by Curry, Edna
Two days later, Chance had a very bad moment when they found a match for a set of fingerprints from the file cabinet in Mildred’s office.
They belonged to Cassie Jennings! He stared at his computer screen in disbelief. His stomach clenched and his mouth went dry. Hadn’t she told him she hadn’t worked for Mildred? Then why were her fingerprints in Mildred’s office? Could he have misjudged her after all?
He closed his eyes, picturing the cute, slim locksmith. She’d been invading his thoughts ever since he’d first met her. Each time he’d seen her since, some new facet of her friendly personality and no nonsense attitude intrigued him. He’d even dreamed of her. He wished he could ask her out, but he had a strict rule against that: ‘Don’t get emotionally involved with anyone connected to a case.’ He’d never broken his rules and he didn’t plan to start now. No way.
Sheriff Ben had an even stricter rule about keeping good public relations for his department. That meant no gray areas. Don’t let anyone think you’re playing favorites, was what Ben called it. Same as Chance’s own rule, just stated differently. He sighed, his stomach churning with frustration and confusion. He’d have to go talk to her again.
He called her cell and she told him she was out on a rekeying job. She’d be home around five or so. Wishing he dared ask her to go out to a restaurant, he instead offered to bring Chinese take-out to her house. No one would see them there.
Vacillating between pleasure at seeing her again and fear that finding her fingerprints in Mildred’s office meant she was indeed involved in that murder, he watched the clock and worked on paperwork in his office, calling in the food order. At last it was time to meet her. He picked up the food and drove to her house in Canton.
She met him at the door, looking tired. “Have a seat and make yourself at home,” she said, waving at the kitchen. “I just got in. Have to change out of these dirty clothes.” She disappeared down the hall and a door closed.
He went into the kitchen. Deciding ‘make yourself at home’ gave him permission to start supper, he found plates and silverware and set the table. He put the teakettle on to heat water for tea to go with their Chinese food, found the teapot, teabags and mugs. He hoped the tea was good for settling an upset stomach as well. What would her explanation be? Would he have to arrest her on the fingerprint evidence? Was it enough? Whatever she said, surely he had time to consult with Sheriff Ben first. He couldn’t stand the thought of her behind bars. His mouth went dry at the very thought of telling her about finding her fingerprints. Would she notice something was wrong?
Then she returned, looking surprised and pleased that he’d gotten everything ready. She wore blue slacks and a white top with a blue cardigan sweater over it, and soft moccasins on her feet. Her short brown hair was a mass of damp curls. She must have taken a quick shower. His mind jumped to a picture of her naked in the shower. Stop thinking like that, you dummy!
She made the tea and poured it, then sat opposite him.
“Oh, you got shrimp and peapods. My favorite!” she exclaimed, spooning some onto her plate and digging in. “It smells delicious! Sorry to be a piggy, but I had a hard day and I missed lunch. I’m starving.” She tossed him a grin.
“It’s my favorite, too,” Chance said, putting rice on his plate and covering it with the shrimp and peapods.
In just a few minutes, they’d devoured most of the food.
She sat back and looked warily at him, sipping her tea. “Okay, that was great, Chance.”
“Glad you enjoyed it.”
“But what is the real reason you’re here? I’ve heard you never date people involved in your cases, so this can’t be a date. Not that I wouldn’t like it to be.” She blushed, evidently embarrassed to have admitted that.
His mouth twisted. “I wish it were a date, too, Cassie. I like you, a lot. But even if my own rules allowed dating you, Ben’s wouldn’t. He saw me admiring you, I guess, so decided to lay down the law.”
“Yeah, I know. He’s up for re-election in November, so I suppose he wants to avoid any hint of favoritism in any investigation.” She wrinkled her nose, letting him know what she thought of local politics, then looked at him. “So I repeat, Chance. Why are you here?”
Chance sighed. He couldn’t put it off any longer. He took a deep breath and met her gaze head-on. “Cassie, I found a match for fingerprints we lifted from Mildred’s file cabinet.”
