Ever After (Love to the Rescue Book 3) (3 page)

Deputy Sampson regarded her from behind his mirrored shades, hands on his belt, feet shoulder-width apart, the casual yet alert stance of the law enforcement officer. He stared for so long, and so intently, that she could hardly keep from squirming.

“Have a nice day, Miss Bennett,” he said, finally, and strolled back to his car, apparently unruffled by her words. He’d probably stop for chicken nuggets on the way home.

She blew out a breath and turned back to the ladder. “You can come out now,” she called to her friends, who’d been huddled on the other side of Terence’s Durango.

“Check the balls on you,” Terence said with a cocky grin as he sauntered over. “I can’t believe you told off a cop like that.”

“Seriously.” Kristi’s eyes were wide. “You schooled him for sure.”

“Whatever. He wouldn’t think I was a drunk driver if y’all hadn’t run off and left me here the other night.” Her irritation had started to fade when they’d first come begging for forgiveness. Terence had a prior for smoking weed, and Kristi worked for the state. Neither of them could risk an arrest going on their record.

But now they’d left her to face Deputy Sampson on her own twice, and she was pissed. Terence and Kristi shared her passion for animal rights and her crusade against Halverson Foods in particular, but when it came down to it, they were pretty lousy friends.

And maybe it was time to start pruning the lousy friends from her life.

“I’m really sorry about that.” Kristi at least sounded apologetic.

Olivia readjusted her mask to block the worst of the stink, then sprayed Goo Off onto her blood-red message, however ridiculous it had turned out.
Chicken Ass
had no doubt made her a laughing stock among Dogwood’s finest. At least
Chicken Assassins!
would have gotten her intended message across. The letters dripped and ran down the side of the building.

She swiped at her forehead and scrubbed harder. She meant what she’d told Deputy Sampson. From now on, she’d limit her activism to the right side of the law. She’d become notorious among her friends for her Facebook war against Halverson Foods, and she’d generated a lot of attention for her efforts. The local news had even mentioned her crusade a few weeks ago.

She’d plead temporary insanity for her acts the night of her birthday.

Mew.

She spun on the ladder so quickly she almost fell, and this time Deputy Sampson wasn’t here to catch her. There it was again, a flash of white bobbing through the tall grasses behind the factory. Just a tiny little thing.

“I think there’s a kitten out there,” she said.

“I heard it too.” Terence squinted against the sun.

“I’m going to look for it after I finish washing all this stuff off. It’s probably a stray, and I haven’t seen any sign of a mama cat.”

“I’ll help,” Kristi said, from her perch on the other ladder.

By the time they’d finished scrubbing, a handful of Halverson workers had gathered outside, smoking cigarettes and making rude comments.

“You like chicken ass? I’ll show you my ass,” a man shouted.

Several other comments followed, mostly in Spanish, but she got the gist. Despite her earlier annoyance with them, she was super grateful for Terence and Kristi’s presence. She made the mistake of glancing over her shoulder. The man who’d shouted was waving at her, making kissy faces. He wore red-splattered overalls, and Olivia was pretty sure he hadn’t been spray-painting anything.

Gross.

“Can you believe those guys?” Kristi whispered.

Olivia kept her eyes on the side of the building. She’d left the paint thinner behind and was finishing the job with good old soap and water to remove the last of the residue. Water ran down her arms as she worked, soaking her shirt.

The rumble of an approaching truck drowned out the voices of the plant workers. She glanced toward the road, and her stomach lurched. The big rig slowed and pulled into the parking lot behind her. Its freight bed was stacked high with wire crates.

A shipment of chickens to be slaughtered.

It pulled to a stop near the back of the building, where the workers had gathered. The putrid scent of animal waste wafted from the truck, making Olivia’s eyes water.

Chickens were packed into wire crates stacked ten high, without room to stand or protection from the elements. They had likely traveled hundreds of miles to get here, without access to food or water.

The birds were silent as the truck’s engine shut off, and a hush fell over the air. Olivia realized she was holding her breath, unable to move from the top of the ladder. A loud beep shattered the eerie silence as someone drove a forklift toward them to begin unloading the crates of chickens. One by one they were lifted from the truck and carried inside.

“Holy shit,” Kristi whispered.

One of the crates slipped to the ground. The door popped open, and a chicken tumbled out. It lay on the ground, unmoving. Tears sprang into Olivia’s eyes. Without thinking, she reached into her back pocket for her phone and snapped a quick photo of the fallen bird.

