“So now you’re going to arrange a marriage for me, Daddy? I don’t think so.” When she married—if she married—she wasn’t going to marry anyone like her father. She wanted a husband as malleable as silly putty.
“Then you’re not getting your grandmother’s money,” he said. “She wanted me to decide when you were mature enough to get it, and this little charade you’re playing proves you aren’t mature at all.”
Dixie stomped her foot in frustration as she stopped in front of the Simple Market. Her daddy had just put her in check. But she wasn’t giving up yet. She hadn’t been given the role of Sandy in her high school production of Grease for nothing. She had enough acting chops to fool her father.
“I’m going be honest with you, Daddy,” she said. “At first, I did decide to be in law enforcement just so you would give in and give me Granny’s money. But after going to the academy and becoming a deputy, I’ve realized the importance of this job. I can’t just wile away my days giving myself facials and painting my toes. It’s my job to protect and serve the people. Especially with Sheriff Willaby gone. Why, the entire responsibility of the county falls to me now. And I need to take that responsibility seriously. I couldn’t just quit, Daddy. Crime would run rampant.”
“Crime? Your mama might think you’re working in a cesspool of sin, but I’ve been to Simple, Texas, and the only crime happening there is the name. Who in their right mind would name a town Simple?”
“I like the name. And I don’t know when you’ve been here last, but things aren’t as simple as they used to be. There’s plenty of crime here.” It wasn’t really a lie. There had to be crime here. She just had no desire to find it.
“Crime in Simple? What? Did someone steal a chicken?” He laughed his full-belly laugh.
She gritted her teeth. She hated to be laughed at. Especially by her daddy. Which explained the crazy thing she did next. “Actually, I’m working on a murder case as we speak.”
“Murder?” Her father’s shocked voice boomed through the receiver.
She hated to worry her daddy. But dang it, it was her life and she needed to live it the way she saw fit. She wasn’t smart enough to be a lawyer or a judge or a politician. But she was smart enough to start her own beauty pageant consulting business. Thanks to her mama, she knew all the ins and outs of beauty pageants. It was the one place she felt most confident and in charge. She knew what gowns looked best beneath the lights. How to tape a dress in place so your boobs wouldn’t pop out. How to walk in five-inch heels without twisting an ankle or falling. And how to win the judges over.
True, she hadn’t won the Miss Texas pageant. But she had been the second runner-up and that wasn’t an easy feat to accomplish. She could make her consulting business work. She knew she could. She just had to get her daddy to give in. And the sooner the better.
“Yes.” She made her voice as ominous sounding as possible. “Murder, Daddy. It seems a ranch hand went missing years ago and Sheriff Willaby suspects foul play.”
“I thought Willaby had been put on extended leave until his misconduct was investigated.”
She was surprised that her father knew about that. She could’ve sworn she told him Willaby was on vacation. Oh, well. It didn’t matter. In fact, it could help her cause. Her daddy wouldn’t want her working for a jerk. “The sheriff is being investigated for misconduct, but he was working on the case before he left.”
“And now you’re working on it?”
She wasn’t. She had witnessed Sheriff Willaby’s incompetence. The man couldn’t find his butt with both hands and a three-way mirror. And the theatrical movie plot he’d written down in his report about a bunch of teenage kids murdering a ranch hand and disposing of his body on the Double Diamond was ridiculous.
Still, it had been fun toying with Lincoln Hayes. His face when she had dropped the bomb of Sheriff Willaby considering him a suspect had been priceless. She seriously doubted that the man would bother her again.
“Yes, I’m working on the case, and with a Texas Ranger, no less.” Her daddy thought very highly of the Texas Rangers so she figured it wouldn’t hurt to throw that in. And she was right. Her daddy jumped on that like a trout on a worm.
“A Texas Ranger? Who?”
“Officer Lincoln Hayes. But truth be told, he’s a little incompetent. So I’ll probably be heading the search for the body. And as a Meriwether, I won’t give up until I catch the murderer.”
The sound of breath being sucked in had Dixie turning. Two women stood there staring at her with their eyes bugging out of their heads.
“Murderer?” they said in unison.
Blistered biscuits! Dixie had gone and done it now. She’d just opened up an entire can of wiggling worms that she needed to close as quickly as possible.
“I need to go. I’ll call you later.” She hung up before her father could stop her and slipped her cellphone into the cute little Louis Vuitton phone holder that she’d attached to her deputy belt. Then she turned a bright smile on the two women.
“Good afternoon, ladies. Sorry to get you all riled up. I was just playing a virtual version of Clue with one of my friends.” She held up her thumb and forefinger
