“You have no idea how glad I am that today is over,” Andrew said, stepping inside Kat’s apartment.
Kat shut the door. “Well, I, for one, am glad it’s not quite over.”
Andrew grinned, and the sight of his dimples caused flutters to erupt in Kat’s stomach. He tilted his head down and pressed his lips against hers, distributing the flutters throughout the rest of her body. No matter how often he kissed her, he still managed to turn her knees to jelly each time.
They broke apart, and Andrew held up the paper bag in his hand. “I brought Chinese, as promised.”
“Great. I’m starving.”
Tom, Kat’s black-and-brown cat, came running over, meowing the whole way.
“Hey, buddy.” Andrew crouched down and set the bag on the floor, holding his arms out to the cat.
Typically Tom greeted Andrew by rolling onto his back in search of belly rubs. But today he brushed right by him, heading straight for the front door. He sniffed at the doorframe, then stretched as high as he could, missing the doorknob by a few inches.
Kat groaned. “He’s been trying to get outside ever since I came home.”
Tom looked at her and let out a plaintive meow.
Kat put her hands on her hips. “I told you already, I didn’t let Matty out. She escaped.”
Tom sat down. The morose look on his face drenched Kat in guilt. He whined, and Kat swore he was berating her for not letting him join in on their fun this morning.
Kat pictured the dog leash wrapped around Jeff’s throat and shuddered. If only Tom knew the truth about their adventure.
Andrew reached over to pet the cat. “You’ll just have to settle for some good, old-fashioned indoor entertainment, Tommy boy.”
Tom sniffed the door one last time before giving in and exposing his stomach.
Kat perched on the couch while Andrew worked on spoiling Tom. She looked over at Matty sitting on the windowsill. Curiously enough, Matty hadn’t tried to bolt when Kat had let Andrew in. Judging by how she hadn’t stopped gazing out the window since Kat had returned home from Lady Fairchild’s, the tortoiseshell was itching to explore more of the neighborhood.
“Okay, buddy, you’re making my legs cramp.” Andrew gave Tom one last tummy scratch before he stood up, walked over to the couch, and sat down next to Kat. “That animal never gets enough attention, does he?”
Kat grinned. “It’s part of his charm.”
Andrew draped one arm around her shoulders. “Yeah, well, he just drained the last bit of energy I had.”
Kat snuggled into him. “I take it you’ve been working on Jeff’s murder case all day.”
“You know I can’t talk about an active investigation, right?”
Kat hid her disappointment behind a shrug. “I was just wondering if you’d caught his killer yet.”
“No, we haven’t.”
“I hope you at least verified my alibi.” Kat couldn’t prevent a note of annoyance from creeping into her tone.
“I looked into it.”
Kat squinted at him, not missing how he had phrased the statement. “And?”
Andrew eyed her. “And what?”
She huffed. “Andrew, I can tell you’re keeping something from me. What is it?”
He blew out a breath, sending a piece of his hair flopping over his forehead. “Okay, fine. Lucy vouched that she saw you running out of the building this morning. She said you looked like you had somewhere urgent to be.”
“I was chasing Matty.”
“The thing is, Lucy said she never saw Matty.”
“What?” Kat leaned away from him, her heart rate spiking. “That’s ridiculous.”
Andrew’s arm fell away from her shoulders. “Well, that’s what she said.”
Kat felt a flash of irritation toward her neighbor until she remembered the armload of grocery bags Lucy had been juggling. “I suppose it’s possible. But she knew I was chasing Matty.”
“She did say that’s what you claimed to have been doing.”
“Claimed?” Heat crept up her cheeks. “That’s how she chose to phrase it?”
“She didn’t say you’d lied, Kat. And her story matches up with what you said, she just wasn’t as sure. That’s not unusual when it comes to eyewitness testimony.”
Kat counted to ten, then took a deep breath. “Well, it doesn’t really matter why I was running out of here, does it? Just the fact that I was here when Lucy came home means I have an alibi for when Jeff died, right?”
“The thing is, given the window of Jeff’s time of death, you could conceivably have killed him after you ran into Lucy.”
Kat absorbed that, her stomach tying itself into a knot. “You can’t honestly believe I killed him.”
“No, but I have a professional obligation to follow the evidence.” Andrew averted his eyes, looking sheepish for the first time since this conversation had started.
Kat slapped her hands on her thighs, prompting Matty to turn away from the window long enough to look at her. “Well, what about Mr. Peterson? Did you talk to him?”
“He said basically the same thing Lucy did, that you were sprinting out of the building this morning as if you had a bug up your pants.”
Kat’s hands balled into fists. “But he saw Matty! He had to know I was going after her.”
“Kat.” Andrew twisted toward her, a muscle in his cheek tensing. “Mr. Peterson seems to think you and Jeff knew each other.”
“What?” Kat swayed against the couch. This conversation was starting to make her head spin.
“Mr. Peterson reported seeing Jeff in the building a few times. Apparently they crossed paths in the elevator. He figured Jeff was going to visit you, that the two of you were—” Andrew swallowed hard. “—dating.”
Kat shot off the couch, her hands jamming onto her hips. “That’s crazy! I’m dating you. Did you tell him that?”
“It’s not my place to correct eyewitnesses. I just take their statements.”
“But you know it’s not true.”
Andrew didn’t reply, and panic bubbled inside her. Did he actually think she was seeing another man behind his back? The notion was ludicrous.
Still, she couldn’t deny that he looked a little sick over the prospect. His pallor had turned ashen, and his shoulders had folded in on themselves.
“Andrew.” Kat sat down next to him and laid her hands on his arm. “I had no idea who Jeff was until this morning. I’d never seen him before in my life. You know I wouldn’t lie to you about that, right?”
Kat could feel her heart thudding against her ribs as he searched her face with his eyes. At the moment, she wasn’t sure if she were more worried about her alibi not holding up or Andrew thinking she might have a second boyfriend.
Finally, he relaxed. “I know you’re not lying. However, that doesn’t explain Mr. Peterson’s observations.”
“I have no idea why Mr. Peterson would have told you something like that.” Kat sat up and snapped her fingers. “Jeff must have been here to see Lucy.”
“I asked. Lucy says Jeff never came to her apartment.”
“She knows him then.”
“Yes.”
Kat grinned. “Well, there you go. Maybe he and Lucy are involved. Maybe he stopped over while she was out, and Mr. Peterson spotted him. Then he left before Lucy even knew he was here.”
Andrew pursed his lips. “Possibly.”
Her smile faded. “You believe me when I say he wasn’t here to visit me though, don’t you?”
“Yes, I believe you.”
They were interrupted by a loud meow. Kat swiveled around, spotting both Tom and Matty standing sentry by the front door. Matty apparently had grown bored with staring out the window and was now ready to implement a sounder action plan.
When the cats saw they had captured her attention, Tom tried to stick his paw between the door and the frame and Matty gazed up at the doorknob as if it might rotate just from the power of her stare.
Kat turned to Andrew and grimaced. “I don’t think they’re going to give up.”
“They will eventually.” Andrew fingered a lock of her hair. “We’ll just have to wait them out.”
“Yeah?” Kat’s heart rate increased. “How do you see us passing all that time?”
Andrew kissed her forehead and stood up. “Gorging on Chinese food, obviously. If we want to beat a couple of stubborn cats at their own game, we’re going to have to keep our strength up.”