Andrew stared at Kat with an incredulous expression. “Teddy Poole was here? In your apartment?”
She nodded. “He must have come over after Sally Jo told him he wasn’t welcome at the dealership right now.”
“I don’t like that one bit.” Andrew raked his fingers through his sandy blond hair. “What did he want?”
“He wanted me to know he didn’t kill Damian Rockport.”
“Why is he telling you that?”
“I guess he heard I might have assisted with solving a crime or two before and wanted my help looking into things.”
Andrew scowled, a reaction that caused Tom’s ears to rotate sideways. The big cat had come running as soon as their visitor had stepped into the apartment. He knew Andrew was always good for a belly rub.
Except, right now Andrew looked too annoyed to pay any attention to Tom. Kat probably should have waited until he was sitting down before announcing that a potential killer had popped in for a chat.
She expelled a breath. “Andrew, I’m fine. Teddy didn’t hurt me. He wanted my help.”
“He shouldn’t have been here at all.” Andrew stepped over Tom and strode to the center of the living room. “And you shouldn’t have let him in. You have no business getting involved.”
Irritation flared inside Kat. “Well, he was right about me helping to solve a few crimes.”
“Yes, and you’ve put yourself in danger more than once. I don’t like you being in harm’s way.”
“That might not be your choice.”
Andrew stomped toward the other side of the room. When he reached the wall he spun around and glared at Kat. She jammed her hands on her hips and glared right back at him. She despised when people told her what to do, even if they might be kinda sorta right.
Matty peeked at the humans from her spot on the cat tree. She must have decided they weren’t as interesting as the birds because she turned back toward the window a second later.
Andrew started pacing back toward the opposite side of the living room. Tom hurried after him, meowing with an urgency that Kat couldn’t decipher. Did he want attention, or was Tom warning Andrew against bossing his human around?
If Tom’s meow was a warning, Andrew didn’t take heed.
“You need to stay out of it, Kat,” he said, stopping so abruptly that Tom collided with his leg.
Tom recovered quickly, rubbing his face against the cuff of Andrew’s slacks as if that was what he had intended to do all along. He wound his way between Andrew’s ankles, then flopped onto the carpet and stretched out to his full length.
“Right now Poole is our prime suspect,” Andrew said, not even glancing at Tom. “All we’re waiting for is something concrete to tie him to that leaky brake line before we officially arrest him.”
“You mean you’re waiting for fingerprint results,” Kat said.
Andrew nodded.
“You realize his prints are going to be all over that car,” Kat told him. “He was in charge of servicing it. In fact, he looked at it just this morning.”
“So he’s said.”
Tom lifted his head and yowled, clearly unhappy about being ignored.
Taking pity on the poor, neglected feline, Kat stooped down to pet him. “You know, Teddy was the one who first brought up the possibility of Damian being murdered. He said there’s no way foul play isn’t involved.”
“So?”
“So if he were guilty why wouldn’t he try to blame the crash on a manufacturing defect?”
“Because he knew we wouldn’t buy it,” Andrew said. “And when we got the car down to the lab and found out what really happened he would only look more guilty for lying to us.”
Kat frowned, her gaze on Tom as if he might help to clarify things. “I don’t know.”
“Guilty people drawing attention to evidence is not unheard of, Kat. And it doesn’t mean Poole is innocent.”
“It doesn’t mean he’s guilty either.”
Andrew slumped onto the sofa and crossed his arms over his chest. “Why are you fighting me on this?”
“I don’t know. He just strikes me as innocent, that’s all. And if you ask me, Damian Rockport’s family had a lot more to gain from his death than Teddy.”
“Oh, I can’t argue with you there.” Andrew stared at her for a moment before his face softened. “Look, we’re not trying to railroad this guy, if that’s what you’re thinking.”
She nodded, some of the fight leaving her system. “I know. You’re a good cop.”
“And trust me, if we find one of the other Rockports’ prints where they shouldn’t be, we’ll be turning our focus on them.”
“But in the meantime, Teddy’s your guy.”
Andrew nodded, sending a chunk of his hair falling over his eyes. He shoved it back into place with one hand.
The gesture made Kat’s heart ache. It was a classic Andrew move, one she found both alluring and warmly familiar.
She sighed. Why did they have to be spending such a pleasant Saturday evening arguing over a suspicious death? She would much rather have spent their time together enjoying a nice meal or watching a movie—or doing anything, really, that wouldn’t pit them against each other on opposite sides of her living room.
Something bit Kat’s hand. She hadn’t realized until then that she’d stopped petting Tom. She gave his side a scratch, but evidently she wasn’t the person he wanted. He jumped up and circled around to the other side of the coffee table, where he could sit by Andrew’s feet and stare at him.
Andrew finally acknowledged the cat. He patted his leg, and Tom leaped into his lap. The feline turned around until he had a good view of the living room, then folded himself into a loaf shape. With his eyes already slipping closed, he looked as if he could stay like that for hours.
Andrew didn’t look at Kat as he plucked a cat hair from his shirt. “I probably shouldn’t be telling you this, but Teddy Poole was observed to have been arguing with Rockport several times in the past couple of weeks.”
It took Kat a moment to realize he was offering her case information, something he rarely did. “He was?” she asked.
“Sally Jo says Rockport had issues with Poole’s work. I gather Poole is a rather sloppy mechanic.”
“Sloppy enough to have damaged a car’s brake lines without noticing what he’d done?” she mused aloud.
“It’s possible. We’ve heard secondhand that Rockport had some serious issues with Poole’s work recently. Sally Jo claims he’d even been considering letting the guy go.”
Kat dropped onto the couch next to Andrew. “No wonder he’s your number one suspect.”
“If Poole’s carelessness is what got Rockport killed he won’t be guilty of murder, but he could still be facing some serious charges.”
Kat considered another possibility. Could Teddy have intentionally cut those brake lines because he feared Damian Rockport was on the verge of firing him, then come over here with that story about being innocent in the hopes of getting her to pin his crime on someone else?
The thought didn’t make Kat happy. And if that was Teddy’s intent he would be in for a big surprise. Because, like Andrew, she had no intention of railroading an innocent person.
She just wished she knew who in this case was innocent and who was guilty.