Page 81 of Rescued Dreams

The woman eased around Daryl and said, “Thanks.”

“No problem.” He wandered back toward his donut.

“What’s your name?” Amelia asked.

“Oh, I’m Cynthia.” She held out her hand for Amelia to shake. “Nice to meet you.”

“How many firefighters do you know that are named Amelia?” She wanted to interrogate this woman but needed her to be forthcoming and not shut down, because Amelia wasn’t going to back off until she had the whole story.

“Of course, I can’t give out private information about our customers.”

“She’s probably from another county or some town close by. Because there aren’t any Amelias who are firefighters in Last Chance County.” Except her.

Cynthia frowned. “No, I’m sure this one is. She works out of…Eastside Firehouse.”

“I’d love to meet this woman. She sounds impressive.” Amelia, on the other hand, was terrible at this. She’d never have made it as an undercover agent. “How long has it been since she came in?”

“Only a few days, but it isn’t like you can stay here until she shows up.” Cynthia looked her up and down. “Are you some kind of stalker?”

Only when I have a point to make.“Of course not. I’m no threat to this woman.”

The police, on the other hand…

Amelia continued. “I just have one more question.”

Cynthia didn’t object out loud.

“If the police were to ask you to ID the person who holds the account with that woman’s name on it, would you be willing to make a statement confirming that personisn’tme?”

Cynthia frowned, but her eyes flared. “Why are the police involved?”

Now that she’d had a whiff of intrigue, she was interested. “It’s a lot of money, and it might have been used to target first responders. The cops aren’t sure who is responsible, so they could probably use your help.”

That puffed her up a little, because she’d be important to the investigation. Deep down, most people wanted to help, and adding in the chance to be recognized hit on more than one need inside this woman. Not that Amelia was a student of human nature, but being twisted around by a narcissistic man and finally breaking away had allowed her time to think over why she’d let herself fall for it.

Everything about Ridge was a giant green flag.

If there were any potential problems that she could see, she might be more comfortable with the whole thing. At least then she would know what was in store for her if she committed to him.

“There you are.”

Amelia had been about to thank the woman and leave, because she’d done as much as she could here without overstepping boundaries.

She turned to the source of the male voice.

“Elam?”

A couple of similarly dressed guys stood behind him in jeans and denim and boots. They’d spread out around the bank lobby as if they needed to stand guard. One of the men in line turned to look at them, instinct flaring so that he tensed and kept one eye on the man closest to him.

Elam walked right up to her. “Thought you were going to wait for me.” Her brother grasped her arm, just above her elbow. Hard.

Amelia stiffened.

“Well, you look like you have your hands full.” Cynthia looked overlong at Elam, those eyes flaring again.

As if her brother were remotely good-looking or a ticket to excitement.

He was a ticket to something, but it was more likely going to be heartbreak.