Page 53 of Take a Hike
She laughed. “I knew you’d get there eventually. I am talking again, after all. So, let me guess what’s stressing you out. Is it because you realized you drive like a grandpa?”
To her surprise, the tight lines of his face softened with amusement. “The important thing is that we survived the drive.”
“Yeah, we did.” His smile was impossible to resist, and she grinned back at him. “We also survived breaking into the militia compound, planting some bugs,anda high-speed chase, so yay us.”
“It wasn’t really a chase—” He stopped his pedantic correction as his gaze snapped to the rearview mirror. “Sheriff.”
Charlie twisted around in time to see a sheriff’s department SUV pulling up behind Kieran’s truck. “Seriously?” She didn’t even care that the word came out as a full-on whine. “I was hoping to get a couple hours of sleep tonight.”
“Were you?”
The odd tone in Kieran’s voice caught her attention, despite the fact that the sheriff was in the process of getting out of the SUV behind them. “I was,” she said slowly, trying to puzzle out why wanting to sleep for a few hours before facing the next day was making him act so strange and out of character. “Why are you acting like that’s not a normal thing to want to do?”
“I’m not.” The words came too quickly to be believable, though, and his blush was back. “I just wanted…uh, I wasn’t sure—” A sharp rap of the sheriff’s knuckles on Kieran’s window cut him off, and Charlie tried to hold on to her patience as he lowered his window.
“Hi, Sheriff,” she said as sweetly as she could. “Would you mind giving us a couple of minutes? We’re in the middle of a very important conversation.”
Summers looked startled for just a fraction of a second before her impassive mask fell back into place. “No. Your conversation can wait.”
“Can it though?” Charlie had a feeling that she wasn’t ever going to learn the cause of Kieran’s blush, and her Spidey senses were telling her that the reason wasfascinating.
“Yes.” The sheriff sounded a touch harried before she regained her composure. “Where have you two been tonight?”
“None of your business,” Kieran grumped.
“Making out,” Charlie said at the same time. When his answer penetrated a second too late, she offered him an apologetic grimace and turned back to the sheriff. “What he said.”
“Itismy business if you were burglarizing the Freedom Survivors’ compound.”
“Of course we weren’t,” Charlie lied easily. “And since when do militia guys call thecops? I guess government agencies are only evil until one of the militia guys gets their feelings hurt.”
“Criminal trespass, damage to property, arson,” Summers continued as if Charlie hadn’t spoken. “You’re in a lot of trouble. Multiple felonies means a long stretch of prison time.”
“Well, you’re going to have to do some sheriff-ing and figure out who the culprit was then,” Charlie said, doing her best to sound bored.
“If it wasn’t you, it had to be your sister and her husband.”
Kieran gave an irritated grunt, and Charlie squeezed his leg.She was getting annoyed too, but she fought to keep any trace of it out of her expression as she forced a light laugh. “Those two had a just-married date night, so you’re going to have to find a different suspect. Except for going out to dinner, I imagine they haven’t left their honeymoon suite.”
“Not much of an alibi.” Summers smirked, although it didn’t look natural—more like the sheriff was trying to get a reaction from them. That settled some of Charlie’s fears that there was actual evidence that any of them had been in the compound.
“It is when we’re followed by an entire team of fortune hunters,” Charlie said, matching the sheriff’s smirk with one of her own. “Plus half the town watches us wherever we go. We won’t have any problem finding witnesses that put us far away from the compound.”I hope.The fortune hunters weren’tfriendsexactly, but they still owed her for disappearing before the coffee shop fire. Despite Charlie’s doubts, her words must’ve struck home, judging by the way the sheriff’s face fell for just a moment before she blanked her expression again. “They’ll also tell you that Kieran kisses like abeast, and that can be a bit disconcerting to know about a work colleague.”
“Are we done here, Sheriff?” Kieran asked in a way that was more of a statement than a polite question.
Her nod was stiff. “For now. Don’t leave the county.”
Charlie couldn’t resist. “Oh, we won’t. After all, we have a murder to solve first.” It was Kieran’s turn to squeeze her leg just above her knee. Although she knew he meant it as a warning to watch her mouth around the sheriff, her lady bits took it as a sign of interest. Summers’s frown brought her back to earth,and she quickly gave her most innocent smile. “Kidding, of course. There’ll be no mystery solving. We’re just going to enjoy the changing leaves and mountain views as we lounge around, ignoring any clues we might stumble across, and definitely not committing any felonies in pursuit of the truth.”
When she stopped talking, the sheriff was scowling and Kieran sighed heavily. With a final warning glare, Summers turned away and headed back to her SUV. Charlie watched her as Kieran closed the window. It wasn’t until the sheriff drove around them, turned at the next intersection, and disappeared from their view that Charlie spoke.
“I’m ninety-nine percent sure she doesn’t have any concrete evidence that we were involved.”
Turning his head, Kieran studied her. For once, his usual scowl wasn’t in place, which made her a bit anxious that she couldn’t read his expression.
Maybe she wasn’t quite that sure. “Ninety-five percent?”
The sound he made was a laugh and a sigh mixed together, which didn’t reassure her. Kieran was acting strange. Where was her consistently grumpy and quarrelsome firefighter?
