“Okay. Sisterhood comes first,” Dahlia announced. “Anything said in this room stays in this room.”
“That’s not fair to you,” Ivy said. “Michael is your man. You shouldn’t have to keep things from him.”
“Although to play devil’s advocate, clearly Michael kept this”—Bailey nodded to the paper—“from you. You didn’t know about any of this before the news article, and it says in it that Michael is heading the investigation.”
Dahlia contemplated this. “True. I mean, I knew something was up because he was distracted and told me he had an interesting case at work … but he didn’t give me the details. But if you’d prefer me to leave, I can.”
“You’re not leaving.” Bailey shook her head. “Unless you want to.”
Dahlia’s gaze came to me. “I’ll stay. It’s not like Jack or Emery were involved in the actual murder. And clearly Jack was being blackmailed, so …”
Everyone looked at me.
“I’ll tell you after Jess finishes telling us about Jack and Cooper.”
I wanted to know if Cooper had forgiven him.
“Right.” Jess sighed. “Ian blackmailed Jack. That’s why he gave up his business. And apparently, Cooper kept pushing Jack for the truth. Jack didn’t want Coop to know because he didn’t want him to be burdened with that knowledge. He was in a bad way.” Jess frowned. “A really bad way and obviously not thinking straight. That’s what I reminded Cooper. Anyway, Jack told Cooper that Dana was coming on to Jack before all this went down—”
“It’s true,” I interjected without thinking.
They all gawked at me in confusion.
Dammit. I was just blurting out all my secrets these days!
“I … uh … Jack and I spoke about it back then. He needed reassurance that telling Cooper was the right thing to do.”
“You and Jack talked to each other?” Bailey threw up her hands. “What is going on? Am I in an alternate universe?”
“Okay, okay, clearly Emery is a woman of many mysteries,” Dahlia said. “But let’s allow Jess to finish.”
Jess shook herself out of whatever thoughts she was having as she gaped at me. “Anyway … Before Jack could tell Coop about Dana, this all happened with Rebecca. Cooper was on Jack’s case all the time about it, so Jack decided he needed to push Cooper away.”
“Oh my God!” Bailey gasped loudly. “He set it up. He deliberately set it up so Cooper would walk in on him with Dana. Oh my God!”
“Yes, exactly.”
“That is fucked up.” Ivy shook her head, eyes wide with shock, even as she reached for another canapé.
“He thought he was protecting Cooper,” I defended him.
Bailey’s jaw dropped. “Okay, Jess, hurry up with your story because I am beginning to suspect that Emery Saunders is in love with Jack Devlin and I can barely contain myself.”
I opened my mouth to deny the claim but Jess continued. “Well, Bails, you might not like the next part.”
“Why?”
“Jack did warn me about Cooper’s liquor license. He also did beat the shit out of Stu for hitting you.”
Bailey’s expression softened. “I knew it.”
“But …” Jess exhaled slowly. “He also slept with Vanessa to keep tabs on her. She was going to sell her shares to Devlin. Jack sweet-talked her into accepting Tremaine’s offer instead.”
Bailey’s flushed cheeks paled. “What?”
“I’m sorry.” Jess gave her a sympathetic look. “I thought you should know … you should know that Vanessa can’t be trusted.”
Everyone was silent for a moment as Bailey glared at her lap.
My heart hurt for her.
When Vanessa approached Ian Devlin with the proposal that he buy her shares in Hart’s Inn, we all thought, by the fact that she ended up selling to Tremaine instead, that it had been her master plan all along to get Tremaine to step up for her sister. That she would never jeopardize Bailey’s inn by actually selling to Devlin.
My heart also ached for Jack. I’d been so angry at him about Vanessa. I still was. But knowing he’d used her to protect Bailey shed new light over the situation.
“Right. Well.” Bailey shrugged sadly. “I guess that shouldn’t surprise me … so … what happened between Jack and Cooper?”
“Bailey—”
Bailey cut Dahlia off. “I want to digest this news later, if that’s okay.”
“Of course.”
Jessica cleared her throat. “Right, well … Cooper.” She smiled softly. “Cooper told Jack that if he ever needed to talk, he should stop by the bar.”
That was wonderful news! “Really?”
Jessica smiled at me. “Cooper is a little confused by it all, but I talked it through with