Love Is in the Air (82 page)

Quinton was certain the look that passed between himself and Ralph looked horribly guilty, but not for the reason the sheriff thought.

Ralph was insistent, though. “Look, I’ll be much more coherent if I get some more caffeine. Can’t one of your deputies take me to the office?”

Dooley did not look like he was going to comply, but finally the sheriff nodded and let Ralph walk off with one of his men. Immediately, the huge man turned on Quinton. “You’ve got a lot of explaining to do, Mister. And if I don’t like your answers, we’ll be talking down at the station.”

Quinton shuffled his papers and tried to respond as casually as possible. “I thought we had straightened this mess out yesterday?”

“So did I, but we had a rash of dam vandalism and sabotage last night. Right in the northern sector where you two were doing your bullshit study.”

Dooley’s words were harsh, but at least Quinton knew for certain how much the sheriff disliked him. There was no chance this was going to be easy. Quinton could only hope that Ralph was bright enough to keep his mouth shut around the deputy while they were walking. They needed to try to weave together a sufficient alibi before the sheriff got smart enough to separate them.

“Where were you last night?” Dooley asked.

Quinton shrugged. “Right here, doing this.”

“The office manager says that your truck wasn’t here until after one a.m. So, my question still stands. Where were you last night?”

Crap
, Quinton thought. He should have known it would not be that easy. Small towns had more eyes than big cities. He needed to think quickly and pray that Ralph would catch on to the ruse.

“We went out for dinner in Queen’s Court and ran out of gas on the way home. Took us a while to find a station that was open. Didn’t realize we got in so late.”

Ralph entered the room, a big smile on his face. “Damn, Quinton. I was just telling the deputy how much we both like French food.”

“Yeah, I was just informing the sheriff how much we enjoyed the food at Chateau L’Blanche before we ran out of gas.”

The sheriff did not seem to notice the subterfuge. “That’s a mighty expensive restaurant to be going out for a late-night snack.”

Ralph was totally on his charm game. “What can we say? We were in the mood for French.”

“You two expect me to believe that you went all the way to Queen’s Court for dinner?”

Quinton was a bit surprised when Ralph sat down next to him, really, really close. The younger man put a hand on Quinton’s leg while he spoke. “And why not?”

The sheriff looked flustered, but Quinton was not quite sure if this was the way he wanted their alibi to go.

“No matter what you queers say, I’ll need some proof, or we’ll be down at the station having this conversation.”

Quinton got up and moved away from Ralph. Not that he had any problems with gay people; he just did not like acting like one. “There are reservations in my name for a party of two at eight o’clock. Just call the restaurant and verify it.”

Dooley nodded to one of his men, who picked up the phone and dialed information. After a moment, the deputy informed the sheriff, “The restaurant won’t be open until after four this afternoon.”

It was clear that the sheriff did not believe Quinton, but it was equally clear that the sheriff had absolutely no evidence to haul them in with, either. After a few seconds of puffing up his chest, Dooley warned, “I’m going to go easy on you, but only until four o’clock. If your story doesn’t check out, expect another visit. And no more out-of-town jaunts. I want you where I can reach you at all times.”

“Got it,” Ralph quipped as the men filed out of the room. Once the door was closed, the younger man whistled quite dramatically. “Shit almighty. Did you even think a visit to Crow’s Landing would be this adventure filled?”

Quinton did not comment. He was too preoccupied. His only thoughts were of Regina. If they dug deep enough at the Chateau they would find out that Quinton had certainly been there, but not with his assistant. He desperately needed to talk to Regina.

“I’m going to use a pay phone.”

Ralph blocked his way. “Whoa, there. I’m equally worried, but we are not calling anyone right now. These may be yokels, but they will be watching us. The best favor we can do ourselves and our ladies is to stay put.”

“But—”

“No buts, Quinton. Granted they’re not very bright, but I bet you they’re going to be watching us for a while. Luckily, those two goons didn’t look like they had much of an attention span.” Ralph shrugged. “So, we’ll bore them for a few hours and make sure we’re not followed before we head out to use the phone. On foot, I might add.”

