Twenty-nine

EARLY the following morning, Nikki checked the news and found out that the airports were still closed on the East Coast. The snowstorm was causing major mayhem all over the country, and after talking to Derek last night, there was nothing she wanted more than for him to come home.

She grabbed the notebook she was going to use to write down her murder theories and notes, and then the phone rang. Maybe it was Derek and the news was wrong. Instead, it was Robinson.

“Hey, I was just calling to thank you for last night. I know it was kind of weird under the circumstances and I’m not sure everyone there was exactly pleased to see me. I got the feeling that I threw a few people off their game. But after the Sansis left, when it was just you and Alyssa, it was cool. I can’t remember having such a good time in ages.”

Nikki looked out the family room window and watched a few ducks fly in on the pond. She grabbed her sweater off the back end of one of the chairs and wrapped it around her. The early spring morning had a chill to it. She wondered where Robinson was sitting or what he was looking at. Was he already at work? “Did you like Alyssa?”

He laughed a little. “Don’t think that I don’t know what you’re up to. I know you’re playing Cupid, but I can’t say that I’m unhappy about it. Your friend Alyssa is cool and, yeah, I like her. A lot.”

“She’s a good lady and she’s been through some hard times.” Nikki watched the ducks fly off and went back into the kitchen, where she started doing dishes from the night before. She’d had a few left over to clean and hated coming home at the end of the day to dirty dishes.

“I get the feeling you’re now going to give me the don’t-hurt-my-friend speech.”

“Sounds like you’ve heard it before.”

“What’s all that noise you’re making?”

“I’m doing the dishes and don’t try to change the subject. Yes, I am playing Cupid, but I will still give you that warning. I don’t know you all that well, Robinson, but you’ve got some dimensions about you that I think are really great. Still I’ll wager there’s a bad boy lurking in there somewhere.”

“You and your theories. I’m a cop.”

“You know what I mean by bad ‘boy.’”

“I suppose so. But hey, I like your friend and I don’t want to hurt anyone.”

There was a softness in his voice that she’d never heard before. The sincerity rang true and she hoped that her matchmaking would pay off for all involved.

“You were good with her little boy, too.” Nikki finished loading the dishwasher and walked over to the cupboard to get out Ollie’s food. He heard her opening the can and moved at a rate much faster than his usual drag-along self.

“I like kids. Actually I love kids.”

“Robinson?”

“Yeah, Sands?”

“You okay?” She dumped the food in the bowl, and tossed the can. Robinson didn’t sound right.

“I’m fine. I…” He let out a long sigh. “I had a little boy once. His name was Neil. After Shaq. You know, Shaquille O’Neil? I’m a fan.”

“Oh.” Nikki didn’t know what to say. She’d had no idea and she had a feeling Robinson was verging into territory she wasn’t sure she wanted to enter with him.

“I lost him when he was about the same age that Petie is. I lost him and his mom. Five years ago. To a car accident.”

“I’m so sorry. I don’t know what to say.”

“You don’t need to say anything, Sands. I don’t talk about it much, but after playing with Petie last night and meeting his mom, I don’t know what happened, but like I said, I haven’t felt that good in a long time. It reminded me of what living is really all about. All this other stuff don’t mean so much without a real life. I guess I have my work, and I do a decent job, but that’s about all I have now. And, you know, I’m starting to remember that isn’t what really counts. It’s family. And it’s friends. You know it is. That’s why you’re who you are and why you do the things you do for people. You get that.”

“Thanks. That means a lot.” She’d never thought about it, but she supposed she did get that-sort of. She didn’t have a close family, other than Aunt Cara. But she had her friends and they were as much a family as any could be. And of course, she had Derek.

“I guess that’s it then. I wanted to say thanks and I’ll be by sometime this morning. I want to speak with Juan Gonzales and Ruben Pearlman again before they leave about their dealings with Yamimoto. I’d also like to talk with the nephew some more.”

“Okay. Good. I have something for you that I forgot to give you last night.” She hated to shift gears on him after what he’d unloaded on her, but she knew he’d already shifted. He didn’t want to talk about the tragedy in his past any further. She told him about the note she’d dug out of the garbage and her idea that maybe it was the one Iwao had thought Juan had sent to him. She also filled him in on what she’d learned about Kurt and Jen’s possible motives.

“Nice work. I’ve already got a jump-start on Jen Yamimoto. I want to be sure he flew in from Japan. When I called the number for him there to tell him what had happened to his uncle, I got a voicemail message in Japanese. I left a message to have him call, but I didn’t tell him about his uncle, so he must have heard it elsewhere. I’ll come on by and get that note from you in a bit. I think Jen’s probably clean, though. I’m looking deep into this Gonzales and Pearlman angle. Those dudes lost a lot of money with Yamimoto. Money can be a great motive to kill.”

“Right. I don’t know about Ruben Pearlman, but as you’ve reminded me before, that’s why you’re the real detective. I’m sitting down to write out some of my impressions and some of the things I’ve learned over the last few days.”

“You’re good, Sands. On all levels, you’re good.”

She hung up the phone with a different feeling about Robinson. She’d liked him and his quirkiness before learning of his wife and child, but now she thought she might just understand this guarded detective.

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