I narrowed my eyes at the word “alleged.” “You mean the incident that did in fact happen in reality. The incident that was witnessed by Vaughn Tremaine, an extremely reliable witness considering everyone knows he would never lie for me.”

Jackson sneered. “Right, well . . . Mr. Devlin has a solid alibi for his whereabouts last night.”

Unease moved through me. “Of course he does.”

“Just show me to the guests, Miss Hartwell.”

“They’re in the dining room.” I gestured behind me. “They’re expecting you.”

Without another word he brushed past me, walking leisurely into the dining room to begin his investigations.

“Oh, wonderful,” I hissed, turning back to Cooper and Jessica. “They sent me the asshole.”

“I’ll make sure he’s asking the right questions.” Cooper marched past me before I could stop him.

I shot a pleading look at Jessica. “Please stop him from hassling Jackson. I need that little asshat to help me.”

“I think we both know Jackson’s going to be no help at all. He will deliberately ignore any facts that prove Stu attacked you last night.”

“Yeah, well, now that Stu has an ‘alibi’ I think I’m screwed out of justice either way.”

Jessica stared at me in concern for a long moment. I gave her a tired smile. “I’m okay. I just haven’t slept very well. All that adrenaline.” And the sex with Vaughn that led to my humiliation.

“I could kill Stu for this. Although Cooper might beat me to it.”

“As much as I love that I inspire that kind of loyal violence, I’d really rather you didn’t. I quite like not having to visit my friends in prison.”

“Yeah, well, if Devlin keeps pulling crap like this, one of us is going to end up incarcerated for retribution.”

“Ian Devlin didn’t put Stu up to this.”

“I know. Cooper and I said as much. He’s smarter than his son. I wonder who Stu’s alibi is.”

I thought back to only a few days ago when Tom and I were confronted by that particular Devlin on the boardwalk. “Oh, I think I might know who.”

“Who?” Cooper said behind us.

“I saw him with Dana the other night. They looked pretty cozy.”

Cooper shook his head in disgust. “And I wouldn’t put it past her to cover for him.”

I wouldn’t, either. Dana Kellerman didn’t exactly like me very much. With a sigh, I reached up to push back hair I hadn’t had time to style this morning from my face and found my wrist captured by Jessica. “You’re hurt.”

“What?” I pulled it away from her and stared at it. My God. It was bruised.

An ache flared down my arm, as though acknowledging I’d hurt it had finally awoken the pain. “Shit.”

“Stu?” She glowered at me.

I remembered the way Vaughn had pinned me to the bed last night and I glanced at my other wrist. There wasn’t a mark on it. “It must have been Stu.” I flinched at the memory of him slamming it against the floor so I’d release my phone. “Yeah, it was.” I prodded it and winced at the throb of pain.

How the hell had I not noticed the pain?

Adrenaline.

And all the sex would have helped distract me from it, too.

“I am definitely going to fucking kill him,” Cooper vowed.

A throat cleared behind us and we turned as Deputy Jackass stepped into our little group. “Try not to threaten to kill someone in the presence of a police officer, Lawson.”

Cooper tensed at his threatening tone. “Are you so deep in the Devlins’ pockets that you, an officer, could give two shits a woman was attacked last night?”

Deputy Jackson flushed, his eyes darkening with impulsive anger that made him look like a spoiled little brat who had just been admonished in class. “Watch your mouth.”

Jessica stepped in between Cooper and the deputy. “I assume you finished what was a thorough interview of the witnesses?” Sarcasm dripped from every word.

“Yeah, I’m done.”

“Well as Bailey’s doctor I will check over her injuries. Would you like me to take photographs for the incident file?”

“Not necessary.”

My friend narrowed her pretty hazel eyes on Jackson. “I think Sheriff King will disagree, so I’ll call him and ask him personally.”

“I’m done here.” Deputy Jackass shot them each a filthy look before walking out of my inn without another word.

Cooper watched him depart with a look of calculation. “I think I need to have a word with King about that little son of a bitch.”

“The little creep is an idiot,” I agreed. “He couldn’t have been more obvious about where his loyalty lies. He has to be taking payments from Devlin, right?”

“Probably regularly,” Jessica mused. “Maybe even passing information to him all the time.”

“But that’s just us drawing a conclusion based on speculation.” I sighed.

“Nope, that’s us drawing a conclusion by intelligent deduction based on fact,” Cooper said.

My wrist throbbed and I rubbed at it, disbelieving it had taken me this long to realize how much it hurt. “Sometimes I really love this town.”

Jessica eyed my wrist. “You need to get someone to watch the inn so I can wrap that up and check you over for other injuries. Why didn’t King send for an ambulance last night?”