Dead Suite (26 page)

She cut off a large bite of the burrito and stuffed it in her mouth. It was just as
gooey and delicious as it had always been.

“A toast,” Zack said, raising his coffee cup. “To the first date of many.”

Sadie laughed as she clunked her mug against his.

When he had to quit the force, Sadie had hired Zack at Scene-2-Clean to help her do
trauma cleaning. They’d started off working together, ended up living together and
had never, officially, done the dating thing. Once he’d gone to rehab for a second
time and blew her off in turn for changing his entire life around, she’d thought they
were done. Now they wanted to try again and they’d agreed to start things off in the
right order. Regardless of how awkward the date felt, Sadie was cautiously optimistic
about their future. Things would get easier. They’d be comfortable together again
soon.

They finished eating and talked about the Seahawks and Zack’s new job as a security
advisor. Both were safer subjects than Dean Petrovich. Sadie’s stomach still protested
the cheese and eggs but she ignored it. After Zack paid the bill, they walked back
to his car and he reached for her hand and held it snugly in his.

“I wish I didn’t have to go to work,” he said wistfully. “I’d suggest we go for a
walk in Discovery Park or something.”

“That would be nice. Maybe next time?” she smiled up at him.

“As far as first dates go, I think this went pretty well, don’t you?” he asked.

Sadie looked up into Zack’s smiling face and he bent to kiss her. Suddenly the breakfast
burrito in her stomach roared to life. Before she could stop herself, she threw up
all over his shoes.

“I’m so-o-o sorry!” Sadie exclaimed sorrowfully. “I don’t know where that came from.”

“Your stomach apparently,” Zack said dryly. “If you weren’t feeling good this morning
you could’ve just said so.” He cringed looking at his shoes. “I would’ve understood.
Really.”

Zack reached into the back seat of his car and pulled out a couple of warm water bottles.
He handed her one to drink and used the other to rinse off his shoes. Sadie swished
a mouthful of water in her mouth and spat. Then, while Zack continued to clean his
runners, she climbed into the passenger seat of his car feeling disconcerted and ashamed.
The last time she’d felt this embarrassed it had involved a prom date and the unexpected
arrival of her period. It was nice to know that at thirty she wasn’t above humiliating
herself in front of men.

“I must be coming down with the flu or something,” she told Zack as he slipped into
the driver’s seat. “I wasn’t feeling great first thing this morning and went back
to bed.”

“Hey, it’s okay,” he said, looking over at her and winking. “As long as it wasn’t
the company you found repulsive.”

As Zack drove Sadie back home she checked her phone and noticed she had multiple texts
from her good friend, Maeva, wondering how the breakfast date had gone. Although a
psychic by trade, Maeva’s abilities didn’t allow her to read much into Sadie’s love
life. That was probably a good thing.

When they pulled into her driveway things became awkward again. They should’ve ended
their date with at least a kiss but, instead, Sadie got a friendly pat on her knee.
Still, what the knee rub lacked in passion, it made up for in good intentions.

“Thanks for breakfast,” she said. “Sorry about throwing it up all over your shoes.”

“Rest today. I’ll call you tomorrow,” he promised. “Feel better.”

Once back inside her house Sadie locked the door behind her and then slumped onto
her sofa.

“Must’ve been some kind of hot date,” Petrovich said, coming out of the kitchen. “The
guy doesn’t even come inside afterward.”

“It was fine. He has to work.” She looked up at him. “Not that it’s any of your business.”

He put his hands up.

“You’re right. So what did he have to say about me?”

Sadie raised her eyebrows.

“We were on a date. What makes you think we talked about you? You didn’t want anyone
to know you were here, remember?”

Sadie rubbed at her sternum where acid was bubbling up from her stomach.

“Oh c’mon, you mean you didn’t even ask Bowman about the case? You could’ve asked
his opinion without telling him where I was.” Petrovich began to pace. “I need help
here, Sadie. I need you to be my ears and find out what everyone is saying. You gotta
help me find out who really did this and—”

Sadie’s office phone rang from her den down the hall and she was grateful for the
interruption.

“Hold that thought,” she told Dean and ran down the hall to pick up the business line.

She answered the call in her most business-like tone.

“Scene-2-Clean. How can I help you?” She dug in her desk drawer, found an old roll
of antacids and popped one in her mouth.

“I’m Harrison and I manage an apartment block up by Northgate Mall. Last week they
found a body in one of our apartments. Tenant was killed by her boyfriend but nobody
knew about it until the neighbors started smelling something.”

“Yes, I heard about the incident on the news,” Sadie said, sympathetically. “Very
sad.”

“Yeah, well, I called the police and asked when they were going to come and clean
up the mess at this place so I can put an ad in the paper and get it rented out, you
know?” Harrison said, sounding agitated. “But they tell me they don’t even do the
cleaning. Said I’ve gotta call a trauma cleaner so I Googled and found you.”

“Yes, you’re correct. Once the police have retrieved all their evidence from a scene
the cleanup is the owner’s responsibility. The good news is that insurance will usually
cover my costs.”

“That’s great to know ‘cause I’m just in charge of renting out the apartments, you
know? I’m not paid enough to go in there and wipe up after somebody dies.”

“I’m certified to handle decomp and blood borne pathogens so you were right to call
a professional,” she told him. “I can be there for an initial walk-thru later this
morning.”

Harrison was thrilled to have her start so soon. Sadie got the address from the caller
and promised to be there in a couple hours.

“Please gather the insurance information in the meantime,” Sadie told him and they
ended the call.

