“I can’t just let you take over this case,” he shot back, turning to face us.
“We’re not asking for that,” I told him, hearing the floorboards creak above me. There was no doubt that she was hearing.
“And what if it’s nothing, Doss? What then?”
“Then you close the case, there’s a funeral, and this town will grieve in peace.”
“I didn’t like the way you say that,” he said, glaring at me.
“I didn’t like saying it, but that’s where we’re at.”
Grayson cleared his throat. “So what’s it going to be, Humbly?”
He studied each of us for a few seconds before letting out a second sigh. He pointed at me. “Where did you just send Jake?”
“He’s running a background on Kolby,” Hayes drawled. “So far, we’ve found no next of kin. Orphaned at the age of three. He was raised in Boston by foster parents until he was sixteen. From there, he graduated early, traveled a bit, and then went to culinary school.”
“I haven’t given you permission to do that yet,” Humbly clipped. “You can’t just run background checks on people.”
Jake poked his head into the room, giving the sheriff a questioning look. “Michael, I do this shit all the time.”
I shook my head at him.Not the damn time, Murphy.
Humbly looked like he was two seconds away from losing his mind.
“We don’t need your permission,” Dominic mused. “Grayson was just asking because he respects you. We all do.”
Humbly moved to him. Out of the five of us, Dominic had the closest relationship to Humbly. He and his wife, Sarah, had become good friends with Dominic for some reason. He spent most Saturdays over there with them and their children. We couldn’t figure out why he was drawn to them. Perhaps it was the healthy family dynamic they possessed. Or the hardships Sarah and Michael survived without turning cold and hard. Whatever it was, Dominic and Michael were close friends, closer than they had been before I left.
“So there’s really no point in me giving you an answer then, huh?” he pressed, his tone cold.
Dominic’s indigo eyes didn’t leave Humbly’s as he said, “With your permission, none of us would feel guilty.”
“You don’t have to do this.” He paused to face everyone. “Red Snake doesn’t have to get involved with every case.”
“And it won’t,” Grayson vowed.
“But when it comes to the people we care about, Michael,” I said, coming to the center of the foyer, “we have to.”
“And you care about Ms. Howell?”
“More than you can comprehend.”
He ran his hand over his short hair as he looked at his boots, muttering something under his breath. “Fine. Fucking fine. Red Snake will have access to this case, and in return,” his brown eyes snapped to Hayes, “you share resources. And if this turns out to be something bigger than we anticipated, my department will be the first to know. We clear on that?”
Hayes nodded and held out his hand. “You have our word.”
They shook hands. “Marg is going to be a fucking mess,” Humbly confessed.
“And we’ll be there to support her.”
“If this death turns into a homicide, I’ll need to hold a town hall,” he announced. “You boys up for that?”
“Whatever it takes,” I said.
A few minutes later, Grayson, Hayes, and the police left. Dominic closed the door, and my shoulders dropped. I let my head fall back for a second, rolling my neck, trying to release the tension.
“How are you?” he asked me.
