“We appreciate your concern but not the hostility,” he replied.
“Oh, pardon me, sir. You want us to be more agreeable, soft spoken, delicate?” My voice rose as I moved forward.
“I would like you to remember that you’re speaking to an officer of the law,” he stated in that frustratingly mild tone .
My gaze raked up and down his body. “I don’t know, I think I was pretty apt in calling you an asshole,” I hissed.
His hand went to his hip not so casually. “You keep goin’, missy, I’ll be forced to take action,” he warned.
I stopped just inches in front of him, meeting his stare. “Be my fucking guest,champ. See what happens. I’m sure some of the nation's foremost news organizations would love to hear about a jumped-up sheriff wanting to make a name for himself, not only ignoring a serial killer but then arresting two innocent, young women who simply want justice for a misunderstood group who have done nothing but good for this town.”
His stare turned chilly. “I don’t do well with threats.”
I hoped my own gaze matched his. “Good thing I’m not threatening you, I’m literally informing you of what I plan on doing if you don’t leave the fucking Sons of Templar alone and start investigating these murders.”
My fury had taken on a mind of its own, my fingers twitched with the urge to rip his badge off his chest.
“Violet,” a voice barked.
I jumped, turning to see Elden standing behind me, Colby beside Sariah. Neither of them were smiling.
Sariah was beaming, obviously amused.
“Outside now,” Elden pointed to the front door .
“They’re with you?” the sheriff asked, his tone no longer even vaguely friendly.
I turned around, beaming at him. “Why yes, we are. I’m carrying the child of this here man.” I rubbed my stomach. “Brewing up another wicked criminal.”
“You need to get them out of here right now,” the sheriff said, speaking to Elden.
Elden wasn’t looking at me. “Your wish is our command, sheriff.” His own tone was full of venom I hadn’t heard before. “Violet…”
I sighed, giving the sheriff one more glower before turning on my heel and walking out the door.
“What the fuck do you think you were doing?” Elden seethed, grabbing me by the upper arm. The grip itself was tight, but carefully so. He wasn’t treating me like a delicate flower now that I was pregnant, but he was much more controlled when touching me, that was for sure.
“There’s a serial killer in this town,” Sariah jumped in. Her eyes were locked on with Colby who was scowling at her in a way that confused me because usually, this was the kind of thing Colby enjoyed. Us yelling at the Sheriff. Investigating murders. His facial expression informed me that he definitely was not enjoying this.
“We were simply asking the Sheriff why he wasn’t taking the murders seriously,” I told Elden.
“And getting material for our podcast,” Sariah offered, unhelpfully.
I spun around and glared at her. Elden stopped walking. “What podcast?”
“We don’t have a podcast,” I told Sariah.
“Notyet,” she corrected, not understanding what my wide eyes were communicating.
“Let me get this straight,” Colby said. “You think there’s a serial killer here—”
“There is,” Sariah interrupted.
Colby’s jaw ticced. “And you think the most logical thing is to go poking around places you fucking shouldn’t in order to what … catch him?”
Sariah shrugged. “Looks like we’re going to have to since the police aren’t doing shit.”
Colby put his head in his hands.