Page 35 of This Time Around (The Can’t Have Hearts Club #3)

A person commits theft by receiving if the person receives, retains, conceals or disposes of property of another knowing or having good reason to know that the property was the subject of theft ...

Which wasn’t to say Allie really thought the money was connected to her parents’ crimes, but still. She had no way of knowing for sure.

“Earth to Allie?”

“What?” she glanced back at Wade in time to see him watching her with an odd expression.

Behind him, another cluster of birds had gathered in the cherry tree, their chirping nearly drowning out the sound of Old Blue Eyes.

Frankly, Allie was relieved. She’d always hated Sinatra.

She turned the dial again, this time settling on a country western station.

Wade stepped closer, possibly to speak in confidence, or maybe to avoid the crow hovering on the roofline just over his shoulder. “Look,” he said. “I know you said you don’t want to tell me too much about what you found, and I can respect that.”

“Thank you.”

“But can you at least give me a hint?”

The blare of twangy music and the lyrics about exes in Texas made an awkward backdrop to this conversation. He was still looking at her, expecting a response, so Allie sighed.

“I’m not sure I should say much,” she said. “I read all that stuff you gave me about ORS 98. There’s that stuff about witnesses or other people being legally bound by the notice or report requirements, and I was worried about?—”

“Right, right ... theft by deception, probable cause, yada yada yada. I know the law. Still—” Wade cleared his throat. “Can you at least tell me by any chance if whatever you found needs to be ... laundered?”

Allie felt the hair prickle on the back of her neck. She licked her lips. “Laundered?”

Wade glanced toward the house, then quickly back to Allie. She thought she heard Skye’s hairdryer going upstairs, but Wade took a step closer and lowered his voice anyway.

“Yes, laundered ,” he said. “You know.”

“I—um. I guess it’s possible. I guess I’m not sure how I’d know.”

He frowned. “You didn’t look closely at it?”

“You can tell by looking?” Allie felt her brow furrow. “How?”

He gave an awkward little laugh. “For starters, I guess I was thinking maybe you saw the stains.”

Allie’s mind reeled. She tried to remember something she’d seen on Dateline about the dye packs used by banks in robberies.

The teller would stick something in the bag of money that would stain the cash when the robber tried to remove it.

Or was it about staining the robber’s hands?

Maybe that’s where the phrase, caught red-handed came from?

God, why hadn’t she paid more attention to that TV special?

Wade watched her intently, and she tried to imagine him robbing a bank. She couldn’t picture it. Then again, she couldn’t picture her parents stealing money from a bunch of innocent investors.

She answered carefully. “I—uh—I guess I didn’t think to look for stains.”

“Right, I get it.” He frowned. “I suppose you didn’t smell it?”

“Smell it?” Allie gaped at him. “What on earth would that tell me?”

Wade frowned. “Well, mostly that my client spent entirely too much time in a cigar bar.”

“What?”

“Though the cum stains were really the bigger issue. That, and the threat of a DNA test.”

Allie stared at him. “What the hell are you talking about, Wade?”

“The dress. A custom Versace, one of a kind. Extremely expensive. I assumed you of all people would recognize it.”

Allie stared at him. “Versace,” she repeated, trying to buy herself time to figure out what the hell he was talking about.

“My client—some starlet who shall not be named—said it was worth six or seven grand. I hid it in your grandma’s attic a few years ago when I came over for dinner in the middle of that divorce case from hell.

Your grandma asked me to help her move some boxes up there, so it was a convenient spot.

” Something in her face must have registered utter disbelief, because Wade stopped talking and frowned at her. “Wait, what were you talking about?”

“The dress, of course.” Allie took a deep breath and turned the radio dial again.

She kept spinning it until she found something that sounded like acid rock, with a lead singer that screeched like someone had his testicles in a vise.

Allie kept her gaze down until she was sure she could safely look Wade in the eye.

He was still frowning when she glanced up.

“Look, I just couldn’t believe you’d think I’d go around sniffing other people’s smelly clothes,” she said. “Your secret’s safe with me. Want to tell me about it?”

He eyed her for a few beats, probably trying to assess if she was full of crap. Allie kept her expression flat.

