“Like I was telling Mitch, Brodie, I’ve had a complaint about you boys. Seems Bessie Lowell’s not happy with your behavior. Her father said you were abusive because she refused to go out with you.”
“She’s a lying bitch, I been here with my brothers all night.”
“Yet the engine on your pickup suggests you’re the one lying, Brodie,” Cubby said calmly.
“I like to rev it up nice and loud.”
Brodie was closer to Cubby now. His brothers took up a half circle at his back.
“You’re all a disgrace, is what you are,” the Sheriff said and there was no mistaking the anger in his voice now. “This town is in mourning two girls they loved. Girls that you went to school with, Josh. Jilly bagged your groceries and you passed her and Melanie on the street most days, and this is the respect you show them and their families?”
“We ain’t hurting no one, and this is how we mourn,” Brodie said.
“You’re a useless pack of humans who are wasting my time when I could be investigating those murders. You need to grow the fuck up, and stop behaving like goddamn teenagers and do something with your lives!”
Katie would have whistled if she could. She’d never seen Cubby this angry before.
“Fuck you, Cubby Hawker!” Brodie swung at him, and the others followed. He was outnumbered in seconds, and Katie didn’t wait, she ran. Brodie went down first, Pete followed, and by the time she arrived, Cubby was dealing with Mitch, so she took care of Josh with a jab to the stomach, and then flipped him onto his back.
“What the hell are you doing here?”
Ignoring the sheriff’s angry words, Katie stood on Josh’s chest as he tried to move.
“You move, Mitch, I’m putting you to sleep,” Cubby growled.
“You got anything to tie them up with?”
She caught the cuffs and put them on Josh, before hauling him upright and marching him to the cruiser. Between them, they got the Finlays inside.
“Shame on all of you for your behavior, when tomorrow is Jilly’s funeral,” Katie said, bending to look in the backseat. Not one of the Finlay brothers met her eye. “I’ll just leave you to it then,” she added as she turned to find Cubby standing behind her.
“Get in the cruiser, Katie.”
“I can walk, thanks.”
“Now,” he growled.
“I don’t need a lift, and you already have your hands full, so I’ll just head home.”
Ducking around him, she started for the drive, because she knew he couldn’t leave the brothers alone. Reaching the driveway, she ran and didn’t stop until she’d reached the bottom. She was briefly silhouetted in the headlights of Cubby’s cruiser before he pulled alongside her. The window lowered.
“Get in and I’ll drop you at the drive.”
“No need, Cubby, really, I’m fine walking.” Because Katie knew he would probably stop and haul her in, she ducked across the road and into the trees, where she knew a path ran parallel to the road. She heard his curse, and then seconds later the sound of his tires spinning on the gravel road.
Slipping back out when she knew he was gone, Katie walked back to the houseboat. She wasn’t entirely sure why she hadn’t wanted to get in his cruiser, call it independence or stupidity, whatever the reason, she’d pissed off the Sheriff of Lake Howling, and seeing as he had a lot on his mind at the moment, that possibly hadn’t been a wise move on her part. She let herself in, made coffee, and headed to the bedroom. She stripped off her clothes and took a quick shower, then pulled on the old t-shirt she slept in. Cubby would have a few things to say to her when they next met, and Katie thought that could be soon, if he decided to head this way after he’d locked the Finlays up, depending on if he had someone else to watch over them or not. She almost hoped he was on duty, so she’d have a reprieve till morning.
Sipping the coffee, she headed to bed and curled up beneath the covers.
It had felt good to do a bit of police work tonight, even if it was unwanted. She’d thought about relocating closer to home a time or two, and after the shooting and trouble that had come with it in LA, maybe that was an option she should look into. Something was slowly changing inside her, and now she examined it Katie realized it was her enthusiasm for life. She wanted to go back to work, wanted to be close to her family, and wanted to start living again.
That didn’t include Cubby, Katie knew that, but she’d find someone someday, and maybe, just maybe, she’d love him as much as the sheriff of Lake Howling.
She wondered how Cubby was getting on booking the Finlays. Closing her eyes, she dozed until she heard his cruiser, and then braced herself as she heard the heavy thud of his feet on her deck. He opened the door and slammed it behind him before stomping through the cabin to the bedroom.
“What the fuck did you think you were doing?”
Katie sat up as he turned on the light, blinking several times she focused on the large angry man in her doorway.
