4 Arch Enemy of Murder (7 page)

She bypassed her morning coffee in order to savor it after her run, walked onto the front porch, and ran solidly into Jason.

“Going somewhere?” he asked.

“Going for a run,” Lacy replied.

“I could go with you,” Jason volunteered.

“You’re wearing nice clothes.” In fact, he was wearing the same clothes he had worn the day before. Either he was sorely lacking in dress clothes, or he had pulled an all-nighter. Judging by the dark shadows under his eyes and the beard stubble on his cheeks, it was the latter.

“These clothes couldn’t possibly be hurt by any more punishment; believe me.”

Lacy pressed her palm to his cheek. “You’re exhausted.”

“I worked all night, and I haven’t been sleeping well anyway. I’ve spent so many years training my body to sleep during the day that now I’m having a hard time sleeping at night. I haven’t slept well since I slept with you.”

“What?” Jason squinched his eyes closed as Mr. Middleton stepped up behind them.

“That wasn’t what it sounded like, Grandpa. He meant actual sleep.”

Mr. Middleton didn’t comment as he passed them by on his way inside, but he did raise his two fingers to his eyes and point them at Jason to let him know he was being watched.

“Geez,” Jason breathed. “Does he wear moccasins? I swear his feet don’t make a sound when they move.”

“That explains where I get my natural grace and fluid movement,” Lacy said.

“If I contradict that statement, you’ll be mad. If I play along with the joke, you’ll be mad. Not sure where to go here,” Jason said.

“You’re so smart for someone so pretty.”

“I told you not to call me pretty,” Jason said.

“Then stop being pretty.”

“I’m way too tired to attempt logic on you, so I’ll change the subject instead. I stopped by to see how you’re doing after yesterday. How are you doing?”

“I’m fine. I have a feeling I missed the worst part. Did you figure out what happened?”

“Oh, yeah,” Jason said. “The giant hole in his chest was our first clue.”

“Giant hole?” Lacy repeated. “What does that have to do with a car accident?”

“It wasn’t a car accident. The guy was shot.”

She gasped. “Who was it?”

“No idea. The tags had been removed from the car and the VIN number scratched off. We’re attempting to salvage some fingerprints, but…” he cut off when he caught sight of her expression. She couldn’t help but imagine what condition the man’s fingers were in if they couldn’t get a print. “Anyway, unless and until that happens, we’re keeping our ears and eyes open for any missing persons reports.”

“You have your work cut out for you,” she said. She rested her hand on his chest and gave it a pat. Then, remembering Riley’s words about her lack of affectionate displays with Robert, she slid her arms about him, stepped forward, and replaced her hand with her head against his heart. He slipped his arms around her and rested his head on hers.

“I probably shouldn’t have told you any of that. Apparently lack of sleep creates loose lips.”

“I’ll keep that in mind. I happen to like it when your lips are loose.”

“That’s one of the five weirdest things you’ve ever said to me. Promise me I’m not going to read any of what I just said in the paper.”

“I’m not writing for the paper right now; I’ve been too busy.”

“Working girl,” he muttered. He sounded half asleep.

“Me and Melanie Griffith. I’m not going to see you much until this is over.”

“No.”

“And maybe not even then, given the way you’ve been avoiding me lately.”

“Lacy, we’re practically spooning standing up, so much so that I expect your grandfather to make an appearance any minute with a taser or pepper spray. I hardly call that avoidance.”

“You know what I mean. You’ve been withdrawn since we came back from New York.”

“Your choice,” he said, his voice growing terse.

“
Your
choice.”

“Tell me what’s changed to make things different,” he said.

She shook free from his embrace and took a step back, pressing herself against the bricks. “I don’t like ultimatums.”

“I don’t like feeling forced to issue them. Something had to change.”

“Like this? Is this what you wanted? Us barely speaking to each other?”

“Of course not,” he said. “You know what I wanted. You’re the holdout.”

“Everything was going fine. You’re the one who decided to change it,” she said.

“Maybe everything was going fine for you, but everything was most definitely not going fine for me. I don’t share.”

“So I can’t have friends?”

“That’s not what this is about, and you know it.”

“I don’t know anything anymore,” Lacy said.

“I didn’t come here to argue with you,” Jason said.

“You’re doing a bang-up job, nonetheless,” Lacy said.

They faced off, breathing hard and glaring. “I’m going, but this is not done. We’re going to talk more about it when this case is cleared.”

The mention of his case softened some of Lacy’s simmering anger. “Take care of you. Remember to eat.” She pressed her hand to his cheek again. He leaned into it as he answered.

“I will.”

“And get some sleep. Promise.”

“Promise,” he said. He kissed her hand and took a step away. “Ah, geez,” he mumbled before turning and pulling her close. “This changes nothing,” he said.

“It never does,” she said, and then he kissed her.

He let her go with an unintentional shove, as if he was already regretting giving in to the kiss. He turned and jogged to his car without another word.

Lacy checked her watch. She would have to hustle to make her run, but she still waited to start until Jason was completely out of sight. She was trying to win an argument, not drive him away forever—no need for him to see her attempt at exercise.

