Chapter 26

"You are a diamond dear,

they can't break you."

–Unknown

Rayne

Sitting in my office scanning over the pages and pages of data I had on the cases I was still working, I wanted to throw something. Or better yet, hit something.

There was nothing here. Nothing that would tie Declan to any of the murders, including Evelyn's hit-and-run. Declan didn't even own a working vehicle, just a motorcycle.

From what I'd been told, when he'd found out about Evelyn's death, he'd been shattered. Word was, he'd spent a week binge drinking and doing as many drugs as he could.

Which was either a sign of a guilty conscience or a grieving man. The fact was, I wanted him to be guilty. I wanted the man to be locked up.

Even if he wasn't guilty of running down and killing Evelyn, he still had her blood on his hands.

Through my mother, I'd learned that Evelyn's son had received a very large donation, enough to care for the child for the rest of his life.

At least Felix had done that for Evelyn. I stood up to pace for a moment.

Today the office was practically empty. Most of the officers were out at the fairground on parking and traffic duty. Only a handful remained in the office.

Since that day a few weeks back, I'd avoided the bullpen. Now, my eyes landed on Quincy's desk, which had gone untouched since the agents had taken away his computer and anything else they thought might hold clues.

Deciding to take one last look around, I slowly made my way over to his desk. My eyes avoided the spot where he'd taken his own life.

I don't know why I hadn't thought of it before, but when I saw a picture frame lying face down on his desk, I remembered Jameson telling me he had found the gambling ledger in a picture frame.

I picked it up and turned it over and saw the image of Quincy and me at the creek the previous summer. My heart sank.

I hadn't had feelings for him other than friendship since that day I'd caught him cheating almost a year ago, but that didn't mean I wanted him dead. Tears burned my eyes as I flipped it back over and removed the back.

There were three things stuck between the image of our smiling faces and the cardboard stand.

The first was a receipt from the county. Why was that in there? The second was a handwritten note. I'd seen this handwriting before.

"You're falling into his trap. He's going to pin everything on you. We are going to take the blame for everything. Meet me tonight behind the bar in the alley. I have the proof you asked for."

As I read the note, and then read it again, my heart practically beat out of my chest.

Evelyn. This was her handwriting. I remembered it from the note Faye had given me.

Did this mean that Quincy was the one who had run Evelyn over and killed her?

I set the paper down and unfolded the next sheet. It was a series of numbers, in Evelyn's handwriting.

Could this be the proof that Evelyn was talking about? Whatever they meant, there was one thing they proved—Quincy was not the mastermind. He was the fall guy.

I headed back to my office and stared at the numbers for a while before typing them into my computer system to see what came up.

The possibilities were endless. The first number was nine digits, the same as a social security number or a bank account number at the local bank. The next group was ten digits. A phone number?

I picked up my phone and tried it, allowing it to ring six times before I hung up.

The last number was only three digits long.

272.

After typing this into my search bar, I was slightly surprised when the address to the city and county building popped up at the top of the search.

If these numbers signaled a bank account or social security number, followed by a phone number, and then the address for the mayor's office, these could be just the clues that I needed.

Since I had time before the bank closed, I walked over there, figuring I'd see if they could give me any information.

I took photos of the notes with my phone, then locked them away in my desk drawer and headed out.

When I stepped into the bank, I was assaulted by a puff of frigid air and shivered. Most businesses had already turned their air conditioning units down to accommodate the cooler weather. Obviously, the bank wasn't one of them.

Glancing around, I realized I was in luck. Lisa Childs was working. The woman had graduated a few years before my class and was always nice to me. I walked over and knocked on her door.

"Rayne." She glanced up and smiled at me, then waved me inside. "What a pleasant surprise."

"Hi, Lisa," I said, stepping inside and shutting the door behind me. "Do you have a moment?"

"For you, I have a few." She chuckled and waved me to a seat across from her.

"I don't know if you can actually help me, but I figured I'd give it a shot." I pulled out my phone.

"Whatever it is, I'll give it a try," Lisa asked.

