Person of Interest (A Celeste Eagan Mystery) (17 page)

Unfortunately, as much as I loved old Mikey, it wasn’t working. My nerves were all twitchy. I missed my child. I missed my students. Hell, I even missed growling at Naomi in the halls. I was not the kind of woman to sit idle. Oh sure, I could veg out on the sofa with my box set of BBC’s
Pride and Prejudice
and a pint of double mocha fudge, but that was a planned vegging out. The forced sit-on-my-ass-and-do-nothing was a little harder to wrap my head around.

Since the school’s impromptu hiatus, I’d tried to stay active, if in a somewhat furtive sort of way. And even then, my failed attempts at getting to the bottom of what was going on only managed to embed me into further trouble.

The more I thought about it, if I were Muldoon, I’d stay away from me too. I was nothing but trouble. And clearly I didn’t know boundaries, though it wasn’t as if I’d gone out there looking for all the trouble I was in. Shoot, I didn’t even
know
the extent of the trouble I was in. Every other moment something deadly or dangerous popped up.

I was wandering in my head and lost track of the route I was taking in my living room. I smacked my leg on the table next to the sofa. “Dang it.” I rubbed the sore spot on my thigh.

Since I started limping, I shifted my pacing into the kitchen to start a pot of coffee. “Might as well do something useful.” Once I got it going, I grabbed a Ben and Jerry’s pint and scanned the pantry. I hadn’t eaten since lunch with Levi. I frowned and put the lid back on the pint—after I took two quick bites. I’d had ice cream for lunch.

Between sleeping in my clothes and eating ice cream morning, noon and night, my personal habits were reverting from single mom to college freshman. If I wasn’t careful, I’d put on the freshman fifteen and I’d graduated fourteen years earlier. I shoved the ice cream back into the freezer and perused the fridge. There was a bag of carrots, green tops and all. Levi must have left them, because I sure didn’t buy them. I took one carrot from the bag just as the coffeemaker finished brewing. I stuck the root veggie in my mouth as I poured the fragrant brew into my favorite mug. I was just raising the coffee to my lips when the front bell chimed. My nerves did a quick shimmy through my system. Why should I be anxious? Was it the man? Or the potential for why he’d come to my house—again?

Muldoon smiled when I opened the door. He was shaking out his umbrella and set it on the corner of the porch. It took me a minute to realize he stood sans his sports coat. He was out of his regular uniform altogether. He wore a dark blue sweater with a white tee barely peeking from beneath and a pair of well-worn jeans topping a dark brown pair of square-toed boots.

“Hey,” he said and shifted a thick manila folder from one hand to the other.

“Hey.” The immediate need to fidget engulfed me. You’d think I was fourteen again. This was not a date; still, I know I stood and gawked at him for way too long. “Manners. Sorry. Come in.” I opened the door wider and let him enter. “I have coffee.” I motioned toward the kitchen. He’d been in my house enough to know the way.

I made quick work of fixing him up a cup and we sat at the table. I took a long sip of mine. “So. What brings you here?”

Muldoon pushed the manila folder to me. “This is a copy of the police report for your car. If you have any further hassles from the insurance company, have them call me and I’ll make sure they pay out on the claim.”

I glanced down at the folder, tapped my name written in tight, precise letters. “You could have mailed this.”

“I could have. But I wouldn’t get to see you then.” He wrapped his hands around his mug and held my gaze. He had such a straightforward way—about some things. Other things, I didn’t know where I stood. I broke eye contact and ran my finger around the handle of the coffee mug. I sucked at small talk when I was nervous. My brain would seize up and I couldn’t think of anything witty or charming, or even casual, to say. I ended up just blurting out, “The school suspended me today. They don’t want my presence to harm the students.”

“Man.” His mouth pulled down at the corners. “Are you okay?”

I shrugged. “I get it. Between my car being blown up and being shot at—” I didn’t think they even knew about that yet “—they can’t take any chances. If I was one of the parents... Hell, I am one of the parents.”

He reached across the table and squeezed my hand. The warmth from the mug transferred from his hand to mine. Just as quickly he let go again.

