Read Between the Tines (21 page)

"So you've decided to go ahead with your investigation, then." She ended with a raised eyebrow, which I chose to ignore.

"Since Adam dumped me there's no reason to stop." I grabbed Lisa's cola on ice and washed down my treat.

"How about the fact that if you stopped, it would show him you're considering his feelings?"

"I want to make up with Adam, but I'm not willing to compromise on this. If I'm ever to succeed in a relationship, I can't pretend to be someone I'm not."

"Are you sure this is something you want to fight for, or are you just balking at him trying to control you?"

I looked at her. Did I really want to chase after this killer, or was I simply being obstinate because of the ultimatum? Was I even the kind of person who could survive in a long-term relationship? Maybe I hadn't been in one because I wasn't willing to do the work it required.

Sadness settled over me like a protective plant cover in the winter. "Honestly, I don't know. I guess my actions are giving me the answer, but I can't believe I'd be willing to throw away a guy like Adam simply to solve a murder."

"Guess you need to figure out what's motivating you to keep going."

I sipped more soda and pondered her statement for a moment. "I've been so focused on hiding this from Adam, it took on a life of its own. I even let it take over thoughts about Karen's pain and sadness." I sorrowfully shook my head. "Man, I even considered her a suspect. You're the best at keeping me on track. Who'll do that if you move?"

"There's this invention called a telephone, you know. We managed to survive when you lived in
Portland
." She smiled.

"But I can't see your face over the phone."

"Ever heard of a webcam? Of course you have. You're just trying to change the subject so you don't need to talk about Adam anymore. But there's no reason to avoid it. Now that you're clear again on your purpose, you could convey the same thoughts to Adam. I'm sure he'd understand."

"Oh he'll understand all right. I just don't think he'll be able to forgive my deceit."

"Have you prayed about it?"

"You know me. I have to try my way first." I held up my hand. "So no lecture, okay? I'll take care of praying tonight."

"Then let's get you upstairs and into bed." She stood and tugged me to my feet then snapped the lid on the cookies. "Did Mitch say when you could go back to your apartment?"

"He said maybe in the morning, but he was pretty vague about it."

She headed for the stairs. "Was he being his usual grumpy self?"

"Some of the time. He's been different lately. Like maybe he's gotten over what happened and he's trying to be nice to me. He even asked my opinion on things."

Lisa looked down on me from the first landing and arched her brow. "Wonder what's gotten into him."

"I don't know, but it's a little creepy." I followed her up the remainder of the stairs and into the bedroom. "When he's all bossy I know how to deal with him, but when he softens up I can't help but remember what good friends we were, and I kinda want that back."

"You aren't thinking of replacing me, are you?" She giggled.

"Trust me. He isn't being
that
nice." I plopped onto the designer linen clad bed. "Hey wait, come to think of it, you haven't been all that nice to me either."

She tossed a pillow at me. "I'm letting you sleep in my house, aren't I? And if you're good I might even make breakfast for you in the morning." She picked up a faded OSU t-shirt and handed it to me. "You can wear this tonight. And there's a new toothbrush in the bathroom. Hopefully Mitch will let you get some clean clothes soon."

"He gave me his direct number and told me to call him in the morning, so I'm guessing it'll be okay." I didn't mention he'd grabbed my cell from my hand, punched his number in and then as he commented on how I always found myself in a batch of trouble, he'd set it to speed dial.

I gave her a hug and offered my thanks for the hospitality before sending her out the door and closing it. My heart heavy, my eyes closing and my body weary, I went to the bathroom, cleaned up then climbed into bed. I willed all thoughts of Adam and the murder from my mind and prayed. Tomorrow was another day and plenty of time to worry over them. If only I really believed that.

Eyes closed, I rolled over and fought the feeling of someone watching me and urging my eyes open. Who would be in my room? The memory of the breakin flooded back. My lashes flashed open.

