Officer Simpson.”
“Oh,” Mrs. Vesper breathed, and shook her head. “Well, this has been an awful start to your move here.”
“It was not the best start, no,” Mac agreed with a wry twist of the lips.
“Well, have a cookie, dear. Cookies always make everything seem better,” Mrs. Vesper assured him. “You too, CJ. Have a cookie.”
CJ reached for a cookie, and Mac followed suit, but while she immediately took a bite of hers, he just turned his over in his hands, eyeing it as if he’d never seen one before.
“Are you just going to hold that like you did the coffee at the station?” CJ asked with amusement. “If so, give it to me. Mrs. Vesper’s cookies are too good to waste.”
“He’s probably a dunker,” Mrs. Vesper guessed, and then tsked as she glanced down to see the three full cups still sitting in front of her. “Goodness, I poured them and then didn’t give them to you. Here you are, dears.”
“Thank you,” CJ murmured as she took the teacup the older woman now held out. Setting it on the table in front of her, she added cream and sugar and then pushed the sugar bowl and cream toward Mac. He immediately added a teaspoon of sugar and a dollop of cream just as she had done, but he didn’t dunk his cookie in his tea; he simply took a bite and chewed it experimentally, his eyes widening as he did.
“This cookie is really good, Mrs. Vesper,” he complimented the minute he’d swallowed. “Delicious. It has been millennia since I’ve had anything so tasty.”
The older lady beamed under the exaggerated praise, and then said, “Now aren’t you sorry you wouldn’t have them when you stayed here?” Turning to CJ she added, “I couldn’t get this boy to eat a thing when he was staying with me. He ate out for every single meal.”
“I stayed here for a week or two last month while I searched for a house in the area,” Mac explained to CJ. “At first, I hadn’t settled specifically on this town and was doing a lot of driving around, both here in Sandford and farther afield.” He shrugged. “A lot of the time it was just easier to stop at whatever restaurant was nearest and eat there rather than rush back for meals.”
“You didn’t have that excuse when you stayed here Tuesday and Wednesday night this week, though,” Mrs. Vesper pointed out with a bit of asperity and told CJ, “He was only supposed to stay Tuesday night, but the moving truck was held up at customs and he stayed Wednesday as well.” Head swiveling back to Mac she added, “And you didn’t eat a thing then either.”
Mac nodded solemnly. “But I assure you I certainly shall not make that mistake this time now that I know what a fine cook you are.”
Mrs. Vesper started to smile, but then blinked. “This time?” she asked with alarm.
Mac nodded, his mouth full of cookie again, and it was CJ who explained. “He needs a room now that his house has burned down.”
Mac swallowed so that he could add, “One next to CJ’s room if that’s possible.” He winked at the older woman and confided, “She’s guarding my body.”
“Guarding your body?” Mrs. Vesper echoed, her wide eyes turning to CJ.
“It will be fine, Mrs. Vesper,” CJ assured her. “I suspect it will turn out that Mac’s house burning down was just a firebug who thought it was still empty. After all, he’s just moved in and hasn’t lived in Sandford long enough to have made enemies.”
“Oh, goodness, no, dear, he hasn’t,” Mrs. Vesper agreed.
“But until we know for sure, we have to at least take precautions to ensure he’s safe from further attacks,” CJ pointed out. “Just in case. But I don’t want you to worry. You are in no danger. No one knows he’s here, and I took precautions leaving the police station and on the drive to ensure no one followed us,” she assured her. “And, no doubt, Captain Dupree will make arrangements for him elsewhere after tonight.”
“But my dear, you work for the SIU,” Mrs. Vesper pointed out with a slight frown. “Why are you guarding his body instead of one of our town’s police officers?”
Good question, CJ thought dryly, but said, “I’m afraid all of Dupree’s officers are busy at the moment, so he asked me to keep an eye on Mr. Argeneau until one of his men becomes available.”
Mac nodded solemnly. “So, I’ll need a room