“Sorry. Merry Christmas to you.”
“I haven’t really had enough time to check her out completely, but she seems to be what she says she is,” Dan said. “She lives in an apartment about three blocks from the UT campus. They’re on Christmas break so I haven’t actually seen her go into a classroom, but I have a couple of friends on the faculty in the criminal justice department, and they tell me she’s a grad student, and a damned good one. One of them told me she’s been accepted to law school, so she’s telling the truth about that. I went to the Sessions Court clerk’s office and the affidavit is on file from her DUI arrest, so that’s legitimate unless they’re going to a great deal of trouble to try to sting you. I’ve followed her a couple of times, and she hasn’t met with anybody that appears to be a cop. She went to lunch and to the grocery store the first time I followed her. The second time she went to the West Towne Mall and did some Christmas shopping.”
“Any boyfriends? Seen any men around?”
“Haven’t seen any. Why?”
“Just wondering. If she has a boyfriend, I’d be concerned because of the way she hit on me at the office.”
“You’re not thinking about calling her or going out with her, are you?” Dan said.
I was thinking about calling her. I’d thought about it a dozen times since Grace had booted me, but I wasn’t about to tell Reid. “No, of course not. I’m still with Grace.”
“I’ll let you know if anything changes, but from what I’ve seen so far, she doesn’t appear to be working for the police.”
“Thanks, Dan,” I said. “Have a nice Christmas.”
CHAPTER 44
As soon as I hung up, I left the motel and drove to the office, which was closed for the holidays, and found Katherine Davis’s file. In it was her cell phone number. I’d had trouble getting her off my mind, I was lonely, and since Grace had made it clear she didn’t want me around and Dan Reid said Katherine wasn’t a rat, I decided to call her.
“I can’t believe you’re calling me,” she said when she picked up the phone. “I put your cell number in my contacts and when I looked at my phone and saw your name, my heart almost jumped out of my chest.”
“I’m no longer engaged,” I said, “but I’m still old.”
“Men are in their prime at your age,” she said. “At least that’s what I’ve heard. Are you in your prime?”
“I don’t know. I guess we’ll have to see about that. Would you like to get together?”
“Absolutely. When?”
“How about around five o’clock? I have to do some last-minute shopping and could use a little help. It’s Christmas Eve, so I’ll understand completely if you’re already booked.”
“I have a family thing at my parents’ house at eight,” she said. “Would you like to come along?”
“Thanks, but I think I’d be pretty uncomfortable. Not to mention your parents.”
“My parents are easygoing,” she said.
“Thanks again, but I think I’ll pass. Another time, maybe.”
“No, no, come and pick me up at five. We’ll do your shopping, and you can drop me back at my place before eight.”
“Okay,” I said. “I’ll see in a few hours.”
I wasn’t enough of a psychopath to forget the promise I’d made to myself about Julius Antone, the linebacker on our championship football team. On Christmas Eve around seven o’clock, Katherine and I walked up to the door of a duplex in a government-subsidized housing project in East Knoxville. I was carrying a large box that contained a turkey, a ham, several different kinds of vegetables, bread, desserts, butter, and a couple of gallons of milk. Katherine had her arms full of gifts for Julius, his ten-year-old brother, his eight-year-old brother, his six-year-old sister, his mother, and her boyfriend. I’d bought gift cards for the mother and the boyfriend, but I’d bought gifts for the kids and had them wrapped. I bought one card, signed it “Merry Christmas, Santa Claus,” and put it on top of the box containing the food. My car was running, parked by the curb on the street. As we stood outside the door, I could hear voices and a television inside, so I knew they were home.
We set the boxes down, I knocked on the door, and then we turned and ran to my car. It was already dark, and in that part of town there weren’t many streetlights. Julius had no idea what kind of car I was driving since I hadn’t seen him since my mother’s house was bombed and my car was destroyed. Katherine and I sat in my car with the lights off and watched as Julius’s mother opened the door, looked down, and saw the boxes. Gradually, the doorway filled with members of the family. They looked at my car, but they couldn’t see who was inside.
“Merry Christmas, buddy,” I said out loud as I put the car in drive and pulled away from the curb.
“That was sweet,” Katherine said as we rode back toward her apartment. I’d filled her in on Julius and his family’s situation while we were driving to the grocery store. “Are you always this kind?”
“I try to do what I think is right whenever I can,” I said.
“Well, that was one of the nicest things I’ve ever seen anyone do,” she said. “Thank you for allowing me to be a part of it.”
“Thanks for helping me out,” I said. “Can I ask you a question?”
“Sure. Fire away.”
“Why didn’t you say anything about what happened to my mother when you were in the office? And you haven’t mentioned it this evening. I know you know about it. Everybody knows about it.”
“I just didn’t think it was appropriate,” she said. “I came to your office for help on my DUI charge. I had no idea anything personal would come of it. I mean, I had no idea I’d be so attracted to you. And from what I read in the paper, what happened to her was such a horrible thing. I didn’t think it was my place to bring it up. Do you want to talk about it?”
“No, no, it’s not that,” I said as I turned into the parking lot of her apartment complex. “It just seems like everybody brings it up. I was a little surprised when you didn’t.”
“It’s none of my business,” she said, “unless you want it to be. If you ever want to talk about it, all you have to do is start talking. I’m a good listener.”
I pulled into a parking space near where I’d picked her up and put the car in park. I didn’t want to leave her because she smelled like lemon musk, she looked like a Victoria’s Secret model, and she touched me a lot. They were just little pats on the arm and thigh, but they were electric. She also laughed a lot—light and airy laughter that filled the inside of the car and made me smile. The thought of going back to the motel alone was becoming more and more unsavory.
“One more question,” I said. “Why don’t you have a boyfriend or a husband? As pretty and as smart as you are, I can’t believe someone hasn’t snapped you up.”
She smiled at me and winked. “I’m picky,” she said. “Haven’t found the right guy up to this point, but things seem to be looking up.”
“Have a nice Christmas,” I said.