“Yes. He did bike deliveries for us.” She sniffed. “May he rest in peace. The poor man, taken before his time.”
I nodded. “You’re right, he wasn’t very old. I just met him on Sunday. Had he been ill?”
“No,” Debbie scoffed. “He was the healthiest guy around. But these things happen. We never know how long we have on this earth.” She excused herself and left.
Jason and I clinked glasses.
“Here’s to old friends,” he said.
“To old friends.” I sipped the cool, buttery wine and set my glass down. “And carpe diem, too. Because Debbie is absolutely right. None of us knows how long we have.”
“I heard about Etxgeberria’s death today. You didn’t seem surprised when she said he had died.”
I traced the condensation on my glass for a moment. “Zoe’s mother and I have had a couple meals together this week. Liz and my mom were good friends. Anyway, Liz has a police scanner. She told me this afternoon about Paul being discovered dead in his apartment.”
He wrinkled his nose. “Why does she have a police scanner? Because of Zoe’s habit? I thought she’d gone through rehab.”
“Yeah, but she keeps using again, according to Liz. I think she wants to know if . . .” I couldn’t finish it.
“If Zoe ODs.” Jason kept his voice gentle.
“Right.” I took another sip of the cool, smooth wine. “But back to Paul. From what Liz heard, he was found dead on the floor exactly like my mother, and an EMT mentioned the word aneurysm. How would they know on the spot what caused his death? I mean, as long as he wasn’t shot or stabbed or something. Why did they say aneur ysm?”
“I’m not sure. But I’ll ask around, okay?”
“Suppose he was murdered with something that made it look like a ruptured aneurysm. Poisoned. Are your fellow officers going to ask the neighbors what they saw? Try to find a security cam?” I heard the angst in my voice.
“Take it easy, Rob. You know I deal with cybercrime, not homicide crime scene analysis, right?”
I nodded.
“The guy was relatively young and he died unattended,” Jason said. “Of course they’ll do an investigation. It’s due diligence.”
“Will you tell them about the possibility of poisoning by fumigant?”
“Yes, Robbie.” He spoke patiently, as if to a pesky child. “I’m not sure they’ll give it much credence, but I’ll run it by them.”
“Thank you.” I flashed back to my dinner with Alana. “I saw Paul walking with Katherine Russom on Hendry’s yesterday afternoon. It kind of looked like they were arguing. At least disagreeing about something.”
“Does the two of them arguing surprise you?” Jason asked. “I mean, Katherine finds something to disagree about with everyone, as far as I remember.”
“True. But I don’t know, maybe it has something to do with his death.”
He gazed at me over the top of his glasses. Finally, he spoke. “I’ll tell the detective on the case. Probably a long shot, but it’s a piece of information.”
Debbie returned. “Did you want to order food, folks?”
“I haven’t even looked at the menu,” I said. “Can you give us a minute?”
“You got it. I’ll be back.” She bustled away.
I stared at the list of dishes. “What do you recommend?” I asked Jason.
“Everything’s great, really. Fish and chips sounds ordinary, but their take on it is super good. They get fish from a local guy, too. Plus the artichokes, of course. Turn the menu over.”
I flipped over the long card. “Whoa. They have a whole section only for artichokes. Deep-fried hearts? I think I’ve died and gone to heaven.”
He laughed. “Let’s split some of those, plus a whole ’choke hot with dipping butter to start.”
“You speak my mind, dude. I’m so not in Indiana anymore.”
Chapter 19
Jason never got to order an entree, though. The deep-fried hearts had a perfect crunchy crust encasing a creamy inside, and the dipping butter for the whole artichoke was flavored with lemon and capers. We were nearly through the delectable appetizers when his phone buzzed in the case on his belt.
He checked it and shook his head. “This is why I drank seltzer, Rob. Gotta hit the station. I’m sorry to strand you.” He pulled out his wallet.
I waved him away. “Just go. I’ll treat you to your very expensive drink and the apps.”
“Thanks.”
“What’s the call?”
“Unfortunately, it’s an Internet predator. A middle-aged pervert who poses as a high school boy and tries to lure underage girls to meet him in person.”
“Ick. And you can track him down?”
His smile was wicked. “Better than anybody else around. We’ve been on the trail of this particular one for a while. Looks like we might finally have him.” He hopped off his stool. “Let’s get together again before you go home. Deal?”
“Deal. And Jason?”
“Yeah?”
“If you hear anything about, um, what happened earlier today, you’ll let me know?”
The smile slid off his face. “If I can, I will.” He cocked his head. “But you’ll leave police work to the police, I assume.”
“Of course.” How could I not? A little unofficial investigation wouldn’t hurt, though.
Another fist bump—Jason and I had never been on a hugging basis—and he was gone, off to nail a pedophile. Good. Monsters like that should have no place in the world.
Debbie strolled up. “Where’d your friend go?”
“He got called into work, but I’m going to stay and eat. Can I order the small size of fish and chips, and a small greens salad with the clementine vinaigrette, please?”
“Sure. Another glass of wine?”
“Why not? You know, I love that you have two choices of entree sizes. It makes so much sense.”
“We aim to please.”
“I have a restaurant back in Indiana where I live, but we serve only breakfast and lunch.”
“Neat.” She set a fist on her khaki-clad hip. “You do it all yourself?”
“No.” I laughed. “I have two awesome helpers. They both cook, but don’t mind busing tables or washing dishes, too. The three of us make it happen and have fun doing it.”
“My hat’s off to you,” she
