“I believe you,” I whispered to him, meaning I knew he hadn’t planned all of this. I would already be in his custody and already know what the feel of handcuffs was like.

“When did I sign this contract?” I asked. “From what Jed told me, the lease with a logging company would only become an option if the land was purchased. Since I signed the contract last night, I had to have done it since then.”

“That’s correct,” she confirmed.

“If the contract was signed online, then it’s a generic digital signature. And there’s a time stamp,” I said, very familiar with the arrangement. I was sure she was too.

“Nine thirty-four,” she replied, as if reading it off of her computer.

My heart stuttered, literally skipped a beat and adrenaline pumped through me. Sheer relief. Jed knew I hadn’t signed that contract because I’d been handcuffed to his bed. But then realization struck. A scary one.

“I couldn’t have signed it.” I didn’t want to say why and I felt my cheeks heat. Jed was my alibi and I was sure sleeping with the suspect wasn’t allowed.

“She was with me,” Jed said, not elaborating. He didn’t even stall in responding. My heart leapt in my chest. “She couldn’t have signed the contract.”

“You’re sure?” the director poked.

His eyes held mine. “Very sure.”

I licked my lips. “This means someone else did. And it wasn’t Macon.”

16

JED

“We’re looking for the wrong person,” I said. With the cell still in my hand, I lifted North up and onto her feet. Then I stood. Paced the deck. “Shit, Amy, have we been looking at Macon by mistake? That it’s been someone else entirely within the company?”

She made a funny sound. Something like a grunt, but a little more ladylike. A groan, but she was too high up the food chain to outwardly respond to a possible fuck up. It was frustration and eye-opening epiphany.

I turned to North, set my free hand on my hip. After I’d gotten out of bed, I’d pulled on my jeans, nothing else, thinking it would be easy to strip and move onto round two.

“You said you signed the land contract last night. Who knew?” I asked North. She’d only pulled on my t-shirt. Her hard nipples were hard to miss, poking at the letters on the front. She’d felt good in my lap, but it was fucking distracting.

She leaned against the rail and the dogs came up onto the porch. She patted them absently as she looked to me. “My assistant, Julian.”

“Julian Zeman?” the director asked.

I moved to stand in front of North so the director could hear her.

“Yes,” she confirmed. “I signed it, called him to notify him it was done and to ensure the bank wired the money.”

“Why?” my boss asked.