A worker grabbed the chicken by its feet and waved it in her direction. “You like chicken ass? I’ll show you chicken ass.”

She turned away, horrified. Birds squawked as their crates were jostled and moved. From inside the building came the clang of machinery. She swallowed past the urge to vomit. The last crate was lifted from the truck, and she watched helplessly as the birds were carried inside. It was wrong for humans to treat another living being with such a lack of compassion.

At the far end of the parking lot, the little white kitten darted out of the bushes after a butterfly. It hopped on three legs, keeping its left front paw tucked as if injured, its fur dirty and bedraggled. A factory worker shouted an obscenity and threw a rock at it, and the kitten ran around behind the building.

Several men loitered in the doorway, watching Olivia and her friends as they finished up.

“Liv,” Terence said. “I think it’s time to get out of here.”

“No argument here.” She scampered down the ladder and helped him fold it, then gathered their supplies and hustled for the SUV.

She thought briefly of the kitten, but there was no way she could look for it right now, and she’d been ordered to stay off Halverson Foods property once her cleanup was complete. That meant she had to find a legal way to save it, because she wasn’t about to get arrested again. She couldn’t protect the chickens from those men, but she could damn well make sure they didn’t get their hands on that poor little kitten.

W
hen Pete got off duty that evening, he went home and changed into gym shorts and a T-shirt and took Timber for a run. They headed for the paved jogging trail that ran around the outskirts of town and pounded out two miles down to the pond by the old mill.

Timber jogged obediently at his side, head up, eyes alert and watchful. If not for his
slightly
unpredictable personality, he’d have made a hell of a K9 officer.

Since they had the place to themselves, Pete unclipped Timber’s leash and let him chase fish and frogs in the pond. The dog had been bouncing off the walls by the time Pete got off work. He knew enough about dogs—shepherds in particular—to know that proper exercise was essential to their sanity.

Pete knew the feeling. A good run always put him in a calmer state of mind as well.

Timber sloshed toward him. Pete bent and grabbed a stick, which he chucked into the middle of the pond. Timber raced down the short wooden pier and belly flopped into the water. He grabbed the stick and brought it back, a slightly rabid look in his eye when Pete tried to take it from him to throw again.

No doubt Timber’s instinctual prey drive was off the charts, thanks to selective breeding and rigorous training to prepare him for work as a police dog. Pete waited for him to drop the stick on his own rather than grabbing it out of the dog’s mouth.

He tossed the stick a few more times, then clipped the leash onto the dog and headed for home. Back at the house, he hosed Timber down then took a shower. He poured a bowl of chow for the dog and fixed himself a meatball sandwich, which he brought to the couch to enjoy with some football. A few minutes later, Timber joined him, still licking his chops.

After Pete had filled the gaping hole in his belly, he pulled out his laptop and typed in “Citizens Against Halverson Foods.” A website popped up, filled with photos that, even to his nonactivist eye, were disturbing.

He clicked on a video. Three workers laughed as one of them tossed a chicken onto the concrete floor. It squawked as it lay there, unable to get up. What they did to it next made Pete’s meatball sandwich rise into his throat. Olivia was right. That was animal abuse.

The website was filled with information on the efforts the group had made to have Halverson Foods’ chicken-processing plant shut down. There was a link to sign a petition and access to the group’s Facebook page, which had over four thousand “likes.”

And the woman behind it all? Olivia Bennett.

She was smart, all right. Smart enough to have known better than to break the law to further her cause. Smart enough to keep her pretty little self out of trouble from now on? He wasn’t sure about that. The fact was, she remained Sheriff Linburgh’s top suspect for a number of open vandalism cases around town.

Pete had his doubts. Olivia seemed pretty singularly focused on Halverson Foods. If anything else went down on their property, he’d be willing to bet she was behind it. But he didn’t quite see her spray-painting a crude version of the Pillsbury Dough Boy with an erection on the front window of Beth’s Bakery.

It was an election year, and Halverson Foods had backed Sheriff Linburgh in the last election. Certainly the sheriff’s interest in this case could be related to a need to keep the company happy, but it didn’t mean he was wrong about Olivia either. Had she turned loose Holloway’s cows?

The sheriff had asked him to keep an eye on her, and hell, Pete’s gut hadn’t exactly been reliable lately, so he’d make sure she didn’t fly anything beneath his radar. He couldn’t afford another screwup.

Olivia kept her cheerful smile firmly in place as she approached Deputy Sampson’s table. Sure, local law enforcement stopped in here sometimes for a cup of coffee or a meal after getting off duty. But Pete Sampson? He’d never eaten here before that she could remember.

