It was the sheriff.
Sheriff Willaby had his back to the door and was two-finger hunting and pecking on the computer keyboard. He was dressed in civilian clothes, which led Lincoln to deduce that he wasn’t there officially. And since he hadn’t even taken off his hat, Lincoln also deduced that he wasn’t planning on staying long enough to see how the deputy was doing. He was there for another reason.
Lincoln quietly stepped into the room. But before he could see what was on the screen, Deputy Meriwether spoke from behind him.
“So now you’ve taken to breaking and entering, Officer Hayes?”
The sheriff quickly turned off the computer and whirled around in his chair as the deputy walked into the room.
“Oh! Sheriff Willaby.” She froze next to Lincoln. “I didn’t realize you were back to work.”
Lincoln crossed his arms over his chest. “I don’t think the sheriff is back for good. I think the sheriff just stopped by to . . . what did you stop by for, Willaby?”
Sheriff Willaby’s eyes narrowed. “What are you doing here, Hayes?”
Before Lincoln could take the sheriff down a notch or two . . . or possibly three, the deputy jumped in. “Officer Hayes has been nice enough to help out this little ol’ rookie deputy while you’ve been gone, sheriff.” She winked. “Not that you didn’t do a great job of showing me the ropes.”
The sheriff looked back and forth between them before a smirk settled on his face. “So the gossip I heard is true. You have been fooling around with my deputy.”
Lincoln’s fists tightened. He didn’t know if he was pissed about the accusation or about Willaby calling the deputy his. “You should know better than to believe gossip, Sheriff.”
“And you should know better than to fraternize with a fellow officer, Hayes.”
“Fraternize?” Deputy Meriwether’s eyes widened. “Why, Sheriff Willaby, I hope you are not implying what I think you’re implying. Officer Lincoln Hayes has been nothing but a gentleman towards me and extremely understanding about the few little mistakes I’ve made as a new deputy. He’s stopped by twice now to make sure everything is okeydokey. And I’m sure that’s what you’re doing here too, Sheriff Willaby. I mean a girl couldn’t have two better mentors.”
She took off her hat, gave that gorgeous blond hair a shake, and then tossed the hat at the hooks on the wall. Surprisingly, it landed on the hook. She gave a satisfied smile before she moved around the desk. “But for now, I’m afraid I need to use the computer to fill out a report about the ticket I wrote to Jethro Mills for letting his kids ride in the bed of his truck. I gave him a warning, but he just wouldn’t listen. And I would hate to have one of those sweet things end up falling out on their heads.”
The sheriff looked like he was about to refuse, but then he got up from the chair and moved around the desk. “Have you discovered any new information on Sam Sweeney?”
“Not a thing,” Lincoln said casually.
Willaby glanced at the deputy and Lincoln waited for her to spill her guts about the bone. The woman loved to talk. But instead, she just shrugged. “Not a little ol’ thing. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have work to do and I can’t do it with two good-lookin’ men standing there distracting me.”
Sheriff Willaby pointed a finger at her. “Just remember whose office this is, deputy.” He glanced at Lincoln. “Hayes.” He walked out the door.
When he was gone, Deputy Meriwether flopped down in the chair and let her smile drop. “Now that was interesting. I think the sheriff doesn’t know what extended leave means.”
“Oh, he knows what it means.” Lincoln sat down in the chair in front of the desk. “I thought the sheriff had run roughshod over you. I didn’t realize it was the other way around.”
She shrugged. “Some men are easily handled with a smile and a little ego building.”
“Some?”
She laughed. “Okay. Most. But a lot of people respond better to honey than they do to vinegar.”
“I guess I’m vinegar.”
“Now did I say that?” The twinkle in her eyes said that was exactly what she meant.
She did have a point. Lincoln had always believed the best why to deal with people was with a firm hand and a no-nonsense attitude. Dixie believed just the opposite. She used her beauty and easygoing personality to get what she wanted. He had seen it as female manipulation, but now he had to reconsider. If she hadn’t been there, Lincoln had little doubt that he and Willaby would’ve gotten into it. She had diffused the situation with just a few smiles and her southern charm.
Maybe honey did work better than vinegar.
“Now what has brought the big bad Texas Ranger here today?” she asked. “Wait, let me guess. The bone turned out to be Sam Sweeney’s and you need my help solving the case.”
“No on both counts.”
Her face fell. “It isn’t Sam’s? Then whose is it?”
“The report hasn’t come back yet. Now I need to look at your records.”
“It’s Sam Sweeney’s.” She leaned back in the chair and crossed her boots up on the desk. “He’s the only one missing. It has to be him.” She nibbled on her thumbnail with the pretty pink polish. “We need to find the rest of his body. It could lead us to his murderer.”
“There’s no we. This is my case.”
She took her feet off the desk and sat up. “But I found the bone!”
“Boomer found the bone.”
She glared at him. “Why do you hate me?”
“I don’t hate you.”
“Yes, you do. I lied through my teeth when I told the sheriff you have been a kind, caring gentleman to me. You’ve been surly and mean and have done everything in your power to get me to quit. Why?”
He should’ve told her about her father. He was getting sick of the
