Chapter 7
Anika
Mondays are always tough.
Not that I sit still on my weekends—especially while I’m doing the work on my house—but I’m generally able to pace myself.
But on Mondays I have a tendency to try and get stuff done at home in the morning, and be on my feet in the salon all afternoon with barely any breaks.
Yesterday, Lindsey and Mom’s visit in the middle of the day provided a nice, forced break, but it meant I didn’t get everything done and ended up painting the rest of my bedroom this morning.
So, by the time I’m taking care of Sandra Yu—my last client for the day—my knees and hips are throbbing and I’m struggling to hold on to the blow-dryer.
“Are you okay?” the observant dentist inquires, studying me in the mirror.
I plaster a smile on my face. “You bet. I’m almost done.”
A few minutes later she is on her way after settling up her bill at the front desk, and I’m heading for my office and the bottle of ibuprofen I keep in my desk drawer. I moan as I take the weight off and sit down in my chair. Looking down, I catch sight of a pair of unsightly swollen ankles. Lovely.
Pulling open my bottom drawer, I kick off my Crocs and prop my feet up while waiting for Kim to be done with her client. Landon and Monique already left and Molly is on her way out the door as well, and I’m not about to let Kim close up by herself. Not with her no-good ex back on the street, restraining order or not.
I also haven’t really had a chance to talk to Kim and I’m hoping for an update. When I got here at noon, my first client was already waiting for me, so other than hearing the news Chris is out, I have no idea what’s going on.
To kill time, I log on to my computer to check emails and have a quick look at social media notifications. I’m not a fan of Facebook or Instagram, and I’m not touching TikTok with a ten-foot pole, so I’ve been thinking about handing those responsibilities off to Molly. She loves all social media. But until I carve out some time to physically hand her the reins, it’s a necessary evil I’ll have to deal with myself.
As usual, most of the email in my inbox is advertising I didn’t invite or newsletters I never signed up for. I don’t see anything pressing on my Facebook business page and when I hear the chime of the front door, I quickly sign off and shove my feet back into my shoes.
When I walk into the salon, Kim is straightening up her station.
“How are you doing?” I ask, turning around the chair at my station and taking a seat.
“Okay. A little nervous, I guess,” she admits.
“Understandable,” I commiserate. “So, get me up to date. What happened at the hearing this morning?”
“I wasn’t at the hearing, my lawyer went.” She smiles at me. “Thank you for that, by the way. Mel was incredibly helpful.”
“Oh, good. She referred you to someone?”
I’m glad. Kim may be a little nervous still, but she seems a lot more grounded today and not quite so beaten down.
“Actually, no,” she surprises me by saying. “After explaining what I need a lawyer for, she said she’d take my case pro bono.”
I bite off a smile. I had a suspicion Mel might be tempted to stand up for Kim. Lindsey’s mom may have given up her full-time practice recently, but she’s not the type to sit still for long. I know for a fact she still does legal work for the Arrow’s Edge MC, of which her husband is a member and her son-in-law is the new president.
I’m relieved she’s decided to represent Kim. Mel is not only a good woman, she’s an absolute ballbuster.
“I’m glad she was able to help out.”
“Yeah. She called me after the hearing. Apparently, my brother-in-law was in court and had hired a lawyer for Chris. Mel said the judge signed a restraining order before releasing him, but Chris was warned he would be hauled back to jail if he violated it.”
“Good. But you said you’re still nervous,” I prompt her. “Are you worried he’ll show up?”
I see her eyes well up. “I don’t know. Maybe? If he drinks. I don’t want to have another scene like that, it’s embarrassing.”
“I wouldn’t worry about that. He’s the one who looks bad, not you. Do you think you’d be more comfortable going somewhere else?”
She shakes her head. “I talked to Mel about that, but I can’t hide and basically let him control what is left of my life. She’s going to file for divorce for me too, but who knows how long it’ll be before this thing gets resolved or goes to trial. I can’t just pack up and leave my job, I have to live too.”
