I immediately got excited. I had to admit, I was kind of digging this super-sleuth stuff.
Then I remembered last night.
I let out a sigh.
“No can do. Tex, the cat sitter, and me kinda broke into Tim’s last night and found him dead in his kitchen and it wasn’t pretty.”
Ally was silent for a beat and then she said, “You went without me? You went with the crazy cat sitter?”
“I was breaking and entering! Tex showed up in the middle of it. We found Tim dead, Ally. Trust me, be glad you weren’t there. This is over. Lee’s turned it over to Hank.”
“What about your bet?” Ally asked.
I thought about Lee’s plans for the day. I thought about what Andrea said.
“I think I lost.”
Truthfully, I wasn’t too broken up about it.
“Well, at least that’s a piece of good news.”
I told her about Fortnum’s and she told me she’d call Jane if I put up the sign. Then I flipped the phone shut and walked into the kitchen.
Matt was there and so was another guy. The other guy was at least six foot six and looked like Tex’s son, except without the beard and with a little bit more of his mental health intact.
Matt said, “Hey.”
I tilted my head and smiled.
“Hey yourself.”
Lee was standing in the kitchen with his fists at his hips and he watched this exchange, his mouth set.
I noticed, belatedly, that Lee had already showered that morning, his dark hair was still slightly damp, curling a bit along his neck and behind his ear. I also noted he needed a haircut but it looked good on him. Very good. Too good. He wore supremely faded jeans and a red t-shirt that was tight in all the right places. His feet were bare.
When I got within reaching distance, his arm shot out and pulled me to him with a hand hooked around my neck. My front pretty much slammed against his side and his arm curled further around my shoulders. From the blood draining out of Matt’s face, I’d say that the Lee’s point had been made. If he banged on his chest and grunted, “Indy, my woman,” he wouldn’t have made the point any better.
Men.
Lee introduced the other guy as Bobby and then said, “We’ve found Duke.”
My stomach clenched and my body tensed. At that point, I simply could not handle bad news, especially about Duke.
I tilted my head to look up at Lee and before I could control my reaction and not look like a total girl in front of the guys, I breathed, “Please.”
Lee’s eyes went that melty-chocolate again as he looked at me and his hand went from my shoulder to stroke my jaw.
“He’s fine, took a bender detour to Sturgis. He’s been briefed and he’s on his way home now.”
That sounded like Duke. Only Duke would detour from the Western Slope of Colorado to South Dakota for a bender.
The door buzzer went and I disengaged from Lee to answer it. It was Hank.
Hank smiled his greeting at the door I opened for him and we walked in, his arm slung around my shoulders.
“I guess you were wrong about being broken up with Lee by your Dad’s barbeque,” he teased.
My eyes shot to Lee and his eyebrows went up.
Oopsie.
“Yeah, guess I was wrong,” I muttered.
Hank dropped his arm and looked at Lee, no more teasing, all business.
“We gotta talk about last night.”
“Yeah?” Lee said.
“Anyone want coffee?” I asked.
Hank’s eyes slid to me, then back to Lee.
“Maybe we should go into the Command Center,” Hank said.
Lee’s lips twitched at Hank’s reference to the Command Center but he said, “You can talk in front of Indy.”
Hank quickly sucked some breath into his nose and then on an exhalation said, “I was afraid of that.”
I passed coffee all around, everyone took it black except me. I jumped up on the counter to listen.
“They think they caught a break. Shubert had been dead more than a day, looks professional, but they found fresh blood at scene. Whoever broke in cut themselves at the window. They’re hoping that the killer went back in search of something.”
Without thinking, I looked to my shoulder, where I’d landed on the glass, pulling back my tee to see if I’d been cut. I hadn’t noticed any cuts or felt any but the time since the breakin had been pretty filled up with emotional mayhem, a cut could go unnoticed.
Then it hit me how very, very stupid I was and I turned, slowly, back to the men.
Lee had a hand at his waist, the other one holding the mug and he was looking at his feet. I was pretty sure he was trying not to smile (at least I hoped so). Matt and Bobby, who were undoubtedly recruited for clean up last night and knew the whole story, were both watching me and smiling, flat out.
Hank was staring at me like I was a particularly gruesome roadside accident.
Hank’s eyes swung to Lee.
“I was worried it was yours.”
Both Matt and Bobby pulled in breath at this shocking statement.
Even Lee was incredulous. “I wouldn’t leave blood at a scene. Hell, I wouldn’t even break a fucking window.”