Free 02 Madoc by Paige Tyler Page B

would have come to the same conclusion.
    With a sigh, he began to read through the file again, more slowly this time. Things had unfolded just like Shayna had told him. According to the lead detective that had investigated the case, the police had received an anonymous tip from someone saying that Shayna had embezzled the money. Of course, the call had come from a pay phone so there was no way of knowing who had actually made it, but the caller had to be the person who had framed Shayna. As for the emails she had supposedly sent to her boss, Evan Mercer, they had all come from her work email address. While that wasn’t as bad as being sent from her personal computer, it would be almost impossible to prove she hadn’t been the one who wrote them. Which left the bank account in the Caymans, but since there was no way to find out who actually opened it, that was another dead end.
    Madoc picked up the crime-scene photos from Evan Mercer’s house. When Shayna had told him the police said they had found some blood, Madoc had assumed there would have been more than the half dozen droplets on the carpet in the picture. After seeing that, Madoc was even more inclined to think that Shayna’s boss had set her up.
    Now, they just needed to prove it. But how?
    Madoc thought a moment. The next logical step was to search Mercer’s place. While the police had probably already done that, there might be something they overlooked, especially if they were only looking for evidence against Shayna, he told himself. At least, he hoped they had.
    Wondering whether to go straight there or back to his apartment first, Madoc opted for the latter. Since he was going to have to break into Mercer’s place, it made more sense to do it after dark. Besides, he hadn’t eaten anything since that morning and he was starving. Figuring that Shayna was probably just as hungry, especially since there wasn’t much in the way of food back at his apartment, he decided to pick up some Chinese food on the way home.
    As he left the police station, Madoc realized that he was looking forward to seeing Shayna. Hopefully, she hadn’t done anything foolish while he’d been out, like call her family to tell them she was back in Denver, he thought. He could just imagine her telling them the whole story.
    Shayna stared at the door in disbelief. She couldn’t believe Madoc had gone out and left her alone in his apartment. If she wanted to, she could make a run for it, she told herself. But she wasn’t going to. Outside of her family, Madoc was the only other person that believed she was innocent, and that meant a lot to her. She trusted him to help her, and she wasn’t going to let him down.
    With a sigh, Shayna put her hands on her hips and surveyed the apartment. It was nice, she thought, taking in the roomy living area and modern kitchen. Very masculine, but then had she really expected any less from a man like the Marshal. Her lips curving into a smile, she decided she liked it. Then again, she had been living in the boarding house for so long that she probably would have liked his apartment if he’d had shag carpeting on the floor, a lava lamp on the coffee table, and a disco ball hanging from the ceiling. Well, maybe not, she conceded.
    Abruptly, she remembered Madoc’s invitation to make herself at home. While raiding his refrigerator was tempting, Shayna decided she needed a shower first. After being in the same clothes for the past two days, she felt totally grimy. Making her way through the living room, she walked down the hall toward the room the Marshal had disappeared into earlier.
    Madoc’s bedroom was as masculine-looking as the rest of his apartment, and there was something equally inviting about it, Shayna thought. As she took in the huge four-poster bed with its navy blue comforter, she blushed hotly as she pictured Madoc making love to her there. An image of her beneath him, her legs wrapped tightly around his waist while he plunged deeply into