Page 76 of Robin and Marian
Little John came running through the trees. “What happened?”
“I think someone is trying to kill Scarlett.”
He froze on his way to her and circled. “That’s a serious accusation.”
It was. Had Guy moved on from ruining his cousins’ lives to murdering them? Then again, they were dealing with a lot of money. If Scarlett’s life was in danger, it was time to bring in the law.
“John!” Scarlett cried out when she saw him. Tracks of tears stained her muddy cheeks. His face softened and, nudging Marian gently aside, he went to Scarlett, checking the bandage on her arm and asking her how she was. His eyes mirrored the same horror that Robin felt.
Alan came into the clearing next and when he saw Little John’s ministering hands on his wife, he stiffened. “What did you do?”
Little John’s chin whipped up, and he immediately pulled the worst meaning from that as he scrambled to defend Scarlett’s honor. “You putting this onher?”
“No!” Alan spat, flying forward. “On you! What kind of outfit are you running here? What happened to my wife?”
This was just a continuation of their high school feud, but things were different now. This was not some fight over a girl—Scarlett was taken and Little John was only protecting a good friend. Robin tried to diffuse things—they were dealing with something bigger than their squabbles. “Look, we all want to keep her safe. Let’s work together. Okay?”
Alan nodded and waited for Little John to step back before he took over. Alan’s sinewy arms went around Scarlett and she melted into his side, finally relaxing enough to close her eyes.
Little John seemed grimly satisfied by that, though he refused to leave them until they’d gotten Scarlett to the paramedic on the premises, and only after that did he part ways to find the sheriff.
When he came, the law man was unshaven in black sweats and a wrinkled t-shirt. The sheriff swung the beam of his big torchlight over the scene. He didn’t look surprised to see that there had already been an incident. “I didn’t think this was a good idea,” he muttered under his breath.
“We’re not breaking any laws, sheriff,” Robin said. “We have a paramedic on hand.”
“We?”
“Little John,” Robin corrected himself, and not seeing him within ten feet of himself, Robin got to the point. “Remember what you said about investigating the accident at the fire wheel celebration? Did you find anything?”
The sheriff froze like a wolfhound sniffing out its bone, one could almost say in excitement. “You think this is related?” he asked.
“I do.”
Tuck inspected the base of the tree with his flashlight and shuffled over to them. “I think he’s right.”
Robin gave him a double-take. Tuck had shown up out of nowhere. He wasn’t staying in Sherwood. Due to some strange oversight, Tuck was still holed up at Guy’s, though he’d magically inherited Little John’s truck and moved from place to place as he pleased. “I was just hanging out at the police station,” he explained. “Thought I’d see what was going on.”
The sheriff didn’t even question him.
“Don’t go too far,” Robin told Tuck. “I’ve got to talk to you.” Turning back to the tree, Robin rubbed the stubble on his jaw before he made his accusation, “There’s a lot of money involved with Richard’s succession…”
“Wait. You suspect your cousin?” the sheriff asked.
“I do.” Robin didn’t back down, despite the hard look the sheriff gave him. He was vaguely aware that the man was shining the flashlight in his face like he was in an interrogation room.
When Robin didn’t take back the accusation, the sheriff lowered his flashlight. “I’ll look into it.”
Chapter 20
The town had worked hard for this day. The Mayfair festival began with a parade that morning where everyone dressed up in Old English attire and shook boughs and other greenery in front of a crowd that had gathered from all over New England. Tuck’s advertising had worked, though Marian felt a little bad for her poor editor. Who knew how Guy would retaliate? Marian didn’t know if she had a job at the Chronicle anymore, but since no one from work had told her otherwise, she planned to cover Richard’s retirement until the end.
After that, she had no idea what she’d do. Marian had grown so close to Robin that returning to what her life used to be felt wrong. She’d fallen for him and she hadn’t stood a chance. As soon as he’d come for her, both feet had been off the ground and she’d been all his. It was overwhelming, especially since it felt that the deeper her feelings grew, the more danger they faced from his cousin. Robin didn’t back down from anything. And now with this whole business with Scarlett? Everything felt out of control.
Robin waited for her at the maypole. He’d tucked his shades into the collar of his moss green t-shirt and pushed the sleeves up over his firm biceps. He wasn’t hiding his Spade tattoo on his forearm, and she realized it was just too hot outside. He’d helped Little John set up the rest of the booths that morning and he was probably sweating.
He gave her a crushing hug when he saw her. Those would be even tighter once he was out of his cast. She could hardly wait. He kissed her cheek, and she slid her arm around him as they made their way to the front of the parade where the maypole dancers gathered near the floats. True to their names, these floats would quite literally go into the lake on the last night of the Mayfair, including the raft meant for the May Queen and the Green Man. The May Day royalty would be chosen from the ranks of professional dancers, as they were every year, though no official announcement had been made yet.
Most of the dancers were in white, and the women wore red streamers in their hair. Marian was planning on working Ye Olde Turkey Drumstiks booth that morning and so she’d avoided the medieval attire entirely, wearing a soft red hoody, flowy white shirt, jeans, and sandals. Immediately Robin noticed that they didn’t match up with the others. His eyes alighted on the children selling wreaths of flowers from a wagon. He snatched one up with red and pink flowers and tucked it over Marian’s dark hair. “Gorgeous,” he said. “That was made for you.”
