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“Glory!” Cody exploded, laughing.
“So the bank robbery charge is a sham.”
“Of course. Nita Whatley was belligerent when I told her that her little brother was a suspect in a bank robbery. She knew he wasn’t the culprit.”
“You know, we still don’t have a culprit...a suspect,” Jeb corrected with a grin.
“I know. But we’ll get there. Rome wasn’t built in a day.”
Jeb just shrugged. “Oh, Lassiter left a number and asked if you’d phone him when you got in. He said he spoke to his father last night about the case.”
“I spoke to his father, as well,” Cody said. “Brilliant man. His agency has a sterling reputation.”
“Lassiter walked in just as two of the Corrie girls were here asking about that part-time job we have open for a receptionist.” He shook his head. “They just stood there with their mouths open. He’s a striking man, I have to admit. If I wasn’t sweet on the eldest Corrie girl, Michelle, I might even have liked him.”
Cody laughed to himself. Jeb didn’t like women much, but he was openly charming to Michelle Corrie when he saw her, especially at the café where she worked part-time as a waitress. The family, once wealthy, had fallen on hard times. There were three sisters. The youngest was still in school, but the two older ones worked and took care of the youngest. Their dad had died some years ago. Their mother was a semi-invalid. Jeb liked all of them.
“I am, fortunately, not involved with either Corrie girl, so I can’t say that concerns me,” he returned with a faintly smug glance.
Jeb pursed his lips. “Miss Brennan was in here at the same time with a note from her boss, Mr. Owens, for you. She left it with Missy.” Missy was the current receptionist, working short time because she was heavily pregnant. “Lassiter was very attentive to Abby. In fact,” he added, with a sly glance at his boss, who seemed to be simmering, “he had her blushing.”
Something exploded inside him. Lassiter, here in Catelow, flirting with Cody’s girl? He just stood where he was, like a statue, while jealousy burned like a flame in his belly.
Jeb noticed that expression with satisfaction. “So I guess nobody’s girl is safe while he’s in town. Oh, and he has a degree from MIT, by the way,” Jeb added, and turned to go back into his own office.
Missy came out of her office with an empty cup. “Oh, welcome back, Sheriff Banks,” she enthused. “Did you have a nice trip?”
“It wasn’t a vacation, Missy,” he muttered.
“Oh, I know that, but Denver’s big and sprawling and I expect there’s a lot to do there,” she added.
“I was there on a murder investigation,” he added.
“Well, you don’t spend the whole day and night investigating one little thing, do you?” She looked at him vacantly, and smiled.
He just sighed and went into his office, shaking his head. Missy was a little vague about what the sheriff and his deputies did on an investigation. She was a little vague about everything except her husband, Mike, whom she adored.
He envied her. She was never upset, never got ruffled, was always smiling and pleasant. She made worried parents of lawbreakers feel better with her attitude when they came to inquire about charges. It was why she was good at her job. Cody thought about the elder Corrie girl working here and expected that Jeb wouldn’t get a thing done. He’d spend his days staring at her and sighing.
He sat down at his desk with a cup of hot coffee that he’d picked up in the small detention kitchen on the way there and checked his cell phone.
The message from Abby was still there. He hadn’t phoned her since he came home. He hadn’t texted her, either. He was uneasy about Lassiter’s effect on her. Abby was quiet and old-fashioned and kept to herself. She’d lived and worked in Denver, but he knew that she hadn’t been around men much. He grimaced, recalling why. A man like Lassiter, handsome and brilliant, and flattering, might get close to her. He’d move on, but Abby would be left with a broken heart. He could picture Abby in floods of tears as a carefree detective Lassiter drove out of town.
His dark eyes glittered with feeling. He hadn’t even met the man and he was certain that he wasn’t going to like him.
He went home after a long day, and still hadn’t called Lassiter. He’d put it off until he could cool down and stop thinking evil thoughts about him.
While he was looking at the cans of chili and soup in the cabinet as he thought about supper, his cell phone rang.
He answered the call, his mind still on soup or chili. “Banks,” he murmured absently.
“I’m here to steal your girl. I’m going to break her heart and leave her mentally distraught. Meanwhile, your undersheriff is going to lose his hopeful girlfriend to me, and he’s thinking about flights to Tahiti...am I somewhere near the mark?” came a deep, dry voice over the phone.
Cody just stood still. “The CIA had a program where their operatives read minds,” he said curtly. “I’ll bet you know more about that than you’re ever going to tell me.”
There was a chuckle. “I don’t read minds. I listen when people tell me things. Your undersheriff doesn’t like me. He even said why. But you’re both off the mark. I’m off women. Period.”
“You like men?” Cody mused.
