The Detective(26)

He just shrugged and shoved a forkful of ham into his mouth.

I leaned into Shannon. “I should’ve warned you about my family.”

She smiled and dabbed her napkin on her lips. “I like them.”

Looking around the table, I wasn’t sure if they would say the same.

Deciding to change the subject, I looked at Dad. “So about this game… are they playing UNC at home this weekend?”

Chuck rolled his eyes. “Would I have driven all the way from Tennessee for any other game?”

I slammed my napkin down on the table. “Damn it.”

“Nathan! Carter’s here. Watch your mouth!” Mom yelled.

“Damn it,” Carter echoed, then burst into giggles.

Lara clamped her hand over his mouth and shot me a hateful glare.

I held up my hands. “Sorry.” I leaned an elbow on the table. “I wonder how much scalped tickets are going for.”

Lara smirked. “You’re going to buy illegally scalped basketball tickets, Mr. Law Enforcement Officer?”

I shrugged and sat back in my chair. “It’s the biggest game of the season.”

No one argued.

Mom cleared her throat. “Nathan, are you forgetting about your houseguest?”

Oops.

I looked at Shannon. “Do you like basketball?”

She smiled. “I’d love to go to the game!”

Well, that’s a point in her favor.

Then she spoke again.

“I really hope the Tarheels make it to the championship!”

And that was all she wrote for Shannon Green.





ELEVEN





FOR THE REST of my weekend with Shannon, I was flooded with phone calls from my mother, my sister, and even Chuck. Lara was the least delicate of the bunch, threatening my life if I married Shannon or accidentally got her pregnant. Mom was polite, but she apologized for forcing the family dinner so quickly. And Chuck… well, his response was ‘If it doesn’t work out, send her my way. She’s hot and I’m sure she can make a sandwich.’ He’s a classy dude, my brother.

We didn’t go to the game either. I didn’t even get to watch it on television because Shannon wanted to go see some romantic comedy with that blonde chick from Grey’s Anatomy, whose last name looks like a vagina exercise. It was an excellent way to spend a Saturday. Right.

Shannon left early on Sunday and I watched the game on DVR. But because I have a police scanner, I already knew who won. It wasn’t nearly as much fun watching, knowing State lost 63 to 54.

And before I knew it, Monday arrived and I was pulling back into my parking space at the sheriff’s office—at the exact same time as the lieutenant. I muttered a few explicatives before getting out of my SUV.

“Good morning, Lieutenant.” I carried my hazelnut coffee around his car. “Did you have a nice weekend?”

“Reese said that you made a connection with the break-ins.” He slammed his driver’s side door. “Why wasn’t I briefed on it?”

The muscle worked in my jaw as I tried to calm my temper. “You were out on Friday, sir.”

“I have a phone.”

I nodded and fell in step behind him. “Yes, but there was no reason to bother you on your day off, so I decided to wait until first thing this morning.”

He spun on his heel toward me. “Detective, you’re on thin ice with me as it is. I don’t think you’re pulling your weight on this case. So I suggest that any time you have even the smallest crumb of information, you pass it along to me directly.” Droplets of spit sprayed my sunglasses. “Your job depends on it!”

Frozen to the ground, I watched as he stormed inside the building. What I had done to make him hate me so much, I wasn’t sure. This conversation confirmed it though; Carr was gunning for my job. After a moment, I trudged inside after him.

Marge looked worried. “You all right?”

“You heard that?”

She just nodded.

I forced a smile. “I’m fine. How was your weekend?”

“The grandbaby shoved seven rolls of toilet paper down the toilet, then flushed it.” She looked at me and frowned. “He’s a little less cute now.”

I laughed. “Have a good day, Marge.”

“You too, Detective.” She smiled. “Keep your chin up.”

Sucking in a deep breath, I pushed the office door open and walked in like I hadn’t just been verbally kicked in the nuts outside. When I went into my office, I shut the door behind me, but by the time I’d made it around to my desk Reese had reopened it and walked in.

“Morning, sunshine,” he said.

“Ugh.”

He sat down across from me. “That good, huh?”

I relayed the conversation with our boss.