“There aren’t many out-of-towners here yet.”She shifted under his stare.“It’s early.”
“They don’t have to be from out of town.”He’d tried to tell her that before.Small-town people were just as likely to be tempted into doing something bad.Or naughty.He cleared his throat.“Did any of you see anyone hanging around the booths?”
Lexie shrugged.“We were busy.”
“Where’s Cam?”he asked.
“He went to get coffee.”She paused for a minute and then inhaled sharply.“You can’t suspect him.”
For the first time ever, Zac saw a fire light in Lexie’s eyes, and it was fierce.He held up his hands placatingly.
“I just thought he might have witnessed something.”There was an edge to that guy.Being observant was one of his traits.
She relaxed, and the fire banked.“He should be back soon.You can ask.”
Zac tapped his pen against his notebook.This wasn’t going well.Everyone was uncomfortable and incommunicative.
Probably because he was giving new meaning to the definition ofbad cop.
He took a deep breath of fresh air.Whatever had happened between him and Maxie, the others shouldn’t have to pay.“Does anyone have any ideas?Did you see anything?Hear anything?”
Martin coughed.Despite his good intentions, Zac glared in the man’s direction.Shimwell stepped further away from Maxie.It was a good idea.As detached as he was trying to be, Zac couldn’t ignore her.Hell, just this morning he’d woken up in bed beside her.In that moment, things had been about as damn close to perfect as they could get.
In that moment…
Martin worked up his nerve.“I don’t know if this has anything to do with anything, but Ewan said his popcorn sales were off yesterday.”
“Ewan,” Zac repeated.“The seventy-year-old who walks with a cane.”
Martin shifted uncomfortably.
Maxie put her hand on Martin’s arm, and Zac’s jaw nearly popped right out of its socket.
“I saw some kids riding their bikes here earlier,” she ventured.“They were weaving in and out of the booths.”
It took a moment for her words to sink in, but once they did, Zac’s attention focused.“Did you recognize them?”
“No, I just saw them riding away.”Her look was hesitant when it connected with his, and Zac’s knees wobbled.He determinedly locked his spine.Much as he wanted to, he wasn’t going to cuddle up to her anymore.Not until she gave him the truth he wanted to hear.
“I know who they were.”Becky curled her hands into fists and stomped the ground.“Those little devils.Why, when I tell their parents—”
“Hold on.We don’t know anything for sure,” he warned.“Give me their names, and I’ll talk to them.At the very least, they might have seen something.”
Although Maxie’s scenario made a lot more sense.He evaluated the festival setup.Kids did stupid things, and someone who was really looking to score would have waited until the end of the day when the cashboxes would be full.Bikes would make the little thieves mobile, and baskets or saddlebags would help them hide their stash.
He bit the inside of his cheek.It was always the quiet ones who paid the most attention.
But if she’d been paying attention, how had she not noticed something important was going on between them?
His chest tightened when their gazes locked again.She really didn’t look as if she was feeling well.
From out of nowhere, his ringtone started playing, and they both jumped.
Pulling his phone out of his pocket, Zac looked at the ID.He got a prickly feeling between his shoulder blades when he saw it was the department dispatcher.He had a mobile radio on him.They resorted to calls only when they didn’t want sensitive information going out over the airwaves.There were too many police scanners listening in.
“Excuse me.I need to take this.”He walked over to an oak tree where he could talk.“This is Ford.Go ahead.”
As soon as the dispatcher started explaining the situation, he went on the alert.As a first responder, he never knew what would go wrong, but he had to be prepared to react.And this was much more serious than some kids taking a walk on the wild side.
