Derek’s mouth opened in surprise. “Did you not get invited?”
“Oh, I did. But Cynthia has always been a bitch. Trust me, we’ll both be happier when I don’t show up.” I pulled up my chair and sat down. “Now, will you tell Bridget to come to my office, please?”
“Bridget’s been told that you have to handle investigating this case on your own.”
“Excuse me?”
“The other partners decided that since you are doing another case pro bono, they can’t afford to have Bridget do more work when you’re not bringing in any billable hours. They really need her working on the Schultz Auto case.”
“Damn it.” Schultz Auto Sales was a big client who paid our firm a lot of money. I understood that it took top priority. “I knew we should have hired another investigator.”
“You tried, remember? You didn’t like any of them.”
“Right now, a bad one would be better than no one.” This was really going to cut into my time on other cases.
“Do you still want me to get her?”
“No.” I was just going to handle it myself.
By the time Friday evening rolled around, I was exhausted. Despite being busy, I still missed Tommy. Unfortunately, I hadn’t had a minute to spare to talk to him on the phone, and I’d barely texted with him.
It was a good reminder that relationships didn’t work for me.
When I got home that night, I was on alert as I entered my house, but as usual, nothing was wrong. I hadn’t received any more threats in the mail either. I didn’t quite think everything would be back to normal until Tate’s case was over, but I hoped the mail that had been delivered to my home was the peak of terrorization I received from the mysterious person. And I was still optimistic that there would be a DNA match sooner rather than later.
I quickly grabbed a yogurt and banana from the kitchen and went to my room. I stuffed food down my throat as I got ready for bed. These days, I was all about multitasking.
When I was finished, I threw the container and peel in the garbage and headed to bed for another lonely night of sleep.
Right before I crawled in, I ran my fingers over the book Tommy had left at my house. I should put it on my bookshelf, but for some reason, I couldn’t bring myself to do that. Every once in a while, I looked to see what he was reading on Kindle, too. So far, he hadn’t signed up for his own account, and it pleased me way too much.
Someday soon, I was going to have to push him out of my mind and forget about him because he clearly had a home and a life back in Virginia, and he had never indicated he wanted anything more than hot vacation sex.
Today wasn’t going to be that day.
The next morning, all thoughts of exorcising Tommy from my mind were gone when I stepped outside.
37
Tommy
I had just finished hauling in a load of drywall to Maddox’s basement when my phone rang.
It was still early in the morning. The weather had been very humid lately, so Maddox and I had been getting up at dawn to start work before we felt like we were being suffocated from the heat.
Whoever was calling me at this hour was either an early bird or they were calling about something important.
Turned out to be both.
I was surprised to see Olivia’s name on my caller ID. We’d barely exchanged any messages all week, which let me know just how she felt about me. It was apparent that I felt more for her than she did me.
“Hello?”
“Hey, Tommy.” She sounded hesitant, as if I wouldn’t want to hear from her.
“Hey yourself.”
“Are you busy?”
“Um”—I looked at Maddox—“just working on the basement, but we were about to take a break.”
He nodded and went upstairs.
“Is there something I can help you with?”
Jesus, we’d gone from spending every night together to some weird formality. As if I hadn’t made her come multiple times.
“I’m not sure. I have a situation, and I guess I was looking for your input.”
My chest puffed out. Of all people, she had come to me with her problem.
“I’ll do my best. Hit me.”
“When I woke up this morning, there was a dead cat on my doorstep. Do you think I should be worried?”
“I’ll be there in forty-five minutes.”
“But I live at least an hour away.”
“Not with the way I’ll be driving.”
“You don’t have to come, Tommy. I called you for advice.”
“Olivia, we’re not going to argue about this. I’m coming.”
“I don’t think it’s that big of a—”
“Call the police. I’ll see you in forty-five.” I hung up the phone and took the stairs two at a time.
Maddox gave me the keys to his SUV without hesitation, and I took off for Olivia’s after stopping to pick up my bag. I wasn’t planning to come back to Brook Creek anytime soon.
Because of the small detour to grab my stuff, it took me an hour to get to her place. When I arrived, I called her as I pulled into her driveway.
“Open your garage door,” I said after she answered.
I hopped out of Maddox’s SUV and marched into the garage to see her standing in the doorway.
“Did the police show up yet?”
“No.”
I cursed. I understood this wasn’t an emergency situation and Olivia’s life wasn’t in immediate danger, but I was frustrated that they hadn’t shown up yet.
I couldn’t help but picture her dead on her doorstep instead of a cat.
“Come inside,” she said. “I’ll show you that poor animal.”
We walked to the front door. When she opened it, I knelt down and studied it the best I could without stepping outside in case there was evidence I might disturb. It was the reason I had come in through the garage.
The first thing I noticed was the absence of blood. The second was the marks on the
