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He shook his head in exasperation. “Move,” he ordered and pushed me aside, looking into the half-empty fridge.
“What are you doing?”
“Foraging for food, apparently.”
So much for being a good hostess. To my surprise, he did manage to find a few edible things in there. A few onions and some eggs. A little cheese. This seemed to please him, so I decided to ruin that feeling.
“Those have to be expired,” I said, nodding toward the eggs.
He actually smiled then, which shut me up a moment. Smiling? That was worrisome.
“Eggs usually last well past their expiration date,” he said as he found a large glass which he filled with water. He put a couple of the eggs in it and watched them sink to the bottom. He looked pleased with this as well. “These will do just fine,” he concluded. I didn’t let my confusion show. I had no idea what the glass of water was for, but I wasn’t going to admit that. I suspected he knew, but a woman had to have some pride.
“Fine,” I snapped. “Have fun.”
Which, it turned out, he seemed to have. Not fun, exactly, but he seemed to enjoy cooking up what turned out to be scrambled eggs, making use of the herbs in the kitchen window that had managed to survive my absence.
For lack of anything better to do, I tidied up the clutter on the coffee table, really just stuffing it underneath. I was aware that Hansen was likely living in a tidy place, everything in order. He did seem the type.
The hiss of the frying pan was the only sound in the apartment. I considered turning on the TV, but what would be on at this time? We didn’t turn any lights on as we didn’t want anyone outside who might be watching this place to know we were in there. Daylight was enough.
“It’s ready,” he said after a little while.
I jumped up, my stomach growling now there was an actual smell of food in the place. Liz and Will’s vegetables weren’t staving off hunger hours later. He handed me a plate and a cup. Scrambled eggs and tea.
Tea?
“I didn’t know I had tea,” I pointed out.
He filled his own plate and grabbed another cup before heading for the couch where he sat down. “In your window,” he said.
I looked at the herbs, smelling them now that he’d made use of them. Despite using several of them, there was a dominating smell of mint. Peppermint, to be exact. I tasted the tea finding it both soothing and fresh. Then I tried the eggs. They were also good, tasty with spice and onions, not the bland mix I made myself. There was a reason I preferred going out to buy food. I turned to look at him where he sat eating.
“I get it,” I said walking over to the couch.
“What?”
“You actually like to cook.”
He shrugged. “It’s okay,” he said without looking up at me.
I smiled. He looked oversized in my place, tall and broad-shouldered. The couch–a two-seater–also seemed small with him on it. I smiled viciously behind his back, and went and sat down next to him on the couch, a movement that made him try to move to his left, to no avail. The couch wasn’t big enough for our thighs not to touch. I could have sat down in one of the hard chairs, but out of the two of us, I was not the easily disconcerted one. I knew he wanted me to move, or to move himself, but he wouldn’t do that. That would be admitting he was fazed.
I bit my cheek to keep from smiling and focused on the food, which went down fast. My hunger and the taste being a perfect combination.
“I asked you why you didn’t call the police after Andrea was kidnapped,” he said after a little while. “Do you remember that?”
I swallowed while nodding. He had asked me that after I’d tried running from him the first time.
“You misspoke a little then,” he continued. “I almost thought you’d been about to say that you actually had called them.”
I snorted. “Fat chance.”
He looked at me with something akin to disappointment at that, but went on nonetheless. “You called Gerard, didn’t you?”
I lowered my plate a moment, considering what to say. Then I remembered Gerard had told me to be helpful. “Yes,” I said.
“I get he’s your leader or something,” Hansen said, chewing around the eggs. “Is he the equivalent of police to you?”
