Page 49 of Sugar & Shadows

“And send this place into further panic?”

“Can’t get much worse,” he grunted.

Nolan, unfortunately, had been walking around with a target on his back since the murder. Every step of his investigation had been questioned. He’d dealt with pressure from the state police and was doing what he could with shaky evidence. By the time Caleb Dunne had confessed, no one trusted Nolan, and he’d fully withdrawn. Unless he was on duty, he rarely made appearances in town anymore.

“We’re hoping to make headway soon,” I said. “Took some meetings in Montpelier last week, and I think⁠—”

“With Monroe, right?” he interrupted. “I don’t trust her.”

That raised my hackles a bit. Though I wasn’t sure why, since I myself didn’t actually trust her.

Regardless, I leaned forward. “Why?”

“I made some calls,” he said. “Heard rumblings about something she was involved in. No proof, but the accusations were legitimate enough to make me uncomfortable.” He ran his hand over his scruffy jaw. “And she left no paper trail. With her here, there’ll be a thousand new conspiracy theories circulating within the week. Just you wait.”

“She’s working on an economic development plan,” I explained, my chest tightening in what might have been defense. Sabrina had sat across from the state officials, speaking competently. She’d walked into the statehouse fully confident. And she’d been prepared to dismantle any excuses they threw at us. How she’d gotten up to speed on the shit show we’d been dealing with in a matter of days was beyond me. Yet she’d done more. She’d already exposed issues that probably never would have been brought up if not for her.

“Sure. Sure,” he said, his tone unconvinced. “Just be careful. She sounds like the kind of person who has a lot of experience getting away with things.”

A hot flare of irritation shot through my veins. “She got us meetings I’d been trying to get for months.”

“She waltzed in here on thousand-dollar heels, and now everyone is acting even more bizarre.” He snorted. “Including that fucking bear.”

I choked back a laugh. He wasn’t wrong on those points.

He fidgeted with a pen, tapping the end on his desk. “She asks questions like she already knows the answers, like she’s been trained to extract information.”

Again, his instincts were spot-on. So I kept my mouth shut.

“People like that, they don’t come to places like this unless they’re hiding something. Or from something.”

“She cares about the town,” I snapped. It didn’t matter why she was here. And the determination she possessed during those meetings? She could save this town by sheer force of will if she wanted to.

Nolan raised one brow, like he was absorbing my reaction. Shit. He didn’t miss anything.

Despite the arguments and the insults, Sabrina had begun feeling less like a threat and more like an ally.

A dangerous ally, maybe. With questionable motives.

But I needed all the help I could get.

Nolan leaned back, his chair creaking. “You’re too close to this.”

I huffed a breath. “She’s helping.”

“That’s not what I said.”

I had nothing else to say. I couldn’t justify all of this to him. Especially since he’d put so much distance between us recently.

“I’ve got it under control,” I said firmly.

“For your sake and the town’s, I hope so.”

Chapter 13

Sabrina

“This isn’t creepy at all.” Nina took in the details of the room as she sipped from a massive stainless-steel mug that matched her orange nails. “Are we planning some kind of heist?” She gestured to the rolling whiteboards, newspaper clippings, and the office supplies strewn across the table.