She looked over at him. Stoop was a teenage girl’s wet dream. He looked like a movie star from the ’60s, with the lock of hair falling on his forehead and a smile that could melt hearts. But behind all that was the clear-cut, claw-like gaze that looked at everything analytically, rarely seeing flesh and blood.
“Well,” she muttered, “that will set a nice tone for our first meeting.” She knew the sarcasm was wasted on him, but she turned and walked out without a word anyway.
*
Simon should haveexpected it, but somehow, he hadn’t really thought it through. He groaned as he headed out with the laptop and the black book. He gave Louisa a gentle kiss on the cheek. “I need to take this down to the police.”
She nodded slowly. “You haven’t explained everything.”
“There’s no point yet,” he said, “because I don’t know if it has anything to do with his death or not.”
“I would give anything to find out that it wasn’t intentional.”
He gave her hug and said, “Leave it to me. I’ll talk to you as soon as I know something, but I do have to take all this down to the police station.”
She nodded and held the door open for him as he walked out. “I really wish you’d tell me something though.”
He shook his head. “Not yet,” he said. “No point in upsetting you, however it comes out, until we have some facts.” And, with that, he left her. He hopped into his vehicle, headed straight toward the police station, and pulled into the parking lot around back. As he hopped out with both items in his hands, he headed toward the reception area. There he asked to speak to Kate. At the use of her first name, the officer’s eyebrows shot right up.
In a smooth move he said, “Detective Kate Morgan requested these.” He held up the laptop and the book.
At that, the woman nodded and sent a message through. He waited and waited, and, when Kate didn’t show up, he pulled out his phone and texted her himself. He got a message back not too long later.
Coming.
“Good,” he said to himself. “Obviously that works better than anything else.” At least he hoped so. Though he still had to wait another ten minutes.
When she came through the connecting door, she apologized. “Sorry, I was in a meeting.”
He understood that, as he had plenty of those himself.
She took one look at the laptop and the black book, then reached for the black book first and checked the pages and nodded. “Good,” she said. “I’ll log this in and get it to Forensics.” She accepted the laptop and turned away.
“Do I get aHi, Simon. Nice to have coffee. Thanks very much for bringing this. Anything at all?”
She stopped and glared at him.
He waved at her and said, “No, no, you’re welcome. It’s all good.” And, with that, he turned and walked toward the door. But he was chuckling, and he heard her sigh from down the hall, before he heard her call out.
“Thank you!”
He caught the officer at the front desk, looking at him speculatively, and, with laughter in his gaze, he kept on walking. He wondered just what kind of relationship Kate had with the rest of the department. But then she was still fairly new, so maybe they hadn’t seen her with anybody with whom she had a personal relationship with. And, considering what she’d said to him, that made the most sense. She also hadn’t particularly wanted anybody to know that she might be involved with someone.
He winced at that because it was probably just a little too late for that. This exchange would stir the pot of questions and gossip, and he hadn’t done anything to mitigate that. He sent her a quick text.Sorry, but it looks like the front desk is a little too interested in us.
Whatever.Kate added a frowning face emoji, apparently just tossing it off.
He grinned at that. He wasn’t even sure what the hell they had, but he was willing to take the trip to see where it went. As he headed to his own car once again, he stopped, searching for that little deli somewhere around here. He reoriented himself and walked across the street to pick himself up some food. As he stood in line, his phone rang.
“Where are you?”
He said, “At the deli.”
“Shit,” she said, “I’m on my way.”
Surprised at that but not exactly sure what was going on, he thought about it as he got up to the counter, and, when it was time to place an order, he placed it for two specials. The employee didn’t say anything and served up everything he needed. He paid the bill and took it over to one of the small empty tables at the back. When Kate dashed in, he called her over. She sat down in the opposite chair, with a look of complete exhaustion on her face.
“You okay?” he asked in concern.