Free Skeletons in the Mist (The McCall Twins) by Jennifer Hayden

up?”
    “You’re cranky. You need more coffee.”
    “I am not cranky.”
    “You are. You’re obviously not a morning person.”
    “You’re judging me falsely again.”
    She leveled him with a glare. “Ever since you talked to your brother you’ve been a world classgrouch. I didn’t ask you to drive me here, you know. If you have something else to do I can always call a cab.”
    “I said I would take you and that’s what I’m going to do.”
    “Fine.”
    “Fine.”
    They both stared straight ahead quietly for several seconds. He broke the silence first. He’d never been one for tension. “My brother didn’t call about anything to do with your case. Not officially anyway.”
    “Then what’s the big deal?”
    “There isn’t one.”
    “You could have fooled me.”
    “Just drop it, Roxy. I’m doing my job here, nothing more.”
    She gave him a skeptical look. “Are you saying your brother thinks you’re doing
more
than your job?” A flush crawled up her neck when he didn’t answer right away. “Oh God. He’s thinks you and I…that we’re…oh my God. We just met yesterday!”
    “He doesn’t think we’re sleeping together, ifthat’s what you’re worried about. He thinks I’m getting too personal, letting you stay at the house and all.” He grinned at the blush in her cheeks. “Don’t worry, you’re safe. You’re not my type.”
    She glared at him again, this time in defiance.
    “Don’t get all hot under the collar. I’m being honest with you. You did ask what Trace wanted.”
    “I thought he was calling about something important.”
    “So did I.”
    Her glare grew more intense as the ride went on. He’d pissed her off good this time. Oh well. Maybe now they could keep their distance.
    “Just for the record,” she finally said. “You’re not my type either.”
    “I didn’t think I was.” He rested his arm on the open window while he waited for an indication from the construction crew to go forward.
    “Sure you did,” she said on a snicker. “I’m sure there are very few women who wouldn’t find you to be their type.”
    He smiled at that. “I’m flattered.”
    “Don’t be. It wasn’t a compliment.”
    “Sounded like one to me.”
    She clenched her fists together and shut her eyes in aggravation. When they opened, they were no less angry. “You are the most conceited jerk I’ve ever met.”
    “There you go again, assuming that you know me.”
    “I know what I see, Chas McCall. I’ve never met a man who thinks so much of himself.”
    This was getting better by the minute, he thought to himself. She was furious now.
    “Do you think this is funny?” she asked angrily.
    “Do I think what is funny?” He put the truck back in gear and slowly crept past the construction site. “The fact that you get worked up so easily I barely have to breathe to piss you off? Or the fact that you’re so in to the way I look that you have yourself convinced I’m a world class jerk?”
    Her eyes grew wide and she let out a growl. “I am not
in
to the way you look!”
    He raised a brow. Big mistake. She swung at him, her tiny fist connecting with his right shoulder.
    “Good thing I’m a lefty,” he said, grinning from ear to ear. That only made her madder. She shut her mouth and folded her arms across her chest. She was silent for the rest of the ride. When they were only a few blocks from the Spokane Juvenile Correctional Facility, his cell phone rang and he was thankful for the noise.
    Scott Briggs was on the other end of the line.
    “No go. He doesn’t want me.”
    “What do you mean, he doesn’t want you?”
    “Just what I said, McCall. He said some rather nasty things, and fired me. He doesn’t want public assistance. And to be honest with you, I don’t want to
be
his public assistance. The kid’s a little bastard. And I mean a
little bastard
.”
    “He’s fourteen,” Chas said quietly. “What the hell are you listening to him for? Talk to his sister. We’re