In Safe Hands (Search and Rescue #4)(31)

Ellie groaned.

Realizing that it might be hours if she waited for the others to regain their feet, Daisy said, “I’ll just go put the sausage biscuits in the oven.”

As she headed toward the door, Lou grumbled, “How are you still walking?”

Daisy laughed. “Chris’s been torturing me a lot longer than you. I’m used to it.”

“Hey!” Chris didn’t sound too offended, though. He moved from where he was talking to Ian, who was either being held up by or holding up Rory—probably both. “I’ll go with you.”

When they got to the kitchen, Daisy turned on the oven and then looked up to see Chris opening the interior door. Her first thought was that he was going to leave her with six almost-strangers to entertain, and panic made her eyes go wide.

“I just need to grab something from my truck,” he said. Her worry must have been obvious, since he made soothing motions with his hands. “Can you get the door behind me?”

“Sure.” Before the door shut all the way behind him, she grabbed it. “Swear you’re coming back?”

There was laughter in his voice when he promised, “Thirty seconds.”

He was as good as his word. Daisy pretended like she hadn’t been leaning against the door, counting, when he returned at the twenty-three second mark. After the outside door locked behind him, she opened the interior door to see that he had a case of sports drinks and several grocery bags of snacks piled in his arms.

“I was kidding about the BYOSD part.” She tried to take some of his load, but he twisted away from her.

“I’ve got this. Just get the door.”

She hurried to relock it, returning to the kitchen to find him unpacking the bags. “Thanks, Chris. You didn’t have to do this, especially after being everyone’s personal trainer.”

He shrugged. “Figured more food is always a good thing. And”—he shook a package of cookies at her and grinned—“while everyone else is distracted by this stuff, I’ll grab all the sausage-and-cheese biscuits.”

With a laugh, she tore open the case of sports drinks and started pulling out bottles. “Ah, I see. It’s all an evil plot.”

He gave his best villain laugh, which sounded more like an asthmatic donkey, and she cringed.

“No, Chris. Just…no.” She paused, a bottle in each hand, as she remembered something. Lowering her voice, she asked, “What’s the tension between you and George and Ellie all about?”

His happy expression faded, making her regret asking. “They’re pissed at me—as they should be. I was supposed to be watching Ellie the night she got shot.”

Daisy sucked in a breath. There had to be more to the story, she knew. Chris was the most conscientious person she’d ever met—not that she’d met a huge number of people, but still. Chris wouldn’t have neglected his duties without a good reason. “What happened?”

Grimacing, he glanced toward the doorway, as if hoping the others would come traipsing in and save him from explaining. “There isn’t a landline or cell coverage at George’s house. My radio battery was dying, so I ran out to the squad to switch it out for a spare. The reception out there is crap, but I thought I heard Rob asking for my status. I had to drive all the way to the county road before I could talk to Dispatch. On the way, I passed Joseph Acconcio’s car.” He gave a humorless laugh. “I was stupidly grateful he was there, that he’d watch her while I was gone. I didn’t know what he…”

He broke off with a single shake of his head. “Never mind. There’s no excuse for having left Ellie alone. So that’s why George wants to throw me through a wall, and Ellie doesn’t trust me. I’m actually surprised they came.”

“Oh.” Daisy blinked. “Wow.” Even as isolated as she was, she’d heard of the search and rescue leader who’d been killed by a drug dealer. She just hadn’t realized it had happened at George and Ellie’s house, or that Ellie had been Anderson King’s other victim that night. Daisy tried to process that information while thinking of something she could tell him that would erase Chris’s grim, guilty look. Before she could say anything else, though, she heard the rest of the group approaching. With a final, worried glance at Chris’s averted face, she turned toward Rory and Lou, sports drinks extended. Later, once she thought of the right words, she’d reassure him that Ellie’s injury wasn’t his fault. In the meantime, she offered him a sports drink, which he accepted with a small but genuine smile.

*

Sitting back with a sigh, Ellie patted her stomach. “There’s nothing like pigging out after working out. All the pleasure with none of that nasty guilt.”

“I hear you,” Lou agreed, grabbing another cookie. “Daisy, those biscuit things were awesome.”

“Thanks.” Daisy heard Chris grumble under his breath, and she held back a smile. Rather than the entire batch, Chris had managed to grab only two of the biscuits before the ravening horde had made them disappear.

“Now that our mouths aren’t full…” Lou regarded her half-eaten cookie and shrugged. “Well, now that most of us are done eating, can we talk about dead people?”

“I won’t be able to contribute,” Chris warned. “I’ll listen, but I can’t give out information about an active case.”