The sentence landed like a slap.
I felt heat rush into my face, anger and humiliation tangled together so tightly I couldn’t separate them. I opened my mouth, but the words snagged together and I was left with a small outraged huff that didn’t do my anger justice.
There was a pause in nearby conversations. A glance. A subtle turn of heads, like sunflowers tracking light. People who hadn’t quite heard every word still caught the shape of the exchange, the tension, the implication.
Gavin’s smile widened by a fraction, pleased with himself.
I forced air into my lungs. Forced my voice steady. “Don’t do that.”
“Do what?” he asked, perfectly innocent.
“Act like I’m the problem,” I replied, louder now, not shouting, but clear. “You know exactly what you’re doing.”
He lifted his hands slightly. “I am only concerned for you. Perception can be so cruel.”
I hated him in thatmoment with a clarity that steadied me.
I stepped closer, lowering my voice so only he could hear. “You are not going to pin this on me.”
His eyes gleamed. “I can’t believe you would think that of me. Lydia, I wonder how your mind comes to such ideas?”
Behind me, I felt Ephram’s presence before I heard him. The crowd shifted again as he approached, his calm cutting through the moment like a blade.
“Step away,” Ephram told Wickham, voice flat.
Gavin looked at him with exaggerated surprise. “Sergeant North. What a pleasure. Blending in tonight, are we?”
Ephram did not react to the jab. His gaze stayed on Gavin, steady and unreadable. “Step away. Now.”
For the first time, Gavin’s smile faltered. Only slightly. Then he smoothed it back into place and took a slow step backward, as if he was doing Ephram a favor.
I stood there, breathing hard, my hands clenched at my sides, aware of every set of eyes that might be watching, aware of how easily a lie could become a story if enough people repeated it.
Ephram angled his body closer to mine, not touching, but shielding. His voice dropped, meant only for me.
“Stay here,” he said.
I looked up at him, furious and frightened and determined all at once.
“I’m not going anywhere,” I whispered back.
Ephram gestured and a couple of people came forward out of the crowd. “I want Gavin Wickham here in the office under supervision while I investigate.”
Gavin lifted an eyebrow. “Am I being arrested?”
“No, but you are being detained,” Ephram told him.
Chapter Twenty-Four: Justice
Ephram
“Take him to the office,” I told the police officer who stepped forward. “He stays there, no contact from anyone else except me. You are to be with him at all times.”
Gavin Wickham’s expression shifted just enough to register irritation. Not fear and no surprise which was a curious reaction. Perhaps he still thought this was a misunderstanding he could talk his way out of.
“I haven’t done anything,” he said mildly. “This is all rather dramatic.”
“You’re being detained. Please go over your whereabouts during the evening with the officer,” I replied evenly.
