Read Between the Tines (20 page)

Everything was exactly as I had left it and Mitch was nowhere in sight. He must be in the bedroom. The room I least wanted him to be alone in.

I ran across the family room, my heels tapping on the wood floor. I flew around the corner and came to a sudden stop.

Mitch, gun cupped in both hands, legs spread wide and firmly planted, growled at me. "Stop, now."

"Hey, it's just me," I said in a shaky voice.

His arms melted as if he was a puppet, whose handler had dropped the strings. "What are you doing here?" he asked and gushed out a belly full of air before gulping another one.

"I live here, remember?"

"This is a crime scene, Paige. I could have shot you."

I laughed at his drama. "Not if you didn't overreact like that."

He stared at me, suddenly seeming weary and broken. "Overreact, huh?" He holstered his gun and trained his eyes on me like a weapon. "Two men have been killed on my watch. Two men I'd sworn to protect. Maybe you could tell me where I should draw the line, Paige. Should I let you die, too?" He let his eyes drift away and rubbed his forehead in small circles.

Dumbfounded, I stood quietly and watched him struggle with emotions I'd never imagined the tough lawman might have. He and I had been adversaries all along the way, and I never looked at the murders from his point of view. He was hurting. His eyes were sunken, dark circles hung below and a helpless slant usurped his posture.

"Mitch, I'm sorry. This must be tough on you."

He opened his mouth, and I waited with expectation.

This was it. I was finally going to see the vulnerable man lurking beneath the surface. The man very much like the boy who was such a good friend growing up.

Footfalls sounded on the stairs, and he shook his head as if shaking off his concern. "That'll be one of my men. Since you're here, why don't you look around to see if anything is missing. Just look. Don't touch."

I nodded and waited until he left to greet his officer then went into the bedroom. Everything in here was as I'd left it, too. A myriad of outfits tried on and discarded for my dinner date were strewn on the bed and a plush reading chair. Mounds of shoes lay in a heap in front of the closet door. Two dresser drawers sat open, lingerie hanging over the sides. And, I'm embarrassed to admit, my bed covers were bunched up at the foot of the bed.

All of this was embarrassing, but Mitch had already seen it. He may not have made it to the adjoining bathroom. Even though Mitch said not to touch anything, I picked up the dirty clothes I'd left lying on the floor before my shower. Clean clothes scattered about my room, I could handle his men seeing, but not these. I deposited the pile into the hamper and went back to the bedroom. Once again, I was stopped cold in my tracks.

Mitch and Eddie stood side by side in the doorway.

"Man," Eddie said and gave me a sympathetic look. "They really did a number on your room."

"Huh? What?" I asked.

"Your stuff. It's all over the place."

My face flushed hot, and I opened my mouth to speak but didn't know how to confess the mess was all my doing.

Watching me, Mitch grinned and stepped forward. "I'll take care of this room, Olsen. You can start processing the living room."

"Right," Eddie said with a salute in his tone and went back the way he'd come.

"I had a hard time deciding what to wear on my date," I mumbled and looked at the floor.

"A date, huh?" He chuckled. "Not much has changed over the years, then."

I'd forgotten Mitch had seen me through my tumultuous dating years. I peered at him. This man knew more about me than any man on this earth. Here stood the grinning boy so much a part of my past as if we hadn't had a parting of the ways. Somehow it felt normal, not strained, and I wanted the truce to continue.

"So," he said, breaking the moment and screeching me back to the reality of his reason for being here. "We should check out the other room and get you out of here before you disturb anything."

I followed his long strides down the hall. Though neater than my bedroom, my cursory glance made when I'd entered was right. Nothing had been disturbed. All the items you would imagine being taken in a breakin were present and accounted for. Stereo, computer, television all snug in their places. Maybe the intruder really was Goldilocks. From my mess, I'd never know if she'd stopped by, jumped on the mattress a bit to test it out and then departed.

Not a logical explanation I could share with Mitch who was digging in a tackle box kind of kit that Eddie must have put on the dining table. Eddie was at my door studiously making a mess with dusting powder.

I went over to Mitch. "This is odd, don't you think? All my electronics are untouched. Even my iPod is sitting on the table. What kind of thief breaks in and takes nothing?"

He gave me a deadly serious stare and let his hand drift to the top of his gun. "The kind who're looking for something specific. Something they spotted the minute they walked in and split with it."

As if he turned on a switch in my head, alarm bells clanged. "That's what happened at Karen's house, too. You think this is related to Karen's breakin this afternoon?"

He didn't say a word but offered a duh! look.

"But why? How? What would the intruder think I had?" My gaze zoomed around the room. I ran to the desk. "Oh, no.
Gary
's laptop. It's gone. I left it right here before I went out. Now what? All that information lost. But who would want it? The killer. Oh my gosh, the killer has been in my apartment."

Mitch rushed at me and clamped his hands on my arms. "Focus, Paige. What did you mean about a laptop?"

I looked into his face and his confident gaze helped me relax. "Karen gave me
Gary
's home computer so I could look at it and see if it held clues to his killer's identity."

He ripped his hands free from my arms and ran them both into his hair like a bulldozer into a mound of soil. "Let me get this straight. Instead of turning the computer over to me, Karen gave it to you."

"Don't make it sound like she did something wrong. It was all your fault."

"My fault?" He let his hands fall to his side.

"You called Karen and said
Gary
had an affair then accused her of killing him. She was miffed. I told her to redirect her anger from you to solving the crime. That's when she asked me to take the computer."

