“So there’s no way he could have killed anyone,” I reminded Eddie. “It’s silly to even consider that.”
My cat gave a huge sigh.
“Well, exactly. It’s just ludicrous. He might have mouthed off to Dale, because he is kind of a smart aleck, but the idea of him making a real and serious threat is just . . . is just . . .”
“Mrr.”
“Thanks.” I patted Eddie’s head. “That’s just what I was trying to say. I’ll have to talk to Detective Inwood, or maybe Ash, because I promised Carmen to let them know what she’s remembered, but it’s pointless. Yes, people can change, but that was a long time ago, way too long ago for a spoken threat to still carry any serious weight, and anyway, I’ve known Rafe since I was twelve. He’s the same now as he was then.”
“Mrr.”
“Okay, maybe not exactly the same,” I said, admitting the truth. “He’s not so skinny anymore, but other than that, he’s the same guy Kristen and I used to ride bikes with all summer long.”
Eddie, temporarily a lap cat, rotated himself end for end.
“No, not skinny at all,” I murmured, giving Eddie long pets that would soon create a small pile of cat hair on his back, on the blanket, and on me. “In some circles, he’d be considered trim and fit.” Most circles, if I was going to be absolutely honest with myself. “And the odds are high that some women think he’s good-looking.” Actually, there were probably a lot of women who thought so.
“Really, he’s not a bad guy.” By all accounts he was the best principal the middle school had seen in years. He was such a decent human being that he had friends who ran the gamut of ages, income levels, education, and ethnicity.
“He’s actually quite nice.”
I’d never once, in the twenty-plus years I’d known him, seen him be anything other than kindhearted and generous with his time. He was willing to drop everything to help a friend and do it with a grinning joke. Yes, he had an unfortunate tendency to act the part of an Up North hick, especially if there was some show-off downstater in the audience, and he didn’t always take things as seriously as they needed to be taken, but as a whole, he was a genuinely nice guy.
I thought back in time to the previous summer. We’d sat side by side on his porch one warm evening and as our hands had brushed each other as he’d handed me something, I’d felt an uncomfortable prickling sensation. He’d touched my hair and the same thing had happened.
And even as I was remembering, my skin started to prickle again.
My eyes went wide and I sat up straight. “Oh, no,” I breathed. “It can’t be. It’s not possible.”
But as soon as the thought had entered my brain, I knew there was no way to unthink it, because it was true.
I was in love with Rafe Niswander.
And had been for years.
• • •
After a restless night of sleep, I crawled out of bed with eyes full of grit and felt the uneasy knowledge that my life had changed irrevocably.
“What do you think?” I asked Eddie, but my cat, as per usual, didn’t have any advice to offer when I needed it the most. On the other hand, he did purr like a champ as I slid him into his cat carrier, so I wasn’t going to complain.
“Breakfast?” my aunt called as my feet trod the last few steps.
“No time,” I called back. “Errands to run and people to see before I go into work.” Plus, I didn’t want her to see my troubled face. I would explain my newfound feelings to her at some point; just not yet. “See you tonight.”
But in those few words, Aunt Frances had heard something in my voice. “Minnie?” she asked, walking into the living room. “Are you okay?”
“Fine.” I closed the door to the front closet and put on my coat, not meeting her eyes. “There’s just a lot to do today.” Sort of. “Ready, Eddie?” I picked up the cat carrier and took hold of the front doorknob.
My aunt, however, put her foot against the bottom of the door, trapping me inside. “One minute, young lady. You’re not leaving this house until I get a promise that you’ll tell me what’s going on.”
I tugged at the unmoving doorknob. “Aunt Frances—”
“Promise. I’m bigger than you and I have nowhere to go. I’ll hold this door shut all day if I have to.”
“Fine,” I said, sighing. “This week. We’ll talk about whatever this is before another week goes by.”
“Then you’re free to leave.” She stepped back from the door. “Of course, it would be nice if I could get a hint about the topic we’ll be discussing. If I did, I could do any necessary research before you spill your guts.”
“Research won’t be needed,” I muttered. “Trust me.”
“Mrr,” Eddie said, and then we were out the door.
Five minutes later, before I could lose my courage, I parked in a visitor spot at the middle school. “Be right back,” I told Eddie, and headed inside. It was forty-five minutes before school started. If this was a normal day for Rafe, he’d already be at his desk, knee deep in whatever it was the principals did before school began.
I stared at the front door, took a deep breath, and went inside. “Don’t let this be awkward,” I told myself. After all, Rafe had no idea of the realization I’d come to twelve hours earlier. There was no way he could possibly know that I loved him, had loved him, would probably always love him.
“Don’t,” I whispered. If he’d ever had any interest in a romantic relationship with Minnie Hamilton, he’d had numerous opportunities to speak over the years. He’d never said a word. We were friends. And would remain only friends. It would take time, but I’d adjust to this new reality and would eventually move on.
I gave an involuntary moan of pain. Which sounded so pathetic that I was ashamed of myself. “Buck up,” I told myself firmly, ignoring the bleak emptiness I felt, trying not to think about Kristen’s upcoming wedding, in which both Rafe and I would undoubtedly be playing key roles, and opened the door to the school offices. “Hey,” I called. “You in there?”
“Hay is for horses,” Rafe called back. “I’d prefer steak and eggs.”
“Oatmeal,” I said, walking past the counter and his secretary’s desk, still empty at this hour, “is a much healthier choice.”
As I entered his office, a balled-up piece of paper popped me on the shoulder. “What was that for?” I stooped, picked up the paper, and fired it right back.
He batted it away and into the wastebasket. “Two points for the big winner. That’s what you get for suggesting healthy food instead of something I might actually like.”
“Is that what you tell your students?” I asked.
“I tell them to do as I say, not as I do.”
“And how is that working out for you?”
He grinned. “That’s for me to know and you to find out.”
I looked away from his smile, that wide, easy expression I’d seen thousands of times but that was now threatening to undo me. “Maybe I will.”
“You could, but you won’t.” He wadded up another piece of paper and lobbed it at a nearby chair. “Have a seat.”
“Can’t stay,” I said, but took the time to perch on the chair’s edge. “I just stopped by to tell you something.”
“Let me guess.” He whistled tunelessly for a moment, then said, “Eddie has finally found a way past his vocal limitations and is telling you exactly how you should run your life.”
“He’s been doing that for a year and a half,” I said. “It’s all in the interpretation. No, it’s about Dale Lacombe. I talked to Carmen last night. A while back, I’d asked her if any of Dale’s employees had ever been angry enough to kill him, or if any of them had ever threatened him.”
Rafe snorted. “Most of them, I’d say.”