CHAPTER FOUR
Cal Dougherty was a couple of years older than Tess, and they’d gone to school together. He’d become sheriff during the last election cycle when he’d beat out Sheriff Brown by a landslide.
That was mostly because Sheriff Brown had gotten caught with his duty belt around his ankles and the mayor’s wife sitting on his face—at least according to Georgia Ambrose, who’d walked in on them doing the deed. Of course, no one had bothered to ask Georgia what she was doing at the Bluebonnet Motel on a Tuesday afternoon or why the key she’d used unlocked Sheriff Brown’s room. But rumor was that Sheriff Brown had cuffed a lot of women in room 202.
Tess and Cal had grown up with the same circle of friends, so they knew each other well, but it had never been her favorite thing to deal with the police, so she’d kept her distance the last several years. Mostly because she’d spent her fair share of time trying to explain to the cops why they shouldn’t toss her mother in jail and throw away the key. If Theodora was in a financial fix and the slot machines were calling, there was no limit to what she’d do to feed her habit.
Tess had gone to school with Cal’s first wife. She was a nice girl from a nice family, but she and Cal hadn’t been married more than a year when Victoria decided she wasn’t meant for small-town life and moved down to Austin. Cal hadn’t seemed too bent out of shape about the whole thing, so everyone figured it was probably for the best.
Cal didn’t really get too bent out of shape about anything, unless it was the Dallas Cowboys or that time a group of teenage boys changed his election signs to read “Erect” instead of “Elect.”
He was handsome, with dark brown eyes and black hair threaded with the occasional strand of silver, which he kept cut short in a military style. He was dressed in jeans, and his neon-yellow police slicker was snapped all the way to the collar. He’d spent his rookie years plus a few more working patrol for the Dallas PD, and he’d taken a couple of bullets in his vest during a routine traffic stop.
“Sorry to bother you so early, Tess,” he said. “Whew, it’s bad out here.”
“No problem. I’m just getting up and started for the day. Come on in out of the wet.” Tess stood back so he could get past her. It was then she really got a good look at the front yard. “Good grief, we’re all going to be under water before too much longer. I’ve never seen it so high.” The grass and sidewalk were completely covered with several inches of water.
Cal lowered the hood of his slicker and unsnapped it, shrugging out of it before laying it across one of the rocking chairs on the front porch. He wiped his feet on the mat before stepping inside.
“And doesn’t look like it’s going to stop anytime soon. Never seen rain like this in July.”
“I hear it’s El Niño,” she said.
Cal gave her an odd look, and it was then she realized they were standing mostly in the dark. The downstairs lights were still off since she hadn’t opened for business yet, and only the wall sconces were lit. She reached over to flip on the main light switches, and the foyer was instantly flooded with light.
“Why don’t you come into the kitchen?” she said. “I haven’t had a chance to make coffee yet.”
“Sounds good. I haven’t been home yet. There’s some flooding on the south side. Worst thing was getting Jed Larson’s cattle out of the muck. Cows are the stupidest animals I’ve ever seen. It’s a good thing they taste so good.”
She snorted out a laugh and felt herself relax a little. If someone was hurt or in trouble, Cal wouldn’t have been making small talk. She motioned for him to follow her to the kitchen, flipping on more light switches as she went, and made her way to the coffeemaker. Tess pretty much lived on coffee, and she almost always had a pot ready for visitors.
“You take cream and sugar?” she asked.
“Nah, just black. I’ve got time to go home and put on dry clothes, but I’ve got to be back at the office in an hour or so. I need something that’ll keep me awake.”
She got out the cream and sugar for herself and then grabbed two mugs from the cupboard.
“This place sure looks different from when George owned it,” Cal said, looking around.
“Yeah, it’s probably a good thing he’s sailing the Pacific. George hated change.”
“He also hated spending money. George was tight as a tick, and it must’ve taken a ton to get this place looking like it does. It must be nice to have it to yourself.”
