Hot as Heller (Aster Valley 3)

I glanced over at her with a smile. “I think that sounds like a good plan. And maybe if he passes your test, you can enjoy a nice movie.”

She nodded and let out a breath. “That would be good.”

We finished eating and cleaned up the kitchen. I kissed the top of her head when it was time to head to work. “Supposed to thunderstorm pretty bad today, so keep your eye on the weather if you go out,” I told her before heading out to my vehicle. The sky was deceptively blue, but I’d lived here long enough to know how quickly the storms could come in across the mountains. I hoped drivers stayed off the roads when the rain came. Summer storms caused flash flooding that made for perfect hydroplane conditions.

I got to the department and didn’t even make it as far as my office before Penny sent me out on a call. “It’s Mrs. Brainthwaite.”

“Again? Christ, I thought they’d reached a stalemate,” I muttered, reaching for my rain gear just in case I was still out when the rain hit.

“No. It’s not the pet store. Her car was stolen out of her driveway.”

I headed out to her address and discovered she lived in a little blue house tucked a block behind the Mustache Diner. Before I had a chance to turn off my vehicle, Penny called. “Sheriff, the car was just found abandoned behind the high school. I’m sending Deputy Graham to check it out.”

After greeting Mrs. Brainthwaite and taking down a statement that basically amounted to “I woke up and my car was gone,” I called Shawn to ask for an update.

“The keys are in it, Sheriff. Nothing broken or disturbed. But there’s some fast-food trash in the footwell, so we might be able to check surveillance at the drive-thru.”

I glanced back up at Mrs. Brainthwaite. “Ma’am, have you had anyone in doing work here or given anyone access to somewhere you might have left your keys?”

She began shaking her head before stopping mid-shake. “Well, other than Solomon… he takes my car to pick up my prescriptions sometimes.”

I thought of the teenaged son of the couple who owned the diner. Solo had always seemed like a good kid, so I hoped like hell he hadn’t done this. I nodded and told her the car would be returned to her after processing. I suggested she consider getting a video camera doorbell at the very least to keep an eye on who came and went in her driveway. Then I gave her the number of the young woman in town who helped install them.

Once back in the car, I called Shawn to give him an update on who he might be looking for in that drive-thru footage.

I stopped by the diner to ask Solo about it but learned he wasn’t there. His father, Pim, gave me his customary cheeky smile. “Got himself saddled with summer school, actually. The boy takes after me, after all. Failed his literature class. So now he’s stuck with Danny Reyes and a summer full of Shakespeare. The kid is miserable.”

Bill hollered from the kitchen. “Quit sounding so smug about it. The boy’s gonna think you’re proud of him, for god’s sake.”

Pim laughed. “I’m not proud of him when it means I’m the one picking up his shifts. But when he cut out on his homework all semester, I warned him this would happen. He made his bed, and now he’s having to lie in it with Danny Snooze-Fest Reyes. Tell me that’s not karma.”

I almost asked if he knew where Solo had been last night, but thankfully, I stopped myself before opening that can of worms. Instead, I asked how old Solo was.

“Turns eighteen at the end of September. Why?”

That was something, at least. I played it off like I was just making polite chitchat. “So he’ll be a senior. Does he know what he wants to do after high school?”

Pim shrugged. “You know how it is. One day he wants to be a rock star, the next he wants to be a politician. The only thing he doesn’t want to be is a diner owner, go figure.”

Penny’s voice came over my earpiece to inform me about a fender-bender in the parking lot of the nearby market. I responded I was on my way before saying a quick goodbye to Pim and Bill.

The next several hours progressed the way they always did when the people of Aster Valley were going about their regular lives. It was busy but not difficult, and I enjoyed keeping my mind off a certain actor who’d been occupying it like a tapeworm for the past several days. Thankfully, the cast and crew were busy on the set because there was no sign of any of them in town. With the weather coming in, even the tourists were indoors instead of hanging around hoping for a celebrity sighting.