happened?” Pansy asked.
“Oh, by the time he got to the barn, no one was there. But he’s sure someone had been there. It’s just weird, that’s all.”
“Yeah,” Pansy said. “Weird.”
She wasn’t sure if this was the last thing she needed, or if it was a good thing. But she had some actual police work to do that might raise her profile in the community. Not that she wanted there to be crime, it was just that this was a fairly innocuous crime. Well, unless you were Barbara Niedermayer.
“Tell Ryder to give me a call,” she said. “I should hear his account of it.”
“I don’t think he was inclined to make an official police report,” Rose said. She licked icing off of her fingers, and then attacked her sugary drink.
Pansy somehow prevented herself from rolling her eyes. “Well, it would help me if he did.”
“Nothing happened,” Rose said.
“Someone was trespassing.”
“Yeah,” Rose said. “They didn’t take anything.”
“But I did have a theft,” Pansy said. “And if there’s somebody shady milling around, I should know.”
“It’s probably that West Caldwell,” Iris said. “He’s new. And shady.”
Immediately, those brilliant blue eyes popped into her head, and her stomach went tight. “I don’t think he’s going around stealing wallets,” she said. “Considering he just bought the ranch that I live on. That I rent from. He’s fine.” She cleared her throat. “I mean, moneywise.”
“I don’t know,” Rose said, matter-of-factly. “Plenty of people get into tons of debt and aren’t able to pay it back. Just because he bought a ranch doesn’t mean he doesn’t need to steal a wallet.”
“True,” Iris said.
“Anyway, he could be a kleptomaniac,” Rose pointed out. “Someone who steals just for the thrill.”
“Yeah. I doubt that.” Though, he did tend to park in places that were illegal. For the...joy of fighting with her? She couldn’t figure him out.
“I’ve seen him,” Rose said. “Milling about town. I think I know the real reason you don’t suspect him.”
“What’s that?” Pansy asked.
“Well, a few reasons,” Rose said. “His blue eyes, his broad shoulders, his big hands...”
An image of all those things swam into her mind’s eye and she clamped her teeth down, willing the heat in her cheeks to go away.
“You sound like Sammy,” Pansy said, making a face. “You’re usually much more pragmatic than that.”
“His shoulders are very broad,” Iris agreed.
Rose nodded. “Iris even noticed. The fact is indisputable.”
“I wrote him a ticket,” Pansy said. “In fact, I’ve written him two tickets. I’m perfectly willing to investigate him.”
Rose lifted a brow and smirked.
Iris’s cheeks turned pink.
“You’re both awful,” Pansy groused.
“Just pointing out the obvious,” Rose said.
“Get a date,” Pansy shot back.
“You first,” Rose said.
“I would rather go shopping,” Iris said.
Rose looked chagrined by the prospect. Her sisters were such a funny mix of practical and dreamy, young and much too old.
Their background didn’t allow for much else.
Rose was very much a product of being raised around a bunch of men. She was the first to crack a dirty joke, join in an arm wrestling contest—even if she would lose—and to join the men on a hiking trip if the opportunity came up, but Pansy suspected her sister didn’t have any actual practical experience of men.
Iris was much more self-contained. But then, she was the oldest sister and she’d been the one setting an example for Pansy and Rose. Iris was always on good behavior, and Pansy actually had very little idea of what went on in her sister’s personal life when she wasn’t in the kitchen at Hope Springs or hanging out with Pansy.
“Wasn’t there a bag with a cow skull on it that you wanted?” Iris asked Rose.
“Yes,” Rose said slowly.
“I promise I won’t torture you all day.”
“Why don’t I believe that?”
“I’ll go with you,” Pansy said. “Then we can both torture you all day.”
Rose looked resigned to her fate and as they left the bakery, Pansy felt immeasurably cheered. Because this was exactly what she needed. An afternoon with her sisters. They put everything in perspective. And it reminded her why she loved this town so much. Because her family was part of it. Her mother and father had been part of it. Everything that she was and would be was wrapped up in this town. And she wasn’t going to let West Caldwell distract her. She had a job to do.
And that was the most important thing she could think of.
After shopping with her sisters.
* * *
“SO YOU’RE TELLING me that you didn’t file a missing persons report?”
West knew that at this