“Your child is squawking.” Cubby motioned at the baby, hoping his friend would leave him the hell alone.
“Chickenshit.”
“Dickhead.”
Jake pushed the buggy to where the children were talking with Katie.
“So who wants food and drink? There’s a whole heap of ladies inside the house who would love to serve you up some.”
Cubby watched the kids follow Jake eagerly from the barn, leaving Katie alone with him.
“Hey there, Sheriff.”
Cubby hooked a finger in the neck of her top and kept her moving until her lips met his. The kiss was soft and sweet and he wanted more; instead, he released her.
“Are we the kissing in public kind of friends?”
Cubby looked around them. “No public about that I can see, Detective McBride.”
“Well, all right.” She jumped him, and luckily he was agile enough to catch her. Wrapping her long legs around his waist, he slid his hands up to cup her ass as her lips locked on to his.
“Sweet Jesus, princess, how the hell am I supposed to go back to work in this state?”
Her laugh was dirty, so he kissed her to shut her up before reluctantly lowering her to the ground.
“Any new leads?”
“A few, but nothing concrete, and not much to go on.” Cubby took her hand in his as he walked toward the exit. He liked touching her; the feel of her soft palm in his made him feel good. “We have two bodies, both left in different places from where they were killed, and the victims knew each other. I have to wait for ballistics to see if the bullets match, but my money’s on that being the case. Why would someone kill them somewhere else and then move them? Why not bury them or get rid of them? They were put where they could be found if a search party was sent out, which obviously it would be when the girls did not return.”
“I was wondering if they stumbled across something and he killed them because of it?”
He squeezed her hand. “I thought about that, and then on from there is the fact that maybe they knew whoever killed them.”
“God, Cubby, is the murderer someone in town? Have we walked past him and not known?”
“It’s a sobering thought, but until we have more information we can’t say for sure either way. And now I need to get back.” Cubby felt himself leaning in to kiss her cheek, like you would a partner or wife, and pulled back. That wasn’t how this worked. Katie and he were just scratching an itch, he reminded himself, between two consenting adults.
“Okay, so I’ll see you.”
“Will you be calling in later?”
He kept his expression cool. “Maybe. Not sure how long I have to work, so probably not.”
“Good, that means I don’t need to cut my night short.” Lifting a hand, she walked away from him and back to the house.
What the hell did she mean by that? Who was she going out with? Cubby stewed on that as he headed back into town.
Chapter Fourteen
He made calls, worked through leads, and then gently questioned Melanie and Jilly’s families again about their daughters’ friends, where they’d been, and anything they thought may help with the investigation. It was after ten when he finished. Locking up, he headed home because it was too late to go to Katie, and even if he could, he wouldn’t, because that would be two nights in a row, and they were just casual. He wondered if she was home, and if not where the hell she was. He looked at the Howler, but couldn’t see in the windows. Disgusted with himself when he realized he was looking for her, he drove home to find Newman in his front garden watering his plants.
“What the fuck?”
“Your mom was doing it, she said it’s better to do it at night so the flowers don’t get burnt, whatever the hell that means. Anyway, she had to go in and watch a show, and I was jogging past so I decided to help her out.”
“It’s 10:00 p.m. you nutjob.” Shaking his head, Cubby parked his cruiser and got out.
“She may have said there was a plate of pot roast for me too, if I wanted it.” Newman followed Cubby into his house. “It’s on your bench; we just need to heat it.”
