Page 61 of Break Away
“I have to pee.” Amaya gave Zoey an expectantlook.
“Do you need me to go with you?”
Emma demonstrated super-sharp mom hearingbecause she rose from her spot farther down the table to take herdaughter by the hand. “She’s pretty good but we don’t want to riskan accident. Come on, angel.”
With the little girl gone, Zoey fiddled withher fork. She hadn’t eaten much.
“Hey, you okay?”
She glanced at him, then away, and Levi couldhave sworn there was a gleam of tears in her eyes. Then she pushedup from the table, gathered up her plate and cup, and rushed intothe house. Levi was about to go after her when Brad also got upfrom the table and gave a head jerk to his brother.
Levi glanced into the house, then followedBrad off the deck and down the slope that ended at the lakeshore.Levi turned to his brother. “What’s going on?”
“Owner of the self-storage in Bishop camethrough with the list of people they’re leasing units to.”
“Let me guess, Paul Clauson is on thatlist.”
“You’d be guessing right. I’m working on awarrant, but the judge doesn’t like to be bothered on the weekend.I’ll call to give him a push, but he’s got an ego I’ll have todance around.”
Levi shook his head. “Helping to put a badguy behind bars isn’t enough of an incentive to get him off hisass?”
“Hasn’t been in all the years I’ve known him,and I’ve known him for a few. He’ll use a power play at everyopportunity. Regardless, we’ll have it by Monday at thelatest.”
Levi nodded. “I’ve got another angle. Youknow Charissa Winslow?”
“Yeah. She’s a clerk over in the cityservices office.”
“How would you describe her?”
Brad raised an eyebrow but went along withLevi’s questioning. “A strange woman. Way too thin. I’ve wonderedif she’s anorexic. Doesn’t look healthy. She was at the gametoday.”
“Did you notice the jersey she was wearing?”When Brad shook his head, Levi continued. “It was the Guns jersey,but she’d printed ‘Gallagher’ on the back. And she made a big dealwhenever I made a play or got a hit.”
“Think she has a thing for you?”
“If she does, it’s an unhealthy thing. I raninto her once at a gym I belonged to in Oakland. It seemed odd atthe time that she’d be there. And she always seems to be whereverwe are. It could have been her last week watching us at Mom’s fromthe other side of the arroyo. Could be she’s targeting Zoey becauseshe’s jealous of our relationship.”
He told Brad about the word scrawled inlipstick on Zoey’s car. “We saw her before the game. She lookedoff, maybe on something. She made a comment about Zoey and mearriving together and was wearing lipstick about that color. Addthe use of the word ‘slut’ on the car and the LookBook post, andthere’s a pattern.”
Brad bent his head in thought, then metLevi’s gaze. “I’m not saying you’re wrong, but it’s allcircumstantial. Get me more so we have a basis for a searchwarrant.”
***
Levi arrived home to find Zoey’s cottagedark. They’d driven to Brad’s separately at Zoey’s request. She’dtold him she needed more time to put together her pasta salad. Nowhe thought that was a bullshit ploy to keep them apart.
Levi and Brad had made a quick trip to thepolice station to do a background check on Charissa Winslow. Theyhadn’t found much other than that her mother had died two yearsprevious and that she lived in the house her mother had owned.
Zoey had left the party before he’d returned,and now he didn’t know where she was. He could text her, but thatwould make him look like he was checking up on her, and since hedidn’t know what was going on in her head, he didn’t want her toget the wrong idea.
He prowled around the cabin, feeling out ofsorts. He hated brooding. He decided that since he hadn’t done ityet, he’d hang his big-ass TV and hook it up to the cable andInternet. He killed a half hour doing that. Once done, he turned onESPN, got a beer from the fridge, and went to the window for themillionth time since he’d gotten home. He still wasn’t used to howdark it got at night, how it made him feel like he was alone in theuniverse. Which sounded pathetic.
He settled onto the couch and took anotherpull on his beer, trying to focus on the game on the screen. Didn’tlook like the Giants were playing any better than they had the yearbefore. The newly installed security light at the front of hishouse came on, followed by a knock. He set down the bottle and usedthe remote to mute the TV. He opened the door and felt his heartland at his feet with a thud.
There she was. Spiraling locks of hair,beautiful brown eyes, and an expression on her face that made himwant to grin and kiss her at the same time. He rubbed a heel overhis chest to ease the ache.
“Hey.”
“I was doing fine, you know.”
