Twilight (21 page)

Then he attacked his own rooms. Never dubbed a neatnik, he now scrubbed and scoured for more than two hours. Annie watched him, following from bedroom to living room to kitchen with a worried look on her face and a tiny whine now and then. Cal wondered if the folks who dumped her had moved, and she’d been subjected to a cleaning like this before losing them. “Don’t worry, girl. I’m not parting with you. No chance.”

Cal reached for the Robert Frost book of poetry and held it a moment. Why had Laurie visited last night? He’d intended to leave her in peace, as she obviously wanted. Then why had she opened it up again? Why bring him dinner, make his heart rush with just her presence? She knew the chemistry. She felt it.

Or did she? Did he imagine she cared the way he did? He opened the book flap.
A true friend is worth more than any lover
. He frowned. That’s what she said, but all his instincts said otherwise. What was holding her back?

The broken window seemed to be a fluke, unless she’d kept any other incidents from him. That was possible. And there was the business of the black Firebird. And last night’s phone call. The hairs stood up on his head. He shook the thoughts away. He had no proof any of it was connected. But what if someone was warning him off? Her ex? Was he some jealous maniac?

Cal wished she’d told him something more about Brian Prelane. Maybe tonight. Blowing his breath through his lips, he set the book on the shelf. It looked strange and a little lonely among Clancy and Grisham and Clive Cussler’s Dirk Pitt mysteries. Turning, Cal surveyed the room. He almost didn’t recognize it. But he’d worked himself into a tired enough state to try sleeping again. Sleeping without dreams, without the sound of that child crying. After all, he had to be at his fleecing best tonight.

After a decent four-hour nap, he pulled the door open to Reggie and Rita.

Reggie rubbed his hands together. “Hope you’re feelin’ lucky. I am hot today.”

“You win the lottery or something?” Cal took Rita’s blue suede coat.

“No, sir. I got Smilin’ Sal to talk.”

Cal stopped in his path to the closet. Smilin’ Sal, who’d been in the center two years and had not said a word? He looked at Rita, who nodded back, then to Reggie. “How?”

“The power of the Holy Ghost. I am gifted with the mentally bewildered.”

“Kind of a kinship, hmm?”

Reggie laughed. “You might say so.”

“Congratulations.” Cal held up a Coke.

Regg ie shook his head. “No thanks. What you got in the fridge?”

“Nothing to put a dent in that appetite.” Cal waved at Reggie’s midsection.

Laughing, Reggie wrapped his enormous hands around Cal’s neck and shook him like a rag doll. Cal fought free and looked at Annie wiggling her whole body with her tail. “Some protection you are. Sic, Annie!” She licked his hand, and Reggie guffawed.

“She thought you said
lick
, bro.”

“If you men have finished with your machismo, I’d like a drink.”

“Sorry, Rita.” Cal tossed her a bottle of Snapple.

Reggie dug through the refrigerator chill drawer and pulled out a roll of liverwurst. “This all you got?”

“Pretzels and chips.”

Reggie shook his head and took out the loaf of rye. “Mustard?”

“Bottom shelf in the door.”

“So …” Rita accepted the glass he handed her and poured the tea. “What’s this I hear about you leaving the department?”

Record time. What else had she heard through the hyperspeed grapevine? Cal shrugged. “That’s what I love about you, Rita. You’re so subtle, never pry, never …”

“Come on, Cal.” She sipped. “Tell me what’s on your mind.”

He clicked his fingers. “I forgot my mind’s on file with you.” She waited.

Well, she could wait. He wasn’t going to tell her about the call, the little crying voice that had sent him over the edge. All things considered, it wasn’t any of her business. He was no longer ordered into her care; she was a friend, nothing more. If she heard about the booze, he didn’t care. He’d walked away, and it didn’t matter.

She leaned on the counter. “Why did you quit?”

“Time to make a change.”

“Oh? You have something lined up?” She tapped her fingernail on the glass.

“Maybe.”

“What?” Brutally unrelenting.

“Maybe … furniture.” The thought had sprung up in the nick of time. “Dad taught me cabinetry. It’s always been a thought to try it someday.”

“That’s bosh, and you know it.”

Cal frowned. He wished Rita didn’t have X-ray vision. “It’s not bosh at all. I’m good with wood.”

“You made your table, didn’t you, Cal?” Reggie spoke around the bite of sandwich.

“As a mere sprout. And other things over the years. Sold them too.”

