“This is nice,” I said quietly, really thinking I might go stir crazy if we did this for much longer.
Alex lowered his gaze to look at me and smiled. “It is. I can’t remember the last time we just relaxed like this.”
Disappointed he was actually enjoying just lying around in the middle of the day, I forced a smile and nodded. “Yeah.”
“If only you weren’t so fidgety. It’s like you’re going out of your mind when you’re supposed to be appreciating this day off,” he said with a chuckle.
“No, no. It’s not that at all.”
He arched his right eyebrow like he did whenever he heard something that didn’t seem right. “No? Good.”
Turning his attention to the TV, he settled back into his relaxation mode while I quietly wondered if he’d get tired of this soon. I certainly hoped he would.
Less than five minutes later, my need to do something—anything—overwhelmed me, and I jumped up from the couch. Alex looked up at me with worry in his eyes.
“What’s wrong? Are you okay?”
I spread my arms wide to punctuate my point and finally told him the truth. “I can’t lay around anymore. I’m going crazy! I know you’re loving having an afternoon off, but I think if I watch another episode of that show, I’m going to lose it.”
Whenever I said things like that, he always listened patiently and then chuckled at my outburst. Sitting up, he stretched his arms above his head and yawned big.
“Well, I guess we have been lounging around for a while. Do you want to do anything, or were you just bored?”
“I guess I’m not very good at relaxing. I can’t seem to do it for more than a few minutes, unless I’m sleeping.”
“That’s not relaxing then. That’s sleeping.”
I rolled my eyes at his need to make that distinction. “Okay. So now that we’ve established that relaxation isn’t my thing, do you want to do something?”
Alex stood from the couch and dipped his head to kiss me. He cradled my face in his palms and pressed his forehead to mine. “Your hyperactivity is one of the things I love best about you. Give me time to grab a shower and we’ll go for a ride or something.”
Rubbing my hand along his still mostly smooth jaw, I said, “Great! You don’t have to shave, so about fifteen minutes?”
He kissed the top of my head and laughed as he walked away toward the stairs. “Make it twenty. I might want to enjoy my shower.”
Not five minutes later, my phone vibrated across the top of the coffee table. I picked it up and saw it was my father. I hadn’t spoken to him in almost three days and had a feeling he was calling to check on me to make sure I was still alive.
Answering it, I bypassed hello and immediately launched into my apologies for being such an absent daughter. “I’m sorry, Dad. I just realized we haven’t spoken for the past few days. I’ve just been busy with this case and a bunch of other things. How are you doing?”
My father’s deep voice came through the phone and I knew he understood. “It’s fine, honey. I’m good. I just figured you and Alex were involved in a case, but I just saw Derek at the end of my bar again and I hear Alex isn’t a cop in town anymore? He wouldn’t say much, but I think this might be the cherry on top of the awful cake our police chief has been forced to eat lately.”
“What do you mean?”
What else was Derek dealing with beyond the issue with Alex? What was this awful cake my father was talking about?
“Nothing. I’m more interested in what’s going on with you and Alex? Did he really quit his job? What happened?”
I heard the genuine concern in my father’s voice and quickly worked to let him know everything was okay with the two of us. “He did. Well, sort of, I guess. It’s not a big deal, though, Dad.”
“It sounds like a big deal, Poppy.”
My father didn’t ask again what had happened, but I knew he wanted to know. I wanted to defend Alex just in case my father thought he’d been rash in his decision too, so I gave him the Cliff notes version of what had happened on the Amy Perkins case.
“I don’t know if he’s going to never be a cop in Sunset Ridge again, Dad. There have just been issues with this case we’re working on. Well, a case we were working on, emphasis on were. Because of the issues, the mayor and town council told Derek that I couldn’t work with Alex on any more cases. That’s when he told him that if I was out, he was resigning. It’s all very up in the air, though, but he did it because he wanted to support me, Dad.”
“You don’t have to defend Alex’s decisions to me, Poppy. It’s none of my business why he does what he does, except when it comes to you. I’ve never doubted that he would do anything to protect you, but I’m curious why the mayor and town council suddenly didn’t think it was all right for you to work with him on police cases. You didn’t do something illegal, did you?”
Leave it to my father to ask that question. I knew he loved me as much as a father could love his child, but while he always saw Alex as honorable, he naturally jumped to the conclusion that I’d done something wrong in the eyes of the law.
At least I knew where I got my tendency to jump to conclusions from.
“No, Dad. I did nothing illegal. One of the other cops has never liked me, and when he got caught lying about a case, he naturally looked for a way to get the heat off himself by bringing me up.”
My father growled and said, “It was Stephen, wasn’t it? What is that man’s problem with you? Did you break his heart in high school or something?”
The very thought that at any point in my life I could have been involved in anything romantic with Stephen made me cringe. “No! I have no idea why he’s never liked me, but I can tell you that the feeling is definitely mutual.”
“I haven’t talked to him much, but I don’t like anyone who does that kind of thing to my daughter. So Alex told Derek you stayed or you both went? No wonder Derek wouldn’t tell me much other than Alex had quit.”
