Coffee & Crime

by Anita Rodgers

  He straightened, adjusted his tie then headed briskly for the exit. Zelda watched him make his escape. "That's some temper on that dude."

  I followed her gaze. "Kind of makes you believe Sally even more, huh?"

  Zelda stroked her chin. "He's jumpy about something.

  I belted my raincoat and grabbed my bag. "And an innocent man doesn't threaten to sue you."

  Zelda zipped up her jacket. "Who says that?"

  "Shut up."

  We pretended not to notice that everyone watched us as we left the place and started for the exit. "He’s a jerk and probably a thief, but did he kill George?"

  I nodded and smirked. "After that little display I think he's of it. And he could've put those brownies on Peggy's desk."

  Zelda hooked her arm through mine and we started walking again — the marble floor echoing our footsteps toward the main exit. "True. He had access. And everybody keeps their head down when the boss is in the room."

  I snapped my fingers. "Remember the marks in Sally's file? I think George was reviewing it because he felt guilty about sabotaging her." I stopped and turned to her. "What if he confronted Jake and threatened to turn him in? That could motivate Jake to do something rash. He obviously likes his lifestyle and doesn't tolerate people who want to change it."

  Zelda nodded. "Okay then, Jake had motive, means, and opportunity."

  I pushed through the heavy glass door. "And goes to the top of the suspect list."

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  As we turned in at our driveway, the headlights lit up an SUV parked on the street outside our place. Zelda squinted. "Is that Ted's Escalade?"

  My heart skipped a beat and I glanced back but couldn't make anything out in the misty evening air. "Where?"

  When I climbed out of the jeep, Boomer ran at me, wagging his stub and yapping. I bent down to grab him but he charged right past me. I turned to track him and the path led straight to Ted, who squatted down while Boomer jumped on him and licked his hands. Ted scooped up Boomer and brought him to me. Boomer wriggled in his hands as he held him out. "I think this belongs to you."

  I was so happy to see Ted that I almost threw myself at him but the look on his face stopped me from throwing my arms around him. "Hi."

  His voice was low and serious. "Hi."

  Zelda stepped between us and took Boomer out of Ted's hands. "I'll take this." Despite Boomer's protests, she carried him straight into the house and closed the door.

  I looked up at Ted — even stone cold serious, he was painfully handsome and my heart fluttered. "Where've you been? I haven't heard from you for a couple of days."

  His jaw worked back and forth. "I haven't heard from you either."

  I faked a chuckle. "Oh, was it my turn to call?"

  Then he said the four most dreaded words in any relationship, "We need to talk."

  Stalling, I nodded to the house. "Let's go inside. I'll make coffee and heat up some chicken noodle soup."

  I started for the house, but he caught me by the hand and said, "We can talk out here."

  Still trying to avoid talking, I said, "Okay, but let's go around to the patio. Get out of the rain."

  Ted didn't move. "It's barely raining."

  So we were going to talk outside, in the cold, on the parking pad. I pulled my raincoat tighter around me and cinched the belt. "Okay, talk."

  "What's going on? What's with all the secrecy? What are you keeping from me?"

  I took a couple steps back and raised my hands. "What do you mean? Nothing."

  He jammed his hands into his pockets and his eyes went icy. "Please don't bullshit me, Scotti." He spoke so quietly that I could barely hear him. "I hate that shit."

  I waved my hands at him. "I'm not bullshitting you." His eyes called me a liar. "What do you think is going on?" He said nothing but his jaw worked in that tense grindy way. "Do you think I'm dating another guy?"

  He smirked. "If I thought that, I wouldn't be here." He stared right through me. "It's not that kind of secret, but it’s a big one."

  I shrugged and looked away. "Because I haven't told you every detail of my life, I'm keeping secrets from you?" I forced a laugh. "Most guys wouldn't complain about that."

  He put his hand on my arm and stared into my eyes. And with a softer voice he said, "If you're in trouble, you can tell me." I had to avoid his eyes because I couldn’t bear the scrutiny. He tilted up my chin and whispered, "I care about you, Scotti. A lot."

  Any normal woman would’ve melted right there on the spot. I, however, have had the I-care-about-you card used on me too many times to fall for that line. Though in my heart, I knew he meant it. Still, I pulled away. "Stop trying to manipulate me Ted. I care about you too, but I’ve asked you a few times already to back off. Just because you want to know everything doesn't mean I owe that to you." I sneered. "I had enough of that crap when I was a kid. Nothing was private. Not even the size of my underwear."

  Ted shook his head like I’d slapped him. I jabbed a finger at him. "Don't look at me like that. I’m not trying to hurt your feelings, but isn’t it a little soon for the true confessions stage of our relationship?" I huffed and threw out my arms. "What is it with you? Why do you have to know everything right this second?"

  Ted blew out a big sigh and I could see I was wearing him down — my specialty with men. "I didn’t ask you to tell me everything. Just the thing you're working so hard not to tell me."

  I knew I was over reacting and that Ted wasn't the bad guy so I looked down at my soaked shoes. I'd have to throw them out because they were ruined. If I said anything else I'd make it worse, so I said nothing.

