Chapter 8
Eight
Charlie hadn’t realized how hungry she’d gotten until they walked into Levi’s and the smells of barbecued meat and fried things hit her.
Between the sheriff’s interrupted interrogation, the meeting at the fire station, and the whole getting-shot-at thing, she’d managed to miss not only lunch, but also second breakfast and her usual midafternoon snack.
Her hungry gaze tracked the server who was carrying a large tray laden with plates of food toward a table in the corner.
Charlie took a step in her direction. “Think they’d mind if I just nabbed a plate, maybe two? There’s a ton of food. I’m sure they wouldn’t even notice if a little is missing.”
Kieran just gave one of his snorts, not even bothering to disguise his amusement with a cough anymore. Charlie felt like she’d leveled up in her relationship with him. Now, instead of being somewhere around an adversarial acquaintance, she’d moved up to warily-tolerated-yet-temporary colleague.
His arm wrapped around her middle, sweeping her out of her intended path toward the food-laden server. “Over there,” he said, confusing her until she spotted Fifi and Bennett, already seated at a table.
With a final longing glance at the food, Charlie made her way toward her sister and brother-in-law.
Kieran kept his hand on her lower back as they wound their way through the tables, either because he was feeling uncharacteristically affectionate toward her, or because he didn’t trust her not to make an attempt to steal someone else’s food.
She was leaning toward the latter, but she couldn’t even blame him. She was, after all, very hungry.
“Why are you both on that side of the table?” Charlie asked once they’d reached Fifi and Bennett. She plopped into the chair across from her sister. “Is that a married-people thing?”
Fifi gave Bennett a sappy smile and patted his arm. “We both hate having our backs to the crowd. It’s one of the many things we have in common.”
Now that she’d mentioned it, Charlie felt the tickle of unseen eyes on her shoulder blades, making her twitch. Fifi must’ve read her mind, because she lost her lovesick expression and sprawled her leg to the side.
“Nope. No room over here.”
Giving in with a sigh, Charlie settled back in her less-than-optimally placed chair.
Kieran was hovering, as if waiting for an invitation, so she kicked the last seat away from the table and waved at it.
“Might as well sit. Fifi isn’t moving, and Bennett probably won’t let you sit on his lap.
” Just in case, Charlie raised a questioning eyebrow at her brother-in-law.
“No.”
With a sigh, Charlie gave the seat next to her a pat. “We’ll just have to trust these two to let us know if we’re about to be ambushed.”
Kieran slowly settled into the last seat. “Not used to trusting someone else to watch my back.”
“That must be tough with the jackals at the station.” Charlie hadn’t been impressed by the way several of the other firefighters had treated Kieran. Except for the chief, Ian and Rory had been the only ones who seemed willing to give him the benefit of the doubt, and even they’d been wary.
His shrug was more of an uncomfortable twist of his shoulders. “Can’t blame them. They all trusted Dad.” He glanced at Fifi. “Sorry about that.”
“Not your fault.” Fifi waved a hand as if being kidnapped wasn’t that big a deal.
Charlie had to admit that it was becoming fairly common in their family, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t terrifying and horrible for all the sisters.
“You’re not responsible for your dad’s actions.
We had to learn that the hard way about our mom—and poor Norah about her dad too.
If you end up being a militia mole and snatch Charlie, then we’ll be having a different conversation.
” The sweetness of her voice just made the warning that much more threatening, and Charlie grinned at her sister.
“If he kidnaps me, he’ll regret it even before you catch up with him.” The thought of all the ways she could torture Kieran made her smile widen, especially when he side-eyed her warily.
“What can I get you folks?”
The server’s voice made Charlie jump, and she glared at Fifi and Bennett. “What happened to warning us about an ambush?”
“She’s not ambushing you.” Fifi rolled her eyes in a very non-penitent way. “Ambushers don’t bring you food.”
“You never know,” Charlie said darkly, but then pasted on a smile as she turned to face the startled-looking server. “Ribs, please, and mac and cheese.”
She waited impatiently as the others ordered. The server had barely made it out of eavesdropping distance before Charlie jumped back into their previous conversation. Kieran was actually talking about himself, and every tiny nugget of personal information he dropped was fascinating.
“So you had no idea that your dad was in the militia?” she asked.