“As police chief, I don’t think he’s supposed to say anything about it, Dad,” I teased, knowing full well that rule had never been followed by any police chief in the history of our town.
“Don’t be ridiculous, Poppy. Derek leaks more than a boat full of holes. He didn’t want to tell me what happened with Alex because it was more about you than him. I understand. Derek knows how close we are, so he probably expected I’d give it to him with both barrels if he told me what actually happened.”
That was my father in a nutshell. He would naturally ask me if I’d done anything illegal since he knew better than anyone else in the world my propensity for getting into trouble, but have anyone else say a peep against me and his Irish got up full tilt. I had to love him for it, though.
“Go easy on Derek, Dad. As you said, he’s been going through some stuff lately. I got the feeling talking to him yesterday that things weren’t all hearts and flowers with his girlfriend.”
“I’d say not. They broke up. He’s been a permanent fixture at the end of the bar. If you ever came around the bar anymore, you’d see that. He’s been having a rough time of it in the past couple weeks and he’s taken to drowning his sorrows.”
Had it been that long since I spent time at McGuire’s?
“Broke up? I had no idea. I thought they were in it for the long haul. I feel bad for him now.”
Dismissing Derek’s heartbreak, my father groaned. “He’ll be fine, Poppy. Our police chief has broken enough hearts in town to be due at least one himself. You watch. He’ll be back to his old self in a few weeks and dating like he always has. Some people never change.”
I didn’t want to argue with my father, but I had the sense that Solange had been different than all those other girlfriends. Something told me Derek would miss this woman.
“I wonder what happened.”
“By the way Derek has been talking, I think it was a matter of things happening at the wrong time. He wanted to get married and she wasn’t ready. I think he may have pushed t
oo hard. Something he said gave me the impression that he gave her an ultimatum.”
So Derek had found the right girl, just at the wrong time. That made me sad.
“When am I going to see you and Alex in the bar again? Since you stopped bartending for me, it’s like we never see each other anymore.”
Guilt coursed through me, settling into my heart. I had been a neglectful daughter recently, and I knew he missed me when I didn’t come around like I used to. It’s just that Alex and I had been enjoying the summer months, and the few scant hours we got to spend together after his shifts and my work at the paper we liked to have to ourselves.
But that was no reason to ignore my father. I needed to rectify that and soon.
“I promise we’ll be by as soon as this whole thing blows over, Dad. I’m not even sure Alex is really off the police force officially, but as soon as it gets straightened out, we’ll come over and have a drink. Just the three of us.”
“Okay, honey. Promise me you’ll stay out of trouble,” he said in that wise old owl tone he took with me whenever he had a feeling I was in the middle of something that most certainly included trouble.
“I’ll try, Dad. You know me, though,” I joked, poking fun at his overly cautious way with me.
“I do, Elizabeth. That’s why I said to stay out of trouble. Love you, honey. Tell Alex I said hello too.”
“I will, Dad. I love you too.”
As I placed the phone back on the table, I heard a knock at my front door. Wow, I sure was popular today. Two people in one day who wanted to talk to me.
Peering through the peephole, I saw Derek standing on my front porch looking glum. After what my father had just told me about the demise of his relationship with Solange and everything that had gone on today with Alex, I didn’t have to wonder why.
I opened the door wearing my brightest smile. “Derek? What are you doing here?”
He tried to smile back at me, but the corners of his mouth never quite made it high enough to equal more than a half-hearted smirk. “Can I come in? I want to talk to you and Alex.”
Derek was always welcome in my home, no matter what differences we might have, so I stood back and waved him into the living room. As he passed me, the strong smell of liquor from his breath wafted toward me.
“How are you doing, Derek? I have a feeling you’ve started early today,” I said as I closed the door and sat down on the couch.
He chose the dark blue wingback chair across from me and smiled. “That’s not good since I just went to see the mayor. Hopefully, he doesn’t have the nose of a bloodhound like you do, Poppy.”
I shrugged. “It’s a gift and a curse. Actually, I think my nose has been trained to smell alcohol from working at my father’s bar all these years.”
Derek swiveled his head left and right. “I thought I’d find Alex here. I saw his car back at the station still, but I figured you guys had come here. Is he around? I want to talk to you both.”
“He’s upstairs taking a shower. He should be down soon, though. In the meantime, do you want a drink or maybe a coffee? Not that I’m saying you need to sober up, but who knows who you might have to go talk to after us.”
I chuckled as the last words came out of my mouth, and Derek finally managed a real smile. “No, I’m fine. I think I’ve had enough to drink for the day.”
Settling back into the couch cushions, I sat there in awkward silence for a few moments and finally said, “So how are things going?”
Not my smoothest segue, but I meant well.
Derek sighed deeply. “I’ve had better days. Well, I’ve had better weeks. Months, more like it.”
He definitely sounded like a lost man, but I didn’t know if it was because of work or his personal life. Or a combination of both. I didn’t want to pry, so I returned to uncomfortable silence and hoped Alex would come downstairs soon.
After a few minutes without a word that felt like hours, he quietly said, “I laid it on the line with the mayor. I told him I can’t afford to lose my best officer because of all of this.”
