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I don’t know how long it takes to clear up a crime scene, but I remembered when we found Clarence it had seemed to go on forever.
I was in a curtained cubicle near the emergency room, and after they checked me over they seemed to forget about me, except for the young nurse who stuck her head in every once in a while to make sure I hadn’t expired.
My phone was busted – I must have dropped it in my tussle with Katz – so I couldn’t call anyone. All my numbers were in my phone, so I couldn’t look anything up. I was pretty much stuck until Petreski came for me.
I was just starting to get irritable when he finally showed up, pulling back the curtain and looking me over. “They give you the all clear?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did you see Jennifer?”
“No. I think they’ve forgotten about me.”
He went around the corner. I leaned my head back and closed my eyes. If anything needed to be done, Petreski – Ruben – would take care of it
“You ready to go?”
“Hmm?” I opened my eyes to see Petreski standing over me.
“You wanna go home?”
“God, yes,” I said, sitting up and swinging my legs over the side of the bed. “They’re letting me go?”
“I told them you were dangerous.”
“Har har har.”
He helped me to his car – I was sore and stiff from lying in bed all day. I think that was actually worse than getting slammed into a car. I was surprised at how tired I was, and I was starving.
“My phone is busted,” I grumbled at the dashboard.
“We’ll get you a new one.”
“But I want to order a pizza and I don’t have a phone.”
“I’ll take care of it when I get you home. A hot shower will do wonders for your aches and pains.”
“Speaking from experience?”
“Yep.”
I didn’t like thinking about him getting tossed around and landing on cars so I didn’t ask him any more questions.
We got to my building and he helped me up the stairs to my apartment. Don came out to the landing – we weren’t exactly quiet and I can complain loudly when I want to.
“Oh my God! What happened to you?!”
“Josh Katz threw me at a car.”
“What?!”
“He’s fine,” Petreski told him. “You can get the whole story tomorrow, okay?”
“Yeah, okay.” Don stepped back into his apartment, scooping up Bridger who had come to investigate the commotion.
Petreski unlocked my door and I shuffled inside.
“Go take a shower,” Petreski said, pushing me towards the bathroom. I nodded and moved in that direction.
“Don’t peek!” I managed to call out as I headed in that direction.
“I’ll, uh, do my best,” Petreski said after a few seconds.
He was right about the shower, and by the time I emerged, dressed in clean clothes, my mental fog had lifted and a hot pizza was waiting for me.
“Beer?” Petreski asked. “The doctor said you don’t have a concussion so it should be okay.”
“Yeah.”
He came back from the kitchen with two open beers and sat them on the coffee table before sitting next to me on the sofa.
“You haven’t asked me about Katz.”
“What about him? He came at us with an ice pick, so I’m assuming that was the murder weapon and he killed Wilton and Thrasher.”
“Forensics is running tests, but I’m going to say that’s likely the case.”
“I knew it wasn’t Helena Wilton.”
“You didn’t know. You had a theory.” He picked up his beer.
“Yeah, but it was a really good theory, wasn’t it?”
“I can’t argue with that.”
“The thing I’m wondering about, though, is the ice pick.”
“What about it?”
“Why no one noticed it was missing, or no one identified an ice pick as the murder weapon.”
“An ice pick was on the short list. And we did find a couple of ice picks at the Wilton house – they entertained quite a bit and had more than one fully stocked bar. But no one could say if all the ice picks there were accounted for. They’re cheap and easily replaceable – not the kind of thing you inventory or keep track of or even think about.”
“Unless you’re looking for one and can’t find it.”
“Exactly. Is that what happened?”
“Yeah. Jennifer Katz was going to fix us a couple of drinks. The ice in the freezer was stuck together, but when she looked for the ice pick she couldn’t find it. I was going to help her look for it, but when she described what it looked like... I just knew. I heard a noise from the service porch, so I tried to get us both out of there as quick as I could.”
“That probably saved both your lives.”
I shrugged. I didn’t want to think about what could have happened.
He took a long swallow from his beer and returned it to the table.
“What?” I asked. I knew there was something.
“I need to tell you something... weird.”
“And that would be different from anything else that’s happened lately how?”
“Touché. But seriously, this is something you should know. About me.”
“Shit, Ruben. You’re starting to freak me out here.”
“Yeah – that. See, I’ve never really liked the name Ruben.”
“Oh, good. No offense, but it makes you sound like a sandwich, and it’s kind of hard to say.”
“I like it better when you call me Boo.”
I blinked at him a couple of times before answering. “When... when have I called you Boo?” Although, I had a feeling I knew.
“It’s kind of like how you just knew Raymond’s name was Raymond.”
I nodded, not taking my eyes off his face.
“When I was a kid, my little sister couldn’t say Ruben. The closest she could get was Boo, and it stuck. My whole family calls me Boo now.”
I kept sitting there, looking at him, at that steady green stare and his silky dark hair and I started getting pissed off.
“I think I need to drink my beer now,” I said.
“Okay.”
I drank about half of the beer, sitting there looking at him and processing this strange conversation.
“Jake? Are you... are you okay?”
“I’m not sure yet.”
“Okay.”
“I think I need to eat something. This is kind of big to process on an empty stomach.”
He opened the pizza box and I saw that he had ordered my favorite again, but this time there were anchovies on his half. Of course there were.
“You can put anchovies on the whole thing next time,” I said, and I could feel him relax next to me.
