Page 58 of Statler

“Well. It’s been…nice,” she told Statler without much inflection.

Statler didn’t know how to respond.

He’d thought that once they were back here and alone, he might ask her for a kiss, but clearly that was off the table. Not just because of their muscly audience, but because she was looking…scared, and she might be freaking married.

Statler stuck his hand out, instead. “Yes. Thank you for a lovely evening, Mrs. Belle,” he said evenly. “I had a wonderful time.”

He wasn’t going to say anything else in front of the hovering dude that hinted at Eliza coming over for a fish-grill the next night. He had a feeling that would go over poorly.

But he was hoping like hell she still showed up.

He had a lot of things he wanted to ask her.

“If you need anything else,” Eliza shook his hand perfunctorily. “I’ll be at my desk during business hours,” she told him primly.

Dismissed.

She got into her car, shut the door, and drove away.

Well, Statler guessed that was that.

He also turned to leave, but the bodyguard stopped him with a hand to his shoulder.

Everything inside Stat wanted to take that hand and twist it until it snapped, but instead he turned and flashed the man a huge smile.

“Is there something else you need?” he asked, saccharine dripping from every word.

The guy didn’t know how close he was coming to a face-plant.

“Yeah.” This time the man wasn’t even remotely polite. “If you know what’s good for you, you’ll stay away from Mrs. Belle.”

Statler somehow managed to shrug like it was nothing.

“Whatever,” he responded airily as he walked casually to his truck. “Not a problem. But I certainly hope to see you around so we can get to know each other better.”

Let the guy chew on that for a while.

The guard didn’t bother to reply. He turned on his heel and strode belligerently back toward the doorway.

Well, that was all very interesting.

* * *

Statler played everything over in his head on his way back to the cottages.

He’d already known that the illegal gun manufacturing operation would put him shoulder to shoulder with some shady characters, but he was used to playing with those kinds of idiots. What he didn’t like, was that Eliza was this close to a dangerous situation. And if his instincts were correct, she had no idea what was going on right under her nose.

* * *

When he finally pulled up to the cottages, Statler was never happier to see his team all gathered on Blue’s front porch.

He really needed to debrief or his head would explode.

“Look who’s back earlier than I predicted,” Dizzy laughed, but forked over what looked to be a fiver to Sherbert.

“Pay up, everybody,” their computer guru ordered jovially taking the money and holding out his hand for more.

Getting a glance at Statler’s face as Stat approached, however, had him swiftly lowering his palm. Dizz dropped his playful demeanor, and sat up straight. “What happened, boss?”