Better than any of them, he’d known the cost of taking on the Magic Valley logging community. And he’d paid the price.
After a long silence, Ben segued from his role as annoying moral conscience into his role as attorney-at-law “Sheriff Allen, when do you think I’ll be able to get these two released? I’m sure we can make bail.”
“That won’t be necessary.” Allen unclipped the cell keys from his belt. “That’s what I came to tell you. You’re free to go.”
Tess’s eyes widened. “What? But the loggers who brought us in-the charges-”
“There aren’t going to be any,” the sheriff explained. “I gather the word came down from the central office. The logging company is dropping all charges.”
“That doesn’t make any sense.”
“Actually, it makes perfect sense,” Ben said. “Think about it. If they press the destruction of property charge, we’re likely to raise the minor issue of assault and battery. They’re better off letting it go and hoping we’ll do the same. After all, Al is hurt pretty bad. The loggers are claiming they acted in self-defense, but if it ever came to trial …”
“Wow,” Rick murmured. “The suits must be pissed at those loggers who trounced us.”
“I doubt it,” Ben said. “All in all, I suspect they’d rather have it known that some Green Ragers got their butts kicked than have the Pyrrhic thrill of lodging minor felony charges that might not even bring jail time. It will get across the message those suits most want heard: eco-terrorism is a dangerous business. And it will probably boost logger morale.”
Rick became sullen and silent.
“Anyway,” Ben continued, “if they’re free to go …”
Sheriff Allen took the hint. He unlocked the cell door and escorted the prisoners out. “By the way,” Allen said to Ben as they marched down the corridor, “I was thinking about dropping by your office later.”
“Oh?”
“Do you …” He cleared his throat. “Do you by any chance know if that legal assistant of yours has dinner plans?”
“I’m her boss, not her social secretary.”
“Right.” He craned his neck awkwardly. “Well, I guess I’ll just go by and ask her myself.”
Ben frowned. “Excuse me, but didn’t you have lunch with her today?”
Allen shrugged sheepishly. “I guess I did at that. But you know what my mama used to say. When you see something you want …”
Ben waved his hands. “I really don’t want to hear this.”
Allen opened the heavy metal door that led to the outer office. “You don’t mind me seeing Christina, do you?”
“Of course not,” Ben said sharply. “For that matter, I’ve got a two-hundred-pound investigator on my staff. Do you want to date him, too?”
Chapter 24
After they left the sheriff’s office, Rick and Tess and Ben and Maureen headed toward the hospital. Nothing had changed; Al still wasn’t conscious. After a brief visit, Ben left for his office. Maureen walked with him. Ben wasn’t sure if she appreciated his company or just didn’t feel safe walking alone. Probably a bit of both.
As he and Maureen rounded a corner, Ben suddenly heard great peals of laughter emanating from the other end of the street. And he discerned two approaching figures, Christina and Sheriff Allen. Their arms were linked, and they were both sopping wet. Head to toe.
The four of them stood facing one another on the sidewalk. Christina opened her mouth as if she was about to speak, but another gale of laughter erupted before any words were spoken. She bent forward, convulsed with merriment.
Ben arched an eyebrow. “Sudden rain flurry?”
Christina looked up, her arms wrapped around her midsection for support. She tilted her head toward Allen. “He-he-” It was all she could manage. More hysterical laughter convulsed her.
Sheriff Allen stepped gamely into the breach. “We’ve been taking a walk,” he said.
“Ah,” Ben replied. “That explains it.”
Christina leaned against the nearest brick wall for support, water dripping from her arms. “You wouldn’t-” She stopped again, convulsed and overcome. “You wouldn’t believe what this guy-” She could go no further. She glanced at Allen, then abruptly burst out laughing again.
Ben tried not to seem peeved. “How’s the work on the prosecution exhibits coming?”
Christina bit her lower lip. “Oh, fine, fine. I’ll be back in the office”-she drew in her breath, trying to regain control-“as soon as I put on some dry clothes!” More giggling ensued. Christina pounded on the brick wall, giddy and breathless.
“I’ll see you there,” Ben answered. He lightly tugged Maureen’s arm, and the two of them moved on down the sidewalk. He knew he shouldn’t be annoyed, but he was, just the same. Christina and the sheriff appeared to really be hitting it off. He supposed he was used to feeling as if he and Christina were a team, working together. In all the time he had known Christina, this was the first time he had felt like an outsider.
He and Maureen chatted most of the way back to his office, and Ben was relieved that the conversation didn’t relate in any way to murder, eco-terrorism, or politics. Instead, she mostly talked about herself, which Ben greatly preferred. She had grown up in North Dakota, she told him, and had been twelve when her daddy, now deceased, took her to Benali State Park and taught her the rudiments of trekking and mountaineering. She’d been hooked on the great outdoors ever since. Before he died, they’d traversed several peaks of varying difficulty, including Mount Rainier, her favorite.
“Do you do much hiking?” Maureen asked as they ambled down Main Street.
Ben squirmed a bit. He wanted to make a good impression, but he knew he was a pathetically unconvincing liar. “To tell the truth, the great outdoors and I have never really meshed.”
She laughed. “How can you not like-outdoors?”
“Outdoors is always full of … things. Bugs and bees and bad weather. None of that ever happens in my apartment.”
She laughed again. “Weren’t you ever a Boy Scout? Haven’t you been camping?”
“I have been camping,” Ben admitted. “Once. In Arkansas. But someone else did all the work.”
She glanced at him out the corner of her eye. “Would that be-your redheaded friend? Christina?”
“Yeah. How did you know?”
“Just a hunch. I saw from the start that the two of you were very close.”
“We’ve worked together on many cases. We’ve become good friends.”
“I had the idea that … maybe there was something more between the two of you.”
“Between Christina and me? Nah.”
“Are you sure she feels the same way?”
Ben slowed his step. “What? Of course … I mean, what do you-?”
“How long have the two of you worked together?”
Ben thought about it. It had been a good long while.
“And in that time, has she dated? Other than Sheriff Allen, that is.”
Ben screwed his head around. “I don’t really know.”
Maureen nodded. “I just wondered if she’s been waiting around for you all this time. Waiting for you to make a move.”
“
“And I wonder how long it’s fair to expect her to wait. Maybe she got tired of waiting, and that’s why-”
“This is silly. I think you don’t understand Christina and me.”
“Maybe not.” She glanced at him, and her eyes lingered. “But it’s a subject that interested me.”
Ben blinked. Interested her? What was she saying?
