A Deadly Cliche (A Books by the Bay Mystery)

crap. And then the day was gone and I had nothing to share with you all. I’m sorry.”
    Olivia was silent for a moment. “What’s your book about, Sawyer?”
    “Pirates.”
    She couldn’t help it. She laughed. “I’m not making fun of you, I swear! I just had this image of you as Johnny Depp in Pirates of the Caribbean . Not that you wouldn’t make a dashing buccaneer, but picturing you with dreadlocks and a sword threw me off guard.”
    The chief’s eyes crinkled at the corners. “Dashing, huh?” His amusement faded almost as quickly as it had surfaced. “I imagined writing a thriller in which a retired police chief hunts down a bunch of villainous treasure hunters. In the end, he finds Blackbeard’s secret stash and turns it over to a museum.”
    “Sounds like a decent plotline,” Olivia said.
    Rawlings snorted. “It wasn’t honest though. I created such a two-dimensional character that I could have slipped him through a mail slot. I need to start over.”
    Olivia pivoted her shoulders. Her fingertips reached for his, sliding over the cool metal of the bench. “I don’t think it’s ever too late to fix a mistake. To begin again.”
    Her heart was tripping over itself. For once in her life, she wanted nothing more than to make a connection with the man beside her, but the moment she made contact with the rough skin of his hand, her fingers caressing the ridges and valleys of his knuckles, the radio clipped to his shirt pocket crackled. She jumped back involuntarily.
    Rawlings answered the call while trying to convey an apology with his eyes. He and an officer exchanged information in a series of terse codes. The chief’s final words were that he’d meet his subordinate in the hospital lobby. As he stood and smoothed the wrinkles in his uniform pants, he gave Haviland one last pat. “Are you visiting someone here? Is everything all right?” he asked, gesturing at the boxlike building across the parking lot.
    “Laurel is friends with April, the wife of the man assaulted during the latest robbery. She wanted me to come along for moral support though she should know by now that that’s not one of my strong points.” Seeing the chief doubted her explanation, Olivia hurriedly continued. “What is Felix’s condition?”
    Rawlings pulled his belt upward and made a slight adjustment to his holster. “I’m afraid it’s quite grave. He has brain injuries, and from what I’ve been told, a dangerous amount of intracranial swelling. I don’t know what hope his wife can hold out for, but for her sake, and the sake of that man’s children, I truly pray there is hope to be had.” He began to walk and Olivia fell into step beside him.
    She peppered him with questions about the robbery, but his information was limited. The officers at the crime scene hadn’t finished investigating and Rawlings had gotten all he could from April. In the end, he had ceased trying to get answers from the woman and, instead, held her while she cried. In the stiff, plastic chairs of the hospital waiting room, he had put aside his title as police chief and took on the role of big brother. He had handed April tissues and got her coffee and slowly, she told him what she could about what she’d found upon returning home from Myrtle Beach.
    “Originally, Felix was supposed to go with them to the soccer tournament, but he had some presentation to do for work,” Rawlings said to Olivia. “April told me her husband is an ad man and that his company threatened to let him go if he didn’t come up with a dazzling campaign for a prospective client. Felix stayed home, fearing he could lose everything if he didn’t.”
    Olivia glanced at Rawlings. “And now his family stands to lose more than they ever imagined.” She grabbed his arm. “Will you promise me something?”
    Startled, Rawlings stopped walking. “Go on.”
    “If this robbery bears similarities to the Quimby case and your department doesn’t have the culprits behind bars by Thursday night, will you come to the restaurant and talk things over with me? Laurel and I might be able to help, but we haven’t finished gathering information yet.”
    A glint entered Rawlings’ eyes. “I don’t know what you’re up to, Olivia Limoges, but I’m willing to find out.” Sensing movement to his right, the chief put more distance between himself and Olivia. “Here comes Laurel now.”
    Laurel ran toward them, but as she grew nearer, she seemed to lose steam and almost