We devoured the pizza in silence. Where does a conversation go after something like that, anyway? I had questions – lots and lots of questions, but there was one thing that bothered me and needed to be addressed.
I put my plate down, wiped my hands on a paper towel, and turned to look him in the eye.
“I’m not entirely happy with you at the moment.”
“I know. I’m sorry. .I would have –”
“Did you come around to spy on us? On me and Don? To find out if we knew anything?”
“No! I swear.”
“So?”
“The first time I came it was that day you told me about Katz. At the coffee shop. I had seen you at the crime scene, but everything was moving so fast that morning... Anyway, when I saw you again, at Ground Up, it was like a gut punch, okay? I couldn’t come as myself, so I came as Boo. I had to see you. You know why I kept coming back. Don’t say you don’t.”
“But – but – I told Boo – told you! I told you all kinds of really personal, private stuff!”
Petreski settled back into the sofa and pulled me down with him. “I know! It was awesome!”
“It was not awesome! It was personal! I feel so... so exposed!”
“You didn’t tell me anything embarrassing. It is nice to know that you think I’m hunky, though. Do you really think I’m hunky?”
“Not anymore I don’t.”
He buried his face in my neck and laughed. “You do! You so do!”
“Oh my gosh! You peeked! When I was in the shower! When I was getting dressed! You are such a pervert!”
He was still laughing when he answered. “Like you wouldn’t have done the same thing in my place?”
I didn’t answer, but I didn’t push him away either. I probably should have been more shocked that Petreski was Boo, or Boo was Petreski, or whatever. But honestly? After everything else that had happened, it hardly seemed worth the energy.
“Perez is like you, isn’t she?”
“Like me?”
“A... a... cat person? Werecat? Oh gosh, she is! That time Boo – you – brought the lady cat that didn’t like me! Animals always like me. That was Perez, wasn’t it?”
He nodded, like he didn’t want to admit it. I thought about Perez, trying to remember something she had said that seemed strange at the time.
“Do you – I mean, werecats or whatever in general – do you have regular cats, as pets?”
“We just call ourselves Cat. And no, we like cats, but it would seem strange to us to keep one as a pet.”
“Perez said something strange. We saw her at the pet store looking at cat treats. Don asked her if she had a cat and she said not at the moment. But it sounded funny when she said it. What did she mean?”
“That is really not my story to tell.”
“She won’t tell me, though, will she? She can barely be civil to me. If I can understand her better maybe I can figure out how to relate to her.”
He sighed and leaned back. “She had a daughter.”
“Had?”
“Yeah. Perez was just a rookie then. She was young and crazy in love. She got pregnant, and the guy took off. She kept the baby, named her Roxie. She was beautiful, and a little badass, just like her mom.”
“What... what happened?”
“Leukemia. She just got sick one day, and kept getting sicker. It happened fast, and Perez has been angry ever since.”
“But, the cat treats?”
“Roxie’s father was human, but Roxie was Cat. Perez always called her Little Kitten. Towards the end, when Roxie had no appetite, cat treats were the only thing that she would eat, human or Cat.”
“That is so freaking sad.” I could feel myself starting to tear up. I wasn’t sure I was ready to shed tears for Perez, but I could shed them for little Roxie.
“Yeah. Sometimes, when she’s got it bad, she’ll get the treats.”
I wiped at my eyes with the back of my hand. “Okay. I need you to stop talking now.”
He pulled me down next to him and I turned to lean into his strength. “Don’t you dare tell Perez I cried.”
“I wouldn’t dare tell Perez that I told you about her daughter. She’ll probably figure out that I did, but as long as I don’t admit it she won’t claw me up.”
We stayed like that for a while, but me being me I had more questions.
“Do you – y’all – is there... do you... hmm. Is there such a thing as werewolves?”
“I don’t know.”
“How can you not know?”
“As far as I know I’ve never met one. I can’t say for sure. I just know about Cats. That’s enough to keep me busy. That, and murders, and you.”
“Speaking of me...”
“Yes?”
“In the books there’s this thing about mates. Is that real?”
“Only in books. You really need to start reading something other than paranormal romance. There’s no mystical bond or anything like that. We’re not bound. You can reject me, and it’ll be like any other rejection. I’m not going to die or anything ridiculous like that.”
“Oh, good.” I was maybe a little disappointed. I sat up straight, so I could see his face. “But then, why? I mean, you moved in pretty fast, there, Detective Boo.”
“Well, there’s no mystical bond, but there’s instinct. Scents and pheromones, that kind of thing. They’re powerful for Cats, and those did draw me to you.”
“So, basically, you like the way I smell.”
“Something like that. Too weird?”
“Not any weirder than anything else that’s happened lately.”
“So, you’re not going to kick me out?” He looked up at me, his green eyes hopeful and teasing.
“No, Boo, I’m not kicking you out. Besides,” I leaned down to whisper in his ear, “I fed you. You have to stay.”
Coming in early 2016
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Not a Mermaid
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It’s July in Houston, and heat waves and storm warnings have everyone on edge. When the rains finally come, Jake Hillebrand’s strange dreams take a sinister turn, leading to the body of a young woman in a flooded bayou. What appears at first to be a drowning turns out to be foul play, and Detective Ruben “Boo” Petreski is on the case.
Jake tries to stay out of their way, but the problem with being friendly and approachable is that people keep wanting to tell him things he probably shouldn’t know.
