At a certain point she found herself close to the area where Sasha had been discovered the previous day. An evidence team from the county was out combing the path between the road and the trees. They hadn’t erected police tape, but Ivy was familiar with procedure so she knew to keep her distance.
“We can’t cross here,” she said to Greg, momentarily forgetting who she was dealing with. It seemed like a pragmatic response and yet the look he shot her was dark.
“Don’t tell me what I can and can’t do.”
Ivy was taken aback by his tone. “I just mean ... they’re looking for evidence.” She knew it was a lame statement, but she didn’t know what else to say.
“There’s no tape,” Jason noted, coming up from behind. He’d been largely quiet the bulk of the day, keeping to himself. Ivy couldn’t blame him. She figured he was traumatized by what happened the previous day. Discovering a body wasn’t something that ranked on anybody’s to-do list. “I think, if they didn’t want us hanging around, they would put up tape.”
“Except they probably didn’t realize we would be out here again,” Ivy argued reasonably. “Why waste the tape if you don’t need to?”
“Well, that’s not our concern,” Greg noted. “I’m in charge out here, which means I get to decide where we go ... and I want you to go right over there.” He indicated a spot that was in the center of the path the county workers were obviously using as a centralized location.
“But ... .” Ivy’s heart pinched as she gauged the defiant look on Greg’s face. “Fine.” She knew better than arguing. It would only make her look bad, and make him angrier than he was ... if that was even possible. “I was just trying to be conscientious.”
“If you were the conscientious sort, you wouldn’t be here,” Greg noted. “Criminals aren’t conscientious.”
“I said it was fine.” Ivy’s eyes flashed with anger, although she shuttered the emotion quickly. “I’ll do whatever you want.”
Greg’s smile turned sly. “That’s exactly what I want to hear.”
Ivy moved toward the location Greg had indicated, but she didn’t even cross the invisible line in her head before a member of the county crew yelled out for her to stop.
“Don’t cross that,” the man ordered, hurrying in her direction. “In fact, you shouldn’t even be here. You guys need to move down the road a bit.”
Greg, clearly annoyed, puffed out his chest. “And who are you?”
“Deacon Barnes,” the man replied without hesitation. “I’m with the medical examiner’s office.” His eyes briefly landed on Ivy and recognition sparked there. “Aren’t you Jack Harker’s fiancée?”
Ivy’s face heated in the face of the man’s insistent gaze. “Um ... .”
“She’s a criminal,” Greg volunteered. “She’s fulfilling her debt to society, which means I’m in charge here, not you.”
Deacon rolled his eyes, although his gaze returned to Ivy quickly. “You’re fulfilling your sentence for that thing that happened at Lucy Thompson’s house.”
Ivy nodded. “I am.”
“I’m sorry about that. It’s crap that you’re out here.”
“It’s fine,” Ivy reassured him quickly.
“You’re not supposed to be talking to the criminals,” Greg argued. “It’s against the rules.”
“Oh, stuff it.” Deacon made a face. He was obviously annoyed. “I don’t know what your deal is — actually, I do know what your deal is, and I don’t care — but this is a crime scene. You can’t taint it. You need to move your crew five hundred feet that way.” He pointed for emphasis.
Greg wasn’t the sort to tuck his tail between his legs and run unless he had no other choice. “And I suppose you’re going to enforce this rule that I don’t believe is really a rule.”
“No.” Deacon folded his arms across his chest. “That’s not part of my job description. If you continue to make this difficult, though, I will be forced to call the local authorities and let them sort this out.”
Ivy’s heart pinged. She knew exactly what that would mean. Jack. He would melt down if he was called out here and Greg inundated him with attitude.
As if reading her mind, Deacon sent her a sympathetic look. “There’s no reason to turn this into a thing. Just take them down the road.”
“I don’t see why my duty is somehow less important than your duty,” Greg argued.
“Because a woman was killed out here,” Deacon replied reasonably. “The police are deeming that death suspicious and we’ve been tasked with looking for evidence. I think prosecuting a potential murderer is more important than picking up garbage.”
That was the exact wrong thing to say to Greg because his cheeks heated as his eyes fired. “Oh, well, I can see what sort of attitude you have. Well, I’ll have you know, we’re not going anywhere. If you have to call someone, then call them. You do you and I’ll do me ... and then we’ll see where we land. How does that sound?”
“Completely unnecessary,” Deacon replied on a sigh, although he was already tugging his phone out of his pocket. “Have it your way, though.” He sent Ivy an apologetic look before turning on his heel and walking away from Greg to place his call.
Ivy felt distinctly uncomfortable as she shifted away from Greg. She could practically feel the anger radiating off him and it made her cringe.
“Don’t worry about it,” Jason said in a low voice, speaking directly to Ivy for the first time. “He always gets like this. He’s got Little Man Syndrome. He wants to be a big man, but he’s destined to be a little man because he’s got a bad attitude.”
“Yeah. I can see that.” Ivy rubbed the back of her neck. “I don’t see why he has to be this way, though. It’s going to turn into a thing.”
“And you’re going to be caught in the middle,” Jason noted. “That sucks for you.”
“Yeah, well, I don’t think I have much say in the matter.”
“Definitely not,” Jason agreed.
