Standing Fast by Maggie K. Black

Author:Maggie K. Black
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2018-04-06T17:10:02+00:00

NINE

Fired? The word clattered inside Maisy’s chest so painfully that for a moment all she could do was stand there, looking in her friend’s sad eyes and feeling herself gasp for breath like a fish suddenly yanked from the deep, cool comforts of her pond. Imogene would never fire her. Would she? She was excellent at her job and hadn’t taken so much as a day off in years, even after her father had been killed. Surely, the worst-case scenario was that her boss would put her on leave, while they started a long procedure to investigate the complaints against her. Yet, the fact that anyone wanted her to be fired hurt so deeply that it was almost impossible for her to take any comfort in that. This school was her life. Her students were her entire world. Why would anyone try to take that away from her? How could anybody think that her students would be better off without her?

“They can’t do this,” she said. Her feet feebly and haltingly steered her up toward the front steps and toward the gathering of friends, parents, concerned Canyon residents and those onlookers making somebody else’s problem their own. “They can’t say I don’t care about my students because some scandalous blog decided to write rumors and lies about me, or published a picture of me being seen to...”

Words failed her. Being seen to do what? Hold hands with a criminal suspect. Gaze up into his eyes. Look up at him like he was everything she’d ever wanted and nothing she thought she’d ever be able to have.

“Maisy, we need to talk.” Preston barreled to her side. His hand brushed the back of her shoulder and his stiff form fell into step alongside her, as if he’d taken it upon himself to be her personal escort. “Somewhere private.”

Nothing in his tone or body language implied it was official. Whatever Preston Flannigan wanted to talk about was way down her list of priorities, and going somewhere private with him was not about to happen.

She shrugged his hand away and kept walking straight ahead without looking at him. “I’m sorry, it’ll have to wait. I don’t have time right now.”

“But you don’t know what it’s about.” He reached for her arm, not exactly touching her, but somehow still uncomfortably close.

“If it’s about the Red Rose Killer investigation, please get Captain Blackwood to call me,” she said. “I already had a long conversation this morning with FBI Special Agent Oliver Davison.”

“It’s not police business—”

“Then, please, it has to wait.” She raised her head high and walked through the crowd, feeling Zoe close on the other side and seeing Felicity and Heidi ahead. She could hear Preston still talking behind her. Not in coherent sentences though, but blustering and sputtering out syllables like “but,” “you” and “I.” She didn’t turn.

Eyes averted their gaze as she passed. So this was what it was like to have the Canyon Air Force Base’s finger of suspicion pointed at you.

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