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PEPPER LOOKED OVER her shoulder at Gertie. “That wasn’t your latest batch of Sinful Ladies cough syrup, was it?”
Gertie shook her head firmly. “I don’t brew medicine at home. You should know that by now!”
Celia sniffed in disapproval, although Pepper knew for a fact she purchased a bottle every week from Walter’s General Store.
The entire crowd moved toward the front windows of the café. Ida Belle got there first, and with one raised eyebrow gave the command to stay. They obeyed like well-trained dogs.
Ida Belle stepped out onto the sidewalk and looked in the direction of the sound. When she came back in, she broke the news, “Well, Mr. Bryce, I don’t think you’ll be going anywhere on that tour bus ever again. From what I can see, pieces of it are probably scattered from here to the next parish.”
Owen leaped out of his chair. His accent wasn’t quite as pronounced when he burst out with, “What the hell?” and ran out of the café, then down the sidewalk toward his former traveling home. Everyone followed him outside. Pepper had to admit he looked really good in motion. She noticed most of the women and maybe a couple of the men apparently thought the same thing, since they couldn’t take their eyes off his perfectly-fitting jeans.
Pepper saw black smoke rising from where the tour bus must have been parked around the corner. There were also twisted pieces of metal and what looked like blackened, melted chunks of upholstered furniture scattered on the street.
As everyone stood watching Owen’s flawless running stride—Pepper decided he must have run track in high school, maybe even college—Deputy Carter LeBlanc’s patrol vehicle zipped by with flashers and siren going at full speed. Pepper was surprised he was working on a Sunday. Usually at this time of the day, people were either heading home after lunch at Francine’s, or sitting around their homes eating their own version of Sunday dinner in front of their televisions.
A few people broke away from the group and followed Owen. They didn’t look familiar to Pepper, and she decided they must be members of Owen’s tour group. They stopped on the sidewalk to talk, and she heard one of them say, “Where’s Courtney? Did anyone see her walk down here with us?” The others looked around, and one of them started texting, probably trying to locate Courtney.
The crowd watched as Owen skidded to a stop and looked at the remains of the tour bus from a safe distance. Carter parked a couple of seconds later and got out of his vehicle. He spoke briefly into his radio, then he walked over to Owen and introduced himself. Deputy Carter LeBlanc was a tall, handsome man in his early thirties and a former Navy SEAL, which meant he didn’t get rattled even when there was a burning bus in the middle of town. He did most of the police work in Sinful, leaving Sheriff Lee to enjoy his days of complete freedom from actual work.
While Carter spoke to Owen, most of the crowd moved as one toward where the action was happening. Phones were out, wild theories were tossed about, and a nervous energy flowed through everyone.
Carter noticed the mass of bodies moving in his direction, and he held up a hand to stop them. “Listen, folks, you all need to move to the sidewalks and not come any closer. The fire department will be on the way through soon, and we don’t want anyone in their way. Also, we don’t want you to injure yourselves on any hot pieces of metal or other wreckage. Until I know what’s going on for sure and everything is cleaned up, I’m going to block this area off as a crime scene. Does everyone understand me?”
Reluctant nods answered him, and Pepper noticed a few residents slipping off to get closer to the scene from other directions. Gertie grabbed her hand and pulled her along behind herself and Ida Belle. Pepper wasn’t sure she wanted to see the actual bus, but it was one of those things you just couldn’t look away from. So she followed Gertie down a couple of streets and found herself suddenly looking at things from a different perspective.
The bus was directly in front of them, no longer parked around a corner and hidden behind buildings. It was a blackened, hulking mass of metal and fiberglass that would never be driven again. The interior was still burning. Glass from the bus windows littered the street. That must have happened when the bus exploded. The tires had melted and burned, but they still sent choking black smoke into the air. From Pepper’s viewpoint, it looked like the back of the bus had sustained most of the damage, but she doubted anything could be salvaged.
They watched as the fire department arrived to set up a crime scene perimeter as well as make sure no secondary fires caused further damage. After collecting cell phones from Owen and the other tour group members, Carter led them toward the police station to take their statements.
Ida Belle said, “I wonder which one of them did it?”
Pepper replied, “Did you hear them say someone was missing? Do you think she was inside when this happened?”
All three looked at the destruction and shuddered.
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SOMETIME IN THE MID-afternoon, Carter stood with Owen away from the crowd. Owen watched the smoldering remains of the tour bus the entire time Carter was speaking, just nodding his head once in a while to show he understood. When Carter was finished talking, they shook hands and Carter got back into his patrol vehicle. The rest of Owen’s personal group clustered around him, hoping for news and a happy ending.
Word spread through the crowd that the remains of the explosion were too hot to investigate. The state crime lab was on their way to gather evidence and determine what had actually happened. In the meantime, Carter had personally requested certain residents take in the tour group members because there were currently no rooms available at the Sinful Inn—a rash of domestic altercations within the extended Simon-Lespere family had resulted in half of them taking up residence there. Carter had ordered Owen’s group to remain in Sinful until his investigation was finished.
While Pepper watched the goings-on from her vantage point in front of Francine’s, a giant pickup truck pulled in to park directly in front her, blocking her view. Her irritation turned to something softer when she saw who was driving—Jaxson LeBlanc, the hottest man south of the Mason-Dixon line. She honest-to-god wiped a bit of drool from the corner of her mouth as she watched him get out of the truck and walk toward her.
At six foot three and in his late thirties, Jaxson was amazingly gorgeous. His short, wavy black hair and three-day scruff looked like it had been styled for a romance novel cover. His deep green eyes sparkled and Pepper’s panties melted.
“Hello, Yankee lady,” he said as he pulled her in for a kiss. Since everyone else in town seemed focused on the brewing fight over Owen’s accommodations, Jaxson took advantage of the relative privacy to hold Pepper a little tighter and kiss her more deeply than he usually did in public.
When they broke apart, Pepper knew she had a dreamy, just-had-the-hell-kissed-out-of-her look on her face, but she didn’t care. Finally, her brain started functioning, and she said, “Things are crazy in town right now. Are we still on for that shooting lesson tonight?”
“Well, Carter called me and asked if I would be able to take a guest in for a night or two, but we can still do the shooting lesson if you don’t mind Owen being around.”
“Owen Bryce?”
“Yep. Carter wanted to head off any potential injuries between Celia and Gertie, so he called me and I agreed. I’m here to whisk Owen off to the Fortress of Solitude.”
Loud, angry voices began to reach them from the other side of Jaxson’s truck. Pepper gestured toward the voices and said, “Sure, I’ll still come out to the range after my shift is over and I grab a shower. But I would suggest you rescue Owen right now, before Gertie and Celia tear him in half.”
Jaxson kissed Pepper on the forehead and made his way into the crowd. Pepper moved around the truck and watched him go. She felt the lingering sparks from his kisses, but her mind was nagging her to have a serious conversation with him sooner rather than later. Although they had been back in Sinful for several days since their whirlwind trip to Pepper’s family reunion, she still had not broached the subject of Jaxson’s lying to her about the contents of his suitcase. Neither had she mentioned it to Ida Belle and Gertie, who had been mentioned in Jaxson’s lie. She still wasn’t sure if they were a party to the coverup or not.