She blanched and seemed to shrink in her chair. She picked up her cup and sipped more tea. “Mine?”
Huh? She expected them to be hers? “Yes. Care to explain? You told me you never worked for Mildred.”
She set her tea cup down carefully. “I didn’t say that.”
He narrowed his eyes at her. “I distinctly heard you, and I have that written in my notes as well.”
She shook her head, frowning. “I said I didn’t install Mildred’s alarm system. I never said I didn’t do other work for her, Chance. I replaced the lock on her file cabinet a couple months ago, so I had a legitimate reason for being in her office.”
She looked so angry, he was sure she wanted to kick him. But he had to have evidence, good or bad. “Prove it.” God, how he hoped she could. He wanted so much for her not to be involved.
“Okay.” She shrugged and went to her desk in the next room. The former dining room was now set up as her office, with a computer desk and chair and filing cabinets. She opened the file cabinet and ran her fingers along the tabs of the folders, then pulled one out, opened it and handed him an invoice.
It was indeed a bill made out to the Lilliput Bar for replacing a file cabinet lock.
Furious tears glistened in her eyes. She raised her chin in defiance. “Mildred should have a copy in her files, too. She paid me by check, so she should have a record in her checkbook as well. Also, the bank keeps photo-stats of checks. You can ask them for a copy of the actual check, if you want. Is that enough proof?”
Relief surged through Chance. Thank you, God! “Sounds good to me,” he told her, smiling. “Can I keep this for a while?”
“Okay.”
Actually, he was so happy he wanted to kiss her. But he didn’t dare. She looked much too furious with him. She’d probably slap his face if he touched her. Or sue him for harassment.
He settled for a grin and left.
***
Over the next week, Chance’s investigation of the case went nowhere. Every day he and the other officers checked out leads, but none got them any closer to a solution to Mildred’s murder. Both Mildred’s sons had alibis. Neither alibi was especially a good one, but they couldn’t find any evidence to link either man with the murder. Suspicion wasn’t enough.
Cassie remained in his thoughts, making him wish he could see her. No woman had gotten under his skin like she had for ages. Tonight he sat in the restaurant, having coffee after getting off work. Loneliness tightened his gut. He thought back over Sheriff Ben’s words. And no shenanigans with Cassie, at least not where anyone in town can see you.
His heart pounded. Not where anyone in town can see you. Didn’t that mean they could see each other somewhere other than here in Canton? Had Ben really said that? Yes, he had!
Chance pulled out his billfold, tossed money on the table to pay for his coffee and strode out to his vehicle.
There he pulled out his cell phone and called Cassie. “Hi Cassie, it’s Chance. Are you still mad at me?”
“I was never mad at you,” she denied.
He grinned, knowing it was a lie, but still welcome. “Are you doing anything tonight?”
“Not really,” she said, her voice wary.
“I thought I’d try my luck at the slots in Turtle Lake in about an hour or so,” he said.
“Oh? Ben know about this?”
“I’m not planning to mention it. He only said not where anyone in town would see us together.”
“I see.” Her voice had a grin in it.
“The buffet sounds good. The line shouldn’t be too long this
early.”
“Yes, it does.”
“Later, I like those lucky sevens slots on the west end.”
“Oh, yeah?”
“Yeah. Bye.” All right! She’d gotten the message and forgiven him enough to join him for dinner tonight.
He made a quick run back to his apartment to shower and change from his uniform into casual clothes. Should he wear a tie? No, too formal. His red shirt or the sky blue one? Butterflies bounced in his middle. He sure hoped he’d read Ben right on this. If not, he was in big trouble.
He drove to the casino where he’d gone several times before. The parking lot was almost full and the place was crowded as usual. He didn’t take time to hunt for her car in the hundreds in the dark lot. He strode in, nodded to the security guard watching people enter. That must be a dull job, just standing there, eyeing entrants for under-aged teens or waiting for trouble.