"Can you tell me if any of these numbers are bank accounts here at the bank?" I said, handing her my phone with the image of the note on it.

Lisa frowned down at the phone. "I can't give you names," she warned.

I shrugged. "Gotcha. If they are account numbers, I can get the proper papers to get more information. I just figured I'd try first."

Lisa nodded and then started typing into her computer.

She stilled after trying the first row. "This is an account here." She took a deep breath, and I saw her eyes narrow. "I…" She slid the phone towards me as if it were suddenly poisonous. "Where did you get these?"

I tucked the phone back into my pocket and stood up. "Thanks, I'll see the judge first thing Monday morning to get the proper paperwork to get more details from you. I hope to see you at the fair this weekend."

Lisa's smile was slightly strained as she nodded at me. "See you there."

I turned and walked out. I glanced down the street and, to my surprise, I saw Jameson, Aria, and Sabrina walk out of the antique store.

The three of them looked so happy. I watched each of my close friends hug the man I loved before Jameson walked to his car and drove away. Aria and Sabrina strolled back to Jazzed Up and disappeared inside without seeing me.

What in the hell?

I was halfway to the salon when realization dawned on me.

The night before, Jameson had gone out on the back porch and talked with Randy for half an hour. When the men had come back in, they were very chummy. Now Jameson and two of my close friends were shopping.

I stopped just outside of the antique store and gasped. My ring!

I rushed through the doors and, to my surprise, the ring I had admired for the past ten years was gone.

"Mr. Lief," I said, getting the owner's attention. "Where is it?"

The man's eyes widened and then softened. "Sorry, girl, it's sold."

I glanced at the door and felt my heart jump in my chest. There was only one person in the world who knew how I felt about that ring. Aria.

"Thanks," I said, and turned to rush down the sidewalk. When I strolled into Jazzed Up, Aria was combing through Sabrina's hair. The pair saw me and their faces turned blank.

"Spill," I said, crossing my arms over my chest.

Both women looked at one another and shook their heads slowly.

"Trust us," Aria said softly. "Just this once, don't go poking around."

My chin rose and I turned my attention to Sabrina. "Would you stop looking into why your two best friends were just seen walking out of a store with the man you love?"

"Aww." Sabrina smiled and then said sarcastically. "Am I one of your best friends?"

I rolled my eyes. "Talk."

"No, sorry, this time I can honestly say that this reporter has nothing to report." She held her hands up. "I'm just here to get my hair trimmed." She motioned towards Aria.

"And I'm just doing the trimming." Aria smiled and went back to combing through Sabrina's hair.

"My ring has been sold," I blurted out. This stopped Aria's movement.

"Ring?" she said after a slight pause. "What ring?"

"You know damned well what ring," I said firmly.

"Rayne." She drew my name out and then whined, "Don't do this. Please." She held up her hands in a begging gesture. "Just… turn around, walk out of here, and forget you saw anything. Please."

I sighed and, after taking a few deep breaths, I smiled. "I'm getting proposed to."

Both women smiled quickly, and I squealed like a freaking junior higher.

Then they were hugging me and doing a little crazy circle dance.

"You don't know anything," Aria said when we stopped. "If you love him, you'll forget this."

I nodded. "Right." I kept nodding. "Oh god. What am I going to say?"

They both laughed and then said in unison, "Yes."

"Sit." Aria shoved me into the chair. "Sorry, Sabrina, I'm going to have to postpone your trim. Rayne needs my help to look her best tonight."

"Oh god, he's asking me tonight?" I paled.

"Way to keep a secret." Sabrina elbowed Aria.

"Shut up," Aria said, spinning me around in the chair. "I think you could do with a few more highlights."

I left the salon two hours later. I only had an hour before I was supposed to help my folks and Jameson deliver the pies to the fairgrounds, so I went home and changed.

It took me almost half an hour to finally settle on the outfit—white cotton button-up shirt with a mustard-colored tank top underneath it, along with the flare jeans Aria and I had bought the last time we'd shopped together. I finished it off with ankle-high heeled boots. I even took time to curl my hair and apply a little more makeup than I normally wore.