I tried to pretend he hadn’t affected me. It was getting harder to stay immune with each touch. I shook myself from the thoughts. “I do have another job lined up actually.” I told him about Annabelle’s offer. “Plus Coz is looking over my contract to see if they’ve violated it. I’ll be okay.” I said that as much for me as for an answer to his earlier question. But I didn’t want to talk about my future. That wasn’t why he’d come over. “Can you tell me about my car?” I pulled the folder in front of me and opened it. “What directed you to Jerry?”

“We followed fingerprints. Which led us to him. He was in the system. Pullman claims he had nothing to do with it, but his prints were all over pieces of the device we recovered at the scene. Including the tape he used to hold it into place.”

I looked up from the folder. “He was in the system? For what? He always seemed so...” I shrugged. “Mild mannered.”

“Drug possession with the intent to sell.”

“Seriously?” I blew out a low whistle.

Muldoon gave a quick nod. “His trial is coming up soon.”

“Did you—” I tapped the folder again “—check him out to see if he could have had anything to do with Chad’s death? He did work for him for many years.”

He nodded again. “Once we got forensics back on your car, we ran his alibis for the dates in question regarding Mr. Jones. The night Jones was killed, Pullman was in the emergency room for a bad burn.”

When I frowned, he continued, “We think he burned his arm constructing the explosive device.”

A shudder ran through me. “What about when Kelsey died?”

“Says he was at home. No one to verify one way or the other.” He took a sip of his coffee. “We don’t think he’s connected to her. Or Jones for that matter.”

I closed the folder and looked out the back window. The rain had slowed to a heavy drizzle. A chill ran up my spine—like when you’re being watched. I chocked it up to Muldoon watching me as we spoke. I shook my head. “I don’t get it. Why go after me?”

“Or Colin.”

“Or Colin?” I frowned and waved my hand. “Why would he go after either of us?”

“You don’t know?”

“I haven’t the foggiest clue.” I started to sip my coffee. I stopped so quickly some of the hot liquid sloshed out and onto the folder. “Dang it.” I snapped up some napkins and dried the widening stain. “You know something more about this than I do?”

Muldoon grabbed a napkin and dabbed at a spot I’d missed. “Why do you think Pullman got fired?”

I narrowed my eyes. “No clue. They just said he was let go.” I crumpled up the wet napkins and tossed them into the sink.

Muldoon held my gaze and said, “Jerry was dealing—”

“Drugs?” I blinked as if the word didn’t register in my brain.

“Yes.” Muldoon finished off his coffee, dropped the soiled napkin inside and pushed the mug away from him. “From what I understand, Pullman had a little racket going at the school—”

“At the
school
?”

“—for a while. No one told or found out until one of the boys on the football team came to practice high. The kid finally admitted to Colin where he’d gotten the drugs.”

Colin knew? It was all so incredulous. How did that not get around the school? “Why didn’t Colin tell me?” We were still married when Pullman left. What other secrets had he kept? I rubbed my forehead. I didn’t think I actually wanted to know the answer to that. “Why would Jerry come after me?”

Muldoon shook his head. “Don’t know yet. We’re still trying to get to the bottom of it.”

“Colin took Paige because he said it was too dangerous for her with me. If Jerry was after Colin, then she isn’t safe. With either of us.”

“Jerry Pullman is behind bars now. We found his lab. It looks like he’d started to dismantle it after the car bombing. There were enough materials in his garage to add more charges on top of the original drug charges. Between that and the links to your bombing, he more than likely won’t get out before he goes to trial. And hopefully not for a very long time after.”

The usual calming effects of coffee did little to put me at ease, even with Muldoon’s assurance Jerry Pullman was locked away keeping me and mine safe and secure.

Muldoon leaned his elbows on the table. “You don’t need to worry about Pullman. He won’t be bothering you ever again,” he said as if reading my thoughts.

“I know I should be relieved, but...” My eyes widened. “The shooting?”

“Wasn’t him. He was in lockup by then.”

I guess that was too much to hope for. “Are there any leads on the shooting?”

“No.” His gruff answer told me he wasn’t any happier about it than I was.

At least one person gunning for me was gone, though. I slid the folder to the other side of the table, like having the information farther away from me would somehow scare me less. “So many things in my life are not what they seemed.”

“Very few are.”

