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  "Oh, it's torture back here,” he said with an exaggerated sigh. “They have me parked right next to some big heater. I had to take my jacket off, and now I'm thinking of rolling up my sleeves. You know, it just wouldn't do to let them see me sweating like this back here, Pete. Oh, and the intern who was taking the drink orders hasn’t been back around in, at least, five…maybe even, six minutes. I could use some more ice for my lemonade. Keeps melting with all the heat, ya know. It’s rough, I tell ya!"

  He could see some of the other officers look over and smile at him as they waited for Pete's reply. The few seconds delay let Hunter know he had really struck home.

  "It should be me in there sweating, and you should be the one outside,” Pete grumbled. “I'm freezing! The cold is a real killer out here and these people are starting to get rowdy!" Pete’s voice got a little lower as if he had moved the radio away from his mouth but didn’t let go of the mic key right away, “Hey, get back in line. That’s the last time I’m telling you!”

  "Oh, come on, Pete, chill out."

  Hunter saw one of the other officers double over laughing, and another gave him a big thumbs-up.

  "Alright, alright. Some of us have a job to do, wise guy. Try not to get heat stroke in there."

  Hunter could hear the people in the background chanting "Let us in! Let us in!"

  "Pete, you stay strong out there, bro,” he told his friend. “The captain will love you after this!"

  Hunter genuinely felt bad for Pete. He understood that someone had to man the outside lines, no matter how cold it got. But he also knew just how rough it could get standing outside in the cold for hours on end, fixed in one spot and not being able to walk around. Hunter had spent his fair share of events standing outside in the elements. He wondered if he had taken his gentle jabbing a bit too far.

  The rest of the people backstage ignored the officers. They flowed right around them as if they were a lamp you don’t ever really look at, or a piece of furniture you avoid. Hunter didn’t mind one bit. It made his job easier if he could observe without being an intrusive presence.

  Most people let their guards down once they start ignoring you. They just forget you’re there. And, he reminded himself, tonight was supposed to be fun.

  Hunter felt a soft pat on his back. He turned around, not knowing what to expect, and came face-to-face with one-half of the Fire Spitters, his old high school friend, Jake Perkins.

  Jake was not as tall as Hunter, but his blonde mohawk made him look taller. He was thin and wore tight-fitting jeans and a loose hanging shirt with a short, black jacket.

  "Hey, Dragon, how's it going?" Hunter greeted him by his stage name.

  "Aw, Hunter,” Jake said with a shy smile. “It's Jake to you, man. Unless you want me to start calling you Officer Houston." He stood up straight as a board and gave Hunter a mock salute. "Joking aside though, I appreciate you guys keeping it safe back here. Not that I would ever expect anything to go down in Mills, of all places, but it's comforting to see a familiar face back here. Even if it is only yours."

  Jake and Hunter were in a number of classes together in high school. He was always a smart kid, but the teachers never really got along well with him. Jake was the type who subscribed to a different definition of discipline, respect, and proper behavior in the classroom than most people. And he paid for it, with plenty of time spent in detention.

  Even at a young age, his talent for performing stood out. He often took center stage as class clown to make his friends laugh and teachers cringe. Though, if pressed for comment and if Jake wasn’t around, some of the teachers would reluctantly admit that he had a gift, and that he was going to go places with it.

  "My pleasure, Jake,” Hunter told him sincerely. “You won't see me complaining about getting overtime to hang out with celebrities. Hey, I had a chance to check out the new album. I thought the last one was great, but Setting the Bar really blew me away. Now that it's out, I’m surprised there's no big recording company chomping at the bit to put their logo on you. You deserve to be heard all over the world."

  "Russ and I were just talking about it." Russell Turner, who went by the rap name ‘Intricate’, was the other half of Fire Spitters. "I know he’s antsy, but I keep telling him: it's coming, I can feel it. Something big is just on the horizon for us. We just got to be patient and smart."

  "I don't know, man,” Hunter said, “you guys are at the top of your game right now. I think with the right promotion and distribution, you could be killer. The time is now, bro."

