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Evie and I had a quick and mostly quiet breakfast at the local diner, then I dropped her off at her house and headed into the station. She looked much better after eating. I tried to convince her to have dinner with me after she closed the shop, but once again she shot me down. I reminded myself to be patient and give her time to come around, but it was getting harder and harder. Now that I’d tasted her, I only wanted her more.
As I drove back through town, I tried to puzzle out what was going on with the two of us. It was clear to me that I loved her, that I had loved her since the moment I laid eyes on her, but she was also the most stubborn and frustrating woman I’d ever dated.
If we could call what we were doing dating. I guessed one hate fuck and eating her out on the counter didn’t really make a relationship. The attraction between us was nothing short of explosive. And waking up with her in my arms had been incredible, despite her grumpy disposition. I wanted to do it again every morning for the rest of my life. But I was at a loss on how to move forward with her and break down her walls.
What I hadn’t told her is what else she said to me last night. After telling me that she liked me, she’d added, “It’s too bad Jake’s a damn cop or I would totally fall for him.”
I’d asked her to tell me why she hated cops, but she passed out before I could get any more information. Clearly she’d had a bad experience with a cop before, but without knowing what happened, it was hard to put her mind at ease. I wondered what it would take to get her to open up to me.
My cell phone buzzed later that morning with a message from Wyatt. The billionaire and I met when I was helping him with a security issue not long after I became police chief. We’d clicked and become fast friends, often getting together to grab a beer or watch sports. I hadn’t seen as much of him the last two months since he’d fallen in love with his nurse, Emma, after having an emergency appendectomy.
Wyatt: How about meeting for a drink tonight?
Jake: I’m off at seven.
Wyatt: I’ll meet you at our usual place at seven-thirty.
When I got to the bar, Wyatt was already there, an open stool by his side. We shook hands and I ordered a beer.
“How were your drunken patients?” I asked him.
Wyatt chuckled. “They both felt better after they puked. I told them they are too old to be drinking like that.”
“What did they say?”
“Emma told me to fuck off and Dawn gave me the finger without lifting her head off my kitchen table.”
I laughed. “Sounds like you have your hands full with that girlfriend of yours.”
“I was going to say the same thing to you, man.”
I groaned, remembering how I’d had to carry Evie away last night as she flailed around with her broom, screeching, and swearing.
“Yeah, Evie seems to hate me, except sometimes she doesn’t. She’s it for me, I’m totally in love with her, but she so independent and prickly, it’s getting frustrating. I think it has at least something to do with my job, because she keeps telling me she doesn’t date cops.”
“Did she tell you her father was a cop?”
My head swung his way. Evie had told me next to nothing about herself, probably because we were usually fighting. “No.”
Wyatt took a drink of his beer, his expression thoughtful.
“I probably shouldn’t tell you this, but I overheard Emma and Dawn talking this morning. They were debating about whether Evie hated you as much as she says she does, or if she’s just trying to hide how much she’s into you.”
“She’s hiding it pretty well,” I said miserably.
“Then Dawn said that no matter how much she likes you, Evie could never be in a relationship with a cop, after the way her father was so abusive to his wife and kids. It’s a hard line for her.”
My blood ran cold. “Her father abused her?”
“I asked Emma about it later. She said he was a cop with a penchant for violence, and the local cops protected him because he was one of their own. Never arrested him, no matter how much he knocked around his wife. It took the mother years to get away, and by then Evie was out of the house and on her own.”
Suddenly Evie’s comments about dirty cops were making more sense.
“Anyway, Emma would kill me if she knew I was telling you this, but I saw the way you were looking at her last night and...I see now that I’m not the only one who’s found love.”
“Yeah, but Emma didn’t actively hate you when you got together.”
“No. But she didn’t trust me, and my having money was not a point in my favor with that one. If I’d had any doubts about her character, her complete disinterest in my money dispelled them.”
He took another sip of beer and smirked.
“Now she’s totally into me. I can’t wait to marry her.”
“You’re getting married already?” I said louder than I probably should.