  Ted tilted my chin upward to look at him. "Where’s this going? You and me? I don't want a casual hook up — and I didn’t think you did either. Am I wrong?” I sighed and shook my head. "Okay. Then if we both want something real, we have to trust each other, don’t we? Otherwise it won’t work. I'm not trying to nose into your business, but I'm not stupid, and I know something's wrong." He touched my hair softly. "It's coming between us Scotti, can't you see that?"

  I clenched my fists at my sides but I couldn't keep my mouth shut. "If this isn’t nosing into my business, then what do you call it?"

  Ted was taken aback. "So it's just flat out none of my business?" He held out his arms. "That's it? End of story?"

  I shook my fists in the air and stomped my foot. "What guy complains when a woman won't tell him her every thought?"

  Ted's eyes flashed with anger and he pointed a finger at me. "Do me a favor, don't compare me to the guys in your past. All of them sound like assholes, and I'm not an asshole."

  He was the most stubborn man I ever met. He wasn't going anywhere until I told him. Even if that meant we'd stand in the cold and rain until next week. I groaned. "Fine. You want know? I'll tell you, but remember I tried to keep you out of it." Shivering and through chattering teeth I told him the whole story — holding back nothing. He listened without interrupting me and without indicating what he thought. I shoved my hands into my pockets. "Happy now?"

  I could tell by his expression that he wanted to say I was out of my mind. Who wouldn't? Even I thought I was crazy. Instead, he put his arm around me and said, "Let me help you."

  I smirked and pulled back. "Sure, you have a spare $60,000?"

  He smiled for the first time since we'd started the conversation. "Maybe I do."

  I stared at him and saw he wasn't kidding. "Maybe I don't want you to save me."

  He stepped back and gaped. "Scotti, I'm offering to help you. God knows you need it. What is this, a pride thing?"

  I groaned and pulled my hair. "Are you kidding? We've only known each other for a couple weeks. And you think I’d ask you for a loan? What am I, a gold-digger?" I shook my head. "No, I'm not that girl. I don’t need a guy to save me from my pathetic life."

  Ted dropped his chin to his chest. "I'm not trying to save you."

  I rubbed my face with my hands. "Sure you are. Because that’s you!
It’s who you are — Ted the fixer. Zelda's jeep. Boomer's vet bills. What's next, new clothes and a boob job?"

  He chuckled and smiled. "Your breasts are perfect, I'd kill anyone who tried to change them."

  Now I was the one who wasn't amused. "I'm serious, Ted. This is who I am. I don't want to be fixed. And if you think I need to be fixed, then I'm not the girl for you."

  "So love you or leave you? Those are my options?"

  I put my hands on my hips. "Run everything by you for approval? Is that my only option?"

  Ted curled his lip. "I don't like being lied to."

  I wanted to pull out my hair — in great big handfuls. "I haven't lied to you. I just didn't tell you how I was solving a problem."

  "A lie you don't tell is still a lie."

  I groaned and paced. "Okay, instead of saying nothing was wrong, I should've said it's nothing to do with us. Because that is the truth. This has nothing to do with you and me. Why don’t you get that?"

  Ted caught hold of my arm. "You don’t think what you’re doing could affect us? Scotti, you could get hurt. Seriously hurt. You think that wouldn't matter to me?"

  I waved a hand at him. "I'm not going to get hurt."

  He grimaced and sighed. "You don't think you are. But you don't know what you're stirring up." He pointed to the gate. "I slipped right onto your property, and you didn't see me until I wanted you to see me. If I could do that, so could somebody else." He grasped my other arm. "This isn't a game, Scotti. Your friend is already dead. I don't want you to be next. Is there something wrong with that line of thinking?"

  I pulled away and crossed my arms over my chest. "Quit trying to scare me. I'm not going to stop. Or change my mind. You aren't going to talk me out of this."

  He threw up his hands and started pacing. "So, I'm supposed stand by and hope for the best?"

  My voice started hitting the glass shattering octave range. "No! You’re supposed to stop over-reacting. It’s not like I’m in this alone. I have Zelda, Joe, and Eric. Joe used to be a homicide cop. He knows what he's doing. He wouldn't let us do anything dangerous."

  Ted stopped and spun toward me. "So I am supposed to stand by and hope for the best then?"

  Beyond frustrated I buried my hands in my hair. "What am I supposed to say to that?" I jabbed a finger at him. "Look, it's your choice. If you want to walk away because you can't deal with this, that's up to you."

  He laughed bitterly. "Now you're blowing me off?" He rubbed the back of his neck and looked up to the sky. "I sure know how to pick them, don't I?"

  "I'm not blowing you off. And I don't want you to leave. I'm just asking you to back off – a little." I was shivering so hard I couldn’t stand still. I was so exhausted my eyeballs itched. I didn’t want to fight, I wanted to go inside where it was warm. Make some dinner, snuggle and watch a movie. I took his hand and squeezed it. "Can't we just go on the way we were?"

