Murder is Academic (15 page)

“Laura, I think it was my business. It’s part of your life, or, at least, it
was
part of your life. I understand that your son and you rarely see each other.”

I let out a sound that could have passed for a roar and headed for the phone. “I’m going to call that SOB and tell him what I think of him right now. He’s got some nerve blabbering about my life to you.”

Guy planted himself between the phone and me. “You can settle with him later. Right now we need to talk. Sit down.”

I surprised myself by doing just that. Guy poured us both some more wine. “Look, I think we got into this thing far faster and deeper than we planned, and I guess both of us are a little gun shy about relationships. I know I am. We skipped over the getting to know you part and went right to the getting you into bed part. That’s not very smart especially since what I know of you I really like, a lot. And I think you like me too.”

I shook my head no and tried to interrupt.

“Shut up. Your turn to spill your guts will come soon enough. The last time we were together, you remember, at the house here, I didn’t stay the night. Well, I was getting scared. I thought we should slow down a bit. Clichéd stuff, I know, but I think we do need to slow it down some.”

At this point I was practically jumping out of my chair. He gestured to me to keep silent a minute more.

“I know what you’re trying to say, so I’ll save you the trouble. Yes, any man is a real horse’s ass if he begins an intimate relationship with a woman while he’s married. But I’m not. I mean I’m not a horse’s ass. I’m not married. I’m divorced, like you. The oldest boy and the oldest girl are mine. The other two girls are from my wife’s current marriage. I couldn’t resist exaggerating a little about the number of kids. I wondered if I knew enough about you to predict your reaction, and I was right on the money. You’ll have to forgive me for getting carried away.” He reached out his hand and lightly touched mine.

“See, Laura. This is the stuff that should have been part of our time together and wasn’t. I’m sorry I couldn’t trust you more to have told you, but you weren’t telling me much about your life either, so I thought you weren’t interested in more than a summer fling. But I had a hard time believing that about you. You’re just too complicated a person to be that shallow about relationships or even sex. I’m sorry. I was wrong not to tell you about my family. The kids are very important to me. They’re part of my life. I hope you’re a part of my life, too. Okay, your turn. Oh, but first. Tell me you’re sorry too.”

“What? What have I to be sorry about?” I was working myself up to another roar.

“You’re sorry—even though you wouldn’t think of saying it, so I thought I’d help you out—you’re sorry because you were wrong not to tell me about your family. You’re sorry because you led me to believe that you wanted nothing more from me than a little sex.” He held up his hand to ward off my interruption.

“You’re sorry because you didn’t trust me enough to open up about the important things in your life. I’m assuming here that your son, even though you don’t see him much, is important to you.” Guy smiled at me and took another sip of his wine.

“God, you have some nerve.”
Did he, when all he said was true?
“And it wasn’t a little sex we had, it was a lot of sex.” I looked at him and smiled back. The fire went out of me and was being replaced by a warm glow located somewhere between my knees and my waist.

“And it was damn good sex, too.” He reached out again for my hand. This time he lifted me out of the chair and pulled me into his arms.

“Whoa. If we’re going to slow down, I suggest we begin here and now. You said it. We need to talk, so… Friends?” I pushed him away and held out my hand.

“Friends.” He shook my hand until my teeth chattered in my head. “That doesn’t mean we’re going to be platonic friends. It just means we need to put the sex in perspective.”

“Funny you should be saying all this. Annie told me the other day I built too many fences around myself where you were concerned. Somehow, despite those fences, you’ve found a way to sneak in.” I picked up my wineglass and began to leave the room.

“Where are you going?” The look on his face told me it would take very little effort for me to lead him up to my bedroom.

“Not where you think. If we’re going to talk. Let’s get comfortable on the deck. The storm is over, the moon is out and the night smells heavenly. Let’s not waste it cooped up in my kitchen.”

He put his arm around me, and we headed for the deck. By the time we finished talking, the moon was high in the night sky. Guy yawned, stretched and got up.

“Time for me to head home to my apartment. By the way, Der caught me up on Stanford’s death. Suicide, I guess?”

“Maybe. Maybe not. I’m not convinced.” We walked arm-in-arm out to his bike.

“So I gather you’re doing some sleuthing? Der said you’d favor Pruitt for the murder. I think he does too.” Guy turned to me and pulled me into the circle of his arms. It was tempting to ask him to stay the night, but it wasn’t what we agreed to do. Not yet, anyway.

“That bum. How did he know I’d pick Pruitt?”

“He called him the logical suspect.”

“Logical, yes. But there’s no proof. I intend to rattle his cage when I get the chance.”

“Laura, be careful. If Pruitt is a murderer, he won’t take your meddling well.”

“I don’t think he’ll consider me a threat. He doesn’t take me seriously. He just thinks of me as a real pain in the ass.”

“Well, he’s right about some things.”

I jabbed him in the shoulder. Not that I could hurt him much. All muscle.
Oooooh.

He put on his helmet, turned and kissed me goodnight. It was not a kiss for platonic friends, and it almost shattered my newly found balance. His too, I guessed, as he skidded out of my drive.

Sleep was a long time coming.

Chapter 14

There was something awful happening to my ears the next morning, and I worried the infection had come back, but it was only the phone ringing at dawn.

“Hi, it’s Der.”

“Der who?”

“I’m in your driveway on my cell phone. There’s no sign of Annie or anyone else here. Is there any coffee?”

“I know you’re curious as hell to find out about Guy and me, so I’ll be down in a jiff to unlock the door.”

I threw on my robe and headed for the stairs. By the time I reached the door he was standing there impatiently waiting for me to open it. He held a pastry box in his hands.

