“Thanks.” I waited for him to leave, then said, “He’s… super friendly.”
Sheriff Crowe surprised me by laughing. “Always. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him anything but happy.”
“Lucky guy.” I plucked a sweet potato fry off my plate and popped it in my mouth. It was perfect: crispy on the outside and warm and fluffy on the inside.
She nodded. “How’s it going? I assume the last few days in Blackwell Hollow have been better than your first?”
“No more dead bodies at least.”
“That’s an improvement.” Her tone was lighthearted but I wasn’t fooled. Her eyes were sharp, her posture almost tense, like she wasn’t as relaxed as she wanted to seem.
“Definitely.” I took a drink of my iced tea, then widened my eyes in surprise when I caught a hint of passion fruit. “Although Iwasinvolved in an iced-coffee incident at the Common Ground.”
She barked out a laugh. “Let me guess… it involved Cleopatra.”
“You must be psychic.”
She shook her head with a sigh. “Lyle and Rosie act like they’re enemies but the truth is they’d die of boredom without each other.”
I laughed. “It seems like they’re on the same side though.”
“Same side?”
“Of the Hearthstone development. Rosie was talking about a rally she put together, and Lyle came in with flyers for the same kind of rally on the same day.”
Jared reappeared with an iced tea and Sheriff Crowe’s sandwich and set both in front of her. “Balsamic sauce on the side.”
“You’re the best,” Sheriff Crowe said.
Jared beamed, his teeth so white he could have been in a toothpaste commercial. “Enjoy!”
“They like to needle each other.” Sheriff Crowe picked up her sandwich with one hand and her butter knife with the other, using the knife to transfer a small amount of balsamic sauce from its little silver dish onto the corner of her sandwich, then took a bite. She closed her eyes briefly and nodded with satisfaction. “Rosie and Lyle, I mean.”
“I got that impression.” I hesitated, trying to decide how much to say. “Do you think Harold Pembroke’s death had something to do with it?”
Sheriff Crowe, still chewing, lifted her eyebrows in question.
“The Hearthstone development,” I said. “The guys told me Harold was advocating against it on the town council.”
“It’s occurred to me.” She took a drink of her iced tea. “Although I couldn’t comment on an ongoing investigation.”
“But the development is a big deal right?” I took a bite of my sandwich and realized it was good.
Reallygood.
She nodded slowly, like she was trying to decide how much to say. “Safe to say not everyone wants a gated community on the lake.”
“Why would anyone want that?” I’d been in town for less than a week and even I could see that a luxury community on the lake would forever change the dynamic in Blackwell Hollow.
Sheriff Crowe shrugged. “Big expensive houses in town raise everybody’s property values. They bring more customers to local businesses, more tax money into the town coffers.”
“But that stuff is… is…?”
“Is what?” she asked, carefully spreading balsamic sauce on another piece of her sandwich.
“That’s just money.”
“People need money,” she said. “It’s a fine balance.”