Chapter 5
Was that a cardboard box…with decorations?
Drawings and writing. Cal moved closer, confused by what he was seeing.
A scrap of old carpet peeked out from the open end of the box, and Joy’s House had been written on a flap over the open end of the box.
Was it a child’s homemade dollhouse? He walked closer, as did Pilot, who had smelled something of interest. An empty tuna can inside the box.
He dragged a hand over his mouth as he realized what this was, who had made it and what it said about the snarky gift shop manager. She had a caring, creative and even whimsical side.
Even as he thought of her, the back door of the shop opened, and Jules Bailey stepped out into the early evening sun. She drew up short when she spotted him, frowned, then braced a hand on one hip.
“Sheriff? There a reason you’re back here so soon, poking around?”
He whistled to call Pilot back, then strolled across the dry lot to meet her.
“Same reason I had for poking around this morning. Looking for evidence to help us figure out what happened last night.” He cocked his head to one side as he studied her, trying not to notice how her sexy, slim, bare legs looked.
Since this morning, she’d changed into shorts that hugged her bottom and left what seemed like a mile of long, tanned thighs and calves exposed.
“What are you doing here still? With the shop closed, I’d have thought you’d be enjoying the day off.
” He paused and narrowed his eyes. “You haven’t disturbed the sales floor, have you?
It’s off-limits until forensics is finished with it. ”
She pulled her mouth into a slanted pout that matched the disdain in her eyes. “No. I know better than to mess with a crime scene. But the break room isn’t off-limits.”
He raised a hand in appeasement. “All right. Just wondering why you’re not catching a movie in town or getting a mani-pedi. At a minimum, you should be relaxing at home with a book or your favorite binge-worthy reality TV show.”
She gave a dismissive sniff. “A gift shop manager’s salary is not sufficient to blow money on movies or professionally applied nail polish. I can do that for myself for free.”
He fought the urge to check out the color of her toenails, although the effort to appear uninterested in her feet was a physical ache.
“As for reality TV,” she said, looking down her nose at him, “never watched it, never will. I have better things to do with my time and plenty of drama in my own life without wallowing in the manufactured drama of others.”
Her comment on drama reminded him that she’d been arrested for contempt of court. He was about to ask her about it when she said, “I’m perfectly capable of staying busy without frivolous expenses.”
His cheek twitched, and he couldn’t help grinning. “Like building cathouses for strays out of cardboard boxes?”
Color stained her cheeks, and she gave a quick telltale glance to the structure behind him.
For the briefest moment, she appeared embarrassed, but then her shoulders squared and her mouth tightened.
“Yeah? What of it? Joy needed a shady place to hang out, and I had time on my hands. What’s wrong with making a shelter for her? ”
“Joy? You’ve named the cat?”
One dark brown eyebrow sketched up. “So? What of it?”
“Joy?” he repeated. “The wild, three-pound, hissing ball of razor claws?”
Jules rolled her eyes. “It’s called irony, Sheriff.”
“Cal.”
She shot him a now familiar scowl. “What?”
“When I’m here on unofficial business, I see no need for formality. Call me Callum. Or Cal for short, like my siblings and most of my friends do.”
“So this isn’t an official visit? You’re snooping around the field behind the gift shop for fun?”
“Sorta. It’s business-related but on my own time. Call it curiosity and a chance to keep my dog’s skills on point.”
Her gaze shifted to Pilot, and something warm lit her eyes. “That’s your dog?”
“Huh? Oh, no. That dog just followed me here. I have no idea who that dog is,” he said, keeping a confused look on his face. He glanced around as if looking for something. “You seen a miniature poodle around here? Pink bow, topknot and painted toenails? Foofoo, where are you?”
She sneered. “Very funny.”
He chuckled and turned to whistle for Pilot, who’d wandered toward the side parking lot, still sniffing the ground. On command, Pilot raised his head and loped over to sit at Cal’s feet. “Good boy, Pilot.”
Jules’s eyes widened. “Wow. Impressive. That’s an obedient dog.”
“He’s been trained to be obedient and has had years of practice.” Cal fished in his pocket for another dog treat and tossed it to his Labrador retriever.
