Page 21 of Take a Hike
He looked as close as he’d ever come to rolling his eyes. “Ialready know what the cops know, and it’s basically nothing. If they had something, they wouldn’t be coming after me.”
Maybe it was his ridiculous hotness level, or the way he spat his words out so angrily, but Charlie was inclined, once again, to believe him. “Who do you think killed Cobra?”
“Clint.” The answer was swift, but also confusing.
“I thought he was cleared?” The reminder brought up another question. “And how did he alibi out? Forensic science is an amazing thing, but there were just a few bones left. There’s no way they narrowed his time of death down to hours or even a specific day.”
“Cobra drove him to jail six months ago, where Clint served almost five months on a weapons charge,” Kieran said. “Caught Cobra on the security footage arriving and leaving—all while breathing.”
Glancing at Fifi, Charlie nodded. “That’ll do it.” Just because Clint didn’t actually pull the trigger—or swing the tire iron—didn’t mean he didn’t order it done, however.
“Lots of people seem eager to do Clint’s bidding,” Bennett said, echoing Charlie’s thoughts. “Could’ve been a hit. He had a motive, since he took Cobra’s spot as the Freedom Survivors’ leader.”
“And got his pickup,” Fifi added. When everyone looked at her, she shrugged. “People have murdered for less than a nice truck.”
Charlie nodded in agreement before she considered Kieran once again. “So were you ever involved in the militia? You know, like a father-son bonding activity?”
“Never.” The way he spat out the word like a vow wasextremely convincing.
“You have an inside source of information though,” Fifi said reasonably.
Kieran stared at the ceiling for a long moment, as if asking for patience. When he eventually met Fifi’s even gaze, however, he didn’t appear to have gained any. “I’m a firefighter.”
Charlie met Fifi’s eyes, but her sister looked just as confused by the apparent non sequitur, so Charlie asked Kieran directly, “Very noble and all, but what does that have to do with anything?”
He gave a deep sigh as he switched his focus from Fifi to Charlie. “They’remy source.”
“The firefighters? They’re all militia?” Charlie frowned. This was seriously the weirdest, most crime-ridden town she’d ever visited.
“Of course not.” He stared at her like she was an idiot. “They’re just in everyone’s business.”
“Oh.” Charlie took a second to process the roller coaster of conflicting information. The idea of firefighters not being dangerous militia members but rather a bunch of nosy Nellies was a relief and also a bit adorable. “So not militia members, just gossipy hens?”
His nod was short, although his mouth twitched up slightly when she called the firefighters hens.
“Okay, so what did you need from us?” Charlie felt like the whole point of the conversation had been lost—plus her fascination with this particular gossipy hen didn’t help.
“I want you to investigate Cobra’s death.”
She met Fifi and Bennett’s eyes, reading their reluctance to get involved, but also seeing that same spark of curiosity that she felt. How could they ignore a mystery when it just flopped down at their feet, begging to be solved? It’d be a bonus if Clint was involved, since he’d been the one to organize Fifi’s kidnapping attempt.
“Between trying to trap Mom and burning down the Black Bear Inn, things are getting busy,” she said thoughtfully, trying to keep from blurting out immediately thatof coursethey would investigate Cobra’s murder.
“Don’t burn it down,” Kieran snapped.
“Sorry, that’d be more work for you, wouldn’t it?” Charlie frowned. “How about blowing it up? Do you have enough explosives, B?”
Bennett nodded, but Kieran sliced his hand through the air, as if decapitating that idea. “Who do you think would respond to an explosion?”
“Right.” Now that he’d said something, it seemed obvious that the fire department would be called to an explosion too. “Maybe we could excavate underneath it, so it just kind of dropped into a ho—”
“If I get the health department to do a surprise inspection of the motel, will you let this go?” Kieran grumbled.
After considering the idea—while not being able to come up with a revenge plan that wouldn’t create more work for the firefighters—Charlie huffed out a breath. “Fine.Severalsurprise inspections. And you’ll need to give us a day’s head start, so we can release the rats and cockroaches. But if we investigateCobra’s death, you’re going to have to help us with Operation: Catch Mom.”
Fifi made a skeptical sound as Kieran stared at Charlie, apparently finally shocked out of his normal cranky mood. “What?” the other three said at the same time.
It had been an impulsive ask, but the more Charlie thought about it, the more she liked the idea. Not only would her fascinating future fiancé be within ogling view, but she had a feeling he’d be a handy guy to have around, like a second Bennett, but with fewer explosives. “He could be our muscle. If someone who likes lighting coffee shops on fire is after us, it’d be good to have a firefighter in our back pocket, right? Also, the gossipy hen part is useful too.”