He wove through the long lines of slot machines, already crowded with players. Cigarette smoking was still allowed in the Indian casinos, so the air was blue with smoke. The restaurant with the buffet was at one end and he wove his way through the crowded room toward it. A line of people waited to buy tickets for the buffet. He quickly scanned them, but didn’t see Cassie or anyone else he knew. On impulse, he walked to the head of the line, braving dirty looks from those waiting and glanced around the tables in the dining room. But he didn’t see her there, either.
He went back to the rear of the line and there she was, grinning at him. “I was sitting over there, playing the slots,” she said. “I saw you come in.”
He wanted to kiss her, but didn’t dare. Besides, he wanted their first kiss to be special and when they were alone, not in a crowd of people. He grabbed her arm and hugged her close against his chest as they stood in line, then slid his arms around her waist and held on tight.
She sent him a grin and wrapped her fingers around his. “What made you change your mind about your rules?”
The warmth of her arms over his sent a comforting heat through his veins, making him hunger for more than food. “I’ll explain later.” He sure hoped nothing would happen to prevent that ‘later.’
He bought their tickets and a hostess showed them to their table. After giving their beverage orders, they went to fill their plates at the salad bar. Cassie chose mostly fruits while he piled a half-dozen toppings on his lettuce. They both took generous helpings of the pickled beets. They headed back to their places.
“Do you always eat more pineapple and strawberries than anything else?”
“I love them,” she admitted, nibbling on a fat, red berry.
He watched the juicy fruit disappear between her lips, and his groin tightened, wanting to make love to her right this minute. He swallowed. It was much too soon to tell her that, so instead said, “I want to get you in my dark car and kiss you over and over.”
“You’ve stayed away for weeks,” she accused.
His heart jumped. Did that mean she had wanted to see him as much as he’d wanted to see her? “You want to make me pay for making you wait?”
“Seems fair to me.” She finished the pineapple and bit a grape in half, then chewed, her eyes half closed in enjoyment.
“Cassie!” he groaned. “Eat!”
“My plate is emptier than yours,” she pointed out.
He looked down. She was right. He’d been too busy watching her to eat his own food. He set to work on the salad.
Then they went back for the main course, again choosing their favorites, he loading his plate with roast beef and mashed potatoes, she getting fried chicken and shrimp.
They both chose blackberry cobbler and ice cream for dessert.
“Want to play slots awhile?” she teased.
“Not when I can think of something better to do,” he growled, heading her toward the entrance. As they wove down the long aisle of machines, now fully crowded with players, they passed the cashier’s cages.
Chance noticed a familiar face there and started to steer Cassie around the line, but stopped as the guy began arguing with the cashier. “I’m sorry, sir, it’s our policy,” the cashier said, “no checks. You’ll have to use a credit or debit card.”
“Why are you stopping?” Cassie whispered.
“It’s Brad, the bakery van driver,” Chance breathed in her ear, though there was enough noise around them that no one would have paid any attention if he’d used his normal voice. “I don’t want him to notice us.”
“It won’t take my card,” Brad said, his voice slurred. “I’m out of cash. You gotta take my check. I needa win back some of my money.”
“He’s drunk,” Cassie whispered back.
“Looks that way.”
Just then, two burly security guards appeared. The cashier looked relieved, saying, “About time.” Obviously he’d called them. They led Brad outside, protesting all the way that he wanted to play some more, to win back some of the money he’d lost. “Damn machines are screwing me. You got them set way too tight,” he growled as he stumbled along between the security men.
Chance and Cassie hung back and Chance dug a few quarters from his pockets, then stopped to play one of the machines. “Let them get him to his car before we leave.”
Cassie nodded and began playing a machine near her. The woman next to her puffed on her cigarette, then shoved a twenty dollar bill into the money changer alongside of her slot machine. Immediately, lots of credits appeared on her screen and she happily began pressing buttons.
Cassie choked on the smoke and moved away.
“Come on, let’s get out of here before we run into someone else we know,” Chance said in her ear.
