Tempted Again (29 page)

“Right. I heard that one of your teens is about to be arrested for the vandalism. Is it one of the girls over there?”

“No, of course it’s not,” Marissa said.

“Right. Girls aren’t vandals. Boys are.”

“That’s not true. And none of the teens committed that vandalism.”

“What about the missing money?”

“They didn’t steal any money either.”

“You sound pretty sure about that,” her mom said.

“I am sure.”

“What about Connor? Are you sure about him? Is he the One?”

Marissa looked over her mom’s shoulder to see her dad approaching. She welcomed his arrival. He’d never interrogate her about her private life the way her mom was. “Hi, Dad. How’s the traffic at your booth? It seems pretty busy today. A big crowd at the festival.”

“Have they found the culprit who defaced the booths and stole the money?” her dad said.

“Not yet,” Marissa said.

“You know what the ancient Egyptians did with thieves, don’t you?”

“No and I don’t want to know,” Marissa’s mom said. “I’m sure it involved bloodshed of some sort. Forget about the pharaohs and concentrate on your daughter.”

Her dad frowned at Marissa. “They don’t think you did it, do they?”

“No,” Marissa said.

“They think one of her teens in trouble did it,” her mom said. “But that’s not important.”

“Yes, it is,” Marissa interrupted her. “My teens aren’t in trouble. They’re good kids.”

“I just meant that I wasn’t talking about the vandalism. I was referring to Marissa and Connor,” her mom said before rolling her eyes and sighing. “Forget it,” she told her husband.

“I just stopped by to see if I could borrow a pen,” Marissa’s dad said. “I seem to have lost mine.”

“Of course you did.” Marissa’s mom’s voice reflected her growing agitation. She moved her fan closer to her increasingly red face. “You are so wrapped up in that silly booth of yours that you can’t even see what’s right in front of your nose.”

Marissa’s dad automatically reached up to the brim of his hat. “My pen’s not in front of my nose.”

“I give up!” Marissa’s mom said dramatically. “We’ll talk later, Marissa.”

“She doesn’t seem like a happy camper,” Marissa’s dad noted as his wife marched off. Turning his attention to Marissa, he abruptly said, “Do you have any idea what it was like being the only male in our otherwise all-female household? The estrogen levels were through the roof. They still are, as far as your mom is concerned.”

She gave him a pen along with some advice. “Whatever you do, do not bring up what ancient Egyptian women did to handle menopause.”

“Most didn’t live that long,” her dad said.

“I wouldn’t say that either.”

“I can’t say anything right so I don’t even bother
anymore,” he said. “Thanks for the pen.” He wandered away.

Marissa returned to the main section of the booth. “How are you girls doing? Do you need some water?” The library provided bottled water in a cooler for staff and volunteers.

“No one is donating any money,” Molly said. “It’s like they don’t trust us.”

“Someone actually told us that,” Tasmyn said. “They said we’d just take the money and buy something at the mall instead.”

“I’m so sorry,” Marissa said. “People can be idiots sometimes.”

Marissa tensed up as she saw her mom returning. “I forgot something,” her mom said before dropping a twenty into the donation box. “I’m going home. It’s too hot out here.”

Marissa suspected it was going to get a lot hotter.

*  *  *

“It’s urgent, huh?” Connor invited Spider and Nadine into his office and closed the door. “What’s going on?”

Ruby Mae knocked on his office door and popped her head in. “The mayor is on line one. He say’s it’s urgent.”

Connor gritted his teeth. As much as he wanted to blow off the mayor, he couldn’t do so. “I’ll be with you in a minute,” he told Nadine and Spider before picking up the phone.

“Doyle, here.”

“Sheriff, I’m hearing disturbing rumors here at the festival.” Mayor Bedford’s voice was thick with disapproval.

“There’s no law against gossiping,” Connor said.

