“What is it?”
“Really?” she whispered. “Me? A deputy?”
Frank is going to go back to hating me, Nate thought. If he ever returns, that is. No! He couldn’t think that way. When Frank returned.
He listened as Della told him that Leslie Rayburn was at cabin twenty-six because she’d been visiting the widower’s twenty-year-old daughter. She’d been dumped by her boyfriend and was sure her life was over. “Leslie was like a mother to her,” the man had said. “So kind and caring.”
When Nate left the office he was torn between hearing more good about Leslie and having his only lead crushed.
Chapter 22
Nate was sitting behind Frank’s big oak desk when Rowan walked in. He looked around at the wood-paneled walls, the worn wooden floor. There were ledgers on the four desks, but no sign of a computer. “This place looks like a set for a 1950s movie.”
“I think there’s an abacus around here somewhere,” Nate said, frowning.
Rowan sat down on a wooden chair. “How’s Terri?”
Nate’s frown deepened. “Great. She’s decided I’m going to be the town sheriff and arrest bad guys—after I find a murderer, that is.”
Rowan nodded as though he agreed with that. “What’s down the hall?”
“Three jail cells. I think they were used on the Andy Griffith set.”
“The town gossip is that Della is going to be your head deputy.”
“I’m not the sheriff. If Frank doesn’t come back, the town will elect someone else.”
Rowan was looking at Nate in speculation. “You look good behind that desk. Maybe you should consider—”
“Shut up,” Nate said. “You hear anything from forensics yet?”
“Not a word and I couldn’t tell you if I did.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means that you’re not officially the sheriff until the mayor swears you in.”
Nate groaned. “In that case, I never will be. He wouldn’t let me be the town road sweeper.”
“Nevertheless, you need to get his say-so before I can tell you anything.”
Nate knew his cousin was lying—or twisting the truth around. “Your dad tell you this?”
“Yeah,” Rowan said with a sigh. “It’s blackmail. No expedited forensics report until you make up with your former fiancée’s father. And I’m to go with you to hold your hand or let her hit you. Not sure which.”
“I’d rather face men with guns,” Nate muttered as he stood up.
Rowan walked to the door. “So what are you going to do to decorate this office? And will you get new uniforms? Hey! I know. Isn’t your ex a designer? Get her to come up with some new uniforms.”
“Right,” Nate said as they walked toward the town hall. “She hates me so much she’d do pink with purple trim. But it doesn’t matter because I am not going to be a sheriff. Not here or anywhere else.”
“I thought you said Terri liked your being the sheriff.”
“Yeah, well, after I make it clear that that’s not what I want to do, she’ll see reason.”
“I bet you’ll have as much success as Dad does when he stands up to Mom.”
This statement started them making declarations about how they would rule their own households. And both men truly believed what they were saying.