Echoes of Edisto by C. Hope Clark

Author:C. Hope Clark
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: BelleBooks Inc.
Published: 2021-04-04T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 14

BRICE LEGRAND MET Callie inside the glass door of the police department as Marie’s warning text about him came through. The councilman’s wife Aberdeen scowled in tandem at his elbow. The midday sun burned off the first sign of fall coolness outside, but there was no denying the heat indoors.

“Where the hell is the Edisto force?” Brice wasn’t one to talk with movement, but his cheeks reddened enough to take their place. “Not two days since our officer dies, and our three most seasoned police take off on personal business. What would we have done about another accident?”

“Or a death,” Aberdeen added, her carrot-hued tresses tied up in an asparagus green turban affair to augment her jungle tunic. A cartoon if there ever was one.

Callie pushed past the couple and went behind the counter, not inviting them to follow. Raysor came in the back door that led to the other administrative units of the government center. “I heard your voice all the way out back, Brice.”

“And the entire beach will hear it before I’m done,” the councilman bellowed, reaching for all available ears.

“Who said we were on personal business?” Callie asked, then leaned over to Marie and said low, “Please find something that needs my immediate attention.”

“Sorry, Chief,” Marie mumbled. “Nothing since Mr. LeGrand called earlier.”

“What call?”

But Marie shook her head, unwilling to say much in front of the guests.

Brice braced palms on the counter, elbows stiff. “Word has it you were in Middleton last night,” he said. “Visiting family when we’re shorthanded here at the beach. What kind of outfit do you run? This morning I asked for you, then Mike, then Don . . . everybody late coming in. Three out of a seven-member force with one of them dead, another off duty, and the other having already worked night shift . . . according to Marie.”

Marie grimaced a little, but Callie held nothing against the office manager who’d been intimidated by one of Edisto’s legacies.

Aberdeen’s silver bracelets clanked as she stiffened in defense of her husband. “Yes, thank heaven Thomas Gage was on duty, poor guy.”

Poor guy because he had to come to work? More like the one stuck dealing with these people. “Was there a problem?” Callie asked, wondering who notified Brice about her trip to Middleton. Of course . . . Aberdeen.

Of course she was. Sophie’s new BFF made sense now. Damn it, if Sophie was going to befriend everyone, foe and friend alike, in the name of whatever it was she practiced, the pixie lady had to judge when to keep her mouth shut. Apparently, Brice sicced his middle-aged birddog spouse on Sophie, a friend who championed Callie and adored Seabrook. Who wouldn’t talk about the ones she loves if baited properly?

Brice riveted his stare. “We had a domestic in a condo on Dock Site Road, but we diffused it.”

“We?” Callie asked, picking up several pieces of mail Marie slid across the desk to emphasize that the day’s business beckoned.

Brice stared down his nose.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.