Page 19

“No. No rashes, I swear.”

“But a police problem?”

“I’m not sure.”

“Tell me.” Bryce arched a brow as Livia hesitated. “I enjoy solving problems. It’s my superpower.”

“Okay. But stop me at any point. You’re not going to hurt my feelings, I promise you.”

As concisely as possible, Livia shared her relationship with Jacob Pearson from the day he’d walked into her agency looking to buy a house, to the day she’d caught him sneaking into her bedroom.

“Wait, wait.” Bryce lifted a silencing hand, trying to absorb the wild tale. “This boyfriend was snooping through your drawers and then Winston Durand showed up at your house?”

Livia grabbed her phone she’d set on the table, pulling up the grainy image before shoving it toward her friend.

“Someone who resembles him,” Livia backtracked her assertion. “I didn’t get a good enough look at him to swear in court.”

Bryce studied the picture. “I mean, it could be, but it’s hard to tell.”

“Yeah, I know. And he swears he was out of the country, although I happened to glance in his car last night—”

“‘Happened to’?”

Livia shrugged. “I was passing by.”

“Gotcha.”

Livia hesitated. The next part was tricker to explain. “In the back seat I could see a receipt from a New Orleans gas station.” She glossed over the fact that she’d broken into Winton’s SUV and rifled through his jacket. “It was from last Thursday. When he was supposedly in Ireland.”

Bryce’s lips twitched, but she didn’t press. What she didn’t know couldn’t hurt Livia.

“He could have let someone use his car while he was gone.”

“It’s possible, but it’s also possible he lied about when he got back from Ireland. Or maybe he didn’t go at all.”

Bryce drummed her fingers on the table, her brow furrowed as she studied the blurry picture.

“Have you asked Jacob who it was?” She glanced up. “And what the hell he was doing in your bedroom?”

“I couldn’t. He disappeared.”

“Disappeared?”

“Yup.”

“Literally? Figuratively?”

“Both.” Livia spread her fingers. “Poof. He vanished into thin air. He doesn’t answer his phone or texts. His social media is gone. Even his website is gone. It’s like he never existed.”

Bryce furrowed her brow. “Okay, Livia, this is creepy.”

“Tell me about it.”

“Send me that photo to this email address and I’ll check him out.” Bryce shoved the phone toward Livia before pulling a small notebook and pencil from her pocket and scribbling her private email on it.

Livia took the paper with a stab of unease. The best part of Bryce was her loyalty to the rare few she allowed into her life. It was also her worst trait. She would stand in front of a speeding truck to protect someone she loved.

“It won’t get you in trouble, will it?”