cup of coffee. Bottom line, it’s just a matter of time.”
Carter sighed. “Given that Gertie was impersonating hospital personnel a week ago, your list is more plausible than one would hope. Yes. Dr. Stewart called right before I left to come over here.”
“And?”
“The leg tested positive for meth, both on the skin and in the bloodstream.”
“Crap. I knew you were right. You’re too good at your job not to be, but I still hoped…”
“Yeah. Me too.”
“I don’t suppose they had any way of identifying who the leg belonged to?”
“Unfortunately, no. No tattoos, no surgical implements with serial numbers, not even a unique scar.”
“So you’ve got nothing.”
“It was a white male, thirties to forties, approximately five foot ten to six foot two and fairly lean.”
“That doesn’t narrow it down much.”
“No, it doesn’t. And that’s assuming he was a Sinful resident, which is something we can’t be certain about. With the oil field work and all the construction after the hurricanes, plenty of people have come and gone around here. Any one of them could have scouted out a place for their operation and come back much later to fire it up.”
“It would be nice if it turned out to be a stranger. Or mostly one. You know what I mean.”
“Yeah. Well, we can hope.”
The words said one thing, but the tone of his voice said another. Whether it was instinct or a hunch or whatever mojo made Carter good at his job, he already knew that the problem was homegrown. Which meant I was going to be forced to hang out with teens and probably steal a boat, but in the big scheme of things, those weren’t the worst things I’d done since I’d arrived in Sinful.
A loud whistling sound disrupted my thinking and I looked up to see the first of the fireworks explode across the night sky. Carter reached over and took my hand in his, giving me a smile. I took a drink of my wine and relaxed. Tonight was all about enjoying the splendor of things that blew up.
Tomorrow I’d concentrate on the darker side of things going boom .
Chapter Four
I had just changed into my sleeping tee and pulled on shorts when I heard the front door open. I headed downstairs for my late-night snack and found Ally in the kitchen, dumping her purse on the table.
“You stayed out late,” I said. The fireworks show had ended around an hour before. Right about that time, the breeze stopped and the mosquitoes moved in for the kill. I invited Carter in but he declined, saying he needed to get some rest as he was on Walter duty tomorrow, per Emmaline. I guessed she figured having them in one place would make it easier to keep both of them from overexertion. I wished her all the luck in the world on that one.
I could tell Carter was tired, but the wistful expression he wore when I dropped him off in front of his house made me wonder if the real reason he left was because he knew Ally would be home soon and didn’t want to tempt either of us into a compromising position. It was just as well. I knew I wanted Carter, but I still wasn’t sold on it being a good idea. And even though I was rarely embarrassed, the thought of Ally sleeping across the hall with Carter and me only two walls away made me kinda squeamish. Since Emmaline had moved into Carter’s spare room until Dr. Stewart gave him clearance, his house was even worse on the “hell no” scale.
“I was talking with a couple of the vendors after the show,” Ally said. “I went to school with some of them, and people from other towns stopped by to comment on the festival and mostly on Francine’s pies. Then the mosquitoes moved in and everyone cleared out.” She began to yawn and threw her hand over her mouth. “I swear, I had all this energy just a little while ago, and now I’m about to fall asleep standing here.”
I took a closer look at her. Her eyes were half closed and she was swaying slightly in place. “You’ve had a long day. Do you work
Carter sighed. “Given that Gertie was impersonating hospital personnel a week ago, your list is more plausible than one would hope. Yes. Dr. Stewart called right before I left to come over here.”
“And?”
“The leg tested positive for meth, both on the skin and in the bloodstream.”
“Crap. I knew you were right. You’re too good at your job not to be, but I still hoped…”
“Yeah. Me too.”
“I don’t suppose they had any way of identifying who the leg belonged to?”
“Unfortunately, no. No tattoos, no surgical implements with serial numbers, not even a unique scar.”
“So you’ve got nothing.”
“It was a white male, thirties to forties, approximately five foot ten to six foot two and fairly lean.”
“That doesn’t narrow it down much.”
“No, it doesn’t. And that’s assuming he was a Sinful resident, which is something we can’t be certain about. With the oil field work and all the construction after the hurricanes, plenty of people have come and gone around here. Any one of them could have scouted out a place for their operation and come back much later to fire it up.”
“It would be nice if it turned out to be a stranger. Or mostly one. You know what I mean.”
“Yeah. Well, we can hope.”
The words said one thing, but the tone of his voice said another. Whether it was instinct or a hunch or whatever mojo made Carter good at his job, he already knew that the problem was homegrown. Which meant I was going to be forced to hang out with teens and probably steal a boat, but in the big scheme of things, those weren’t the worst things I’d done since I’d arrived in Sinful.
A loud whistling sound disrupted my thinking and I looked up to see the first of the fireworks explode across the night sky. Carter reached over and took my hand in his, giving me a smile. I took a drink of my wine and relaxed. Tonight was all about enjoying the splendor of things that blew up.
Tomorrow I’d concentrate on the darker side of things going boom .
Chapter Four
I had just changed into my sleeping tee and pulled on shorts when I heard the front door open. I headed downstairs for my late-night snack and found Ally in the kitchen, dumping her purse on the table.
“You stayed out late,” I said. The fireworks show had ended around an hour before. Right about that time, the breeze stopped and the mosquitoes moved in for the kill. I invited Carter in but he declined, saying he needed to get some rest as he was on Walter duty tomorrow, per Emmaline. I guessed she figured having them in one place would make it easier to keep both of them from overexertion. I wished her all the luck in the world on that one.
I could tell Carter was tired, but the wistful expression he wore when I dropped him off in front of his house made me wonder if the real reason he left was because he knew Ally would be home soon and didn’t want to tempt either of us into a compromising position. It was just as well. I knew I wanted Carter, but I still wasn’t sold on it being a good idea. And even though I was rarely embarrassed, the thought of Ally sleeping across the hall with Carter and me only two walls away made me kinda squeamish. Since Emmaline had moved into Carter’s spare room until Dr. Stewart gave him clearance, his house was even worse on the “hell no” scale.
“I was talking with a couple of the vendors after the show,” Ally said. “I went to school with some of them, and people from other towns stopped by to comment on the festival and mostly on Francine’s pies. Then the mosquitoes moved in and everyone cleared out.” She began to yawn and threw her hand over her mouth. “I swear, I had all this energy just a little while ago, and now I’m about to fall asleep standing here.”
I took a closer look at her. Her eyes were half closed and she was swaying slightly in place. “You’ve had a long day. Do you work
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