Free Cranberry Bluff by Deborah Garner

work,” she said cheerfully, heading toward the kitchen.
    “Same here,” Bryce echoed, heading for the stairs. “Back to the book.”

CHAPTER FOURTEEN
    Bryce stood at the window in his room again, looking out at the ocean and cursing. What on earth had he done now, telling her he was writing a novel? He hadn’t tried to write anything fictional since high school English. Couldn’t he have come up with something better? With all the years of experience he’d had and all the creative covers he’d constructed in the past, that was all he had? Molly made him nervous in a way that was new to him. He was walking a fine line.
    He shoved those worries aside. She might not even ask about the book again, and if she did, he would claim writer’s block to avoid discussing it. He had a bigger problem. He had to try to prove her innocence. Could he do it without revealing to Molly why he was there?
    His brow furrowed as he tried to figure out where to start. Jobs involving Al were always tricky, if not dangerous. He was going to need solid facts for Al, who wasn’t likely to trust someone else’s hunches. Things either made sense to him or they didn’t. There was no in-between. Saying, “I just feel certain she’s innocent,” wouldn’t get him anywhere. It could even get him a permanent concrete vacation. Which meant, in order to get everything in line, Bryce was going to have to start from the beginning. That is, looking at the information that made Al certain she was guilty.
    The bank had been robbed on a Friday, which was a stupid day to try to pull that off, anyway. Fridays were busy. There were too many things that could go wrong. But that was beside the point. Or was it? That could reveal the thief as an amateur, which could be helpful information. Except that Al didn’t use amateurs, so that was out.
    Bryce ran the details through his head. The bank got hit shortly before noon. By that evening it was all over the news, including footage from security cameras. He’d seen the footage himself and had to agree, the outside camera made Molly look guilty. The inside cameras proved that she wasn’t at the window that had been robbed. She’d been at the next one over, standing one minute and crouching down the next. That would have been when all the customers hit the floor, which made sense. That also should have proven she was innocent, but that’s where it got complicated. The actual robber had also ducked below the counter before leaving. Could money have been exchanged? Were words exchanged? Was it possible they were both in on the job?
    The outside cameras showed the robber leaving in one direction and Molly, in the other. The robber was running, which was suspicious. Molly was walking, which appeared less suspicious. Still, they looked almost identical – coats, hair, height, weight. Well, Molly might have a few extra pounds on her, but that could have been a difference in clothing.
    Why had the robber ducked below the counter before leaving? It only took up time when she could have been on the way out. Had she told nearby customers to keep down until she was gone? Or had she stashed the money inside her coat? Or…had she passed off the money for later pick-up, in case she was caught on the way down the block? And if she handed it to Molly, all eyes would have been on the running thief while Molly strolled out of the bank and down the block in the other direction. That could have been a clever diversion.
    There was a problem with that, though. If Molly had been part of the robbery team to begin with, why were they trying to track her down? Unless she had turned on them, taken the money and run. And that would be an amateur move. No professional would be dumb enough to double-cross Al like that. This was either a job pulled off by inexperienced thieves or a bungled plan.
    Another possibility crossed his mind. The actual thief might have taken advantage of Molly being there to make it look like the money was