Quinton chafed at the younger man’s warning tone, but he knew his assistant was right. Quinton had kept the presence of mind to realize that the sheriff could easily check the phone records of the hotel room. Ralph was correct. If the cops caught them using a pay phone, they could easily find out who they called, and that was the last thing Quinton wanted the sheriff to know. His assistant’s plan was sound. It was the only way to keep their lives the least bit private. Still, he ached to hear Regina’s voice.

Ralph plopped himself down on the bed and threw his body back onto the mattress. “I can’t believe our luck. We both find chicks, and then we’re under house arrest. Guess we’ll be ordering in pizza tonight.”

Snorting, Quinton dug back into his paperwork. Ralph could give up on Natalie that easily, but there was no way Quinton was going to stay in tonight. The ache he felt in his belly could only be relieved by seeing Regina. He had no idea how he was going to swing it, but come hell or high water, a redneck sheriff or an irate husband, Quinton was taking Regina out tonight. Nothing was going to come between him and his plans.

* * *

“Meryl, will you please hurry up?” Regina shouted down the hallway. “Your ride is going to be here any minute.”

With only one cleat on and trying to pull the other sock up while running, Meryl stumbled down the hall. “But, Mom, why aren’t you taking me? Aren’t you going to watch my soccer game?”

“Sweetheart, I’ve explained this already. I am waiting for an important phone call, and I’ll be over to the field as soon as I can.”

“What kind of important call could
you
have?” Meryl asked.

Under normal circumstances the girl would be right, but Regina bristled at the idea of her life not having any sort of importance. She gave her daughter the patented icy stare, and the girl moped off, mumbling her apologies.

Michael came crashing around the corner and almost knocked the three of them over. He had a duffel bag filled to the brim.

“And where do you think you’re going?” Regina asked.

“Out,” the teenager sullenly answered.

Digging through the contents of the bag, she found only clean clothes. “Moving out?”

Michael tried to shrug casually, but it came off as mildly guilty. But just about everything her son did seemed tainted by guilt these days. “No! I’m just spending the night over at Evan’s house.”

Normally, Regina would have forbidden Michael to stay this long away from home, but she was not up to a fight right now. If Wayne could take a three-day weekend, then so could she. “All right, but I want you home by ten a.m. tomorrow morning. Understand?”

Michael seemed shocked at the ease with which he had gotten permission and blurted out, “Yeah. Sure.”

“Mom!” Meryl whined. “No fair! How come he gets to go on another sleepover, and I have to stay home with some skanky babysitter?”

Regina tried to ignore her daughter and searched the road for Meryl’s ride to soccer. The street was deserted except for her son walking toward town. It struck her as strange that Evan’s parents did not drop by to pick him up. For a second, Regina truly feared that Michael might really be running away. Panicked, but not wanting to show it around Meryl, Regina rushed to Michael’s room. Her daughter was hot on her heels, complaining the whole time. Luckily, Regina found Michael’s room to be in its usual chaos, and her son’s most prized possessions—his CD collection—were still in place. That boy would never leave home without it.

Sighing in relief, Regina closed her son’s bedroom door. She was probably just edgy and nervous because of Quinton. Besides, Michael had walked over to Evan’s before. There was nothing to be so flustered over. Meryl, however, felt there was much to be upset about. The girl was still incessantly whining about Regina’s leniency with Michael. The woman had to admit that her decision was not one of the fairest she had ever made.

Recanting, and vowing to do it only this once, Regina turned to Meryl. “I’ll arrange another sleepover at Sabrina’s tonight. Will that make you happy?”

“Oh, yes, yes, yes, yes!” Meryl squeaked as she jumped up and down, kissing Regina on the cheek.

Moving back to the window, Regina was relieved to see a car turn into their driveway. “Now, get your cleats on. The Murrays are driving up right now.”

Meryl’s good mood was short lived. “Oh, not them! Couldn’t you have at least gotten me a better ride?”

“What’s wrong with Trisha? I thought you two girls got along?”

Meryl curled up her nose. “It’s not her. It’s her big brother. He farts the whole time. The car reeks by the time we get across town.”

Regina nearly pushed her daughter out the door as the phone began ringing. “Suffer through it. You’ll survive.”