She had dug her old shoes out of the closet, so there was no more arch-related trauma during her run. She finished in less than an hour—a good time for her. After her shower and a quick breakfast of leftover cupcakes, Lacy and her grandparents went to church.

“Do you think she’s okay in there?” her grandmother asked with a worried glance at Riley’s room.

“Maybe she just needs some space for a while,” her grandfather suggested, although he, too, gave the door a worried glance. Lacy hoped Riley emerged from her funk soon. If not, it would be up to her to find out what was going on, and she really didn’t want to delve that deeply into her sister’s life for fear of what she might find.

They sat in the family pew together. Lucinda kept her companions supplied with peppermints from her purse, as she had for as long as Lacy could remember. She was probably the only person in the world who craved mints every time she heard “Amazing Grace.” Tosh’s sermon was predictably uplifting. He wasn’t the fire-and-brimstone sort of preacher. Instead he liked to focus on such topics as joy, love, peace, and goodness. Lacy’s grandmother’s group of friends tolerated these sermons as if they were sucking on lemons instead of candy. If Tosh didn’t throw in a sermon about eternal damnation soon, Lacy guessed the church board would begin to hear some complaints, if they hadn’t already.

After the sermon, Tosh gave her the signal, the one that meant he was free and wanted to spend the afternoon with her. Sundays were typically exhausting for him, so they spent it as they usually did—eating Chinese takeout while alternately napping or watching a movie on his couch.

Lacy left early to get ready for the date. There was still no sign of Riley, so Lacy knocked on her door. “Riley, Travis will be here in one hour.”

No answering sound came from inside. She should probably force the issue and make sure Riley was still on board with the plan, but there was a not-so-small part of her that hoped Riley was going to stand them up and welch on the agreement. If she did, then Lacy would be off the hook; she would have tried her best for Travis, and she wouldn’t owe Riley anything.

Five minutes before six, Lacy was putting the finishing touches on her makeup when her phone rang. It was Travis.

“Where are you?” she asked. Was he welching, too?

“On the front porch.”

He sounded odd, more than a little nervous, and strained. “Come in,” she said.

“Come out. I need to talk to you.”

Lacy gathered her purse and phone and went to meet him on the front porch. She had never seen him out of uniform, she realized, and it came as a shock not only to see him in civilian clothes, but to realize that he was very cute. He was no Jason, but still, he wasn’t a slouch in the looks department, either. “What’s the problem?” she asked. Her tone was gentle because he looked two seconds away from dropping into a dead faint.

“There’s something I didn’t tell you,” he said.

“What?”

“The reason I don’t date much, the reason I can’t be a road unit, well, it’s because my nervous system is hard-wired to my digestive system.”

“What does that mean?” Lacy said. From his color, she had a bad feeling she was about to find out.

“It means that every time I get really nervous, I…” He clapped his hand over his mouth, dodged to the side of the porch, and lost his lunch over the railing. “Sorry,” he said when he returned. He popped a breath mint and offered one to her.

She shook her head. “It’s okay. I’m pretty sure I read somewhere that hydrangeas need protein. How long have you had this problem?”

“As long as I remember. I threw up the first day of every school year, usually in the middle of the room. I was that kid that no teacher wanted. Eventually as I got older I learned how to make it to the bathroom on time. But I couldn’t play sports, give speeches—nothing.”

Lacy took his hands in hers. They were clammy and shaking. She gave them a squeeze. “It’s only Riley, Travis. She’s a girl, just like me, just like any other woman you know.”

“No, you don’t understand, Lacy. This is the girl I wrote to every day of high school. I kept all the letters in a secret box under my bed. She’s
the
one, the girl I picture when I think of my dream woman.”

“Would it help if I told you she used to write letters like that to John Goodman?” No one in the family had been able to figure out Riley’s obsession with the actor. Thankfully her odd crush died out before she entered high school.

Travis gave her a goofy grin. “That’s so cute.”

Lacy sighed. Clearly he was in the stage of puppy love where logic flew out the window. “What can I do? How can I help you?”

“Keep the conversation ball rolling. Don’t allow awkward pauses when I inevitably become tongue tied and lose my train of thought. On a scale of one to ten, when the anxiety in a room gets above a five, I, um, well, you know.” He jerked his head toward the unfortunate hydrangeas.

Apparently he didn’t realize that when she and Riley were in the same room together, the anxiety level hovered somewhere around twenty. “I’ll do my best,” she promised.

Tosh joined them then. He looked as fresh pressed as Travis, as if he had put a lot of time and effort into getting ready. Lacy smiled at him and gave his shoulder an approving pat. “I have very handsome friends,” she said.

“You really do,” Tosh agreed. “You’re a lucky, lucky woman. Are we ready? Because I’m hungry. Someone ate all the chicken from my chicken and broccoli.” He quirked an eyebrow at Lacy.

“You said you didn’t mind,” she said.

“I said I didn’t mind if you had a bite. I didn’t know a bite meant that you would pick all the chicken from the container and hand me a bunch of sad, lonely broccoli swimming in teriyaki sauce.”

“It’s like you don’t even know me at all sometimes,” she said.