Page 7 of Seducing the Sheriff
As Greg led me up the stoop, I said, “I nearly bought this place when I moved into Charming.”
He looked over his shoulder. “What stopped you?”
“No DIY skills and I knew I wouldn’t have the time to give this old lady the attention she deserved.”
He nodded, and I noticed the lack of judgment in his expression. “It is gonna take time to bring her back to life.” He winced. “I guess that was tactless of me, considering what’s hiding behind my closet.”
“It’s understandable,” I assured him. “Show me where it is.”
Greg led the way to a closet by a wrought iron staircase. Tools lay scattered on the floor, together with a large piece of broken plywood.
“It’s in there.” He sounded less composed now, his mouth was pinched, and I realized he wasn’t as calm as he’d been making out.
“Why don’t you pack for a few days, Mr. Harding?” I suggested.
He gave a curt nod and backed away as I pulled my flashlight and focused on the dark space beyond the closet.
The body wasn’t hard to find. The eyes stared back at me, uninterested in the commotion it had caused. Whoever they were, they’d been here a lot longer than a week. Our new resident was off the hook.
I peered closer at the body, noting it was mummified rather than turning into a skeleton. Was that the dry desert air? From the position it was in, legs drawn up to their chest, they’d either just died, or worse, walled up alive before they were hidden from the world. I studied the clothes. A shirt and long skirt, old fashioned in cut. I had a photo of my grandma’s mom wearing something similar. This body had been here for years. The house was around a hundred years old. How long had she kept guard behind the closet?
“Sheriff?”
I turned to see Greg holding a backpack in one hand and his laptop in another. “Yes?”
“The cops are here. I mean, the Bureau. And there’s an officer at the door who says he’s with you.”
“Thanks.”
My time was up with the body. A shame in a way. I would have liked more time to study it. I stepped away from the closet and headed back to the door. Officer Joseph Malloy was waiting on the porch as vehicles pulled up to one side. At least they had enough sense not to block me in.
“Malloy.” I greeted him as I stripped off the gloves and booties. “Stay with Mr. Harding while I talk to the Bureau.”
“Will do,” he said, smiling at me. Joseph Malloy was a cheerful, stocky man, who had been a cop in Charming for the past twenty years and had no desire to live anywhere else.
The first thing Chief Wally had told me…no, the second thing…was that if I wanted to know anything about Charming and its residents, Malloy was the person to ask. I was experienced enough never to ignore advice like that.
Charming’s relationship with the Bureau was a bit like my relationship with Rosie. Necessary, but uneasy. Charming liked doing it for themselves and could be stubborn as all hell. I was an outsider, from the city, and used to interdepartmental bullshit…I mean, politics.
This was the first time we’d had to call the Bureau in many years. I waited to see how they’d react to me.
A middle-aged woman strode forward, wearing a professional smile. ‘Sheriff Lawson, good to meet you. I’m Sergeant Kayla Rayne. What have we got?”
I shook her hand. “Sergeant Rayne. Mr. Harding, the new owner, discovered a body behind the back of his closet. He’s standing with Officer Malloy. The body has been there a while.”
She hummed in the back of her throat. “Okay. We’ll talk to Mr. Harding. Have you got what you need?”
I appreciated she wasn’t ordering to me get off her crime scene, but my time here was done. I got that. Rayne didn’t need outsiders milling around, particularly ones watching everything she did.
“I’ll make a report and send it to you,” I said. “Mr. Harding is packed and ready to leave when you’re done with him. Officer Malloy will stay with him.”
In other words, I’m going but I’m not leaving my resident alone. Rayne gave a curt nod. We’d done the posturing and now she wanted me gone.
“Where’s he staying?” she asked.
“The motel on the highway, he said. He doesn’t know anyone in the area.”
I made a mental note to check in with Greg. Although once the word had gotten around Charming, every mom in the district would be bringing him dinner and supplies.
