Page 42 of When You Got a Good Thing (Misfit Inn 1)

“You’re in a good mood,” Jarvis observed.

“Am I?” Xander asked, aware that he’d come back to work whistling.

“You’re smiling while doing paperwork.”

He’d had what felt like a permanent grin stuck on his face since lunch. It probably made him look like a total love-struck goofball, but what did he care? He was. “Guess I am. No reason not to be in a good mood. It’s a beautiful day, and the citizens of our fine county have been behaving themselves.”

“That the only reason?” Essie asked, her eyes bright with mischief and an unabashed hope.

“Might not be,” Xander conceded.

“Heard you were sharing a milkshake with Kennedy up at Crystal’s earlier. In your old booth.”

“So we were,” he said easily. He’d wanted the word spread quickly. Mission accomplished. And he couldn’t really resent Essie’s interest. He knew she’d been rooting for them to get back together.

“Y’all worked out your differences?” Jarvis asked carefully.

“We did.”

“She told you why she left?” Essie asked.

“She did. Not that it’s any of y’all’s business. More importantly, she’s home to stay.”

“Good for her,” Essie declared, obviously relieved. “I never agreed with Buck bullying her out of town.”

Xander felt the smile on his face turn brittle. “I’m sorry, what?”

Panic skittered over Essie’s face, the kind of panic Xander was used to seeing in suspects who’d accidentally said too much. “I, um...”

He’d assumed her leaving was all about him, about the fight they’d had. Kennedy hadn’t said otherwise. But deep down, he’d wondered if there’d been more keeping her away.

“Essie, you know something about why Kennedy left. What is it?”

“I—oh dear.” Her wrinkled cheeks flushed, then went pale. “If she didn’t tell you herself...”

He rose from his desk and advanced on the dispatcher, consciously shifting into interrogation mode. “What do you know?”

Essie cast a nervous glance toward Buck’s office.

“He’s not here right now. And you’re going to tell me.”

“Xander, I’m not sure I should—”

“This is about Kennedy. Which makes this about me. Whatever it is I don’t know can impact our relationship. I can’t deal with it if I don’t know.”

Another look toward his father’s office.

“This won’t come back on you. I swear it.”

Her painted lips trembled, but she nodded once. “On the night of your high school graduation, Kennedy was pulled over in a routine roadblock. You know how they do, trying to catch the kids drinking and whatnot.”

“Kennedy hadn’t been drinking.” Xander knew that definitively because he had, and she’d been designated driver. This must’ve happened after she dropped him home.

“No, but, well, she had drugs in the car.”

“She what?” That made absolutely no sense. Kennedy never did drugs. She’d never even so much as smoked.

“Jim brought her in,” Essie said, referring to Xander’s predecessor. “Buck was here, and he said he’d handle it. He took her into interrogation. I didn’t like the look on his face, so I went back to the locker room to listen through the ducts.”

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