Free Dead Wake (The Forgotten Coast Florida #5) by Dawn Lee McKenna Page B

Maggie saw the corners of Wyatt’s mouth turn down. She knew it irked him that Boudreaux and his wife both sat on the city council, despite everyone knowing that he was shady. He was also good friends with half a dozen senators and congressmen. This had bugged Maggie, too, at one time. It bugged her less now, and she felt a twinge of regret for that.
    “I notice your wife still hasn’t come back from Louisiana,” Wyatt said. Boudreaux’s wife had left town just after the funeral of Boudreaux’s stepson. Patrick Boudreaux had been a State’s Attorney for Franklin County. He’d also been a cokehead and a criminal, who had had Maggie’s ex-husband killed. Maggie had shot him dead after he’d also tried to kill Wyatt. Boudreaux hadn’t seemed to hold it against her.
    “No,” Boudreaux said as he walked around his desk. “I’m not sure she will.”
    “You didn’t do her in, did you?” Wyatt asked, as he took Boudreaux’s proffered hand.
    “No need,” Boudreaux answered as he gripped Wyatt’s hand then let it go.
    He turned to Maggie and she held out her hand. “If you have any other questions, Maggie, I’m always available.”
    His grip was firm, but gentle, and Maggie felt the old oystering callouses on his palm.
    “Thank you, Mr. Boudreaux,” she said.
    He held her hand, and her gaze, for just a moment. Those eyes. They never failed to fascinate her. “It was good to see you, Maggie.”
    He let go of her hand, and Maggie caught Wyatt’s look of disdain as Boudreaux walked to the door and opened it for them. Maggie went through first and waited in the hall as Wyatt took his time. He stopped and turned in the doorway.
    “I call bull-crap on pretty much everything that’s been said here today,” Wyatt said.
    “That’s certainly your prerogative, Sheriff,” Boudreaux answered. “Ironically though, my reputation as the town villain was founded on something I didn’t do.”
    He shut the door behind Wyatt, and Wyatt looked over at Maggie. “You’re more polite to him than you are to me,” he said.
    “You don’t like it when I’m polite to you,” she said.
    “That’s because with me you don’t mean it.”
    They were silent for a moment as they walked. Maggie could feel the irritation coming off of Wyatt.
    “What’s wrong?” she asked.
    “You guys have conversations when you’re not saying anything,” Wyatt said.
    “I don’t know about that,” Maggie said, though she wasn’t sure she was telling the truth.
    “Maybe you’d have to see it from my chair,” Wyatt said.

M aggie and Wyatt were silent most of the way across the causeway to Eastpoint, where the Sheriff’s Office was located. They then went to their separate offices to file their reports on the interviews they’d conducted that day.
    At five o’clock, Maggie hitched her purse onto her shoulder and walked to Wyatt’s office. The door was open, and she walked over to his desk, where he sat pecking at his computer.
    “Hey,” he said, without looking up.
    “I’m done for the day,” she said. “I sent you my report on Mrs. Crawford and Bradford Wilson.”
    He looked up at her. “I’m almost done with Boudreaux. I left out the creepy parts.”
    “It’s not creepy,” she said.
    Wyatt sighed at her.
    “Ok, it’s a little creepy,” she said.
    “Go shut the door,” Wyatt told her.
    Maggie walked over and closed the door quietly, and walked back to the desk. Wyatt took off his cap and ran a hand through his hair before putting it back on.
    “One of your most attractive qualities is your loyalty,” Wyatt said. “He kept Alessi from killing you, and maybe killing the kids. I get that.”
    “Okay.”
    “But you’re a cop. He’s a crook. A dangerous crook. We know that,” Wyatt said. “You know that.”
    “He’s not dangerous to me,” Maggie said quietly.
    “And that’s the bad part,” Wyatt said.
    They looked at each other for a moment. Maggie wasn’t sure what to say. Wyatt was both right and