Chapter 24 #2
“Oh, good,” she said, looking at him in delight. “I mean, you did great in there.”
He laughed. “I hardly did great. I didn’t really do anything. You were the savior of the hour, and I was just along for the ride.”
She shook her head. “All the work that we did, that was Dr. Maddy and Stefan,” she stated. “I can’t even imagine how much time they have spent working in that space.”
“It’s absolutely incredible to think about all that they’re doing, which is why I think it’s seriously cool that you’ll be working with her.”
“I haven’t accepted her offer yet,” she pointed out.
“No, but it sounds as if that is what you want to do.”
“Yes, I do,” she shared. And in all honesty, every time she thought about it, it became a little more defined in her mind. “It is definitely something I would love.”
“In that case, you know what your answer is.”
“I haven’t talked to her about money though,” she began, “and it seems crass to do so.”
“I’m sure that, from your perspective, it is. From hers, I would think she would be very pragmatic about it. You need money to live on. She needs your skills, or at least your raw talent, raw energy. … Is that how we say it?” he asked, with a chuckle.
“I don’t know,” she confessed. “As long as it’s enough for me to live on, then I’m probably good to go,” she added, “It could mean moving closer to her to really be able to learn, but I do need to have that conversation with her. It could be temporary too. I don’t really know how that could work yet. ”
“Of course,” he noted, with a bright smile. “Personally I’m just thrilled for you.”
“You could always join us,” she suggested. “I know Dr. Maddy mentioned how there is plenty of room for more and that you have … untapped resources and some intuition that you’re not using to your true potential.”
“Maybe,” he muttered. “Down the road perhaps. I don’t know. Right now, I don’t quite want to give up what I’m doing,” he told her. “Putting guys away like the Santino brothers, that’s pretty important too.”
“It’s very important,” she murmured. “It still drives me crazy to think about what they did.”
“I know,” he muttered, “but that’s not something we’ll dwell on.”
Just then came a shout from the entrance to the coffee shop.
Eric looked up, smiled, and waved at Cody. “Over here.”
She looked over to see a big, burly man somewhere in his mid- to late thirties, wearing a big grin on his face as he sat down beside them. His gaze was frank and assessing as he looked her over.
She smiled at him. “Hi, I’m Eden.”
“Hi, so you’re the woman who’s tied him into knots.”
She nodded. “I am. And you must be the partner who’s always annoying the hell out of him.”
He burst out laughing, looking at Eric. “I like her already. Straight to the point, clear-cut, and honest,” he declared. “That’s pretty amazing.”
She looked at him closely, assessing his energies. “You’re just worried about him,” she noted, “so it’s easy to be honest.”
He stared at her in surprise, as he narrowed his gaze. “Don’t tell me that you’re into that weird woo-woo stuff that he is.”
She burst out laughing. “I just might be.”
“Oh, God help us,” he muttered, groaning. “It’ll make both of you insufferable.”
“Nah,” she replied sarcastically, “I’ll just be a fly on the wall.”
“Which is so far from the truth,” Eric noted, giving a chuckle to Eden. Then he faced his partner. “Besides, what do you care if it brings us good things?”
“Like what?” Cody asked, with an eye roll.
“Like helping us on our cases,” Eric pointed out, followed by a laugh, “like she did already.”
“Oh, that came from you, did it?” he asked, eyeing her with interest. “That was a big one. Got anything else to help us with?”
“I don’t know,” she said. “You got any other cases?”
“We always have cases,” he replied, with a snort. “That is one of the sad facts of our lives. There is never a shortage of those.”
She winced and nodded. “I can see that,” she agreed, but then she was struck by something. She frowned as numbers danced through her head. “I have no idea what this pertains to or why I need to tell you, but all these numbers are slamming through my brain right now.”
“What’s going on?” Eric asked.
“Oh, God, they’re hurting me.”
“What kind of numbers?” Eric asked.
“License plates, but one in particular,” she replied, feeling some sense of that, “but I don’t really know what this means.” She reeled off a series of numbers, and Cody froze, staring at her.
Eric asked her, “Do you have any idea what those are?”
“No, I don’t,” she admitted. “Why?”
“Because it’s the license plate to Cody’s truck,” Eric revealed.
