07 It Had to Be You Read online

  And their ringleader, Edward Gregory.

  Edward and Luke’s grandma had divorced in the ’70s, when Fay had founded the local historical society to preserve the buildings that made up Commercial Row, and then insisted on running it herself. Back in the day, Edward hadn’t gotten the memo about women’s rights, not to mention exactly how strong willed and stubborn a Hanover could be. He’d stood firm, and Fay had dumped him.

  Edward had moved out, eventually buying the house next door, saying he’d done so to spite Fay. But everyone knew it was because he hadn’t gotten over her.

  Or her death.

  Or Luke, seeing as he’d caused it…

  Luke leaned against the doorjamb and waited, because whatever this was, it was going to be good.

  Or really, really bad.

  “Took you long enough to answer the door,” Mr. Lyons said, leaning heavily on his cane to peer inside, and then let out a low whistle at the mess. “Holy smokes, boy. You haven’t outgrown that party animal stage yet?”

  “He didn’t do that, you idiot, the cops did,” Mr. Wykowski said. “They tossed the joint looking for the dough.”

  Edward didn’t speak. They hadn’t been face to face in years, hadn’t seen each other since Fay’s funeral. “What’s up?” Luke asked.

  “We called Edward to drive us over here to see you,” Mr. Wykowski said. “On account of I lost my license last year and these yahoos are blinder than bats.”

  “Hey,” Mr. Elroy said, glaring at him. “You’re the one who tried to drive down the pier and ended up nose first inside the deli. You smelled like pickles for a month.”

  “I turned at the wrong place. Big deal, we all make mistakes.” Mr. Wykowski waved this off as he turned to Luke. “Ali’s still at the police station.”

  “I know.”

  “Thing is, Ted Marshall’s sort of the golden boy around here. Hell, he had the senior center redone last year so we could open up more rooms, and he single-handedly raised the money for the Dial-A-Ride van. He makes sure there’s money in the budget for Edward’s pay. People love him and trust him. If he says Ali stole the money, everyone believes him. You know what I’m saying?”

  “No,” Luke said. “Just because someone’s a good guy doesn’t mean what he says is gold. There’s a justice system.”

  Which he knew better than anyone didn’t always work.

  “Listen,” Mr. Lyons said, “we watch Law and Order. We know shit happens. And shit’s happening.”

  “Ali’s our ceramics teacher,” Mr. Elroy said. “She also gets library books and reads to us. We need to help her. We’re all she has.”

  “And you want me to do what exactly?” Luke asked.

  “We figure since she’s been staying here, that makes her yours too.”

  “It’s not like that,” Luke said.

  “What is it like?” Mr. Elroy asked, and every one of them looked at Luke through rheumy, but sharp-as-hell, eyes.

  Yeah, Luke, what was it like? She’d come along when he’d wanted to be alone, and she’d gotten his entire house torn up in the search for the fifty large. But the landline hadn’t rung in a full twenty-four hours. Ali, whose damn life was circling the drain, had amazingly managed to scare everyone off and give him a chance at his peace and quiet.

  In spite of himself, he wanted to help her in return. Not that she wanted his help. The envelope of cash she’d tried to give him was still on the table. Broke as shit, she’d still given it to him, because that was the right thing to do.

  It’d been the pride flaring in her eyes that had slain him. She needed to pay her way. He was an ass, but not that big an ass to squelch the life that she projected with every single breath. He might be standing in the darkness, wallowing, weighed down by the things he saw on his job, but she wasn’t like that. She was light.

  And yet she was at the police station right now being questioned.

  Alone.

  He told himself that she was used to shitty circumstances. Hell, it appeared she was used to shitty men too. Her father, the pincher…him. She was used to taking care of herself and others.

  And he had no idea why that got to him. But it did. She did.

  “You still with us, boy?” Mr. Elroy asked. “Now’s not the time to go all silent and cranky on us.”

  Luke hadn’t been called “boy” in a damn long time. And few other than Sara dared to call him on the silent and cranky. “Ali’s just being questioned,” he said.

  “What if she needs bailing out?”

  “She doesn’t.”

  “But if she does?”

  “You could do it,” Luke said.

  “Yes, and we would,” Mr. Wykowski said. “But…” He glanced at Edward, who still said nothing, gave away nothing. At seventy-two, he looked as fit and healthy as Sara and Jack had reported and pretty much the same as always—as if he’d just swallowed a lemon.

  “We don’t have very much,” Mr. Lyons said. “We pooled our available cash together from what was left of our social security for the month, but it’s not much. We had a poker game a few nights back, see, and normally I’d have taken the pot—”

  Mr. Elroy coughed and muttered “bullshit” at the same time.

  Mr. Lyons glared at him. “—But I had a little bad luck.”

  “That’s not what happened,” Mr. Elroy said.

  “Yes, it is,” Mr. Lyons said.

  “No.” Mr. Elroy shook his head. “Eileen Weiselman knew she had a losing hand, so she flashed you her tits to distract you into folding, and you lost. We all lost.”

  “Okay, look,” Luke said, rubbing his temples where he was getting a stress headache. “Ali isn’t a thief. I’m sure it’s all a misunderstanding that will get worked out.”

  “But you can’t just let her sit in jail while it does,” Mr. Wykowski said, horrified.

  “She’s not in a jail cell. She’s being questioned. Big difference. And unless she’s charged and arrested—which they won’t do without just cause—she won’t need bailing out.”

  “See,” Mr. Elroy said, “that’s good information. I didn’t know that. It’s why you need to be in charge of this situation.”

  “I’m not in charge,” Luke said. “Of anything.”

  “But she’s down there with hardened criminals,” Mr. Lyons said. “You can’t let her sit there with them.”

  Luke sincerely doubted there were any hardened criminals in Lucky Harbor. The daily police reports read like something right out of Mayberry: an elk walking down Main Street, a drunken and disorderly at two a.m., high school punks running over mailboxes. “This isn’t up to me,” he said. “You know that, right? They’re just following procedure.”

  They all looked deeply disappointed in him. And then Edward spoke for the first time, uttering only two words. “Get it.”

  Mr. Lyons nodded and used his cane to navigate back to the van.

  Edward just stood there looking at Luke.

  Luke ignored them all and thought about Ali. He’d meant what he’d said, she was no thief. She’d probably give a stranger the shirt off her own back. The thought reminded him of what she’d looked like without a shirt in his kitchen, yelling at Marshall’s voice mail.

  Vibrant. Fierce. Sexy.

  But she was also sweet and warm. And vulnerable.

  And she was sitting in the police station. Shit.

  His cell vibrated. He looked at the screen. His commander. With a long, slow inhale, he connected. “Hanover.”

  “Got a death threat this morning.” Commander Craig O’Neil’s voice was gruff and as commanding as his title. “Aimed at all of us. Just wanted you to know.”

  “Great,” Luke said. “I’ll start working my way down my bucket list.”

  “How about instead you just get your ass back here.”

  Not a question but a statement. Actually, more like a direct demand. “I’m on vacation,” Luke reminded him.

  “You’re not, you’re working a fucking case. Sheriff Thompson call