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“Actually,” James said, “she didn’t. I told her not to bother and that is how I beat you here. Did you do anything last night?”
James didn’t normally ask him those things. He had to figure out how he was going to answer it.
He’d left Faith’s around one. He would have liked to stay later, but he knew right away it was not like they were going to do much more than they had been.
They ate. They watched a few movies. They talked. They kissed. His hands even roamed a bit, but then Fred let out a little bark and he decided he needed his hands for work and had to figure this out.
The only saving grace was that Faith had laughed and tried to put her hands under his shirt a bit and Fred barked there too. Maybe she was right and Fred was more jealous of her being with him than the other way around.
She’d said she’d have to figure a way around it. That Fred had never acted that way before and she didn’t want his feelings hurt.
Most men might find that ridiculous. He actually did too, but he didn’t voice it. He wanted her to do what worked for her and if that meant making sure her dog was comfortable with him being around, he’d play along for now.
“Not a whole heck of a lot,” he said. It wasn’t much of a lie.
“I figured as much,” James said. “We need to get you someone to hang out with at least. Burn off some steam. Going home alone all the time isn’t the best. Sondra is wonderful for me on days like this.”
“Not everyone is Sondra,” he said. He learned that the hard way. There were plenty enough women he’d dated over the years that didn’t like his job or enjoy his long hours. Nothing he could do to change that.
He knew his grandparents and father thought he was jaded and had a sour taste in his mouth over women.
Yeah, he did. To a point.
He wasn’t so stubborn to think all women were like his mother. His grandparents—both of them—had long good marriages. No cheating that he was aware of. James and Sondra had a decent marriage. Better than decent with the way James ran at the mouth.
It’s just it was hard for him to get his mother out of his head. Not just her cheating but also her neglect of him. It’s not like she cheated and no one knew. Or she did it when he was in school or not around.
Nope. His mother encouraged him to go to friends’ houses and stay the night. He rarely had a friend spending the night at his house. She put her whoring ways over being a mother. That was part of the problem he had getting past.
“Nope,” James said. He pulled out a takeout menu and tossed it across the desk. “They aren’t. I’m a lucky man. And because I am one, my treat for lunch. Pick out what you want.”
He picked up the menu. Might as well.
Three hours later, he was leaning back in his chair. “This was more frustrating than I thought it’d be,” he said.
“I got a few more names,” James said. “I’ll follow up tomorrow. I’m guessing you didn’t get anywhere either?”
“No,” he said. “Those I talked to said a lot of what everyone else did. There was a lot of noise and music; the lights were dim. Not much to be seen.”
“Or they were high and drunk,” James said. “I got a few of them.”
“Which means what they say can’t stand up much,” he said, letting out a sigh. “Beth Clone almost doesn’t fit the profile of someone to have been at that party.”
“That is what I don’t get either,” James said. “She’s got a decent job. Doesn’t look like anyone I talked to knew her. I can’t find any connection between her and Joey Mitchell and how they both ended up shot.”
“It’s possible one or the other was just in the way. Wrong place at the wrong time?”
Beth Clone had expensive designer clothes on. The other victim was in baggy jeans and a flannel shirt with a white T-shirt underneath and work boots. She had a perfect manicure and not one with nails that would make a cat scared.
“I noticed that too,” James said. “When the courts open up in two days we can start to get subpoenas for cell phone footage. You know as well as I do there are pictures and videos of that night. No one is voluntarily handing them over.”
“Most won’t,” he said.
“Let’s call this a day,” James said. “Sondra has a big pot of sauce and meatballs going. Why don’t you come and have dinner with us? It’s not like you’ve got anything else better to do.”
He didn’t. Normally he’d say he wanted to be alone and go home, but the truth was, after spending some time with Faith and Fred, going home to his lonely apartment didn’t have a lot of appeal.
“Only if your wife doesn’t try to figure out someone to set me up with,” he said.
