Murder Under Cover

anyone?”

Robin grabbed hold of both our arms and pulled us closer, then looked back and forth from Derek to me. “I’m a little nutso right now, so thank you for tolerating me. I owe you both so much for coming to my rescue today. I’m not sure I can ever repay you, but I love you for it. Thank you.”

“It’s what friends do,” Derek said.

“Well put,” she said, and kissed him smack-dab on the lips. Then she turned and did the same to me.

I laughed and gave her a tight hug. “You really are crazy-you know that? But I love you, too.”

She looked at Derek. “So it’s settled.”

“It’s settled,” he said with a nod.

“Guess we’re having a sleepover,” I said, still not sure what they’d settled, but glad about it.

“So what’s for dinner?” she asked, grabbing the bag of cookies.

“I’ve recently developed quite a taste for pad thai noodles,” Derek offered.

“My favorite.” Robin clapped her hands, then turned to me. “Do we have wine?”

“Oh, hell, yes.” I quickly pulled a bottle out of the wine rack and grabbed the corkscrew. It was better than tea any day of the week.

Later that evening, as we watched reruns of Nash Bridges and nibbled on red velvet cupcakes, Derek’s cell phone rang. I paused the show, because Derek had never seen it, and despite his best intentions, he was starting to get into it.

He mostly listened on his end, and the call was over in less than two minutes. Turning to Robin, he said, “That was Inspector Lee. They did find traces of Rohypnol in your system.”

“I knew it,” I said. “That bastard.” I whipped around and grabbed Robin’s hand. “Sorry. But really, what a jerk.”

“Yeah, I guess so.” She seemed a little dazed by the reality of what had been done to her.

“The inspector will call you tomorrow morning to set up a time to come by so she can discuss things in detail with you.”

“Why did she call you?” Robin wondered aloud. “She could’ve called me and cut out the middleman.”

“She probably thinks you took a Valium and went to bed,” I said.

She sank back into the couch. “Oh, what a good idea.”

I looked at Derek. “Do you have to work tomorrow?”

“Yes, but I’ll arrange to be here when she comes.”

“Thank you, Derek,” Robin said. “Again.”

He waved away her thanks. “I’m just being meddlesome. I want to hear what the police are up to.”

I chuckled. “Me, too.”

“No,” Robin said. “You’re being heroic and protective, and I appreciate it.”

I nudged her with my elbow. “You don’t have to keep saying thank-you. You would do the same for us.”

“I know, but… it’s weird.” She laid her head back on the couch.

“I know, sweetie.”

A noise like hailstones pitter-pattered outside in the hall, and we all looked at one another. “What the hell is that?”

I jumped up and ran to the front door.

Three Asian children were running up and down the wide, well-lit outer hallway. As they raced toward my door, the lead child saw me and skidded to a stop, causing the other two to collide into each other. The last child tumbled to the floor, laughing.

“Children!” a dark-haired woman cried from the end of the hall. She had to be their mother.

They all stood at attention. The tallest child, a little boy, stared at me with wide eyes while the two girls looked at the floor. I estimated the boy was six or seven and his siblings a year or two younger.

“You’re disturbing the peace of our neighbors,” the mom said. “What did I tell you about making noise?”

I waved at the woman standing outside her door. “Hello. I’m Brooklyn. You must be our new neighbors.”

“Yes. I am very sorry for the children’s behavior.” She approached my door slowly as she explained, “They have been cooped up all day, and I let them out to greet their father, who should be here any minute.” She gazed severely at her children. “But that is no excuse for such rambunctious conduct.”

“Sorry, Mama,” they said in unison.

“Perhaps you should apologize to our new neighbor, so she won’t think you are all little hooligans.”

“Sorry, new neighbor,” they said.

I bit back a laugh. “That’s okay.” I looked at the mom. “I heard them running and came out to investigate. Except for the elevator, this is a pretty quiet building.” I cringed inwardly as I said it. I didn’t want her feeling self- conscious and stifling her kids too much. On the other hand, did I really want to hear little kids racing up and down the hall all day? The answer was a big no way.

“I’m Lisa Chung,” the woman said. She was beautiful and petite, with long black hair. She had a mild Chinese accent.

“I’m Brooklyn Wainwright.” I shook her hand, then pointed toward my door. “These are my friends Derek Stone and Robin Tully.”

She bowed slightly in our direction. “How do you do?”

“Did you just arrive today?” I asked. “We saw movers over the weekend but didn’t see anyone actually moving in.”

“Yes, the movers came ahead of us. We came in with the children this morning.”

The Chungs had caused a stir a few months ago when they bought two loft units next door to each other, then tore down the shared walls to make one huge apartment to accommodate their family of five.

The boy gazed up at me. “Do you live here?”

“Yes, I’m Brooklyn. What’s your name?”

“Tyler Chung and I’m six,” he said. He was adorable, with straight black hair cut in a bowl shape around his face. All three kids wore jeans and T-shirts and looked red cheeked and out of breath from playing. “These are my cousins Jennifer and Jessica. They’re five years old and they are twins. Their parents are dead. They live with us now.”

“Tyler, that is more information than anyone needs to hear,” Lisa said, but she had to smile at his lack of guile.

We all traded hellos back and forth.

“You’re so pretty,” Tyler said, still watching me.

“Why, thank you,” I said, taken aback. It had been a long time since a six-year-old had flirted with me.

“He doesn’t get to meet a lot of blondes,” his mother said.

I laughed. “Well, it was nice meeting you all. And welcome to the building. I hope you’ll enjoy it here.”

“Thank you very much,” she said with another short bow. “The children will not bother you.”

“I’m not worried.”

“We plan to have an open house sometime in the next few weeks. Perhaps you will all stop by.”

“We would be honored,” I said. “Thanks.”

The following morning, I woke up alone and a bit disoriented. Derek’s side of the bed was still warm, and I ran my hand over his pillow. Then, feeling self-conscious, I pulled my hand back.

This whole new-relationship thing was crazy, I thought as I stared at the ceiling. I’d dated plenty of men. I’d even been engaged to a few of them. But I’d never before felt this baffling, thrilling, tingly craziness.

I liked it, but I didn’t trust it. How could anything this intense stand a chance of surviving more than a few months at the most? I was essentially a positive person. I saw the glass as half-full, and I believed in miracles. Still, it was madness to think this blissful feeling could last much longer. Certainly not a lifetime.

And if that was the way my thoughts were moving, it was time to wrangle them back to reality. I vowed right then and there to take things with Derek one day at a time. No way in hell would I start making plans for the future. Okay, maybe we could schedule a dinner two weeks from now, but that was the outside limit.

The scent of robust coffee wafted into the bedroom, and mercifully, all my errant thoughts dissolved into the ether. Except for one: Feed me.