"This is just great. Because of your interference, we lost valuable evidence. You singlehandedly screwed up this case."

Me! Me! Why did it always have to be my fault? True, I had screwed things up with Adam but I wouldn't take the fall for this one. "Excuse me, Mr. Lawman, but if you recall, someone broke into Karen's house today and when they did they would have taken his computer right along with Karen's. You still wouldn't have it."

"You don't know they would have found it."

"Please, it was sitting on the desk. How could they have missed it?" I spun to go get my purse. Eddie, who'd been attentively listening, turned and busied his hands. I picked up my purse and pulled out the flash drive. "This is a backup of all the main files on
Gary
's computer." I crossed the room, slinging the strap of my purse onto my shoulder as I went. I slapped the drive into his palm. "You can thank me later."

His mouth opened and closed like a jammed automatic garage door. I didn't know if he was more excited over the computer data not being lost, or if he was as baffled as I was over my cooperation. Whichever, he seemed to recover fast.

"Are you staying with Lisa tonight?" Okay, so not a thank you for saving my hide, but at least a civil tone again.

"Yeah. And I'd like to go now, if you're through with me." Through bashing my skull into the ground that is.

"You can go."

I started toward my bedroom.

"Where are you going?" he yelled, stopping me.

"To get some clothes."

"Sorry, but I can't have you touching anything."

"Seriously, I can't even get a pair of pjs? You're overreacting."

"Let's not do this again, Paige. I'm tired and I have a long night ahead of me." He flapped out his hand. "Give me your cell phone."

"What? Why?"

He groaned. "Just give it to me."

I dug in my purse and pulled it out.

"I'm gonna program my cell number in here." He started clicking numbers. "Call me in the morning to see if I'm finished with your place and you can move back in."

"I know how to program my own cell," I mumbled then crossed my arms and tapped my foot.

He kept punching numbers, I kept tapping. Finally, he thrust it back at me. "I've put my number as speed dial one. With all your recent emergencies, it'll be easier to just press one number." His tone had turned jovial, but I didn't care.

I stormed to the door, past Eddie, through his grimy powder and down the steps. I was mad. Good and mad. Not at Mitch this time, but at myself again. As Lisa just said, I had to learn to think before doing things. It might have felt good to slap that flash drive into Mitch's hand, but I had given over vital information that could have helped me solve
Gary
's murder before I made a copy for myself. How could I have acted so hastily? Now I would never know what was on that computer.

Lamenting my decision to give Mitch the flash drive, I pushed open the wreath-decorated door to Lisa's house. The tantalizing scent of freshly baked cookies sent hunger pains digging into my stomach. Eager to find the cookies, I stepped in and closed the door. Lisa was curled under a large afghan on one of the cream sofas. Her hair was tousled, her eyes heavy and a yawn slid free as she sat up.

She stretched and offered a weak smile. "Lock the door, will you?"

I turned the deadbolt and the lock on the knob, hoping it would also keep me from thinking about all the bad that had happened tonight. Both Adam's rejection and the burglary of my apartment. On the entryway rug, I kicked off the heels my feet were screaming for release from and strolled across the plush carpet, my pinkies sinking in with every step.

"Man," I said. "I don't know how women wear dress shoes all the time. I can barely walk."

"Enough about your feet." Lisa patted the cushion next to her. "I want to hear how you're doing."

"Fine," I said and plopped next to her, catapulting her cushion up.

She slapped at my knee. "No, you're not fine. I'm not interested in a pat answer like that. I really want to know how you're doing."

"With the breakin, fine. With the break-up, not so good." I spotted gooey chocolate chip cookies piled in a container sitting on the table.

"How can you be so relaxed about someone breaking into your apartment?"

I slid foreword and snatched a cookie. "Because they were after
Gary
's laptop and they took it. So they won't be coming back."

"Okay, I know I've been busy today, and we haven't talked, but back up and tell me about the laptop."

I chomped a huge bite of the chocolate yumminess. "Umm. You shouldn't have made these just for me."

"I didn't. I promised them to the girls if they were good at the dentist. I mixed the dough and the sitter baked them with the girls."

"On second thought." I pulled the cookie out of my mouth and laughed.

"The laptop, Paige. Stick to the laptop."

I explained all the bizarre events that occurred today. I included Daisy's lie about knowing Gary, Barney Rubble, my interview with Nathan, Uma and Olivia, the whole buggy mess and ended with Mitch accusing Karen of killing
Gary
.

She sat back. "Wow! You've been busy today. You don't think Karen is guilty, do you?"

"Not really but I have to admit some things look suspicious. I haven't been married so I guess I'm no judge, but it seems to me either they had a really bad marriage or she knows things and she's not willing to admit they're true."

"You hear on the news all the time about marriages where the husband keeps secrets. Most of the time they make the news because one of them has killed the other one."

I grabbed another cookie. "You think Karen killed
Gary
?"

"Absolutely not. I don't know her all that well, but her grief is genuine."

"I suppose she could have killed him and still be grieving."

Lisa shook her head. "Not like this. I wouldn't spend any time thinking she's guilty. And speaking of Karen, we got a call from the church phone tree.
Gary
's funeral is scheduled for Thursday at eleven."

I knew this was coming, but the news hit me like a sucker punch to the gut. "I'll talk to Roger about taking the morning off from the show. I'm sure he'll be fine with that."

Lisa studied my face. "What's wrong?"

I shrugged. "I just hoped I'd have found
Gary
's killer before the funeral. But I'm no where near zeroing in on the creep who killed him."