“And you’re going to make your living that way?” Rita put a fist to her hip. “You know what I think? I think it’s a cop-out.”

“You know me.” Cal spread his hands. “Cop-out Cal.”

She shook her head, disgusted.

So what if she was disappointed. Add her to the list. “By the way, I’m having a friend join us. I’d like your impressions.”

“Impressions?” Rita raised a suspicious eyebrow.

He knew that look. But he took the plunge. “Just check her out. You know …”

“Professional espionage? I’m surprised at you.”

Cal sobered. “I think she’s in trouble.” He held Rita’s eyes, willing her to understand, to take her mind off him and hear another need.

“What sort of trouble?” Rita gave no indication of submission.

“I don’t know, really.” It sounded evasive even to him.

“Who is it?” Reggie chomped off a hunk of sandwich.

“Someone I care about.” Care about? The woman he’d loved most of his life, the one he’d walk burning coals to defend—if she’d let him. If he didn’t lose it. If anything made sense anymore.

Rita tapped her fingernail against the glass, one of her tells. It betrayed tension and uncertainty. Cal always called the hand when Rita tapped her nails. Nine times out of ten he took it. Without releasing his gaze, she frowned. “Someone I know?”

“How long have you been here?”

“The four years I’ve worked with the department.”

“Then no. She’s from Montrose, sort of, but was gone awhile, and now she’s back.” Now there was clarity. He was muddying things, but he didn’t want her to force more from him than he wanted to give.

“Why do you think she’s in trouble?”

“A hunch.” He had little else to go on.

Rita sipped again. “Stick to facts, Cal. Hunches aren’t good for you.”

“Thanks, Mom.”

“Watch it.” Rita tossed her dark, wedge-cut, gray-streaked hair. “Besides, when we socialize, it’s strictly social. Separation of personal and professional. I’m here as a friend, not a doctor.”

“Oh yeah. And that third degree a minute ago …”

“A concerned friend.”

He knew better. Rita could no more separate out from her doctor mode than he could sleep without part of his mind being primed for emergency. But he let it go. He’d planted the seed, and he knew too well how it would worry her brain. No problem existed that she wouldn’t try to solve. And if anyone trusted a hunch, it was Dr. Rita James.

A quick knock broke the tension, and Cal opened the door to Rob. “Brought a pal,” Rob said, and Perry followed him in, complete with a twelve-pack of Budweiser.

Just the irritant he didn’t need. Not the beer, the bearer. Was Rob making a statement, bringing along the one person he knew Cal wouldn’t want? He hadn’t told Rob personally that he’d quit. He hadn’t needed to. Word would spread faster than any wildfire, and he saw in Rob’s stance the hostility he’d expected.

Cal closed the door behind them. “We’ll have a full table tonight.” He crossed the room and pulled the card table from the closet, stood out the legs, and raised the flaps to make it round, then centered it in his living room. At Laurie’s knock, he shouldered past Perry to the door.

With her hair pulled into a ponytail in a pur ple band that matched her gray-and-purple sweatshirt, she looked like a cheerleader, her melting eyes large and alluring. She
would
pick this night to look terrific. But then, when had she not?

Taking her hand, he pulled her in, breathing the Beautiful she wore. “Everybody, this is Laurie.” Perry’s immediate interest was no surprise, nor Rob’s disapproval. “Laurie, you remember Rob.”

She nodded. “Nice to see you, Rob.”

“Here you are again.” Rob’s smile was less than convincing.

“Laurie, that’s Perry, Reggie, and Mom.” Cal pointed them out in turn.

Rita glared, then held out her hand. “It’s Rita.”

Laurie shook it.

While they all spoke platitudes, Cal took the coat from Laurie’s shoulders. He leaned close to her ear. “I’m glad you came.”

She smiled.

“Well, hail, hail the gang’s all here.” Rob pulled a new double deck from his pocket and tossed it on the table. “Or are there more women from your past coming?”

Cal’s temple pulsed. Was Rob being intentionally obnoxious? “This is all of us.” He motioned them to the table in the center of his living room and handed over the bowls of pretzels and chips. “Everyone grab a chair.” He slid a kitchen chair to Rita, and another across to Laurie.

Rob pulled the plastic from the cards. “Don’t let Cal and Laurie sit together. They communicate with their kneecaps.”

Cal dropped down beside Laurie and hooked an arm around her shoulders. “Just try to break us up.” He sent Rob a look.
Cut it out, buddy. It’s not your business
.

