“My bad. With Austin, you never know. Maybe I should stop by with some of the city’s safety pamphlets and cookies. I could invite him to the next Business-to-Business meeting. At least then we wouldn’t need to talk about Josh’s trash obsession.” I sat up. “You want some iced tea?”
Greg nodded, apparently lost in thought again. “Sure. I’d forgotten about Josh’s pictures. I need to . . .” He stopped as he noticed me watching. “And I’m setting you off again. Maybe you need a boyfriend who has a safe job.”
“Like banking?” I stood up and opened the back door, pausing to add, “Look what that got Sherry. A dead boyfriend.”
Greg didn’t laugh.
“Wait, am I missing something here?” I leaned against the doorway. “You’ve been MIA for a few days dealing with Kent’s death, Darla’s running all over town telling people he was murdered, and Toby tells me you’ve been talking to Sherry. You don’t think . . .”
I didn’t get the rest of the sentence out before he kissed me. “I do think that you need to stay out of this investigation. I don’t know if Kent died naturally or if it was murder, but I do know you need to stop poking around in things. I worry about you when you go off and sleuth.”
I led him into the kitchen and handed him the self-help book Leslie and Anne had raved about. “Not to worry, my cure is forthcoming.”
He paged through the book as I poured two glasses of tea over ice. “Not your usual reading choice. This is about how to be more confident. What’s that got to do with staying out of my investigations?”
I pondered his question, sipping down almost half of the tea. I’d been thirsty from the walk. Then I shrugged. “I couldn’t find a book about learning to mind your own business in thirty days or less. I guess this will have to do.”
His laugh echoed through the kitchen. He set the book down on the table and leaned against the cabinet watching me. “You are something else, you know it?”
“A good something else?”
He nodded and pulled me into a long kiss. “A great something else.”
“You’ll be glad to know that Amy and I are doing a girls’ night tonight, no talking about investigations or murders allowed. Just girly drinks and talk about men, and beauty products.”
“Sounds like fun. I’m glad you’re taking a break. Just don’t be driving,” Greg teased.
I held a hand up in a pledge. “No way will I give Toby the satisfaction of hauling me in.”
Over our second glass of tea, I brought up the mystery dinner. “Darla was wondering when we could schedule another dress rehearsal. We need to send out a new date for the performance. The women’s shelter was kind of hoping for the boost this quarter. I guess their state funding has been a little unreliable this year.”
Greg shook his head. “I don’t know when this investigation will be complete. I’m waiting on a call from Doc Ames with the autopsy results, but you know it takes a couple of weeks for the tox reports from the lab. Even if Doc thinks it’s natural, he won’t issue a final determination until he sees those.”
“Darla says it’s drugs.” I gave him the rumor since he would hear about it sooner or later.
He sighed. “I told her to keep her mouth shut. I guess that was a little hopeful.”
“Maybe she only told me?” I tried to put a positive spin on the situation.
“More likely she’s already submitted her article for Saturday’s edition. That woman burns me sometimes.” Greg finished his second glass of tea and opened the screen door. He took the wet, slobbery ball from Emma and threw it. Emma bounded off the porch. He grabbed a kitchen towel from the counter and wiped his hands.
“She is a reporter. What did you expect?” I stood and got the pitcher from the refrigerator. “You want a refill?”
Greg’s phone buzzed and he put up a hand. “Hold on.” He read the text and then returned his phone to his pocket. He put his glass into the sink. “Sorry, I’ve got to run to Bakerstown again.”
“The autopsy’s done?” I filled my own glass and returned the pitcher to the fridge.
He nodded. “And from what Doc Ames said, you can tell Darla that we need to postpone the dinner for a while.”
I put my hand on his arm. “Kent was murdered?”
Greg leaned down and kissed me good-bye. “Official wording is suspicious.”
CHAPTER 8
I spent the rest of Friday before meeting Amy doing laundry and reading. I pulled out a notebook and made a list of all the rules from Be a Tiger. I had to admit, the woman had lived an interesting life, although some of the things she did, I could never pull off. When I worked at the law firm, I worked many long hours mostly because the other associates knew I wouldn’t say no when they asked for help. What they hadn’t known was that I liked working long hours because it kept me away from home and my ex-husband. Not one of my proudest memories, but true. This woman would have kicked the jerk out, told the other associates no, and probably still made partner two years sooner than anyone else had before.