In her wildest dreams, Rosie never could have imagined she’d be standing outside Erik Beaumont’s door again, and certainly not at seven a.m. wearing blue jeans and a hooded sweatshirt.
The door opened. He wore black sweats and a stone-cold sober expression of sheer confusion. “Hey.”
“Hey.”
Stepping outside into the hallway, he pulled the door shut behind himself.
She frowned. “On the phone you promised me coffee.”
“Yeah.” He finger-combed his hair, more a helpless gesture than an attempt to detangle and smooth the black mop. “In a minute, okay?”
In a minute. All right, she could give him a minute. Then I’m out of here. Are You listening, Lord?
He had phoned the police station in desperate need—according to Sgt. Susie Hall—to speak with Officer Delgado. Fans of the heartthrob- slash-newsman had been coming out of the walls since his DUI, Susie foremost among them. Once she’d deciphered that no crime or medical emergency was involved with Erik’s phone call, she told him she could pass his phone number along to Delgado.
Half asleep, half in tune with the previous night’s concern that haunted her dreams, Rosie had called him.
She rubbed sleep from her eyes now. “No more bandage on the hand.”
He turned it palm side up. The cut was still evident. “Won’t need to cover it today. No chance of it bleeding all over the news desk since I won’t be sitting at the news desk.” His chuckle sounded bitter. “Anyway, thanks for coming.”
“Sure. Why don’t you tell me what’s going on?”
“I don’t know where to begin.”
“Cut to the chase, Beaumont. Did you do it or not?”
“Do what?”
“Murder Ms. Matthews and/or the person with whom she’s two-timing you.”
He barked a noise of disbelief. “Yeah, right! If only it were that simple.”
“And I was going to apologize for being flippant. I’m sorry. Did they fire you?”
“Yes. No. Who knows? The suits have to sort it out.”
“So the job and the girlfriend aren’t the issue right now?”
“There’s a woman inside.” Speaking seemed difficult for him. He kept pausing, as if not sure what words to use.
Suddenly Rosie wished she had her gun. She knew better than to leave home without it. People were just plain weird, most especially the spoiled rich and famous. Why had this man called her? Why had she come?
Because she prayed for him and he asked for help.
Her dad warned that she let her faith cancel out her common sense. Someday, he feared, she would regret it.
Beaumont said, “We didn’t know who else to call.”
“We?”
“My brother and sister are here too. 911 didn’t quite fit. I told them I had met this helpful cop. I thought you’d be in uniform.” He wiggled a finger at the back of his neck. “And the bun.”
She glared at him. “Last night was my night off. I should be sleeping right now so I can work tonight. Go call someone on duty if you want official.”
“Sorry.”
She made a show of glancing at her watch. “You’re thirty seconds over time.”
“Okay, okay. This woman says she’s my cousin. That my uncle was her father. Benjamin Charles Beaumont Jr. He’s MIA. Vietnam. Over thirty years ago.”
Rosie blinked, taking in the enormity of what he had said. “Wow. Just out of the blue?”
“Yeah. Last night, when we were leaving the studio, she approached us. I guess I was the easy one to find.”
“Well, it seems like good news. In a way. At least it makes your uncle no longer MIA. You’ll find out what happened to him now.”
“She’s got papers, but how do we know she’s telling the truth?”
“You need to call Immigration or the Department of Defense. Start with one of them. They’re in the phone book.”
“This is going to be a major blow to our grandparents.”
“That would be your uncle’s parents?”
“And our dad’s.”
“It’s closure, Erik. Closure is always part of healing, distressful as it can be.” Nuts. Had she really just called him by his first name?
“I suppose.” He gave her a small smile, borderline authentic. “See how helpful you are? We’ve been basket cases all night. You show up and within two minutes you’ve calmly put everything into perspective.”
“That’s a cop’s job.”
“Officer Delgado, will you come inside and calm my brother and sister and this strange person who says she’s our cousin?”
Rosie crossed her arms and looked at the floor. Meeting the family of a DUI dodger was not part of a cop’s job. Her dad would say this was when her common sense should kick in. Her partner would say the neon welcome sign for her Adopt the Hopeless Club flashed big-time. He would say it was overdue to burn out.
What did they know?
She looked up at him. “Is coffee involved?”
He grinned and opened the door for her.
Beaumont’s living room area still had the look of a hurricane’s aftermath. The kitchen fared better. Rosie noticed a young guy at the sink, up to his elbows in sudsy water, and figured he was the reason for a semblance of order.
The scent of coffee beckoned, and she followed Erik toward it.
“This is my brother, Danny,” Erik said.
He turned with a polite smile and wiped his hands on a towel.
“Dan, this is Officer Delgado.” He looked at her. “I don’t know your first name.”
Danny shook her hand, grinning. “You’re not supposed to, dork. Nice to meet you, Officer. Can I get you some coffee?”
“Yes, please. Black.”
Erik said, “How come I’m not supposed to?”
She shrugged at him.
Ignoring his brother, Dan poured coffee into a mug. “Thanks for coming.”
“Sure.”
Her immediate impression of Dan was that he didn’t resemble his brother in the least. He was shorter and friendly without the phony charm. His shaggy hair was brown, his eyes dark.
He handed her the cup. “It’s been a long night. Did he tell you?”
“Yes. I don’t know what I can do to help, except suggest which agencies to call.”
“That’d be great.”
He filled two more mugs and gave one to Erik.
“Um,” she said, “you guys could have figured that out for yourselves. Why call me?”
Dan looked at Erik. “You didn’t tell her.”
“I was getting to it.”
Dan said to her, “Plain and simple. This woman, this Tuyen, is scared to death. She wants a police escort to meet her grandparents.”
“Why?”
“We haven’t figured that one out yet. All she says is ‘police, please.’”
A police escort? To meet family?
Rosie went to the table and sat, hoping the caffeine would deliver a heavy dose of common sense.