“Fine with me.”
“Too late,” he said, stopping and pulling her back against him. “Isn’t that blonde over there at the poker slot machine Jack’s girlfriend?”
“I don’t know. Jack who?”
“The Lilliput Bar’s bartender and bouncer.”
Cassie frowned, looking again. “Yes, I believe it is.”
“I’m sure it is. I interviewed them both the day after the murder.”
Cassie looked around her at the people playing slots. She’d only seen Jack a couple of times, but remembered him as a big guy. “Do you see Jack here, too?”
Chance glanced around the smoke hazy room and shook his head. “No, I don’t. But in this crowd, he could easily be around somewhere without us noticing him. Let’s go.”
She nodded and followed him to a side door. They walked out into the cool night air and she hugged her coat closer around her. They could hear arguing voices near the front door. “Wait here,” Chance said. He slipped around the corner to see what was happening. Cassie followed, ignoring his order.
Brad and the guards stood outside, arguing. As they watched, Brad stumbled off down a row of cars in the parking lot. The guards watched him go, apparently making sure he didn’t return to the casino.
“Do you think he has a gambling problem?” Cassie asked.
“Looks that way to me,” Chance said. Gamblers always needed extra money and often committed other crimes to get it. That brought Brad back to the top of his suspect list. He sighed, knowing he should alert the Wisconsin highway patrol that Brad was driving drunk, but doing that would also let the sheriff know where he was tonight. The two departments exchanged information all the time. Not a good idea.
“Forget him,” Chance said, wrapping his arms around her and taking advantage of the dark to get in a proper kiss, then another and another. Cassie cuddled up to him, giving as good as she got. “I’ve got more immediate things on my mind.”
She giggled and kissed him again.
“Come on,” he urged, moving them both toward his car. “It’s cold out here. My car will be warmer and more private.”
He helped her into his car and started the motor to get the heater going. “It’ll be warming up in just a few minutes,” he said. “In the meantime, come here.” He reached for her and wrapped his arms around her.
&nbs
p; She cuddled close, surprising him by not being in the least bit shy. “You taste delicious,” he told her. “Like strawberries and pineapple. I’ll have to bring you out here to eat again.”
“Sounds good to me,” she said against his lips, then kissed him again.
He slid a hand under her jacket, searching for that soft mound he’d felt against his chest earlier. Her nipple peaked under his fingers and she squirmed. Her hands crept up to the back of his head, her fingers playing with his hair.
He kissed her again, heat racing along his veins. She reached down and rubbed the bulge in his crotch. He groaned. Did he dare suggest renting a room? Naw, it was way too soon in their relationship. She’d turn him down flat. He pushed aside her blouse and bra and settled his lips on one stiff peak, then the other, making her arch toward him and moan in pleasure.
Something buzzed nearby and for a moment he didn’t know what it was.
She drew back and sat up. “Your phone, Chance.”
He opened it just as it went to voice mail. “Damn, it’s dispatch.” He punched keys to stop the message recording and return the call.
She waited for him to hang up, then asked, “What’s up?”
“More trouble. Another dead body.” Chance gave her another quick kiss and said, “Sorry, I have to go. Where’s your car? I’ll take you over to it.”
Cassie asked, “No need, it’s right over there. What in the world is going on? Our county hasn’t had a murder in years, and now two?”
He glanced at her. “I don’t know that it’s a murder, yet, Cassie. If it is, I’m thinking there’s probably some reason—some connection between the two. But you never know. Coincidences do happen.”
“I suppose. Is it anyone I know?” Cassie asked, straightening her clothes and buttoning her coat.
“I don’t know who it is or any details yet,” Chance answered. “Just that they found a body at a cabin on Deer Lake and I’m wanted there, now.” He gave her a quick kiss and sent her a wicked grin. “Now, get out of here so I can get going.”
She stuck out her tongue at him. “Thank goodness we drove here separately so I have my own wheels. Did you tell dispatch where you were going tonight?”
