A sudden silence fell around the table. Emily felt her last bite of cola-basted ham lodge in her throat
The only one who seemed oblivious to the awkward pause was Marvella, who drained half her glass of iced tea, set it down with a thump, and said, “I hope you aren’t selling because you’ve started worrying about the crime in Honoria.”
Emily lifted an eyebrow. “Hardly,” she said a bit dryly. “We barely have any crime in Honoria, Marvella.”
“What about all those houses that were robbed during the fall festival? And I hear there was another robbery two nights ago, while the family was at the junior-high football game. You doing anything about those, Chief Davenport?”
“Everything we can, ma’am,” he answered patiently. “I have my two best officers investigating, and I’ve stepped up patrols as much as I can, considering our limited staff.”
“Ask me, you should check out that youngest O’Brien boy. He’s as wild as they come. I just know he’s the one that’s been stealing traffic signs around here, and spray-painting all the nice buildings.”
“We’re checking out all leads, Ms. Tucker. Whoever is doing this will get caught, I promise you.”
Marvella nodded. “Good. And when you catch ‘em, you make sure they get more than a slap on the wrist, you hear? Let’em know we don’t put up with that nonsense in our town.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Wade agreed, his meek tone making Emily smile.
“Tell me about your family, Mrs. McBride,” Wade said, quickly changing the subject. “You have three grown children?”
Bobbie answered without hesitation. “Yes, a daughter and two sons. Tara, the eldest, is a tax attorney in Atlanta.”
“Followed in her father’s footsteps, did she?” Wade asked with a smile directed toward Caleb.
Caleb answered. “Oh, she’s no country lawyer like her old man. Tara graduated with honors from Harvard. She worked for a big firm in Atlanta for several years. Now she and a partner have gone into business on their own.”
“She’s getting married next month,” Bobbie added, shaking her head with apparent bemusement. “To a private investigator named Blake Fox. He’s a charming man, though a bit...different.”
“I like him,” Emily said, smiling as she remembered her recent meeting with her cousin’s gorgeous and somewhat offbeat fiancé.
“And your sons?” Wade asked, seeming to make sure the conversation stayed away from Emily’s personal plans—or his own—for a while.
Emily sent Wade a grateful look as Bobbie launched into a proud monologue about her sons and her brilliant and adorable grandson, Sam.
BOBBIE SERVED apricot-nectar cake with ice cream for dessert, and then, finally the meal was over. Typically, the women moved to the kitchen to clean up while Caleb led the guys into the den for football and coffee.
“I think he likes you, Emily,” Bobbie whispered loudly as they loaded dirty dishes into the dishwasher.
Her cheeks warming, Emily gave her aunt a warning glance. “Aunt Bobbie...”
“He did seem rather taken, didn’t he?” Marvella said approvingly.
“I thought I noticed some interest there.” The minister’s wife seemed as prone to matchmaking as her friends. “You and Chief Davenport would make a nice couple, Emily. He’s widowed, you know. And that boy of his already seems very fond of you.”
“But—”
“Clay’s a precious little boy, isn’t he?” Bobbie mused. “So polite. The chief is doing a fine job of raising him.”
“I hear that housekeeper of his is a wonder,” Marvella, who missed little local gossip despite her advanced years, commented. “LouAnne Garner took a casserole over to welcome them to town, and she said you could eat off’n the floors, the house was so clean. She takes good care of little Clay when his daddy’s at work, too. She’s Mexican, you know.”
“She’s rather shy, I think,” Jennie confided. “I invited her to church, but she said she’s Catholic, so I told her about St. Joseph’s.”
“Have you met her yet, Emily?” Bobbie wanted to know.
“Of course not, Aunt Bobbie. I hardly know Chief Davenport. I’ve had no reason to meet his housekeeper.”
The women brushed off Emily’s protestations without visible concern.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if the chief invites you out for dinner or a movie real soon,” Marvella advised Emily. “You let him know right off that you’re a nice girl, you hear?”