I highly doubted that.
We walked back up to the office to refill our water bottles and take a bathroom break when Carmen cornered me.
“Dave’s innocent,” she whispered. Her eyes darted around making sure no one overheard, even though Ben was in the bathroom and the office was empty.
“Okay, I think so too, but I don’t have any way of proving—”
“I do.” She wiped the sweat from her brow. “But if I tell you, can you promise not to say anything?”
My curiosity was in overdrive. “But if it’ll clear his name . . .”
“You have to promise,” she insisted.
“Okay, okay, I promise.”
“I know he didn’t kill Ronnie . . . because he was with me Sunday afternoon through, uh, Monday morning.” She dropped her gaze to the floor. “No one can know, and I know he’d never tell anyone, not if he knew what was good for him, but I need you to keep investigating. I can help, just tell me how.”
Whoa. Carmen and Dave. Carmen. Cute, well-endowed, married Carmen.
And Dave. Stinky, weasely, rotted-teeth Dave.
I’d seen it all now.
“I’m sure if we told the police, they’d keep your identity a secret,” I said.
“No. No way. I have a reputation, and my marriage, to keep intact. And if it ever got out that I was sleeping with someone like Dave, I’d never hear the end of it.”
She had a point. But then why sleep with him in the first place? Gross.
“I can keep looking and talk to Luke, but I can’t promise anything. I’m not an investigator. I’m barely a passable summer park ranger.”
She looked up at me. “From what I hear, you’re a wonderful ranger. You already beat Nikki’s record, and all the guys love you.”
Sure they did. “Thanks.”
“No, thank you. I don’t want Dave to go to jail. It’s not like it’s love or anything, but I’d feel real bad, you know? If he was covering for me and took the fall for something like this.”
I hoped she wouldn’t let it get that far, but the look on her face said otherwise.
“Luke, I need to talk to you, tonight if possible. Call me back.” I hit the red End button on my phone and tossed it in the passenger seat as I drove home. I’d apparently passed my practical test, because I was given a schedule with my name on it for the next week. Until then, I’d have two whole days off to investigate. But before I investigated, I was going to take a nice hot bubble bath and dive into one of the books that had been calling my name for months.
The house was quiet when I walked into the basement. Mom and Dad likely weren’t home from work yet, and Megan and the boys were in her apartment above the garage.
Fizzy flashed me his big puppy dog eyes that said, “I miss you.” It had been a while since we’d been on a walk, and he was probably having people withdrawals sitting in this basement all the time.
“Okay, let’s go,” I said.
Fizzy ran around in circles a couple of times and then raced to where I kept his leash, grabbed it up in his mouth, and brought it back to me. He sat as still as a statue while I attached it to his collar and then he bolted toward the door, dragging me behind.
We walked at least three or four miles before my feet ached. When we got back to the house, an unfamiliar vehicle was in the driveway—a navy blue Ford Bronco. Probably one of my sister’s friends. Her husband grew up in this town, and they knew everyone here. Either way, my slight curiosity wasn’t going to get between me and my bubble bath.
My mom, however . . .
“Rylie, is that you?” She yelled down the stairs in her sweetest ‘we have company’ voice. Ugh.
“Yep, it’s me.”
“Will you come upstairs for a minute?”
I looked down at my running shorts and t-shirt. “Let me change and I’ll be right up.”
“Sounds good.” And then she whispered, “And put on makeup too.”
Heaven forbid I didn’t look presentable enough for Megan’s friends.
I changed into a pair of cut off shorts and a lacy white tank top, applied three coats of mascara and a bit of lip-gloss, and considered it the best I could do with such limited time.
When I came up the stairs, a man sat with his back to me at the table with my parents.
“Luke stopped by to say hi. Wasn’t that sweet of him?” Mom said, her adoration of my high school sweetheart apparent.
I resisted the urge to shake my head. She had always been on team Luke, and here she was setting herself up for disappointment again.
Luke turned slowly in the chair, let his eyes travel over me, and beamed at me with his big flashy smile. It was a miracle that being in my parents’ presence automatically took away his irritation with me. Faker.
“Great, I’m so glad you could stop by,” I said through a smirk.
“He was just telling us about how the two of you have been working together on that murder case from this past weekend,” Dad chimed in. “You didn’t tell us you were working with Luke.”
“It must have slipped my mind.” I sat down at the table between Luke and Dad.
“Can you stay for dinner? I’m sure Megan would love to see you,” Mom said.
“I actually wanted to see if Rylie wanted to join me for dinner tonight. To celebrate a recent break we’ve had in the case. That is, if you don’t mind.”
“You could have just called,” I murmured.
“Don’t be rude, Rylie,” Mom chided. “Of course we don’t mind. Another time, though. You’re always welcome.”
“Thank you, Mrs. Cooper. I’ll have to take you up on that.”
My cheeks were starting to ache from the forced smile I wore. “I guess we’d better be going then.”
“Dressed like that?” Mom looked at my bare legs and frayed shorts and then at Luke’s khakis and button-down shirt.
“It’s okay. We’re not going anywhere