Sadie smiled and the grin turned into a yawn. She’d had a solid night’s sleep and
still felt like she could go back to bed. She was definitely coming down with something.

“Sorry about that,” she said to Dean as she returned to the living room. “Got a job
to do over by Northgate Mall. So what were you saying?”

“I was saying that I need your help to do some investigating into Jane’s death. Find
out what really happened so everyone stops putting the blame on me.” He was tossing
his hands in the air with agitation and walking back and forth across the room.

Sadie didn’t want to get dragged into this mess. She could think a thousand reasons
to avoid it like the plague. But she knew that if Dean really needed her, she had
to be there for him. Sometimes being a good friend sucked pond water.

“Dean, you’re a cop. You must’ve told me a thousand times to leave the investigating
to the police. Don’t you see the advantage of leaving the investigation into Jane’s
death to the detectives to handle?”

“I’m a cop so I know
exactly
how they are handling it. They’ve pinned it on me and nobody’s looking any further.”
He stopped pacing just a couple inches away. “Just see if you can talk to Jane.”

“That means I’d have to go to where she was killed.”

“She was murdered at a spa!” he shouted. “Make yourself an appointment for something
girly and maybe Jane’ll show up and talk to you. Geez do I have to think of everything?
I thought you loved talking to the dead?”

The doorbell rang and Petrovich rolled his eyes. “This place is like Grand Central
frick’n station!”

He grumbled to himself and headed down the hall while Sadie answered the door.

“I’m back, baby!” Maeva exclaimed when Sadie opened the door.

“You’re back from where?” Sadie asked her best friend.

Maeva pushed through the door a vision in a flowing gauzy peasant dress and a jangle
of gold chains.

“I’m back from limbo land. Now that Osbert is completely weaned I decided it was time
to test my psychic prowess and went back to work.”

“I didn’t know you were going back to Madam Maeva’s so soon,” Sadie said. “Why didn’t
you tell me?”

“It isn’t soon. Between pregnancy, birthing and nursing I’ve been off nearly a year.
I didn’t tell anyone besides Terry about trying to go back to work.”

“Nice to tell your husband but not your best friend,” Sadie smirked.

“I didn’t want to tell anyone I was going back until I was sure my abilities had returned,”
Maeva explained. “I had a session this morning and it was like all my psychicness
is back bigger and better than ever. Saw a woman’s dead father and she got to make
peace with him. It was a beautiful moment.”

“That’s awesome,” Sadie said, glancing distractedly over her shoulder.

“Is there a reason we’re standing at your front door?” Maeva asked then her eyes got
big and round and she whispered, “Oh my God, you had your breakfast date with Zack
this morning! How did it go?” She lowered her voice even more. “Is he in the bedroom?
Did I interrupt something?”

“No, he’s not here.” Sadie laughed. “Let’s go for a walk. I just need some fresh air.”

She stuffed her feet into her Nikes and pushed Maeva out the front door.

“What’s going on? Why are you acting so weird?”

Sadie ignored Maeva’s questions until they were at the end of the driveway and then
she spoke out of the side of her mouth, “Petrovich is holed up inside my house.”

Maeva was quiet a moment then muttered, “Wow,” under her breath.

“Exactly,” Sadie continued as they picked up speed on their walk. “Apparently he wants
me to find who really killed his ex wife.”

“But I thought
he
killed her,” Maeva said. “That’s what every TV channel and newspaper has said all
along.”

“I know. That’s what everyone thinks. Except Dean.” Sadie slowed her walking pace
and stuffed her hands in her jeans. “I can’t even think straight because I’m so damn
tired.”

“He kept you up all night?” Maeva asked.

“No, but he woke me up early and, even though I went back to bed for a couple hours,
I’m beat. Even my hair feels tired. Don’t stand too close. I might be coming down
with the flu.”

“I’m betting it’s just stress over renewing your relationship with Zack,” Maeva said
with a smirk. “Speaking of that, how did the breakfast date go.”

“About as poorly as it possibly could.”

“I doubt it was as bad as you think.”

“I threw up on him.”

Maeva stopped walking and stared.

“You’re kidding.”

“I wish I was.”

Suddenly Maeva tilted her head and looked Sadie over from head to toe.

“Hold up your hands. Let me see if I can get a reading off of you.”

Maeva was touch sensitive. That meant that, because of Sadie’s close proximity to
the other side, Maeva would become physically ill if they touched. For Maeva, a hug
from Sadie was like touching a corpse, resulting in repercussions much like Sadie’s
reaction to her breakfast burrito. To give her friend a reading, Maeva merely hovered
her hands very closely to Sadie’s fingers and somehow felt the vibe.

“Hurry up. The neighbors are liable to call the cops and tell them there’s a couple
of weirdoes doing a strange dance on the sidewalk.”

Maeva shushed her and frowned seriously before dropping her hands and turning on her
heel. She began jogging back in the direction they’d just come with Sadie panting
after her.

“Where are you going?” Sadie asked. “Aren’t we going for a walk?”

“No. We’re going back to get my car and then we’re going to the store.”

“Why?” Sadie demanded, running after her.

“To buy a pregnancy test.”

***

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Wendy Roberts
is an armchair sleuth and a fan of all things mysterious. She lives in Surrey, British
Columbia, with four teens and a tenacious terrier. She is hard at work on her next
novel. You can visit her on the web at www.wendyroberts.com and follow her on Twitter
@authorwendy.

Also by Wendy Roberts

The Remains of the Dead

Devil May Ride

Dead and Kicking