Family Secrets by Shawn McGuire

Author:Shawn McGuire [McGuire, Shawn]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Shawn McGuire
Published: 2017-05-08T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 20

I pulled into the campground and over to Tripp’s popup. A few more tents had moved in since yesterday, but most sites were still empty. I let Meeka out but instructed her to stay by the Cherokee. She crawled underneath it.

“Tripp?” I called softly as I rapped on the camper door. There was no answer, so I tried again. “Tripp? It’s Jayne.”

“I thought we were running on Pine time,” came a muffled response. “It’s only eight-thirty. Is this the kind of boss you’re gonna be?”

“I don’t care when you get to work,” I responded with a laugh. “And it’s after nine. I just wanted to let you know I won’t be around until later this afternoon.”

“Hang on.”

Shuffling noises came from within the popup followed by a thump and a curse. A few seconds later, the door opened.

“Stubbed my toe thanks to—” He stopped talking mid-sentence. “Look at you.”

I held my hands out to the side and looked down at the uniform, feeling oddly proud and self-conscious at the same time.

Tripp stepped out of the camper, examined the badge pinned over my heart, and tugged on my stubby ponytail. “Gotta say it. The uniform is kinda hot.”

I flushed as he continued his inspection. “What are you looking for?”

“Duh. Handcuffs.”

“Haven’t gotten them yet.” My heat level grew, despite the fact that I’d heard the same or similar comments from numerous people—men and women alike. I hadn’t expected it from Tripp. “Anyway, I wanted to let you know that the garbage bin arrived. You can start whenever, but police pup and I will be patrolling the village this morning. You have the key?”

He jerked a thumb over his shoulder at the camper. “In there.”

“I’ll set a schedule with the sheriff. Then I’ll have a better idea of when I can help around the house.”

“Okay.” Tripp grinned and leaned in to give me a quick kiss on the cheek. “Have a good day at work, honey.”

I laughed, realizing how domestic the whole conversation sounded, and turned to leave. When I did, I noticed that along with the new tents in the area, the one at the far end was missing.

“Where’s Yasmine’s tent?” I asked.

Tripp squinted down to the far end of the campground. “Dunno.”

I headed that direction and stopped outside the cluster of tents where Keko and her posse had made camp.

“Anyone awake?” I called and clapped my hands like an annoying summer camp counselor. “Hello?”

“Yeah,” a man’s voice grumbled from inside one of the tents. “Gimme a sec.”

The army-green tent shook a bit as the zipper went up and Duane Crawford stuck his head out. The second he saw me standing there, his head dropped forward.

“What’s going on?” He didn’t seem at all surprised to see a uniformed officer standing outside his tent. “Who’s in trouble?”

“No one’s in trouble, Duane.”

He narrowed his eyes, trying to place me. “You were here yesterday. Asking all sorts of questions about Yasmine.”

“I was. I’ve got one more.” I gestured toward the spot where her tent used to be.

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.