Hide and Seek (Appleton Falls #2)

Chapter One

Emerson

In a small town, tours could go two ways—either there was nothing going on and you’d have eight long hours of listening to your partner chew their bagel while talking continuously about girlfriend problems, or all the bad guys decided that night was the time to let loose and give us trouble.

Tonight was the former, and I almost wished for some excitement.

My partner and best friend, Jet, was away on vacation with his boyfriend, Harte, and I was paired up with Krasinski for the week.

He and I usually worked different shifts, so I didn’t know him well but since we’d come on duty, he’d rectified that.

Nonstop. I’d heard about Sara, the high school girlfriend who’d dumped him the night of their prom; about Kasey, the Blue Bird Diner waitress he’d dated for a while; and about all the other women he’d been out—and struck out—with over the past three years.

The latest was Leslie, a cashier at Marvin’s General Store.

“I dunno, man. I haven’t heard from her.” His dispirited sigh fogged up the window, even with the air conditioning. “I thought I did everything right—brought her flowers, took her to the Cutting Edge—”

“Damn, dude.” The Cutting Edge was the top steak restaurant in the area. A meal there could easily set you back a few hundred dollars without drinks or dessert. Deputies at Krasinski’s level didn’t make more than fifty thousand.

“What?”

“That’s a lotta bucks on a woman you hardly know. How many times have you gone out?”

“Once. But I wanted her to know I liked her.” His mouth drooped. “You think I came on too strong?”

“Yeah, for sure.” I nodded with vigor. “That’s like a meal you take someone for when you’re celebrating an anniversary or a special event. What happened to sushi and a movie?”

I took the road up to Lookout Point. In the summer, the local kids liked to hang out there, and with school starting soon, they’d be trying to squeeze in every last bit of fun.

We were pretty lenient in what we let them get away with, like congregating and playing music, but we drew the line at drinking, smoking weed, and especially having sex in cars.

I’d grown up in the city. I knew what could go wrong.

“I guess you’re right.” Krasinski’s shoulders slumped.

“I know I am. Listen. If a lady really wants to be with you, popcorn on the couch and Netflix is enough. Know what I’m sayin’? Be yourself. Now, if you like her, call her again and see if she wants to go blueberry picking. That’s big up here, isn’t it?”

His brown eyes lit up. “Yeah. That’s a great idea. Thanks, Emerson.”

“No problem.” I cut the lights and slowed our roll as we turned the corner.

Lookout Point had a parking lot, and you could see the mountaintops in the distance, with the lights of Appleton Falls, Overlook, and Harmony Rock sprinkled like diamonds, the stars twinkling above in the night sky.

Growing up in the city, the beauty of the mountains never failed to make me catch my breath.

As expected, I spotted a crowd of teens—some had brought chairs and were playing music. A few cars were parked in the farthest corner, and I stopped the patrol car at the entrance.

“Let’s do a walk-around.”

Krasinski nodded. We exited and strolled up the path. We weren’t there to agitate, but we couldn’t turn a blind eye to what we saw when we came close: coolers filled with beer, the scent of weed in the air, and the rocking and rolling of those faraway cars in the shadows.

“Come on, guys. Party’s over. You know you can’t be drinking and getting high here.”

“Aw, man, why you ruining our vibe?” a tall kid I knew called out, a smirk on his face. He was going into his senior year and was a star running back on the Appleton Falls football team. The girl snuggled in his lap jumped away from him and fixed her disheveled clothing.

“That you, Craig?” I folded my arms. “Just ’cause it’s summer doesn’t mean your coach would be okay with you pulling this kind of crap. Plus, I’m betting you’re counting on a football scholarship. You think underage drinking is gonna help you with that?”

Craig’s grin faded, and the smartass shut his mouth.

The music cut off, and a bunch of the kids had already run to their cars and were leaving.

Krasinski walked to one of the parked cars and tapped on the window with his flashlight.

I heard a faint shriek and bit my lip to prevent a snicker from escaping.

Imagine you were getting it on with your girlfriend, only to find a deputy sheriff staring at you in the window, shining a bright light in your face. Talk about a buzzkill.

“All right. We don’t care if you wanna hang out, listen to music, and look at the stars. But you all know better than this other stuff.”

A young woman approached. Petite and curvy, she was definitely older than the high school kids. Her friend stayed several paces behind her.

“I’m sorry, Deputy. I’m not from here, and my friend and I just came to stargaze. We’re not with this group of kids.” Her laughter was musical. “I graduated high school a long time ago, thank goodness.”

