Page 38 of Out to Get Her
No sense giving Zach more reasons to worry about her. She had locks on her doors and a very loud feathered alarm.
“McFly! Marty. Marty.”
She’d be fine.
ChapterThirteen
Samantha sipped her white wine,but barely registered the lightly sweet taste of the Pinot Grigio someone had handed her a few moments ago.
What she really wanted to do was chug it and grab another. Maybe toss back a shot of bourbon. But that wouldn’t be a good look for the woman running for chief of police at an animal rescue charity dinner.
Her sister had scheduled this appearance months ago. Long before either of them had any idea Samantha would be distracted by a murder case or that her ex-husband might be a suspect.
Nathan was there also. He was drinking whiskey on the rocks, laughing with the town’s bank manager and a town councilman, and completely unbothered.
Samantha wasn’t surprised to see him there. He attended most of these things. She was, however, surprised to see him elbow to elbow with a pretty blonde wearing dramatic fake eyelashes and a low-cut, floor-length green dress.
Rhea Blanchard.
Nathan’s alibi and mistress.
No surprise seeing her there, either. Rhea was married to the bank manager, Lane Blanchard, who flanked her and was currently boasting about his whiskey collection to Nathan. Rhea appeared along with him at every society event and fundraiser in the parish.
She was also notoriously bored as heck with life in rural Louisiana.
But she would never publicly taint her reputation and risk her hold on her husband’s money or status. Meaning there was no way she’d give Nathan an alibi on the record.
Rubbing elbows with her in public was a dangerous move. Her husband had a notorious temper on top of his notorious whiskey habit. If Lane caught wind of anything suspicious happening with his wife, Nathan might make news on the opposite end of a homicide.
“I see you’re taking my investigationveryseriously.”
Samantha clenched her jaw and indulged her rage for five full seconds, imagining Jordan Fonseca ground up between her teeth.
As she released that tension in her jaw, Samantha raised her chin, relaxed her shoulders, and turned to her nemesis.
“Deputy Fonseca.” She gave her best professional smile. The smile of a confident officer of the law. “I didn’t think we’d get the pleasure of seeing you here today. What a delightful surprise.”
Jordan was in a suit instead of his dark green uniform, and his hair had an extra layer of product, making it look shiny and downright crunchy. He held his own glass of brown liquid and looked like he was as comfortable in this room as he was at a crime scene.
He raised his glass and winked at her.
“Pleasure’s all mine.”
Even if he didn’t behave like her ex-husband, and even if he wasn’t her opponent, she would still hate this man with every cell in her body.
Samantha didn’t go around hating people. Her job was to protect and serve. She couldn’t do either of those well with hate festering inside her.
But she made an exception for two men in this town. Both of whom were in the same room with her at that very moment.
“So, Sergeant Ardoin, I’m assuming since you have time to make appearances, that means you’ve got a solid lead in our case?”
Our case.
Technically, he was right. She was running point, but her department was working cooperatively on this with the parish.
But Jordan only said that to crawl under her skin.
And she was letting him.