  "Officer Hunt, my man." Jake beat his fist over his heart twice and regarded Hunter with a mockingly sweet expression. "That's right in the feels, man. I didn't know you held such concern and care for your old high school bud."

  "Hey, man, I'm serious."

  Jake winked at his old buddy. "Well, why don't you come manage us?" He held his arms outstretched on both sides. "That is, of course, if you think that you could tear yourself away from this lifetime of excitement in the pursuit and apprehension of society's least wanted."

  "Yeah, right. I can see myself in the boardroom now, negotiating for you two.” Hunter snorted and shook his head. “No, thank you. You give me a desk’s worth of paperwork and bear claw, and I'll take it, hands down, any day of the week."

  "You sure about that? I mean, I can't think of a more dangerous job to hold than a Mills Township Police Officer."

  "Well, it's a thankless job, but someone has got to man up, and write 'No Activity' in the blotter each day."

  Jake smiled at Hunter. "Alright, so enough about me already. How about you? How have you been?"

  "Same old, same old, my man." Hunter said.

  "Really, nothing new to report?"

  Hunter regarded his buddy. "No, nothing is springing to mind."

  "No news on the relationship front?"

  "What? No."

  "Nothing, say, between you and a certain caffeinated confectioner named Kari?"

  It never ceased to amaze Hunter that Jake could string words together the way that he did. But this was not the topic that he really wanted to discuss with him right now, or with anyone for that matter. He wanted to nip this conversation in the bud. "No."

  "No?"

  "No."

  "Really?"

  "Just good friends." That was the truth, really. Kari had helped him with some sleuthing on a few cases now. Well, both the Sweet sisters had. They’d been on a couple of dates and flirted, but nothing official had happened as of yet.

  "Is that so?" Jake didn’t look convinced.

  "Yup."

  "Huh. So, everything that I’ve heard...." He trailed off and wiggled his eyebrows.

  "Nope. Why? What have you heard?" Hunter asked.

  "Nothing really, just that you two had been spending some time together. But you don't think that this could turn into...something?"

  Hunter certainly hoped it would, but he didn’t want to admit that to Jake. Not manly enough. "Nope."

  "And, why not?"

  "It's like I said: we’re just good friends. I mean, we'll go out and grab a bite to eat, and I see her when I get coffee, but...that's it, really. Just friends."

  "Okay, okay." Jake put his arm around Hunter and lowered his voice, conspiratorially. "But I gotta tell ya, I’ve heard that excuse literally a million times and I can tell you¬It never stays that way for long."

  Chapter 4

  Kari

  “Do you have the tickets??” Kasi asked, wrapping her coat more tightly around her shoulders and shivering in the cold winter wind.

  “For the hundredth time, yes.” Kari retorted, irritated that her sister would think she would be so irresponsible as to lose the tickets as they stood in line outside the theater. “You think something happened to them in the five minutes since you last asked?”

  “Well, you just never know.” Kasi shot back. “It never hurts to check.”

  “You know, sometimes it does hurt if it makes the person you’re checking with feel like
an idiot.”

  “Do you remember that time when you lost our show tickets just as we were about to walk in to see that Cirque du Soleil show in Vegas?” Kasi demanded. “We were out $300 and I still have never gotten to see acrobats perform in water!”

  “You’re bringing that up? It was like five years ago.” Kari said.

  “And, clearly, it still hurts.”

  The two glared at each other, then they dissolved into fits of giggles. It was a ridiculous argument to have, and they both knew that the cold was causing them to be extra snippy. “I just wanna go inssiiiiiiiide,” Kasi whined. “Why do we live in this part of the country, anyway?”

  “I heard that people love their coffee in the Florida Keys,” Kari said, nodding her agreement. “Why didn’t we set up shop there?”

  “Mmmm,” Kasi murmured, her eyes closing. “I can see it now. A coffee shop on the beach. Dips in the ocean over our lunch break. Mojitos for our afternoon break. Now that sounds like the life!”

  “Ladies! Hello!” A voice broke through the girls’ daydreams about a place that was sunny and 75.

