Page 7 of Wild Justice

Her eyes had narrowed as she’d studied him, perhaps to see if he was serious. He was, and he hoped it showed.

“A day in the life might only be a few sentences,” Lulu said, a smile finally blooming on her face. “You might want to make it a week in the life, or maybe even a month. So far today, I’ve ordered coffee, looked through active cases, and I’m currently headed out to talk to a citizen about blocking their neighbor’s driveway. Is that what you had in mind?”

“Believe it or not, yes. I think it would be a good human interest story and positive publicity for the sheriff’s office.”

Kai knew how to persuade people. At one point in his life, he’d been a hell of a lawyer. Too good. But that was his previous life.

“Fine,” she said. “I plan on running a transparent office here, just like my dad. So, let’s go.”

Wait, he wasn’t sure he’d heard correctly.

“Go?”

“You’re going with me, right? You said you wanted to write a story about my day. Well…this is my day. Are you coming?”

“Yes. Yes, I am.”

He didn’t have anything else that was pressing to do today. Life was pretty boring in Harper most days.

He followed Lulu out to her official SUV, climbing into the passenger side as she slid behind the wheel. He had a feeling this had been her dad’s truck before because she had to pull her seat up several inches to reach the pedals.

She turned off the main road and appeared to be headed toward the small suburb that had sprung up outside of town about ten years before.

“I remember you.”

He was surprised. He was an introvert at heart, and he hadn’t spent much time with the town’s kids who often ran in packs all day during the summertime. He’d liked to spend most of his time with his grandpa Mitch.

“I spent most of my time at the newspaper office.”

“You played softball with us. You were a good hitter.”

“I think you’re being kind. I wasn’t much of an athlete back then.”

In college, he’d had a roommate who got him into fitness, but until then he’d barely broke a sweat.

“Do you like running the newspaper?”

“I do,” he replied. “Very much.”

“I heard you were a lawyer in Los Angeles.”

“I was,” he confirmed. “Now I’m not.”

Her lips curved into a smile at his reply.

“Got it. That’s not a subject you talk about. How about you ask me a few questions for your article, and I’ll answer them while I drive. Sound good?”

It did, so they chatted a bit as she drove. He hadn’t known Lulu all that well when they were kids. They could barely be called acquaintances, to be honest. She’d always been welcoming when he’d played with the other youth in town, but they hadn’t spent any time one on one. He hadn’t been sure what to expect talking to her. She’d always come across as supremely confident, and it was the same today, except…

It was tempered with a maturity and humility that he hadn’t anticipated. Lulu was talking about wanting to do a good job, to be worthy of the title of sheriff. There was a quiet confidence, but it wasn’t a foolhardy one.

Determination. That’s what it was. She was determined to do a good job, and she was going to do whatever it took to make sure it happened.

“Failure isn’t really an option,” she replied, answering another of his questions. “If I fail, then the town suffers. I don’t want that to happen.”

“Plus, who wants to fail? No one.”

Shit, he shouldn’t have said it like that.

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