Hastily waving to Mrs. Murray, Regina made a dash for the phone. Her ears burned as soon as she realized it was Quinton, but his breath was all rushed. The words went by so quickly that Regina could barely comprehend what he was saying. The police might uncover their meeting last night? She tried to ask what in the hell the sheriff had to do with their trip to Queen’s Court, but Quinton’s pace was rapid fire. Despite his ominous words, Quinton’s voice sounded excited and urgent. Regina wondered, if things were so dangerous why was he still talking about meeting that night? Shouldn’t they keep things quiet? Let this all blow over?

The conversation was such a whirlwind that Regina did not even realize that she had agreed to meet Quinton at seven p.m. out on Route 59 until she hung up. What were they thinking? She knew Quinton had nothing to do with the equipment sabotage at her husband’s company, but if the police started digging into the strangers’ whereabouts, Wayne was certain to find out about their relationship. Granted, she could try to say that last night was just a friendly dinner, but Regina knew that she could not lie that well. Oh, her stomach ached and her head was pounding.

A thought flitted her mind. She could get out of this. She could stand Quinton up. Equally quickly, Regina dismissed the notion. Now that was a ridiculous thought. She could not imagine hurting Quinton in that way. Regina had her chance to decline, and she had not. Besides, Wayne was only spending one more night out of town. This would be their last night to rendezvous. Regina knew she could not maintain this clandestine behavior if Wayne was around. The stress alone would kill her. No, tonight was her last evening to play out her fantasy life before harsh cold reality set in again, and she was not going to miss it for the world.

The knock at the door startled Regina so badly that she whirled around and knocked over a vase filled with flowers. The crystal shattered and sent water and petals all over the entryway. Nervously, Regina pushed the mess aside and answered the door. Natalie was through the front door before Regina could say hello.

“You will never believe what is happening! We’ve got our own little soap opera going!”

Regina let the blonde prattle on as she cleaned up the mess on the floor. Wayne would kill her if the Oriental rug was water stained. The last thing Regina wanted to do right now was talk with Natalie. Did the younger woman not know that Regina wanted to take a nice long bath and prepare for meeting Quinton? But how could she? Natalie still thought Regina was some out of step old prude. Little did the younger woman know of Regina’s transformation.

“Don’t you think it’s noble?” Natalie asked, but Regina barely heard her. When Regina did not answer, Natalie became even more insistent. “Well? Don’t you think it was so very honorable for Ralph to lie about last night? I mean he could have used me as an alibi, and this whole thing with the cops would be over with, but he didn’t.” Now that Natalie had Regina’s attention, the younger woman moved into the kitchen and started scrounging for snacks. How the girl kept her figure, Regina would never know. Between bites of chips, Natalie continued, “I think chivalry is kind of sexy. What about you?”

Trying to act ignorant, Regina finished cleaning up. “So what’s going on?”

“God, Regina. You’ve got to stay more in touch. The police are bearing down on Ralph and his boss. They are totally trying to frame them for all this crap going down out at the lumberyard.”

“Do they have any other suspects?”

Natalie rolled her eyes. “Please! They have two strangers to accuse. Do you really think that tub of lard your husband got elected to sheriff is going to look any further?”

“No. I guess not,” Regina answered as she paused briefly. It made no sense. Crow’s Landing was practically crime free. Her husband did not take being humiliated and desecrated very lightly. Regina felt a shiver go up her spine. She might want to take that into account when she met Quinton tonight.

“But the absolute killer is that Quinton is seeing someone in town!” Natalie nearly squealed like Meryl. “Can you believe it? And someone married, to boot! Oh, I would love to know who he hooked up with. That would be the juiciest of juicy tidbits.”

Regina stiffened. “What else did Ralph tell you?”

Natalie opened up the refrigerator. “Oh, the brat wouldn’t give me anything more specific. Ralph just said that Quinton took this woman out to dinner in Queen’s Court. The reservations he made are their alibi for last night.” Digging around, Natalie came out of the refrigerator with a box. “Hey. Calamari. Mind if I nuke it?”

“Go ahead,” Regina answered even though she was distracted. The last thing she wanted was for Natalie to figure out who Quinton was seeing. The blonde would blab it all over town, and Regina would not have to worry about how Wayne would find out. Natalie would take care of that for her. Suddenly, Regina realized that the younger woman was eating out of the take-home box from the restaurant last night.