with both of us for a month? Oh God. Or longer?
I pulled my shoulders back and schooled my features. I wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction of getting a reaction out of me. Frankly, catching him cheating was the best thing that could have happened to me. It showed me who he really was.
“Whatever.” I waved my hand. “I just need to know if you saw anything. Anyone or anything suspicious?”
“No.” He shook his head. “Didn’t see anyone except a bunch of teenagers goofing off.”
“Teenagers?”
“Yeah. We were in the car, um…talking.” He sat back in his chair and crossed his arms, and I fought the urge to vomit at what he wasn’t saying. “A bunch of teenage boys walked by. They were the only people I saw come up or down the road.”
I made a mental note to look at the footage again and let Dylan know. If we could find the teenagers, maybe they could tell us something helpful.
“Okay. Thanks.” I pushed my chair back and stood up.
“Violet—”
