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“SO HOW DID THE DATE go?” Katie asked Dana eagerly that night. It was as if she’d stayed up late to hear the juicy details.
“Well, it went well at first, but ended kind of crazy.”
“What do you mean crazy?” Katie asked. “Girl, what did you do?” She placed her hands on her hips.
“I didn’t do anything except try to follow that shady guy that was at Ned’s Antique store.” Dana told Katie what happened at the bar.
“The mystery guy from Ned’s Antique Store?”
“Yup. We tried to chase him down to see what he was hiding. He took off as soon as he spotted me. I told Troy that he’d been stalking me outside the Antiques store. I think Troy was going to speak to him and ask him some questions. But he fled. But other than that the date was...nice.”
“Other than that? It was nice?” Katie arched a brow, incredulously.
“Yes, we spoke about a lot of things when we got back to our seat. We spoke about relationships and why people cheat. You know his ex-girlfriend pulled a number on his heart, too. So we had that in common with cheating exes.”
“See. You do have something in common. And what a nice touch that he takes his mama out. You want to know how a guy will treat you, watch how he treats his mama. Girl, you’ve got a good catch.”
“I guess.” Dana flushed. But it wasn’t all in stone yet. They were just seeing each other. Nothing serious.
“Also, I asked him to look into Chuck’s outfits to see if the button matches,” Dana added.
“Good point. You think it could have come from the killer?”
“Yup. I really don’t think it was his button. I mean, the shirt he had on in the picture was a white T-shirt. You could see his tattoos on his arms. He also wore jeans. Where on earth would he get a blue shirt button from? He didn’t look like the type of guy that wore buttoned up shirts.”
“True, I guess. What did Troy say about that?”
“He was very grateful and was going to look into it.”
“Nice...And...did you two kiss again?”
“Katie!”
Katie gave Dana the look.
“Yes,” Dana finally admitted a moment later, “but I’m not one to kiss and tell.”
But oh, she loved his kiss. The way his lips magically brushed against hers after their date. It was very delicious, if you could call kisses that.
“But could I really be seeing a cop? It’s exciting but...”
“Dana. Stop the self-sabotage. You know what Grandma Rae used to say about that?”
“Right. Relationship sabotage is usually an inside job.”
“Right, girl. If you know all this, why do it?”
Dana rolled her eyes. “Fine, Miss Busy Body. What about you?”
“I date!” she said defensively.
“Okay, you’re right, you do date, don’t you?”
Katie had been divorced and never spoke much of her ex. She just moved on and partied like it was going out of style. She worked hard and played hard.
“Tomorrow, I’m going to Bea’s salon. I’m also going to see if I can pick up some more helpful information for the case to help Troy while he handles the investigation.”
“Good.”
“And he’s glad that I’m leaving it to the police.”
“How do you feel about that?”
“Not good. But I’ve got to learn to trust him, right? Besides, I’m busy with the café and then I still have to finish that next blog post for the riddle of the week.”
“Right. Can’t believe you’ve gone from monthly to weekly.”
“The demand is there. Readers want more and I’m glad to provide the entertainment. Grandma Rae used to always encourage me.”
“I miss her.”
“Me, too. But I really want to clear this whole thing up, soon.” A nagging feeling got to Dana. She trusted Troy and the guys at the station, but she felt that there might be more. Something was bothering her. What was it? Or whom was it?
Was it Kim, Ned’s mischievous soon-to-be ex wife?
Was it Mrs. Samsfield, Chuck’s unhappy widow?
Was it that mystery guy outside the Antique’s store, presumably named Sammy?
Or was it Tiffany, Ned’s hot-tempered assistant?
She wasn’t about to leave Tiffany off the table. Not just yet anyway.