Page 40 of The Last Love Song
“No need to worry about my relationship with the former mayor’s daughter, by the way.”
“I wasn’t.” Sam didn’t look up.
“Thanks for that vote of confidence. But if you had been worried, you could stop, because she’s no longer speaking to me.”
“I noticed she’s also no longer looking at you.” Sam glanced his way. “But what did you expect, when you launched an investigation of her old man?”
“When someone investigated my old man, I applauded.” Zach had always been uneasy at the way his father conducted business. It had seemed shady to him even as a preteen.
“Ellie didn’t.” Sam set down his phone and slid aside the window blinds. He peered out.
Zach tried not to flinch from words that shouldn’t still hurt so damn much.
“Heather is not an emotional teenager.” He spun a polished wooden award from the local Lions Club. He had helped them with their computer system. “She’s stronger than that.”
“Right. I’m simply saying, people handle things differently. You were glad for your old man to get caught. Your sister was devastated. There’s no accounting for how people feel about their parents—whether they deserve it or not.”
Zach let that sink in, knowing the words came from Sam’s own shadows and—hence—hadn’t come easily.
“True enough. I guess I’m used to thinking of Heather as the practical one in her family, so I wasn’t prepared for her to react so emotionally.” He’d known she would be upset. He’d understood that she’d want to protect her mother.
But he hadn’t been prepared for her to feel so betrayed by him. Maybe he should have made it a higher priority to let her know about the possibility of an investigation. He’d just been so sure he could avoid it if he could find the right piece of evidence.
“You see why I’m not worried about your relationship with her?” Sam stood, shoving his phone into the back pocket of his uniform. He picked up the hat he’d left in Zach’s office earlier and plopped it on his head. “Tough to get to know someone when you only see what you want to see.”
“You’re full of smart-ass brilliance today, aren’t you?”
“You think so?” He pulled a pair of aviator shades out of his shirt pocket. “Because I was thinking about going over to the Owl’s Roost and seeing if Isabel’s working. I could use a little extra smart-ass in my game.”
“Haven’t you got an investigation to start?” Zach banged the wooden award on the desk like a gavel pounding out order in the court.
“A man’s gotta eat.” Sam stalked for the door. “I’d lie low for a little longer. The deputy will let you know when the media has cleared out.”
He nodded, his chest squeezing with an unfamiliar ache that might have been guilt. Even Sam knew he’d screwed up with Heather, and Sam had about as much knowledge about women as Zach had about fishing. The guy had never noticed that Zach’s sister had been in love with him since they were teens.
“You could try stopping by her place later,” Sam offered on the way out. “Update her on the investigation or something.”
“It would help if I had something to report.” He stared meaningfully at his friend.
“Or you could apologize for whatever you did to tick her off. It would be helpful to have her family’s cooperation.” Sam didn’t wait for an answer before he slipped out of the office, closing the door behind him.
Apologize? For doing his job? For trying like hell to exonerate her father by running data analysis all night?
Clearly, Sam didn’t know what he was talking about, his brain preoccupied with the new waitress at the Owl’s Roost. Zach hadn’t done anything wrong.
Still, it bothered him that Sam had brought up Ellie and how his sister had reacted to their father’s indictment. What if Heather grappled with that kind of emotion—the kind Zach had sworn he wanted his sister to share with him and not keep inside?
Sure, Heather was an adult, and a practical one, at that. But then again, she was used to being the outlet for everyone in her family. Who washeroutlet? Where did she go to vent and be upset?
Dragging his feet off his desk, he rose. Maybe he could catch her in the parking lot if she had stayed behind to talk to her family.
He gripped the doorknob at the same time the phone rang. He paused to check the screen, but the caller was unknown.
Frustrated, he swiped the key to answer the call.
“Hello?”
“Mayor Chance?” a young woman’s voice asked on the other end.