Tess looked up at him and arched a brow. Like the rest of town, he must know about the men who lived out back. “Sometimes I get a roommate who passes through, but for the most part they’re nice and quiet.” Unless they came back from the dead and tried to grab her, she said to herself.
Cal smiled and then said, “I don’t suppose you have a piece of toast or a biscuit you could spare. I missed dinner last night and my stomach is trying to eat itself.”
“Sure.” She pulled a loaf of bread from the pantry and put a couple of slices in the toaster. She could make toast. Barely. Then she grabbed butter and grape jelly from the refrigerator and placed it all in front of Cal, who nodded appreciatively.
“Okay, I can’t stand it anymore,” she finally said. She’d spent the last several minutes getting herself worked up. “I’m guessing you’re here because of Mama. I’m not bailing her out of jail again, do you hear me?” She wagged the butter knife at him and then set it down in front of him and grabbed him a plate. “She’s just going to have to do the thirty days this time and maybe she’ll learn her lesson.”
Cal’s lips twitched and he said, “I doubt thirty days in jail will make a blip on her radar. She’d have all the cells picked clean and the items sold on eBay before we noticed, and then she’d be halfway to Oklahoma and the nearest casino before we noticed she was gone. Last time I saw her she told me to take all my savings and put it on lucky number thirty-one, because thirty-one was how old she was when she won that forty thousand dollars.”
Tess smiled, but it was bittersweet. “Yep, the best year of her life was watching all those sevens line up in a perfect row. She never talks about how all that money was gone two days later.”
“I’ve got to tell you. I’ve never met anyone in the world like your mama. She’s a beautiful woman, and she’s clever and persuasive. She always seems to land on her feet.”
Tess sighed. “You’re not the first person to tell me that.”
Theodora was beautiful. Her hair was a vivid red and her eyes emerald green. She wasn’t shades of pastels, as Tess tended to think of herself. Theodora was Technicolor in every way. A slightly older version of Rita Hayworth, with a little more va-va in her va-va-voom.
“I know it’s hard,” Cal said sympathetically. “But you’re doing the best you can for her. She’s got a sickness, that’s all. Unfortunately, she’s independent and her mind is sound. The state would never intervene at this point. The best you could hope is to get her into rehab for gamblers.”
“She won’t go to extended rehab,” she said with a sigh. “It’s a sickness that there’s no cure for. She has to want to get better. And she likes where she is just fine. There’s always someone there to bail her out. She’s somehow miraculously never managed to hit rock bottom. The judge said she just needs to keep going to therapy and she’ll get better.”
“Does she go to therapy?” he asked.
“Yes, but only because she’s sleeping with her therapist. I don’t know many people who can deny Theodora when she sets her mind to something.”
Tess poured the coffee into mugs and then passed the blue one to Cal. She doctored hers with a liberal helping of cream and sugar.
Cal winced. “You might as well be having dessert with all that sugar in there.”
“Everything should taste like dessert,” she said. “Only way I’ll even touch a brussels sprout is if it’s wrapped in maple bacon. Whoever invented that was a genius.”
Cal took his first sip of coffee, and it wasn’t until she saw the relief on his face from the hot drink that she realized how tired and overworked he looked. The toaster popped and she put the two pieces on his plate. They were only slightly burned around the edges, which was an improvement over the last time she’d made toast and had to use the handheld fire extinguisher under the sink.
Cal didn’t complain. He slathered the toast in butter and jam and swallowed it down in three bites, along with the rest of his coffee. She refilled his mug for him.
“That hits the spot,” he said, pushing back his plate. “Thank you. And I can promise you I’m not here because of Theodora. She’s been off the radar for the most part. Maybe the therapy really is working.”
The relief that overcame Tess surprised her a bit, and she braced her hands on the counter to keep her balance. She’d been mentally preparing herself to go down to the jail and see who Theodora had stolen from so she could pay for her habit. It was a lot easier to lose other people’s money than her own. Cal’s words had taken the wind right out of her sails.
