Part 18 (1/2)

I shrugged and stirred my tea. ”I'm not sure if there's trouble on the team or just with my portion of it. Wyatt and Elizabeth pulled the boys from the team, and the boys blame me.”

I waited for one of those Well, what did you expect? faces, but that's not what I got. Jawarski's eyes softened, and he touched my hand gently. ”Ah h.e.l.l, slugger. I'm sorry. I know how much those kids mean to you.”

I could have handled an I-told-you-so, but that just about did me in. His eyes were so kind, I had to look away, and only Karen's voice running through my head and warning me not to screw this up kept me from pulling my hand away from his. A solid block of something filled my throat, and my eyes burned. I hate crying more than almost anything, but still I forced myself to stay where I was. I just hoped Jawarski would appreciate my sacrifice.

Finally, I found the ability to move my head and managed a small nod. ”It's fine.”

”Yeah.” Jawarski ran his thumb across the back of my hand, then slowly let it go. ”I can see that.” He leaned back in his chair and gazed around the restaurant, giving me a few seconds to pull myself together.

That's the problem with Jawarski. One minute I'm so frustrated by him I'm ready to turn around and walk away; the next he does something so thoughtful I wonder what my life would be like now if he disappeared from it. That thought terrified me. After the breakup of my marriage, I'd vowed never to let myself become dependent on a man again. I'd been so careful to draw clear lines between my life and Jawarski's. I'd kept him at arm's length longer than he wanted me to, and much longer than I wanted to, yet I still hadn't managed to achieve the measure of independence I wanted for myself.

”So,” he said after a lengthy pause, ”where were we, when we were so rudely interrupted the other day?”

”I think you were accusing me of encouraging Marshall Ames.”

Jawarski gave that some thought and shook his head. ”No, if I remember right, we'd already worked through that, and you'd just observed that I'm an emotional wreck of a man carting around so much baggage, you keep tripping over it.” His face didn't betray any emotion, but his eyes danced with amus.e.m.e.nt, and I knew we'd both moved past the edge of the cliff we'd been standing on yesterday.

”I think you're right,” I conceded. ”I was in the process of pointing out how annoying all that baggage can be for someone as emotionally healthy as I am.”

Jawarski grinned lazily. ”Yeah?”

”Yeah.”

He sobered again and said, ”Listen, Abby. About what I said yesterday . . . It was a s.h.i.+tty thing to say.”

I felt my own smile slide from my face. ”Yeah,” I said. ”It was.”

”I shouldn't have said it.”

”No,” I said. ”You shouldn't.”

He fell silent, and his eyes slowly roamed my face. After a long time, he shrugged. ”That's all. I just wanted you to know that it was a s.h.i.+tty thing to say.”

I like the fact that he's not sappy. I'm not either, so it seems to work. ”You're a little late, Jawarski. I knew it was horrid the minute it came out of your mouth.”

”Well, then, next time how about filling me in?”

”You got it.” I waited for a second and tried to look annoyed. ”That's it? You're not even going to apologize?”

He pretended to think about that for a few seconds, then shook his head. ”Nope. I think that's it.”

I reached across the table and punched his arm with more affection than irritation, and we spent the next few minutes poring over our menus and discussing the pros and cons of several choices. After we'd ordered, Jawarski rested both arms on the table and smiled slowly. ”Thought you might be interested to know that we got a lead on Hobbs today.”

Jawarski offering me information about a case was so unexpected, I choked on my tea. He came halfway out of his chair to pat me on the back-which did nothing except knock my breath away each time I almost caught it. When I could breathe again, I waved him back into his chair and picked up as if I hadn't spent the past five minutes coughing and sputtering. ”What did you find out?”

”He was renting a room from a woman named Corelle Davies. She runs a Laundromat over on the north side.”

”Have you talked to her?”

He nodded. ”We have. She didn't have a lot to add, except that Hobbs had been living there for about two months.”

That fit with what I'd already learned. ”If he was here that long, why didn't anybody notice him around town?”

”I'm sure some people did,” Jawarski said, leaning back to avoid hitting our server as he slid a plate of egg rolls in front of us. ”It was just never an issue until he turned up dead.”

I opened a package of disposable chopsticks and spent a few seconds thinking about that while I rubbed the sticks together to get rid of loose splinters. ”Did his landlady say whether he had friends?”

”We asked. She didn't notice anyone hanging around.”

”So Hobbs just rented a room from her and then lived there in seclusion until the night he fell onto the highway in front of my car?”

Jawarski picked up a piece of egg roll and dipped it in the fish sauce. ”That seems to be the story so far.”

”Yeah, well, I don't believe it. In fact, I think Hobbs was a very busy boy from the time he came to Paradise until the night he died.” I leaned in close to make sure I wasn't overheard. ”I talked to a couple of kids who work at Walgreens. One of them saw Hobbs talking to Quentin Ingersol just a few minutes before he turned up dead.”

Jawarski's brows knit. ”My men interviewed those employees-”

”Yeah, I know, but the checkout girl wasn't allowed to talk to the police. Her manager did all the talking.” I gave him Britnee's name and added Chase's for good measure. ”I don't know how much they'll be willing to tell you. They're both under the impression that they can be fired for talking to you, so you might want to find them when they're not working.”

Jawarski nodded and nudged the last piece of egg roll toward me. ”Did she happen to hear what Hobbs and Ingersol were talking about?”

I polished off the egg roll and drained my tea. ”Britnee said that Quentin told Hobbs to back off. What do you suppose that meant?”

”I have no idea, but I plan to find out.”

”I also overheard Quentin having an argument with someone tonight at the recreation center. I couldn't hear everything, but they were talking about a woman who supposedly has proof of something.”

”Oh?” Jawarski looked up, obviously interested. ”How did you manage to overhear them?”

”I was in the ladies' room. They were right outside.”

”You were eavesdropping.”

”Not intentionally. Not at first, anyway. But when I realized they were having an argument, I wasn't going to walk out into the middle of it.”

He grinned and picked up a piece of pickled carrot with his chopsticks. ”Good plan. Any idea who Ingersol was arguing with?”

”None. Sorry.”

We ate in silence for a few seconds, but something was still bothering me, and I had to ask, ”Why are you discussing the case with me?”

”You object?”

”No, but it's definitely a change of pace. Usually, you do that whole cop thing. You know, the 'stay out of the investigation' bit?”

Jawarski chuckled. ”And you always do exactly what I say.”