“I fucked up.”
Celeste shot Juliet a questioning look. “What did you do this time?”
Juliet dropped her sunglasses on her desk as Celeste followed her into her office. She nodded toward the door so Celeste would shut it.
“I went out with Sienna last night. We went to Neptune’s for a few drinks.”
“So?”
Juliet just sighed.
“Did you sleep with her?” Celeste whisper-shouted with wide eyes.
“Shh. No.”
“Then what’s the problem?” Celeste asked, her hand still resting on the doorknob.
“We talked about…stuff.”
Celeste rolled her eyes.
“Feelings.” Juliet enunciated the word that felt too strange in her mouth.
“Wait. That night at your house, after the baseball game, you told me there was nothing going on. I even asked you about it point-blank. And you laughed at me and told me I was delusional. I knew it, you big liar. I could tell by the way you looked at her,” Celeste said. She was obviously proud of herself.
“There wasn’t anything going on. Isn’t. But okay, I may have denied being attracted to her, because I can’t be. She’s married to my…whatever the fuck he is. My friend! My son’s father. And Declan loves her and wants them to get back together and for them to be a happy little family or some bullshit.” Juliet rubbed the back of her neck furiously.
“So, it’s a forbidden romance? No wonder you want each other. That shit is hot.”
“You are no help at all. It’s not a forbidden romance.” Juliet used air quotes. “I just realized that I like her, a lot, and it’s strange, and we can’t be more than friends. That’s it.”
“Fine, tell yourself whatever you want. But I still don’t see how you fucked up?”
Oh, right. Juliet sighed again and stared at the ceiling. “We went out last night and we both admitted that there was something there. Between us. And now this friendship that we were building is in the toilet because we made it weird. Which really sucks, because I like spending time with her.”
Celeste pursed her lips. “Isn’t this kind of self-imposed, though? Maybe Will would be fine with it. Declan would keep her as a stepmom. Seems like a win-win.”
Juliet stared at her, aghast. “What? Will would not be fine with it. He still loves her and wants to work things out. And Declan would keep her as a stepmom? That is just…I don’t know, I have no words. Both of his parents sleeping with the same woman? That’s the kind of stuff that screws kids up for life. What if it didn’t work out between us down the line? It’s just not a good idea to even entertain the possibility. It couldn’t conceivably end well.” The more she said it out loud, the more she realized just how inappropriate a relationship between the two of them would be. Which depressed her even more than she had been. She sunk lower in her chair.
“I guess you’re right. So, what are you going to do, stop seeing her?”
“I don’t know yet. I don’t want to. Although, I don’t know if she even wants to see me anymore, so I might not have a choice. The whole thing is just fucked.” Juliet sighed. She saw Quinlan walk by her office and glance at them through the window. “Okay, you should go back to your desk. I have to figure out who the hell Restarick is and what he has to do with the Kowalskis.”
* * *
Juliet sat across from Quinlan at the conference room table. Once he finished grumbling about budget constraints and resource restrictions, he sat back and folded his hands behind his head. “What do we have today that we didn’t have yesterday?” he asked.
“Not much, Chief. There wasn’t much on the flash drive that I got from Tara Wolfe, but the IT guys are going through it to see if anything was missed. And I pulled a note from Kowalski’s desk that just says Mr. Restarick. It’s probably not even connected to anything, but I can’t figure out who Restarick is. I have a feeling it means something, but I might be grasping.”
Quinlan continued to stare at the wall. “So, we have a red truck that tried to run Mrs. Kowalski off the road, and Mr. Kowalski died by an overdose of nitroglycerin. They have no known enemies, no unpaid debts, and Rich has no history of mental illness or anything else that might suggest he had suicidal tendencies. The footprints in the dirt were his own, and a search of their house turned up nothing of interest. We have a Post-it Note and a flash drive as our only evidence, and neither one points to anything. Maybe you were right all along, Mitchell. Maybe we should have brought in the big guns, since we clearly have no idea what we’re doing.”
Juliet looked down. She knew Quinlan was just blowing off steam. His favorite go-to when things weren’t going their way was to confirm how terrible they all were at their jobs. Later, he’d apologize and tell them that he was just frustrated. Juliet had been doing the dance with him for a very long time.
“Did Jeffries get you the life insurance info you asked for?” Juliet asked.
Quinlan nodded. “Yep. Rich has twenty-five K and Gretchen has twenty-five K. Not exactly enough to make anyone rich.”
“Were they each other’s beneficiaries?”
“Yeah,” Quinlan said, flipping through some papers. “First beneficiary is each other, second is the daughter. Pretty standard. The daughter’s finances don’t suggest that she’s destitute or in any urgent need. She’s rude, but she’s been forthcoming so far. She let us into her place without any hesitation.”
After a quick knock on the door, Celeste poked her head in. “Sorry to interrupt. The IT guys just sent over some hidden files from that flash drive we sent over. They said it wasn’t any kind of high-tech concealment or anything, but anyone who’s only semi computer literate wouldn’t be able to find them.” She looked pointedly at Juliet. “And they were password protected. Anyway, you’re gonna want to see what’s on it.”
Juliet and Quinlan both went over to Celeste’s desk, where she had a document pulled up on her monitor. She enlarged the view so they both could see it without squinting. Juliet bent over and read.
Coffee—splash of cream only. He only wears solid color ties. No stripes or designs. He’s afraid of the dentist, but he has two crowns, one on a back molar and one on his front tooth. Broke it in sixth grade when he got hit by a baseball. He has to take .4 mg of nitro for chest pain. He wears a size ten shoe.
Juliet stood up straight and looked at Celeste, who was looking back at her expectantly. “It’s odd, but maybe he wanted his assistant to know all of these things so she could manage his appointments and fetch his coffee the right way? He didn’t seem the type, but you never know.”
“Keep reading. It gets a whole lot weirder. Besides, Tara isn’t his personal assistant. She’s the assistant librarian. Very different, she’s like middle management of the library. She shouldn’t be fetching anyone’s anything,” Celeste said.
Juliet leaned back down to continue reading.
That rep from the office supply place came in again today. She flirts with him every single time she’s in here, and they smile and laugh, and she touches his shoulder like she has a chance. Laughable. But Rich plays into it and I don’t understand why. I think he just doesn’t realize it yet. It’s me, Rich. It’s me! I wish I could wave my arms in front of his face and tell him to look at me, to see me, because once he does, he’ll know. Sometimes it seems like he’s so close to acknowledging it, like he’s finally ready. But then he doesn’t say anything, and it must be because Gretchen got into his head or he’s afraid that I’ll reject him. It’s frustrating, but I’m patient. Real love will wait forever. The sooner you come around, the sooner we can start the rest of our lives. You tell her you love her, but words are just words. I think it’s about time I show you what love is.
Quinlan let out a low whistle. Celeste turned her monitor back toward herself.
“Told you,” she said quietly.
Quinlan nodded at Juliet. “Bring her in.”