Page 5 of Sheriff's City Girl

I laughed. “You mean teenage girls are so complicated.”

“Yeah, that.”

We finished cleaning up the café and put all the supplies away together. The sun was setting, darkness replacing the warm orange glow that once shimmered through the windows. I grabbed my purse and the bag of dirty rags before following Lily out of the front door. I left my silver SUV parked right out front, my parking options limited. Some of the businesses had back lots, but mine didn’t. However, I was okay with it. It just kept me from walking in the dark after work.

“So you’re coming to the annual BBQ and dance at the Lowe Ranch, right?” Lily asked me as I was locking up.

“The, uh, what?” I turned to face her.

“It’s like a huge cookoff, and then there’s a dance at the end of the night. Lucas Lowe puts it on every year. We go every year.”

“Ah, right. I guess this is part of your life that I’m not used to,” I said, giving her a poke in her upper arm.

“That’s because you’re used to being my best friend who lives in the big city—and I always came to see you. Not the other way around.”

“College besties for life though,” I shot her a wink, and then yawned. “Jeez, those early mornings are killer.”

“You really should hire someone to help you, especially in the afternoon and evenings since you’re dealing with quite the dinner rush—and I mean someone who can close up for you. Not just the girls that you have working part time.”

I nodded. “You’re right, I guess I could?—”

I was cut off by the sound of an alarm going off, piercing the quiet of the night. Lily and I both whipped our heads around, trying to figure out which business it was coming from.

She grabbed my arm, her eyes wide. “Do you think one of the businesses has been broken into?”

“I-I-I don’t know,” I muttered, trying to push away the fear that came with the eerie sound and the darkness settling in. The street was strikingly empty, which only made everything that much worse.

“I think we should maybe just go.” Lily’s voice trembled.

“Oh, don’t be such a wimp.” I shook my head. “Let’s go drive down the street and see if we can pinpoint where it went off.”

Lily was crawling into my passenger seat before I had even grabbed my door handle, and I couldn’t help but laugh. The alarm was still sounding as I started the engine and rolled the front windows down.

“We’ll just see what we see,” I said to Lily but mostly to myself as I backed out and crept down Main Street. The sound grew louder as we went, and finally, I realized the sound was coming from Millfield Florist.

“Oh! The front window is broken!” Lily gasped, her hand clapping over her mouth. “Do you think someone was trying to break in?”

The sound of sirens and the glimmer of red and blue lights behind us startled me, and I whipped into the parking spot out front as an older Bronco came to a screeching halt. My heart thudded in my chest as I recognized the cowboy clad officer climbing out of the front seat.

Sheriff Hewitt clicked on a flashlight and pointed it in our direction. “Miss Fisher?” His eyes narrowed beneath his gray Stetson for a moment. “Lily?”

“Guilty,” Lily threw up her hand. “Well, not guilty guilty, but you know what I mean. I was helping Emma close up when we heard the alarm and she had the idea to come down here and check it out.”

“Ah, so you… You know Emma?” Sheriff’s eyes caught mine, and I felt the butterflies take off in my stomach.

I forced a smile. “She’s my best friend and has been since we met back in college.”

“Ah, I see.” His voice was flat, and completely unenthused as he pointed the light back toward the shop.

“There’s a broken window,” Lily called over my shoulder and out the window.

“Yeah, I see that. You ladies stay right there,” he directed as he shone the flashlight across the broken glass on the ground. He pulled out his pistol, making his way slowly to the entrance. He was only a few feet from the door when he dropped his gun to his side. He holstered his gun and reached through the broken window.

“What is that…” Lily murmured, saying aloud what we both were thinking.

“I don’t… I don’t know…” my voice trailed off as the sheriff appeared, a grin on his face.

“Here’s the culprit,” he chuckled, holding up a now-dead crow. “Flew right into the window. I’ll have to call Doris and let her know that her shop is just fine.”

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