Page 30 of Shattered Dreams

“Good. Then you can keep me company tonight. I’m stalking the divorcée.”

“Oh, yes, please.” Sitting in the car with Pop keeping an eye on a woman who may or may not be cheating on her soon-to-be ex-husband sounds like a thrill a minute, but it’s also a small sliver of normalcy that I desperately need right now.

Pop laughs. “You spoke to Zane already this morning? Busy guy.”

“He and Stella are staying at the Crowne and he texted and asked if I would swing by. I told him about the watch, and he said those things are registered upon purchase.”

“I wasn’t married to your mother for nothing. I already tracked him down. I had to pull out every professional card I had, but I finally managed to get a name.” Pop twists and slides a piece of paper off the fax machine’s tray.

Quickly, I skim the information. “Dr. Stephen Mallory? I’ve heard that name before.”

“Me, too.”

Pop turns the computer monitor and brings up the Engagements section of the digital edition of theKing’s Crossing Chronicle.The notice is two years old, but right there in black and white the clip says:

Jerricka Lynne Solis and Stephen Quincy Mallory would like to announce their engagement. Proud parents are Bernardand Nancy Solis and Thomas and Crystal Mallory. A spring wedding is planned.

“Did they get married?”

“I looked for a wedding announcement, but I couldn’t find one. Doesn’t mean they didn’t get hitched, though.” Pop turns the monitor back around.

“No, but if you couldn’t find a write-up, it probably didn’t happen. People like that need attention for every little thing they do.”

He scratches his chin and says, “I wonder what went wrong.”

“Hell if I know, and I’m not too keen to find out.”

“Might have to if it will help solve this case. I don’t like he was engaged to a woman who happens to be connected to two of those dead girls. And why was his watch at a homicide scene?”

“I don’t know, but after Zarah leaves, we can dig around. She’s flying out to LA the day after tomorrow, and I’ll relax a little when she’s not in the state.” I switch gears. “I talked to Mom this morning. She’s going to help me go through Max’s apartment this weekend.”

Pop laughs. “Picked up your phone when she called.”

“Yeah. She chewed me out for not telling her about the truck.”

“She’ll get over it.”

“She asked about you, too.”

“What about me?”

“If you’re seeing someone.”

He frowns. “Why would she care?”

“That’s what I thought.”

Pop doesn’t confirm or deny.

Huh.

I’m not as interested as my mother, and I leave him alone.

Our conversation fades off and Pop and I fall into a companionable silence. We’ve worked together for years, and it’snot often we’re not on the same page. He looks up information about the divorcée we’re going to follow for the next few days and says Ross called in a new case if we wanted to snoop around and see what we could find. Stella’s check padded my account pretty well, but new business is always welcome and Pop and I hit the streets. It’s cold, and no one’s in the mood to talk. If only we could find a snitch as easy to bribe as the cops on the force.

I try to puzzle out how Mallory’s watch ended up at a homicide scene, what happened between him and Jerricka Solis, and if it means anything. It has to, but I don’t know what.

Pop and I finish pounding the pavement and I dawdle, warming up in the office before heading over to the penthouse. I want to see Zarah, but I’m afraid of what I’ll find. I saved her last night, and I’m not going to restart our relationship if it’s based on a foundation of gratitude. I think back to what she said when I rolled out of bed, and no, we’re not okay.

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