“I couldn’t tell,” I responded gallantly. “And I’m sure you weren’t doing anything foolish like them.”

Her smile broadened. “We’re a little afraid to drive on this road in the dark. It’s so twisty, and there aren’t any lights. Would you let us follow you into town?”

By this time, Krasinski had rejoined us and was chatting it up with the woman’s friend, who hung on his every word. Naturally, Krasinski ate up the attention. I checked my watch and saw that we only had about half an hour left on shift.

“Sure. But you’ll have to wait for the kids to clear out first.” I glanced around at the last few cars pulling out of the lot. “Okay. We’re parked just past the exit. We’ll wait for you.”

Her lashes fluttered. “Thank you. I’ll feel much better knowing you’re close by. Can I give you my phone number, in case we get separated and I need to find you? My name is Daphne, by the way.”

“Uh, Deputy Emerson Kane. My partner, Deputy Krasinski, is talking to your friend.”

I hadn’t been this blatantly hit on in a long time, and even if she was only into the uniform, I had to admit it was a nice ego stroke. I’d been feeling pretty negative about the dating scene for a while.

Back in our patrol car, Krasinski was a happy camper. “I’m meeting Hayley after our tour. She lives in Harmony Rock, and I told her I’d drive her home, since she came in Daphne’s ride. Dude, her friend was all over you. You gonna hit it?”

I winced and checked the rearview mirror to make sure the women were still following me.

“Don’t say it like that. But…I don’t know. I guess we’ll see how it goes.”

It went as I’d suspected. Instead of going on her way once we made it to town, Daphne followed us to the station house and pulled into a visitor parking space. I cut the engine, and Krasinski and I left our car, but I lectured him on our way inside.

“We have reports to write up for the log. Simms wouldn’t like you shirking your duty to hound-dog after a woman. Let’s do our jobs. If she’s really interested, she’ll wait.”

Walking to the door of the station, I heard my name called.

“Excuse me, Deputy Kane?”

I waited for Daphne to catch up to me.

“Yes?”

“Your partner said he’ll drive my friend Hayley home, so I was wondering if maybe you’d like to have a drink or a cup of coffee after you’re finished here?”

It was stupid for me to sit around an empty house when I had a beautiful woman eager to be with me. I might as well see where the evening would lead.

“Sure. I’d love to. It shouldn’t take more than half an hour. We could meet at the Blue Bird Diner, or you could come in and wait.”

Her eyes sparkled. “I’ll wait.”

She and Hayley followed us into the station house, and we got them each a coffee and settled in the waiting area. After changing into our civilian clothes, we sat in the office to fill out our paperwork. Other deputies walked in and pressed us for details.

“Hey, who’re the hotties in the waiting room?” Shaw asked, and I stopped typing to stare at him.

“Excuse me?” I gave him the stink eye. “How long have you been married?” But Shaw didn’t look the least bit sorry.

“I’m married, not dead, Kane. Twenty years, and me and Rosie are great. We love each other, but we can still have our own little fantasies. So? Who are they?”

“Me and Kane broke up some high school kids drinking and doing the nasty at Lookout Point,” Krasinski chattered, only too happy to tell the story. “Then, after most of them left, these two women came over, and the blond made a beeline for Kane. I mean, she sashayed up there to him.”

My face grew warm, and I huffed. “They’re not from here, and she was a little scared to drive to the town center in the dark. That’s all.”

“Uh, yeah, except they followed us here, and now I’m going out with Hayley.”

“What about you, Kane?” Dylan Ross, Shaw’s partner, questioned.

“What about me?” I resumed typing.

“Gonna go out with her?”

I shifted in my chair. “I dunno.” There was nothing preventing me, and Daphne was beautiful and, from everything I’d seen, ready and willing.

“Well,” Ross said, “if you’re not and she’s a uniform bunny, I’ll take her off your hands. Wouldn’t be too much of a hardship.”

I made a face at Ross’s poor excuse for a joke. “I’m almost done, so if you’re all finished planning my love life, I’ll see you tomorrow.” I sent all my reports and logged off.

Of course, they all followed Krasinski and me to the waiting area. The women jumped up.

“Oh, wow, I didn’t know there were so many of you.” Daphne only had eyes for me. She hooked her arm through mine. “Ready to go?”

Her head reached to the middle of my chest, and I gazed down at her. Daphne was definitely my type—curvy and petite, and her assertiveness was a turn-on. I liked all that blond hair streaming past her shoulders and wondered if it was as silky as it looked. My pulse quickened.