Page 28 of But For You

“I don’t know yet. If they want me to approach Turner, then yes. If not, then no.”

“When will you know?”

“I have no idea, but as soon as I get word, I’ll tell you.”

I nodded.

“Don’t look so sad,” he said softly, putting a hand on my cheek. “I’ll be around.”

“And you won’t be in any danger.”

“I can’t promise that. You know better.”

“Okay.”

He gave me a gentle pat and then got up, took his wallet out of his back pocket, and removed the card that the officer had given him at the hospital.

“So, it turns out, you’re gonna have to deal with your van, just like you wanted to. I can drop you off on the way, or you can get a cab. What do you wanna do?”

“I’ll cab it,” I said after I looked at the card and saw the address. “Your office is in the complete opposite direction.”

“Okay.”

“I’ll meet you at your folks’ place at six.”

“Sounds like a plan.” He smiled at me before he bent to kiss me.

Alone in the house ten minutes later, I called him quickly because I had forgotten to ask about the Petersons.

“Yeah.” He cackled evilly on the other end. “The bad guy in that scenario is Mrs. Peterson. She was the one having the affair, and that baby she’s carrying now is not Mr. Peterson’s since he had a vasectomy after the birth of their second child.”

“Holy shit.”

“Yep. You chose the wrong bad guy.”

“Which never happens. I’m usually right.”

“I don’t know about that,” he teased me.

“So what are they going to do?”

“Well, he gets to keep his kids, and she is going to live with her boyfriend in Park Ridge.”

“So, she’s just leaving her kids?”

“That’s what I was told, yes.”

“And Mr. Peterson?”

“His mother’s moving in.”

“That’s kind of nice.”

“You and Mrs. Martinez and all the other harpies on the block had better go make nice. Make the man a casserole, J. Invite him over for dinner. You owe him.”

“I thought⁠—”

He grunted, cutting me off. “You’re a crappy judge of character, you know that.”