Her gaze snapped back to mine. “That doesn’t make any sense.”
“It does,” I said quietly. “I trusted your instincts. I trusted that you were right about him. I trusted that you would step into the line of fire if you thought it would stop him which would put our investigation in trouble.”
She swallowed. “So you decided to protect me by not telling me.”
“I decided to protect the case,” I said. “And also you.”
She exhaled, slow and shaky. “I hate that I understand that.”
“There’s more,” I added.
Her eyebrows drew together. “More?”
“I contacted computer forensics to revisit the ticketing platform from your family’s Christmas dance. The one Wickham helped set up where he stole the sales money from,” I explained.
Her face went very still.
“They found the digital trail with redirected payments to an account. The account is closed but it was in his name,” I continued.
“Can we get the money back?” she asked quietly.
“No,” I admitted. “It’s gone.”
She nodded once, absorbing that without flinching. “But he’s guilty.”
“Yes,” I said. “Two separate crimes that we can prove. He’s facing real time.”
She closed her eyes for a moment, then opened them again, something steadier settling behind them. “Thank you.”
“For what?”
“For believing me,” she said simply.
The music swelled again behind us, a cue for dancing, for celebration, for pretending the night had never wavered. I found myself reluctant to let the moment pass.
“There’s something else,” I said.
She tilted her head. “I was beginning to think you were done surprising me.”
“Now that the investigation is soon to be over,” I said carefully, “I’m allowed to say things I wasn’t before.”
Her breath caught, just barely.
“I would like to see you,” I said. “Not as part of a case. Just because I want to.”
She studied my face for a long second, then smiled. “I would like that.”
The gala continued around us, none the wiser, lights and music and laughter weaving back together like the night had planned it this way all along.
Chapter Twenty-Five: A Sweet Beginning
Lydia
I stood near the edge of the ballroom, watching it all settle, feeling something unfamiliar loosen within me with the knowledge that I was no longer braced for the impact of something going terribly wrong.
Instead, something had gone very right, I thought with a smile to myself.
Ephram was a few steps away, speaking quietly with Carly and one of the officers. His posture was relaxed now that the case no longer demanded every ounce of control.
