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“What?” I answered him, leaning back in my chair to meet his gaze.
“Did you notice those kids?”
“Oh, yeah,” I answered. “By the harbor? I’ve talked to them a few times before. Lucas has, too. They’re harmless. Just bored.”
He didn’t seem convinced, his arms folding one over the other as he leaned against his desk. It was bare, except for the single family photo by the computer. He never left anything here—almost like he was paranoid and didn’t trust me.Weird. “Bored kids tend to get in trouble.”
I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust all bored kids.
Just these bored kids. The kind who had parents who worked on the fishing vessels or in the kitchens.
Sheriff Hayes was a snob, and to make matters worse, he was a snob with a badge.
“We’ll keep an eye out on them,” I half-heartedly assured him. “Have you ever considered talking to them yourself? Or their parents?”
“Why would I do that?”
That’s why he has peons like me.
“They’re part of the community,” I pressed. “I know they don’t donate to your reelection campaign, but it still might be worth it.”
He just scowled at me.
“How is the deputy search going? Find anyone in the last round of interviews?”
“Oh,” he began, and somehow, I already knew what he would say. “We had a few promising leads, but nothing panned out.”
They’d been interviewing for months now, and nothing ever seemed to “pan out”. I knew Ocracoke was a hard position to fill, but I had a sneaking suspicion that Sheriff Hayes wasn’t exactly too keen on filling it.
Knowing Lucas and I were both down here, working our asses off, six days a week didn’t seem to bother him one bit.
“So, what’s the deal with you and that woman?” Hayes blurted out.
I looked up at him like he’d just asked me to solve a complex math equation.
“What?” I asked.
“I just didn’t know you were dating. Seems kind of out of the blue.”
My jaw tightened. “I didn’t know you were dating my wife either. We’re not exactly chatty.”
Hard lines formed across his brow, and I saw a flash of anger before his expression went back to neutral. “Man, I thought we were over this.”
A pained laugh escaped me. “Whatever,man,” I echoed. “I’m just saying we don’t have to discuss our personal lives to work together. We never have.”
He held his hands up like he was waving a white flag, like I was the one attacking him. “Fine. You’re right,” he conceded. “You’re right. But…”
There was always abutwith this guy.
“I only asked because she’s the Mendez woman, right?”
“Right.” My eyes narrowed as I glared at him from across the room.
“Well, I just brought it up because I wanted to make sure you knew what you were doing. I mean, her husband died on that boat, Macon.”
“Don’t call me Macon,” I gritted through my teeth. “We’re not friends.”
He stared at me, no doubt trying to decide if he should assert his authority over me.
