“If you know my name, then you know I’ve been blamed for something a man like him did. So either way, I’m going to jail. Might as well make the trip worth it.”

“No, Livie.”

Harp’s attention shifted. Steve Logan stood in the doorway. Behind him, two unfamiliar, older men.

“We know you had nothing to do with Isaac Pink’s death. We can clear your name, but not if you shoot Beck like this, in cold blood.”

Tess watched the indecision seep in as Harp turned back her way. The shotgun lowered slightly. Steve stepped into the house; the two men stayed in the doorway.

“These are LAPD detectives. They have evidence. They know you didn’t kill Isaac Pink. Come on—the other day you were the hero. Don’t throw that away for the likes of Cyrus Beck.” He kept coming slowly and put a hand on the shotgun. “Let it go, Livie.”

The two stared at one another for a long moment, until finally Livie released the gun. She turned away, tears streaming down her face.

Tess jerked Beck toward the door with one hand and turned on her radio with the other.

“Did you just come through town?” she asked Steve, turning up her radio, listening for emergency traffic.

“Yeah, I did. Sheila told us you were out here. What’s going on?”

Oliver stepped forward. “There was no explosion?”

“No, not that I heard.” Steve frowned. “Why?”

Tess felt her gut unclench. It had been a bluff. She told Steve about Beck’s threat.

“If there are explosives in a rental car, they didn’t detonate.”

“Thank God,” Tess said. “Can you secure him in my car while I contact Gabe?”

Steve nodded. “We’ll need to get the bomb squad out just in case.” He took Beck by the arm and jerked him to the front door.

As he passed the LAPD officers, he said, “These are Investigators Flores and Black. They’ve been waiting a long time to talk to Livie—er, Heather.”

The two men nodded toward Tess and then walked to where Livie was being comforted by Oliver.

Tess hadn’t seen her come in, but there by the door stood Chevy. The teen looked Beck up and down.

“You’ll never get away from me,” Beck sneered.

“I think I already have,” Chevy said, flipping her hair and continuing toward Livie, Oliver, Flores, and Black.

Steve tossed Tess a grin and continued out the door.

–––

Tess radioed Gabe, the officer on duty, to check and see if there was a rental car in front of the coffee shop. There was one, a large black Cadillac Escalade. Tess asked him to clear the area while Logan called the bomb squad to check out the vehicle.

“Thank you for taking him away,” Chevy said.

Tess nodded, still on edge and knowing that she would be until she found out the truth about the explosives.