“The gossip is about you and a certain librarian who works alongside you regarding the teens. There’s talk that the two of you are…an item, shall we say. And some are complaining that that’s why you won’t arrest Jose. Because of that certain librarian and your relationship with her. That she convinced you to go easy on him. What you do in your own time is your own business, Sheriff. But as mayor, I cannot allow you to have your personal prejudices color the investigation.”

“I’m not the one allowing personal prejudices to color anything.”

“Are you denying you and Marissa Barrett are a couple?”

“As you said, what I do in my own time is my own business.” Connor’s voice was curt.

“If the two of you are having an affair…”

“My personal life has no bearing on my job or my investigation. I’ve got to go.” Connor slammed the phone down.

“Did you just hang up on the mayor?” Spider asked.

“Yes, I did. And that info does not leave this office. No tweets,” he warned Nadine.

“Tweets helped us break this case,” she said. “You see, your brain isn’t wired the way ours is.”

Connor was about to say “Thank God for that” but held his tongue.

“Spider and I are digital natives. That means that, unlike you, we’ve always had digital technology. We are pros at multitasking. This is our world and we hold the keys to it,” Nadine said proudly.

“And if we don’t have the keys, we know how to unlock certain areas,” Spider said. “Jose isn’t guilty. Someone framed him.”

“I am actually smart enough to have figured that out on my own,” Connor said. “Even though I’m not a digital native.”

“You may have figured out he was framed, but have you figured out who did it?”

“Not yet,” Connor said.

“We have.” Spider’s face beamed with pride.

“Do I want to know how you did that?” Connor said.

“Probably not,” Spider admitted.

“See, the thing in law enforcement is that I need evidence I can use in a court,” Connor said. “Not something illegally obtained.”

“The mayor’s granddaughter was our first suspect,” Nadine said. “She was very angry that she came in second and that Jose got first place in that poetry jam at the Rhubarb Festival. She’s been holding a grudge ever since then. It’s all here on her Facebook page.” Nadine turned the open laptop to show Connor.

“How did you get access to her Facebook page?” Connor asked.

“She friended me. I was using an alias and said I was a huge fan of the TV show
Vampire Diaries
, as is she. Ian Somerhalder is her fave, so we posted about that.”

“There’s nothing illegal about holding a grudge,” Connor said.

“Or liking
Vampire Diaries
,” Spider added. “Although there should be.”

“I don’t see a confession that she framed Jose. And she has an alibi. She was home with her family,” Connor said.

“It wasn’t her. She’s a senior in high school but she has a nineteen-year-old boyfriend.” Nadine switched
screens to another Facebook page. “He’s not very smart. He posted some photos of himself at the festival.”

“With a can of spray paint?”

Nadine nodded. “Like I said, he’s not real smart. Did you question him?”

“I’m about to,” Connor said and headed for the door.

Nadine and Spider got up to go with him.

“No, you don’t. You two stay here. Or better yet, go home. And don’t breathe or tweet or post a word of this until I tell you to. Got that?”

“Yeah,” they said in unison.

“I just have one more thing to say to you both. Good job.” He gave them both a high five and a low down. “You should consider jobs in law enforcement.”

“In that case, we should come with you to observe your interrogation techniques,” Spider said.

“No, you shouldn’t. Remember, not a word. We don’t want to spook the suspect.”

“So you plan on ambushing him. Smart move,” Spider said.

“I’m so glad you approve,” Connor said. “Remember, not a word. I’m trusting you.”

“We got that,” Nadine said. “Go book ’em, Danno.”

*  *  *

Marissa had barely made it home and changed out of her work clothes when her mom called. She sounded on the verge of a panic attack. Marissa could relate. She felt that way herself since hearing that the news of her and Connor was now public gossip.

“I need your help!” her mom repeated.

“What’s wrong? Are you okay?”

“No, I’m not okay! I need you to come over here and talk to your father immediately.”

“Why? What happened?’

“I’ll tell you when you get here.”

