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“What happened, Skye? What made you—” His phone buzzed. Relief flashed in her eyes at the interruption. He wanted to ignore the call, and a glance at the screen had him wishing he could ignore it when one of his officer’s names appeared. Kyle Jenkins wouldn’t be bothering him at home if there wasn’t trouble.
“Tell me you’re just calling to say you’ll pick up the doughnuts in the morning.”
Kyle laughed. “You’re funny, Chief, but no.”
“Aren’t you off tonight?” Was he going to have to bail one of his cops out of jail?
“Yeah. I don’t know if this means anything or not, but I’m at Beam Me Up. Stopped by for a beer and to play some pool. There’s a dude here I’ve never seen before asking a lot of questions about the sheriff.”
Tristan sat straight up. “What kind of questions?”
“Personal ones. Is she seeing anyone, where does she hang out, where does she live, things like that.”
“Answer those questions as vaguely as you can, buy him a beer, just keep him there however you can. I’m on the way.”
“Trouble?” Skye said when he disconnected.
“Not sure, but you need to come with me.”
“What’s going on?”
“I’ll explain in the car. Give me two minutes to put on pants and shoes.” That done, he collected his wallet, keys, badge, and gun. Like him, his officers knew the residents of Marsville, and it was concerning that a stranger was asking about Skye.
When he returned to his sitting room, Skye was standing at the top of the stairs. “Let’s go.” He called Parker as they walked down. “I’ve got to go out on a call. Send Fuzz to the house.” When they reached the foyer, Fuzz raced to him. All Parker would have had to say was “Work” for Fuzz to know duty called.
“Why don’t I follow you?” Skye said when they were outside.
And then she could go home after they checked out the stranger asking questions about her? Didn’t work for him. “No, I need to tell you what’s going on. Besides, we still have to talk about traffic lights and parking meters.”
She shot him a disgruntled look. “Fine, but I need to get my gun out of my car.”
He quietly chuckled as he headed for his police SUV. Hopefully, she wouldn’t use it to shoot him. He opened the back door, and Fuzz jumped in. Although Tristan kept a leash in the car, he didn’t use it. Fuzz never left his side when they were working unless Tristan parked him somewhere and told him to stay. For sure, he would attack if given the command, but he’d never made that decision on his own as long as his people—Tristan, Everly, Parker, Kade, and even Jellybean—weren’t being hurt.
Tristan opened the passenger door for Skye. Once they were underway, he said, “Know anyone who might be asking questions about you?”
Her gaze jerked to his. “What are you talking about?”
“That was Kyle Jenkins on the phone. He’s at Beam Me Up. There’s a man he’s never seen before asking around about you. Where you live, who you’re seeing, stuff like that. You got any idea who that might be?”
Chapter Sixteen
“I don’t.” Skye didn’t like the idea of someone asking questions about her. Most anyone living in Horace County wouldn’t be a stranger to Kyle, especially if it was someone she or one of her deputies had arrested.
“We’ll find out his name when we get there.”
“You bet your ass we will.”
He laughed. “Do me a favor. Anytime you go betting my ass, make sure you’re the winner.”
Why did he have to go and make her think of his very fine tush?
Nothing was far away in Marsville, and ten minutes after leaving Tristan’s house, they arrived at Beam Me Up. She was out of the car as soon as it stopped.
“Slow down, Sheriff.” Catching up to her, Tristan put a hand on her shoulder. “Let’s ease in and see if you recognize our mystery man before he sees you.”
He was right. As much as she wanted to storm in and confront whoever it was asking questions about her, she stopped outside the door. “Call Kyle and see where the man is right now.”
“I’ll text him.” A few moments later, he stuck his phone back in his pocket. “They’re playing pool.”