“It’s no big deal,” Wade said at last. “Not anymore. I meant to come back and grab it, but then the client and her husband worked things out and decided to terminate divorce proceedings. She asked me to burn it, but by then you and I weren’t dating anymore, and it seemed unnecessary to go digging it up again.

To be honest, I’d kind of forgotten about it. ”

“Right.” Allie nodded and glanced toward the fence.

More birds had gathered and this time she was pretty sure she saw a woodpecker.

At least she assumed it was a woodpecker.

It had a long, pointy beak and little beady eyes.

It studied her like it knew she was up to no good, or maybe she was just projecting.

She turned to Wade again. “Anyway, the dress is safe. I left it right where I found it. You can go get it if you want.”

“I suppose I should. It’s apparently worth a lot of money.” He kept watching her, and Allie resisted the urge to squirm. He’d never been that perceptive, but maybe he’d figured out?—

“I found some money, okay?”

She’d blurted the words before she’d had a chance to think them through. The second they were out of her mouth, she felt relieved. Wade was a lawyer. He could fix this, couldn’t he?

He frowned at her. “What do you mean you found some money?”

“Here. At the house. In the attic. That’s why I was asking you all those questions.”

Wade folded his arms. “How much money?”

Allie swallowed, feeling guarded now. “A lot.”

“Like—more than two hundred and fifty dollars?”

Allie nodded and watched Wade’s frown deepen. “How much are we talking, Albatross?”

She opened her mouth to answer, not entirely sure what she was about to say.

Lucky for her, Skye chose that moment to step out onto the deck looking radiant and lovely in a red and gold sari skirt with a white T-shirt knotted at the hip.

She wore big hoop earrings and gold sandals with laces up the ankles, and she was beaming at Wade like he’d just offered her the keys to his Jag.

Wade snapped his attention to Skye, and Allie had never felt more relieved to have another woman steal the limelight.

“Good God in heaven.” Wade pantomimed stabbing himself through the heart, his distress at Allie’s confession all but forgotten. “You’re stunning.”

It would have sounded like a line if Allie hadn’t been watching his face to see the absolute adoration there. It almost took her breath away.

Skye laughed and took his arm. “Thanks.” She glanced at the radio and frowned. “I didn’t realize you guys were fans of the Bloody Buttholes.”

“We’re not,” Allie muttered, glancing up at the eaves where a woodpecker had begun hammering at the cedar siding. “But apparently the woodpeckers are.”

“You ready to go?” Wade planted a kiss on Skye’s forehead, his conversation with Allie seemingly forgotten.

“Anytime you are.” Skye looked back at Allie. “Sorry about the woodpeckers. If it helps, I could maybe talk to a friend of mine who works with birds at the zoo.”

“Really?” Allie felt her hopes rising. “You think she might know something about woodpeckers?”

“I don’t know. She works with penguins, so I guess that’s not the same thing.”

“I’m getting desperate,” Allie said. “At this point, I’ll try anything.”

“Even the Bloody Buttholes,” Wade said. “Come on, let’s get going.”

The two of them walked off together arm in arm, and Allie watched them go.

Skye’s hand was tucked in Wade’s back pocket, and she leaned toward him as though drawn by magnets.

As they rounded the corner, Wade reached out to brush a curl from her face, his hand lingering longer than necessary on her cheek.

The whole tableau made Allie’s heart feel like a warm, gooey puddle in the center of her chest.

Okay, so Wade and Skye had known each other less than twenty-four hours, and yeah, it seemed like an odd match.

But maybe this would be it for Wade. When he and Allie had split, he’d never seemed sad about it.

She hadn’t been, either, so she didn’t take it personally.

Though it hadn’t worked between them, Allie had always held out hope he’d find someone. Maybe Skye was it.

Maybe they’d ask her to be a bridesmaid or to read a poem at the wedding. Maybe she could bring Jack, and he’d turn to her after the ceremony and whisper?—

Her phone buzzed in the pocket of her hoodie. She fumbled it out, snagging her wristwatch on the fleece. Freeing it at last, she held it up and glanced at the screen. She felt her heart skip a beat when she saw Jack Carpenter on the readout.

Then it stopped altogether when she read the words.

Made a mistake.

Plz don’t text me, K?