Page 9 of The Aster Valley Collection, Vol. 2

I blinked away the image and got back to the point. “I certainly can’t help you with the rock climbing portion of the film, not that you’d need my help for that anyway, so what other scenes are there I might be able to help you prep for?”

He looked back up at me. His eyes sparkled a little. “You know about my climbing?”

I didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of knowing I knew who he was. “You mentioned you were good at climbing. I’ve never been climbing. Ergo, I can’t help you with climbing.”

Ergo? Jesus.

I cleared my throat. “But car chases I could help with.” Finn’s eyes widened with excitement, so I threw up a palm to deflect it. “Not by participating in one, mind you, but by discussing techniques and tactics.”

Finn’s expression still held excitement as he nodded. “I would appreciate that. Thank you.”

His professionalism and gratitude made me uncomfortable.

Thankfully, we were interrupted by my new deputy.

Shawn ducked his head into my office with a quick knock on the doorframe. “Sheriff, sorry to interrupt, but there’s a 10-59 at the Barking Lot, and Penny said…” He glanced at Finn and chose his words more carefully. “You’d want to handle it.”

I stood up and gathered my things, halfway hoping this wasn’t what I thought it was. “Deputy Graham, this is Finn Heller. He’s shadowing me this week. Finn, Shawn Graham.”

They shared a quick greeting before I led Finn out the back to my vehicle.

“What’s a 10-59? Please tell me it’s a robbery in progress. That would be amazing.”

I turned to Finn. “It wouldn’t be amazing for poor Louisa, who runs the shop.”

He looked appropriately cowed. “No. Obviously. Sorry, I…”

“Get in the car.”

When we got underway, Finn scrolled through his phone until he found a site with radio codes. “What’s malicious mischief?”

I sighed. He was going to find out anyway as soon as we got there. “It means Mrs. Brainthwaite has decided Prancer needs a new sparkly collar, but she doesn’t want to pay for it because she’s still mad at Louisa for cutting Prancer’s toe fluff too short.”

I was quickly discovering Finn was the master of the slow-pan. “Say what now?”

“You heard me,” I muttered, turning on my indicator before pulling into the open spot in front of the shop. “This is what I meant when I told you I might not be the best person to shadow for your role. This is hardly Los Angeles, and you’re not going to see any exciting action here.”

Finn followed me into the pet store where I spotted an angry septuagenarian being blocked from exiting the store by a harried dog groomer.

I nodded a greeting at both of them. “Louisa. Mrs. Brainthwaite. What seems to be the problem?”

Louisa remained calm despite being obviously peeved. “She has three Nylabones and a squeaky squirrel in her purse.”

Mrs. Brainthwaite wouldn’t meet my eyes. She crossed her arms in front of her full chest. “Don’t be ridiculous. As if I’d deign to purchase any items from the likes of you.”

Louisa finally snapped. “Who said anything about purchasing?”

“Marla,” I said, softening my voice in the way I’d learned worked on the older lady. “We’ve been over this before. Either pay her for them or get them on Amazon. Which will it be?”

Now she met my eyes with fury. “I will not give my money to that corporate monstrosity! I support local or nothing at all, do you hear me?”

Louisa threw her hands up and huffed, but Finn was the one who spoke next. His voice was kind and gentle.

“But you’re not supporting local. You’re contributing to a locally owned business suffering. Is that what you want? For Aster Valley to go back to the way it was ten years ago when half the shops were shuttered and some of the store owners were forced to move away?”

I glanced at him in surprise. How did he know about Aster Valley’s history?

“Of course not,” Mrs. Brainthwaite said indignantly.

“My own sister… my own…” She stopped and clamped her lips together, chin trembling a little.

Her eyes darted to Louisa before she finally exhaled.

“My sister used to own a T-shirt stand inside the main ski lodge. She… she was forced out of business when the resort closed.”

Louisa looked taken aback. “I never knew Alicia owned her own business. I’ll bet she was great at it. She’s such a people person. She comes in here with Pickles all the time and makes everyone laugh.”

Mrs. Brainthwaite’s entire face softened. “She does?”

Louisa nodded and gestured toward a little rotating stand with doggie bow ties on it. “She was looking at that green-and-white-striped tie for Pickles but decided to wait for Christmas.”