“Well, that’s a relief,” she said at last. “That’s good enough news that I’ll offer to make you a full-fledged breakfast if you’d like.”
His eyes widened comically, and she couldn’t say she blamed him. If she screwed up toast, she couldn’t imagine the kind of damage she could do to an actual meal.
“I’m good, thanks,” he said after a pause, and Tess had to hold back a laugh. “I’m actually here because I got a call from the sheriff’s office in Dallas County. They had a home robbery that took place a couple of hours ago. The police recovered two armed suspects who’d been tied up and left out in the rain until the authorities arrived. But one of the suspects had been shot and lost a fair amount of blood. He was mostly incoherent when the police got to him, but he kept babbling about the devils from the funeral home. The detective pieced together enough to understand that the robbers had allegedly been subdued by several men with guns and driving a black van.”
Tess felt the color leach out of her face. “Wow.”
“You don’t happen to know anything about that, do you?” he asked. “I’d like to take a look at your van if you don’t mind.”
She wasn’t sure why his request irked her so much. Maybe because of the way he’d phrased the question. He’d been buttering her up and was now asking questions like she was hiding some deep dark secret. And technically, maybe she was harboring a secret, since she knew they’d taken the van out and there was a dead/not dead body on her table. All she knew for sure was that she had a lot more questions than she was getting answers for.
“Of course I don’t know anything about it,” she said, sounding properly insulted. “I told you I was just getting up for the day.”
“You haven’t been out in the rain?” he asked.
“No,” she said, perplexed now. “People generally don’t go out in the rain in the middle of the night.”
“I just noticed your hair was wet, that’s all.”
She arched a brow and felt her cheeks heat with anger. “The electricity went out, so I wasn’t able to dry my hair after my shower this morning. I didn’t realize having wet hair was a punishable offense.”
“Now, there’s no need to get that temper of yours riled up,” he said, holding up his hands. “I wouldn’t be doing my job if I didn’t ask.”
“You’ve known me my whole life, and unless I’m remembering wrong, not once have I ever been accused of taking my van out for a joyride and shooting a couple of robbers. I’m not G.I. Jane or Annie Oakley.”
“Then you won’t mind if I see the van?” he asked.
“I’m more than happy to show you the van when it gets back from being cleaned. They took it yesterday after Mrs. Schriever was dropped off from the hospital. The inside was a mess after all the rain we’ve been having.”
The lie flew off her tongue before she even knew what hit her. Good grief, what in the world was wrong with her? She was lying to a man of the law. And by the way he was looking at her, she wondered if he knew it. But she’d be darned if he was going to come into her house and accuse her of a crime she didn’t commit.
She had no reason in the world to cover up for Deacon Tucker or any of the others, but that’s exactly what she was doing. One stupid kiss and her sense had gone right out the window.
“When was the last time you saw your employees?”
She shrugged and went back for a second cup of coffee. She could already tell it was going to be one of those days.
“I brought Mrs. Schriever back about two thirty yesterday. Deacon and Colin were both here to help me unload. I didn’t see anyone after that because I was embalming Mrs. Schriever. I didn’t get finished until close to six.”
“What about after?”
“Well, golly gee, Cal,” she said, her eyes wide with sarcasm, “I washed the scent of formaldehyde from my body and then we had a giant orgy.”
He scowled and stared into his cup. “There’s no need to be snippy, Tess. I’m just doing my job.”
“Chush’ sobach’ya.”
“I’ve heard your granny say that before,” he said. “So I know it’s not very nice.” Cal finished off his coffee and then took his mug to the sink to rinse it out.
He was right, but she didn’t figure it was in her best interest to tell him he was full of shit. At least in English.
“I noticed you’re favoring your wrist,” he said, changing the subject. “You made the coffee and got the mugs out with your left hand. I thought you were always right-handed in school.”
