‘Have you eaten?’ I asked.
‘No. My appetite’s been pretty much nonexistent.’
‘Well, nevertheless, we should eat,’ I said.
‘What would you like?’
‘Is there any good takeout around here?’
‘There’s an excellent Chinese place near here that delivers. Mou Gui Fang. Szechuan and Cantonese but it’s known for its Szechuan. It’s spicy, a lot of it. Do you like spicy food?’
‘Sounds perfect,’ I said.
We couldn’t decide between the Moo Goo Gai Pan or the Kung Pao Chicken so we went with the Moo Goo Gai Pan and the Kung Pao Ming Har, a similar dish to the Kung Pao Chicken, according to Elaine, but made with shrimp instead of chicken. We also ordered the Spicy Black Bean Beef, the steamed vegetables, two orders of steamed rice, two vegetable spring rolls, two Hot and Sour soups, an order of Szechuan Spicy Noodles and the Chef’s Special Pork. Elaine said she had plenty of wine and beer or anything else we might want to drink. I offered to put the food on my credit card but Elaine insisted that she wasn’t going to have me spend my money, not while I was a guest in her home, she said, not while working on her husband’s case. I thanked her.
We sat in the kitchen drinking ice-cold beer while waiting for the food. Elaine looked tired. I was tired, too, but the beer was doing me a world of good, though at first it made my heart beat a little fast. Elaine twirled her hair while she flipped through the newspaper (The Examiner, i.e., a local rag). She looked up at me looking at her and took a sip of her frosted beer. She looked young, I thought, while she looked at the paper and played with her hair. She didn’t seem to mind my watching her. Perhaps she liked it, I thought, perhaps it made her feel safe, having me watch, while she was reading, ensuring that she was safe to do so, safe from obscene callers and knife-wielding murderers. The truth be told, however, I don’t carry a gun, nor do I own one, though I’m not bad in hand-to-hand combat. I took nine weeks of jiu-jitsu a couple of years back. I remember the moves. I do push-ups and sit-ups every day, too, like a man doing time.
The doorbell rang and we both perked up in anticipation. I offered to get the tip but when I opened my wallet there wasn’t any money, since Darren, the flower delivery driver, hadn’t stopped at an ATM. In all fairness, however, I never asked him to.
‘Don’t worry,’ Elaine said, before it became an issue, ‘I’m putting the tip on my card.’
I followed Elaine into the foyer and when she opened the door, it was, to my dismay, O’Meara.
‘Good evening, Mrs. Andrews,’ he said, accompanied by another officer, one I’d never seen before.
‘Rick,’ he said, ‘you’re still hanging around?’
‘Till I solve the case.’
‘Well, we have that to look forward to, Danny,’ he said to his sidekick. ‘Mrs. Andrews, we just need to ask you a few more questions about last night. It’ll only take a minute, I promise.’
‘All right,’ she said, ‘but I want Mr. James in the room.’
O’Meara sighed and said okay, then asked Elaine if she was in fact positive that she’d spoken with Mr. Andrews, that is to say, seen him in person, yesterday evening, after they’d had dinner together and he’d gone out. Elaine said that when he returned home he’d called out to her from downstairs, greeting her, and she’d called back, and that she hadn’t actually seen him, though she did hear him come in and call out to her and she’d answered, then she fell asleep shortly thereafter, while waiting for him to come to bed.
‘As I said last night,’ she said, ‘and this morning. I haven’t changed my story, Detective O’Meara.’
‘I thought you said you saw Mr. Andrews last night.’
‘I did see him, when we ate dinner together at home, and then he had to go out for a few hours, and when he returned I was already in bed and he called out, “Hello!” and I called back. Then, while waiting for him to join me, I fell asleep in my bed for about an hour, and when I woke up, Gerald wasn’t there. I felt around in the bed and I felt that I was alone. I called out his name. I called it a few times. When he didn’t answer, I got out of bed and put on my robe and went downstairs. First I checked the kitchen, because the kitchen lights were on, but he wasn’t there so I continued on. I checked his den and every light was off except his desk lamp, and it looked like he’d been there working moments ago. He wasn’t there, however, so I went to the living room and there he was, lying on the couch with a knife protruding from his chest. Then I dialed 911. How many times do I have to tell this story?’
Despite Elaine’s obvious exasperation, this was the first time I was hearing the story in full. The night before, when we were drinking, she didn’t want to talk much about the case and I respected her decision because her husband had just been murdered and I was falling for her.
‘We’re just trying to be thorough, Mrs. Andrews,’ said O’Meara. ‘We want to make sure we have all the details straight.’
‘I know, and I appreciate that, but my story hasn’t changed since last night, or this morning, for that matter.’
‘I’m sorry, Mrs. Andrews, I know you’re under a lot of stress, but you and I haven’t spoken yet today,’ said O’Meara.
‘Right, but I did talk to the officer this morning,’ she said.
‘What officer?’
‘I don’t think he ever gave his name. The one who was taking photos of Gerald’s desk. The one who was riffling through the files. The one who harassed me.’
‘Mrs. Andrews, I’m sorry, but I didn’t send an officer here this morning,’ said O’Meara.
‘Then who was it? Who was in my house?’
‘I’m not sure but we’ll get to the bottom of this. Don’t worry, Mrs. Andrews, we’ll take care of everything,’ he said.
I looked at O’Meara and told him he was doing a bang-up job so far.
‘Shut your trap, Rick! What have you done? Where were you this morning?’
‘O’Meara, you jackass, you should have someone watching the house. Her husband was murdered here last night. What were you thinking, that because they spared her last night no one will come back? You should have a squad car out front round the clock.’
‘Don’t tell me how to do my job, Rick. I’ve got everything under control. Mrs. Andrews, not only am I going to put a man out front, I’m going to have a man in the house at all times, starting tonight. I’ll have someone sent over now.’
‘Thank you, Detective O’Meara, but a man out front will suffice. Mr. James will be staying here this evening, so there’s no need for an officer in the house.’
‘Are you sure, Mrs. Andrews? Rick here’s just a private dick. He’s not exactly a trained professional. I bet you he doesn’t even carry a gun — do you, Rick? Do you have a gun?’
‘Yes,’ I said, lying, ‘but not on me.’
‘I rest my case,’ said O’Meara.
‘Thank you for stopping by, officers. Good evening,’ said Elaine.
‘All right, I’m putting a man out front, though.’
‘Thank you,’ she said, and they left.
With her back up against the shut front door Elaine said, ‘I was really hoping it was the food.’
We returned to the kitchen and finished off our beers, which were no longer ice cold.
I said to Elaine, ‘I know you’re sick of talking about this stuff but eventually you’re going to have to fill me in on the details I don’t know. I need all the details of the story, from A to Z.’
‘I know. You know most of the story already. Gerald and I ate together, at home, and then he went out, and when he came home he called out to me and I called back and then I fell asleep and you know the rest …’
‘What did you eat for dinner?’
‘Sorry?’