“Good. I’ll notify you about the cost of the window and have the contractor contact you.” Aud gestured for Tadwell to walk toward the door.
“Very well.” Tadwell paused on the threshold. “I’ll process everything personally.” He held out a hand to Aud.
When Aud shook it, he noted that it was still trembling slightly. “Thank you, Mr. Tadwell. I’ll be in touch.”
“Thank you, Mr. Sorenson.” Tadwell turned and hurried toward his car that was parked on the street in front of the house.
Aud didn’t wait for the little man to drive off. He closed the door and pulled out his phone. Seconds later, Heather answered his call. “Go ahead and call the glaziers.”
“I’ve been working on it,” she replied. “It’s the weekend. So far, I’ve only gotten through to one who’s willing to come out today. He should be there in about thirty minutes or so.”
The news lightened Aud’s mood. “Thanks, Heather. You’re awesome.”
“So you keep telling me. Anything out of place at the house? Or maybe I should ask if there was anything additional out of place there.”
“Not that I’ve been able to find so far.” Aud glanced around the room. The familiar walls with his handpicked artwork didn’t look right with the light from the bay window missing. The whole house had a dark, foreboding feel to it he didn’t like.
“I guess that’s good. I hope with all the cops around everywhere last night, Randal will think twice before he tries anything else.”
“That would be nice.” A piece of glass the police had missed crunched under his foot. Aud bent down and fished it out of the carpet fibers and tossed it in the wire wastebasket next to his desk.
“Well, we’re fairly slow around here so far. I don’t think I’m going to have a problem dealing with everything by myself today.”
“I have complete faith you can handle it.” Aud finally settled into his computer chair. It was far enough away from the window that the glass hadn’t reached it or his desk. “I’m going to get some cleaning and organizing done here. After the window’s repaired, I’ll go find Leo. I could really use some quiet time with him.”
She laughed softly. “Good luck with that. Every time the two of you try and find some alone time, shit blows up.”
“Yeah. I’m really ready for things to calm down. Leo’s a great guy. I think we might have the start of something interesting. But it would be nice for life to back off and be mellow for a little while, at least.”
“As long as the sex stays interesting… right?”
Aud didn’t hear her laugh, but it wasn’t unthinkable for her to cover the phone to hide her mirth. “Whatever. Since when did you become so interested in my sex life?”
“Since you started being happier because Leo is around. Seeing you happy makes me happy. Keep it up.” She paused, and in the distance came the sound of her greeting a customer. “Hey, I need to get off here. I can’t keep your business afloat on the phone.”
“Right. Go sell something expensive.” Aud hung up before she could come back with something snarky. A warm smile crossed his lips as he remembered Leo telling him the same thing.
He set the phone down on the yellow invoice from the handyman. Quiet filled the house. The lack of noise suddenly felt oppressive. Aud got up and turned on the stereo, hitting the button to tell his CD changer to randomly play through the various discs in the carousel. With disco music pouring out of the speakers, he walked into the bedroom and started moving bags of laundry out to his car.
By the time he was done with that chore, the glazier had arrived, took measurements, and gave him an estimate. When Aud approved it, he said he’d have to go see if he had a piece of glass big enough, then hurried off, promising to return or call shortly.
Aud settled back at his desk. His sketchpad caught his attention. The sketch of Leo still isn’t done to my liking. He flipped open the pad, pulled out a pencil, and set to work putting in the final details to really bring the image to life. He worked until his phone rang with a number he didn’t recognize. A stab of nervousness hit him as he answered it.
25
CARS PACKED the parking lot at Walmart. Leo finally found a space out near the street. He, Felix, and Julie hiked toward the store in silence. They’d all been unusually quiet at brunch. Leo kept hoping Aud would call and say he was on the way, but when he finally called, it had just been to let Leo know the insurance adjuster stopped by, and Aud was waiting for the contractor to get there and see if they could get the window fixed, even if it was a Saturday.
The cheerful elderly greeter broke the silence when he offered them a cart.
Leo took the cart while Julie and Felix fell in beside him. “Okay, so what kinds of things would you like to stock the kitchen with?” He glanced at Felix.