“I had a run-in with a heavy piece of equipment,” she answered automatically, drawing the aforementioned wrist in tighter to her body. “The equipment won.”
“If it’s bothering you that much, you might ought to swing by Doc Carlisle’s before things get too busy around here. Might be broken. Your fingers are looking a little swollen.”
Since Doc Carlisle was the biggest quack in a hundred-mile radius, she wouldn’t be paying him a visit if her wrist was dangling by no more than a thread of skin.
“It’s fine. Just a sprain. I’ve got a brace I can put on it upstairs.”
“You remind me a lot of your granny,” he said with a sigh. “She’s got a head hard as a rock too.”
“Thank you.” And she sincerely meant it. Her grandmother was a hell of a woman. Being compared to her was a million times better than the alternative of being likened to her mother.
“Let me know when that van gets back. I’d still like to take a look at it.”
Damned man was tenacious as a bulldog. She tried to hide her scowl behind her cup.
His lips quirked in half a smile before he said, “Anyone ever tell you you don’t hide your feelings very well?”
“It’s my stupid red-headed complexion,” she said, rolling her eyes.
“And probably the fact that everything you’re thinking appears right across your face. You probably shouldn’t ever play poker.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
“Since cards are out, how about dinner?”
She’d just taken a sip of coffee, so when the question finally penetrated her brain, she tried to suck in a breath at the same time she was swallowing. It didn’t work out all that well and sent her into a fit of coughing.
Tess pounded on her chest and prayed coffee didn’t come out of her nose. It was sixth grade all over again.
“That wasn’t really the reaction I was hoping for,” Cal said, his voice amused.
Her eyes were watering and she knew her face was probably blotchy. She wasn’t a pretty crier. “No,” cough,cough. “Sorry,” cough. “You just took me by surprise.”
It’s like she’d started the day in an alternate universe. She hadn’t been on a date since Henry left. Now all of a sudden it was raining men, and the sun had barely risen.
“I guess I’ve been out of the game too long,” he said. “I think people text stuff like that these days.”
“And they probably don’t treat the person like a suspect first,” she said. “You might want to work on your timing.”
“Right,” he said. “Perks of the job. It always comes first.”
“Also probably not something you want to tell a woman before you ask her out. They tend to not want to be second in a man’s life.”
“Huh,” he said thoughtfully. “Never did understand women.”
“Good luck with that. The good news is you’ve still got lots of time to learn. You’re still in your prime. And Clarice Grabel says you’re real good in bed, so there’s that too.”
Cal sighed and pushed up from the table. “I knew that one was a mistake.”
She nodded sagely. “We all make them. But at least the gossip is positive instead of negative. I’m sure your street cred has gone up tremendously since you made your mistake with her.”
“You’re a nice woman, Tess Sherman. Try to stay out of trouble, and make sure you’re not making any mistakes of your own. I’ll show myself out.” He paused on his way out of the room. “No hard feelings, right, Tess?”
“We’re good.”
“I’ll be back to check the van later.”
She scowled and heard the front door close softly. “I guess that could’ve gone a lot worse,” she said, freshening her cup. “Of course, it could’ve gone a lot better too.”
And now she was afraid things would be awkward between them from now on. Cal had never once shown an inkling of interest toward her, and she’d never seen him as anything but an authority figure. She couldn’t even figure out if she could have those kinds of feelings for him. He was attractive, sure, but he’d always just kind of . . . been there.
At least he hadn’t said anything about a missing body. She wasn’t sure she could’ve lied her way out of that one, even knowing the body wasn’t really dead.
Now all she had to do was wait until the mystery man woke up, so she could get to work. Or she could hunt down Deacon and demand answers, especially since she’d just lied to a cop for him.
And maybe he would kiss her again.
“No,” she said. “No, no, no.”
Her mama wasn’t right about much, but she was right about one thing. Men made women do stupid things.