After all his mess-ups? Yeah, he did. He couldn’t fault his father for wanting to ensure his hard work wouldn’t be squandered.

“Yes sir.”

“Good. You hang in. I like what I’ve been seeing. Drive safe going home.” He squeezed his arm and left him on the porch.

As the door shut behind him, Tyler muttered a word that would have shocked his mother.

Why, oh why, had he caved? What he’d done at Wilson’s place may have been wrong, but he’d only been trying to help his father. However, he had no such selfless excuses for Mavis Templeton or his other lapses. Those had been about supplementing his income at the feedstore, pure and simple.

Shoving his hands in his pockets, he descended the steps and trudged toward his car.

His father was going to find out about the Templeton woman. Guaranteed. The sheriff wasn’t finished with him yet.

And once his father discovered his son was in the middle of what appeared to be a murder investigation, any hope he had of returning to the man’s good graces would vanish as fast as a spooked rabbit in the sights of a coyote on the hunt.

9

GRACE STOPPED in front of the county courthouse and huffed out a breath, hoisting her tote into a more comfortable position.

This was crazy.

She had absolutely no justification for dropping by the sheriff’s office on this Monday afternoon. A quick phone call would have sufficed. She could pass on the information she had in a few short sentences.

Except she’d wanted to see him.

That was the truth of it, and a woman in a truth-seeking profession ought to face facts.

But she didn’t have to follow through on her impulse to stop in. It would be much safer to talk to him by phone. From the other end of the line, he wouldn’t be able to see any of the telltale blushes that were the bane of redheads and could clue him in to the real motivation for her visit.

Namely, that she was attracted to him. Big time.

Yep. Much more prudent to make a fast exit.

Pivoting, she hustled down the stone steps toward her car.

“Dr. Reilly!”

At the greeting, she halted and peered down the sidewalk, shading her eyes against the glare of the one o’clock sun.

Eleanor Duncan waved at her.

Well, shoot. Could her timing have been worse?

The sheriff’s department admin hurried over to join her. “I haven’t seen you in a while.”

“Hello, Eleanor. I don’t have much cause to swing by here unless I’m working on a tricky case.”

“Thank the Lord we don’t have many of those. Unless a new one popped up?”

“No. The past week has been routine.”

“Routine is underrated. Normal days are a blessing.” The woman motioned toward the courthouse. “If nothing thorny has come up, what brought you here today?”

“I, uh, had a small matter to discuss with the sheriff. But I know he’s busy, so I decided to handle it with a text or email.”