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“We should be going,” Mercy said. Gray, true to his word, had been on his best behavior. But she didn’t want to push it too far. Besides, he was eyeing the pie in a way that left no doubt he was thinking of nothing but devouring it then and there.
“Oh,” Martha said, her disappointment apparent. “Well, I’m sure I’ll be seeing you again very soon. If you need any help with the wedding, you must let me know!”
“The wedding. Yes…” She glanced at Gray, who had turned his attention back to the sheriff’s office and seemed to be ignoring them completely. Before she could say anything else, Gray pushed away from the wagon and started across the street.
“Was it something I said?” Martha asked.
Mercy shook her head. “No, of course not. He’s just…well, I don’t know what he’s doing.”
But she was going to find out.
Chapter Seven
Gray sauntered across the street, pulled by a curiosity that overrode his instinct to stay the hell out of it.
He ignored the two women who trailed along behind him. A quick peek in the window didn’t show much except an empty office. A few scattered papers on the floor and the complete absence of any noise made him pretty sure that whoever had been there had gone. And left in a hurry. He twisted the knob.
“What are you doing?” Mercy said behind him, close enough he almost jumped.
“Damn it, woman, I’m going to tie a bell around your neck.”
She merely grinned at him until his own lips threatened to pull into a responding smile. He turned back to the window.
“I wanted to see if the sheriff was in,” he said, though that wasn’t entirely the truth.
“Martha saw him leave in a hurry in the dead of night.”
His eyebrows rose. “Is that so?”
Martha nodded. “With most of what he owned, or so it looked like.”
“Hmm.” He tried the knob again. Locked.
“Maybe we should break the window,” Mercy suggested.
Gray almost snorted. Been in his company three days and already she was starting to act like a criminal.
“I can pick the lock,” a female voice said behind them.
The two other women with him jumped and turned with muffled shrieks. Gray straightened up and looked at the newcomer, pretending his stomach wasn’t in his throat.
Make that newcomers. While he’d been peeking through the window, the doctor, four women, and another man who, if his clothes meant anything, was the town preacher had snuck up on him. Looks like he’d decided to retire just as all his instincts were leaving him. Good thing, given his hearing had clearly gone.
“Where did they all come from?” Gray asked, his brow furrowing.
Mercy looked behind them, her own brows raised in surprise, and then shrugged. “I guess they wanted to see to what we were up to.”
Gray blew out a breath, and she shrugged. “Small town,” she said. “Hard to get away with much here.”
That was an understatement. The buxom redhead who’d boasted of lock-picking skills was dressed in a very expensive emerald-green gown, crowned with a hat covered in black feathers and rhinestones, as she held up a hairpin. With her eyes and mouth painted in bold colors, rouge staining her otherwise flawless complexion, it wasn’t difficult to guess at her profession.
Gray stepped aside and gestured at the doorknob. “By all means.”
“Should we be doing this in broad daylight all crowded at the front door like this?” Mercy asked in a mock whisper.
Gray glanced down at her. “Since we’re doing this because the sheriff seems to have disappeared, I don’t think there’s much chance of us getting arrested. Besides, most of the town seems to be standing here with us, so there doesn’t seem much point in trying to be sneaky about it.”
“Good point,” Mercy said.