Mrs. Brainthwaite reached out to run a finger over the fabric of the bow tie. “But Pickles’ birthday is next month…”

Once everyone’s hackles had been lowered and Louisa had made a particularly large sale to Mrs. Brainthwaite, including the bones, toys, bow tie for Pickles, and a bag of organic, homemade treats—also made by a local Aster Vallian—Finn and I bid the ladies a nice day and made our way back to the SUV.

“You didn’t arrest her for shoplifting,” he said once we got strapped in.

“She didn’t shoplift,” I said with a smile. “Louisa didn’t let her leave.”

“But…” He looked back at the shop and then at me. “Small towns are different.”

“That they are,” I agreed. “It takes a little getting used to.”

“I like it,” Finn said softly.

We made our way back to the station, but before we arrived, Penny radioed in a 10-16.

“Negative. Have Graham do it,” I said in response. Finn began scrolling on his list of radio codes again.

“A prisoner pickup?” Finn said, with a thread of excitement in his voice. “Why did you say no? That would be great.”

“She needs to be taken down to Silverthorne. I assumed you couldn’t be that far away from the set.” It was a lie. I didn’t want to be alone in the car with him for the long drive back after dropping the woman off at the lockup in Summit County.

“It’s fine. All I have left today is a blocking meeting for a climbing scene. My trainer and I are doing it over dinner.”

My mind interpreted that last sentence in an inappropriate way that left me feeling testy. “Fine.” I called Penny back and told her I’d take the 10-16.

We swung by the department and processed the prisoner out.

Finn listened to my safety instructions diligently and kept plenty of distance between himself and the woman.

She’d been picked up on a routine traffic stop where the deputy had learned about an outstanding warrant on her in another county.

All we had to do was transfer her, and since the deputy who usually did runs like this was on vacation, Penny had figured I’d appreciate the time away from all the chaos of the increasing tourist crowd in town.

She’d been right. Even the woman in the back of the SUV commented on it.

“What the fuck is all that for?” she asked as we drove down Main Street past a large crowd gathered outside the diner. She craned her neck to see if she could spot the cause of the gathering.

Finn sunk down in his seat and kept his head turned away from her.

“There’s a movie being filmed in town,” I said. “It’s brought in a bunch of lookie-loos. Some of the actors are probably having lunch at the diner.”

Finn turned to me. “Lookie-loos?”

I shot him a glare. “Fine. Idiot groupies with nothing better to do than stalk random people. Is that better?”

“I’m not sure anyone would call Crystobell Edmund a ‘random’ person,” he said with a smirk. “Tell me you wouldn’t sleep with her if she crooked her finger.”

I turned to him at a stoplight and said it straight up. “I would not sleep with her if she crooked her finger.”

The prisoner piped up. “Well, shit. You broken? Even I would sleep with the woman, and I don’t swing that way. Did you even see Party of Two ? The hot tub scene? Jesus on a jump rope, that woman can steam the pants off anyone.”

I glanced at her in the rearview mirror. “I don’t swing that way either.”

Even though I didn’t want it to be so, I had all of my antennae focused on Finn’s reaction to my declaration.

He turned to look out the passenger-side window as if it was no big deal, but I noticed his grip on his phone turned white-knuckled. “Same,” he said casually.

I didn’t admit to already knowing about his sexuality. It was still my plan to not give him the satisfaction of thinking I knew anything about him.

“Great,” the woman said from the back. “I can’t even make up a sexual assault complaint with a couple of gays up in here.”

I couldn’t hold back a laugh. “That and there’s two cameras in here.”

She grinned wide at me in the mirror. “I’m just teasing. You seem nice. Too bad I didn’t get the bust-up in Rockley instead of Summit. I woulda liked seeing you again in court.”

Finn chuckled at that and began asking her what she’d been busted for. His questions were so casual, the prisoner had no idea she was confessing to crimes after she’d not only been read her rights but also after it had been clearly disclosed to her she was on camera.

I glanced over at him and caught his eye.

He winked at me.

I bit back another laugh and looked in the rearview mirror again. “Ma’am, you might be seeing me in court after all.”

This time, it was Finn who had to bite back the laugh. I tried hard not to feel like the two of us were in on a secret together, but it was hard.

I didn’t want to like Finn Heller. But that was hard, too.

Step one, I needed to stop palling around with this guy.