Today he was here and seated in her section. He was checking up on her. Well fine, because that factory was cleaner than it had been when she’d found it. She’d done her penance, and she had nothing to hide.

“Deputy Sampson,” she said politely, “what can I get you today?”

He looked up, his dark eyes searching her face. He was in uniform, his slacks and shirt pressed to perfection. But up close, he looked…tired. “What’s good?” he asked, then gave her a devilish smile. “How’s the chicken?”

She pointed her pen at him. “Ha ha, very funny. I would personally recommend the eggplant parm, but I hear the chicken is very good as well.”

“So you’re a vegetarian then.” He leaned back against the red-patterned upholstery of the booth, his eyes never leaving hers.

“Yes, and maybe if you had checked out my website, you’d understand why.”

“Oh, I checked it out.” His gaze was steady and intent.

“Really?” That caught her by surprise. “And? What did you think?”

“Very informative.” His eyes revealed nothing. They might have been discussing the weather for all he seemed to care.

“Informative? That’s the best you can do?” If his intent had been to piss her off, he was succeeding. Big time. “You seem like a decent human being, Deputy Sampson. Did it not bother you to see those birds being abused?”

“I didn’t say that.” He looked down at his menu. “So the chicken parm, huh?”

“Seriously, you came here to order chicken from me?” She propped her fists on her hips and glared at him.

“You must serve chicken here every day. Do you get this worked up about it every time?”

He was baiting her. This had to be some kind of cop technique, and it was working because she was about to blow a lid, and he looked as calm as ever. “Do I get this worked up? No. Only when the deputy who arrested me comes in here making fun of my beliefs. Well, if you can watch those videos and not be bothered, then good for you. Enjoy your chicken parm.”

“Did you say you got arrested?” Mr. Edgemont craned his head from the booth behind Deputy Sampson’s. The old man came in here every day for lunch and was as much of a gossip as any woman she’d ever known.

“Yes, sir, I did.” And dammit, she really hadn’t meant to spread that information around town. Not that it wouldn’t have gotten out anyway. Working at the Main Street Café, a lot of people knew her, and someone would have seen her mug shot on the local news website and spread the word soon enough.

Bad enough Tom already knew. This was exactly the type of scene he’d wanted to avoid. Olivia was teetering on a skinny wire right now, without a net.

“What did you do?” Mr. Edgemont’s eyebrows were up, as if he expected her to confess something really scandalous.

“I spray-painted the Halverson Foods chicken factory,” she told him.

He tsk-tsked her, and her fists clenched at her sides. “Aw well, honey, you’ve gotta come around sooner or later. People eat meat.” He gestured at the remainder of his pulled pork sandwich. “You ain’t never going to change that.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.” She turned her back on him to find Pete watching her, an annoying twinkle of amusement in his dark eyes.

“Anyway, if you’re finished heckling me, I’ll go put your order in.” She tried to sound as nonchalant as he looked, but she failed. She sounded pissed.

“Aren’t you going to ask what I want to drink?”

Oh my God.
Her eye twitched. “Of course, Deputy Sampson. What would you like to drink?”

“You got Dr Pepper?”

She nodded.

“All right then. Dr Pepper, and why don’t we make it the eggplant parm?” He winked.

Olivia’s mouth fell open. She snapped it shut and stalked off to place his order. What the hell was his deal? All that and then he ordered eggplant?

He was entirely too obnoxious to be so good looking. She’d never actually been one of those women who lusted after a man in uniform—probably because of her dislike of authority figures—but Pete Sampson? Phew. Naughty images of him frisking her played through her mind, and her cheeks heated.

“Psst.”

She whipped around to find Kristi standing outside the door to the kitchen, cell phone in hand.

“You’ve got to see this,” Kristi said.

“See what?”

“There’s a picture making rounds on the Internet today.” She held her phone out.

Olivia took it, a tight fist of dread in her stomach, but it wasn’t a picture of herself she saw on Kristi’s screen. Instead, the photo showed a bunch of people wearing chicken costumes, standing beneath her botched
Chicken Ass
message, mooning the camera. Someone had stamped clip-art chicken tails across the image to hide their bare butts from the Internet.

Kristi snickered, a look of pure delight on her face.

“What the hell is this?” Olivia asked.

Her friend shrugged. “Word is, some kind of fraternity prank. Funny, right?”