  He gave me a snarky grin. "Sure, that’ll work great. You go off fighting crime with Zelda and company, and squeeze in a couple of dinner dates a week with me? And if there's a break in the case — I'll just have to understand when you disappear for days at a time? Is that what you're thinking?"

  I shook my fists at him. "Why are you making this so hard? If you hadn't been in the diner when Lily showed up, you wouldn't know anything about it. But you overhear a little bit of a conversation and now it's this life and death situation? And now all of sudden, I have to choose between you and my diner?"

  He shook his head. "I'm not asking you to choose. I'm offering you another way and you're rejecting it. And for the record, I came into the diner because you were avoiding me."

  "Fine," I threw up my hands in surrender. "Have it your way. I'm a shifty, lying bitch. I give up. You win."

  I started for the house but he grabbed my hand. "Scotti, don't do this."

  I yanked my hand away. "It's already done. We don’t need to fight for another two hours to figure that out, do we?" I looked into his eyes for a second, hoping he'd let it go but it was clear he wouldn't. "Good bye, Ted."

  I hurried into the house and closed the door because I didn’t want him to see me cry. For a few minutes I leaned against the door, praying he'd come after me. But he didn't.

  Zelda frowned at me from the dining room. She walked to the window and looked out. When she turned back, she shook her head.

  I pushed away from the door. "I guess that's the end of that."

  Zelda followed me into the kitchen. "You broke up?"

  I opened the fridge. "Crap, we don't have anything to eat and I don't feel like cooking." I closed the fridge. "Let's order Chinese."

  "No."

  "Pizza?"

  Zelda stared at me like I was crazy. "Scotti, what happened?"

  I shrugged. "We broke up." I opened the freezer and took out a pint of double-chocolate fudge brownie ice cream — the good stuff that costs seven dollars a pint. I grabbed a spoon then carried my dinner to the butcher-block and sat down. "Okay, ice cream it is."

  Zelda grabbed a spoon too and sat across from me at the butcher-block. "Why? What did he say?"

  She tried to dip her spoon into the ice cream container but I held it away from her. "This is my dinner."

  Zelda put her spoon down on the countertop. "Why did you break up?"

  I ran my spoon across the top of the ice cream and made a mouth-sized scoop, then watched it melt. "Does it matter?" I glanced up from my melting ice cream. "Why should he be any different from any other guy I've dated?"

  "Because he's not a jerk."

  I laughed and pointed my spoon at her. "I knew you secretly liked him." Tears bloomed in my eyes. "I knew it."

  Zelda slid off her stool and came to my side. "He'll be back when he cools off." She put her arm around my shoulders and squeezed — Zelda's version of a hug. "He's crazy about you – any idiot can see that."

  I lay my head on her shoulder and cried. "No Zee, he's not coming back. I fucked it up, just like I always do. I don't deserve a guy like that anyway."

  "Yes, you do. He just needs to cool off. You know how guys are." I clung to her and cried. "Don’t worry Scotti, he'll be back. It'll all be okay."

  But after three days of radio silence, I knew it was over between us. I comforted myself with the fact that I hadn't been stupid enough to sleep with him. It was better that it ended quickly, and I hadn't invested months in a man who’d leave me anyway — just like every guy before him.

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Without Ted to distract me, I threw myself into the investigation full-bore — sleeping little and eating less. Working to the point of exhaustion seemed the only way I could sleep. After a long and terrible day at the diner, I convinced Zelda that the night was still young and we should pay a visit to Tina Serrata. Hers was the last appointment noted in George's calendar and I wanted to know why they met the day before he died.

  The sun had dropped below the mountains, and a light rain fell as Zelda navigated the winding streets that led to Tina's office. But when we pulled up to the address, we found a corner lot ranch house, not an office building. Big trees, sparse lighting and a starless sky gave the street a gloomy feel and made me hesitant to knock on her door. The patter of rain on the jeep's roof picked up suddenly like an urgent finger poking me to get my attention. I frowned. "This is her house."

  Zelda opened her door and the rain drummed louder on the pavement. "Everybody works from home these days." She squinted at me. "And I didn't drive all the way up here to turn around and leave. We're here, so let's do it and get it over with."

  Reluctantly, I pulled up my hood and stepped out of the jeep. We dashed to Tina's front door and Zelda asked, "What's our cover story?"

  I shrugged and rang the bell.

  Curtains fluttered at the side window. "Who's there?"

  "Scotti Fitzgerald."

  After a short pause, the deadbolt turned and Tina Serrata opened the door. She was a striking brunette in her mid-forties, with inquisitive ha
zel eyes. Her simple black sweater and Capri's looked elegant as only designer clothes can. I pulled my raincoat tighter

  around my waitress togs. Tina held onto the door and sheltered behind it. "May I help you?"

  "Hi, sorry to disturb you at home but this was listed as your office address."

  Tina relaxed and gave a half-smile. "No, that's right. Though I don't usually have clients come to me." She brightened at the idea of a couple of design prospects. "Did someone refer you?"

  I nodded. "In a way. Do you have a few minutes?” I pointed to the street. "If you'd rather, we could meet you down the hill somewhere."