"Eek, Laci," I shouted, sending the poor child whose face was positioned inches from mine into tears. "I'm sorry, sweetie. I didn't mean to scare you, but I didn't expect to find you looking at me."

She sobbed and gulped, big heaving motions that reminded me of Lisa after Ben died. "I wanted you to wake up."

I lifted her onto the bed and cuddled her. With a quick peek over her bright blond curls, I checked the clock. Six a.m. Why did kids get up so early anyway? Another good reason not to have them.

Longing to slide under the covers and snooze for a few more hours, I stroked her soft hair—hair that felt like soft lamb's ears in my garden—until the sobbing slowed. "So why did you want me to wake up?"

She clamped a hand on both sides of my face and stared earnestly into my eyes. Her sobbing had totally stopped, and a timid smile threatened to break free. "Mommy said we get chocochip pancakes when you get up."

I laughed and hugged her hard, letting my residual unease from the rude awakening subside. "Ouch," she squeaked. "You're squishing me."

I let her go and pushed her hair back as Lisa had done for me last night. "You go tell your mom that I'm up, and I'll be down in a few minutes."

Laci bounded off the bed. At the door, she met Lori wearing a matching short set in bright red. Instead of departing together, Lori ran over and climbed up to hug me.

"Lori," Laci whined and planted a hand where a curvy hip would be when she grew up.

Lori made quick work of hugging me, jumped down and the two exchanged twin speak then raced down the hallway. I listened to their voices in high shrieks as I stretched and yawned. Worn, but eager to get going now that I was up, I padded into the adjoining bathroom and climbed into the shower to clear my brain. But why did I want to do that? A clear brain simply brought back the breakin and the break-up reminding me of how broken I was.

For the remainder of the shower, I tried to focus on the pancakes, but failed miserably. My thoughts kept drifting to how I had disappointed Karen by giving the flash drive to Mitch. Some might argue that giving the police a much-needed clue was the right thing to do, but I wasn't one of those people.

I remained under the coursing water as long as I thought I could without Lisa coming to yell at me for wasting water. Clean on the outside, pitiful on the inside, I flipped off the spray, grabbed my towel and yanked open the curtain.

"What in the—"

The door to the bedroom sat wide open. No way I'd left it open. What was going on in my life? Didn't anyone respect closed doors anymore?

More curious than afraid, I pulled the towel tighter. "Is someone there?"

"Surprise." Lori and Laci jetted out from behind the door.

Startled, I jerked back. My feet slid on the slippery tub. I grabbed for the towel bar to steady myself. The bar wrenched from the wall. I flipped into the air and plummeted toward the tub, sliding down the slick curtain on the way. My cheek connected with the tub's rim as I went down hard on my bottom.

"Oomph," I groaned. Oh, the pain. What hurt worse? My cheek or my bum?

I moaned and rolled to my side glad that the towel had stayed put. Both girls, mouths open, watched as if I were an episode of Blue's Clues. I wanted to say, th-th-that's all folks, but the mini-people were too young get the humor.

Laci jabbed Lori. "I think she got a boo-boo. Go tell Mommy."

"You go tell Mommy," Lori said and fixed her gaze on me.

Laci crossed her plump arms. "No, I wanna see what happens. You go tell Mommy."

I reached out a hand to intervene. "I'm fine. Both of you go downstairs, and I'll be there as soon as I get dressed."

They stood, immobile.
Really, was I that interesting?

"Chocolate chip pancakes," I said.

"Yay," they screamed and rushed off.

I cautiously climbed to a sitting position and swiveled every body part that moved to see if anything was broken. My elbow groaned in protest. How was I going to get out of the tub without my elbow to support my weight? I tucked my arm up to ease the pain and shifted onto my knees.

That's how Lisa found me. On all fours in her tub. Her mothering instincts took over and within thirty minutes, Laci, Lori, and she were seated in the hospital's emergency room waiting area, while I swung my legs off an exam table behind curtain three. I'd sat here for the last ninety minutes waiting for the results of x-rays of my cheek and elbow. My cheek hurt like crazy, but the elbow as long as I moved it and didn't let it stiffen up, seemed to be getting better.

