She could see Joy looking like she wanted to say something, while Adam looked like he had a dark cloud hovering over his head. Grace didn’t want to look at her father. She knew he was glowering at her.
“We’re glad you came home,” Julia began, touching Grace’s knee. “We wanted to talk to you about something.”
“I feel like it’s time for me to say that I did not agree to this,” Joy said. She gave Adam a look, and he gave her a “we’ll discuss this later” expression.
“Thank you,” Grace replied. “I think?”
“This is ridiculous. Just cut to the chase, will you?” Carl practically growled. “Young lady, you should know that your behavior as of late has been atrocious. You’ve completely disregarded basic decency, and to top it off, have decided that spending your time with a criminal is in your best interests.”
“Jaime is not a criminal!” She glared at her father, who was about to open his mouth again when Julia shushed him. “Why are all of you so insistent on making him out to be a bad guy? He didn’t do anything wrong.”
She was about to storm off, but Julia took her hand. “We know, dear,” she said soothingly. “Please just listen, all right?”
Grace bit her lip and nodded.
Adam leaned forward, and his expression was so stormy, so full of roiling emotions that Grace could barely look at him. “I was informed this morning by Sheriff Jennings that they are pressing charges against Jaime. Once the paperwork is done, he’ll be placed under arrest.”
Grace stared at him. “Why…how…?”
Her throat closed. This couldn’t be happening. Jaime didn’t deserve this.
“They’ve found sufficient evidence, as far as I understand it. I know it’s not what you wanted to hear,” Julia said. “None of us wanted to hear that Jaime would do something like this.”
She pulled her arm away from her mother. “Don’t. Don’t act like you care. Don’t act like you haven’t been convinced he was guilty since the second the money went missing.” She didn’t know if she wanted to scream or cry more. She looked at everyone sitting here, even at Gavin, who had nothing to do with any of this. She looked at Joy, who gave her a look full of sympathy.
Grace couldn’t breathe. She had to warn Jaime.
“When are they arresting him?” she asked, because she needed to know how much time she had.
Adam shrugged. “They didn’t tell me. I just know it’s soon. It could be today, it could be in a week.”
“And that’s it? He’s going to jail and we’ll just sit here and act like it doesn’t matter?” Grace breathed, but it came out more like a sob. “We’ll let it go and act like we never cared about him at all?”
“Of course not. Adam is working to make sure Jaime doesn’t go to jail for a long time. He doesn’t even want to press charges,” Julia said.
Grace laughed. Tears blurred her vision, and she laughed and laughed. She knew her family was looking at her like she’d lost her mind. Maybe she had. Maybe she’d gone crazy the second she’d laid eyes on Jaime, all those years ago.
“Honey…” Julia reached out to touch her again.
“No!” Grace pulled away and stood up. “Don’t you dare.” She wiped her eyes, remembering the receipts, the checks. She grabbed her bag and began furiously rifling through it. She heard someone say her name, but she didn’t care. She tossed the papers on the coffee table and kneeling down, began sorting through them.
“Look, I’ve found all of these invoices. They show gradual price increases for almost all of the items, and for ones that shouldn’t have become more expensive.”
She handed the invoices to Adam. He didn’t say anything, and he didn’t ask if she’d been in his office. He glanced at them. Then he handed them back, shaking his head. “Grace, this doesn’t prove anything.”
She wanted to scream. She shoved the checks toward him. “Look at these then! You’re missing checks, Adam. And I can tell you right now that it wasn’t Jaime who stole that money. It was Eric. Eric’s the one who’s been stealing right under your nose and setting Jaime up to take the fall.”
No one said anything. You could hear a pin drop, it was so silent. Grace sat on the floor, trembling with rage and despair.
When she looked up, though, she saw that Adam’s jaw was rigid. Her heart fell. He didn’t believe her. She looked at her mother, and Julia just shook her head. Even Joy didn’t say anything.
“Grace, the police have found enough evidence to charge Jaime. If Eric had been responsible, don’t you think they would’ve realized that?” Adam implored her, his dark eyebrows furrowed.
Grace couldn’t move. She couldn’t breathe. It was like someone was burying her alive, shoveling soil on top of her until she suffocated. It was all she could do not to panic.
But reaching deep down inside herself, she found the strength to stand up and collect the papers she’d strewn across the living room. She bit back the tears pushing at her eyelids, her hands trembling and her heart pounding. When she looked behind her, she saw Emma staring at her, her blue eyes wide with confusion.
Clutching her bag, she said in a low voice, “I know Jaime is innocent. He is one of the best men I’ve ever met. He is good, and kind, and he’s my friend.” Her voice stuttered on friend, because he was so much more than that. “I’m not going to sit here and condemn him because none of you are capable of looking beyond the obvious.”
Carl stood up as well, pointing a finger at her. “If you go out that door to go to him, young lady, just know that we will not let you back into this house. That’s my final warning. I’ve had enough of this behavior.”
“Carl!” Julia exclaimed.
Grace laughed, but it was a sad, devastating laugh. She slung her bag over her shoulder. “Then I guess this is goodbye.” She looked at Emma and Gavin, the latter of whom was looking both shocked and bemused.
“Grace…” Gavin said.
She nodded at him and Emma and then, without looking at anyone else, she left. She drove her car to Jaime’s because she had to warn him. She knew he couldn’t go anywhere. She knew that if they were pressing charges, nothing she could say or do would help. But he deserved to know. The tears from before dried up, and she was only filled with desperation and a need to see him. This one last time.
But as she pulled up into his driveway, she saw that she was too late. Three cop cars were outside his house—which she had to admit was rather excessive. She ran to his front door and burst through the open door, only to see Jaime in his living room with four cops surrounding him.
“Jaime Martínez, you are under arrest,” Sheriff Jennings said as another cop cuffed him. “Anything you say can be used against you in a court of law.”
One cop who Grace didn’t recognize raised his eyebrows at her presence. “Ma’am, you can’t be here.” He moved to escort her out.
But she didn’t move. Jaime wouldn’t look at her. She wanted to beg him to look at her, so she could tell him she was here to warn him even though it was too late. When the cop touched her arm, she pulled away.