731c3e32dd6349cda7e9d6caf76b901f

At the same time, Charles returned with empty hands.“Couldn’t find another chair, but I don’t mind getting a little dirty,” he announced before settling himself on the ground.

“Oh, I bet you don’t.” Sharon growled flirtatiously.

Charles’s cheeks turned beet red.

“Well, I best get back to Chester. Say, why don’t the two of you and Octo-Cat stop by mine later for coffee and gossip. What was your name again, dear?”

“Angie. And this is Charles.” Of course, she remembered the cat’s name, but not mine.

“Yes, definitely bring him along.” Sharon puckered her lips and made a smooch-ing sound, then burst out laughing yet again.

“Well, as Tigger says, TTFN!” she sang, blowing us both kisses as she left.

“Wow,” Charles said when the two of us were alone again. He got up from the grass and settled himself in the chair Sharon had just vacated.

“Yeah,” I agreed, then hung my head back and watched the clouds as they idled by.

Finally, a moment of peace.

Of course, it didn’t last anywhere near long enough.

“Over there! That’s her!” a familiar voice shouted.

When I lowered my gaze, I saw the woman from the Airstream marching straight at us with a police officer following hot on her heels.

Chapter Twelve

“She’s the one who did it!” the woman cried in hysterics.

I rose from my chair, and Charles did the same.“I’m the one who discovered the body,” I admitted.

“She’s guilty!” the woman shouted again even though we were only standing a few feet apart.

“Ma’am,” the officer said in a stern voice. “I’m going to have to ask you to give us some privacy.”

He then turned toward me.“Mind if we talk inside?”

Unfortunately“inside” was something of a problem. That’s where we had a rogue raccoon acting like a toddler while pretending to be a big-rig trucker.

I couldn’t exactly refuse a request from the police, and the longer I hesitated, the more suspicious we would appear.

I shot a glance to Charles, who met my gaze with a subtle nod.

Charles strode up to the door and pushed it open.

I whispered a quick prayer under my breath as the policeman and I followed him inside.

“Is everything all right, miss?” the officer asked, catching me as I frantically searched the camper’s living space.

No Pringle, which meant he was either hidden out of sight, or he’d snuck away despite my orders to remain put.

“I’m fine,” I answered, perhaps a bit too tersely.

Charles motioned toward the table that was flanked with booth seats.“She’s still in shock after that discovery. Please, won’t you come sit?”

He studied Charles with fresh interest.“Were you with her when she discovered the body?”

“No, but I’m Miss Russo’s attorney,” he answered glibly.

Now the officer turned back to me.“You sure lawyered up quick for someone that—”

“She’s also my girlfriend,” Charles added before the officer could take that any further. “We came up here for a relaxing getaway.”

The policeman slid into one side of the booth, and I took the other. Charles sat beside me and held my hand under the table. The officer eyed us both for moment before pulling out his notepad and beginning.

“Ms. Stevens out there seems pretty convinced you’re the one who killed our victim,” the policeman said slowly, keeping a careful watch on my reaction.

It took everything I had to remain calm. Yes, I’d been suspected of murder before, but that was on my home turf. Here, I knew no one, and no one knew me.

“She’s wrong.” I pressed my free hand flat on the table. “I’m just the one who had the bad luck of discovering—”

“And why is that?” the officer interrupted, clicking his pen. “Why were you in her trailer uninvited?”

“She was the one who—” I spat, but Charles raised a hand to stop me.

“Angie was urged to enter the premises when her knocks went unanswered. Ms. Stevens herself was the one who told her to proceed.”

“She said Junetta had an open-door policy,” I added in a whisper.

The policeman tapped his pen on his notebook for a few beats.“What did you need to see her about?”

“My client is not under suspicion. Is she?” Charles asked, flipping into full lawyer mode. He moved his eyes from the officer’s face down to the shiny badge on his shirt. “Officer Hamil, is it?”

“Yes, that’s my name. And we’re just gathering information right now,” he replied before getting up to wander the tight living space.

He stopped at the kitchenette.“Burnt grilled cheese sandwiches. Are you usually such a disaster in the kitchen, Ms. Russo? Perhaps you’re better at baking? Like, say, a pie?”

I gritted my teeth. Officer Hamil was clearly trying to rile me up. I knew that, and yet I had a hard time letting his rude and sexist remarks slide.

Charles squeezed my hand as a reminder that he was there for me, that he would make sure I came through this all right.“I was the one cooking lunch. Understandably, I stopped when Angie returned to the trailer and told me what she’d found.”

“Boyfriend, lawyer, and personal chef,” Hamil said to me with a wink. “Is there anything this guy doesn’t do?”