Spooning Leads to Forking (Hot in the Kitchen #2) - Kilby Blades Page 0,80
goodbyes and headed out to her car. There were only two things that Shea could do now—only two things that mattered: sending Dev that recording and beating Keenan to his next punch.
31
The Recording
Dev
“Tell me you left the cookies in the car,” Duff demanded, hand on her hip, the minute she swung open her front door to reveal an empty-handed Dev. Last time, she’d made him promise he wouldn’t arrive with more bad news. It was an empty promise. She was still the Sheriff and—technically—she was part-time on the job again.
“Sorry. No cookies,” Dev replied. “But no paperwork, either. Just a talk. Just you and me.”
“Uh-oh…” she said, even as she opened the door wider to let him in, sensing there was something wrong. “You off duty?”
He nodded.
“Then let’s have a beer.”
Dev diverted to the right as Duff headed to the back, noticing that both her gait and her house looked better. As recently as a week before, there had been crutches leaned against the wall in the corner and more equipment for physical therapy. He wasn’t supposed to know she’d been seeing a colleague of Laura’s, but he’d accidentally spotted some sort of referral paperwork for a therapist on Laura’s desk. It would make what he was about to ask of her easier.
“What the hell is that?”, he asked, not of the ice-cold bottle of beer she put in his hand. He motioned to her small green-and-white can of something else.
“It’s a Skinny ‘Rita. Don’t judge,” she scolded. “Can’t drink like I used to—not with all the exercise I’m not getting.” She pushed the can toward him. “You can drink one out of solidarity if you want.”
Dev frowned a little. “Uh…no thanks—I’ll stick to the beer.”
Resisting the urge to pick up the can and inspect the ingredients, he bit his tongue against a lecture about all the fake sugar it probably had. Though, he did make a mental note to find a recipe for her that used agave nectar or stevia.
“I’m seeing somebody,” he said without preamble as they toasted silently and each took a long pull.
“Uh-huh…you and Shea.”
“Good lord...”
“Everybody already knows.”
It strengthened Dev’s resolve. “All the better reason for me to resign.”
He let his words sit between them for a minute—let Duff absorb the fact that he was putting her back on deck—that, she might have to face her own demons sooner than planned.
“I know I said I’d do it as long as you needed me to, but—”
Duff cut him off gently. “You met a girl. And you’re falling in love. And you have your own work to tend to and your own life to live. And you didn’t sign up for any of this shit.”
Dev couldn’t deny it. Hearing it out loud let him come to terms with the fact that parts of his decision involved all of those things. But he couldn’t not tell Duff the big reason.
“Shea’s mixed up in something,” he began. Procedurally speaking, it was his duty to notify Duff that he had been compromised. “I don’t know what it is, but I’m not sure it’s legal, which is a problem—not just because I’m Sheriff—because she’s been a source of major information on the case. If something bad came out about her while I was still in the job, it’ll damage the reputation of the department and compromise the investigation.”
He gave Duff a minute to let the information sink in—to give her time to voice the questions he was sure were coming. They’d be questions he couldn’t answer, but still…
“How illegal are we talking?”
“I found suitcases full of money in her house. I didn’t ask to know beyond what I saw. In fact, I told her not to tell me. Plausible deniability and all…”
“Do you trust her?” Duff asked, not like a police officer gathering facts for an investigation—like a friend giving advice.
“That’s the million-dollar question, isn’t it?”
More like the five- to ten-million-dollar question, Dev thought to himself. He’d seen confiscated money before in evidence. He knew she could easily be holding on to that much if all those bags he’d seen were full.
“I mean, before you found the money—did you trust her?” Duff pressed.
And, the thing was, Dev had. Even knowing she had secrets, he’d never pried. Maybe he should have. She was new in town. Worse than that, she’d just happened to show up in the middle of a crime spree. If there was anyone whose background he should’ve looked into, it should’ve been hers.