“But…”

“I’m your mother and I’m saying that I need you.” Her mom’s agitation was growing by the second. “And you’re saying you can’t be bothered?”

“I didn’t say that,” Marissa protested.

“Then stop talking and get over here. It’s an emergency.”

Her mom was starting to freak Marissa out. “Should you call 911?”

“Not that kind of emergency,” her mom said. “Just get over here.” She hung up.

Marissa hoped her parents were okay and that this wasn’t some lame attempt to set her and Connor up. He had his hands full investigating the vandalism and theft. He needed to clear Jose’s name, not deal with Marissa’s crazy family. She tried calling him on his cell but it went to voice mail.

She decided against leaving a message and grabbed her car keys. It looked like she and her rust bucket VW were heading over to her childhood home on Tranquility Lane.

*  *  *

Connor sized up Todd Newman. The nineteen-year-old was nervously shifting from one foot to the other. He looked like the defensive lineman that he’d been in high school, from his buzz cut to his thick neck to his GO EAGLES tattoo.

“We have reason to believe that you were the one behind the vandalism and theft at the Corn Festival last night. I get it. You were pissed that your girlfriend didn’t get the poetry prize she deserved. Again, I get that. But I’ve got to tell you that posting that picture of you with the spray paint wasn’t a good move.”

“How do you know about that?” Todd’s nervousness increased.

“Here’s the deal, Todd. If you confess now and give me the money box we can keep this as a misdemeanor offense instead of something a lot more serious like a felony robbery. It’s your choice.”

“No one saw me.”

“Are you sure about that? We have surveillance camera footage.” There was a security camera on the bank across from the park. Connor never said that Todd was on the footage or where the cameras were.

He didn’t have to.

Todd swore and then crumbled. “Don’t tell my parents.”

“If you give me the money box, it will go better for you.”

“I didn’t spend any of the cash,” Todd said. “Not a penny.”

“Good. Where did you stash it?”

“In the trunk of my car. I was gonna move it.”

“Show me.”

Todd did.

“You’re going to have to come down to the station,” Connor said before reading him his rights.

“Don’t ever drink vodka and energy drinks together,” Todd said. “It makes you do crazy shit.”

“Yes, it does.”

An hour later, Connor had processed Todd. He’d called Jose and Red Fred to let them know they were cleared of this offense and warned them about the dangers of trespassing on city property after hours. “We’ll talk more tomorrow,” he told each of them.

“Tell Marissa I’m sorry I took her lunch from the library that one time,” Red Fred said. “Did you know she eats avocado and banana sandwiches? That’s just weird. But I was so hungry…I only did it the one time.”

“Make sure you don’t do it again,” Connor said in his best cop voice while writing a note to himself to find help for the food situation with Red Fred and his mom.

“Don’t forget to tell Marissa,” Red Fred said.

“I won’t.”

Connor barely hung up the phone when his office door flew open and Marissa stood there in shorts and a sexy tank top. She was breathing hard, making her breasts rise and fall in a way he found irresistible.

“I need to report a crime!” she gasped.

Chapter Nineteen

“What
happened?” Connor almost leapt over his desk in his hurry to get to her side. “Did someone hurt you?”

“It’s my parents.”

Connor frowned. “Someone threatened your parents?”

“
I
did. And then I locked them in a room in their house and told them to talk to each other.”

“That doesn’t sound like a crime to me.” Connor closed the door on his nosy staff and guided Marissa to the chair in front of his desk.

“My dad was threatening to call 911 because I took away his tech toys. His iPad and iPhone. I made sure there was no landline in the room and neither had their cell phones. It’s not like I plan to lock them up there for days.”

“How long do you plan on locking them up?”

“A couple of hours.”

“What if they need to use the bathroom?”

“There’s one attached. The bedroom used to be my sister’s. My parents put a lock on the outside of the door when she was thirteen and started sneaking out when she was grounded. The lock was still there and I used it.”