Wyatt shushed me. “I’m waiting a while to ask her. Emma’s like a deer, you have to approach her gently, with no fast movements.”
“If Emma is a deer, Evie is a feral cat.”
Wyatt laughed. “You’re not wrong about that one, my friend. But it sounds like she cares more than she lets on, based on what I overheard from Dawn and Emma.”
When I finished with Wyatt, I headed home. I was tempted to go over to Evie’s, but I figured she needed space. I settled on the couch to watch some ESPN. The phone woke me up just before midnight. Somehow I wasn’t surprised that it was Johnston.
“Chief?” Johnston’s voice was wary, like he was expecting me to be mad.
“What did she do now?” I asked, knowing this had to be about Evie.
“Um, you’d better come to the bookstore. You need to see this for yourself.”
For the second time in a week, I grabbed my shoes and service weapon and raced over to Boozy Books in the middle of the night.
All the lights were on in the shop, with Johnston standing guard by the open door.
“Status report,” I barked at him.
He stepped aside with a grimace.
“I was doing my patrol and I found this.”
I stepped into the store and stopped in my tracks. Evie, Emma, and Dawn were all there, surrounding a blonde man who was sitting on the floor, immobilized by duct-tape wrapped around him from his ankles to his knees. His arms were taped to his body, and another strip of duct tape covered his mouth. The man looked furious. I recognized him from the mugshots as Brian Peterson. Officer Reyes stood close by, his eyes pinned to the group as if expecting more trouble.
Evie held her paintball rifle, pointing it at the man’s head. The large splatters of paint on Peterson’s chest, abdomen, and thigh told me that Evie had gotten several good shots off the guy. Dawn held a broom, brandishing it like a weapon, while Emma was recording everything on her phone. I had a bad feeling I’d be seeing this on the town’s Facebook page within a few hours.
“What the ever-loving fuck is going on here?” I bellowed.
Evie jumped, turning to face me with a defiant glare. “We did what the police couldn’t. We captured Brian Peterson.”
“Caught him in the act too,” Dawn said, pointing to a large knife and a can of spray paint several feet away on the floor.
I rubbed my temples.
“Can someone start from the beginning please?”
“You’re never going to believe this,” Reyes muttered.
“The girls and I were standing guard,” Evie began. “We figured he was coming in the back door, to avoid anyone seeing him through the front windows, so we slicked up the floor by the door with oil.”
She pointed behind her and I had flashes of that movie where the parents left the kid home alone to fight burglars.
“When we heard the door squeak, we got into position. Brian here crept in like the lowlife scum he is, and as we planned, he slipped on the oil like a cartoon character with a banana peel.” Her mouth quirked. “Then we covered him with a fishing net.”
That explained the large net on the floor next to the puddle of what looked like cooking oil.
“I can’t believe this worked,” Reyes added, shaking his head. “These ladies are straight up crazy.”
Evie shot him a look that was so venomous I felt my balls crawl up into my body.
“He managed to get out of the net before we could restrain him, so I shot him a few times with the paint ball gun. He fell on the floor, stunned. Then we all sat on him to keep him still while we duct taped his hands and legs to secure him until you guys could arrest him.”
“Then he called us cunts, so we duct taped his damn mouth,” Dawn added, proudly.
“Well Brian, I guess you would have gotten away with it if it hadn’t been for these meddling kids.”
Evie gave me a look of shock. “Did you just make a joke? And a Scooby Doo reference? I didn’t know you had it in you.”
I pointed at her and gave her my best glower. “You’re going to need to be quiet, or I’m arresting all of you for obstruction of justice.”
“Obstruction?” she scoffed. “I think what you mean to say is, thank you for solving my case for me.”
That was it. I was done. Clearly Evie had no concern about her personal safety. My heart pounded as I thought of all the things that could have happened while they were playing detective. A trained cop and felon against three middle-aged women? I couldn’t believe no one had been hurt. If I had lost her...
I looked at Johnston and Reyes.
“Can you handle this?” I asked. “Lock him up and then get these ladies home.”
“Yes sir,” they answered in unison.
I grabbed Evie’s wrist.
“You’re coming with me.”