coffee.
“Please help yourself to anything when you want it,” she said.
Tanner smiled and she felt a flush run up her chest when she realized the double meaning of that statement. She turned to pour herself a cup of coffee, trying to convince herself that if he took her up on that offer, she’d have the strength to turn him down. She wasn’t quite successful.
“You might be here awhile,” she said, trying to correct her earlier faux pas. “You should treat my house as if it’s yours. I keep the kitchen stocked well with eggs, sandwich stuff and makings for salad. It’s not the Ritz, but I don’t usually have much time for meals.”
“I’m not much of a five-course meal guy myself. I eat most of my meals in front of the television or standing over the sink.”
She smiled. “You can use a chair and table here, if you’d like, or the television in the den. I hate to admit, there’s television trays next to the couch. Sometimes that’s the only time I can catch up on the news.”
“A kindred spirit.” He crossed the room to the refrigerator and pulled out a package of bagels and cream cheese. “Bagel?”
“I can make some eggs—”
He waved one hand. “Is that what you’d do normally? Or would you toss one of these in the toaster and rush out to take care of your work?”
“You got me. Toss one in the toaster for me. I’ll wash up and rinse off some fruit.”
She pulled some strawberries out of the refrigerator and rinsed them in the sink, then carried the bowls of fruit to the breakfast table as Tanner placed the toasted bagels and cream cheese in front of two chairs across from each other, with a side view of the lawn.
“Go ahead and take a seat,” he said, and grabbed the coffeepot to refill both their cups.
She slid into her chair, trying to get a grip on her nerves. All night, she’d dreaded this conversation. A million times she’d run through it in her mind but still hadn’t come up with a way to say it without sounding egotistical and airheaded.
Tanner took a seat across from her and reached for the cream cheese. “How come you don’t have a dog?”
Josie blinked. That wasn’t the question she’d been expecting.
“Oh, well, we had a hound dog forever, but he passed away a couple of years ago. I thought about getting another when I came home, but I haven’t had the time to devote to a puppy. Why do you ask?”
“No reason in particular. I was just thinking that a dog might be good for security.”
She nodded. “I guess that’s something to think about.”
“So,” he said, “last night you said you had an idea about who might be doing this?”
She took a sip of coffee to wash down the bagel that seemed to be lodged in her throat. “I thought so at the time, but I think I was just stressed over the situation. Now my thoughts just sound stupid.”
“Why don’t you let me be the judge of that?”
He looked expectantly at her and she took another sip of coffee. “I’ve lived here my entire life,” she said. “In high school, I was one of those popular girls, but I had big plans that included getting far away from the town of Miel and the Honey Island Swamp.”
“Why?”
She blinked. “I … I don’t know. I mean, I haven’t thought about it in so long. I remember thinking this place was so small and slow that I felt like I was slowly smothering, and I desperately wanted the fast pace and glamour of big cities and other countries. It all sounded so fabulous.”
“But it wasn’t?”
She frowned. “No. I mean, parts of it were. There are some simply breathtaking places in this world, and I feel fortunate that I got to see so many of them.”
“But?”
“But it was hard. I was a model and that business is rather cutthroat. You can’t spend much time enjoying everything around you. You’re too busy looking over your shoulder for the next person trying to stab you in the back. It just wasn’t for me. Then my dad got sick, and it seemed like the perfect reason to come home.”
“But there was no reason to stay after he passed. There’re other jobs besides modeling. You could have sold all this and started over.”
She nodded. “I could have, and I thought about it. I thought about it a lot. But when I returned, it felt different. It didn’t feel small any more. It felt comfortable. I knew my real passion was horses, not modeling, and I couldn’t ask for a better setup to breed and train. I just need to establish another form of income to support myself while I work on that.”
“Makes sense. With the weather here, you can train outside year-round and have plenty of room to grow your own hay. It is a beautiful piece of property, and it only took a glimpse of your horses to see you’ve got some fine stock….”
“But?”
“But apparently, you think your choice to maintain your roots in Miel didn’t make everyone happy.”
She blew out a breath. “No. Like I said before, I was part of the popular crowd in high school, but since I’d always planned to leave, I didn’t bother establishing close relationships with people. I just hung out with large groups, but it was all very shallow, really. Some boys called me a snob because I wouldn’t date them seriously, but it wasn’t personal. I didn’t have any close girlfriends, either. I just wanted it to be easy when I left, you know?”
“So some people think you’re a spoiled snob.”
“I didn’t say ‘spoiled.’”
“The spoiled is implied given the family money and the fact that your dad probably doted on his only daughter.”
“You’re probably right. I’ve already heard the snide remarks about my dad’s bragging over my modeling jobs.” She sighed. “Which explains the less-than-stellar welcome, but how does that lead to vandalism? It’s a serious leap from high school pettiness or even adult annoyance to illegally damaging someone’s property. Which is why the more I thought about it, the more I figured it was a stupid idea all the way around.”
“Not just illegal damage. This is criminal damage.”
She shook her head. “I’d never manage criminal charges. Civil is about all I can hope for.”
“Not necessarily. A good prosecutor could make the argument that tearing down the fences might endanger the people living within the boundaries of the fences.”
“Maybe, but I’d have to get someone arrested before that could happen, and given my relationship with the sheriff, that’s not possible.”
“The report Alex typed up says you told him about the vandalism and he blew it off. What’s his problem?”
“Me, among many other things. He asked me out once in high school and has hated me ever since I turned him down. He spent our entire senior year playing juvenile practical jokes on me. I’d thought after all these years that he’d have let it go, but apparently, he’s determined to hang on to that teenage angst.”
“Okay, anyone else you think is holding a grudge?”
“Mack Prevett is buddies with the sheriff. He owns the local bar. I’ve heard he and my dad quarreled over property lines, and Mack had to move construction of his fishing cabin further down the bayou. I asked Emmett about it, but he said it was old news. But my friend Adele told me Mack had already started construction and was mad as a hornet to have to start over.”
Tanner nodded. “So he has a couple of reasons to hold a grudge.”
“He was downright blatant with his dislike for me the one time I dared go in there with Emmett