His cheeks turned pinker. “I just wanted to show that I’m active. I’m not all scientist.”
“Clearly not. Your torso looks like a Halloween costume,” I said, pointing to his ab ridges. I realized he’d had someone with him to take this picture. Someone in a tandem kayak had taken it, as well. Kenzie, maybe? I couldn’t imagine her kayaking in the wild, not with a dozen assistants helping her row.
“Uh, thanks? I think?” He glanced down at me, his cheeks still pink.
“You’re kind of adorable when you’re embarrassed.”
“I’m not embarrassed.”
“You totally are. So how many people fell into your thirst trap?”
The light shifted to red and we stopped on the curb.
“Aside from you?” he growled as he pulled me into his arms. I squealed. He dropped a kiss on my lips that almost made me forget about Allen Gordon. Then I remembered we were less than a block from the sheriff’s station.
I pulled away. “Oscar can’t see us.”
Jude glanced around. “Oscar isn’t here,” he pointed out.
I danced away from his arms and studied the Spark app on my phone.
“Maybe I should swipe right on you, then.”
“No. Wait—”
I’d no sooner swiped right than the Spark app’s fireball exploded on the screen, telling me we’d instantly matched. That meant Dr. Cheese had swiped right on me first.
“Wait a minute. You already swiped right on me?”
“Uh. Yeah. Duh.”
“Oscar will beveryupset,” I teased.
Jude shrugged.
“Oscar is not the boss of me.”
I stopped and stared at Jude, his brown puppy-dog eyes set to grim determination. Jude looked extremely, absolutely kissable in his dark wool coat.
The light changed and I stalked across the intersection. Jude ran to keep up with me.
That’s when I noticed someone had cut the chain on Gordon’s Frozen Custard’s doors. The metal links lay in a silver mound on the ground, the listeria notice taped across the door ripped in half. Someone had disobeyed the health department.
“Gordon’s is supposed to be closed,” I told Jude. “I think Allen Gordon is in there. The lights are on in the back.” I glanced at my Spark app map again. “Yep, he’s there.”
“In there?” Jude squeaked, nodding his head toward the empty, mostly darkened restaurant, which did look like it was tailor-made for the set of a horror movie. “We should call Oscar again.”
“He sent me to voicemail. You try if you want.”
I tugged at the glass door, and it swung open. The front part of the store was semi-dark, the only light coming from the back.
“What are you doing?” hissed Jude as he reluctantly followed me inside.
“Finding out what Allen Gordon is doing in here.” I took a step onto the tile. “Hello?” I called to the store. “Hello?” I flicked on theflashlight on my phone, and shone it around the space. Nothing at the vintage-style counter or yellow-leather-topped stools bolted to the ground.
“We shouldn’t be in here,” Jude cautioned me, glancing around nervously. The light from his phone bounced about, until it converged with mine, illuminating something near one of the booths—a person.
Jude shouted and clutched my arm, dropping his phone with a clatter and nearly making us both fall over.
