Page 31 of The Fall
That’s because I never wanted someone enough to work for it,I thought but didn’tsay.
I sipped my coffee so I didn’t have to answer and leaned back in the seat, staring at the wall over Dare’s head and pretending I couldn’t hear himchuckle.
The bell above the front door chimed behind me and Shane greeted somenewcomers.
“Explain to me about the search party for the missing camper,” I said, changing the subject. “I’d think at this point it’d be more like a recovery operation? Unless you think he’s lasted out there for two weekssomehow?”
Dare shook his head, but before he could speak, a sight behind me caught his attention and he studiously looked down at the ground, fightinglaughter.
“No, I willnotsit near the front door, Everett, and I willnotsit at the counter. I didn’t just come here for the damn pancakes, I came here tosocialize. That’s an ancient custom we used to practice in the days before yourFaceThing.”
I turned around, eyes open wide and mouth openwider.
Henry Lattimer was hobbling toward the back of the restaurant on one crutch and Ev — red-faced and unhappy — trailed behind him. Hen’s face lit up when he saw we’d noticedhim.
“Ah! There we are! Silas and Dare!” He thumped closer, which seemed to involve him planting the crutch and leaping in a way that couldn’t be healthy for a man his age. “Just the men I wanted to speakto.”
“Hen,” I said. “Doingbetter?”
“Better?” He waved this away. “I’m fine.Beenfine.” He glared at Ev. “Just need some bacon andpancakes.”
I looked up at Ev because it would have been rude notto.
Itwould.
Similarly, it was only because I was a trained law enforcement officer that I noticed the way his dark curls hung over his forehead, all sexy-messy, and how his tight jeans and t-shirt hugged his body, making him look even leaner and more supple than I’dremembered.
“Ev.” I said it low and friendly, trying to make it an acknowledgement and not an invitation, but he sucked in a deep breath like I’d attacked him orsomething.
I couldn’t win with this guy. I turned my attention to Dare, who was scratching his forehead and studiously not looking atus.
Henry grabbed a chair from a nearby table and turned it around to place it at the open end of our booth. He seated himself with a sigh and propped his foot up on the seat next to me. “Ahhh. That’s theticket.”
I glared across the table at Dare, who was fighting laughter and failingmiserably.
“Dare, this is Everett. Henry’s grandson,” I said pointedly, since it was clear no one else was going to perform introductions. “Ev, this is Dare Turner. He's a conservationofficer.”
Dare smiled. “Welcome to O’Leary,Everett.”
Ev lifted his chin. “Nice to meet you.” He looked around at the dozen empty booths in the restaurant. His shouldersslumped.
“Don’t just stand there like a bump on a log, Everett. Sit down, sit down. Dare doesn’tbite.”
Dare took the hint and pushed over. Ev gritted his teeth and sat, giving Dare an apologeticsmile.
“Football tomorrow, boys?” Henry asked withoutpreamble.
“Yep. Like every Sunday,” Dare confirmed. “This week we’re meeting at the bar. Be at Hoff’s atone.”
“I will. Ev will too, not that he’s a football fan. Gotta make sure I don’t eat anything delicious, you know,” Hengrumbled.
“Yes, the fun police never take a day off.” Ev rolled his eyes. “Football. That’s the one with the black and white balls and the nets, right? Where they run, run, run and kick, kick, kick?” He mimed the motions with his fingers while the three of us stared at him. “Gooooooal!” he whisper-yelled, shaking his hands like a jazzperformer.
Hen groaned in disgust and Dare snorted, but I noticed the way Ev’s mouth twitched as he tried to control his laughter, and damn if I didn’t like him more for the way he baited his grandfather… and the rest ofus.
“So!” Hen’s eyes flared. “Tell me all about this missing camper! JohnWhatshisface.”
Dare and I exchanged a look. The trick to police work in O’Leary, or any town around here, really, was that nothing stayed secret for very long. The town was too tight-knit for that. It also meant that crimes didn’t stay hidden either, so kind of a double-edgedsword.