Perry took the seat on the other side of her. Yeah, it was a tight fit, but not that tight. Cal eyed him. Maybe one day they’d click, but he wished Rob hadn’t brought him tonight. Maybe this game hadn’t been such a good idea.

He’d thought keeping the regular Friday night game would send the message of normalcy. Just because he was changing jobs didn’t mean … But then, it did, didn’t it? Everything would be different. He would be different. Cal frowned. He
was
different. He’d just stopped pretending.

Reggie sank into the recliner. “I can slip my aces into the pads.” He bared teeth and gums, and Cal grinned back. One of these days he’d resist that smile—for his own self-respect.

Cal nodded to Laurie. “Don’t try to cheat Rita. She keeps a magnum in her purse.”

Rita shook her head. “It’s mace. Highly effective and legally concealed.”

“I thought women were going to that pepper spray to keep the men at bay.” Perry looked at Laurie with bedroom eyes. Too pretty for a man, in Cal’s opinion, but the women melted over them. Perry turned with a near sneer. “What keeps you off, Cal?”

“Don’t know. No one tries.” Except the one woman who mattered. He could feel the tension in Laurie’s back.

She cleared her throat. “So. Who deals?”

Good girl
. Cal turned to Rita, who seemed more intent on watching him than Laurie. “Lead us off, Rita?”

She gave no indication that she had any intention of honoring his first request, but if he knew Rita, she was processing Laurie’s nonverbal signals. If he were crazy, she’d tell him. But would she tell him if she saw trouble?

Rob leaned around Perry. “Cal, did you hear what they got in Kansas City?”

“The smoke trailer?”

“Thirty-seven thousand bucks. Whew.” Rob shook his head.

Cal tensed. “It’s a good tool. I’d have liked to use one.”

Rob grinned. “Like the kids go in and come out mice?”

Cal grinned back, but it was stiff. “Like the kids go in and come out alive.” The silence thickened like paste. Cal swallowed, realizing he’d overreacted to Rob’s jibe. “Think about it. Actual simulation of fire conditions and escape methods. The real experience, except heat and toxicity, of course. Now that’s a tool.”

“That’s an expensive toy. The money could have gone to better use.” Rob’s grin was gone. “Ask any man risking his life on the line.”

Cal bristled. What was Rob trying to do? Pick a fight? Couldn’t he see anything past active duty? No. He hadn’t ever understood Cal’s “copping out,” as he put it, and this latest severing was eating him. But they had been partners a long time, joined at the hip in more emergencies than Cal remembered. Anyway, it was past.

He broke the almost electr ic connection with Rob’s gaze. “What’ll it be, Rita?”

She named the game and dealt, but Cal could see she’d missed nothing. Rob was furious Cal had given up, but it didn’t matter. Cal was through with the department, and it seemed his best friend as well. If Rob couldn’t see past their mutual work to a core Cal had thought was there, then he’d let that go too. He glanced at Laurie. She was the one thing he wouldn’t let go easily. Cal frowned. Unless he had to.

Perry studied his cards, considered the bet, and shook his head. “This hand looks worse than today’s road pizza.” He tossed the cards down.

Laurie turned. “Road pizza?”

Perry stroked her with his eyes. “A cyclist bit the dust on the pavement.”

“Did he die?”

“Nah.” Perry shook his head. “But it was definite road pizza.”

Cal frowned. He would not have used one of their cruder expressions with Laurie. But Perry lacked subtlety. Perry lacked a lot of things. He wished again Rob had not brought him.

The cards did not fall well. After three hours he’d bluffed his way into clinging by his teeth. If they were playing strip poker, he’d be sitting in his boxers. He drank from the Coke can and studied his hand. A pair of threes.

“That sigh isn’t fooling me,” Rita said. “I fold.”

Reggie eyed him. Only he and Laurie still opposed him. “Too rich for this garbage.” He laid the cards face down before him.

Laurie narrowed her eyes, challenging him.

“I call,” Cal said and dropped the last of his chips on the pile.

Laurie laid down her cards. Eights and fours.

Cal tossed down his pair. “You win.” He stood and with a grin, opened his cotton shirt one button at a time. Rob started a rhythmic clap and Perry whistled between his teeth.

Rita put a hand over his. “That’ll do, boys. I saw enough at the hospital.”

Cal froze. Was everyone out to get him tonight? Laurie turned to her. “Are you a nurse?”

“I’m a doctor.”

His stomach tensed.