AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Not true, but he understood she needed the illusion that she was. “Of course you’re fine. That’s not in question.” He set the evidence bag with the note in it on the counter. “We have two days to figure this out.”
He called Bentley. “I need you to come by my house and pick up a note that was left on the sheriff’s cruiser. There probably aren’t any fingerprints but check anyway. Also, take a look at the cameras around the sheriff’s building. One of them should have caught whoever left the note.”
When he finished talking to Bentley, he took two plates from the cabinet. He’d thought they’d eat with Parker and Everly, but he doubted Skye was up for Everly’s exuberant nature tonight.
“You’re in for a treat. Andrew has enchiladas warming in the oven. We’re going to fix a plate and take our dinner upstairs.”
“Okay.”
He hated how down she sounded. Not that he blamed her. It was looking like what had gone down in Florida had followed her here. If a dealer thought she’d taken his money, why had it taken a year to come after her? They needed to talk about that bust and who was involved.
“Beer, wine, or something else?”
“A beer’s fine.”
To give her something to do, he grabbed a bowl and a small salsa bowl, set those on the counter, then got the container with Andrew’s homemade salsa from the refrigerator and a bag of tortilla chips from the pantry. “Set us up with chips and salsa.”
A car pulled up, and seeing it was Bentley, he picked up the evidence bag. “Bentley’s here. I’ll be right back.” He met his detective at the bottom of the steps and gave him the note. “This was on the sheriff’s windshield.”
Bentley read the note. “This isn’t good. You think it relates back to what happened in Florida?”
“That would be my guess. Let’s keep this to ourselves until we know for sure. Let me know if you’re able to pick up any fingerprints from it.”
“Gotcha. I talked to Vee before I left the station. She said Mason was at the Kitchen at lunch and bitching about the sheriff, that she didn’t deserve the job and was in over her head. Then he said she’d get what was coming to her.”
“Mason needs to shut his mouth.” Or he’d shut it for him.
“Katie told him to shut up or leave. Vee said he stormed out.”
“Tell Vee to write down everything that he said, especially that the sheriff would get what’s coming to her.” It was probably time to have another chat with the man.
“Will do. I’ll talk to you in the morning.”
He went back inside and found Skye sitting on the kitchen floor with both Fuzz and Jellybean in her lap. “I see you got some friends there.”
She looked up at him and smiled. “I never had a pet. They’re great therapy.”
“That they are. You can borrow them anytime you want.” He held his hand out to help her up. “Let’s head upstairs.” He wanted to be gone before Parker and Everly came in. Hopefully, he’d be able to convince Skye that since Everly didn’t know she was here, she should spend another night in his bed.
After taking their dinner dishes back to the kitchen, Tristan returned to his floor, carrying two cups. He handed one to Skye. “Doctored it up a little.”
“Looks delicious. What’s in it?”
“Coffee, Baileys, whipped cream, and a little cinnamon on top.” He sat next to her on the sofa. They needed to talk about her ex and what went down in Florida, but he decided to let her enjoy her coffee first. “You said you’re thinking about buying a house. What part of town do you want to live in?”
She shrugged. “I really don’t have a preference.”
If he had his preference, she’d move in with him. If he told her that, she’d think he’d lost his mind. How could he want that already? She’d say it was too soon. But for him it wasn’t. She was the only woman he’d wanted since their first night together. Although she’d pushed him away for a year—had seemed to barely tolerate him—he hadn’t stopped wanting her even though he’d thought he’d never have her in his arms again. And even believing that, he hadn’t been interested in another woman.
“I’ll know it when I see it. A small place, maybe two bedrooms, two baths. Something cottagey.”
“There’s no hurry. We have plenty of room here, so take your time to find the perfect place.” He was ready for a shower and some comfortable clothes, and he was sure she was, too, but first, they had to talk about Florida.
When she finished her coffee, he took her cup and set it on the coffee table. “Tell me about the drug bust. Was there money and drugs actually missing? Who was the target?”
She let out a long sigh. “I really thought I’d left that behind me. Okay, Thomas Grant ran a big operation. Everyone knew he was the top dog, but his people were extremely loyal to him, mostly out of fear. He had a reputation for being ruthless. The police department couldn’t get any of his people to turn on him. Nor could they find the evidence they needed to prosecute. The little fish, yes, but Grant seemed untouchable. Finally, Vice managed to get a man inside the operation. It took the undercover cop a year to gather enough evidence to satisfy the prosecutor.”
“I assume the sheriff’s office was involved because multiple search warrants had to be served at the same time in various locations?”
