“How?” I asked, confused.

“First, if they didn’t get enough money, they’re probably going to rob somewhere else.”

“Oh. That can’t be good.”

“No, but now we’re on the alert.”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right.”

“Second, I can have you look at mug shots to see if you can identify the guy. And third, now we know they either had an inside man or an accomplice who didn’t come through. While I hate to jump to conclusions, Norman Sullivan is definitely suspect.”

I found it hard to believe that the loan officer had anything to do with the bank robbery. He’d been so friendly and helpful in our meeting. But I had to admit that the circumstantial evidence was piling up. Still, circumstantial evidence had indicated Bruce Wayne and I were guilty of crimes we hadn’t committed. In my eyes, Mr. Sullivan was innocent until proven guilty. “There’s a problem, though,” I said, sighing. “You can’t use any of it. It’s from a vision.”

“Let me worry about that. Can you swing by my office for a bit and look at the mug shots?”

“Sure, but I need to go to the nursery first to break the news to Violet. And I suspect it’s not going to go over well.”

He lifted my chin and gave me a soft smile. “Hey, it wasn’t your fault.”

No, if it was anyone’s fault, it was Violet’s. But that had never stopped her from casting the blame on me, and I suspected this time would be no exception.

There was going to be hell to pay and Violet was gonna make me write a personal check.

***

Chapter Three

This was one time when I was sorry to be right.

“What do you mean they took all of our money?” my sister shouted, gripping the counter at the register of our nursery so hard I worried it would snap.

“While I know you’ve been working night and day on this Holiday Open House—” I gestured to the interior of our store, which looked like a Christmas bomb had exploded inside it “—I know you haven’t lost your understanding of the English language.” I took a step closer. “The robbers took the deposit bag. It’s gone unless the police find the two guys who did this. And even if they do, we might be sunk since we didn’t write down the serial numbers.”

She looked down her perfect nose at me and tossed her perfect blond hair over her shoulder. “And you just gave it to them?”

My mouth dropped open in shock, then I closed it and shook my head. “Yes, Violet. That’s exactly what I did. I said, ‘Here Mr. Bank Robber, please take all nine thousand dollars that I worked my hiney off to raise.’ Because the gun he was pointing at my face wasn’t enough incentive.”

Her face went ashen. “Gun?”

“It was a bank robbery, Violet. They typically involve guns.”

“Rose, you could have been killed,” she said, her voice quiet now, subdued.

“Well, thank you for finally figuring that out.”

“Are you okay?”

I looked up at the ceiling and took a deep breath before leveling my gaze on her. “I’m fine,” I said, my voice heavy with resignation. “No one was hurt.” I subconsciously rubbed my side. “Well, other than where he kicked me.”

She walked around the counter and wrapped her arms around me, her body shaking. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have reacted that way. It’s just…the money…”

Besides funding our paychecks, we’d been counting on using that money to pay for a shipment of Christmas trees. We’d gotten a special deal on them, but there was a catch—it was pay on delivery, and we were committed. The delivery was set for the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. Less than a week away and now we didn’t have enough money. “I can make do if I have to go a couple of weeks without a paycheck, and we can cancel the Christmas tree order.”

“We can’t cancel.” Her voice rose. “We’re committed to it.”

I stepped away and rubbed my temple. “We’ll figure something out.”

“There’s nothing else to figure out. Given how much money we’ve invested in growing the business, we were barely able to scrape together enough for the trees and the Holiday Open House in the first place. There’s nothing left for the paychecks and now it will be hard to pay for those trees too.” Violet leaned her back against the counter. “What about Mason?”

I froze. “What about Mason?”

“He’s living in your house, rent free—”

“No.”

Her eyes widened as she continued to plead her case. “But I’m sure he’d be more than happy to help—”

“No!” I said firmly. “Like I said, I can go without a paycheck. I’m not asking Mason for help.”

“Rose, be reasonable.”

“I’m being perfectly reasonable. And I’m not asking him. This is our business. We’ve already asked him to go above and beyond by looking at our legal papers for the Small Business Administration grant and our agreement with the contractor.” I knew I should just tell her that Mason didn’t have the money to loan us, but since she already found him lacking because of his work schedule, I could only imagine what she’d say if she knew about his financial situation.

“Joe helped us a lot, and you had no problem with that.” There was a hateful tone in her voice.