“We should call Chester.” Two sobs, but no more. She’s clearly fighting for control of her emotions.
“Who’s Chester?”
“Sheriff’s deputy. He’s Tillie Jean’s cousin.” She sucks in a deep breath, her face still buried in the cat. “If the goats aren’t causing trouble anywhere, he can probably be here in five minutes. Probably.”
That’s another thing about Shipwreck.
Someone let goats loose here a few years back, and they wander everywhere. Tillie Jean campaigned for mayor with the pledge of catch-and-release after fixing all of them so they quit procreating.
If anyone in Shipwreck leaves a door open, a goat gets in.
It’s the way of the town.
Surprised me they weren’t all over everywhere at the wedding on Sunday. Must’ve been a hell of a roundup campaign.
Which isn’t important.
What’s important is making sure whoever did this isn’t still here and didn’t leave any surprises.
I rise and head deeper into the house.
“Seriously, I’m calling Chester,” Sloane says. “Wait. He can deal with—I saidwait.”
“Call him and wait outside.”
“Davis.”
“If I get murdered, do me one last favor and tell Nigel to fuck all the way off and let you live your life the way you want to live it.”
I’m not going to get murdered.
If whoever did this was still here when we arrived, they had to have heard us coming.
But more likely, they knew when Sloane would be at work and cleared out long before now.
“You’re an a—asshole sometimes, you know that?” She sounds farther behind me, like she’s moving herself and the cat out onto the porch.
“Do my best.”
I stride carefully deeper into the house as I hear her talking on her phone. “Ch-Chester. It’s Sloane. S-someone broke into m-my house.”
I turn left into her living room and text my sister.
Someone broke into a museum volunteer’s house.
I don’t mention that it’s the same volunteer we saw this morning behind the museum.
Vanessa’s already suspicious, and I don’t need her crap, even if I want her help.
A small-town sheriff’s deputy is fine, but I want better resources. Especially since the sheriff’s office didn’t take Saturday’s break-in at the museum seriously.
Naturally, Vanessa doesn’t answer.
Doesn’t mean she’s ignoring me.
Could mean she’s busy.
More likely means she’s doing whatever she’ll do her own way without telling me because she’s annoyed that I’m involving myself in what’s going on here in Shipwreck.