I stared at my bare feet and shins. Since Mitch wouldn't let me take anything from my apartment last night, I had to put on one of Lisa's running suits. My pumps didn't go with the outfit so I chose to go the shoeless route. I would have raided Perry's closet, but Lisa wouldn't hear of me wearing men's clothes. Really, how did I ever become friends with such a clothes prude?

The curtain split wide, groaning along the track as it opened. Nurse Willa, dressed in a wildly patterned blue uniform, entered and gave me a sincere smile. "How we doing?"

We? I was hurting like crazy, I didn't know about her.

"Sorry it's taking so long, but we're swamped this morning." Either she'd sensed my mood or she had to defuse all the frustrated patients around here because she had the apology perfected with just the right amount of sincerity to be believable and not too much to make me gag.

"Hey, Willa," a young nurse poked her head into the space. "Your abuse case is leaving."

"What? No! I had her talked into reporting that loser she's married to."

"Not gonna happen. The loser showed up. They're on the way out."

"Excuse me," Willa said and rushed out.

Abuse case? How ironic? That's what they'd thought about me when I'd first arrived. They'd hurled questions at me, trying to get me to identify who'd done this to me. Apparently falling in the tub was often used as a cover up for abuse.

I heard Willa arguing with the husband whose voice was deep and irritated. Hold up, I'd heard that voice before. I had to be certain. I hopped down, stifling a groan when I landed. I peeked around the curtain. Nurse Willa had a restraining hand on Nathan Jacobs' arm. He shook it off and clutched Olivia by the wrist. She winced but allowed him to pull her close.

"We're out of here," Nathan said and charged toward the exit dragging Olivia with him.

As they passed, my eyes met Olivia's. Hers flashed with hurt and embarrassment, so unlike our encounter in the Crazy Curl. But one thing was the same, even here in the hospital, she was dressed to the nines. She wore a fitted suit in a nubby turquoise silk accented with mounds of jewelry. Nathan also wore a suit, as if he'd gone to work and then found out his wife had come to the emergency room.

I returned to the exam table. Could this have something to do with
Gary
's death? I already didn’t think very highly of Nathan, but now I was positive he was the biggest creep in town. One who apparently thought women were possessions. Women like Daisy, perhaps? Oh yeah. He had to be one of the guys ogling Daisy. If I could find evidence to confirm my thoughts, I'd be on my way to proving Nathan was none other than
Gary
's killer.

Lisa, needing to go to work at the police station, dropped me at my apartment and rushed off to take the girls to her mom's. While I was in the exam room, she'd called Mitch to see if my apartment was accessible and to tell him she'd be a bit late for work. Though I wanted to head straight to The Garden Gate, on the way out of the parking lot Lisa convinced me I was an embarrassment in her short sweat pants, and I should go home and change into clothes that fit.

Since I'd already showered, I dressed in my work outfit, favoring my elbow and pretty much every body part that moved as I did so. In the bathroom, I stared at the purple and red mass taking over the right side of my face. No amount of makeup would hide the bruise. The x-rays revealed nothing was broken, but I sure looked bad. The doctor prescribed an anti-inflammatory, some pain meds and rest. I'd comply with the first two orders and ignore the third, as I needed to be on my game to out one Nathan Jacob's at
Gary
's killer.

It took me longer than normal to walk to the shop, as I had to step gingerly to favor a sore ankle. I'd gladly have driven today, but Perry had arranged to have my truck dropped off at the shop not my house while we were in the ER. By the time I pushed open the shop's front door, the pain convinced me the doctor should have x-rayed my entire body. Groaning, I entered and sniffed in the familiar morning scent of fragrant flowers mixed with damp soil.

Hazel, helping a customer purchase a large flat of petunias, looked up. Her wizened eyes studied me. "What happened to you?"