The chief's face was lined with concern with a sprinkle of curiosity.
"No, he's a dog. An Irish Wolfhound. And harmless. He would actually invite an intruder in and show them where anything valuable is if they gave him enough pets," she joked, her laughter nervous and when she looked at Eloise's wide-eyed stare, she cleared her throat. "But I mean, don't spread the word." More silence. "Sorry. How can we help you?"
He made the chair he was sitting in look tiny as he clasped his hands and leaned forward. "Listen, I'm not from around here," he said, and the drawl in his voice gave away that he was from somewhere south. "But there are some odd happenings going on and with each and every one of them, your names and a few others are brought up. Now, I am not one to listen to every whisper the wind carries my way, but when the wind always carries the same whisper with the same names? I tend to take notice. And when a journalist writes compelling articles concerning those names and this house with its history," his large hands lift and he shrugs. "Well now, I had to come look into it myself."
"Chief Landry," Eloise leaned forward. "I know there are odd things being said about us, and written about us, but we have not done anything odd."
"Were you involved in an incident concerning a candidate running for mayor recently? A Rob Sandis?"
Ursula looked at Eloise who kept her face blank and her body language calm.
"Not at all involved in anything peculiar concerning Rob Sandis," she replied easily. And truthfully, because she wasn'tyet in town and she had never met the man. Ursula wondered if the chief knew that.
He opened his mouth to say something but the crunching of tires on gravel and dirt drew their attention. Out of an old Bronco popped Jen, Kelsea, Crystal and Tilly, all carrying something.
"Oh my, we are interrupting," Crystal said as she stood on the top step of the porch, her tone implying she knew that they would be and she didn't feel any regret. She was holding a bunch of red begonias in a brown paper cone. Ursula frowned slightly at the sight.
"No problem. This is the new chief," she said sweeping a hand to where the man was now standing.
"Ladies. I'm Chief Landry."
At the mention of his title all women visibly stiffened, though each tried to hide it in various mannerisms.
"Well, if we'd known we would have such a handsome guest we would have brought something other than lemon drop pie, like," Jen pursed her lips and shrugged, "meat. Or beer. Sausage links."
The large, stoic chief nodded slowly at her and Tilly nervously shouted, "She's a lesbian!"
All eyes turned to her in surprise, some in humor as Eloise and Kelsea tried to hold in laughter at her outburst.
Tilly, standing there in a red polka dot dress and her long black hair with violet ends curled loosely and holding a bottle of honey wine looked shocked at her own outburst. "I mean, she doesn't know what to do with men."
Jen's head went to one side and one of her toned arms popped a hand on her hip as she looked at Tilly. Tilly gave her a sheepish look and mouthed an apology to which Jen shook her head and rolled her eyes with a smile on her face.
The chief was watching Tilly with an almost bemused look, and when Tilly apologized softly he cleared from his throat what sounded like laughter held back.
"I'll need you ladies to stay in town. And I may come around with more questions. Again, I and the SPD are not accusing ya'll of anything." He looked around at all of them and added a scary, "Yet."
He tipped his head and said appropriate goodbyes before he stopped his steady stride and said in a low voice to Tilly, "I love lemon drop pie." Then the large man got into his SPD truck and left the six women looking around at each other in bewilderment. He'd left behind a certain feeling all of them were trying to distinguish.
"How did you guys know to come?" Ursula asked.
"Have you seen the paper?" Jen asked.
"And we knew you made up because the wind smelled like butter. And," Crystal lifted her head a little and sniffed. "Honey?"
"Carol Weatherby did a number on us, and you two specifically," Kelsea said handing over the black and white paper.
Ursula took it and Eloise pressed next to her as they read. Shocked looks took over both of their faces and gasps and whispered curses were exclaimed at exactly the same time by both.
"She's not serious. The town can't kick us out," Eloise said. "Right?"
"No way that's a thing," Ursula agreed.
"No, not legally," Jen said with a wariness in her voice. "But they can make you or all of us the town pariahs and treat you so terribly that you don't step foot in town."
"Which is kind of like getting kicked out," Tilly added. "So, I brought wine." She lifted up the bottle. This one had a dark golden color to it. "Honey peach."
"And I brought lemon drop pie," Kelsea said with a smile that didn't say happiness.
