Page 60 of The Scenic Route
“Mmm…not sure how active this one is, mate.” She wasn’t sure why she’d suddenly gone Australian with her mockery, but it just seemed right.
“He didn’t look very active. Opposite of active, in fact.”
Felicity held a straight face with an incredible effort. If Bennett was going to be her sidekick in tormenting the deputy, she wasn’t sure if she could swallow her laughter much longer.
The deputy was already going red in the face. “A man is dead, and you’re making jokes?”
“It’s the shock.” Felicity widened her eyes at him.
His mouth twisted into a sour sneer. “Shock my a—” Whatever body part he was going to reference disappeared in the crunch of tires as Chris rolled up behind Litchfield’s squad.
“Is anyone else getting déjà vu?” Felicity asked. “Because I’m getting déjà vu.”
Bennett raised his hand like he was an oversize first grader.
“That’s it,” Litchfield spat. “Out of the car, both of you.”
“Boaz,” Chris said in long-suffering tones as he approached. “For the last time, you can’t arrest people for snarkiness.”
“These two need to be interrogated about the remains they ‘found,’” Litchfield said, making finger quotes.
“They need to bequestioned,” Chris said in the slow, careful, yet hopeless way someone would use to verbally explain housetraining to a puppy. “They’re not suspects. They’re traumatized tourists.”
“Traumatized,” Litchfield scoffed under his breath. He looked like he was going to argue further, but yet another squad car, followed by a tan-colored van withField County Sheriff Crime Scene Uniton the side, pulled up and parked, distracting him. A woman got out of the squad and made her way over to them.
“Sheriff,” Chris said before Litchfield could start talking. “This is Felicity Pax and Bennett Green. They’re the ones who found the remains. This is Sheriff Eva Summers.”
“Like Buffy?” Felicity said before she could stop herself, and all eyes turned to hers. “And Cyclops?”
“Yes,” the sheriff said with the long-suffering tone of someone who’d been asked this question before. “Like Buffy and Cyclops. Can you clearly describe how to reach the remains, or will you need to lead us to them?”
Felicity glanced doubtfully at Bennett, and they had a silent conversation that ended with her turning to the others with a sigh. “We’ll need to lead you there.”
The sheriff gave a short nod. “Boaz, you block off traffic coming from that direction. I’ll get Harvey out here to block the other side.”
Litchfield looked crushed that he was, indeed, being stuck on traffic duty. It was with the greatest difficulty that Felicity swallowed her laugh.
“Chris, you get a quick statement from Mr. Green,” the sheriff continued, “and I’ll talk to…Ms. Pax, was it?”
Felicity had a feeling that the sheriff knew exactly what her name was even before Chris had introduced them, but she just nodded, climbing out of the car and joining the sheriff behind it. Bennett did the same, walking with Chris until all three cars separated them. He shot Felicity a speaking backward look that she wasn’t sure how to interpret, although it gave her a warm, giddy feeling that she wasn’t in this alone even though her sisters were hours away. She and Bennett had somehow become partners in all this chaos. She made a mental note to promote him to colonel in her bounty-hunting army.
“Congratulations,” the sheriff said, her tone dry, drawing Felicity’s attention away from Bennett. Although she had a sneaking suspicion what Summers was referring to, Felicity offered the sheriff her best blank expression. “On your recent marriage.”
“Oh, right.” Felicity smiled. “Thank you.” She hadn’t decided whether the sheriff was a potential ally or roadblock yet, so she was playing her cards close to her chest. Felicity would’ve been impressed by how quickly Summers had learned about their impromptu wedding except that she’d announced itin Levi’s the night before, so it would’ve been more surprising if the small-town gossip pipeline had failed to spread the news to everybody in Field County.
Abruptly, Summers shifted to an all-business tone, turning on her voice recorder before collecting Felicity’s personal information and getting a quick synopsis of how she and Bennett discovered the remains. Even though the sheriff’s eyebrows shot up a few times during the statement, she didn’t interrupt. Once Felicity finished, they eyed each other in silence for several minutes. Accustomed to this technique—one she used on skips as well as sisters guilty of borrowing her things without asking and then returning them broken—Felicity smiled genially and waited her out.
“After you,” the sheriff finally said, waving an arm toward the logging road.
“We can drive to the start of the trail,” Felicity said, turning to get into her car.
Bennett must’ve spotted her movement, because he started walking away from Chris. From the deputy’s startled and slightly exasperated expression, the interview wasn’t done.
“Ride with me,” the sheriff commanded.
Felicity made a face before turning back around. Apparently, she wasn’t going to escape the sheriff so easily. Hiding her feelings behind a breezy smile, she said, “Front seat, right?”
There was a pause before Summers smiled back, although it was more of a teeth-bared warning. “Of course.”
