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Nutsbe
Nutsbe felt bad in his body. Edgy, unable to settle.
All day at work, his mind churned the details from Kennedy and Finley.
The details that mentioned Olivia.
The details that focused on him.
What he was supposed to be doing was focusing on the details for the new Panther Force mission that was spooling up.
He needed his head in the game. The safety of his team and the Iniquus clients depended on his attention to details—their details.
Iniquus had parked Olivia’s car in her garage but had brought Nutsbe the keys to return to her.
Moving through the backyard, Nutsbe walked up the sidewalk and rang her bell.
The house felt empty.
Henrietta barked a warning.
Nutsbe looked down at the keyring Olivia had handed over, house and car keys, and he doubted she had another set handy.
Surely, she’d be over as soon as she got home, and he’d know she was safe.
Walking back through her yard, Nutsbe noticed that cardboard still filled the empty window in her back door. He got that Olivia was full-up and that window glass served as only the scantest protection, but still, he didn’t like that.
He’d offered to fix it. She’d said no, thank you, and—like it or not—he needed to respect those boundaries.
Still, selfishly, having a help-someone project would be good medicine. And it looked like Nutsbe saw one available to him.
Nutsbe rang his next-door neighbor’s bell, and Clive shuffled to the door.
“Checking on you and Milly. I see your grass is getting high.”
“I keep putting it off, Tad. All these motorcycles keeping Milly and me up nights. I haven’t had the energy. I’ll get to this.”
“I’m not calling you out, Clive,” Nutsbe smiled at his elderly neighbor. “I was looking for a little exercise and was wondering if you’d allow me the opportunity to push a mower around for a bit. That, and I’m making up a pot of my ziti and cheese and was hoping I could bring it over when it’s out of the oven. It’s been a while since I let you beat me at gin rummy.”
“We’d enjoy the company,” Clive said.
Nutsbe went home, dropped his things on the table, washed his hands, and put a soup pot of water on the stove. By the time he finished the lawn, it would be boiling and ready for the pasta.
And maybe Olivia would be home.
Olivia might even like to join them, get her out of her head a bit, away from the pressing challenges of the day.
But when Olivia hadn’t come over by the time Nutsbe put the mower away, showered and changed, and finished his ziti prep, Nutsbe was getting worried.
He looked out the window at the darkened sky, pulling his phone from his pocket. Just then, the motion sensor floodlights flashed on. And a moment later, his fence door was pushed wide.
Nutsbe repocketed his phone and went outside to meet Olivia on his back porch. She had Henrietta on a lead, and she’d changed her clothes to a pretty sundress and flip flops—must have gone in the back door with the cardboard.
“Hey, there. I came for my keys.” She smiled and looked around. “No Beowolf?”
“He’s at the kennel.” Nutsbe leaned his shoulder into the post.
Olivia looked down at her pup. “Sorry to disappoint you, sweet girl. Your new boyfriend isn’t here.” She turned back, and Nutsbe held out her key ring. “Were they able to find anything on my car?” She slid the keys into her dress pocket.
