I didn’t say anything, and returned her gaze. I wasn’t entirely sure I understood her, but I felt uneasy and was starting to consider heading off to Austin today and staying with my folks until this whole thing was over with.
She turned back to her computer and started typing. She must have said what she had to say, and I was ready to go home. “You done?” I asked Don.
He nodded and gathered up his trash. We started walking home, me carrying my still unopened sandwich.
“That was weird,” Don said after we had crossed the street.
“Yeah. So, she and Harry know each other, I’m sure of it.”
“And she knows Katz.”
“I think – I’m just guessing – but I think she knew Clarence Wilton, too.”
“What makes you say that?”
“She called him Clarence before she corrected herself – did you catch that?”
“No, not really.”
“And she recognized his dog.”
“Maybe she saw you hand the dog over to his family.”
“Maybe, but it feels weird.”
“Yeah.”
“And why make it a point to talk to us? Was she threatening us? Telling us that stuff about Katz?”
“She could be an over-sharer.”
I thought about that for a minute. “No, I don’t think so. I think everything Dawn Thrasher says is very well thought out. She doesn’t strike me as the kind of person who has unnecessary conversations or shares unnecessary details. She only lets other people see what she wants them to see. Usually.”
“Usually?”
“When she walked into Ground Up she was genuinely shocked to see Harry. It took her a minute to look cool and collected again.”
We walked on in silence for a couple of minutes.
“We should tell Detective Petreski about this,” Don said.
“Yeah. You call him and we’ll do it on speaker. When we get home.”
“You don’t want to talk to him?”
“Of course I do. But I want it all above-board. I don’t think he’s supposed to be fraternizing or whatever. I don’t want him to get in trouble. And I don’t want to get in trouble for not telling him something we should tell him.”
“Okay. We’ll do it your way.”
We called Petreski, and told him everything Dawn Thrasher had said. I told him about the strange reactions when Harry and Dawn had seen each other. I could hear Petreski sigh over the phone.
“Jake...”
“What?” I knew he was going to chew me out. Gently, but still, I didn’t have to like it.
“I told you to be careful. You promised.”
“What wasn’t careful? I wasn’t alone – Don was with me. We were in a public place and all that happened was that a woman I don’t know talked to me. In broad daylight.”
“You’re attracting too much attention. I don’t like this.”
“I can’t help it if everyone goes there – it’s the only coffee shop in walking distance. I can’t just shut myself up in my apartment all day every day. I have to go to school and the grocery store and do laundry and stuff.”
I could hear him sigh again. I knew he was worried about me, but I wasn’t going to change my whole routine. I had a life to live.
“If you could just lay low for a few days...”
“But –”
“Okay, look. If you’ll just do your best to avoid Dawn Thrasher and the Katzes. Can you do that?”
“Why? Why them in particular?”
“Jake, please.”
“I’ll talk to him,” said Don, the traitor.
We ended the call.
“He really does sound concerned.”
“Yeah, I guess,” I said.
“I thought you’d be happy about that.”
“Sure, but I don’t like being ordered around. And I’m not a helpless kid. I can take care of myself. And it’s not like anything’s going to happen to me in a coffee shop or a laundromat.”
“That’s probably what Clarence Wilton thought.”
That put things right back into perspective.
“And if Detective Petreski’s worried about you, he can’t concentrate on his job, and that could be dangerous for him.”
Man, Don could fight dirty when he wanted to. “Okay, I get it. I know I need to be careful. But I’ve got to do laundry. It’s a borderline emergency at this point.”
“Can it wait until tomorrow? I’ll go with you. And you can come to work with me tonight. You can sit at the end of the bar and drink ginger ale all night, but at least you won’t be here alone.”
“We can do the laundry tomorrow, but I’m staying here. I’ll lock the door, and I won’t let anyone in, cross my heart.”
“Fine. I’ll text Detective Petreski that he can stop worrying. He should give you his phone number, you know.”
“No. Not until the case is finished.”
“Sometimes I really don’t get you.”
“Yeah, well, I just want to keep things as simple as possible for now. And other than him coming over last night, everything has been completely above-board. I want to keep it that way.”
“I guess I’m just surprised that someone who hasn’t been able to choose a major after seven years and visits a spiritual advisor and was trying to convince me he was a werewolf just a few days ago can be so together and mature at the same time.”
I shrugged. I could feel the sting of truth in his words. “Just text him, okay? Tell him I’ll be careful and won’t go out unnecessarily, but I’m still going to classes.”
“Okay, okay.”
❧
I was a good boy the rest of the day. Don went with me to the grocery store and brought Bridger and his things over to my place before leaving for work. I stayed inside the rest of the afternoon and evening.
I didn’t really mind. I had studying to do, and Raymond came to visit. I put some sunflower seeds on the windowsill and crouched down to watch Raymond eat. Bridger was curious, but stayed on the sofa. He wasn’t that much bigger than Raymond, and I don’t think he knew what to make of the squirrel.
“So, Raymond,” I said, keeping my voice soft. “We haven’t really had a chance to talk since, well, you know. Last night.”
