Lynette Eason - The Black Sheep's Redemption

Owen stared at the vile accusation and looked ready to snap someone in two. The set of Keira’s jaw said she was right there with Owen.

“What’s going on here?”

Demi turned to see Aiden Fitzgerald, chief of police and head of the Fitzgerald family, stride toward his children. She recognized him from the family photo Charles had sitting on his mantel.

“Dad?” Charles frowned. “You didn’t have to come out here.”

“When I hear someone’s trying to break in my son’s house, I do.” He looked at the garage door and Demi thought she saw him pale when Keira turned her light in his direction. “Someone decided to play dirty tonight, I see.”

It wasn’t hard to pick up on the fine thread of steel lacing his words.

Charles shook his head. “They egged my house last month and just a couple weeks ago I found all of my tires slashed.” He sighed and shrugged. “Don’t stress about it, Dad. Until you catch whoever killed Olivia, this stuff is going to happen.”

Olivia Henry. Demi had heard the story straight from Charles’s mouth. A young woman had come over from Ireland several months ago and Charles had hired her as his nanny. When she’d been found dead on the cliffs at the base of the lighthouse, the town had been rocked.

And then the accusations and rumors had started about Charles’s involvement with Olivia.

He’d told Demi in no uncertain terms that there had been nothing between him and Olivia except an employer-employee relationship.

Demi believed him.

“Maybe so,” Owen stated, “but that doesn’t mean we’re just going to sit back and take it.”

Keira grunted. “I’m going to check on the kids again.”

She disappeared around the corner of the house and Charles simply watched her go.

Demi thought Charles looked weary, battle worn. Not beaten, or defeated, just tired. She ached for him. Wished she could somehow take his pain away. The lump in her throat surprised her. But she couldn’t help it. She cared.

She hadn’t counted on the spark of attraction that had arched between them when he’d interviewed her.

When Fiona, her landlady and Charles’s other sister, had suggested she apply for the nanny position, she’d mentioned he was having trouble finding help because he was a suspect in the murder of his previous nanny. Demi had at first refused. But Fiona had been adamant about her brother’s innocence and Demi had finally agreed.

And she’d been captivated by the hurting father accused of a murder he didn’t commit. After speaking with him, she had no doubts about his innocence or she wouldn’t be there.

Charles’s gaze landed on hers. “I’m so sorry.”

“It’s not your fault,” she reassured him.

Stepping to her side, he placed a hand under her elbow. “Come on. They’ll take care of all this. Let me take you home.” Right now, she depended upon Charles for most of her transportation to and from his home. She’d love to drive, but had no way of getting a driver’s license. Not without some way of identifying herself.

“After she gives a statement,” Owen said.

Demi said, “I’ve told you everything.”

“Go through it one more time, if you don’t mind,” Ryan suggested as he tucked his phone in his back pocket.

“Sure.”

They walked back into the house where Keira paced in front of the fireplace. She looked up. “The twins are fine. Still sleeping. I told Officer Hughes he could take off.”

“Demi’s going to give a statement,” Charles said. “Then I’m going to take her home. You said you were just getting ready to go off duty. Do you mind staying with the kids until I get back?”

“I can do that.”

Aiden stepped into the house. “I think we’ve done all we can do here. I’ll have a cruiser drive by on a regular basis tonight. We’ll talk more tomorrow.”

Charles nodded and Demi saw his jaw tighten. “Thanks, Dad.”

As Aiden left, Owen flipped his notebook closed. “I’ll catch up to you later.”

Demi followed Charles out to his car, her heart chugging with dread. Would he tell her that she no longer had a job?

Then certainty filled her.

No, he wouldn’t do that. He needed her. Just like she needed him. Or at least the job. She didn’t need him.

When she’d arrived in town, she’d had a small bag packed with clothes and some money provided by the sweet nurses who had cared for her after her accident.

Fortunately, she’d run into Fiona Fitzgerald Cobb who’d had a vacant apartment above her shop and was willing to take a chance on someone who didn’t have a job and couldn’t remember her name.

Getting the nanny job had proven easier than remembering her name. Charles had been desperate. Careful who he hired, but still desperate.

He started the vehicle but didn’t move to put it in gear. “I’m afraid I’ve allowed you to land in a hornet’s nest by hiring you. I wouldn’t blame you if you wanted to quit.”

Charles’s words jerked her attention back to him as she buckled her seat belt. “Quit? Because there’s a jerk out there trying to intimidate you? Because someone’s accusing you of something for which no one has any proof? I don’t think so.”

The relief on his face made her want to reach out to him, soothe his worry and pain.

She jumped when his palm hit the steering wheel.

“I won’t let whoever is doing this send me running with my tail tucked. I won’t.” Charles turned, eyes narrowed as he drilled her with the intensity of his gaze. “I didn’t kill Olivia Henry. I don’t know who did. I just know I didn’t.”

Demi gulped. Olivia had been murdered by a blow to the head. And if Demi understood everything she’d managed to pick up from snatches of muttered conversations, not much had been found to prove Charles innocent.

But nothing with substance had been found to prove him guilty, either.

She let her gaze run over him. Dark hair, flashing blue eyes. Honest blue eyes. Hurting blue eyes. But definitely not the eyes of a cold-blooded killer.

Demi said, “I believe you, Charles. I believed you when you offered me the job and explained your situation. And I believe you now.”

He closed his eyes and leaned back his head against the headrest. “Thank you for that.” He paused. “I’m sorry. You don’t deserve this.”

Demi couldn’t help it. She reached out and curled her fingers around his and squeezed. “It’s okay, Charles. I promise. And for the record, I don’t think you deserve it, either.”

He returned her squeeze then let go to grasp the steering wheel. “I’d better take you home and get back so Keira can get some sleep.”

He backed from the driveway and Demi noticed Ryan standing in the doorway watching them leave. The frown on his face made her blink and she wondered what he was thinking.

After the heavy conversation back at his house, she was ready for a lighter topic. But that wasn’t to be when Charles asked, “Any changes in your memory?”

“No.” She glanced out the window. “I just continue to have flashes of some things, but nothing I can put my finger on. And if I try too hard, I get terrible headaches.”

“Then don’t try. It’ll happen when it happens. That scab on the edge of your hairline looks pretty bad.”

Self-conscious, she raised a hand to touch it. It had mostly healed and she thought it was looking better.

He must have caught her look because he was quick to say, “Hey, I’m sorry, I wasn’t saying it looked bad…bad. It was just a medical observation. I just meant that it was obvious that you suffered a pretty traumatic injury.”

“Oh.” She lowered her hand to clasp it in the other one.

The car slowed and he parked in front of The Reading Nook. The quaint bookstore owned and operated by his sister, Fiona. Demi’s apartment was upstairs above the store.