Raven tilted his chin up, smiling softly at her. The sun was pouring through the window, warming up the room. Warming up the bed. Cautiously, he slid his hand across the comforter, nearing Jack’s. But at the last minute, he lost his nerve and plucked the file from her lap. “Why do you think Lily stole this?”

“Isn’t it obvious? Andrew Kane has to be her dad. She’s planning on living with him, and if there’s anything incriminating in this file, he might be deemed unfit to be her guardian.” She paused, gaze flicking to the folder. “Well, that’s the least sinister explanation.”

Raven just looked at her, waiting. He already knew what she was going to say, and after the way he’d felt twenty minutes earlier, standing outside that man’s house, he was ready to believe her. Too ready.

“Lily said she connected with her dad more than two years ago,” Jack reminded him. “Maybe he tried to get full custody during that time, but Evelyn wouldn’t let him.”

“So he poisoned her with Belle’s flowers.” Raven nodded slowly, swallowing the bitterness in his throat. “But that doesn’t explain the missing letters. Lily already knew about Belle’s habit of threatening people with her flowers. She could’ve just told her dad about it, and he could’ve framed Belle, since she and Lily hated each other.”

“Yeah, about that.” Jack bit her lip, not looking at him. “When I went to see Belle at the detention center, Lily was already meeting with her. They didn’t know I was watching them, and they, um. Well, they didn’t seem like enemies.”

“What does that mean?”

“I’m still trying to make sense of what I saw. But I don’t think Lily’s dad was the only one connecting with her while she was in that facility. I think she and Belle became friends. And if her dad knew that, I’m not sure he’d frame—”

“You really think he’d kill Evelyn and then pause to worry about Belle’s feelings? Come on. He’d cover his tracks and never think twice about it. Just like the guy who killed my mom.” Raven’s chest ached at the mention. Even now, four years later, he could hardly think of her without wanting to curl into a ball. Either that or smash his fist into a mirror, fracturing the glass until it matched the wreckage in his heart.

And Jack knew it. Before he’d even sucked in a breath, she’d taken his face in her hands. “We’re going to figure this out, okay? We have this file, and we’re going to find out exactly what Lily is hiding from the police.” She pulled back, brushing her thumbs beneath his eyelashes. There were no tears lingering there, but it was so like her to check.

She was always trying to protect him.