“Sure. Congratulations, by the way! I think you’ll make a great sheriff. We need someone younger.”
“And not dead,” added Bishop helpfully.
Royce narrowed his eyes at him. “You may be younger than me, but I can still take you.”
Sadie rolled her eyes at Royce’s posturing; she never had taken him seriously. “We had a pool going in back whether Sheriff Garrison was a zombie or not. I feel kind of bad now that he really is dead, even though it was a joke.”
“We’re not supposed to speak ill of the dead, but he was a joke,” said Caleb.
“Speaking of wings, how’s Evi?” Sadie asked. “I haven’t seen her in a couple of days.”
This time it was Royce rolling his eyes at the sappy expression that took over Caleb’s face. Caleb was head over heels for his fiancée Evi Devine. It was sweet, Royce supposed, but also a bit annoying to realize he was slightly envious of his friend. Royce didn’t have time for a significant other and he didn’t see that changing anytime soon.
“She’s good, busy setting up her new practice. How’s Archer?”
Sadie shook her head, her hand resting on her hip. “That child. She and Quinn Harcourt have a sleepover tomorrow at Margo’s house. I wish I had waited to tell her because she cannot stop talking about it, but it’s going to be nice to have my place to myself before Bill’s leave. I’ll be right back with your beer, Royce.”
Royce’s attention was on Sadie but out of the corner of his eye, he saw Topher reaching for one of his wings.
“Touch one of my wings and you will regret it, and for a very long time.”
Topher just laughed at him and snagged one anyway, taking a big bite and smirking while he chewed.
“Why am I friends with you?” Royce wondered.
“Because I am the yin to your yang,” Topher joked.
“I hate you right now.” Even though they hadn’t served together, they’d stayed best friends and Topher was still the one whose voice of reason didn’t drive Royce nuts.
“So, how did it go over there?” asked Bishop in an attempt to change the subject. It worked.
“The office looks like feral monkeys lived in it and Garrison’s notes are all over the place. Literally. Boxes everywhere, stacks of papers. I practically got hives just looking at the mess.”
“Do you think he had some issue other than incompetence?” Topher asked after swallowing the last bite of his purloined wing.
Royce rubbed the back of his neck, trying to release the tension there.
“After what Raine and I saw today? Probably. But you’ll never guess what else happened.”
Sadie returned, setting his beer in front of him, and Royce took a long sip of the bitter brew as he waited for them each to take a stab. One of these days they’d get prizes for the weirdest answer.
Bishop eyed him. “You found a dried-up peanut butter sandwich?”
“Nooo. Why are you so weird?” If prizes were a thing when they played this game, Bishop would win, every time.
“Did you find a pipe? Did Garrison smoke pot? That might explain a lot.”
Setting his glass down, Royce frowned at Topher. “What the hell, Toph? No, I did not find a pipe.”
“A body part? Did he have like a finger or something over there he forgot about?”
“Thanks for that, Caleb, but no.”
They all looked crestfallen. What was wrong with his friends? To be fair, he might yet find something like a dried-up body part when he started cleaning up. He took another long sip of his beer. He deserved it.
“Well, what then?” Bishop demanded.
“So… you all heard Tor Nilson passed a day or so before Garrison?” There was a flurry of nods and grunts. “It seems Garrison hadn’t contacted his daughter yet. I got a phone call while Raine and I were over there. I don’t actually know how she was notified.”