“Whatcha got, Grady?” Simon asked.
The other officer looked up with a grin. “We’ve got another giant penis. This one is on the water tower.”
“Damn,” Simon swore. “That’s going to be hard to clean off.”
“It’s the fourth one in less than three weeks. The Rosewood Times has started calling him the Penis Picasso.”
“Penis Picasso?” Simon nearly choked on the words. Emmett chuckled in his seat beside her.
Maddie shook her head. She hadn’t heard anything about more crude graffiti popping up, but she wasn’t surprised. The teenagers in town were bored. Rosewood was a dull place for kids that age. Outside of school activities and sports, there was nothing to do. It wasn’t much better for the adults in town. That’s why so many of them loitered at Woody’s and drooled over local gossip. But the Penis Picasso? Who would come up with a name so ridiculous? It would just call attention to the artist and make them go out of their way to do more.
All she knew was that if a penis showed up on the side of her bakery, heads would roll. She’d track that little bastard down and watch him repaint her wall.
“What’ve you got, Simon?” Grady looked over at Maddie and Emmett as they sat sulking in their chairs.
“Disturbing the peace and disorderly conduct.”
Grady frowned at the two of them. “Isn’t that your older sister?”
Simon sighed. “It is. It’s such an embarrassment for the family, you know? I’m sure it will break my grandmother’s heart to know her oldest granddaughter is a common criminal.”
Maddie wished she had free hands to reach out and throttle him. “Oh, Granny’s gonna hear about it all right,” she taunted, “but when I’m done, you’re going to be the one in trouble, Simon. This whole thing is totally uncalled for.”
“Oh yeah?” her brother challenged. “We’ll just wait and see what she has to say after you go in front of the judge Monday morning.”
Maddie shot up in her chair. She thought she would pay a fine and go home. Facing a judge made it seem a lot more serious. Her best friend, Lydia Whittaker, had a run-in with the local judge the year before over an incident during the Rosewood Fall Festival parade. Her antics had ruined it for everyone, traumatizing the newly crowned Miss Rosewood and nearly breaking Ivy Hudson’s neck. The judge had thrown the book at her, giving her a huge number of community service hours and an outrageous fine. But in Lydia’s case someone could’ve been hurt, and frankly, she deserved it. This dustup with Emmett wasn’t nearly as serious, and yet her stomach started turning somersaults in her belly. “The judge?”
“Yep,” Simon said with a smile that unnerved her. “I can’t wait to see what Judge Griffin says about your little neighborhood battle.”
Chapter Five
Maddie was the walking dead by the afternoon. She was in the kitchen with her head down on the counter, asleep, when the door chime startled her awake.
“Let’s go to lunch,” she heard her friend Lydia shout from out front.
Looking down at her watch she realized she was past due to eat. Maybe some food and a caffeinated drink would help her make it to closing time. “Give me a minute,” Maddie shouted back. She slipped out of her apron and checked herself in the mirror before grabbing her purse.
“How about we go get a slice at Pizza Palace?” Lydia suggested with a perfect and practiced smile. Lydia had always had the looks and poise of a Miss Alabama finalist. Her thick blond hair was styled flawlessly. Her cornflower-blue eyes were bright and lined by dark, full lashes. Her straight, white teeth nearly glowed against the golden tan of her skin.
Frankly, although they were best friends, Maddie rarely liked to stand beside her. She was an attractive woman, too, but it was hard to remember that next to Chef Barbie. She wasn’t just beautiful; she was the talented executive chef at Whittaker’s.
Maddie self-consciously smoothed her hand over her hair and nodded. Pizza Palace was close, fast, and easy. “Okay.” She flipped the WILL RETURN sign, locked the door, and walked with Lydia down the sidewalk to the local pizza place.
“So, what’s been going on with you?” Lydia asked as they settled at a table with slices of pizza and drinks.
Lydia typ
ically opened with that so once Maddie answered, she could dominate the rest of the conversation with her life’s drama, guilt-free. Maddie didn’t really mind, since she didn’t usually have much going on. Her love life was nonexistent. Lydia didn’t really care about renovations in the bakery. Listening to Lydia’s tales kept things interesting. Today, however, she had more to tell than usual.
“You look rough today,” Lydia continued. “If I were you, I’d invest in some good concealer for those under-eye circles.”
“I don’t need concealer,” Maddie snapped. Lydia was always too quick to point out things like that. “I need more than two hours of sleep a night.”
Lydia leaned in with interest. “Is there something fun happening that I don’t know about? Is some guy keeping you up all night?”
“No and yes,” Maddie answered. “No, it isn’t fun, but yes, Emmett Sawyer is keeping me up all night.”
“The hot bartender?”