Evans Creek Book 2: In Good Hands

Chapter 17

"Good Morning Gentlemen." Suzie smiled brightly.

Rowdy was pleased with their deference when the men stood to greet her.

"Do you want to move this to the living room or to the dining table?" Rowdy asked as he reached for Brody.

"If they want to talk to me while I make breakfast, they'll need to stay in the kitchen."

With a nod, Rowdy moved over to the third barstool and sat with Brody on the counter in front of him. He winked when Suz turned to give him a warning, only to see that he remembered Brody's nose-dive trick. Rowdy's hands were firmly fixed on Brody's hips as he eagerly took in the new faces and the new room.

Knowing Brody's attention span was short, Rowdy called out: "Suz, pass me one of the wooden spoons from the cannister there, would you?"

"Are you sure you can handle the punishment?" she chuckled as she handed the spoon to Brody.

"What—"

THWAK!

Brody slapped the spoon against the side of Rowdy's face. He heard Suz chuckle and looked up to admire how that short skirt hugged her as she bent to inspect the contents of the cabinets. He wasn't sure what she needed, but nothing she needed for breakfast was in those cabinets.

"Hold him." Rowdy handed Brody to the man closest to him, the younger of the two.

The fed quickly stepped away from the island—with its cups of hot coffee—and balanced Brody on his arm as natural as you please.

"Let me help." He said as she settled a pan on the stove and reached for the bowl of eggs she'd pulled from the fridge.

"I can fry up the bacon and eggs. You handle the toast and coffee? It won't be a grand breakfast, but it will be a hot one."

"I'll start the toast as you get ready to plate up the other food. Otherwise, the toast will get cold."

"Fair enough." She smiled and turned to her task.

"So," Rowdy turned toward the men, "Was there anything unusual about the scene?"

"You mean other than the stuffed toy dressed in baby clothes hanging from the ceiling fan?"

"Other than that, yes."

"Why do you ask?" This from the older of the two men.

"Just an impression I got when we were there. It didn't look right to me. I didn't stay long, you understand. I didn't even walk into the room, but..."

"What do you mean?"

"I don't know. I guess..." Rowdy saw she was turning the bacon and the eggs looked about done so he pulled out the toaster, working as he talked. "I haven't been called to any burglaries lately, mind you. But I have answered a few domestic disturbance calls."

"And?"

Rowdy sensed he was being studied as much as the crime scene had been.

"Have you ever seen the mess an angry person makes? A person caught up in intense emotions of betrayal, hatred, anger, or whatever...they don't just..." Rowdy shrugged. "Toss things."

"Meaning?"

"Meaning the room looked...well, for starters, nothing was broken."

"Meaning?"

"Meaning things tend to get broken when people throw tantrums. What I saw...Like, the dresser drawers were open and clothes were everywhere, but the drawers were still in the dresser. A person who was emotional would yank the drawers out of the dresser and throw them—clothes and all—as hard as they could manage."