White Raven

Chapter Five: New Car Smell

Warning: Strong Language and Sexual References!

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Chapter Five: New Car Smell

Ary wasn't surprised to learn that her idiot cousin had gone back to Chicago. She didn't know why he suddenly decided to up and join a gang this past year, but she did know that he was in way over his head. Luke may have been a big deal in Haven, but it was hard not to be a big deal in a town with just barely six hundred residents.

She and Luke hadn't really kept in touch after she dropped out of college and moved far away from the state of Illinois. She hadn't really kept in touch with anyone, which is why she was stuck socializing with her mother. She didn't have any friends.

Today she was spending the day with her Uncle Jack. He had called and asked her to come down to the Sheriff's Office. Of course her first thought was that he found out what she had been doing for the last year and was going to arrest her, but she quickly shook the thought away. If anyone knew what she had been up to, the FBI would have been knocking down her front door.

The River County Sheriff's Office was located in Riverdale, a town a few miles south of Haven. It was an old brick building that sat across the street from a liquor store. Ary laughed at that. Besides for her Uncle Jack there were four deputies. They didn't need a lot of officers when the worst crime that had ever been committed in River County was when Tripp Johnson had stolen a box of tampons from the grocery store. It had been a dare and all he got was an awkward talk with his parents and fifteen hours of community service.

"So, what are we doing today?" Ary asked her uncle as she hopped into the passenger seat of her uncle's Blazer. It was an old piece of junk with the words 'River County Sheriff' on the side.

"I thought we'd cruise around downtown and try and catch some jaywalkers," her uncle said, grinning over at her as he put the Blazer into gear and pulled out onto the road.

He was dressed in jeans and a flannel shirt, his badge clipped to his gun holster that was strapped around his waist. His dark brown hair was sticking up in all directions and he wore aviator sunglasses, hiding his dark green eyes.

"I don't know if Dad would like me being involved with something so dangerous," Ary replied, acting as if she were scared.

Jack let out a laugh. "I don't know who your real father is, but it certainly can't be my brother. You're way too funny," he joked.

"You have to have a sense of humor when you live with my mother," Ary told him.

"Yeah, your mom is quite the character, but she is pretty hot," Jack sighed. Ary made a gagging noise and he just laughed. "Come on, where do you think you got your good looks from because they certainly didn't come from Tommy."

"I like to think I get my looks from my dashing uncle," Ary said, fighting back a grin.

"Oh geez, you're so full of shit," Jack said, rolling his eyes. "But you do speak the truth. I am dashing." He rubbed his stubbled jaw and admired himself in the rearview mirror.

"Now who's full of shit?" Ary laughed as her uncle shook out his dark hair, like female models usually do.

Ary and her uncle spent the next hour cruising around the mostly barren highways of River County. She had forgotten how much fun her uncle could be. He wasn't anywhere near as strict or serious as her father was. That might have to do with the fact that he was only thirty-six and was currently a bachelor. He didn't have any children he needed to keep in line, although sometimes his deputies behaved like they were children.