Wonderland

Read Online Wonderland by Jennifer Hillier - Free Book Online

Book: Wonderland by Jennifer Hillier Read Free Book Online
Authors: Jennifer Hillier
Ads: Link
my head. And I feel like the smell is in my clothes.” He moved closer to her. “Do you smell anything on me?”
    She took a step back. “I’m sure you’re fine.”
    He gave her a small smile, then turned to Donnie. “If you spoke to Earl, then I’m sure there’s no need to stress the importance of getting this all resolved as quickly as possible. High season starts this weekend.”
    Donnie gave Vanessa a look that said I told you so . “We’ll do our best, but it takes as long as it takes, Oz. Anyway, I’m going to go talk to Gloria. She’s the medical examiner. You coming?” he said to Vanessa.
    “I’d like to talk to Oscar first, being that he’s the one who found the body.” She cleared her throat. “I’ll catch up with you.”
    The young detective headed off toward the yellow-taped area where the body was still covered in tarp. It was standard protocol that it not be moved until the lead on the case had a chance to look at it, which Vanessa would do once she finished talking to Oscar— Oz —privately. There were way too many people here at the moment, some of whom were looking over at her curiously. They all knew she was new to Seaside, and suddenly she felt very exposed. Especially since Oscar was staring at her once again.
    Had he been this handsome last night? Just over six feet tall, his black hair had just a touch of gray at the temples. His sleeves were rolled up, exposing his muscular arms and his strong hands. Hands that had touched her naked body. Everywhere .
    “Why do I feel like this town just got smaller?” she said, more to herself than to him.
    “Because it just did,” Oscar said. “It gets worse. Everybody knows everybody. Why didn’t you tell me you were the deputy chief?”
    “Why didn’t you tell me you were the VP of Wonderland?”
    “Because—” He stopped. “There’s no way to answer that question without sounding like an ass.”
    “Exactly.” Vanessa took a breath. “Look, obviously last night happened. And at some point we might want to talk about it, but can we shelve it for now? It’s my first day on the job.”
    “Certainly. But can I just say, it was totally uncool of you to fake-name me.” Oscar grinned. “There, it’s out of my system. Now I can officially welcome you to Seaside. Oh, wait. Did that already last night. Twice.”
    She felt her face grow redder. Oscar was clearly having fun with this, but people were still watching, and she wanted to at least appear like she knew what she was doing. She forced herself to stay professional. “Can you tell me what happened when you found the body? What time was it?”
    “Early. Seven thirty,” he said. “Not long after you snuck out without leaving me your number. Or your real name, for that matter. You didn’t have to do that, by the way. I would have made you breakfast.”
    “Oscar, please —”
    “Okay, okay,” he said. “In all seriousness, I usually get here by seven, and I’m almost always the first one. I like seeing the park in the morning when it’s clean and quiet, before things get noisy and chaotic. I took a golf cart and did a round of the park like I usually do. It reminds me of what I do here. Sometimes, in the office, I forget what the point of this place is when all I’m doing is taking meetings and crunching numbers.”
    “And that’s when you saw him?” It was hard to stay on point with him. He had such an easy manner of speaking, she found herself wanting to hear about his job.
    “Yes.” Oscar closed his eyes briefly. When he opened them again, there was no trace of humor left in his face. “You must see a lot of dead bodies in your line of work. I don’t know how you sleep.”
    “Earl told me some kind of animal got to his face,” Vanessa said. “That would be pretty traumatic to see, especially if you weren’t expecting it.”
    “I touched him.” He shuddered. “I know you’re not supposed to do that, but I thought he was asleep. He rolled over, and

Similar Books

Post of Honour

R. F. Delderfield

Exit Row

Judi Culbertson

Forever

Kamery Solomon

Falling for Autumn

Heather Topham Wood