Chapter 3

 

Neither was the case. Jake walked through the door. He looked right at me. At first he had that tough detective expression. Then it softened and he smiled.

He shifted his gaze to Dorothy. “Good morning, Dorothy. How are you?”

“I’m great, Jake. Nice to see you.”

Jake turned his attention to me again. That was when his eyes widened. I remembered I still had my swimsuit on from my trip to the beach.

“Relaxed dress code now?” he asked with a laugh.

I sighed. “I was at the beach and a client needed me. I hurried back here so she could speak with me about the case.” I put emphasis on the words ‘the case.’ I wanted to make sure he knew it was an important one. Soon enough he would find out just how important it was.

“Mind if I have a seat?” he asked, pointing to the chair in front of my desk.

I was acutely aware of being undressed now. Regardless, I nodded. “Sure, please sit down.”

Did my words seem icy still? I supposed I was less angry with him now, but not completely over it.

As soon as Jake sat down, he asked, “So what is this case you’re working on? It sounds important.”

I knew that I had piqued his interest. Although I wanted to wait a bit before telling him. He still had to apologize for making me leave the scene of the crime.

“Oh, it’s a regular case,” I said with a wave of my hand.

He raised an eyebrow. Now I knew he was even more curious.

“I missed talking with you last night,” he said.

Dorothy interrupted the small talk when she handed us peppermints. Jake smiled and took the candy. He popped it into his mouth. “Are you still angry with me?”

I unwrapped the candy and took my time before answering him. I wanted a bit more time to think about my answer. It was hard to be angry with him when he looked at me with those gorgeous blue eyes. After all, he was just doing his job.

Jake stared at me for a moment, and then he finally said the words that I had been waiting for. “I’m sorry, Maggie. I’m sorry that I asked you to leave the scene of the crime. I just hope that you can understand why I did that. It’s not that I think you’re not a great detective, because you are. I just didn’t want you to be hurt.”

“See, Maggie, I told you that was the reason,” Dorothy said, gesturing with her knitting needles.

“I understand that,” I said. “Maybe you could have just asked me in a different way.”

“And how would that be?” Jake asked with a smile.

“I don’t know. I’ll get back with you on that,” I said, hiding my smile.

“It’s just that, you know, you’re kind of hardheaded.” He leaned back in the chair.

“Pointing out a character flaw when you’re apologizing is probably not a good idea, Jake,” Dorothy said while knitting.

I agreed with her on that.

“Good point,” Jake said around a laugh.

Did he think this was all humorous? I just hoped that he took me and my business seriously.

“So you accept my apology?” he asked.

“Yes, I do accept it. Thank you.”

I felt better about everything now.

Jake stared at me for a moment then he said, “Are you going to tell me about the special case you’re working on? I can tell by the tone of your voice that there’s something special about it, and I think that it’s something you want me to know.” He raised an eyebrow.

Darn it. He knew me too well. He was reading me. So now it was time that I revealed the truth.

I folded my hands together and placed them on my desk in a very professional position. “All right. The woman who came to see me this morning is the wife of the man who was on the boat that exploded yesterday.”

Jake’s eyes widened. “Why was she here?”

“She hired me to investigate the case.” I remained expressionless.

Jake eyed me suspiciously. “Are you making this up just because I don’t want you involved in the case?”

Now I would have to take back the acceptance of his apology. “No, I’m telling the truth.”

“She was here, Jake, I saw her,” Dorothy added.

“What did she say about the case?” Jake asked.

“I’m not sure I can give you that information,” I said.

“When she hired you did she tell you exactly what was going on?”

“She told me that her husband was killed in the explosion. Of course she said the police suspect her of the murder.”

“She’s right. I do suspect her. I think it’s a bad idea for you to be involved with her, Maggie.”

“Well, I’m going to investigate this, and I’ll be the one to judge whether I should get involved or not.”

He shook his head. “Just please be safe. What did she tell you about the case? Do you have any details that you can share with me?”

“Sorry, I don’t have anything like that yet.”

Did Jake think I was lying to him? It was true though. She hadn’t given me information yet.

“There was one thing though. She thinks people are following her,” Dorothy said.

I looked at her as if telling her to be quiet. She went back to the socks she was knitting and continued weaving the yarn.

Jake leaned back in the chair and sighed. “You’ll let me know if you find out anything significant? I would love more than anything not to be suspicious of her right now. I just can’t help it.”

“I’ll make sure to let you know,” I said.

I was being honest. If I thought something was important I would share with him. I didn’t want to put my life in danger any more than he wanted me to be there.

Jake’s phone rang. He looked at the number and then he said, “I have to go, but would you consider going out to dinner tonight? That is if you’re not mad at me still.”

“Well, I did have a lot of things to work on with the case, but I suppose dinner would be okay.”

He stood from the chair. “I’ll pick you up at seven?”

“Seven sounds good,” I said.