Part 6 (1/2)
After eyeing her steadily for an unnerving length of time, the sheriff shook his head. ”I'll call if I need anything else. Have you told anyone besides Deputy Jennings about this?”
”No.” After the denial had escaped, she remembered that she'd shared the whole tale with Lou, who'd probably pa.s.sed everything along to Callum. Daisy really didn't want to once again be the focus of the sheriff's reproving gaze, so she didn't correct her unintentional lie. Instead, she silently led the way back downstairs. Having the sheriff at her back was not any easier the second time.
”Your house is set up to keep out intruders.” The sheriff's voice made her jump before she looked over her shoulder at him. Since that hadn't been a question, she waited for him to continue. ”What happens if you need to evacuate?”
”Evacuate?” Even saying the word made her a little dizzy, but she tried to hide her overreaction. ”Why would I need to do that?”
”Medical emergency, neighborhood gas leak or meth lab, fire...any number of reasons.”
She paused, a little taken aback by the way he was able to casually rattle off his list of possible catastrophes. The sheriff apparently wasn't a gla.s.s-half-full kind of guy. If she had to guess, Daisy would say that Coughlin was more of a look-for-the-red-dot-from-the-sniper-rifle-on-the-half-empty-gla.s.s sort.
”Our first aid kit handles the minor medical stuff. If there was something major, I suppose I'd either be preoccupied by impending death or unconscious, so leaving the house wouldn't be a big deal.” It felt like a lie on her tongue. Daisy couldn't imagine not going full-out ballistic if someone tried to force her through the door, almost dead or not. ”I'd probably take my chances that you guys”-she gestured toward his badge-”and the fire department could handle the gas leak or, um, meth lab. And I have fire extinguishers all over, just in case.”
He made another one of his short humming sounds, but he didn't comment on her answer, even though it sounded weak, even to her own ears. Daisy was glad he dropped the subject. She didn't need to hear about all the potential dangers that could befall her, since she had plenty of demons to deal with already.
”When's your dad getting back?”
That was a good question, since Gabe should've arrived already. She pulled her cell phone out of her pocket and saw she'd missed a text. After she pulled up the message, Daisy made a face. ”Not tonight, apparently. The job is going to take an extra couple of days.”
Disappointment spread through her. Not only had she been looking forward to seeing her father, but she had a bunch of out-of-the-house errands she was going to ask him to do. Daisy hated asking Chris. It made her feel so...needy.
The sheriff's gaze seemed to penetrate right into her brain and pick out her thoughts. ”Will you be okay for that long? Do you need anything?”
If she wasn't going to ask Chris for help, she definitely wasn't about to ask his austere boss. ”Thank you, but I'll be fine.”
Although he looked unconvinced, he just offered her his card. ”Call me if you see anything else.”
”Okay,” she said, although his request had been extremely vague. By ”anything else,” did he mean things related to a dead body, or did he want her to call every time Corbin Storvick had a tantrum? Daisy shook off her brief confusion when she realized that the sheriff was waiting for her to unlock the interior door.
”Good night, Ms. Little. I hope you're able to get some sleep tonight.”
”'Night, Sheriff.” As she closed the door behind him, she muttered, ”After your little pep talk, I doubt I'll ever sleep again.”
Chapter 5.
”The dead-body mystery is solved.”
Stunned into immobility, Daisy felt the jump rope smack her s.h.i.+ns. ”You've been here for twenty minutes.”
”So?” Despite the speed of the rope, his voice was conversational. Daisy wondered what it would take to make him breathless and then blushed as her mind jumped right into the gutter. Clearing her throat, she refocused.
”You're just telling me this now?” She was tempted to use the jump rope to strangle the man. That might make him breathless.
He made a sound that was the verbal equivalent of a shrug. Daisy waited for a few more slaps of his rope against the floor and then demanded, ”So?”
”So?” Although he turned his face to hide it, she caught a tiny grin and knew he was messing with her. She was leaning more and more toward strangling.