  They both looked up to see Pete Michaels, an officer who worked with Hunter, rush up to them. He was just raising a hand in greeting when he slipped on a patch of ice and nearly took a header into the sidewalk.

  “Oh my gosh, are you okay?” Kasi rushed to his side and helped steady him. “You’ve gotta be careful out here! I don’t think they salted the walk after the last snow.”

  Pete patted her arm, his face reddening. “Yeah, I’m good, I’m good. It’s these police-issue shoes. I don’t think the department ordered them from a place that specializes in departments with winters like ours.”

  Kari smiled in commiseration, though she knew that the shoes weren’t the whole problem. Pete, who was in his mid-30s and attractive in a compact, good guy sort of way, was notoriously clumsy. She remembered his wife telling her a story at the last neighborhood picnic about Pete falling down in the delivery room when their twin girls were born and nearly taking out the doctor.

  “How’s your family, Pete?” Kari asked him as they all huddled against the cold. “I haven’t seen them in the shop for a while.”

  Jody Michaels and the twins, Isabel and Chloe, came in frequently to get biscotti. The girls were so adorable that the Sweet sisters had considered asking their parents if they could pose in some ads for the shop.

  “Everyone’s great,” Pete enthused. “We’re planning to get the girls into a summer daycare program so that Jody can help out more with the farmer’s market this year. I think she’s itching to get out of the house more. Those two girls might look like angels, but they can be monsters when you’re trapped in the house with them all winter.”

  “Awwww, not them,” Kari said, shaking her head in disbelief. “I’m sure they’re absolute angels.”

  “That’s what I tried to tell my wife the other night when I came home to find her covered in finger paints and ice cream.” Hunter chuckled. “She almost tossed me out of the house!”

  As if just now remembering why he was out in the cold in the first place, Pete reached into his coat and said, “Here, Hunter wanted me to give these to you guys.” He held out an envelope, which Kasi gratefully took. She ripped it open and screeched when she produced two backstage passes for the show.

  “Oh my gosh, Pete, thank you!” Kasi threw her arms around him, causing him to almost fall down again. “This is spectacular!!”

  “Don’t thank me, thank Hunter,” he said, clearly embarrassed by her hug. “I’m just the delivery man that got to come out in the sub-zero weather while he stayed in the backstage area by the heater.” He showed that he was at least partly joking by offering up a big smile. “But I’m always willing to help a buddy out.”

  “Awww, such a nice thing for your boooyyyyfriend to do,” Kasi crooned, batting her eyelashes at her sister. “You might have to give him a little smoochie smoochie after the show.”

  Kari rolled her eyes. “Honestly, sometimes I think you’re still 12 years old.” She turned to Pete. “What a nice thing for him to do, though! It’s really amazing.”

  “Consider it an advance Christmas gift,” Pete said with a smile. “Now, how do you feel about getting inside and out of this cold and seeing a show? I’m pretty sure I’m to the point where I can’t feel my feet.”

  Kari and Kasi both nodded enthusiastically, and Kari wasn’t sure if she was more excited about the warmth or the bands as they entered the theater. When she heard the background music permeating the venue, she knew that she was definitely more excited about the show; though the warm air sure didn’t hurt matters.

  Even though it was still almost fifteen minutes before the openers started playing, the theater was already packed. She knew that music fans came from all over the world to see this festival and she continued to be amazed that they still held it in little Mills Township. It certainly was great for the economy, especially the nearby hotels and restaurants. On Bitter Grounds also saw an uptick in business, but usually not until the morning after the show.

  “Ah, my favorite Sweet sisters!” Hunter proclaimed when he saw them. “I hope you guys are ready to enjoy an amazing show.” He hugged both of them, though Kari noticed that her hug went on just a fraction longer than her sister’s.

  “Where should we put these?” Kasi asked, taking her coat off to reveal her Outcasts band t-shirt, ripped black pants, combat boots, and heavy silver jewelry.