Funny? No. Her message had become a joke. She’d been arrested and possibly messed up her future so that a bunch of college kids could pull their pants down and become Internet sensations? “Where did you find this?”

“Anyone in town with a Facebook account has seen it. I’m surprised you hadn’t.”

This just kept getting better. “I’ve been here since this morning. Look, I need to get back to work. Call me later, okay?”

Kristi nodded and left with a wave.

Olivia walked to the soda fountain machine and stood for a moment with her eyes closed. She focused on her inner peace with an “on the go” meditation technique she’d mastered, using calm, deep breaths to banish her temper and frustration.

Then she filled Pete’s Dr Pepper and carried it to his table. “Here you go.”

She turned to walk away, but he placed a big, warm hand over hers, his eyes suddenly serious. “The videos bothered me, okay? I am not, nor do I intend to become, a vegetarian, but I don’t like to think I’m supporting that kind of abuse when I buy my lunch.”

So he did care. Well crap. Now she was
really
in trouble.

Pete saw surprise flicker in her eyes, covered quickly with more of that smartass temper he apparently enjoyed way too much for his own good. No other explanation for why he’d been needling her since he got here.

Sure, he could say it was for the case. He’d been trained to read body language, and sometimes it paid to push a little, helped him get a better gut impression on whether a person was guilty or not.

Olivia Bennett was guilty all right, but she’d made no attempt to hide it either.

“Your meal should be out in a few minutes,” she told him, then walked off toward the kitchen.

He turned his attention to his cell phone, scrolling through messages. His eyes caught on the most recent email: the results from his detective exam. He’d scored an 86.34.

A thrill passed through him. Even if he was passed over for the promotion, that was a score to be proud of. This was what he’d been working toward since he was a little boy. More than a deputy, he’d wanted to become a detective. Solve crimes. Maybe even leave Dogwood behind once and for all and join a larger department somewhere else.

Charlotte, perhaps. But he’d never leave North Carolina, not with his mom and sister living here in Dogwood.

Sheriff Linburgh had hinted that Pete was his top choice to make detective at the end of the year, but it was far from a done deal. Three other deputies had tested with Pete, and there were several fine officers in the bunch. He slid his phone into his pocket, as Olivia approached with his lunch.

“Eggplant parm, as you wish,” she said, as she placed a plate in front of him. The sandwich bulged with breaded eggplant, complimented by potato chips and a pickle wedge. The aroma made his mouth water. He’d always heard the food here was good, but he’d had his reasons for not visiting.

Reasons he’d overlooked today for the chance to see Olivia at work.

“Thanks,” he said.

She didn’t immediately walk away, so he decided to take advantage of the moment and keep her talking a little longer. “So you’ve been crusading against Halverson Foods for a while.”

She nodded. “Over a year. I’ve even been able to get some national attention. There was a pretty big stink after those undercover videos came out, but still nothing was done to stop it.”

“Seems hard to believe.” With that kind of evidence, he would have expected charges to be filed. He made a mental note to look further into the case when he got back to the office.

Her brown eyes gleamed with emotion. “Well it’s like you said, they’re there to be slaughtered anyway. No one cares how they’re treated beforehand.”

All done up for work, with her makeup perfect, her blond hair long and straight over her shoulders, in black slacks and a snug pink top, she was absolutely stunning. He’d found himself attracted to her on that ladder in the sweltering sun, and today the pull was even stronger. Though he did kind of miss the shorts…

And he admired her passion. Stupid as she’d been to spray-paint that factory, her heart was in the right place. There were far too many people in the world who were inclined to let things slide instead of taking a stand for what they believed in or what was right. Olivia Bennett was not afraid to stand up for her beliefs, even if it made her a laughingstock, and he respected that.

“People care,” he answered her. “But we can’t enforce a law that hasn’t been written. You seem fairly eloquent about the issue. Maybe you should be addressing your lawmakers.”

“Hmph.” She took a step back. “That’s actually a really good idea.”

“I have my moments.” He picked up his sandwich and took a big bite.

“Well, thanks.” She turned and walked off, giving him a backward glance that was sexy as hell. Everything about her was sexy as hell.

And he had absolutely no business lusting after a woman he’d arrested.

He devoured his sandwich, chips, and even the pickle, then polished off his Dr Pepper. The food was delicious. Too bad he couldn’t eat here without wanting his waitress, and she was definitely not on the menu.

Olivia swung by and dropped off his check. He stuck a twenty on it and stood. He turned down the hall past the kitchen to visit the men’s room before he went out to his car, but halfway there, he came face to face with Tamara Hill.