The Missing Dough(39)

“No, I think this will be fine,” Chief Hurley said. He turned and walked toward the black BMW without a word, a gesture, or even a glance in our direction.

“Good luck, ladies,” Chief Hudson said to us as he offered us an imaginary tip of the hat and then walked after our chief of police.

“Too many chiefs, not enough Indians,” Maddy said as soon as he was out of hearing range. “I’ve been dying to say that since Kevin Hurley first drove up.”

“I’m glad you managed to restrain yourself as long as you did,” I said, glancing over at the car. Kevin Hurley was now in the car’s passenger seat, and Chief Hudson was sitting in the back, behind Bernie Maine. I would have felt sorry for the man except for the fact that he might have killed Maddy’s ex-husband. As it was, he was a crook who most likely deserved everything he got, if even half the stories we had heard about him were true.

After three minutes the doors to the car opened, and the two chiefs got out. Chief Hudson said something to his deputy, who reluctantly moved his car out of the way so Bernie Maine could drive off.

“You’re just letting him go after all the trouble we went to, to find him?” Maddy asked loudly.

Chief Hurley held a warning finger up to her, and she backed off immediately. Maddy knew as well as I did that there were times when we could push him and times when we could not. This was clearly one of those latter times.

Bernie Maine drove away, and so did Chief Hudson and his deputy.

At least Chief Hurley waited until they were gone before he finally approached us.

“Of all the harebrained, risky, senseless, and stupid things you two have ever done, this is the topper of them all. What were you thinking?”

“We’re trying to catch a killer. What are you thinking?” Maddy asked, the outrage full in her voice.

“Maddy, take a deep breath and think about it. What if your suspicions are right and that man is a killer? Does it make any sense at all to confront him alone? What would keep him from coming after the two of you if he really is the killer?”

I did what he suggested and considered it for a moment, and then I realized that perhaps we had been a little rash. “We’re sorry,” I said as contritely as I could manage.

“We are?” Maddy asked, her tone of voice showing that she was still ready for a fight.

I shook my head slightly, and she folded in a little on herself.

“What she said,” Maddy said as she pointed to me. “We’re sorry.”

“Good. I accept your apologies,” Chief Hurley said with a nod. “And it’s never going to happen again, right?” When we didn’t answer, he asked the question again. “Right?”

“That we won’t promise, and you know it,” I said. “We don’t want to lie to you. But our intentions were good here.”

“Don’t get me started on where good intentions lead,” he answered.

“Okay, we get it. Consider us scolded,” I said. “Did Bernie Maine tell you anything important?”

I wasn’t sure what reaction I was expecting from my question, but the laughter I got in reply wasn’t even on the list. “You two take the cake. You know that, don’t you?”

“Hey, he’d have been long gone if it wasn’t for us. Come to think of it, he is long gone, so I guess we didn’t do any good at all,” Maddy said.

“I wouldn’t go that far,” Chief Hurley said. “We have a meeting scheduled for tomorrow morning in my office.”

“What makes you think he’ll show up?” I asked.

“He’s not stupid,” the chief said. “He clearly hadn’t thought it through, getting ready to just take off like that. Maine panicked, and I reminded him that the best thing he could do was stick around and see what happens.”

“The guy’s a con man,” Maddy said loudly. “What makes you think that you can believe a single word he says?”

“He’ll show up, because his attorney had already told him the same thing that we did. There’s no doubt in my mind we can trust him, at least that far.”

I didn’t know if I was as accepting of that as the chief was, but I knew that if I didn’t get Maddy out of there, she was going to get us both into even more trouble. Though she’d echoed my apology, even I had doubted the sincerity of it.

As my sister started to reply, I nudged her gently and the chief said, “I thought you two had a pizza place to run. Josh has a shift this evening, right?”

“He does, and you’re right. We shouldn’t keep him waiting. We’ll see you back in town. Thanks for coming.”