Bonaparte's Belle: A SEALs of Honor World Novel (Heroes for Hire Book 24) by Dale Mayer (the beach read .txt) 📗

“It just seemed funny, the way you put it,” she said, shaking her head yet smiling.

He grinned. “That’s good,” he said. “Now let’s go home.”

“But we didn’t get lunch.”

“You know something? I can practically taste those ribs,” he said. “And my instincts are saying, we need to get home.”

She looked at him in surprise and then frowned. “Well, if that’s what your instincts say,” she said, “let’s go.”

He picked up the pace and headed home.

*

As soon as they got close to town, Bonaparte slowed down. As they entered the town limits, he looked at her and asked, “Do you need anything from the office?”

She shook her head. “No.”

He checked her again. “There haven’t been any calls, have there?”

She shook her head and then quietly said, “No, and, yes, I noticed.”

“Because there’s no crime or because nobody’s calling for help?”

“I honestly don’t know,” she said.

“Have you checked your radio?”

She looked at him in surprise and quickly pulled out her phone. “Run over to the station for me, will you?” Inside the station, she walked into her office and then headed to where the dispatch radios were. Nobody was in the office, but it also appeared that the radios weren’t even working. She frowned, quickly pulled out her phone, and called Lana. “Hey, Lana. Were the phones working when you left yesterday?”

“Yes, of course they were,” she said, her voice light, chirpy, and easily audible to Bonaparte.

“It just seems strange because there have been no calls at all today,” Angela said.

“Well, there weren’t any yesterday either,” she said. “It’s just really, really quiet.”

At that, Angela stared at Bonaparte, one eyebrow raised. “Or they’re not working.”

Lana replied in an equally quiet voice, “Or you’re just looking for trouble. It’s a small town. We haven’t had any problems in a long time. It used to be we had lots of weekends without trouble. Go home and rest, Sheriff. There are no problems.”

Angela frowned, as she hung up the phone. She turned to him. “She doesn’t seem to think there’s a problem.”

“Any way to check?”

“I’ll call the township and have them check with 9-1-1 dispatch.” It took her a few minutes, while he wandered around, studying the angles and anything to do with the office that he could, but it was all pretty well a common setup and otherwise empty. She turned and said, “Dispatch said that they’ve had phone problems for the last two days.”

He nodded. “And has that been put down to anything?”

“They haven’t found any cause for it.”

“So, the true question is, … do we have reason to be alarmed about it?”

“I guess not,” she said, frowning. “It just seems odd.”

“Have you heard rumors from anybody? Do the citizens know where you are, and would they try to find you, if they couldn’t get through?”

“Well, if they knew where I was, they would certainly come find me,” she said. “That’s happened before, when the phones have been down. Or sometimes people just prefer to report their issues to me personally.”

“So maybe it’s not a case of there are no problems. Maybe it’s a case of nobody wants to call you.”

She frowned. “Why would that be?”

“Well, maybe it’s not because they don’t want to call you. What if it’s because they’re afraid they’ll have some trouble if they do call you?”

She fisted her hands on her hips and glared at him. “Again you’re talking in circles.”

“I don’t know what’s behind it,” he said. “But, if the phones are out, then that’s a perfectly legitimate reason to worry,” he said, “because that’s obviously a problem. But, if nobody’s calling, and they do actually need you, what are the chances they’re not contacting you either because they don’t want to cause trouble for you, or they don’t want to be in trouble themselves?”

She ran a hand through her hair and stared at him. “I don’t want to think that anybody here needs help but isn’t calling.”

“Do you have any people you normally check on?”

She nodded. “Some seniors I always keep an eye out for.”

“Have you heard from them lately?”

She shook her head. “No, but now you’re making me worried,” she said, groaning.

“And what about your girlfriend? The one who we spoke to. Would she tell you if there was a problem?”

“I don’t know if she would now,” she said. “Obviously we have a few issues we need to sort out.”

“Not to mention potential charges.”

She rolled her eyes at that. “That’s just a great way to keep a friend, isn’t it?”

“All I’m saying is, maybe you could check with her to see if she’s heard of anything going on.”

“Already on it,” she said, with a sigh. “I just sent her a text. And this used to be such a nice simple town.”

“I’m not sure that it isn’t,” he said. “Let’s just be sure we haven’t got any problems before they get there.”

Her phone rang, and she answered and immediately frowned.

The conversation didn’t appear to go too well. He looked over at her. She was frowning at him, as she spoke on the phone. “Look, Isabel. Is there a problem?”

He couldn’t hear the other half of the conversation.

Angela replied, “Okay. I’m not sure what’s going on, but I’m coming over.” And, with that, she hung up. She looked over at him and said, “Let’s go.”

“I’m all good to go,” he said, “but maybe you should tell me why.”

“Because she sounded off, as in very off, like she couldn’t talk.”

“As in, she may have had unwanted company?”

She nodded slowly. “When I told her that I was coming over, she told me to bring the cookies.”

“Bring the cookies?”

“Yes, and the thing is, she has a gluten intolerance, and cookies aren’t something she would eat.”

“But she—” He stopped. “So it’s a message?”

She nodded. “I would say so.”

“Let’s go then,” he said. “Finally we might get to see some action.”

Chapter 7

Angela insisted on driving his truck, and the trip over to Isabel’s place was fast and furious, but two blocks before her friend’s street, Angela took a right turn