Sharon suspected Emily was hinting about Jerry. Matchmaking was the second favorite pastime in this town, right behind gossiping. “Is there anything else I can bring?”
“How about one of your famous strawberry cakes? Wade always goes on about how good they are.”
Sharon couldn’t help laughing a little. “Not everyone likes strawberries. But I’ll make a cake, anyway, just for Wade.”
“He’ll be your slave.”
Sharon laughed again. “I’ll keep that in mind.”
“Sharon, I’m hungry,” Brad complained.
Emily smiled in understanding. “We’ll see you Saturday.”
“I’m looking forward to it.” Sharon turned to her brother. “Okay, Brad. Let’s go find something to eat before you collapse.”
MAC WAS ON THE ROOF of the Garrett house Sunday morning when someone hailed him from below. He looked curiously over the edge, then masked his surprise. “Well, hello, Chief. Another friendly social visit?”
Wade Davenport grinned lazily up at him. “What you doing up there, Mac?”
“Communing with nature. Hang on, I’ll be right down.” Abandoning his inspection of the roof, Mac descended the ladder he’d propped against the back of the house. Wade waited for him at the bottom. “I’m beginning to wonder if you’re following me around, Chief.”
Wade put a hand on the ladder, as if to test its sturdiness. “Just thought I would stop by while I was in the neighborhood.”
Mac suspected the chief had a specific reason for being in the neighborhood. And he would bet Wade had stopped by the motel first. “What can I do for you?”
“I wondered if I could talk you into giving me a tour.”
“Sure,” Mac agreed easily, wondering what, exactly, was behind the request. “Be happy to.”
“I’d appreciate it. I’ve always been curious about this place, but I’ve never had an excuse to look around. My wife’s great-grandfather built this house, you know.”
“So I hear. We can go in through this door, which will take us into the kitchen.”
Wade didn’t move toward the door. His attention was focused on a large, padlocked storage building at the back of the yard. “Actually, I’d like to have a look inside that outbuilding first. If you have no objections, of course.”
Mac pushed his hands into the pockets of his jeans, keeping his stance casual. “Any particular reason?”
“Oh, just curiosity.”
Yeah, right. “This is just a wild guess, but has there been another break-in recently?”
“Mmm. Last night, out near the campground. Why do you ask?”
Shaking his head, Mac moved toward the outbuilding. “Never mind. Let me show you my storage shed.”
Wade followed close at his heels. “You understand, of course, that this is just a request. I don’t have a search warrant or anything official like that.”
Mac leveled a look at the other man over his shoulder. “Now why would I be concerned about search warrants? This is just a friendly social visit, right?”
“You got it,” Wade drawled cheerfully.
Pulling a key from his pocket, Mac opened the heavy padlock and swung the door open. Power lines ran from the outbuilding to a temporary construction utility pole set up nearby, so he was able to reach inside and snap on the bare lightbulb that hung from the rafters. He then stepped back, allowing Wade full access to the building filled with tools and materials. “There you go. Check it out.”
A cursory glance seemed to satisfy the police chief. “Yeah, that’s pretty much what I expected to see. You’ve got some expensive tools in there. You might want to step up your security, considering the problems with theft we’ve had around here lately.”
“I’ll keep your advice in mind. Thanks.” Mac snapped the padlock into place again, tugging at it a couple of times to make sure it was secured. “C’mon, I’ll show you around inside. I imagine you’ll want to peer into all the nooks and crannies.”
“Will I find anything interesting in those nooks and crannies?”