Russ nodded. “Except like we thought he wasn’t stealing anything. He made it look like a break-in but he was planting files that Loomis doctored to point at Verna for the embezzlement. Pope put Springer’s wallet in the file cabinet a few days earlier, and when he went back to add the files, he made sure we would find the wallet too.”
Mia’s stomach clenched. “And I fell for it. Thinking Verna was the most likely suspect. We have to find Pope.”
Russ lifted a travel cup from a holder and took a long sip. “I’ve issued an alert, and my team is working full-time on hunting him down. Only problem is, Loomis paid Pope. He could be long gone by now. And if he hasn’t split already, when he hears we picked up Loomis, he’ll assume Loomis gave him up, and he’ll likely take off.”
Mia looked up at the trailer. “As much as I want him caught, even if he does get away, at least Kurt isn’t ordering him to do anything else. Now we can get on with life and help these kids.”
Russ locked gazes for a long moment. “Don’t let your guard down. Pope might not be as smart as we think he is and could still be hanging around.”
“Don’t worry,” Ryan said. “I have my eyes wide open.”
“Later, then,” Russ said.
Ryan stepped back and drew Mia with him to allow Russ to back his vehicle out. She rested her head against Ryan’s chest and sighed in contentment. She had no idea what was going on in Ryan’s mind, but standing with him covered her with a blanket of peaceful emotions. It felt so right she wanted to turn and kiss him.
“Ready to meet with Eddie?” His breath stirred her hair.
“With all of these terrifying things behind us, I’m more ready than ever.” She reluctantly pulled away.
They walked to the makeshift wooden stairs leading to the editing trailer door. The wind pulled a strand of hair free from her clip and whipped it over her face.
Ryan caught the end and tucked it behind her ear. “I’ll be in the rec center if you need me.” He moved closer, slowly lowering his head.
Was he going to kiss her goodbye? She waited, her emotions on high alert. She forgot about Eddie and the murders, closed her eyes and lifted her arms around his neck.
Nothing. She flashed open her eyes.
With a groan, he slid his hands up her arms and pulled them down. He took a step back, and let a finger trail down her cheek.
“Eddie’s waiting.” His tone conveyed his reluctance to leave, so why did he set her aside like this?
She drew in a hearty breath to cool her rushing emotions.
How had she so readily responded to him? She didn’t know what she was doing anymore. Was she leading Ryan on, or was she ready to commit to a future with him?
A future that meant she would have to remain in Shadow Lake. The love for his job shone on his face every minute he was with the students. The same with his family. She would never ask him to leave his life and family behind to move to Atlanta. He would probably agree to go, but he belonged here.
She had to be careful to keep things less intense when she saw him later. At least until she discovered what she wanted.
Her cell rang, and she grabbed it. A local number. Maybe David. Good. She wanted to tell him she’d been wrong about their father and admit how much she wanted to mend fences with him.
She quickly answered.
“I read the local newspaper.” Her father’s commanding voice startled her.
Not David. So what did she say?
“And?” Was all that came to mind.
“The front page was devoted to the many terrible things that have happened since you came back. I knew something like this would happen.” Her father’s stern tone shot through the phone, dashing her hopes for reconciliation. He was clearly embarrassed over the publicity, and was calling to run damage control. He always had to be in control.
Like her. Keep things within her scope of containment then she didn’t get hurt. But that wasn’t true. Look at her now. She’d worked diligently to take back her life, but bad things kept coming. She couldn’t control anything. Finding the body proved beyond any doubt that she couldn’t stop life from unfolding. Her efforts had been futile. Her father’s efforts too. No matter his iron will, her mother died, and Mia rebelled.
Oh, my gosh.
She fell back against the railing. She’d been a thorn in his side, making it harder on him. Pushing, testing, trying. Like rough sandpaper, scraping away. Much the same way Ryan had acted with her.
True, her father had been the mature one in the relationship and should have behaved differently, but she was supposedly mature now too, and look at how she was handling things. Making a real mess is what she was doing. On all fronts. She had to stop. Find another way or she’d end up bitter and angry like her father.
