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Before Lacey had seen Gabe kissing the young man in the alley, she wouldn’t have thought anything of his theatrical wave. But now, she saw it in a slightly different light.
He spent the next few minutes showing her around his newly renovated house, and she could see how proud he was of his place.
“Anyway, lunch is ready,” he told them as they rounded back into the kitchen from a tour of the main bedroom. “You guys were a little late,” Gabe admonished.
“Sorry. We got caught up,” Nico apologized but didn’t elaborate.
“Well, sit down, and I’ll serve up.” Gabe waved them to the table, which had been set with gleaming white plates, silver cutlery, and real napkins. There was even a row of candles burning as decoration.
“This is lovely,” Lacey said, raising an eyebrow at Nico over the table when Gabe wasn’t looking. He gave her a quelling look in return.
The lamb roast was to die for. The meat melted in her mouth, the gravy was smooth and delicious, and the roast potatoes crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. They chatted about normal things, like how the Burnie City Council’s bid to allow a construction conglomerate to build a high-rise apartment block on the beachfront had all the locals up in arms and petitioning against it. And how one of Gabriel’s patients, Cecile Turner, was trying to set him up with her niece. By all accounts, a lovely young woman who was into running triathlons and had just got out of a bad relationship, so a steady, reliable doctor would be good for her. Gabe had grimaced at that.
After a delicious lunch, washed down with a few glasses of red wine, they all leaned back in their chairs and patted their full stomachs. It was good to see Nico so relaxed for a change. He was clearly at ease in his friend’s company.
Gabe stood and cleared the plates. “Let me help you with the dishes,” Lacey offered.
“That’d be great, thank you. And, Nico, do you remember when you promised you’d have a look at my old television, and maybe see if you can set it up with that Apple TV box thing. I’m such a technophobe,” he stage-whispered to Lacey, by way of explanation. “And Nico is so good at these things.”
“Sure,” Nico agreed and took his glass of wine off to the living room.
Lacey was soon elbow deep in sudsy water, with Gabe stacking the dishes for her and then picking up a dishcloth. They washed and talked, and she asked him for the recipe for his delicious gravy. The pile of dishes shrunk quickly as they chatted.
“What are your plans now?” Gabe asked suddenly, taking a plate from the rack and drying it.
“What do you mean?”
“I was just wondering if you’re going to continue your Tasmanian odyssey? I know you were really keen to keep going once your van was fixed.” He met her gaze, light-blue eyes curious. “Or have you and Nico… You know, got something going?” He gave her a quick wink.
“I’m going to continue my trip,” she replied, ignoring his innuendo about her and Nico getting together.
“Oh. When will you leave?”
“At the end of this week,” she said, placing a saucepan into the drying rack.
“Oh, right.” The doctor’s face clouded over for a few seconds as he seemed to become lost in thought. Then, as if he could feel her gaze on him, he said hurriedly, “I mean, I feel sad for Nico. I’m sure he’s going to miss you,” he said with an inquisitive grin. “And I’m sure you’ll miss him, too?”
The doctor was digging for information, but Lacey merely shrugged. She wasn’t prepared to share her thoughts and feelings about Nico with this man, and she definitely wasn’t going to let on how much she cared for the enigmatic detective. That was for her and Nico to sort out. No matter how good a friend Gabe was to Nico, Lacey wasn’t comfortable saying anything more to him.
“You don’t want to hang around longer to see if Karim really is the killer, then? Don’t want to watch Nico take all the glory when he finally gets his man?” Gabe said it in a teasing tone, as if he were making a joke, but Lacey took sudden umbrage at his words, and her mood changed. Why did Gabe continue to push Karim forward as if it were a done deal that he be found guilty and sent to jail? Lacey was no longer as sure as she had been that Karim was innocent, but it still made her mad. And his snide, underhanded comment about Nico getting his man smacked of sarcasm. It touched a nerve in Lacey, made her indignant. Gabe was supposed to be Nico’s friend.
“Karim isn’t the only suspect,” she said, turning to glare at him. “Nico already told you that. There are plenty of other people his team are investigating.” She felt a sudden need to defend Nico.
“Oh, yeah?” Gabe made it sound like he didn’t believe her, throwing the dishcloth over his shoulder and raising one eyebrow in mock disbelief.
“Yeah,” she huffed, suddenly indignant, needing to knock Gabe off his high horse. “Did you know Rania had a stalker? One of the apprentice mechanics she used to work with. He’s got a damn good motive, if you ask me. He could definitely be the killer. Then there’s—” Lacey snapped her mouth shut. She was about to name Herb and Margie, tell him the old couple who lived next door were keeping all kinds of queer secrets, ringing all kinds of alarm bells. But she’d gone too far. Nico had told her things in confidence. And while she knew Gabe could be trusted, she shouldn’t be giving out confidential information to anyone, not even him.
“Well, it’s good to know the police are following up every lead. I know Nico is always very thorough,” Gabe said smoothly, folding the dishcloth in half and hanging it on a rail above the stove. “But it’s always the boyfriend or the husband in the end. Or at least it is in all the murder mystery movies I’ve ever watched,” he said, still maintaining the joking air, as if he wasn’t really all that interested. But Lacey didn’t miss the sardonic curl of his lip.
Removing her rubber gloves, she glanced down the hall; she could still hear Nico banging around in the living room. She hoped he’d just about finished, because she’d like to head home now. She’d had enough of people who already thought they had an open murder investigation solved. Even if Gabe was supposed to be Nico’s best friend, Lacey suddenly wanted to get away from him.
It was time to get out of here.
There were plenty of other things she wanted to do this afternoon, and all of them took place in Nico’s bedroom. She hoped Nico felt the same.
CHAPTER TWENTY
NICO PACED BACK and forth across the command room, gnawing at his bottom lip. He hated Mondays, and today in particular was the worst kind of Monday. All kinds of shit was going down today.