Without asking, Jules crouched by Pilot and ruffled the fur along his neck and behind his ears. “Aren’t you a good puppy? Hey there, handsome. How are you?”
“Um…” Cal cleared his throat. “He’s a working dog, and it’s bad form for the general public to pat working dogs without permission. Especially when they are on the job.”
Jules shot a guilty look up at Cal. Her mouth opened and closed before she stood, her cheeks pinking again, and muttered, “I know that. But aren’t working dogs supposed to wear a vest identifying them as working dogs?”
Cal bobbed his head once in concession. “True. Usually. Pilot has a vest at home. But it’s hot, and I wasn’t expecting to see anyone out here, so I left it at home.”
Pilot, tail wagging, walked over to Jules and nudged her hand with his nose.
She peered down at his Lab and crooned in a sweet voice, “I’m sorry. Your mean daddy says I can’t love on you.”
Cal blew a raspberry. “Go ahead. Our search hasn’t turned up anything new, so he can go off duty.”
“Duty?” She pulled a face as she squatted again and gave Pilot the sort of hearty scratches and face-to-face interaction he loved. “That sounds so serious. What kind of working dog is he?”
“Pilot’s a retired search-and-rescue and cadaver dog.”
Jules’s head snapped back, her wide-eyed gaze flying to his. “Cadaver?”
“He helps find dead bodies.” Her expression said she might be regretting her choice to allow Pilot to lick her face, as if he’d just been eating a corpse instead of sniffing out the scents of one.
She blinked. Sobered. Then sent him another baleful look. “I know what cadaver dogs do, thank you. If he’s retired, why is he working tonight?”
“I still put him to work now and then, like tonight, when I think he can help with an investigation in an unofficial way. His joints aren’t what they used to be, but he gets bored, so…”
She continued ruffling Pilot’s neck and baby talking to his dog in dulcet tones. “You’re a good boy. Yes, you are. Does that feel good? So handsome.”
When Pilot licked her face and made happy snuffling noises, Jules smiled and chuckled softly, rewarding Pilot with nose kisses and more ear rubs. Pilot loved the attention from his new friend.
Cal, on the other hand, felt an unwelcome prick of…
what? Jealousy? Surely not. And yet on some level, he didn’t like that his dog was getting all the affection and lighthearted attention from Jules while he got only frowns and sarcasm.
At least this display of warmth toward his dog gave him more proof that a soft heart beat beneath her prickly exterior.
He cut a glance toward the cathouse she’d made for the grouchy stray. Definitely a soft heart.
After a moment, Jules glanced up at him again, her expression wary. “So…why did you have Pilot out here now? You think there’s another dead body out here somewhere?”
That was exactly what he’d thought possible, but he didn’t want to alarm her.
Cal shrugged. “I thought it was worth seeing what he turned up. Sometimes it’s not a body but clothing or something else with the scent of decay on it.
While our local police and sheriff departments are among the best in the business, we’re small and spread kinda thin during tourist season.
Just giving the task force a helping hand searching the grounds. ”
“And?” she said, her voice anxious. “Did he find anything?”
“He was spot on identifying where Harper was found this morning but he found nothing else. Although he didn’t get too far out in the field.
” Cal turned and scanned the surrounding area of gently sloping hills and higher elevations rising across grassy plains.
“I may send him back out in a minute to finish searching the fields.”
“Harper? Does that mean you’ve identified the body?” She gave Pilot another nuzzle and scratch before rising to full height again.
“They have. He was known to authorities—his prints are in the system.”
“He’d been arrested before? For what?” As if cold, she shivered and wrapped her arms around herself, despite the warm July evening.
“Nothing you need to worry about. The shop—this town—is safe, all things weighed out. Until evidence says otherwise, I see no reason to believe John Harper’s death at this location was anything other than random.”
“Somehow, I don’t fine that reassuring,” she said darkly.
He considered her point. He really couldn’t say for sure if the Geese in Flight sculpture had been selected for whatever went down last night or if it had been a random happening.
“Tell you what, I can come by in the evenings at closing time to walk you to your car until the killer is caught, if you’d like. ”
She gave him a dubious look and pointed to the small sedan parked behind the building. “I have all of twenty feet to walk to reach my car. It’s not like I have to venture into a vast parking garage or megalot.”
