What’s wrong with you? Take hold of yourself, dummy.
She had been in his arms, right where she wanted to be. However, she hadn’t wanted to be blubbering at the same time. She heard Mike talking to Quincy in her kitchen and Quincy meowing loudly, complaining that his din din was late.
When she finally considered herself presentable, she poked her head out the doorway. Mike was going through her cupboards! She cleared her throat and he turned around with a big grin.
“He thinks it’s long past dinnertime. Where’s his food?”
The cat and the vet, both looking at her for the important answer, made her laugh. It felt so good to loosen up like that. She opened the cupboard where a bag of Quincy’s food was stowed—not the cupboard Mike had been searching—and scooped out his diet cat food. Her hands were holding steady now. She got her homemade treat from the refrigerator and mixed it in before she set his dish on the floor.
“That’s impressive,” Mike said, watching Quincy wolf down his food. “Maybe you should print up the recipe for that stuff and I can give it out to my clients with overweight, picky cats.”
“Do you have a lot of them?”
“Do I ever. It looks like you’ve hit on something great.”
Quincy continued eating, though his ears pointed at them, telling them he understood they were talking about something to do with him.
“Would you care for a cup of coffee? I have decaf.” Mike was being so sweet, not mentioning her breakdown.
He was looking through to the living room and the balcony. “Sounds good. You have a nice place to drink it, too.”
“The living room?” Chase started the process, measuring out the beans and pressing the button to start the noisy grinder.
“No,” he shouted over the din, “your balcony.”
“Isn’t it too cold?”
“Do you have blankets?”
Great, thought Chase. He’s a hardy outdoorsman. It didn’t sound like fun to her, since it was probably in the twenties by now, but after the beans were ground and she started the coffee brewing, she got two eiderdown quilts from her linen closet. They were the warmest ones she had.
What Chase had failed to consider, was the need to snuggle in the cold. When she had filled two mugs with fresh brew, Mike settled himself on the chaise and beckoned her hither. Tingling a little inside, she nestled beside him and they tucked the quilts around themselves.
“Now,” he said after a big sip, “tell me what’s the matter.”
Holding her lips stiff so she wouldn’t cry again, she hoped, she told him she’d been questioned again last night. “Detective Olson wanted me to say I killed him.”
“Killed Torvald?”
“No, just Gabe, for the moment. Do you think the police will think I killed Iversen, too? Julie and her friend Jay got me out in the wee hours this morning. I had to spend ages in a suffocating, empty room. I didn’t know if I was going to be arrested, or thrown in jail, or what. First, I was questioned for hours. Then they left me alone there for hours. Detective Olson was trying to make me say I killed Gabe. I almost wanted to say it, too. I got so worn down.” Her chin was crumpling, but she didn’t let the tears fall. Her face got so ugly and red when she cried. She was not going to cry in front of Mike again.
“You poor thing.” Mike put his mug down, cupped his warm hand on her shoulder, and caressed her upper arm through her sweater.
Chase wished she could stay like this forever.
“Why would he suspect you for Iversen’s murder? You weren’t around there when he was found.”
Chase had no idea how it might happen, but somehow, the way things were going, she thought she would be a suspect.
TWENTY-FIVE
Chase was surprised she wasn’t cold. Mike put out a lot of body heat and snuggling next to him kept her toasty warm. The life of the city went on below them, lit by the tall, curved streetlamps. The tree near her balcony, planted in a hole in the sidewalk, filtered the light with its gently rustling leaves. The wind was dying down. Cars droned by and people, talking to each other or to their cell phones, strolled past. The horror of being a real murder suspect was retreating to the far recesses of her mind.
“Isn’t that the car?” Mike said.
“What car?” She lifted her head from his shoulder a quarter of an inch.
“There. The one that was in the parking lot.” He pointed to a silver Boxster creeping down Fourteenth Avenue.
Chase jerked upright, dumping her coffee in Mike’s lap. Mike jumped to his feet. Chase thought Shaun sped up a little. She hoped he’d gotten an eyeful of the cozy duo.
Mike grimaced.
“Oh my gosh. I’m so sorry. Did I burn you?” She jumped up and waved her hands, uselessly.
“It’s not hot enough to do that. I’m all wet, is all.” He gave her a cute grin. “No harm done. It’ll wash out. Do you want to tell me what’s going on with you and the guy in the Porsche?”
“Nothing’s going on. I told you, he just moved here. I knew him in Chicago.” She turned and paced the length of the small balcony.
“If nothing is going on, why is he spying on you?”
She might as well tell him. She kept pacing while she talked. “He’s the reason I left Chicago.” She told Mike about how Shaun accused her of pilfering money from his uncle, then got her blacklisted so she couldn’t get a job anywhere in the city.
“Sounds like a jerk. Why did he trail you here?”
“He wants something that I have.” She stopped and faced Mike. “It’s something incriminating. I wonder if it’s time to take it to the police. I just want him to stop talking to people I know and spreading lies about me. The same lies he spread in Chicago.”
“I would think so. Is this something that would get him into legal trouble?”
“Criminal trouble. But then I’d have to get involved and testify and face him in court. There’s something else I did, too.”
Mike frowned. “What else did you do to him?”
She hadn’t told anyone this, not even Anna or Julie. “I took out a restraining order against him. When he found out, he got so angry, it scared me. That’s when I finally gave up and left.”
“He’s in violation, isn’t he? He shouldn’t be around you if it’s still in effect.”
“I don’t think it is. It was a temporary restraining order, and it was only good for a week. I was supposed to go to court and get an injunction.”
“But you didn’t?” His tone told her he thought she was an idiot. Maybe she was.
“I never wanted to face him again. I decided to leave instead.”
Mike shook his head. “Maybe that was a bad decision.”
Chase nodded in agreement. “I can’t change it now. But I do think I’ll spend the night at Anna’s. I’d better call to make sure she’s there.”
“Did you notice the other person in the car?” Mike said.
Chase stopped mid-dial. “Other person? No. Could you see who it was?”
“Just a silhouette.”
“Male or female?”
“I couldn’t tell. Shortish hair. Either a guy who needs a haircut or a gal who gets hers cut short.”
Who would Shaun be associating with? He had so recently gotten here. He had seemed to know Torvald, though. And he knew Vi. Chase continued punching in Anna’s number. Her call was answered right away.
“Charity! Julie has told me all about your ordeal. I’m so sorry I couldn’t be there to rescue you.”
“Julie did a fine job of that, Anna,” Chase said, laughing. “She was my knight in shining armor.”
“I was with Bill. His son came into town. Their meeting upset Bill so, that I went over there.”
Chase wondered if she’d been there all night, and all day. “Where are you now?”
“I’m at home, of course. You just called my landline.”
That made her feel a little stupid. Yes, she had dialed Anna’s home phone. She heard talking in the background. Probably Anna’s television.