Temptation Trails (The Haven Brothers #3)

I put the quiche in the oven and set the first timer. “What is the weirdest call you’ve ever had?”

He paused for a moment. “We get squirrel calls a lot. When Sheriff Cordero was new, we got a call about a squirrel stealing someone’s wallet. He got on the radio to chew out the deputy for responding to an obviously bogus call. We had to explain to him that the squirrels around here actually do steal things. The wallet was recovered.”

I laughed. “A wallet?”

“Wallet, keys, picnic lunches. Once I responded to a call at this older gentleman’s home. He had a garden in his backyard and he swore up and down that his neighbor was stealing his peppers. Turned out it was a squirrel.”

“How did you figure it out?”

“Set up surveillance.”

“You set up surveillance to catch a squirrel stealing garden peppers?”

“It was just one of those doorbell cameras. Right after dawn, a little squirrel sat there, helping himself to the guy’s peppers.”

“Were they spicy?”

“That was why the guy was so convinced it had to be his neighbor. Squirrels don’t usually eat anything spicy. Apparently that one was the exception.”

“Hopefully he made up with his neighbor.”

“I think he did.”

“Keeping Tilikum safe, even from the squirrels.”

“Just doing my job.”

Fortunately, bad luck didn’t strike. The quiche came out perfectly, I didn’t drop anything, and my mom didn’t call unexpectedly in the middle of dinner—all things my bad luck could have done to mar our evening.

The surprising thing was, it was all so easy. The conversation, the connection. Garrett loved my cooking, and we ate and talked until I was having a hard time staying awake. I apologized but he didn’t mind.

I found myself wishing he didn’t have to leave. That, instead of a long goodnight with tempting kisses, we were heading to the bedroom together.

Too soon, right? Way too soon to be thinking like that.

But sugar cookies, he was everything. And my heart wanted more.

CHAPTER 16

Garrett

I’d hit on a stroke of luck and found the sister of my cold case victim. Jocelyn Joyner, who’d gotten married and now went by Jocelyn Smith, still lived in the area, in a small neighborhood on the south edge of town. We didn’t have a current phone number, so I was hoping my luck would hold and she’d be willing to talk to me if I just showed up at her front door.

Instead of my uniform, I’d worn plain clothes—a button-down shirt and slacks. I had my badge and ID with me, but people were often more willing to talk to a guy in regular clothes than a deputy in uniform. I wanted to make her comfortable, especially since I was there to talk about a difficult topic.

Her house was nice, a big two-story with a well-maintained yard. No cars out front, but they might have been in the garage. I parked on the street, went up to the front door, and knocked.

A woman with long dark hair pulled back at the nape of her neck answered the door. She wore a blouse and slacks, like maybe she’d recently come home from work. “Can I help you?”

“Afternoon. Sorry to intrude, but are you Jocelyn Smith?”

“Yes.”

“I’m Deputy Garrett Haven with the Tilikum County sheriff’s office. I’m wondering if I could ask you some questions about your sister, Jasmine.”

“What about her?”

“I’m looking into her case.”