“I’m not here to accuse you of anything, Maggie.”
“Good,” she said, folding her arms across her chest defensively. “Because I’m not putting up with one more accusation from you or anyone else. If you honestly believe that I would ever do anything like that to hurt you, you’re horribly mistaken.” She grabbed another shirt from the closet and flung it into the suitcase. “My God, what you must think of me. One of those judges could’ve been killed. Do you really think I’m capable of that?’
“No.”
“Right.” She tossed a pair of pants into the suitcase. “Look, this has been fun. Well, most of it, anyway. The past hour or so, not so much. But other than that whole belittling, accusing thing that just happened downstairs, I had a really wonderful time and I’ll always keep the memory of you in my heart.”
And with those words said, she burst into tears. Damn it. She really didn’t want to cry. She was stronger now. But the truth was bringing her to her knees. Connor had always been in her heart and he would remain there forever, even if they were apart.
Still, tears were not acceptable. She hastily brushed them away as she grabbed more clothes and threw them into the suitcase.
“I’m glad to hear it,” he said, “because you’ll always be in my heart, too.”
“Thank you.” She sniffled.
“And I owe you this,” he said, handing her a piece of paper.
Her eyes were still a little blurry, but she could see it was a check with a lot of numbers written on it. He was paying her for her week of service. Another sob escaped and she had to struggle to speak. “Do you really think I’m going to take this?”
“That was the deal,” he said.
She took a deep breath and wiped her eyes. Then she gazed at him for a long moment. “Forget the deal,” she said finally, and tore the check in two.
“Maggie,” he said softly.
“Connor, I saw that look of accusation in your eyes.”
“That look you saw,” he said with aggravating calmness, “was aimed at Lucinda, who was standing about two feet behind you the whole time.”
“If you say so,” she muttered.
“You know she was there, right?” Connor took one step into the room. “She was the one we were all looking at. We already knew she was guilty. We reviewed the videotapes a few minutes before you arrived. We saw her do it, Maggie.”
“Videotapes?”
“Yeah. The center runs security videos in all the rooms,” he explained. “So we knew Lucinda was guilty. But even before I saw the tape, it never crossed my mind to suspect you, Maggie. Why would I? You’re in love with me. You would never hurt me.”
She glared at him. “How do you know?”
He laughed, damn him. He wasn’t playing fair. She’d wanted to be the one to tell him she loved him, had rushed downstairs to find him and let him know her feelings. But he’d guessed anyway before she could say the words. But wait, she thought. He hadn’t said he loved her, too. Why? She knew he loved her. Or he did, before this day happened.
“You got caught in the cross fire,” he continued. “The sheriff wanted her to confess, so he advised us not to say anything. But he finally got tired of her caterwauling and dragged her off to book her.”