“I knew he was interested in the Freedom Survivors,” he said, surprising her once again by his willingness to share. Maybe low blood sugar lowered his defenses. “He likes firearms and isn’t the biggest fan of the government, but I didn’t know he was actually a member.”
“Are you two close?”
His mouth curled down in a way that seemed more sad than angry, which made Charlie instantly feel guilty for probing. “Guess not as close as I thought.”
“What’s your mom think of all this?”
“She died when I was nine.”
The flat way he shared that heartbreaking information made it hit harder, like a kick to the stomach. “Sorry.” Feeling the urgent need to erase the sorrow she could see in his eyes, even if that meant he returned to his usual crabby self, she bumbled on. “Siblings?”
“No.”
That made everything that’d happened to him seem extra tragic, since her sisters were her bedrock. “Well, I’m just stepping in it all over the place here. Should we talk about the murder? That might make you feel better.”
He twitched one eyebrow higher than the other. “The murder I’m accused of committing?”
Charlie actually groaned out loud at that but went still when he laughed. It was like a hummingbird flying close to her, Charlie thought. When she heard his rare and beautiful laugh, she didn’t want to move in case she scared it away.
“It’s fine. We can talk about Cobra.” He looked up at Fifi and Bennett, who were watching the two of them, looking fascinated and a touch horrified.
“Why are you looking at us like you’re watching a train crash?” Charlie asked.
Bennett and Fifi shared one of their annoying silent-speaking looks. “Because listening to you dig your hole deeper and deeper is just like watching a traffic accident,” Fifi said as B nodded in agreement.
Kieran gave an amused snort, which made Charlie jump and look at him. He seemed to be inordinately amused tonight. It must’ve been the low blood sugar. The tiniest smile faded as he asked, “What’d you find out from Belly?”
“First of all,” Fifi started as Charlie settled back, glad that the focus was off of her inability to make polite conversation.
“The coroner is hilarious, and I promised her we’d go join her after this is all over for ladies’ night at the Springfield Bar.
She couldn’t give us too much information, though, just because the remains had been treated pretty roughly, between the murder and the elements and wild animals and such.
Cause of death was likely a blow to the head, and she’s thinking time of death was four to six months ago.
He was last seen about five and a half months ago—”
“Right after you fought him at the grocery store,” Charlie interjected, holding back her snicker when he glared at her out of the corner of his eye.
Fifi, well used to her sister’s sidebars, continued smoothly, “So law enforcement is now assuming Cobra’s death was sometime between four and five and a half months ago, but most likely soon after he disappeared.”
“Well, that narrows it down a little, I suppose,” Charlie said doubtfully, although she was trying to look at the bright side of things. “You only need to find an alibi that covers six weeks. Too bad you weren’t in jail with Clint.”
Kieran very slowly turned his head until he was staring at her. “Yeah. Too bad.”
“Since we can’t turn back time and get Kieran to commit a crime in order for him to have an airtight alibi,” Fifi said in her peace-keeping tone, “let’s focus on finding the real killer.”
Charlie pulled the list Rory had printed out of her pocket and unfolded it, flattening the creases as best she could. “So we interrogated a very Kevin-like Kevin at Ro—”
“Here you go!” The cheerful voice of the server interrupted her, and Charlie quickly yanked the list into her lap.
“Seriously, Fifi? B?” She glared at the two across the table, who looked like they were holding back laughter. “You’re the absolute worst back-watchers of all time.”
“You really are.”
Shocked that Kieran backed her up on this, but also triumphant, Charlie swung her arm toward him as if presenting evidence. Unfortunately, she used a little too much force and whacked him on the chest with the back of her hand. “See? Kiki agrees.”
“Not if you call me Kiki.”
The server’s gaze jumped from person to person at their table, looking bewildered. “Um…okay. Who ordered the pork?”
***
Once she’d inhaled half of her food, Charlie’s brain turned back to the mysteries at hand.
Retrieving the list of names from her lap with her left hand, she waved the fork in her right one to get the attention of the others at the table.
“Okay, Kieran, this is probably going to be more on you, since we’re not townies. Tim Helling?”
“Which one?”
“There’s more than one Tim Helling in the Freedom Survivors?” Charlie thought that was a bit odd, since Simpson wasn’t a highly populated place.
“Yeah. They’re father and son.”