Free Trinity Harbor 3 - Along Came Trouble by Sherryl Woods Page B

you on the list of suspects right alongside her.”
    “Do what you have to do,” Tucker said, refusing to back down, no matter how black a picture Walker painted.
    “Dammit, Tucker, do you want Daisy to kil me?”
    “You’l probably have to get in line. I imagine she’l be coming after me first,” Tucker said wryly. “This won’t sit wel with a lot of people.”
    “Then shouldn’t that be a clue it’s a mistake?”
    “I can’t let Mary Elizabeth go through this alone.”
    “I’m sure a woman in her position has friends,” Walker said.
    “Maybe so, but I’m the one she turned to.”
    “And precisely when was that? Last night, correct? Why exactly did it take so long for you to contact me?” Walker inquired. “What were the two of you doing al that time, getting reacquainted?”
    Tucker barely resisted the urge to slug his brother-in-law. He knew what Walker was trying to do. He was trying to show him just how ugly this could get. Tucker refused to take the bait. He understood the risks. He met Walker’s gaze.
    “Actual y, she was sleeping,” Tucker said mildly. “I was in my kitchen pondering the funny twists and turns life takes.”
    “Was that before or after she told you about her husband?”
    “Before,” Tucker said, just as he’d explained it earlier. “As soon as she told me, I cal ed you.”
    “Were you anywhere near Swan Ridge last night?” Walker pressed.
    “I patrol ed the whole county,” Tucker told him. “Check my logbook and the mileage on the cruiser.”
    “Didn’t take any breaks?”
    “Not a one,” he said. “Ask the dispatcher. Michele worked a double shift, too. She and I were having a rather lively discussion about the best place to get steamed crabs. I think Bobby’s are the finest around. She’s partial to a place across the river in Maryland.”
    Walker sighed, his exasperation plain. “This is just the tip of the iceberg, you know. The questions are going to start coming at you fast and furious, and I won’t be the only one asking them.”
    “I know that,” Tucker said.
    “You’re a smart man. I have to assume you’ve weighed the risks.”
    “Whether I have or not isn’t your concern,” Tucker told him. “But I appreciate the fact that you care. If things change after Mary Elizabeth and I have talked, I’l let you know.”
    “You think she’l object to staying with you?” Walker asked.
    “Oh, I imagine she’l have a whole lot more to say than you did.” He nodded in her direction. “Take a look.”
    Mary Elizabeth was tapping her foot and glowering at them.
    “What’s that about?” Walker asked.
    “I’m pretty sure she doesn’t like the fact that I made this decision without consulting her. I’m almost certain she’s going to tel me to take my offer and shove it.”
    “And then?”
    “And then I’l counter with a few rational arguments. She’l tel me I’m trying to run her life just the way her grandfather did. I’l remind her that she’s the one who came to me. She’l tel me that she deeply regrets that now.”
    Walker’s lips began to twitch with amusement. “Now I know you’re crazy. You’re going to stir up Daisy and your father and have to contend with an irate, ungrateful female.”
    “That’s pretty much how I see it,” Tucker said, working real y hard to sound like a martyr.
    “Good luck.”
    Before he could get away, Walker cal ed him back.
    “What?” Tucker said.
    His brother-in-law grinned. “Told you so.”
    Tucker regarded him blankly. “Told me—?”
    “That you’d never steer clear of this. The damsel-in-distress thing gets you every time.”
    Tucker told his deputy what he could do with his smart-mouthed theories, then went over to explain the plan to Mary Elizabeth.
    “You’l stay at my place until we know more,” he said. He regarded her with a wry expression. “Though it might be best if you take up residence in the guest room and stay out of my bed, whether I’m in it or not.”
    “I’m