Page 130 of Moonshine Kiss
“Detective Connelly,” my father said, an edge to his voice. “If you have an issue with how I run my department, I suggest you take it up with me.”
My father, the unflappable Sheriff Tucker, was about two seconds away from screaming bloody murder at Connelly. I could tell by the vein in his forehead that looked in danger of bursting.
“Your daughter is too busy fraternizing with the Bodines to do her damn job! And you either don’t care or you’re too ignorant to know a conflict of interest when it sits down at your dinner table.”
“I trust my deputies to make their own personal decisions and do their jobs.”
I put my hand on my dad’s shoulder. When he looked at me, I shook my head. “Leave it be.”
I didn’t want or need him to fight this battle for me.
Walking through the conference room door, I took a hard right into my father’s office. I was done. I was beyond done. I dropped my gun and my badge on his desk, dumped the cruiser keys into the top drawer and grabbed my coat from the rack near the back door.
“What in the ever-living fuck just happened in there?” Bex asked, pale-faced and big-eyed standing in the doorway of the property room.
“I resigned,” I said flatly.
She tugged on her earlobe, nerves radiating off of her. “You did what now?”
“Apparently I can’t serve the people of Bootleg Springs if I’m in love with one of them.” And apparently I couldn’t be in love with Bowie if I was still digging into his parents. So I had no job and no boyfriend.
It was all bullshit. My boyfriend was mad at me for doing my job and my job was mad at me for having a boyfriend.
Well, I’d gone and shown them. Yep. No job. No boyfriend. Fucking great. Oh, Lord. I couldn’t breathe.
“I’m goin’ in there,” Fanny Sue said, putting her patrol hat on and straightening her clip-on tie.
I pushed out into the winter day feeling as numb as a block of ice. My uniform rubbed at my skin like I was suddenly allergic to it
Everywhere I looked, it was business as usual in Bootleg. We had a few tourists in town for cross-country skiing and holiday shopping. The storefronts were busy. Yee Haw Yarn and Coffee was full to bustin’ with coffee seekers and the monthly knit-in.
Mona Lisa McNugget was struttin’ right on down Main Street holding up both lanes of traffic.
This was myhome. These weremy people, my family.
I wasn’t sure what the emotions were brewing in my chest. I felt lost and lonely.
62
Bowie
Igave the signal, and Scarlett heaved the barn door closed.
“If I can get y’all’s attention,” I said, standing up on a milk crate at the front of the barn. If we were going to keep doing these meetings we were gonna need a stage or something.
It was a damn cold night this close to Christmas, but half of Bootleg had shown up. They were huddled up together on the benches trying to keep warm and catch up on all the gossip.
They were too busy catching up to hear me.
“Hey!” Gibson stood up. “Everybody shut up!”
It had the effect of a record scratch, and in seconds everyone was staring at me expectantly.Oh, Lord. Where to begin?
I brushed my hand over Cass’s note tucked in my pocket and cleared my throat. “I’ve called you all here because we have a problem.”
A hand raised in the back. “This about you and Cassidy courtin’?”
“Uh. What?”
