Hold Me Close (Ryker Falls #5) - Wendy Vella Page 0,35
not then it could be weeks.”
“I hope it’s the fingerprints then, for Mrs. Linbar’s sake.”
“Me too.”
“You still thinking about getting a puppy?”
“Pondering the possibilities.”
“The place I got Buzz has a new litter, and the owner contacted me, as Pip and Dylan want one. I thought of you.”
“Warms my heart how you do that.”
“What can I say, I’m a good guy who always thinks about others before himself.”
“Just like the other day on the court when I asked for a pass and you threw it at my knees, do you mean?”
“If you were agile, you’d have caught it.”
“Mr. Goldhirsh already told me about the pups. So what’s the deal with you and him wanting me to get a dog?”
“We think that if no woman will have you, at least you’ll have company. Now, I don’t have time to chat, so be at Maggs’s gallery at 4:00 p.m.”
“What? Why the gallery?”
“Maggs is bringing in a shipment, and I’m helping her unload it, so you can too.”
“So what you’re saying is, I’ll do all the work.”
“Exactly. Plus, we’re all going to the lodge tonight. Mom’s got the kids, so heading there to act like real adults, around 8:00 p.m.”
“Okay.”
Joe made a kissing sound then hung up.
Smiling, Fin showered and pulled on his uniform. He had a legitimate reason for seeing Maggs now. He couldn’t get her out of his head. Touching her, kissing her, the feel of her. It was driving him crazy. He had to have that woman and soon. The issue was getting her to agree.
Leaving the cabin, he headed to the station. It was cold today, and a big dump of snow was coming. He just hoped any idiots didn’t decide to go tramping, thereby getting lost and needing him to find them. People, Fin had fast learned when he took this job, could be really dumb.
“Fin,” Ed, his deputy ranger, said when he wandered into the station.
Long and low, it looked like a log cabin and was in keeping to the general theme of buildings in this part of Ryker. Natural and blending.
Emmy, the administrator, had put up a Christmas tree and strung it with lights set to twinkle, and if you looked at them too long, they hurt your eyes. She’d also strung garlands of greenery about the place.
“Coffee’s hot,” Edwina Neil said. Average height with short blonde hair, Ed was in her late forties and rarely rattled. She’d been a ranger here before he arrived. Fin could throw anything at the woman, and she’d simply nod and get to it, unlike Fin’s cadet, who was slumped over his desk slurping coffee.
“Brent. Late night?”
Tall, some would say handsome—Fin wasn’t one of them—Brent Hauge had the makings of an excellent ranger, and Fin was slowly molding him into shape. At twenty-three, he could still be immature and annoy the shit out of Ed and Fin, but for all that he was good under pressure, even if he argued every point with Fin.
“Don’t raise your voice, his head hurts,” Ed yelled to Fin as he made for the coffeepot.
“Fuck you, Ed,” Brent muttered.
“I think you’re on kitchen duty today, and the bathroom needs scrubbing… with a toothbrush,” Fin said.
“And fuck you too,” Brent added, glaring at him.
“So according to Mrs. Howard”—Ed moaned at her name—“we have to organize the New Year’s Eve Scavenger Hunt,” Fin said.
“I bet she asked you and now you’re putting it on us,” Brent interjected.
“So I was thinking we’ll use the land down from my cabin.” Fin ignored him. “That has rocks, trees, and plenty of places to get lost.
Ed rocked back on her chair. “So if we are running it, then we don’t have to participate?”
“Exactly.”
Ed and Brent looked happy about that. “So you two scout out some locations, I’ll work up a few too, then we can speak with the organizing committee about clues.”
“Why is there always a committee?” Brent muttered.
“Small towns, bud, they thrive on them.”
“Phone for you, Fin,” Emmy called. “Chief Blake.”
He took it, leaning on the counter.
“Fin Hudson.”
“Chief Blake here. The body belongs to Simon Linbar. Looks like a blow to the head killed him, but he’d been in a fight too, the coroner said.”
“Okay. You want me to go back up and take another look around, see what turns up?”
“I do, and I’ll accompany you,” Chief Blake said.
Fin finished the call, then told his staff the news.
“Hell of a thing,” Ed said. “Could be someone I walked by in the street who did it.”