Dark Corners READY FOR PRC (25 page)

A sharp knock on my window interrupted my snooping. I snapped up with what must have been a look of extreme guilt to match the butterflies that sprung into action in my stomach.

Relief spread over me when I saw Susan. I tried to roll down the window, but they were automatic, so I got out of the car. “Hey, what are you doing here?” she asked, suspiciously eyeing the car. “Are the cops bothering you again?”

“Would I be in the front seat if they were?”

“I guess not.”

“What are you doing at the police station?” It occurred me that it was strange for Susan to be lingering around the police station.

“I’m not at the police station.”

“Your proximity suggests otherwise.”

“I meant I was across the street.” She pointed towards a nail salon. “I thought I saw you in the car as it drove by. I wanted to see if you were okay.”

“I’m fine. Gabriel had to drop something off.”

“
Gabriel
?” Her voice was equal parts surprise and suspicion. “You're on a first name basis now? Why are you with
him
?”

“He’s been helping me.” Her questions made me uncomfortable.  How was any of this her concern?

“Helping you with what?”

“
Detective Troy
is helping me find Danny’s killer.”

Susan nodded slowly. “How’s that going?”

“It’s progressing, day by day,” a voice said from behind me.

“Detective Troy, it’s nice to see you again.”

“Mrs. Daniels.”

“So, you’ve been around Ella a lot recently, haven’t you?” Susan asked.

Gabriel nodded, and I noticed his brow furrowed just a bit.

 “What’s your angle?”

“My
angle
?”Frown lines creased his mouth.

“Yeah. What are you doing there? Why can't you just leave her alone?”

“Excuse me?” he said, obviously offended, at the same time I said “Susan!”

“What? I’m just making sure he isn’t just trying to get closer to you, his main suspect.”

“Susan, don’t do this,” I said not wanting them to fight.

“You’re right, Mrs. Daniels. Ella was my main suspect and I have gotten closer to her, which has made me see that out of everyone, she’s the least likely person to have done this.”

“Ella, I think you need to stay away from this man. Don’t you remember him dragging you down here for questioning every other day?”

“No, I don’t—I remember him bringing me here to get away from the media that was parked in my yard all the time. I remember him asking very thorough questions, as one would expect after a murder took place in their house. Most importantly, I remember that that he’s been here for me, which is more than I could say about my best friend.”

“That's so unfair,” Susan fumed, almost yelling. “You won’t let me anywhere near you. What am I supposed to do?”

“Nothing. It’s too late now. Keep up with the precedence you started after Danny died—complete avoidance, you do it well.”

Her eyes filled with angry tears and she opened her mouth to speak, but I cut her off. “I don’t want to fight with you. We have things to do. We should go.”

Gabriel nodded good-bye to Susan, but I couldn’t read his expression. I turned and climbed back into the car.

“Ella,” Susan said, but I closed the door like I hadn’t heard.

“Let’s go,” I said.

“Where are we going?”

“It doesn't matter . . .  you choose.”

 What Susan said outside of the police station made sense. Why did I trust Gabriel so implicitly? He’d performed no great feat to earn my loyalty; he was just always in the right place at the right time. Was that all life was? An unpredictable series of being in the right place at the right time, or the wrong place at the wrong time? If so, what the hell was I doing all of this for? Was Danny’s death just a case of bad luck? I looked across the front seat.  Gabriel seemed miles away sifting through his own thoughts. Did he have no life? Why would he drop everything to pursue my quest solely? There were so many things I didn’t understand.  It was impossible to put together the puzzle when I was missing most of the pieces.

The more we investigated the less I seemed to understand my husband. The fact that he had clothes I had never seen, dealt with lawsuits I never heard about, and who knows what else didn't exactly leave me on solid ground. Maybe Danny himself was the key. If I knew so little about him, who's to say he didn't have enemies? I needed to know more. There was a time I would have said we knew everything about each other, but now it was painfully clear that I was missing a lot.

We pulled up to a rough looking bar that had the best burgers in the state—or so its sign said. The front was painted black and bars crossed the lower half of the window. The inside was every bit as grim as the outside. We took a seat in a worn booth. The sticky walls were covered with pictures and beer memorabilia. I gave Gabriel a look that clearly said, “You expect me to eat here?”

“Trust me,” he said. The waiter/bartender showed up without menus.

“Do you have a menu?” I asked

He pointed to a chalkboard behind me. A bare menu was scribbled on it in nearly illegible writing. Obviously, people came here knowing what they wanted.

“We’ll each have two cheese burgers and I’ll have a coke,” Gabriel said while I gawked at the menu. It irked me that he’d ordered for me, but I turned back to the waiter.

“Vodka rocks.”

“Christ, Ella.”

