Page 67 of The Scenic Route
“He’s just jumped bail. Of course he’s going to be suspicious.”
Felicity gave Bennett a stern look. “No criticizing without suggesting solutions.”
“You let Lou do it,” he said, looking offended. When shekept her pointed gaze on him, he heaved a dramatic sigh. “Fine. Sending the email to Dino is still the best option.”
His proud sideways glance at her, as if he was waiting for praise, made her melt a little. He was having one of his obnoxiously adorable moments, especially since he was cuddling Kiwi in his arms. She did her best to ignore the tempting distraction and said, “Dino’s email it is.”
“Shouldn’t we vote on it?” Lou asked.
“This is a benevolent dictatorship, not a democracy.” Felicity borrowed the line Molly always used on her younger sisters when she wanted to get her way. Without waiting for argument—because whenever Molly used it, plenty of arguing followed—she turned to Rory, who was sitting at her shop computer. “Let’s see the certificate.”
Rory turned the screen so they could all see.
“Very nice,” Ellie said approvingly. “It looks very official and not at all shady or sting-like.”
“What are you saying in the email?” Lou asked, peering at the screen as Rory brought it up. “That looks good, but I think we need more exclamation points after the ‘Congratulations.’”
“We want it to be believable,” Rory said without adding any extra punctuation to the email. “If it’s from me, exclamation-point overload would not be believable.”
The women looked at one another and nodded, conceding the point.
“When is he supposed to come in?” Daisy asked, leaning in as close as she could with a toddler on her hip. “Make sure it’s when we can all be here. I don’t want to miss the excitement.”
“We had to keep it broad so he wouldn’t get suspicious—well, more suspicious,” Felicity said. “Anytime tomorrow during open hours—ten to six.” Several of the women groaned with disappointment, and Felicity had to agree. It was going to be a long day hiding in Rory’s back room.
“Okay, go ahead and send it.” As Rory hit Send, anticipation built in Felicity, amping her up and making her feel like doing laps around the shop.
The door opened, and they all jumped. As Felicity turned toward the newcomer, she illogically expected it to be Dino, as if sending the email had magically conjured him. Instead, Deputy Chris walked in, and the tension suddenly released in the shop like an untied balloon.
“Hey, Dais.” He made a direct line to his wife, as if he couldn’t wait another second to be near her. Placing a quick kiss on her lips, he looked down and smiled at her for a long moment, until Mila grabbed a handful of his uniform shirt. Chris shifted his attention to the toddler. “Hey, Mila.” He blew raspberries in her neck, drawing a giggle from her that made everyone else in the room smile.
“Sometimes I worry that her expectations will be unreasonably high when she starts dating,” Ellie said. “She’s constantly held and kissed by extraordinarily attractive men. It’s going to skew her perspective.”
Chris looked smug.
“Okay, Deputy Chris, that’s really cute and all,” Lou said, “but we’re dying to know the latest.”
His good-natured smile was tired as he wrapped his arm around Daisy. “Not much I can share, Lou. You know that.”
“Any ID? I know no dead body is a good dead body, but at least this one has some teeth to check dental records on, right?” Lou didn’t let Chris’s refusal to share bother her.
He just shook his head. “Time to return the baby, Dais. I’m asleep on my feet.”
After several kisses, Daisy relinquished Mila to her mom’s arms. “I have to work at the gym until noon tomorrow, but I’ll be here in the afternoon. Fingers crossed Dino’s not an early riser.”
“He’s not,” Felicity and Bennett said in unison and then smirked at each other.
“Park in the pole barn,” Rory suggested. “That way, he won’t see your car in the lot.”
“Good idea. See you tomorrow for the sting! I’ll bring cookies!” Daisy waved to them as Chris swept her out of the shop.
Before the door closed behind them, Felicity heard Chris ask in a long-suffering voice, “What sting? I’m an actual law enforcement officer. Why do you always get to do more stings than I do?”
Too antsy from anticipation for tomorrow to sit around chatting any longer, Felicity turned to Bennett. “Ready to go?”
He nodded even before she finished speaking.
“Bye, everyone.” Felicity headed toward the door. “Thank you for all your help, especially you, Rory. Hopefully, we’ll wrap this thing up tomorrow and let your murder club focus on the latest dead body.”
