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He was just embarrassed over being caught more than anything else.
“Fred has to eat like the rest of us,” he said. “And I need to keep him on my good side. It’s not like I bought him a heart-shaped dog toy.” Though he wouldn’t admit he considered it and stopped himself.
“He would have loved it if you did, but the chicken is better.”
“Glad to know,” he said.
She moved past him and got the plates down and the silverware out. He drained the pasta that was cooked and put it in the pan the chicken had been in and placed it back on the stove and turned the burner on. The sliced chicken went on top and the sauce was over it while he mixed it together. If he was someone that went for esthetics then he would have placed the slices on the top only, but who cared? It all went in the same place.
“Got any cases you want to run by me?” she asked when they were sitting down.
“I’ve always got cases, but you don’t need to do my job. I can handle it.” Even if he did like her opinion.
“Have you tried what I suggested?” she asked.
“I did the other day.”
She told him to close his eyes before he looked at them again and try to remember what he saw and then see if he saw it again or if things were missing from the last time. Another idea she had, which he found worked better and made more sense, was to think of how he’d set a room up or how someone would be dressed in his mind, based on their lifestyle for example, then once he had that idea in his head, open his eyes and look at the picture and see if it matched or felt off.
That was how she figured out the Cole and Colin case. The way the guy was dressed, though he was clean, was different than the clothes hanging up. Even if they were casual clothes, they didn’t match the designer quality or fashion statements of the other clothing.
“And did it work?”
“It does,” he said. “I saw something that didn’t seem right, but when I looked into it more it didn’t pan out.”
“Not everything will. I know that more than anyone with my job. Think of a doctor drawing three vials of blood but they are telling you they only need to test a few things. All that extra is because if one thing is off, there are still the same samples to drill into more and more. It happens all the time.”
“I guess so,” he said. “But I do appreciate your help so don’t ever think otherwise.”
“I wouldn’t or don’t,” she said.
They ate their dinner and when they were cleaning up her phone went off.
She went to get it in her purse. He appreciated that she didn’t have it glued to her like so many did.
He saw the frown on her face. “What’s wrong?”
“Ivan got engaged.”
“And you’re not happy about that?” he asked. “I thought you liked Kendra.”
“I love Kendra. I’m thrilled for my cousin. I’m not so thrilled for me.”
“Why?” he asked. “You’re dating me. It’s what they wanted. We’re good.”
She burst out laughing. “Oh, Sawyer. Silly man. It’s far from good now that the target is being aimed right at us. They are only getting started.”
* * *
“Ivan finally got engaged,”Jolene yelled into the phone. She was sitting in the living room with Gavin and the phone was on speaker while she talked to her sisters-in-law in Durham, Carolyn and Diane, and their husbands, Garrett and Grant.
“You didn’t think that was ever going to happen,” Carolyn said.
“Tell me about it,” Jolene said. “I’ll send you a picture of the ring when we hang up. Boy, he outdid himself. I bet it took him forever to find the right deal.”
“Stop,” Diane said, laughing. “We know you’re picking on him.”
“I am,” Jolene said. “It’s hard not to.”