Raymond cocked his head, but didn’t stop nibbling at the seed in his paws.
“I don’t know how much you understand of what I’m saying.”
Bits of hull flew as Raymond chewed on.
“I am sorry about what I said about your name. It’s a perfectly nice name, I just didn’t realize it was popular in the, um, squirrel community. Anyway,” I cleared my throat. “Anyway, I hope we can be friends and keep getting along.”
Raymond finished the last of the seeds and lowered his front paws to the windowsill. He looked at me, nose twitching.
“Does that mean yes?”
His nose twitched again, and he was gone into the tree. He hadn’t chattered or scolded me, so I guessed we were okay.
I closed the window – I didn’t know how far Bridger’s curiosity would take him, and how far he could go, even with only three legs. Best not to take chances.
Bridger explored and played and chased toys around the apartment while I tried to study. I wasn’t accomplishing much, so after a while I set my laptop up on the coffee table and stretched out on the sofa to binge watch some TV. Nothing with murders in it, though.
I had just finished washing my dinner dishes, feeling very virtuous because I had cooked myself an actual healthy meal thanks to the day’s grocery run, when I heard the scratching at the door.
“Sounds like company’s come, Bridger.” I said, checking for the paw under the door to make sure it really was Boo and not a murderous neighbor. Bridger perked up his ears and started moving towards the door.
“Hey, Boo!” I said, opening the door. “Ooh! Who’s your friend?” Sitting a couple of feet behind Boo was an elegant cat with wavy calico fur – I’d never seen a Rex in real life before and thought
maybe they were pretty rare. Boo came inside, and when the other cat didn’t move he turned and meowed at it. “Come on inside,” I encouraged it. “The more the merrier!” The cat gave me an uncertain look, then trotted after Boo.
“I have to warn you, Boo. I’m babysitting tonight so you’ll have to put up with Bridger again.” Boo had already made a beeline for the sofa and he and Bridger were sniffing at each other. The new cat approached slowly, and sniffed at the young one.
While the cats introduced themselves I fixed a bigger bowl of water and opened the window.
“So, is this your girlfriend, Boo?” I asked, after watching the two grown cats fuss over the little one. The new cat looked up at me with golden eyes, but quickly turned her attention back to Bridger.
Boo left the other two cats to join me on the sofa, curling up on my lap and purring like a motorboat. I guess house arrest was okay as long as I had a friend like Boo to cuddle up with.
“So what do you do all day, huh Boo? You have someone else you hang out with during the day? Am I your dirty little secret?” I giggled, and Boo batted at my hand with a paw.
I felt the sofa dip and turned to see that the lady cat had jumped up on the other end and was sniffing around. I held my hand out towards her and wiggled my fingers. “Hey, kitty,” I called softly. She turned to look at me, saw my fingers, and hissed – not loud, just enough to let me know she wasn’t interested.
Boo growled, also not loud, and the female cowered. It was obvious who was in charge here. “It’s okay, Boo.” I gave him a little squeeze and he relaxed. “We just need to get to know each other better.”
It was strange, though. I’d never been hissed at by a cat before, or growled at, either. Animals tended to like me.
I watched the lady cat sniff around a bit more, and held still as she approached me. She sniffed my arm, never taking her eyes off my face. When she placed a tentative paw on my leg, I felt Boo stiffen and start to rumble. She drew back, and jumped down to the floor to play with Bridger.
“Now, Boo,” I scolded, “there’s no need to be territorial.”
The lady cat didn’t stay much longer, and left by way of the open window. Bridger watched her leave, and followed her as far as the floor beneath the windowsill. I could see him wiggling his little butt like he was going to try to jump up to the windowsill, but before I could move to stop him, Boo had leaped from my lap and intercepted the kitten before he could jump. Picking Bridger up by the scruff of his neck, Boo brought him back to the sofa and deposited him in my lap. Bridger protested a bit in his tiny kitten voice, but didn’t get any sympathy.
“Wow, Boo.” That was all I could think to say. It was kind of freaky, how Boo knew what to do and did it. “You’re something else, Boo. You’re gonna be a good kitty-daddy someday.”
I restarted my laptop and settled in to watch, this time with two cats on my lap.
Can’t a Guy Just Do His Laundry?
On Sunday, Don and I loaded our laundry into the back of my car and drove to the laundromat. I separated my laundry into three washers (like I said, it was a near emergency) and settled down in a chair to watch the traffic go by. Don got waylaid by a couple of little old ladies who wanted to see what was in the cat sling, so I was sitting on my own when Harry came in.
He did a quick scan of the room, nodding at me before heading to a washer. I moved my backpack when he came over so he could sit.
“Hey,” he said.
“Hey. How’s it going?”
“Not so good, actually.”
I hadn’t expected an honest answer. “Oh, sorry.”
He shrugged. “It’s... weird.”
“Yeah. Weird pretty much describes my life lately.”
“You remember the other day – when I told you about that girl I knew in college?”
“Yeah.”
“I saw her the other day. She walked into my shop. How’s that for weird? I mean, right after the police came, and we talked about her. She just shows up.”