Damn. I looked like a woman. Even smelled like one after I spritzed on some of the perfume that I'd gotten last Christmas from my mom.

When Jameson walked in, he did a double take and, without saying anything, he walked over and wrapped his arms around me and kissed me until I was breathless.

"You look, smell, and taste delicious," he purred next to my ear, which sent goose bumps traveling all over my body.

He was wearing his signature black T-shirt and a pair of those worn blue jeans I loved to see on him. We had yet to get his motorcycle back from evidence, but he still had on his worn steel-toed boots. God, he was everything I'd ever dreamed of.

"Your folks are pretty punctual people, aren't they?" he asked, trailing his mouth down my neck.

I laughed and pulled away from him. "My father is the chief of police. I was once two minutes late for curfew and he had three cop cars out looking for me," I joked.

Jameson groaned. "Okay, later," he promised, and he kissed me again. "Let's go."

For the next hour, we piled all of the baked goods into the back of my mother's minivan, which for some reason she'd never traded in.

When we arrived at the fairgrounds, there were more than a dozen people waiting to help unload all of the pies and cakes and cart them to the pie-eating-contest tables and the cakewalk tent.

The first night of the fall festival was when most of the main events took place. The following two days were when people enjoyed the hayrides, corn maze, carnival games, and all the blue-ribbon events, which involved cooking the best-tasting food or growing the biggest gourds. Not to mention the rodeo and animal contests, which all concluded the last evening of the fair.

After we finished helping unload everything, Jameson took my hand in his. "Do we have time to stroll around?"

I laughed. "I have never, nor would I ever, try to win a pie-eating contest or a cakewalk. We have the entire night to do whatever we want." I glanced up at the Ferris wheel. "Just as long as I get to ride that beast at least a dozen times." I laughed.

"Oh?" Jameson turned away and looked at the large wheel, which was already spinning slowly. "You like heights?"

"I love them, especially when you're strapped in. You can see everything from up there." I sighed. "What do you want to do first?"

"First, how about food? I skipped lunch."

"Corn dogs and funnel cake?" I suggested.

He shrugged. "Turkey legs and then later funnel cake?"

"Deal." I laughed and wrapped my arm in his as we strolled through the grounds.

I desperately tried to put the fact that Jameson was going to propose to me out of my head. We grabbed two turkey legs and a boat of French fries and then found a picnic table to sit at.

After we were done eating, we strolled through rows and rows of carnival games, winning a few and losing more. We enjoyed the hall of mirrors followed by a few of the smaller rides. We spent an hour laughing and having fun together, and I snapped more photos than I ever had at the fair. I even changed the background on my phone to the one I'd taken of us on the carousel.

"Next up is that bad boy," I said, pulling Jameson towards the Ferris wheel.

"Wait, let's do the corn maze first," he suggested. "If we ride the wheel first, you'll cheat and map it out in your head."

I laughed. "Fine, maze first, then the wheel, but I want some cotton candy." I motioned towards the stand.

With a massive bag of blue cotton candy in hand, we entered the corn maze hand in hand.

"Have you ever come to this fair with anyone else?" he asked when we were sufficiently lost in the corn.

"Besides Aria?" I shook my head. "This is the most fun I've had at this thing since I was a teen," I admitted.

"This is my first fair," he said.

I stopped and looked at him. "Shut up." I slapped him on the shoulder. "Really?"

"Yup." He smiled. "My parents weren't really the hands-on type. I spent most of my days hiding from them at the bike park. I got a BMX bike when I was eight and rode it until I bought my first hog at seventeen."

"I'm sorry," I said, taking his hand again. "We'll just have to make this weekend a full-blown fair extravaganza for you," I joked.

"What does that even mean?" He laughed.

"It means we will ride every ride, eat everything they have to offer, and have as much fun as possible." I tugged on his hand. "Now, let's figure a way out of here so we can get a caramel apple and ride the Ferris wheel and then ride the spinning cups and throw up everything we've just eaten."