“Audra is your…cousin?”
“Yes. You know Rosalie Kirk, right? The private investigator. Audra and Rosalie are my cousins. I lived with them for a while before I moved into Hope Town. Thentheircousin who lived with us too is married to another detective, Thomas Hart. Do you know him?”
“Of him. I don’t have much connection to the detective’s bureau yet. I just started at Bent County three months ago.”
That made sense. She didn’t think she’d ever heard of a Royal Campbell before. “I’ve been in Bent County for three years now. It’s kind of funny all the connections you’ll make the longer you’re here. But it’s a great inspiration. Small towns and isolated ranches are a great setting for murder. Well, fictional murder, the real stuff is a lot less fun. I guess you’d know that.”
He didn’t say anything for a minute. Almost like he was uncomfortable. And of course he was. She was sitting here talking about murder from a writer’s perspective, and he saw it from areal lifeperspective.Thiswas the problem with talking to people. She always put her foot in her mouth.
“Have you lived in Bent County long or did you come for the job?” she asked, trying to change the subject. Shewouldhave gone back to pretending to be writing, but he was just…sitting there.
“Ah… Well, I came here about two years ago. My sister…lives here. She liked it. We’d been…out of touch for a while. She’s got all sorts of friends at the Sunrise Sheriff’s Department and they convinced me to go to the police academy. She’s done some work for Bent County, so it was an in.”
“She’s a police officer too?”
“No. Forensic anthropologist.”
Since Franny didn’t think there could betwoof those hanging around Bent County, she leaned forward. “Brooke Daniels is your sister?”
He blinked once. “You know…Brooke?”
“Well, sort of. Let’s see if I can get this right: Audra’s friend’s husband’s brother is married to this woman whose brother is married to Brooke, and through that long line of small-town connections, I got introduced to Brooke so I could ask her some research questions. She’s very nice.”
“Yeah.”
“And she was really helpful. She inspired a great twist for that book.” More at ease with a connection to people he knew, she grinned at him. “I still owe her one.”
He looked a little more uncomfortable than he had, but only for a second before he smiled. A smile she would categorize as…rakish, rather than polite.
Maybe he didn’tmeanit to be. Maybe that was just what happened when he smiled, but it sure did something fluttery to her chest. Which was so utterly ridiculous in this situation. What was wrong with her?
“Well, if you ever have any questions about being a rookie deputy in small-town Wyoming, you just let me know.”
She nodded. Lamely. Really, really lamely.
He got up. “See you around, Franny.”
“Sure.”
She didn’tmeanto watch him go. It just seemed the natural thing for her eyes to follow him out of the bakery. Watch that confident stroll. She might have watched him through the storefront window until he disappeared, but Lia spoke, startling her.
“I think hot cop has a crush.”
Franny bobbled, looking back at Lia—who she definitely hadn’t known was paying any attention since she’d been out of sight. Now she stood at the cash register.
Hot cop.Yeah, well. “I think he’s just doing his job, and I was polite,” Franny said, a little stiffly. “Friendly.”
Lia snorted. “If you say so.”
ROYAL WASN’T SUREwhat had possessed him to answer so many of Franny’s questions with the truth instead of easy evasions.
She knew his sister. Maybe it was as simple as that had thrown him for a loop. It shouldn’t surprise him. Brooke and Zeke were part of the community. People knew them.
But he still wasn’t used to how everyone in this huge county seemed to havesomeconnection to each other.
He’d mostly kept to himself and Sunrise up until he went to the police academy. He knew the Hudsons and the Danielses and that was enough for any man.
His time with Bent County had opened up a new world of people, but he still kept himself a little separate. He didn’t know who knew what about who he was or what he’d done. The sheriff knew, but Royal wasn’t about to advertise he’d been to jail. That he’d been framed for murder trying to save some young girls from their terrible life in the Sons of the Badlands gang.