  “I’ll take them backstage,” Hunter said, taking Kasi’s coat and waiting as Kari shed hers. He gave her dark blue skinny jeans, tight sparkly top, and knee-high boots an appraising look. “No Fire Spitters tee for you?”

  “I was actually hoping to pick one up tonight,” Kari told him. “I had a tough time finding one online, and no one seems to sell them in town.”

  “I could have gotten you one,” Hunter said, taking her coat from her. “I have three of them at home!”

  “I’ve never seen you wear one,” Kari pointed out.

  “Ah, that’s because I save them for very special occasions.” He winked at her, then unbuttoned enough of his flannel shirt to reveal the band’s tee. “Like tonight!”

  Kari laughed. “Makes perfect sense!”

  “Hey, I don’t suppose you could get The Outcasts to take a picture with me?” Kasi asked, putting her hands together in a pleading gesture. “That would like…make my whole year!”

  “I’m sure I can probably make that happen,” Hunter assured her with a smile. “They’re nice guys, I got a chance to meet them when I first got here.”

  Kasi was practically jumping up and down with excitement. “Thank you, thank you, thank you!!”

  Kari put a hand on Hunter’s shoulder and gave him a sincere smile. “Seriously, thank you. For that and for the passes. It really means a lot to us.”

  Hunter nodded, a blush creeping up his cheeks. “Anything for the best baristas on the planet.”

  Chapter 5

  Kari

  Kari’s eyes were closed. The music travelled through her, and her body moved almost of its own volition to the rhythm. She opened her eyes and smiled when she saw her sister doing the same thing.

  Kasi looked back, her face flushed with embarrassment that she was caught. She quickly recovered, though. “I am loving this!” She swept her arms around her to indicate the festival and the backstage access they had.

  “I know, right?” Kari cried. “I feel like such a celebrity!”

  “I know what you mean. I can’t believe that we are back here with all the other performers and their entourages.” Kasi winked at her sister. “You should see if your booyyfriend can gets us backstage passes for every event!”

  Kari ignored her sister. She turned her attention, instead, to the band performing as she sipped the glass of chardonnay she got from the VIP complementary refreshment table backstage.

  She looked back at it again, thinking that it would be great if they could work out a deal to get some coffee carafe
s over there. She would have to ask Everett, the host, who she should talk to about that.

  Kasi mistook her silence for anger. “I’m only teasing you, sis.”

  Bringing her comment up again made Kari a little uncomfortable. He’s not my boyfriend, she thought. Not yet.

  Kasi smiled at her, and Kari knew the thought was written all over her face. Her younger sister finally looked away and started dancing to the music again. “I LOVE this band! Who are they again?”

  Happy to change the subject, Kari laughed as she remembered when they were announced. “I think they are called ‘The Neighboring Town’ and I believe they are literally from the next town over from us, but I’ll have to ask Hunter when I see him.”

  “That is hysterical! We are definitely going to have to take a trip and see them perform again. They are totally my new favorite band!”

  “Weren’t you just head over heels, fangirling because Hunter got The Outcasts to take a picture with you?” Kari asked skeptically.

  “Out who? No way, I’m a Neighboring Town girl from here on out! Woo-hoo!”

  Kasi started singing the chorus, which made Kari laugh since she couldn’t understand the words when the band or her sister sang them, but the music was nice. She closed her eyes and started dancing again.

  As the waves of music passed over her, she could’ve sworn she heard a voice calling out in her head.

  Kari.

  It was Hunter’s voice.

  Kari.

  Her breath caught in her throat. What did this mean? Why was she hearing Hunter in her head when she closed her eyes?

  “Kari!”

  She opened her eyes, and there before her was Hunter. Oh. Now I feel foolish.

  “You okay? I’ve been calling you.” He said with a smile.

  “Um…I’m…um…I’m fine.” She smiled and hoped she didn’t look as embarrassed as she felt. “I was just really caught up in the music.”

  “I wanted to introduce you to someone.” Hunter indicated the woman standing on his right, who Kari just now noticed for the first time. “This is Jake’s girlfriend, Madeline Dolan.”