“We heard about the scuffle your boyfriend had with one of our boys,” the detective said. “He always have a temper like that?”

“He’s not my boyfriend,” Tina said wearily. “We were engaged.”

“That right? Where’s your ring?”

“We were engaged. We… we broke up.”

“That’s too bad,” the detective said, without an ounce of sympathy. His speculative look made Tina want to squirm in her seat.

Tina shrugged. “It happens.”

“He has quite a temper. Y’all have a fight or somethin’?”

“No. I mean, we did. But we didn’t break up because of that. It wasn’t a real fight.” Tina clenched her teeth and reminded herself to give straightforward answers. She was acting like a scared little girl in the principal’s office.

The sheriff and the detective exchanged glances.

“I see,” the detective said smoothly. “And ah, who initiated the breakup, if you don’t mind me askin’?”

“I did.”

“He didn’t take it very well, did he?”

Tina shook her head and looked at her hands, folded in her lap. She thought of Bette and her offer to bring Tina here. Tina felt now that she should have taken Bette up on that. She would be feeling a lot less jumpy if someone was here with her.

“Miss Miller, why was he at your house this mornin’?”

“It’s not what you’re thinking. Grant didn’t have anything to do with my shop burning down. He’s not like that. He cares about me, and he knows how much my shop meant to me. He even helped me to get it off the ground. When business was really quiet he helped by spreading the word around town. We broke up for personal reasons and he would never do anything to hurt me. I know he wouldn’t.”

“That’s all well and good Miss Miller, but your feelin’s on the matter don’t interest me. The facts do. I have to consider every suspect and lead. You want to find the person who destroyed that shop you worked so hard on, don’t you?”

“Well, yes, but -”