I glanced around him, to check if maybe he had a canine companion that he’d been walking, but as far as I could tell, Alexander Johnson was by himself.
“Keeping an eye on you.” He shrugged.
I glared at him, not liking the sound of that one bit. “What does that mean?”
He smiled broadly. “Don’t you speak English, Elodie Matthews?”
“How do you know my name?”
He shrugged. “You were the only news to grace the town gazette before you moved here. Everyone knows your name.”
“You’re really starting to tick me off,” I continued, feeling gritty anger boiling up inside me. Or maybe I was just hangry. Last I remembered, I’d only eaten breakfast. As if on cue, my stomach growled.
“Sounds like someone missed lunch,” he said with another grin that revealed his perfect teeth. “Let’s discuss this over dinner, shall we? We have lots to talk about.”
“No, we have nothing to talk about,” I shot the words at him as my stomach continued to rumble, which only embarrassed and enraged me further. “One more thing that comes out of your mouth that rubs me the wrong way and I’m taking you into custody just for pissing me off.”
“Is that a thing?”
“It is now.” And, holy hell, did he actually hear my stomach growling? Had it been that loud?
“Okay, okay,” he said as he shook his head.
“Answer my question—what are you doing out here?”
“I decided to take a stroll to get my mind off... some things.” He glanced down at the ground for a few seconds before he looked back up at me as his eyebrows furrowed. “And last I checked, that wasn’t illegal.”
No, it wasn’t illegal. Unfortunately. “What sort of things?” I wondered if he might have been trying to get his mind off the fact that he was involved in a huge prank that could land his ass in jail.
“Things that don’t concern you,” he answered coolly. “Personal things.”
“Any reason you have to be out here in the dark and the snow does concern me, especially when I’m looking for… someone,” I finished, awkwardly. Somehow I figured “bleeding and naked yet animated corpse” wouldn’t go over well.
He shrugged as if his reasons were no big deal, but I could tell he was perturbed. “Personal things as in, I happened to just run into my ex-girlfriend who broke up with me and kicked me out of our house a few months ago. So I thought I’d take a walk in the hopes of meeting a very attractive blond in a tight police uniform who might distract me from my morose thoughts by pulling a gun on me.” He paused as a smile spread across his plump lips. “And, whaddayaknow? My prayers were answered!” He glanced upward and winked at what I imagined was supposed to be God. “Thanks, dude!”
“Okay, that’s it,” I said angrily as I narrowed my eyes and my anger began to spiral out of control. And, yes, my stupid stomach continued to make its hunger known. “Put your hands behind your back!”
“What?” he asked, sounding baffled as his smile dropped. “You’re arresting me?”
“You have the right to remain silent and you can refuse to answer any questions.” I walked behind him, still being careful to keep the gun aimed at him. Once I was behind him, I reached down and gripped the handcuffs from where I kept them on one of my belt loops. Opening the first cuff, I secured his left wrist and then his right. “Anything you say can be used against you in a court of law.”
“You have no right to arrest me,” he interrupted. “I was just kidding. I promise I’ll be a good boy from here on out.”
“You have the right to consult an attorney before speaking to police and to have an attorney present during questioning now or in the future.”
“An attorney, as in Judd Gibson?”
“Whoever.”
“I mean… he’s the only attorney in Hope and he also happens to be a good friend of mine,” Alexander Johnson pointed out with a large smile that said he really wasn’t taking his arrest seriously.
“If you can’t afford an attorney, one will be appointed for you before any questioning if you wish...”
“Judd Gibson,” he interrupted again. “Instead of continuing to say attorney, you should just call Judd by his name since he’s the only lawyer within a hundred miles of here.” He took a breath. “Otherwise, you might confuse your arrestee.” He took another breath. “Or would it be you’re arrested?”
Damn, this town was way too small and