Too curious to wait for Alex to join us, I continued the conversation. “What did he say?”
“You’re back, if you want to be.”
His news made me happy, but if he liked what the mayor had decided, it didn’t show in his face. His mouth seemed fixed in a frown.
“You don’t look happy about that, Derek. Have I done something wrong?”
He blew the air out of his lungs slowly and shook his head. “No. I’m fine with you working with Alex, Poppy. I’ve just got a lot on my mind right now.”
“Anything you want to talk about?”
Sighing again, he frowned deeper. “This job is a lot tougher than most people realize. Hell, I didn’t realize it when Dominick was the chief. I just thought he was a hard ass because that’s who he was, but the more time I spend as chief, I see the job probably made him even worse. I don’t know. Maybe I’m just not cut out for this.”
I hated seeing Derek doubt himself. True, he’d never been the sharpest tool in the shed, but he’d worked hard to do his best since taking the job as police chief for our town.
“You’re a good chief, Derek. Don’t get down on yourself like this. Stephen’s lying isn’t your fault. There’s no reason the town council or the mayor should blame you for that problem. That’s on him, not you.”
He nodded, but it didn’t look like he truly believed what I said. “I know. It’s just one more thing I’ve had to deal with.”
His voice trailed off as he finished his sentence, and I guessed he wasn’t talking about the job of police chief anymore. Quietly, I broached what I had a feeling was really bothering him. I wouldn’t have done so with other people, but Derek and I were friends for long enough that he deserved to have a sympathetic ear offered to him.
“I heard about Solange. I’m sorry, Derek. I know you cared a great deal for her. She’ll come back, I’m sure.”
He shook his head sadly. “No, it’s over. The irony of this is that all those years when women wanted me to settle down and get married, it was me who didn’t want that. Now that I have the chief job and want to start a family, the one person I wanted to do that with doesn’t.”
I couldn’t help wish things had turned out differently for him. I didn’t know if Solange was the woman for Derek, but he clearly thought she was. They just were at different places in life, unfortunately.
“I’m so sorry, Derek. You’re a good man, and if it makes you feel any better, I have no doubt that nearly every one of those women you said no to marrying would jump at a second chance now.”
A smile slowly spread across his face. “Well, since most of them are already married, that could get tricky. But thanks, Poppy. I appreciate it.”
Alex walked into the room at that moment and looked surprised to see me sitting there with Derek. Taking a seat next to me on the couch, he took my hand in his and gave it a gentle squeeze.
“What’s up, Derek? I didn’t think you’d be here when I came back down.”
His voice contained an edge to it that I hadn’t expected. Glancing over at him, I saw he wore a stern expression too.
“I was just telling Poppy that I told the mayor I couldn’t afford to lose my best officer, so Poppy had to stay. He agreed, thankfully, so we can go back to the way things were starting right now.”
While Alex had sounded cold and guarded, Derek sounded downright hopeful. Turning to face my partner, I said, “That’s good news, right?”
When he didn’t answer, I asked, “Alex, isn’t this great? Isn’t this what you wanted?”
But the look on his face said it wasn’t.
“Yeah, but what about the next time, Derek? I’m sure the mayor is going to expect me to keep doing everything I have been, but what assurances do I have that he and the council aren’t going to jerk us around whenever they want?”
Holding his hands up as if to surrender, Derek shook his head. “They won’t. I promise. I won’t
let them do that. You’re my best officer, and I told him that having Poppy with you is a line you won’t cross. As long as you want to have her as your partner, that’s how it will be.”
Still Alex refused to say he’d come back. I leaned over to whisper in his ear, “What’s wrong? I thought this was what you wanted.”
He looked at me with those brown eyes so sweet and whispered, “I liked having the time to enjoy with you this afternoon. I’m not sure I want to go back.”
I knew him well enough that what he enjoyed for an afternoon would soon drive him insane from boredom like it already had begun to for me. “I liked it too, but you love being a cop and even though it was nice to lay around for a few hours, you’d miss the job.”
Derek interrupted us and said, “I’ll throw in Saturday or Sunday off every week.”
Alex looked over at him and smiled. “Or?”
“I can’t promise both. That will leave Craig working every weekend, and you know something seems to happen every weekend.”
“What about Stephen?” Alex asked, practically reading my mind.
“Stephen quit about two hours ago. The council decided that his record would have to include his lying, even though he had no part in Amy Perkins’ death, and he refused to agree, so he quit.”
Stunned, I looked at Alex and whispered, “You can’t leave the Sunset Ridge police in a lurch like this. I know you. You care too much.”
After a moment, he nodded and said to Derek, “Okay. I’m back. Saturday or Sunday off each week and no Stephen. How can I say no?”
His answer made Derek happy for the first time since he got there. Smiling, he stood up to leave. “Okay, good. I don’t think I can take any more upheaval for today, so I’m going to leave before something else happens. If anyone wants me, I’ll be locked in my office with the phone on silent.”
Alex walked over to him at the door and offered his hand. “Thanks, Derek. I appreciate you going to the mat for Poppy and me. I won’t forget this.”
The Witching Hour Page 18