Page 9 of Take a Hike
“I know.”
“Just objectively hot,” Charlie quickly amended, even though Rory hadn’t seemed at all offended or jealous at her statement. “I don’t find him subjectively hot at all.”
“Really?” Rory gave Charlie a doubtful look before studying her husband. “How can you not find him subjectively hot?”
Grinning at his wife, Ian gave her a smoldering look that promised Rory even more hotness later before turning back to Charlie. “Do you find Kieran subjectively hot?”
“Of course.” She didn’t see any reason to lie about it. “Don’t you?”
Before Ian could answer, Fifi and Bennett arrived, so Lou immediately called the murder club meeting to order.
“I have a question,” Charlie said as soon as everyone was settled in chairs around the amalgam of tables. “Is the murder club an actual thing here? Do you meet regularly to solve murders? And, if so, why are there so many people getting killed? Imean, the town’s not that big. A pretty significant portion of the population has to be getting axed for you to have a steady supply of murders for your club.”
Lou laughed. “We’ve only had what—two murders? At least since I’ve moved here. So no to the regular meetings.”
“Three,” Daisy corrected. “My dead body, remember?”
“Right! Thanks, Dais.”
Charlie met Fifi’s eyes and raised an eyebrow. Answers from the murder club seemed to lead to more questions. “Um…you had your own personal dead body, Daisy?”
“Oh no.” She waved a hand, as if Charlie had given her credit for something Daisy hadn’t actually accomplished. “I just saw the dead body being moved. It wasn’t really mine.”
“We’ve had quite a fewattemptedmurders though,” Ellie said, and everyone made agreeing sounds—except for George and Bennett. They were, apparently, having a competition to see whose face was the poker-iest.
“This area does have an unusually high crime rate,” Chris said. “And these four”—he pointed at Lou, Daisy, Rory, and Ellie—“always seem to end up in the middle of whatever investigation’s going on. Not sure when they formed an official murder club though.”
“Oookay.” Charlie drew out the word, intensely curious about so many things they’d said, but also knowing she had to focus on the topic at hand. “Putting aside all the dead bodies, arson, attempted murder—am I missing anything?”
“Assault.”
“Burglary.”
“Theft.”
“Stalking.”
“Improper use of the 911 system.”
“Dog theft.” That last one led to a round of laughter, which Charlie thought was a touch sociopathic.
“Oh no, it’s not like that.” Ellie must’ve seen her and Fifi’s expressions, because she hurried to reassure them. “Westole the dogs. Puppies, actually. They weren’t being cared for properly, but now they’re all fat and happy and spoiled.”
At the explanation, Charlie relaxed a little. “Good. Okay, so speaking of an exorbitant amount of crime-ing, should we talk about our mom?”
Fifi was the only one who laughed at that, but Charlie didn’t mind. She was used to people not getting her jokes. The others nodded in agreement, though, so she held up the key she had been carrying on her at all times since she’d pulled it out of her mom’s closet rod.
“Our mom, Jane Pax, wants this key. We’ve made sure she’ll hear that we’ve found it, plus we led five treasure hunters to your little town, so word’ll get out about where we are too.”
Chris cleared his throat. “Five treasure hunters? I counted four.”
“Behind the dumpster, under the southeast evergreen, inside the VW Fox parked in front of the bank, and next to the taxidermy shop/liquor store’s propane tank,” Callum reeled off, and Chris gave a nod as he held up four fingers.
“You’ll have to look harder for Rhys,” Charlie said, feeling a little guilty for bringing the treasure hunters to Simpson.Because of that twinge, she offered them a tip. “He likes height. Check trees and rooftops.”
“Sorry for leading those guys here,” Fifi said, as if she’d read Charlie’s mind. “They likely won’t cause any trouble and should clear out as soon as we do.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Lou said. “It’s like a live-actionWhere’s Waldo.”