Good point. Added to that, she also has her mother in care here, and if Chris really wanted to get at Kim, all he’d have to do is keep an eye on the nursing home. You can’t expect Kim to stay away from her ailing mother for an indefinite period of time.
“Fair enough. And of course, the apartment is yours as long as you need it.”
The tears that have been brimming on her eyelids spill over. “I don’t know how to thank you. I don’t know what I would’ve done without you.”
“Hush,” I silence her, getting to my feet and wrapping her in a hug. “We’re family here, we look after each other.”
A couple of tissues later, I walk her out the back door and watch her go up the stairs until she’s safely inside the apartment. Then I turn toward my car, which is parked in the one parking spot I have along the back of the salon. I should probably tell Kim it’s safer for her to use the spot as long as she’s living upstairs. I’m not sure where she’s parked now, as far as I know, her vehicle might still be where I left it in the City Market parking lot.
I’m so tired, I don’t pick up on anything until I unlock the door. Then I notice my Mazda is tilting slightly toward the right, the side parked along the rear wall of my building. As soon as I round the hood to check out the cause, I can see the tires are flat. Both of them.
For a moment I wonder if maybe I drove through glass. It wouldn’t be the first time someone carelessly tossed an empty bottle back here. But then I catch sight of the damage done to the roof of my 2000 Mazda Miata soft top and realize this was not an accident.
I immediately grab for my phone as I scan my surroundings. Only six thirty, it’s light out and plenty of people are still milling about. No one seems to be paying me any attention though. I’m not convinced vandalism constitutes an emergency, so I hesitate to call 911 and instead dig in the side pocket of my purse where I tucked Bill Evans’s card.
He tells me on the phone he has a couple of patrol cars en route, but that I am to wait for him inside the salon. Eager to do something, I use the time to pull up the feed from the security camera mounted over the back door.
When Bill arrives ten minutes later, I’ve just watched myself pull up, park the car, and walk inside on the screen. Unfortunately, the way the camera is angled, you can see part of the driver’s side of the vehicle but not the side parked against the wall. That explains why the damage was done on the passenger side.
“Whoever did it noticed or knew about the camera,” I tell Evans, showing him a still of my parked Miata.
“It’s kinda hard to miss, walking up,” he observes. “But we may get lucky and catch a glimpse of someone. We’ll also check with your neighbors to see if they have security cameras that could have caught something.”
“Do you think Chris Cooper did this?” I ask.
He was the first person I thought of.
“That would be incredibly stupid of him, but anything is possible,” the detective shares. “Do you know if anything was stolen from the car?”
“No, I didn’t want to touch anything.”
“Okay, let’s have a quick look,” he suggests, motioning for me to follow him.
He holds the door open and lets me pass. The moment I step outside, I hear my name called.
When I look up, I catch sight of Hog, stalking straight for me.
Hog
Our shift ended much the same way it started, with one call after the other.
I never got a chance to pull Bodhi aside and by the time I’d cleaned up after the last call, and grabbed my laundry from the locker, he’d already left. A lot of the time after our shift most of us will go for a quick breakfast before we head home, but after being on the go the entire night without a wink of sleep, everyone wanted to get home.
Myself included.
I set my alarm for one—otherwise I wouldn’t be able to get to sleep tonight—and spent most of the afternoon doing stuff around the house I didn’t get to on the weekend. Except what I was really doing was procrastinating.
At some point, I contacted the real estate agent to see if there was any chance I could take a look at the small house near the fire station. Since the house is apparently vacant, she said she could meet me there at seven tonight.
As soon as I got off the phone with her, I bit the bullet and sent Bodhi a text, asking if he’d come look at a house with me. It seemed like a good excuse to get him by himself. He easily agreed to meet me and I sent him the address. Then I had to chug a glass of milk to beat down the heartburn I was giving myself stressing over this.
I’m on my way to meet him when Evans calls.
“Where are you?”
My heart rate instantly cranks up. “Just coming into town, why?”
“Thought you might like to know I’m on my way to the Chop Shop. Someone messed with Anika’s car.”