”Chris Jennings. Do not make me kill you.”
He laughed and finally stopped jumping. ”Rob called the owners of the house. They're living in Florida and said that they hired Angus Macavoy to clear out some junk in the back yard.”
”Angus Macavoy?” The name didn't ring a bell. ”Have you told me about him before?”
”Don't think so.” Chris put both handles in his right hand and absently began swinging the rope in vertical circles. Eyeing the blurred rope, Daisy took a cautious step away from a potential unintentional slap. ”He just started six months or so ago.”
”That was him yesterday morning, then? Why was he doing it at three thirty?”
”According to Rob, who had a little chat with Macavoy about using a department vehicle for personal use, all the junk he'd cleared wouldn't fit in his compact car. Yesterday, after he'd worked the three-to-three swing s.h.i.+ft, he decided to stop by and pick up the pile of stuff in the SUV. He hauled it to the junkyard and then went home to sleep.”
”Why wasn't he in his uniform?”
Chris was doing figure-eight loops with the jump rope now. ”He likes to change before he leaves work.”
It took a few seconds to process the explanation, to make it fit with what she saw. The feeling of menace she'd experienced while watching must have been her imagination. ”Of course there's a reason that doesn't involve someone dying. Sorry to drag you along on this fake mystery train, Chris.”
”I'm glad you told me. It was definitely suspicious. Your neighborhood tips help a lot, especially with nipping that Corbin kid's shenanigans in the bud.”
”Shenanigans? And Lou called me an Amish grandma?” Her smile was short-lived, and she groaned with embarra.s.sment. ”I can't believe the sheriff wasted his time on this.”
”Wasn't a waste,” Chris countered. ”In fact, he said to thank you for giving him the heads-up that Macavoy was misusing resources. Rob'll keep a closer eye on him from now on.”
Although she nodded, her face still burned at the memory of the sheriff's sharp gaze watching her as she talked about dead bodies. ”Your boss is...”
Chris picked that moment to pull up the bottom hem of his s.h.i.+rt to wipe his face, revealing his abs. His T-s.h.i.+rt still lifted, he eyed her over the fabric. ”He's...what? Tenacious? Humor-free? A workaholic? A hottie?”
”Well, I was going to say intense, but now I'm more interested in discussing the fact that you're attracted to your boss.”
He snorted, finally letting his s.h.i.+rt drop back into place, which allowed Daisy's brain to start functioning again. ”I was just quoting one of the girls on a cla.s.s tour a couple of weeks ago. Not the workaholic and humorless part, though. That was all me.”
”Huh.” During the sheriff's visit, she'd been too stressed, embarra.s.sed, and a host of other negative emotions to rank him on the hot-or-not scale. She tried to bring up his features in her mind, but it was no use. She just couldn't get past how small and raw he'd made her feel. ”I'll have to take your word for it. Do you like working for him?”
Chris's teasing expression faded as he considered the question. ”Most of the time, yeah. I do. He can be rigid and rule-bound, but that's pretty common in cops. I like that he's consistent, easy to predict. Even if I know I've screwed up and am going to get my a.s.s chewed, it's better than not knowing how he'll react. Make sense?”
After considering it for a moment, she said, ”I can see that. I'm probably overreacting. He just kept looking at me like I was a bug he really wanted to squash.”
Laughing, Chris said, ”We call it 'going to confession.' After a few minutes of Rob giving someone the eyeball, the suspect spills his guts about every bad thing he's ever done, even admitting to shoplifting a pack of gum when he was nine.”
”I'd confess,” Daisy admitted with a s.h.i.+ver. Talking about the sheriff was souring her stomach, so she changed the subject as she hung her jump rope on its peg. ”I think we're warmed up, Yoda. What's today's lesson?”
His grin had a predatory cast that shouldn't have been as attractive as it was. ”Aggression drills.”
”Sounds...um, interesting?”
”It's important. You're smaller than most would-be attackers.”