Page 16 of I Do, or Dye Trying
“Good thing too. Gabe decided I was having an apple pie bake-off against Dorchester’s wife on Sunday. I need all the votes I can get.” It was then that I realized that Meredith had gone completely silent. The smile slid from my face when I turned to her and saw the hurt expression in her eyes. “What’s wrong, Mere?”
“You’ve decided to expand your business?” she asked with a raised brow and a tone that said she wasn’t amused. “When were you going to mention this to me?”
“I was going to call you later because there’s more to the story. I needed to talk to Chaz first because his answer was the deciding factor on how quickly I could pull it off,” I explained.
“He and Gabe are buying a house together and are going to revamp this space to meet the spa needs so he can use the entire first floor for salon services. More stations and stylists. He wants me to manage the business so he can focus on filming his segments for the news channel and remodeling the business.”
“Is that right,” Meredith asked Chaz. “Where is he moving to?”
“He didn’t say,” Chaz responded. “Care to tell us where you and the detective are moving?”
“Georgia’s mansion,” I told them. They just blinked at me, and I knew they were wondering just how in the hell we were going to afford it. I wasn’t comfortable talking about mine and Gabe’s financial situation, and even if I had been, I didn’t have anything to share since I was still kind of in the dark. “We’re still working out the details.”
“Bet you’re getting a good price since Georgia…” Chaz let his words trail off when he realized what he was about to say.
“Probably haunted, which is what you deserve for not telling me about your plans,” Meredith said snarkily. She didn’t back down or use kid gloves when handling anyone.
“You guys want to hear about how I plan to decorate or not?” I asked.
“Duh!” they both said. And just like that, everything was back to normal.
MY FIRST IMPRESSION OFCounty Prosecutor Pamela Buxton was that she was a woman who worked her ass off to reach the office she’d been elected to serve. She walked proudly into the conference room and projected confidence in every gesture, reminding me of a certain someone that I loved madly.
“Detective Wyatt,” she said, shaking my hand firmly. “It’s good to meet you finally.”
“And you, ma’am,” I replied with a nod.
“It’s good to see you again, John,” she said to Dorchester. It was obvious by her casual greeting that they were familiar with one another. I glanced over at him briefly then did a double take because he blushed slightly. Dorchester was brash and bold, not a blusher. There was a story there, and I’d be damn sure to find out what it was. Lord knew he didn’t hesitate to harass me at every turn about Silver and Paul hitting on me.Turnabout is fair play, buddy.
“You too, Pam,” Dorchester said softly. “How are your folks?”
“Same as ever. Mom’s struggling with my dad being home all the time now that he’s retired. He messes up her routine, and she doesn’t like it.” She sighed and shook her head in humor. “How about your folks?”
“They’re doing well. They had the same adjustment problems when they both retired a few years back. Now they split their time between their second home in Arizona and here. They’re never gone more than two months at a time because Mom misses the grandkids too bad,” Dorchester answered.
Pam’s expression softened at the mention of his children. “You have a lovely family, John. I’m happy for you.”
“Thank you, Pam. I’m happy for you also. You’ve kicked some ass to get the life you wanted,” Dorchester said, looking proud of her.
“Yes, well it hasn’t been easy, and I had to make a lot of sacrifices along the way. Some hurt more than others, but I think things worked out the way they were intended,” Prosecutor Buxton said.
“I couldn’t agree more,” Dorchester replied.
I looked back and forth between them, feeling like I was stuck on the set of some television drama. My excitement to tell Josh all about it was a close second to ribbing Dorchester about the exchange.
“Let’s get started,” Buxton said. “I’m sure you both have a lot to do today.” I sure as hell hoped not. The last few months had been pure chaos with a dead body turning up every time I turned around—or so it seemed at least. “I need to make you aware of the drama surrounding Broadman’s trial.”
“Already?” I asked. “He’s only been arraigned for his plea. You’ve not even had your first pretrial hearing yet, and there’s already drama?”
“Well, these crimes were committed in two different counties, and the prosecutors have different ideas on how to proceed,” she explained to me. “It’s not unlike two different law enforcement agencies fighting over an investigation.”
“Yeah, I understand that,” Dorchester said, “but the investigation that led to Broadman’s arrest was conducted by a multi-agency task force. We’re living proof of how well it works when people come together for a mutual goal.”
“I agree with you, Detective,” Buxton replied, “and I’ve tried very hard to be a team player.” She’d returned to the professional she was in both her tone and the way she addressed Dorchester. She was no longer his past friend, or whatever else; she was a woman who wanted to convict the man accused of committing crimes in her county. “I’m not the problem in the situation, but I’ve decided that I’ll be the solution.”
“What does that mean?” I asked.
“We initially talked about moving the Broadman trial to Cincinnati so that we could try him once for all four crimes. I had planned to file the motion for the change, but Prosecutor Willison and I couldn’t agree on terms. So,” she said then paused for effect, “we’re going to hammer down and go to court before he does and fucks up our case against Broadman.”