“Her car? Is she okay?”
“Pissed off, I’d imagine. Look, I just wanted to let you know she may need a ride.”
He ends the call before I can say anything else.
I’m breaking every speed limit getting to the salon. When I don’t see anything out front, I head around the back where the sight of a couple of police cruisers has my heart skip a beat. Maybe it’s more serious than he led me to believe.
But when I see her step out of the back door moments later, relief courses through me. I don’t even realize I’m calling her name until her head snaps up and her eyes find me.
“Are you okay?” I ask when I get to her, cupping her face with my hands.
“I’m fine,” she states curtly. “My car isn’t.” Then she grabs on to my wrists and pulls on them, but even when I lower my hands she holds on. “What are you doing here?”
“I happened to be in town.”
She makes it clear with a look she’s not buying that answer, so I let my eyes drift over her shoulder to Evans.
“I called him. I figured you’d probably need a ride,” he fesses up.
“He lives in the next state!” she fires at him. “How does that even make sense?”
“Like I said, I happened to be in town. I was on my way to look at a house,” I clarify.
“Hate to break this up, but can we take a look at the car?” Evans suggests.
Anika promptly releases her hold on my arms and follows him. I trail behind and pull out my phone, shooting off a quick text to Bodhi I am running late.
“My audio system is still here,” Anika says, poking her head in after she unlocks her car door.
She immediately backs out again, knocking the back of her head on the frame, and clamping her hand over her mouth and nose.
“Step back,” Evans barks before poking his own head in the car.
I pull Anika back against me, wrapping my arms around her. I can see the detective leaning over the gearshift, appearing to look at something in front of the passenger seat.
Then the smell hits me. Skunk. A ripe one. At least I hope that’s all it is.
“Jesus,” I mutter, pulling Anika a few steps farther back.
“Jackson!” Evans calls out to one of the uniformed officers chatting by one of the patrol cars. “Call for a flatbed truck. I want it towed to the lab.”
“Anika? What’s going on?”
I look up and see Kim standing in front of the apartment door at the top of the stairs.
“Some idiot kids vandalized and broke into my car,” Anika quickly responds as she steps out of my hold. “We’re just waiting for a tow and then Hog’s going to give me a ride home.”
The woman glances from us to Evans, who is standing beside the Mazda.
“You didn’t happen to see anyone, did you?” he asks, looking up at her.
“No, I didn’t see anyone. We had appointments all afternoon and Anika and I walked out together.”
The phone in my pocket starts buzzing and I step aside to answer it.
“How late are you running?”
“Bodhi. Sorry, man. I’m here at?—”
Suddenly Anika is in front of me, eyes wide, shaking her head and waving her hands in my face.
“In town, but I’m hung up for a bit,” I quickly adjust what I was going to say. “I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
“All right,” he mutters before hanging up.
“Why was my brother calling you?” she asks.
Ugh. I blow out a breath. So much for my well-laid plans, doing it all in the proper order. I have a feeling Anika might not take kindly to my need to clear things with her brother first.
“I’m supposed to meet him at the rental place.”
She frowns. “You need my brother’s opinion?”
I’m starting to realize nothing less than full disclosure is going to work, since I don’t feel comfortable lying to her. A quick glance shows Evans talking to the uniformed officers and it looks like Kim went back inside the apartment.
“Not really, but it was an opportunity to talk to him alone.”
It’s clear it arouses her suspicion even further, so I clarify, “I wanted to give him a heads-up about us.”
Her mouth falls open.
“You’re kidding, right? You need to ask my brother permission?”
“Who said anything about permission?” I return sharply. “He’s a friend, I’m giving him a courtesy heads-up. Nothing more, nothing less.”
“So that’s why you went cold on a dime after getting me hot and bothered with that scorching kiss?”
The grin is involuntary as I echo, “Hot and bothered?”
I’m obviously not helping my case because she throws me a scathing look before turning her back and walking off.
Twenty feet away, Evans is watching with a smirk on his face, mouthing, “Rookie.”