I’d give anything to go back a week, back to sedate and settled. When I didn’t know the evil things people did, didn’t know the depths of deception people were willing to go. “I think I liked being oblivious. I don’t know how you stay sane having to delve into people’s lives like you do. Trying to ferret out when they’re lying and why.”

He shrugged. “It’s what I do.”

“I guess you had to question Colin again?”

“Yes. Through his lawyer.”

“You talked to Coz again?”

“Mmm-hmm.” He rose and deposited his mug in the sink, then turned and leaned a hip against the counter. “He didn’t want us to use the explosion and Pullman’s drug case as a reason to ask Colin about the Jones case.” He chuckled. “He hasn’t changed, has he?”

“Coz?” I smiled. It felt almost foreign after all the talk of Pullman. “No, he’s the one constant in the Eagan family. Always the same. He’s a good guy.” I stood, cradling my mug. I drained off the remainder. “I’m surprised you remember him from school. He and Colin didn’t exactly hang out in the same social or extracurricular circles, from what I understand.”

“There was more to me than just football.”

My cheeks heated. “I didn’t mean to imply...”

“I’m just giving you a hard time.” He chuckled. “I didn’t know Coz well since he was a few grades ahead. But he was legendary in the school for challenging the teachers. If he thought they were on the wrong side of an issue, he’d take them to task on it.”

“Sounds like Coz. He’s quiet as a church mouse unless he gets worked up over something. Then all you can do is get out of his way.”

“He rub off on you a little bit?”

“I guess, maybe. Not bad qualities to have.”

“As long as you can keep from getting locked up in the process.”

“There is that.” I reached around him and set my mug next to his. Muldoon hadn’t so much as moved but the air between us thickened. His musky scent invaded my nostrils and I wanted to fall into him. Instead, I took two steps back slowly. “So...did you make any progress with the information I gave you?”

“A little.” His breath hitched slightly.

I tried to pretend I didn’t notice, but I noticed all the way down to my toes. “Are you going to share that with me?”

He settled his hands on either side of his hips, holding onto the counter. His gaze raked over my mouth. “Not just yet.”

Goose bumps spread across my arms. I’d forgotten the question. When I expected Muldoon to lean forward, make a move, any move, he shifted his weight and actually leaned farther away. He was a mix of confusion—but at least he was consistent. My ardor cleared and I remembered the thread of the conversation. “You won’t share because it’s against department regulations?”

“No, because I’m afraid of what you might do with the information.”

I didn’t take it personally, not much anyways. “I gave you the places to start looking.”

“Yes, you did. And as you have the uncanny knack for getting into trouble with what you do know, not to mention a slew of costumes at your fingertips where I might not even know it’s you...”

“I am banned from the school, remember?”

He tilted his head to the side. “But you now have a job with access to even more costume choices as well as makeup. I wouldn’t even know how far you could go to alter your appearance.”

“I wouldn’t, I haven’t...” I cleared my throat. “I don’t even have a key to the building yet.”

“But you’re pretty chummy with the leggy brunette who does. Remember, I followed you the other morning.” He winked. A smile played at the corners of his mouth. “I’m not sharing for your protection as much as whoever might become the beneficiary of your disguises. As a peace officer of this fair city, it’s my duty to protect its citizens.”

I set my hand on my chest in true Southern belle indignation. “From me?”

His shoulders lifted upward in a shrug. “What can I say? I am precautionary.”

“I don’t know if I should be insulted or pleased you think I have enough moxie—and costumes—to become a nuisance to the Peytonville Police force.”

He snorted. “Maybe a little bit of both.”

“Can you just give me a hint? A direction to Google?” I wasn’t above begging, but I preferred to hold out on that until I absolutely had no other choice.

Instead of an answer, his stomach growled. “Sorry. I worked straight through dinner and only had time to run home and change.”

He’d come straight over and bypassed food. As was now the norm when I was around Muldoon, the little flutter in my tummy started kicking up her heels. “I could fix you something...” As I stepped toward the fridge, there was a quick hum, then the electricity went out and plunged us into total darkness and silence. “I guess the storm—”

“No.” His warm hand grabbed my arm and pulled me over to him.

I hadn’t even heard him move. “What’re you—”