Page 52 of Let Sleeping Dogs Lie

“You got the fancy plastic disposable plates, right?” Dixie asked nervously, peeking in the box.

“Yes,” Luke said. Then a teasing glint filled his eyes. “I had a bunch left over from when ladies have brought baked goods to the police station. And when I say abunch, I mean a metric shit ton. Like we could have a barbecue for the whole town and have enough plates.”

“Okay. Okay,” I grumbled. “No need to brag about how many women in this town want you.”

“Not just the town,” Dixie added, winking at Luke. “There are plenty of women in the surrounding county.”

Luke shrugged, grinning roguishly. “I can’t help it if they believe the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach.” He laughed and lifted his brow as he pinned his gaze on me. “Too badyoudidn’t get the memo.”

I snorted and rolled my eyes. “If you want a woman who’s gonna cook all your meals, you best cut me loose and cast your fishing rod back out into the Sweet Briar dating pool.”

He burst out laughing and snaked his arm around my back, pulling me to his chest. “Message received loud and clear, but I prefer the fish I’ve already caught, thank you very much.” He shot a glance over to Bill, who was emerging from the back room with a clipboard in his hand. “There’s more to a woman than her skills in the kitchen.”

Bill glanced between us and shook his head. “I’m not touching this conversation with a ten-foot pole. God only knows what Summer will do to me if I say the wrong thing. I’ll get stuck filming B-roll in a pigpen again.”

Luke burst out laughing, but I fluttered my lashes at Bill, all innocence. “You know we needed that shot.”

He grumbled under his breath about never again insinuating he could drive better than me, then turned to make some notes on the whiteboard.

“I’m still not sure why you think we need cookies,” I said to Dixie. “Sweet Briar residents seem more like banana bread kind of people.”

“And banana bread is exactly what they’d expect,” Dixie said, pointing a finger at me. “We’ll show up with something different.”

If cookies jogged people’s memories, I was more than happy to oblige. Especially since Luke took charge of the baking and I only had to help. “Do you have a list of people we can try to track down?”

“I do,” she said, making a face. “And our first appointment is in five minutes in the coffee shop. I know for a fact that three women who would have gone to school with Lila will be meeting there for their weekly gabfest. We’ll just walk over and say hello, then take it from there.”

I narrowed my eyes. “Do we want to talk to them so publicly?”

“It’s just going to be a friendly conversation,” Dixie said innocently. “And besides, I think we should just casually mention that the Brewer property might be goin’ up for sale and see what happens then.”

I studied her for a moment. “It just might work.”

A smile spread across her face. “Between me knowin’ just about everyone in this town and you knowing what to ask, we make a great team.”

I gave her a warm smile. “I couldn’t do this without you.”

“But that also means we don’t need to bring a plate of baked goods with us for this round,” Dixie said. “Since this will be an accidental encounter.”

Bill wandered over to peer inside the box. “Well, if you’re not takin’ any with you and there are plenty in there, maybe I should try some.”

Dixie slapped his hand. “Oh no, you don’t! You can have the leftovers when we’re finished for the day.”

“Agreed,” I said, “because I don’t plan on spending tonight in Luke’s kitchen again.” I had better things to do when I was at Luke’s house, although we’d had plenty of fun.

“Well,” Luke said, “it looks like my work here is done, so I’m gonna head over to the station.” He gave me a quick kiss. “Let me know if you can get away for lunch.”

“Will do,” I called after him as he headed out the door.

“We can head to the coffee shop,” Dixie said. “The ladies should have settled in by now.”

I took a deep breath. I’d only been doing this job since last April, and while I’d taken a bunch of online PI courses since we’d filmed the first season back then, I was still pretty new to this. I didn’t want to screw it up.

“Hey, bring me back an Americano,” Bill called after us as I followed my cousin out the door. Dixie lifted a hand in acknowledgment just as I was closing the door behind us.

We walked past a few storefronts, and then I turned on the recording app on my phone before we walked inside the coffee shop.

Three women who looked to be in their sixties were sitting at a table by the front window, and I realized I’d seen them before when I stopped in to get coffee, but I’d never paid much attention to them. Obviously, Dixie had.

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