Page 49 of Hold Your Breath
“That’s what I thought. Lawrence had a theory that the murderer intentionally left this item so no one would risk messing with the MC, but it doesn’t seem to fit. Lawrence really wants the killer to be in the MC, though, since he has his hate on for Ian Walsh.”
“You caught that?”
“Hard not to.” Although he couldn’t see her, she rolled her eyes. “He came right out and said Ian shouldn’t be a firefighter since he’s also in a, and I quote, ‘gang of criminals.’ How do Rob and Chris stand working with this guy?”
“I don’t know,” Callum said. “But ever since the bison-versus-squad-car incident, Lawrence has had it out for Walsh. I think it’s a combination of embarrassment and the fact that Ian makes me look tactful in comparison.”
She snorted. “I almost feel bad for Lawrence, except that spending time with him just wiped away any possibility of sympathy for the man.”
After a grunt of agreement, Callum abruptly changed the subject. “Did you get your report done on the incident last night?”
“Almost.” Finishing the report was next on her list after the bathroom was cleaned. “Give me a half hour unless I get an unexpected rush of customers, and I’ll email it to you.”
“You there alone?” he asked sharply.
Lou made a face. She’d been hoping to delay this conversation. “Right at this moment?”
He didn’t respond to her evasion but just waited until she spoke again.
“I’ll talk to Ivy.” She sighed. “She was just in such a cranky mood when she was in here earlier, so I didn’t want to ask her to put another person on this shift to close with me.”
“When will you talk to Ivy?”
“Soon.” At his silence, she sighed again. “Tomorrow.”
“Fine. See you tonight.”
“About that…” she started, but then realized he’d already ended the call. With a shrug, she pocketed her phone and headed for the bathroom to finish her cleaning. She’d worry about their ever-increasing intimacy—and how much she was starting to like it—later.
After pulling on her rubber gloves, she started scrubbing the sink, humming a little in an effort to distract herself from thinking about Callum. She turned on the hot-water tap and heard the clang of sleigh bells.
“Frick,” she muttered, stripping off her gloves again. The bathroom was never going to get cleaned. She washed her hands and left the restroom.
“Sorry for the wait.” She forced a cheery note into her voice as she headed for the front desk. “What can I get…” Confused, she looked around the shop. No one was there. Frowning, she looked out the window, but the parking lot and street were empty. In fact, there were no people in sight, at all. She’d sworn she’d heard the bells, but she must’ve imagined it.
“All of this stalker stuff is driving me crazy.” After a final puzzled glance around the empty shop, she returned to the bathroom.
* * *
Callum showed up a half hour before closing.
“You know,” she said, reaching for his travel mug, “your phone etiquette could use some work.”
Arching an eyebrow, he relinquished his cup. “Decaf, please, or I won’t sleep.”
“Normally,” she continued, filling his mug, “one says ‘good-bye’ before ending a call.”
“Not if one is irritated that his…ah, the other one will be alone at work again, after repeatedly being asked to have someone there with her.” He accepted his coffee. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.” She changed topics. “Any thoughts about the whole thing I mentioned earlier? Before you hung up on me?”
“I didn’t ‘hang up’ on you. ‘See you later’ is an acceptable way of ending a call.” He took a sip of coffee and shot a glance at a couple sitting at a corner table, who were trying to act as if they weren’t avidly listening to his and Lou’s conversation. “And yes. We’ll discuss that when we get home.”
“Which home?” She started taking the pastries out of the case in her usual preclosing ritual.
“Either works for me.” Eyeing her over the top of his mug, he continued, “Just thought you preferred to stay at yours.”
“I do. At least, I did.” Grabbing a plate, she plunked a cranberry white chocolate scone onto it and set it in front of Callum. “Eat this. It’s going to be another forty-five minutes before we get out of here. Wait.” She snatched the plate back as he reached for it and popped the scone in the microwave. At the gentleding, she pulled the scone out and put the plate in front of Callum again. “Now eat it. It’s better warm. Thinking about having some crazy dude wandering around my house while we sleep is creeping me out. I’m not sure whether it’s better to be there or not while he’s doing his stalker thing. And that just makes me mad, since my cabin’s been my sanctuary since I ran away from Connecticut.”
