My husband had an accident that left him unable to father children.
I was lucky to be blessed with a daughter like Willa.
Was he reading too much into what she had said and the way her words had seemed careful, almost rehearsed?
His eyes widened as the thought hit him again.
No.
Rad gave his head a slight shake.
Or maybe yes.
A possibility was taking shape, but before he could hold on to it, another thought cut clean across it when a memory hit him of a day at the beach a few weeks ago.
He closed his eyes, trying to picture the moment.
There was a flash of sun on the water.
Voices on the beach.
Tyler laughing.
Andy had been trying too hard to spike a volleyball.
Margo was in a pale sundress, her hair tied up, laughing as she tried to help Andy with his volleyball.
Then Ace had joined them with his easy grin, while Sienna Morrison hung possessively on his arm.
That’s it.
Rad’s eyes flew open.
He flung the covers back and got out of bed so fast he nearly knocked his knee against the bedframe. He crossed the room in three strides and switched on the lamp.
The bracelet gleamed faintly in the evidence bag.
He picked it up.
A week before all this had truly spiraled, they had all been on the beach. Tyler, Andy, Ace, Margo, and him. The volleyball had come to an abrupt halt when Sienna had thrown up her arms to hit the ball, and her bracelet had flown loose.
His eyes dropped to the bracelet again.
This bracelet.
He could see it now as clearly as if it were happening in front of him. Sienna, who for the first time since he had met her had seemed relaxed and laughing, had suddenly become frantic the moment she realized her bracelet was gone.
Suddenly, they had all been scrambling to find it in the sand. It had been found, but the happy beach moment had vanished, and Sienna had demanded that she and Ace leave.
Rad’s heart jolted as he looked at the bracelet in his hand, which he was now sure belonged to Sienna Morrison.
And it had been found wedged beneath the faulty cooker in Teacups’ kitchen.
His pulse started to pick up.
This didn’t prove anything on its own. Sienna could have been in Teacups at any time. She could have wandered into the kitchen for any number of innocent reasons, though most customers didn’t. But Sienna and Margo had both grown up here in Sandpiper Shores. Sienna could have gone into the kitchen to see Margo, and it could have fallen off then. There were a lot of possible explanations for how the bracelet had gotten there.
But in a town where fires, hidden evidence, suspicious accidents, and carefully maintained lies were stacking up like dry timber, nothing like this could be ignored.
