Page 176 of Secrets Along the Shore

I hang up before he can finish.

That promise I made to Sheriff Vickers about doing things differently?

I’m about to break it.

CHAPTER

THIRTY-THREE

There’sa whooshing in my ears as I leave the couch. I walk over to James, who is looking at me quizzically.

“Soph?” he asks, setting down the wooden spoon covered in red sauce. “You okay?”

“No.” I lean against the counter and swallow the bile threatening to escape. “I’m not okay.”

The color leaves his cheeks. Before now, I would have attributed it to overwhelming concern for me. Now I recognize it for what it is.

Fear.

My eyes narrow. “You knew, didn’t you?”

He bites his lip. “What?”

“You knew. About Matthew. About what he did.”

“I…no. What are you talking about?”

“They found the texts, James. Matthew deleted them, but they found them anyway.”

His complexion is now bone-white. “What texts?”

“Just…stop.” I clamp my lips together, anger rippling through me. “You knew. And you and your father and Matthew…you engineered meeting me so you would have someone on the inside. So you would know what was happening in the investigation.”

He moves toward me, his arms outstretched. “No, I?—”

I backpedal, throwing my hands up. “No!”

He stops, shock filling the lines of his face. “Soph, come on. Please?—”

“Was any of it ever real?!” I exclaim. “Any of it?”

James holds my gaze, and I can almost see the options he’s considering whirring through his mind.

“They’re on their way,” I tell him. “There’s no point in lying.”

His stare drops to the floor, then back to me. “Okay, yes. It started that way.”

The breath exits my body, and I gasp softly to reclaim it.

James steps toward me and I take another step back. “No, you don’t understand…It started that way, but then I fell for you. Completely. And you have to know, I didn’t have anything to do with what happened. With what Matthew did. It was already…already done.”

I scoff. “Oh. Well, as long as it wasalready done. Only it wasn’t already done, was it? Not all of it. Not Teresa Anders!”

“How could I have known he was going to do that?! They said they just wanted to keep tabs on what was happening in the investigation. They thought I could do that through you. That way, if the authorities got close to Matthew, we would know. We could plan. Keep it from…I don’t know?—”

“From blowing back on you? On your career?!”

“No…well, yes, but…Sophie—I’ve worked so hard! You know how hard I’ve worked to get here! If Matthew was linked to that murder, it would’ve destroyed my chances in the election.”