“Actually, I knew Annie wouldn’t be here. She was, uhm, busy last night with Ron, and I thought you might want some breakfast, so I brought these.” He handed me the box.

“You lie so bad. Your real motive for being here is to pry into my personal life. I know all about your conversation with Guy last night. You’ve got a lot of nerve telling him about my life.” I found it difficult to work up any steam over Der’s transgression. I was too happy Guy and I talked.

I dropped my diatribe before I really got rolling and began to grind beans for the coffee. Der settled himself at the table and grabbed one of the jelly donuts.

“Your life is your business, although, if you don’t mind my saying so, I’m confused, especially when it comes to you and men.” He ignored the warning look I shot him.

“What do you want in a relationship? Never mind. I’ve said too much. Anyway, Guy was talking to me about his family, and the information about your divorce and your son just kind of fit in with what we were discussing. Sorry if I was out of line.”

My God, he was apologizing, and there was a sheepish look on his face.

“You can’t fool me with that humble and apologetic pose, Der Pasquis. What do you want? You’re here for a reason,” I knew him too well to ever expect an apology from him without strings attached.

I set a cup of coffee in front of him and joined him at the table with my own cup. After giving the donuts some consideration, I shoved the box away from me.
Just not in the mood for sugar.

“So what’s up that you have to wake me at…” I looked at the kitchen clock, “seven o’clock in the morning?”

“I stopped by Annie’s late last night to drop off Ron.” He caught my look of curiosity and added before I could ask, “That’s another story I’ll fill you in on later. And she mentioned your visit to Bunny and your suspicions about Rudolf Pruitt. I think you’ve got something there. I’m rechecking his alibi for later the afternoon Talbot was killed, but it seems pretty tight. His secretary Nancy indicated the two of them spent the late afternoon and early evening in the office working.”

I snorted and coffee shot out of my mouth.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nancy would vouch for Rudolf even if he’d confessed to her he tortured small animals. She’s hardly a reliable alibi in my estimation.”

“And would Nancy have helped him, do you think?”

“I doubt that. She’s entirely too nervous for that kind of work, but she certainly would serve as an alibi for him.”

Last night I thought I would pay Rudolf a visit sometime today to talk with him about my conversation with Bunny, but now I looked forward to seeing Nancy first. I thought I could easily push her into telling the truth about Rudolf’s whereabouts the day Talbot was killed.

“If you’re thinking what I think you’re thinking, don’t,” Der said. “That’s my job. Try to stay away from our major suspects before you get yourself into trouble. That includes any follow-up visits to Bunny also.”

“Do you suspect something is going on with Bunny? What? I couldn’t make any real sense out of her comments to Rudolf.”

“Why don’t you repeat your conversation with her to me?”

I went over my evening with Bunny, indicating to him that I thought she was telling me the truth. I didn’t share with him my suspicion that there was something about the condo situation that might prove interesting to explore with Rudolf. I was a little offended at his warning me off the case, especially when it was clear he needed me and he knew it.

“That’s why you stopped by? To get my take on the conversation with Bunny?”

“And to caution you about interviewing potential witnesses. That’s interfering with police business, and it could prove dangerous for you. We have an unsolved murder on our hands, you know.” He scowled at me. I heard a motorcycle turning into my drive.

“My cue to leave.” He seemed about to say something else, but flapped his hand in the air as if to dismiss the thought.

“Hey, just a minute. What’s going on with Annie and Ron? You dropped him off at Annie’s last night?”

“Tell you what. You level with me about what you know and what you suspect about the Bunny involvement, you promise to stay away from my witnesses, and you notify me anytime a suspicion enters your head, and I’ll tell you about Annie and Ron. Otherwise, call her and find out yourself.”

Damn.
The man was a lot more insightful than I gave him credit for, but I couldn’t agree to his terms.

“I’ll call her.”

Der shook his head, mumbling something about getting me involved in his murder investigation in the first place. He turned to find Guy standing in the doorway, offered a surly good morning to him, then left through the kitchen door still muttering to himself. I was about to offer Guy a cup of coffee when Der’s head appeared back in the doorway.

“I don’t suppose you have any control whatsoever over your girlfriend here.” Der didn’t look hopeful of a positive reply. “I just told her to butt out of this case before she got hurt and I got mad. I don’t suppose that will do any good, do you think?”

Before Guy could formulate an answer, Der was off again still shaking his head with an air of defeat about his shoulders.

Guy gave me a good morning hug and kiss on the cheek.

“Aren’t we being good!” I teased as I kissed him back on his cheek.

“For now. I have to be at work in a few minutes so I thought it was reasonably safe to visit and have a quick cup of coffee. I also wondered if you’d like to take a ride with me this evening after work. We could take some food along and stop at the state park.” He gulped down the coffee I gave him.

“Great idea. I have a long day ahead of me, so I’ll have lots to tell you tonight. I hope.”

The smile faded from his lips. “You know, Der is worried about your involvement in this case. He knows he pulled you in on it, so he feels responsible for your safety. I’d never interfere with what you’re up to, you know that, but are you certain you’re being sensible?”

“Why does everybody assume that I’m up to something? I just had a little talk with Bunny last night. No big deal.” My irritation at Guy’s solicitousness began to evolve into anger. He put down his cup and put up his hands as if to defend himself from what he knew would be an onslaught from me.

“Okay, Okay. I’ll just back off. But be careful. You could use backup on these little excursions of yours, and, remember, I’m highly available.”

An idea was beginning to form in the back of my head. “Good. On our ride tonight I’d like to stop off at the field station and have a little chat with Donald Hall. I think he knows more about this whole situation than he’s admitting. He’s no fan of Rudolf Pruitt so he may be willing to talk at length about his feelings about the man.”