I smiled tightly. “Make that a double, please. Thanks.” The waiter shrugged and went back to his post at the bar.

“Do you really think it helps to drink so much?”

“I don’t need you to judge me.”

“I'm not judging you. I'm asking you a question. You're drinking to escape from actually having to discover anything about Danny’s death. If you drink enough you never have to look at this with a clear head. You don’t really want this to be over, do you? You’d rather wallow in your own pity—so why am I here? Why are we doing this?”

Not knowing what to say to him, I pretended to consider what he said. The waiter was back with our drinks and was gone again before I responded. “Well, thank you, Dr. Phil—I really appreciate your free evaluation of me—”

Gabriel frowned and opened his mouth to speak, then changed his mind and clamped his jaw shut. I matched his expression, narrowing my eyes. “I don't need to explain myself to you or anyone else. I've done what I've had to do to get through this and I make no apologies for who I am. If you don’t like it, leave. What’s keeping you here anyway?”

“I want you to you be happy . . .” He bit his lip. “And I want you to be able to move on with your life. This,” he said, tapping my glass, “is not letting that happen.”

I forced myself to not roll my eyes.

He drummed the table and stared at me. His earnestness was irritating. “Look, Ella, I'm here and willing to help you along the way, but you have to be sober. You have a choice. I don't expect you to explain anything about who you are to me. You're one of the toughest, most stubborn people I have ever known, and I mean that in a good way, but if you want my help I do expect you to try.”

“What’s in it for you? Why do you care what happens to me?”

“Don’t do that. Don’t turn this on me. I've been here every second since this happened, even when you haven't asked. Even when you were rude and didn't want me anywhere near you because it was my job. But now I have a vested interest in you." I shook my head at him. He needed to stop. “My motives may have changed, but I still think they're pretty transparent. If you can't figure them out, you're not as smart as you think you are.”

That was too much. My head cleared of all anger—the anger that had nearly led me to make him say something I didn't want to hear. I fingered the rim of my glass. “I . . .” There were no words to continue. I couldn't stop shaking my head.

“I know you aren’t ready for this. We’ll get you there though.” Optimism shone in his warm brown eyes.

I silently thanked God when the waiter showed up with our burgers. Finally, I had somewhere else to focus.

“So on a scale of one to ten, how panicked are you about this?” he asked, still trying to make me acknowledge what was almost said.

I took a big bite out of my burger. It was surprisingly good. “This. Is. Amazing,” I said, changing the subject before he could continue further down this road.

“I know.” A slight smile crept to his lips.

“I've never had anything like it in my life,” I said with a grin matching his.

“The cheeseburgers are good.”

I laughed at the absurdness of our conversation and Gabriel eventually joined in.

“Lame! We're lame.”

The laughter was a necessary relief. All of the tension melted away. Before Gabriel really came into my life, I hadn’t laughed in such a long time—but that was a sobering thought. Being here with him and staying at his house were easy, but they weren’t going to help with this puzzle. Perhaps he was a bigger distraction than the alcohol. Gabriel made everything easier to handle, but my goals became fuzzy. Did I want justice for Danny or permission to move on with life? Gabriel also had the annoying habit of being right, so it made it hard not to listen to his opinion. “So what do you think our next step is?” Gabriel asked.

“I think I need to take a closer look at Danny.”

“Do you think his death had something to do with him? We've been operating under the assumption that it had to do with the house. Why the change of heart?”

“I don’t know. I have a feeling. Call it intuition. After finding that shirt this morning, I think it's worth taking a closer look at him.”

“Well considering that freak show story, I would say this more has to do with you than him.”

“If it has to do with me why did he kill Danny? Why didn’t he just kill me?”

“It could be a power issue. There could be someone who wants to control you, own you—a stalker perhaps. Maybe that's what we should try to find out.”

“I think I need to take a better look through Danny’s things. There's something that I'm missing.” I didn't want to consider Gabriel’s theory. For now this was the best I could do. “Maybe I'll pack away some of his stuff too—give the killer fewer places to hide.”

“Whatever you think is best.” His face remained perfectly neutral as if I had said I prefer coffee to tea.

After lunch, Gabriel drove us back to the house. I walked in, contemplating where to start. My first instinct was to get a drink, but I didn't think Gabriel would be too appreciative of that after our stand down.

“I need boxes.”

 “Okay.”

“You'll get some for me?”

He nodded.

“Then I think I'm going to stay. I’ll start in the study.”

“Are you sure you want to stay by yourself?”

“With all due respect, nothing has changed that much and I've been here by myself more often than not.”

“Okay, but if you need me . . .”

"Will do, Officer,” I assured him with a small smile.

“Are you mocking me?”

“Aw, I would never do that.” I waved at him. “Hurry back.”