sorry we scared the old folks.”
“And where’s Austin?” Roxie got the feeling she could close two cases with one simple answer.
“He’s hiding in the shed,” Ashlyn admitted. “Scaredy cat didn’t want to get caught. He walked over from his house. But could we not tell his mom? She knows my mom and she’s a bit overprotective.”
“Oh, his mom knows,” she said, pulling her cell out. At the very least she could tell Major they could all stand down on the missing teen. “Zep, could you go and talk to the teenage boy currently hiding in the shed? I suspect you’ll relate to him better than an angry dad.”
“What do you mean he’s in my shed?” Mr. Belton asked.
It was going to be a long night.
* * *
* * *
Hours later Roxie was fairly certain no one was going to be shot, though there were three grounded teens. She got into the truck and slid in beside Zep. “You were good with the parents.”
He started up the truck. “I’ve had to be over the years. That wasn’t my first rodeo.”
She suspected it wasn’t. “You were probably the bane of all the high school girls’ parents.”
He went quiet, driving down the road, the silence lengthening between them.
It was already light outside, and Papillon was up and at work. It was the second night in a row he’d gotten next to no sleep because he was helping her. He was upset and she wasn’t sure how to reach him. All she knew was that she really wanted to. She didn’t like this feeling in the pit of her gut that she’d done something wrong and hurt him.
“At least we can put the rougarou rumors to rest.” She couldn’t take the silence another moment. It was odd since she liked quiet. She didn’t talk a lot, but she liked it when he did.
“Don’t count those rumors out yet,” he muttered. “People here like a good story, and a tied-up dog and young love gone wrong aren’t as good as a Cajun werewolf running wild. I assure you, there will still be talk. Don’t worry about it. We’ve got the big crawfish festival in a few weeks. I’m sure something will happen at it that will get people talking.”
“The last festival I worked, your sister-in-law had a catfight with Josette Trahan after she drank way too much strawberry wine.” People still called it the Great Hair Pull Incident. Josette had come out on the losing end of that one.
“I think it was more about Josette putting hands on my brother,” Zep replied. “Lisa’s a little possessive. And yes, something like that will happen and we won’t hear more about the rougarou. Hopefully before my mother sets herself up as the rougarou whisperer. She will charge for that. I wouldn’t want you to arrest my momma.”
“I wouldn’t arrest your mother,” she shot back.
He fell back into silence. Not so easy this time.
She decided to try again. “I’m sorry.”
“Nothing to be sorry about,” he replied, his eyes steady on the road.
She hated this feeling. This was the time when she should shut down and let it go. He would either get over it or he wouldn’t, and that would tell her a lot about how her week was going to go. “I feel like there is because you’re mad at me and I don’t really understand what I did wrong.”
Somehow she couldn’t do what she’d done in the past. She couldn’t simply let this emotion sit between them.
He sighed. “You didn’t do anything wrong. I’m afraid your honesty hurt my feelings. But it wasn’t wrong for you to feel the way you do.”
“About you? I wasn’t saying anything bad about you, Zep. I made a dumb joke about stress relief.”
“Yes, that’s what it was and that’s why I got my feelings hurt.”
“What?”
“It was a joke to you,” he said. “It meant something to me. You’re not wrong, Rox. I was. I should have listened to my brother. He told me we weren’t on the same page, but I didn’t believe him.”
“Okay, now I’m the one who doesn’t understand.”
“I thought you really liked me. I thought you’d finally figured out that I was serious about you and wanted to be more than . . . well, than stress relief. I wanted to be more than a one-night stand. I get it. I’m too old to be some young stud. I’m the one who gets in trouble. That was fine when I was a boy. Everyone loves a bad