The Fast Аnd Тhe Furriest

Chapter 15

Josh called about an hour later. “I’ve already received the initial police reports in Mac’s case.”

“That’s fast,” I said. “Detective Barnes is very efficient.”

“I’m hoping it means the prosecutor is overestimating his case,” Josh said. “I’m e-mailing you a list of the items that were found with Erin Fellowes’s body. I don’t see anything significant but maybe you will.”

I turned on my computer and printed the list while Elvis watched curiously from the top of the desk. Then I sat next to him and looked over the list. The cat craned his neck over my arm as though he were reading the items as well.

“So what do you think?” I asked him.

“Mrr,” he said, wrinkling his nose at me.

I reached over to scratch behind his left ear. “Yeah, nothing sticks out for me, either.” I scanned the short list of items again. “Erin Fellowes had a very tidy purse.”

Elvis turned and looked over his shoulder in the direction of the drawer where I kept my purse. He licked his whiskers. “Yes, I did notice that she wasn’t carrying any cat treats.”

Since we’d established that important fact, Elvis seemed to decide I didn’t need his help anymore. He jumped down from the desk and disappeared into the hallway.

I looked again at the page I’d printed. The little purse Erin had been carrying held the same kinds of things that were in my purse—her wallet, lip gloss, a comb. Her phone and keys seemed to have been in her pocket and there was also the small, carved wooden bird I noticed her turning over in her fingers. Was it a good luck charm? I wondered, or had it come from one of the small shops on the waterfront? Jess had a similar tiny painted bear on her worktable that she claimed was her good luck charm. I knew she’d bought it somewhere along the waterfront. Had Erin been looking for Mac in the shops down there before she’d driven up here?

I didn’t have any more insight than Josh did. I headed downstairs to see what Mr. P. had to say.

He looked up and smiled when I reached around the open sunporch door and knocked on the wall.

“Josh sent me this list of the personal effects they found with Erin Fellowes,” I said. “Neither he nor I see anything significant, anything that she might have wanted to show to Mac.” I pointed to the tiny bird listed underneath Erin’s phone. “I’m thinking she might have been looking for Mac or even trying to locate the shop down on the waterfront before she came here.”

Mr. P. looked up at me. He tapped the paper with one finger. “Maybe there was something on Erin’s phone.”

“The police would have gone through the phone by now. Wouldn’t they have followed up on anything suspicious?”

He gave a slight shrug. “Not if they didn’t know what they were looking at.”

“We should talk to Josh about the phone. Maybe there was a call log in those police reports he already received.”

“It’s worth asking,” Mr. P. said.

I had a quick supper of chef’s salad with extra croutons and French dressing I’d made myself. My cooking lessons with Rose had been sporadic lately but I was looking forward to learning more. I liked being able to make something other than an egg sandwich and have it turn out.

The Black Bear was crowded. I stepped inside and looked around for Jess and Nick. I knew I didn’t have to worry about finding a table if they hadn’t arrived yet. Sam always kept one for us. He was standing by the stage and when he saw me he raised a hand and headed over.

“Hey, kiddo,” he said, putting an arm around my shoulders and kissing the side of my head. “I’m glad I caught you. Can you stop in tomorrow sometime? I found some old photos of your dad. I thought you might want them. You’re in a couple of them.”

Because my father had died when I was very small there weren’t very many photographs of us together. “I’d love to have them,” I said.

Sam smiled. “I’ll be here all day tomorrow.” He gave me another squeeze. “I gotta go round up the guys.”

He headed for his office and I looked around for Nick and Jess again, spotting them at a table near the stage. Nick wasn’t wearing a bowl of salsa for a hat so I took that as a good sign.

“Am I late?” I asked as I got to the table.

Jess shook her head. “No, I was early. Nick has been keeping me company.” She smiled at him. “And keeping me in chips and salsa.” She dipped a chip and raised it in a toast to him before she ate it.

Nick got to his feet and pulled out the chair between them for me. “I’ve been picking Jess’s brain about getting that old quilt of Mom’s repaired. You know the one that was my grandmother’s?”

I nodded as I sat down. “I know the one you mean.”

