Chapter 5 #2
The sheriff’s frown deepened, but she didn’t call out Charlie for eavesdropping, so Chris might’ve kept his mouth shut. “Why are you in Simpson?” Summers asked, picking up where they’d left off before Gabrielle’s interruption.
“Why would you even ask that? Look at this place!” Charlie spread her hands, intending to indicate the beauty of the town and surrounding area, but only managing to wave at the tiny interview room, which made her comment come off as sarcastic. “The whole mountain thing, I mean.”
As the sheriff’s frown deepened, Charlie heaved a sigh. This was going to take hours.
***
“You made it,” Fifi called across the sheriff department parking lot before turning to Bennett in the seat next to her. “I won the bet.”
“Love your confidence in me, Feef.” She’d only accomplished it because the sheriff had been called away to help with a multicar accident a half hour into the attempted interrogation, but Charlie smiled and took the credit anyway as she trotted over to the car and climbed into the back seat. “What’d Bennett bet?”
“That you’d be arrested for mouthiness.”
After considering that for a moment, Charlie gave her brother-in-law an approving nod. “Fairly safe bet, but I don’t think mouthiness is an official crime.”
“If anyone could be arrested for mouthiness, it’d be you.” Fifi pulled out of the parking lot. She must’ve already entered the fire station’s address into the GPS, because a robotic female voice told her to turn left.
“Awe, thanks, Fifi.” Charlie settled back against the seat. “So I got a glimpse of Cobra’s widow.”
“Yeah?” Fifi glanced at her in the rearview mirror, and Bennett turned to look at her, interest clear on both of their faces.
“She came in to talk to the sheriff. I just happened to be in a place where I could overhear a bit of their conversation.” She ignored Fifi’s amused snort. “So, interesting thing—Gabrielle Jones is staying at the compound.”
“Weird.” Fifi frowned as she made another prompted turn. “She’s living with her dead husband’s murderer?”
“Probably.” Charlie didn’t want to assume, but when a militia leader was offed, it seemed likely that one of the other militia folks was involved, especially the brand-new leader.
“She was surprised Clint was cleared, and she’d been living there with him.
Even when the sheriff told her it’d be safer to move to her brother’s house for now, Gabrielle refused.
Apparently, her sister-in-law is a bitch.
” Charlie nudged the back of Bennett’s seat with her knee.
“You lucked out, B. Think of the nightmare family you could’ve married into. ”
“I did, yeah.” Bennett’s words and sweet smile surprised her. Charlie had been teasing, so she’d expected an eye roll, and his sincerity threw her off her game.
“Uh…anyway.” Clearing her throat awkwardly, she returned to the subject at hand as Fifi snickered. “The sheriff didn’t tell her much. Not sure if they don’t really have anything, or if she’s just tight-lipped.”
“Speaking of lips,” Fifi said, “are we going tight or loose?”
“With Kieran?”
“Yeah.” Fifi shot her a warning look. “I know he’s your future fiancé, so think with your brain, not your lady bits.”
Charlie opened her mouth to answer but then shut it again. Her sister knew her too well. “You two better decide then. My lady bits are bossy and won’t be denied.”
Bennett and Fifi had a silent conversation, which Charlie felt was quite the accomplishment since Fifi was driving and could only spare a few brief speaking glances at her husband. Finally, he shrugged in an affirmative way, and Fifi gave him a tight nod. “Okay.”
“Okay?” Charlie repeated. “What does that mean? I don’t speak Finnett. Or Bifi.” She snorted at the latter name amalgam. “Beefy. Heh.”
“Okay, we’re going with loose lips—limited loose.”
“Excellent.” Charlie grinned. It would’ve been hard to deny Kieran information when his glower was so adorable.
The fire station was small compared to the Langston one, but it was bustling. Busy looking around, Charlie almost crashed into a firefighter.
“Sorry,” she said, giving him an apologetic grin. “I was distracted by all the eye candy around here.”
He just scowled as he skirted around her.
“Oops,” Charlie said to Fifi. “Was that creepy of me to say? Should I go after him to apologize for being harass-y?”
“Nah.” It was Rory’s objectively handsome husband who replied as he joined their small group. “It’s nothing personal. Dane’s just caffeine deprived—we all are.” Ian frowned.
“Haven’t you gotten a new coffee maker yet?” Charlie asked.
“No.” The word came out with a bit of a snap. “Everything’s back-ordered—supply chain issues.”
