Page 93 of Reinventing Cato
Cato melted against him for a moment, then drew back. “I guess you flashed your warrant card again. Does the guy on the door think I’m wanted by the police?”
“Youare. Well, by one particular policeman. I just wanted to wish you luck.”
“Thank you. Would you get me a lemonade at the bar when it’s the interval and I’ll introduce you to my family? Then I’ll run away.”
Vigge smiled. “They can’t be as bad as mine.”
“They have their moments.”
“Be careful what you say in front of them. Better not tell them I’m a detective.”
“Okay. I forgot to tell you. Louise came to see me on Sunday afternoon.”
“Pushing you to be her baby’s daddy?”
Cato nodded. “I told her no, but her last words to me wereYou’ll regret it.”
“Hmm. Well, if she does anything to hurt you, she’s definitely not going to get what she wants, is she?”
“She can be vindictive. Once, when she came back to find Max and I were in bed together, she chucked coffee on his laptop. She said it was an accident, but it wasn’t.”
“She remains on the list.”
“Can I come and stay tomorrow night? I have the interview with NASA on Friday and I’d rather not do it from the house. I could stay Friday too, work remotely.”
“Okay. You’re still having the party the following week?”
“Yes.”
“Have you asked any of your friends?”
“Not yet.”
“Might be an idea. Shake the tree a little.”
“Hmm.” Cato gave him another quick kiss. “See you later.”
~~~
Vigge had his pick of seats in the auditorium. There were only a handful of people in there. He chose a seat towards the back on the left, which would give him the best view of those coming in and a great view of Cato. Every time he saw him, he felt… What? Maybe the word waspromise.The promise of something more, of a future, of happiness, of his life being different.
No pressure then.He smiled. He was nervous about meeting Cato’s parents. He’d never anticipated meeting any boyfriend’s parents. That seemed a huge step when he’d never even had a boyfriend before. A first boyfriend at 35 seemed…a bit pathetic.
Vigge wasgood at dealing with people. He was used to handling all sorts of situations. Emotional intelligence was essential in his job, being able to judge the best way to behave and speak. He’d had to tell people that someone they loved had been killed. He’d defused violent situations, comforted traumatised individuals, physically tackled belligerent criminals and drunken idiots. He’d been shot at. He could handle Cato’s family.
Oh God, I hope I can.
After ringing Cato yesterday, he’d logged into Athena to see what Derek had entered into the system about Cato’s interview. Cato had thought he’d been doing Vigge a favour by not involving him, but he was already involved. Derek hadn’t yet put in a request to the police in Surrey about the accident, so Vigge had time to tell him it had already been done. The DC knew better than to ask questions, but Vigge could see he had plenty of them. At least Derek was taking it seriously now he knew Vigge was interested. Not that he’d get any further with the accident than Vigge had.
While he was waiting for the concert to start, he watched those arriving. He was fairly certain he’d spotted Cato’s family. A man and woman in their late fifties, together with a tall dark-haired guy who had a distinct look of Cato about him, and a younger guy with bleached hair, a safety pin in his eyebrow and a lot of piercings in his ear. No doubt, the absolutely fabulous Jonty. Vigge smiled. It looked an odd pairing. The group sat in the row in front of him. Father, mother, Devan and Jonty. Vigge was directly behind the man he’d surmised was Devan.
“Devan!” Jonty whispered. “Am I allowed to talk now?”
“Yes.”
“Are you sure? Because it’s very quiet.”
“If you try and talk when you shouldn’t, I’ll tell you,” Devan said.
