Page 37 of You Can Leave Your Hat On

“You have more than your money. You have everybody else’s too. Are you going to return their money to them?” Alan asked forcefully.

“Are you kidding? For all they know, you took it all and ran off. I’m not giving anybody anything except a bullet to the two of you. It’ll be over, and I’ll be done with?”

“Ooooo, this looks like the perfect spot! Come on, baby!” a female voice rang out from somewhere outside.

“Did you bring the weed, babe?” a male voice asked.

“Uh, yeah. You think I’m totally useless? Of course I brought the weed!”

“Who the fuck is that?” Jeff whispered.

“How should we know? It’s obviously not us,” Alan answered with a grimace.

“This tree over here looks perfect. Let’s do a little smokin’ and a lotta lovin’,” the female voice said, laughing. For some reason, it sounded familiar, but Maisey wasn’t sure why. “Come on! We’re burnin’ daylight!”

“I guess I’ll have to get rid of them too,” Jeff said, tucking the gun into the back of his waistband.

“No! Just wait them out,” Maisey said, hoping he’d leave the two young people alone. They hadn’t done anything wrong except to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

“You think I’m hanging around with the two of you? Not a chance.” The mayor opened the door, and Maisey held her breath.

She could hear laughing and squealing, and then JeffCurtis’ voice. “Hey! Hey, you two, can you get the hell outta here? Thisis my place where I come to think and meditate, and you’re screwing everything up. Too loud. Get your pot and your booze and get the hell outta here.”

“No! We have as much right to be here as you do,” the woman shouted, and Maisey cringed as she crept to the door to peer out.

“Oh, is that so? Well, I don’t think?”

“This is Deputy Aaron Friedman. Put your weapon down and you won’t be hurt,” a voice boomed from somewhere extremely near the shed, and Maisey couldn’t believe it. From the crack of the door’s opening, she could see a woman and a man standing under the tree?DeputiesBeverly Yeager and RodneyVickers were standing there, guns drawn. Before she could blink, Aaron appeared, jogging past the corner of the building straight to the mayor and forcing his hands behind his back. “JeffCurtis, you’re under arrest for the murder of HazelPuckett and the abduction of MaiseyFriedman. You have the right to an attorney. If you?”

Maisey didn’t hear the rest. She crumpled to the shed’s dirt floor in tears. Before Aaron could finish reading the mayor his rights, Beverly was opening the shack’s door. “Maisey! You okay?”

“Yeah, yeah. I’m fine. Just shook up. And Alan over here… I found him in the process.”

Beverly grinned as Alan whined, “Could you please take these cuffs off me? They’re cutting off my circulation.”

“Oh, I’ll take them off all right, and I’ll put my own right back on you. There’s a host of charges waiting for you back at the department.” Beverly reached down a hand and helped Maisey to her feet.

“How did y’all find me?” Maisey asked. “My phone was turned off.”

“Aaron has one of those programs installed on his phone that tells him where you are. The last place was here, so that’s wherewe started looking. Good thing too. And what are you doing out here by yourself?”

“That’s a really good question. I’d love to hear the answer to it,” a deep male voice said, and Maisey turned to find Aaron glaring at her.

“I, um, I knew you couldn’t come out until tomorrow, and I had some time, so?”

“We’ll talk about this at home. Right now, get in the car and go there. Take a shower and try to relax.”

“I’ll pick up Murielle on the way and?”

“No. I called Cherilyn. She’s taking Murielle home with them. And Carly told me to take the rest of the day off. So go. You’ve done enough for one day.” With that, he turned back to his cruiser and took Jeff with him. An embarrassed Beverly led Alan out to her cruiser, and Vickers left with her. Maisey stood there in the middle of what minutes earlier had surely been her last stand, thankful to be alive but a little afraid of what lay ahead for her that evening.

She was sure it wouldn’t be pretty.

The drive home had been miserable. All the way there, she could see Aaron’s face in her mind, the hurt and anger and fear there, and it cut her to the core. Why had she done that, gone out there by herself?

Then it hit her?she’d very nearly been killed. She cried all through her shower and as she dried her hair. Wrapped in her big fluffy bathrobe, she sat on the sofa with a sense of dread. She’d almost gotten herself calmed down when the front dooropened, and a fresh torrent started. Instead of sitting down beside her and wrapping his arms around her, Aaron walked right past her, poured himself a glass of bourbon, then sat down in an adjacent chair. When she worked up the courage to look at him, he was frowning. “Maisey, what the fuck did you think you were doing?”

“I wanted to find Alan! I wanted to do what I’m supposed to, find the person who killed Hazel!”

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