“I told Nick I could take a look at it but I wouldn’t want to do anything with the quilt if Charlotte was uncomfortable with the idea,” Jess said.

“I get that,” Nick said. He looked at me. “Coffee or a beer?”

“Beer,” I said. “I’m not driving.”

He shot Jess a look. “Are you ready for another one? I’m buying.”

“I’d love another,” she said, picking up the empty beer glass at her place. “But I’ll get this.” She gestured from me to her with a finger.

Nick caught the eye of one of the waitstaff, pointed at Jess’s empty and held up two fingers. “Next round is yours,” he told Jess as he sat back down.

“Okay, cut the crap,” I said.

They both looked at me.

“Have the two of you been replaced with pod people? What’s with all the artificial make-niceness between you two?”

Jess looked at Nick. “I told you she’d never buy this.”

I glared at both of them, wishing I wore glasses so I could stare over the top at them.

“Don’t give me that look,” Nick said. “I just asked Jess if we could try a little harder to be nice to each other tonight. I know you hate it when we get into it over something.”

“I do hate it,” I admitted, “but you went a little too far in the other direction.”

Jess shifted sideways in her seat and leaned back so she could talk to Nick behind my back. “Didn’t I say this was a dumb idea?” she stage-whispered.

He made a face at her. Then he looked at me and smiled. “I guess if I can’t get on your good side by being nice to this one”—he jerked a thumb in Jess’s direction—“I’ll just have to use my natural charm and charisma.”

I smiled back. “Okay,” I said. “How exactly is that going to work?”

“Well, first I get a little closer.” He put his arm across the back of my chair and leaned toward me a little. “This lets you inhale my male pheromones.” He waved his free hand in the air in front of his chest. “You’re getting the subliminal message that I’m a strong, sexy man.”

Behind me Jess made a noise that was part snort, part cat hacking up a fur ball. When I turned to look at her she wisely turned it into a cough.

I focused my attention back on Nick. I was humoring him, but it was also true that he could be charming and charismatic—when we weren’t arguing about something. And while I didn’t seem to be affected by his male pheromones, he did smell like Hugo, the same aftershave he’d been wearing when I French-kissed him at fifteen.

“Is this where I’m supposed to ask if you’ve been working out a lot more?” I reached over and squeezed his upper arm. And found more solid muscle than I was expecting. “Hey!” I said. “You have been working out more.”

“Softball season,” he said.

I ran my hand over his arm. “Very nice,” I said. This close the scent of his aftershave was heady and for a moment I felt like I was fifteen again.

The waiter came over then with our beer and I dropped my hand and straightened up in my chair. “Umm, good to know you’re staying in shape,” I said.

Nick cleared his throat. “Yeah, uh, well, I try.”

I reached for my glass and from the corner of my eye saw Jess give me a You’re so lame look. I had time for one mouthful of beer and two chips before Sam and the boys started making their way to the stage.

Close to an hour later Sam ended the set with a raucous version of Bob Seger’s “Old Time Rock & Roll”—one of my favorite songs. I dropped into my seat and grinned at Jess. There was no way we wouldn’t have been up and dancing to that one.

Nick’s cell buzzed. He pulled it out of his pocket, looked at the screen and shook his head as he got up and moved away from the table. Whoever the conversation was with it was short. “I gotta go,” he said. He smiled. “Have a good night, ladies.”

“You, too, Nick,” I said. “Thank you for the beer.”

“You’re welcome,” he said. Then he was gone.

“What kind of a thank-you was that?” Jess asked. I knew that teasing gleam in her eye.

“What was wrong with it?” I asked.

“Why don’t you just grab him and lay a big wet one on him?”

I punched her lightly on the shoulder. “Who are you? Liam? Things aren’t like that with us.”

“How exactly are things with you two?” she asked, scooping up what seemed like a quarter of the bowl of salsa with another chip. “Are you just friends, pseudo brother and sister? Or something else?”

“I don’t know,” I said. “It’s . . . complicated.”

“You always say that,” Jess replied. Her expression had changed from teasing to serious. “The two of you need to figure it out because it’s giving the rest of us a headache.”