“Just have people bring their little ones from home,” she suggested.
“Tried that.” Somehow, he even managed to look even grumpier.
Apparently, all the firefighters had joined Kieran in the cranky club today.
“This building’s old. That many coffee makers overloaded the circuit and melted the insulation on the wiring.
Almost started a fire. So until the electrician can update all our wiring, we’re hooked up to the emergency generator just for lights and basic power. ”
“A fire…at the fire station?” Charlie bit her lip to hold back an inappropriate snicker and very carefully avoided meeting Fifi’s gaze.
Ian’s glare told her he wasn’t in the right mood to appreciate the irony.
“At least you have all the fire-putting-out equipment here. Save on diesel, and all that.” One glance at Ian’s face told her that he wasn’t ready to look on the bright side of things, so she scrambled for something inoffensive to say. “Sorry for your coffeemaker loss.”
“And with the coffee shop burned down…” Fifi trailed off with a sympathetic grimace.
“We’re stuck with instant.” Ian’s voice was heavy with gloom as Charlie gagged vicariously at the thought.
“Ian!” One of the other firefighters roared. “Get over here and help me with this.”
“Be a miracle if we manage to get through this without murdering each other.” Clamping his jaw tightly, Ian stomped off toward his glaring coworker.
“Is it wrong that I find all these surly firemen even more attractive than happy, smiling ones?” Charlie mused, looking around.
“Yes,” Bennett and Fifi chorused.
“Bah.” Charlie waved off their judgment. “What do you two know? You save all your googly eyes for each other. You’re completely biased.”
She spotted Kieran walking toward them, and her breath caught. Here was in-person proof that the grumpiest guys were the hottest.
He jerked his head, gesturing them toward a small office in the corner.
“Check that out,” Fifi murmured quietly. Charlie eyed Kieran as he weaved through his coworkers. He didn’t really have to weave, however, since the other firefighters drew away from him, leaving a wide path open in front of him.
“They’re acting like he stinks,” Charlie said under her breath.
“And I know for a fact that the man smells like the mountains in winter.” As if they’d choreographed it, Bennett and Fifi glanced at her out of the corners of their eye before meeting each other’s gaze.
“You know what I mean—cold, unpolluted, delicious air with just a hint of woodsmoke. And, oddly enough, hints of new-car smell.”
Fifi and Bennett did the same side-eye-then-silent-conversation look again—something Charlie was discovering married people did with annoying frequency.
Heaving a heavy sigh and shoving away that little niggle of loneliness that she always felt when her lack of coupledom was tossed in her face, Charlie strode toward the office door, where Kieran was impatiently waiting.
“So what’s up with that?” Charlie gestured toward where Kieran had just been. His coworkers were still eyeing him—or maybe both of them—with obvious distrust.
“What?” he snapped.
“Why are they treating you like Leper Larry?”
The corners of his mouth pinched in the way she was beginning to learn meant he was holding back a smile—or at least a less-intense frown. “Leper Larry?”
“Smelly Stanley?” One of these days, she’d score an actual grin from him.
Not today, though, since his scowl settled more heavily into place as his gaze settled on Bennett and Fifi behind her. Instead of answering, he jerked open the office door and ushered them into the small space.
“Whose office is this?” Charlie asked, immediately prowling around. Despite the boxlike dimensions of the space, someone had managed to cram in an impressive amount of clutter.
“Chief’s.” He closed the door and leaned against the wall next to it, crossing his arms over his chest. The office’s contents couldn’t hold her attention when she had Kieran’s bulging biceps to ogle instead.
“We met Chief Early last time we were in Simpson,” Fifi said, settling onto one of the two guest chairs in front of the paper-strewn desk.
Bennett stood behind her, like he was her bodyguard.
“He was with you and your…” She cleared her throat, looking uncomfortable as Kieran’s face turned even more granite-y than usual.
“Your…erm…dad.” She did manage to get the words out, although they sounded a bit strangled.
Wanting to break the stiff, frozen silence that’d settled over the office at the mention of the militia-loving kidnapper Finn Byrne, Charlie sprawled in the second chair next to her sister. “So any word on who set the coffee shop on fire?”
Kieran narrowed his eyes at her, but his shoulders relaxed an infinitesimal amount, so Charlie considered that a win. “Why are you asking me?”
Waving a hand at the office walls surrounding them, she said, “Because the fire thing is sort of your whole deal?”
He stiffened again. “You think I had something to do with—”