Chapter Eight #2
“As okay as it can be, I guess. Are you busy? Can you come over to the bakery?” she asked, those pretty eyes intense and direct. They looked greener outside. Something about the lighting, he supposed.
And since that was not what he should be thinking about, he squinted across the street. “Isn’t it closed?”
“Lia’s closing up now, but she wanted to tell you something. She was going to do it tomorrow, but I happened to see you, so I thought I’d just act as middleman.”
“All right.” He followed her down the sidewalk and across the street. She knocked on the bakery door that was now locked, but Lia came right over and opened it up for them.
“I thought you could tell Ro—Deputy Campbell about that woman now, since he was right there when I walked out.”
Lia looked from Franny to him. “Yeah. Sure.” She wiped her hands on the towel stuck into the tied belt of her apron and held the door open for them to step inside. She didn’t look nervous exactly, but definitely unsure. “It could be nothing.”
“Which means it could also be something,” he replied. “Being a cop involves all sorts of somethings and nothings.”
She smiled thinly. “I’ve always hated cops.”
“Hey, me too.”
He clearly surprised a laugh out of her, and a curious look from Franny, but he listened to Lia talk about a woman who’d come in asking questions that didn’t sit right with her.
He thought of the woman he’d seen yesterday. Popping into businesses. Talking to the clerk at the antique shop. He still didn’t have an ID on her. “Describe her for me.”
Lia’s description was dead-on to the woman he was thinking of. He frowned. The rundown sheriff had given him this morning had said the Feds had left for the time being.
But if she was here this morning, had they? Were they lying about this too? Or were his instincts off and she wasn’t a Fed at all? Did that make her a sinister addition to this town?
Two pairs of female eyes studied him, clearly waiting for him to do something with the information. He could keep it to himself. Keep them out of this.
But people came and went from Lia’s bakery all day long. And Franny was a witness in the kidnapping. It seemed the more they knew, the better they might be able to help.
“I saw her yesterday poking around. I think she’s a Fed.”
“But you told me this morning the Feds had moved out.”
“That’s because I’d been told they had. And maybe she did after she got one more look at the scene of the crime.” But it didn’t sit right. Like maybe he’d been told something that wasn’t true at all.
“I’m going to tell Zach,” Lia said.
Royal tried not to bristle. “What’s Simmons going to do?”
“He used to be FBI,” Franny murmured, clearly considering this new information more than what she was saying.
She lifted her gaze, noted Lia and him staring at her. She shrugged. “I did an internet search. It’s no secret.”
Royal had been so distracted by the case—and maybe Simmons being married to Daisy Delaney—he hadn’t looked into him any deeper than making note of what all he owned in Hope Town and how long he had.
“Who else did you internet search?” Lia asked.
An interesting shade of pink crept into Franny’s cheeks. “Look. Isn’t it clear the Feds and the sheriff’s department aren’t sharing information? Why would that be?”
“I don’t know,” Royal said irritably. He knew the sheriff didn’t know either.
“It’s why you’re here, isn’t it?” Lia said, nodding her chin across the way. “Why Zach let you lease that place.”
He eyed her, wondering how much she knew. How much Simmons knew. It didn’t matter, he supposed. The point was to pay attention to the Feds.
“Listen, if either of you see her again, you give me a call. A text. Let me give you my cell number.” He rattled it off for them as they put it in their phones. “I don’t care if I’m on duty or not. You see her, you let me know ASAP.”
They both agreed.
So he moved for the door, held it open for Franny who stepped out with him. Lia locked the door behind them.
For a moment, Franny didn’t start walking for her apartment and he didn’t start working to continue his foot patrol.
He glanced down at her. He knew he should just say goodbye and move on with his day. But he couldn’t quite resist… “Did you internet search me, Franny?”
She stared at him a full beat, her cheeks getting pink again. Then she shrugged. “For a unique name, there isn’t a whole lot about you online.”
He grinned, couldn’t help it. There was just something about a woman who doubled down.
“And just so we’re clear, I wasn’t spying on you last night.” She said this very formally as the blush on her cheeks just deepened.
He could not figure out for the life of him why she entertained the hell out of him. “I didn’t say you were.”
“I just happened to look up and…there you were.”
“Same.”
“Okay. So. Okay.” She took a step away, then turned around to walk away. He could only categorize what she was doing as a scurry.
Which for some reason had him opening his mouth when he should keep it shut. “You know, you owe me a cup of coffee.”
She stopped, turned. “I…do?”
“Sure. I bought you one yesterday, now it’s your turn.”
She opened her mouth, shut it, drew her bottom lip through her teeth—which wasn’t fair considering he was on duty and had to keep some semblance of his attention on work not…her.
“I… I’ll be at the bakery in the morning then,” she said. She smiled.
So he smiled back. “Good.”