“Just offering,” he said, flipping up a hand.
“And what about the other twelve-plus hours a day I’m here at the shop, often working alone?”
“Twelve hours a day?” he repeated, aghast.
“Yeah. Don’t forget, those men came into the shop last night. I was there alone with them!”
He sobered. “I’m aware.”
The notion that she’d had a brush with these men disturbed him more than he cared to admit…as did the idea of her working long hours by herself in this remote location, where cell service was spotty.
“And what about the second man? The one in the UNLV hoodie? Do you have an ID on him yet?”
“Unfortunately, no. Forensics is still sorting through the dozens of fingerprints and hairs they collected from the sales floor. Without a facial description from you, or a camera, it will be quite a while before our limited staff sorts through everything.” He lifted an eyebrow.
“Which reminds me…if you and any other shop employees could swing by the police station to be fingerprinted, it would help with eliminating your prints from customers’. ”
“I’ll let Bonnie know. She’s my summer help.” She twisted her mouth as if in thought. “How long are you going to keep the shop closed?”
“That’s not up to me. I’m not the lead on the case. But once the forensics team is sure they’ve recovered any evidence there might be in the store, you’ll be free to reopen.”
“You’re not in charge? You were sure acting like it this morning,” she said.
He forced a grin, trying to shake the needling disquiet that had crept over him. “Are you calling me overbearing?”
“If the shoe fits…” she said under her breath.
“My brother is a detective with the Red Grove PD, and he’s leading a task force looking into the drug traffic in the area. He’s taking lead on the case.”
“So I was right about the guys that came in the gift shop? That was a drug deal?” Her expression reflected a combination of disgust and satisfaction, presumably for believing she’d been right about Harper and his cohort.
“Too soon to say for sure. Suffice to say, the task force will follow all leads.” He reached down to rub Pilot’s ears when his dog sat on his foot and leaned against his leg.
“I’m surprised you’re not thrilled to have the shop closed for a day or two.
If you’re working as many hours as you say, the closure is like a minivacation.
You don’t have to spend money to relax. Sleep in tomorrow. Do something fun.”
She aimed a withering look at him. “Something fun? At the Catch-a-Wink Motor Inn?” She shook her head. “Sheriff, I’m here now because even the closed shop with the sales floor cordoned off is more fun than my motel room.”
“Cal. Remember? I’m Cal when I’m off duty.” When she didn’t respond, he followed an internal nudge. “If you’re avoiding your motel room out of boredom, what about joining me at Pie Works for a pizza?”
She blinked at him. “What?”
He chuckled at the note of horror in her tone, as if he’d asked her to join him at a satanic ritual instead of dinner. “Is that a problem? Have you already eaten?”
“No, but…” She appeared truly flummoxed, her mouth open, her brow puckered in bewilderment. “Why?”
Her question startled a laugh from him. “Why? Because I’m hungry, and I thought you might be, too.”
And because I find you fascinating. And because you’re fun to verbally spar with. And because it would give me an excuse to ask more questions about your confusing and slightly suspicious background information.
Hitching his mouth in a lopsided grin, he added, “Pilot’s going. If eating dinner with me is uncomfortable for you, you can consider this a date with Pilot instead.”
Now the color washed from her face as her eyebrows shot up. “A date? You’re asking me on a date?”
He exhaled and swiped a hand over his face before shaking his head. “I didn’t mean to imply—” He spread his hands. “It was just an offer of dinner. I know today was upsetting, and you said your motel was nothing to write home about, so…” He lifted one eyebrow, inviting a response.
She studied him for several seconds, the dent in her cheek telling him she was biting the fleshy part inside in mouth.
Finally, he said, “Never mind,” at the exact moment she said, “Okay.”
“Okay?” he asked, on top of her “What?”
He gave his head a small shake, then aimed a finger at the back door of the shop. “I’ll wait here while you get your purse and lock up. All right?”
She tipped her head at a haughty angle. “My purse, huh? You invited me to join you. I think that means you’re buying dinner.”
The corner of her mouth twitched just a little, but enough to tell him she was enjoying the verbal jousting as well. A full smile spread across his face as he gave a nod of assent. “It’s a deal.”