I had suspected as much, but I didn’t say anything. As far as I was concerned, psychic dreams were weird. Seeing an old flame after talking about her was just coincidence.
“It seems like bad things always happen when she’s around.”
That got my attention. “What do you mean?”
“She was a firebrand. Ruthless. It was like... like she had no moral compass and no filter. She would do whatever it took. Say whatever she had to say. She used people – especially men.” He stopped, staring off into the middle distance.
“What do you mean?”
“Like I said, we were toxic together. After I broke up with her, it wasn’t two weeks before she had a new guy, and he was caught breaking into the same lab she’d wanted me to get into. She wanted good things, good changes, but she didn’t always go about things the right way.”
“I was there. When she came in? I saw her. She came over and talked to me. She had recognized me from the crime scene.”
“Somehow that doesn’t surprise me.”
“That she talked to me?”
“That she was there. The controversy and the demonstrations around Wilton and his developments – that would be like catnip for Dawn.”
“She didn’t strike me as lacking a filter, though. The things she said to me – and Don – were quite pointed.”
“She probably had to develop one to stay out of trouble. Whatever you do, don’t rise to her bait, and don’t let her get in your head. In fact, I’d recommend avoiding her as much as you can. That’s what I’m planning to do.”
I was getting tired of being told to avoid people, but in this case I had no problem going along with it. This sounded more like friendly advice than an order.
❧
Later, when I told Don about my conversation with Harry, he called Petreski and made me repeat the conversation for him. “He’s going to get tired of us calling him,” I sighed as we ended that call.
“He’s going to get tired of you running around talking to people, more likely.”
“I was at the laundromat minding my own business! I can’t help it if people talk to me. I can’t just run and hide whenever someone talks to me, can I?”
“Petreski would probably say you could.”
“He’s going to decide I’m too much trouble.”
“Then try staying out of trouble.”
“Dude. You are the one who got me into this! It was your idea to go check the bayou!”
Don was silent, and I realized I’d gone too far.
“Don, I –”
“Seriously? My fault?”
“I’m sorry, I –”
“Jesus, Jake. I’ve been nothing but supportive of you this entire time. All this crazy shit going on around you, and I never once batted an eye.”
I hung my head. What could I say? He was right. “Don, I really –”
“Not right now, Jake. Just... not now, okay?”
Don left to go back to his apartment, and I started putting away my clean laundry. My towels and shirts and underwear were all folded the same in orderly stacks and I realized I probably was OCD. One more thing for Don to be right about.
I hated arguing with Don – he was my best friend and had been since we were fifteen, when he was the new nerdy kid and I was the noisy drama geek everyone was tired of telling to shut up. I’d never known when to keep quiet, had I? I wanted more than anything to go across the hall and apologize, but I let Don have his space. He knew I was sorry, and he’d be over soon to let me grovel properly.
Jake and Don Get Nosy
Monday morning, and it was hard to believe it had only been a week since we’d found Bridger and life had started getting seriously weird. I had to go to class today, and I needed to figure out a way to avoid Tom Wilton.
I got to campus around my usual time, and waited in my car for a few minutes, looking around to make sure I didn’t see Tom anywhere before getting out and walking straight to the building where class was held. I felt ridi
culous, slipping into the room at the last minute and not looking around before heading straight to my seat and getting ready for class. So far, so good. I just needed to repeat the procedure on the way out. For all I knew, Tom might not even be here today – I had been too afraid of making eye contact to check.
We got our grades back – I really had prepared, and got a low A. Like I said, I’m not stupid, I just can’t seem to make up my mind sometimes.
I thought I’d made a clean getaway after class, and was halfway to my car when I heard someone calling my name. Without thinking, I turned, and realized too late that it was Tom Wilton.
“Hey, Jake! How’d you do on the test?”
“Oh. Hi, Tom. Pretty good. You?”
“Terrible!” He laughed and shrugged. “I suck at history.”
“Yeah, it’s not my best subject. I just study the hell out of it.”
“Maybe I should try that. Or maybe...” He stopped and looked off towards the old science building. “Maybe Dad getting... well, maybe it got to me more than I wanted to admit.”
That sounded likely – and normal. I had to admit I was kind of glad to hear he wasn’t as unaffected as he had claimed before, because that had unnerved me a bit.
“I can see how that would be.”
He nodded, and invited me to lunch again. I could have come up with an excuse, and I probably should have, but I didn’t. My nice guy side felt bad for him, and under other circumstances I think we could have been friends. Maybe after all this was over – and if he wasn’t the killer – we could be.
I asked about Murphy again. If he thought my interest in his dad’s dog was strange he didn’t say so. I still had occasional dreams about Murphy, but they were settling down. According to Tom, he had completely taken over Murphy’s care. His mother wouldn’t have anything to do with the dog, so Tom kept him in his part of the house.
“Your ‘part of the house’?” My parents have money, but I couldn’t see them giving me my own part of the house.
“Yeah. It’s like a mother-in-law suite – you know, like a little apartment with its own bathroom and a little kitchen and its own entrance. When I started college my mom talked my dad into letting me move into it.”
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