direction.”
She didn’t answer, just took another sip of coffee.
Her nonchalance kicked his temper up another notch. What was going on underneath that mass of curls? “You don’t have to tell me who it was. It was one of the street kids, wasn’t it? Livy, I want you to stop sneaking around at night. These young boys are stealing guns, and they won’t hesitate to shoot someone. If their aim had been better, they might have hit Sheriff Carter or myself when we were chasing them the other night.”
Her eyes flashed. “It wasn’t one of the boys.”
Jake stared at her, her words taking a moment to sink in. “How do you know?”
She looked away, the first time he’d seen uncertainty in her eyes since he’d gotten the drop on her.
His gaze traveled the length of her dress. Suddenly the pieces clicked into place, like getting four consecutive jumps in a game of checkers. The thief, the guns, the scrap of black cloth, and the woman-size handprint in the snow. His gaze ricocheted back to her face. “You were there, weren’t you? That was a piece of your dress I found.”
The look on her face answered his question. He felt sick to his stomach. Had Livy been in league with the thieves the entire time?
No. He wouldn’t—couldn’t believe such a thing.
Not the woman he dreamed of a future with. Not the woman who claimed to be a Christian, who lived and worked at the orphanage, who had defended the children’s rights in a room full of storekeepers.
“Do you have anything to say?” Please, Livy, say something. Prove me wrong.
Her chin hitched up a notch, her silence deafening.
His hope and his temper snapped. Why hadn’t he seen it earlier? “You wormed your way into Mrs. Brooks’s good graces in Chicago, then moved here to Chestnut, bringing your little gang of street urchins with you.”
Her eyes widened and two splotches of color graced her cheeks. Jake grunted. Good. At least he’d finally gotten a reaction out of her. “Maybe Mrs. Brooks is in on the scheme as well.” He crossed his arms over his chest. How far could he push her before she lost it and started talking to him? “I should have thought of that sooner. An orphanage would be a good cover for a couple of women intent on fleecing a town, now wouldn’t it?”
She slammed the coffee cup on the desk and marched up to him, eyes flashing blue fire. “You leave Mrs. Brooks out of this. She’s a godly woman and would never steal a thing from anybody.”
Finally.
Jake stared her down, his nose inches from hers. “And you, Livy O’Brien, would you ever steal anything from anybody?”
A stubborn expression settled on her face, and Jake knew he’d won this round.
Or had he?
* * *
Livy’s heart ached with wanting to tell Jake everything. But she pressed her lips together, determined not to say another word, afraid he would just twist anything she said to suit his purposes. She hadn’t wanted to mislead him or anybody else, but she could only say so much without revealing her whole sordid past.
He stared at her, disappointment overlaid with anger in his green eyes. As if he cared. But he wouldn’t care, not if he found out the truth. There’d been no one to care what she did until Mrs. Brooks came along, and she’d known about Livy’s previous life when she befriended her. Livy hadn’t wanted her past to follow her to Chestnut, but now it had caught up with her full force, and there wasn’t a thing she could do about it.
“I could arrest you.” He spoke low and dangerous.
Her heart plummeted to her toes. “On what grounds?” she asked, mustering a bravado she didn’t feel.
“Aiding and abetting.”
She sighed inwardly. “You don’t have any proof.”
“I have reasonable suspicion.”
She’d bluffed her way out of tighter situations than this, but that was before she’d become a Christian. She couldn’t outright lie to Jake, but she didn’t want to get Luke in trouble either. If he’d spoken the truth, he hadn’t done anything wrong.
“I haven’t aided or abetted anyone, but I’ll tell you what I know, okay? Your thief is six feet tall, weighs about two hundred pounds, and has the gangly gait of a dim-witted pup. His accomplice—or at least one of them—is middle-aged, bearded, and scraggly.”
Jake crossed his arms and stared at her. “What else?” he asked, sounding as if he didn’t believe a word she’d said.
“They have at least one meeting place on