Page 44 of Betrayed

Chapter Fourteen

After a night shift that went a little longer than normal, Logan changed out of his uniform and headed upstairs to the detectives’ squad room. He hoped to catch Amelia and see if she’d talked to AJ yet about the text messages. He may be at odds with his wife, but he couldn’t knock the feeling that something terrible was afoot.

And after all, she was still his wife. He couldn’t forgive her, but he still loved her. Always had, always would.

He hit the top stair into the lobby of the police station, and the front door opened. AJ walked in.

The animosity he’d grown accustomed to feeling at the very sight of her was MIA. The lack of that emotion left him not sure how to respond.

She scanned the space and locked eyes with him. She almost seemed to smile.

“Hey.” His voice was raspier than he expected.

She walked toward him. “G’morning. How was your shift?”

He shrugged. “Nothing out of the ordinary.”

“In your line of work, that’s a good thing, I think.” Her soft chuckle tugged on his heart.

“Here to talk to Amelia?”

AJ nodded and glanced toward the squad room before looking back at him with furrowed brows. “You didn’t send me groceries, right?”

“No.” Time for his brows to furrow. “What happened?”

“Mind coming with me, so I can tell you and Amelia at the same time?”

“It’s why I came up. Of course I didn’t know you’d arrive right now.”

A mischievous glint flashed through her eyes. “What? Not keeping tabs on me like my stalker?” But her face fell at that last word. “I have a stalker, don’t I?”

“It’s beginning to sound like it. Let’s go talk to the detectives.” He motioned to the door, yearning to reach out and touch AJ’s back as they walked but equally repulsed by the idea.

He scanned his ID and held the door for her.

Amelia sat at her desk by the window and waved them over. She had only lived in Hazel Hill for three years or so and likely didn’t know their history, probably didn’t even know they were married. She greeted them and told them to sit. Logan let AJ have the chair beside Amelia’s desk and snatched a second one from nearby.

AJ told them about the groceries she’d received that morning and the text that had come shortly after. “They were exactly the groceries I got last week.”

“When you saw Daryl? And me?”

AJ nodded.

“Did you talk to Daryl before you saw him at the register?”

“Yeah, he cornered me in the aisle right after I talked to you.”

Amelia asked, “So he could have seen the items in your cart?”

“I was carrying a basket, and I doubt it. It was all a little haphazard in there.”

Logan chuckled. “She’s not a put-everything-in-neat-rows kind of person.”

“He’s not wrong,” AJ said.

Amelia smiled. “Talk to me about Daryl. You’ve mentioned him a few times. You said he drove by last week. And you had a run-in with him at the grocery store. Tell me how these things are significant.”

Logan swallowed. Maybe he should leave. “Do you want me to go?”