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This could be a diversion, a ruse to allow someone else to break into the office and snoop around. The scenario was extremely unlikely. But unlikely didn’t equal impossible.
Shaking off her random conspiracy theories, she stepped through the stairwell door he’d opened for her. “Any reason for strangers to be in town?”
“Besides you?”
He smiled when he said it and she felt her lips curve in reply. “Yeah, besides me.” Whether he meant she was the only stranger in Haleswood or she was something to draw strangers in was a question she didn’t want answered.
BANG
She was ready for the loud door this time and minimized her reaction to a small twitch.
Deputy Morris didn’t seem to notice the slamming door or her reaction to it. “We’ll have more visitors come through town to visit family for Christmas.” They rounded the landing. “But we rarely have any trouble out of them.”
“Family.” She’d intended to see her own family for the holidays. Then she’d been shot and traveling to New York just so her mother could fuss over her in person didn’t sound like fun for anyone. “Wouldn’t that mean they aren’t really strangers?”
“Suppose you’re right,” Deputy Morris said with a half-smile that caused a strange flutter in her belly.
It had to be the charming southern accent getting to her. She should be immune by now, surrounded by it day in and day out.
She’d met plenty of dialects and voice patterns during her life. At home in New York, in the Army, and now here. What was it about Morris’s voice that drew her in and made her want to melt? “Did you ever want to get away?”
“From Haleswood?”
She nodded. Was it Haleswood protocol to send his mother a note that he was batting a thousand in proper manners?
“I left for school for a while,” he said, opening the sheriff’s office door for her.
“Right.” Eva knew that already. And more. Too much free time meant she’d done rudimentary research on everyone who worked in the building, down to the two women who cleaned the place two nights a week.
Deputy Morris had spent two years in college on a basketball scholarship before coming home to help when his father was diagnosed with cancer. Of course, she could have spent a few hours at the Midnight Rooster coffee house and probably heard more details from the locals, but people usually put their own spin on information when they shared it. Eva had been trained to develop independent opinions about facts rather than simply absorb someone else’s perspective.
And, as Deputy Morris pointed out, she was still considered a stranger around here, which meant most of the locals either shared too much or too little when they talked with her.
“Hi, Mrs. Jackson,” she said with a smile. “What’s the trouble?”
“Hello, dear. It must be a virus. The screen keeps going black.”
Eva leaned closer, so she wouldn’t be overheard. “Bet that’s hell on your solitaire games.”
Mrs. Jackson arched her penciled brows over her festive red and green cheater eyeglasses. “You have no idea. But this morning I’m actually doing some undercover research.”
“Really?” Eva leaned back. “Do you need help?”
“I’m supposed tobehelping.” The older woman glanced around. “Helping Santa Claus that is. What I need is for this monitor to stay alive long enough for me to compare prices and memory options on PlayStation consoles. Unless you have a recommendation.”
“I can make some suggestions, but first let me figure this out. Any other issues with the system?”
“No. It makes all the right sounds when I turn it on and off and it works just fine when I can see what I’m doing.” She waved a hand at the dark screen. “The control-alt-delete does nothing.”
“All right. I’ll take a look.”
“Be my guest.” Mrs. Jackson pushed back from the desk. “I’ll just get another coffee.”
Eva wasn’t sure caffeine was the best idea, but she wasn’t about to say so. Taking a seat, she started troubleshooting. By the time Mrs. Jackson returned, mug of steaming coffee in one hand and a slice of Danish in the other, Eva had figured out it was simply a matter of a loose cable.
She tightened the connections and explained what happened to Mrs. Jackson. As the older woman showered her with praise, Eva wrote a note about what to look for and where to shop for the best deals on gaming consoles.
After a brief chat with the older woman, she prepared to leave, only to find Deputy Morris ready and waiting to escort her back upstairs.
