Free Depths: Southern Watch #2 by Robert J. Crane Page B

me.”
    Arch was caught a little off guard by that one. They were coworkers, sure, but he wasn’t certain he’d have gone all out and called her a friend. Still, it made him feel a little bad about the whole thing. “He’s from Wisconsin.”
    “If you’re gonna be a kneejerk ass—”
    “Whoa,” Arch said, and could feel his eyebrow crank down. “Whatever problems you’ve got are between you and him, okay? Don’t go dragging me into it.” He slammed the hatchback of the Explorer down. “And clearly you’ve got a problem with him.”
    “I need to know some things about him,” she said, unfolding her arms and seeming to spit fire at the same time. “He’s like a damned cipher that got dropped out of the heavens onto my doorstep by you.”
    “I only dropped him on your doorstep last night because he needed someone to keep an eye on him,” Arch said. He was still stinging from her swearing at him like that. “I figured that might be something you could do since the two of you were getting close—”
    “We’re not,” Erin said, and a hand worked its way up to cover her eyes as she said it. “I mean … we’re … you know … but we don’t really talk or know anything about each other like …”
    “Yeah, okay,” Arch said, having heard more than enough.
    “Look, I jumped all over him because he was a friend of yours,” she said, peeking from behind her fingers, and for some reason that made Arch’s stomach rumble again. “I figured it was as close as I’d get to my mom endorsing one of the bad boys I’ve liked. But without the creepy side effect of having her try and date him.”
    Arch started to say something to that, but gave up after a moment of trying to figure out what and coming up dry. “Um—”
    “Do you even really know him?” she asked, and this time he felt the impact of her words like thunder on a clear day. “I need to know, Arch.”
    Arch tried to figure out what to say to that. “Not as well as you apparently think I do,” he finally said.
    Erin covered her face again, and he could barely hear her say, “Goddamn.”
    “Hey, y’all!” Sheriff Reeve’s voice boomed out over the street, and Arch turned his head to see what was going on. Reeve was standing on the porch of the Hughes house next to Reines and Fries, gesturing to Erin and Arch with a hand to get on over there. Arch headed that way, listening to the tapping of the rain on the brim of his hat. It was getting worse, starting to open up on them.
    Arch hit the front porch a few seconds later and looked back for Erin, who was not behind him. He caught sight of her rummaging in the back seat of her car and wondered if she might be heading out because of their conversation about Hendricks. She emerged from the back of the car a moment later with her rain gear. She slammed her door and it echoed down the street. The four of them watched while she ran through the increasing downpour to join them on the porch.
    “All right, now that you’re all here,” Reeve said once Erin was there with them. Arch watched the water drip from her short blond hair. She wasn’t wearing any makeup, which was probably fortunate for her given the wet conditions. Her khaki uniform top was now sported a dark brown, camo-like pattern from all the places it had gotten wet. “I need y’all to start canvassing the area, asking the neighbors what they’ve seen. If anything.” Reeve pointed to the right. “Fries, you go that way, Reines, start across the street on the left, and Arch, go left. Take Erin with you and show her what to do.”
    Arch caught a flash of irritation from Erin, but she didn’t speak up. “Yes, sir,” Arch said.
    “All right, then,” Reeve said, his brow was puckered as if he was concentrating. “I’ll keep watch here until the crime scene unit arrives. See what you can find out in the meantime.” He waved them off, and Arch held up for a minute while Erin put on her raincoat and hat. Reines and Fries went