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Roland recalled telling Stonewall when he’d left the office last night that he was hoping to be in bed by ten. “I was still up. In fact, I was on my way over to Lennox’s place.”
Stonewall lifted a brow. “Kind of late to be making house calls, wasn’t it?”
Roland didn’t say anything for a minute, then grimaced. “Not if you’re taking over a peace offering and an apology.”
“Peace offering and an apology? Why?”
“I offended her earlier. She asked for my phone number and I wouldn’t give it to her.”
Stonewall cocked his head, a disbelieving look on his face. “Lennox hit on you and you turned her down?”
Roland rubbed his hand down his face. “She was not hitting on me. She thought we should exchange numbers since we’re neighbors. In case of emergency. Evidently, she and her former neighbors had such an arrangement.”
Stonewall scowled at Roland. “And you had a problem with that?”
When Roland didn’t respond quick enough, Stonewall said, “I get it. You’re a self-proclaimed loner. Who needs entanglements—even neighborly ones? Yet tonight, you killed a man on her behalf.”
Roland still didn’t say anything. There was nothing he could say. But Stonewall understood him—he was one of the few people who did. Finally, he admitted, “I realized my mistake soon enough, Stonewall, and was bringing over a container of spaghetti casserole as a peace offering. I intended to apologize for having such a shitty attitude and to exchange numbers with her, if she still wanted to do that. Then I heard her scream.”
He was quiet for a moment, then took a deep breath. “I don’t want to think about what could have happened if she hadn’t been able to lock herself inside her bedroom. Or if I hadn’t been home? What if I had put off moving into my place another week? Or what…”
“Please stop with the ‘what-if’s’, Ro,” Stonewall said, crumbling his empty paper coffee cup with his hand before tossing it into a trash container nearby. “Bottom line is thatshedidmanage to lock herself in her bedroom, youwereat home, and youdidmove in last week. You were meant to be just where you were tonight.”
At that moment, Stonewall’s cell phone went off. Pulling it out of his pocket, he glanced at it and rolled his eyes. “It’s Striker again. I swear, I’m not telling Striker or Quasar anything more than I have already.”
A slight smile spread across Roland’s lips. “You don’t know anything more. None of us does. However, given that your wife is running this show, I have a feeling that by this time tomorrow, we will.”
• • •
Lennox paused her conversation with Joy when the two detectives, along with Stonewall and Roland, entered her condo. Her gaze went straight to Roland and she remembered, a little embarrassed, the way she’d fallen apart in his arms. At the time, all she could think about was the number of times she’d been called to the scene of the crime, a witness to someone’s future being stolen from them. It had hit her hard that things might have turned out very differently tonight. It could have been her life snuffed out by a gunman.
“Don’t think about it, Lennox.”
She glanced up at Joy. “I’m trying not to, but it’s not easy. I’m usually on the other side of things.”
“I know. And because that’s usually the case, you know police procedure.”
Yes, she did. Bottom line, she couldn’t stay here tonight. Roland couldn’t stay in his place, either. Althoughno gun fire was exchanged in his condo, there had been in the lobby. As a result, this entire floor was now a crime scene.
“No worries. I’ll check into a hotel.”
“No, you won’t,” Joy said firmly.
“No, she won’t what?” Stonewall asked, as he and Roland came over to join them.
“Check into a hotel. We have plenty of room at our place. Besides, I don’t want you to be alone until I find out what this was about,” Joy said, waving the envelope Lennox had given her in the air.
“What’s that?” Roland asked.
Joy glanced over at him. “Sorry, official police business. I haven’t even apprised my detectives of it yet. However, Lennox can tell you about it, if she chooses to do so.”
Joy then turned her attention to Stonewall. “I’m going to have to finish up here and then go to headquarters. I’ll catch a ride there with the detectives. After you pick up the baby from Granny Kay, you’re going to have to be on your own with him for a while,” she said of their son Garrett.
Stonewall chuckled. “That’s fine, as long as he doesn’t wake up hungry and expect me to breastfeed him.”
Joy smiled. “If he does, there are prepared bottles in the fridge.”
Stonewall glanced over at Roland. “What about you? You can’t stay at your place tonight either. You’re welcome to crash at ours.”
