Tough Customer

porch. She looked relieved when she saw Dodge in the passenger seat.

As he alighted, she said, 'I was beginning to think you'd fallen into the lake or that a gator had got you.'

'You've got gators?'

She looked back and forth between Dodge and Ski, who came up the steps along with him. Obviously she was wondering where and how they had joined up. 'What's going on?'

'I don't have Starks in custody yet,' Ski said, 'but there are a couple of things to report, and I've got a few more questions for Ms. Malone.'

'She's inside.'

Caroline led the two men into the entryway and motioned them toward the living area. 'I'll get Berry.' But before she was out of earshot, Ski's stomach rumbled noisily, bringing her up short.

'Sorry, ma'am.'

She smiled at him. 'No apology necessary.'

Berry was just finishing the dinner cleanup when her mother came into the kitchen. 'Have you already put the leftover spaghetti away?'

'Just now.'

Caroline opened the refrigerator and took out the sealed container, handing it to Berry. 'Would you please warm a plate of it for Deputy Nyland?'

'Sorry?'

Caroline took utensils from the flatware drawer. 'He and Dodge just came in together.'

Berry glanced through the kitchen window toward the back of the property, where the investigator had disappeared almost an hour ago, saying for her to be ready to discuss her relationship with Ben when he returned after having one cigarette. 'How'd that happen?'

'I have no idea. But they're here, and Deputy Nyland admitted that he hasn't eaten all day. The least we can do is offer him some supper.'

'The least we can do? Mother, he hates me.'

'Don't be silly. And when you come, bring the tea pitcher, please.'

Her mother left the kitchen, taking the flatware, a place mat, and a napkin with her.

Berry stared at the food container that had been thrust into her hand, and it felt as alien as all the other disruptive elements that had been thrust at her over the past twenty-four hours.

A violent act, something totally beyond her realm of experience.

A criminal investigation, which was foreign to her.

A deputy sheriff, who was blatantly skeptical of every word out of her mouth.

A private investigator, whose presence in her life was inexplicable.

She placed the food container in the microwave and set the timer. As she watched it count down, she puzzled over her mother's decision to retain the services of Dodge Hanley, a man who was rough around the edges, to say the least. He was the antithesis of Caroline's other acquaintances, who were generally prosperous businessmen, bankers, lawyers, doctors, cultured and refined men like Berry's dad had been.

Moreover, Caroline, who was ever a lady, seemed to take no exception to Dodge's off-color comments. That, to Berry, signaled a worry. There was only one explanation for Caroline's tolerance of his coarseness: she felt he was necessary to them. He was the kind of man you wanted at your back during a fight, which meant that her mother expected one.

Berry feared one, too. Oren wouldn't give up. That she knew. His obsession with her had caused her world to tilt. She had used the last two months to try to get it back on solid footing. But last night, it had been overturned and was now completely out of control.

Her control. She seemed incapable of reclaiming command.

But she must. And in order for that to happen, she recognized that things would get worse before they got better.

The microwave dinged. She dumped the spaghetti onto a plate, added two slices of garlic bread, then put the plate and the iced tea pitcher on a tray and carried it into the dining area, where the other three were gathered around the table. Her mother had laid a place setting in front of the deputy, who stood up when Berry approached the table.

'I hope I didn't put you to any trouble.'

'No trouble.' She served him the plate of food and set the tea pitcher on the table. He didn't sit down until she'd taken a chair.

Then he didn't touch anything until her mother said, 'Don't let it get cold.' He put the napkin in his lap, picked up the fork, and dug in.

He was such a presence. In the semicircular dining area, he seemed exceptionally large, and not only because of his physical size. He was overbearing in intrinsic ways, too. Berry was aware of every blink, every motion. He robbed her of air. But she seemed the only one to be affected.

While he ate, Dodge, with Ski's permission, told them about Oren's coming to the house on foot from a hidden parking space nearer the main road, and his apparent stop at the bait shop restroom.

'That makes me feel a little better about failing to get his license plate number,' Berry said.

'You couldn't have if you'd wanted to,' her mother said.

Dodge asked her if Oren had ever driven a Toyota.

'I don't know. I never paid attention to his car.'

'You never went anywhere with him?' Ski asked.

She hesitated and looked across at Dodge. 'Should we wait until morning, when Mr. Carlisle can join us?'

Before Dodge could answer, Ski said, 'I'm only after information about Starks. You're not a suspect.'

Dodge's eyes narrowed on him as he forked spaghetti into his mouth. 'Okay, Deputy, go ahead. But watch it. Berry, if you're uncomfortable answering a question, don't.'

Ski looked at Berry and let his raised eyebrows repeat the question because his mouth was full. She said, 'I never rode anywhere with Oren.'

He held her gaze for several seconds, then blotted his mouth with his napkin. 'Thanks, that was delicious.'

There wasn't a morsel left on the plate. He'd used the bread to sop up the extra sauce. Since the thank-you had been directed at her, Berry said, 'You're welcome. But all I did was warm it up. Mother actually made it. I'm a terrible cook.'

He smiled across at her mother. 'I'm glad my stomach growled in front of you.'

Warmly, she returned his smile.

Dodge shifted in his seat, touched the pocket of his shirt where he kept his cigarettes, then folded his arms across his chest, looking surly and put out over something.

Ski pushed his plate aside and rested his forearms on the edge of the table. He turned toward Berry. 'I talked to several of the female co-workers whose names you gave me.'

'They told you about Oren's inappropriate flirting?'

'More like inept flirting. Teasing that fell flat, awkwardness in social situations, that sort of thing. They described more of a nuisance than a creep.'

'He's a