Page 16 of Fluffed and Folded

This time when he woke and sat up, alarmed because he’d heard a noise, Darby stood beside his bed, quietly staring at him.

“Sorry, did I startle you?” she asked, voice soft and lilting.

“No, I can’t tell you how often people break in to stand beside my bed while I sleep. It’s almost boring at this point,” he said, trying hard to wake up and orient his brain around the current scenario. She smiled slightly, easing some of his anxiety that shemight be there to kill him. A quick check of her hands showed them to be weapon-free, and that was another relief.

“I needed to talk to you,” she said.

“You certainly chose the most obvious method,” he noted. “Wouldn’t want to approach during daylight hours when I’m lucid and wearing more than my underpants.”

“Do you always wake up like this?” she asked.

“Terrified?” he returned.

“Amusing.”

“Ah, yes. Humor is my coping mechanism, especially for burglary,” he said.

“Technically I haven’t stolen anything,” she said.

“Is that an unspoken ‘yet’ I hear?” he asked.

“What would I steal? Your shabby Ikea repertoire?” She made a derisive motion around his apartment, lip curled in distaste.

“Did you actually break in and wake me up to insult me?” he asked.

She sighed. “No, sorry. Do you mind if I sit?” She didn’t wait for an answer before she sank to the edge of his bed, as if she couldn’t bear her own weight anymore.

“No, please. Can I get you a soft drink, some oysters on the half shell, maybe? Because if there is any other way I can make you feel at home in this scenario, please let me know. I live to serve.”

“You’re grumpy,” she accused.

He swiped a hand over his face and once again tried to make his brain engage. “I don’t know what you are, so I guess I should listen for an explanation.”

“Well,” she began slowly, eyes scanning the dark interior. “It’s been kind of a weird day, you know?”

“Weird, you say? How so?” He reached for the t-shirt beside the bed and slipped it on, feeling slightly more comfortable nowthat his chest was no longer exposed. Not that she had given it, or him, a second look.

“I guess I get used to my peaceful little world here, and then to have that interrupted…” She had been staring into space, and she jumped, as if newly aware of his presence. “I realize how that sounds, like it’s all about me, but that’s not what I meant.”

“It was shocking to have the police here, I get that,” Eli said.

Darby gave him a little smile of shared understanding. “You didn’t tell them about me.”

“What could I have said? That I found you sorting my cupboards in the middle of the night? I think they have bigger things going on right now.”

“That’s the thing, though. I’m not sure they do.”

He cocked his head at her, trying do understand her pensive expression. “What do you mean?”

She took a breath and gripped his comforter in both hands. “The thing about Asher is…”

“Yes?” he prompted, when she seemed to be having trouble continuing.

She took another breath and huffed it out, then looked him in the eye and forged ahead. “I think maybe I killed him.”

CHAPTER 11

Eli never imagined a scenario where he would see Tristan’s office in person. He stepped into it now, trying to reconcile it with his image of what he thought a private investigator/security person should look like. They had no secretary, so after scanning the outer office a while, he stepped to Tristan’s door and knocked.

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