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“See something you like?” Dominic asked.
“Yes,” I said. I pointed to Selena and Connelly. “Those two. They shouldn’t work, but they do.”
“Why’s that?”
“Bear,” I said, indicating Selena then gestured to the Deputy. “Squirrel.”
Dominic laughed, his mirth rich with timbre. “This town is full of surprises.”
The sudden scent of sassafras darkened my mood. “No kidding.” Damn it. I’d forgotten to tell the sheriff about the smell. As we walked past game booth after game booth, the perfume of sassafras mingled with corn dogs, sausages, hamburgers, funnel cakes, and a variety of drinks.
I was so intent on finding the booth that gave away the flavored root bark, I tripped over Linus and knocked a genuine root beer from the kid’s hand.
“Aunt Chav!” he said.
“Crap.” My purse was still back at the apartment. “I’m sorry. I don’t have any money on me to get you another one.”
Dominic pulled a five-dollar bill out of his wallet and handed it to the kid. “Don’t spend it all in one place.”
Linus snatched it quickly, and with a perfunctory “Thanks!” he ran toward another game booth.
“You didn’t have to do that,” I told him.
He smiled, the right side of mouth tugging slightly higher than the left in a flirty way that really worked for him. “Does it make you think more kindly of me?”
I chuckled. “Why, yes. I think it does.”
“Then it was five dollars well-spent.”
“Where are you from? Arkansas, right?”
“Yes,” he said. “Near the Green Mountains.”
“And what kind of therian are you?”
He brushed his fingers through his light brown curls. “Black Bear,” he said. “You’re coyote, right?”
“Yes,” I said, surprised he could tell. I remembered the comment I made about Selena and Connelly. I wondered what my parents would think if I dated a bear shifter. They’d certainly like it better than me dating a wolf. “I’d have never guessed you were a bear.”
“It’s true what they say.” He wiggled his brows. “We’re good cuddlers.”
I laughed hard then. Dom really put me at ease. “Did you find that Jerry guy?” Now that I knew Ed was alive, the identity of the corpse was still a question to be answered. What if it was poor Jerry that had ended up by my Dumpster?
“No, not yet,” he said.
“Does he disappear a lot?”
Dom shrugged. “If he pissed off Willy then he’s smart for taking off. That woman is hell on wheels.”
“Oh, I can tell there’s a story there.” I chuckled. “She’s an ex.”
“Something like that, but I really don’t want to talk about Willy. I’d rather focus on you.” He gave me his arm again, and I gladly accepted. “The lake is nice. It must be great living in this community. The area is perfect for privacy.”
Okay, then. It appeared the conversation about Willy Boden was over.
“Yeah,” I said. “It’s nice.” When people weren’t getting murdered. On the surface, Peculiar seemed like a quiet town, but I knew all too well what kind of awful could hide in a place like this.
“Oh!” he said. “There’s a BB Gun shooting game. I used to be really good at clearing out the star target. How about we start there on my quest for your prize?”