“Yes, my truck,” Cody snapped, “and it was stolen last night.”
Eric frowned at him in shock.
“Yeah, I didn’t even get a chance to tell you,” Cody noted. “It was taken right out of the driveway.” He turned to her and asked, “Do you know who did it?”
“I don’t know anything about who did it,” she replied cautiously, “but I can tell you where it is.” He frowned at her.
She shrugged and continued. “It’s parked at a hotel close to here, and some guy, whoever he is, he took it from your place and is sleeping it off.
” Then she frowned and added, “But he’s due to wake up anytime now, so you better hurry. ”
Cory bolted to his feet. “If you’re right, God damn, that’s amazing. But if you’re wrong”—he smacked the table hard—“we’ll have a talk.” And, with that, he took off.
Eric eyed her in astonishment.
She shrugged. “What am I supposed to say?”
“Are you serious? Is that what you saw?”
“Yeah,” she said, frowning at him, puzzled. “I mean, it does happen—unfortunately a little too often now that I know what this energy stuff is more about.”
He let out his breath with a big whoosh. “Any idea who it is?”
“No, I don’t do names very well,” she conceded, “but it will be whoever is registered to that room. I don’t know his name.” She shrugged. “I just know he’s there sleeping it off, whatever that means in his case.”
“Probably a bender,” Eric guessed. “Somebody’ll wake up with a hell of a hangover and a lot more besides if my partner gets a hold of him.”
She nodded. “Yeah, probably, but wait.” She frowned. “It’s also somebody he knows, and I would say they know each other pretty well.”
He stared at her and shook his head. “Oh no, don’t tell me it’s his brother-in-law.”
“I don’t know if it’s his brother-in-law or not,” she stated, staring at him. “Don’t know anything about him. Seems it was more of a lark than anything, and they go way back, so … no clue.”
Eric shook his head. “Next time, maybe just don’t tell him.”
“How can I not tell him?” she asked in astonishment. “Particularly in this case. Plus, he bloody well asked for it.”
He laughed. “I know. Never mind. We’ll figure out our gifts as we go along.”
An hour later Eric got a phone call from Cody. “What the hell? It was your brother-in-law, right?”
Silence came from the other end of the call. “Jesus, did she get that too?”
“Yeah, she sure did, but after you left.”
“Damn, he’s in the drunk tank right now. I have my truck back, and thank God there’s no damage to it,” he shared, “but, boy, will we have a serious talk.” And, with that, he slammed down the phone.
Eric looked over at Eden and shared, “Cody’s a little pissed.”
She smiled and nodded. “He is a lot pissed, but that’s okay. As I mentioned, they go way back.”
He laughed. “That they do.”
“So, it’ll be fine,” she murmured.
He didn’t say anything but reached across the table for her hand. “You’re really special, you know that?”
She shrugged, almost embarrassed at his words.
He could see it too. He laughed. “Finish up your coffee. It’s time to go home.”
“Are you sure?” she asked. “We just got here.”
“Yeah, I’m sure. We haven’t spent anywhere near enough time at home,” he declared with a big grin, as he waggled his eyebrows at her.
She groaned and whispered, “I hardly think it’s that time of day.”
“I don’t think the time of day makes any difference,” he stated on a laugh. “Besides, time alone is what I’m after. I don’t care what we do, as long as it’s just us.”
And, with that, she smiled. “Now that I can agree on.” Within minutes, they were back home, stretched out together on the couch, just holding each other.
She let her eyelids drift closed, and he whispered, “Just don’t leave me, okay?”
Her eyes flew open. She stared at him, not sure where that was coming from. “No, I won’t.”
“Promise me,” he said. “Whatever that was, … it was pretty damn scary.”
She nodded. “I know, and it was scary for me too. But I promise, I’m not going anywhere.”
He held her close. “I’m holding you to that.”
She hugged him tightly to her. “Good, please do. It’s been a pretty rough life on my own.”
He leaned over and kissed her. “Past tense. All that’s over now. We have each other, and we have a whole world ahead of us to learn about and to share our lives—together,” he added. “That’s all we need. We can work out which city, which state, none of that matters. What matters is us.”
She agreed, then leaned over and gave him a big kiss. “You’re right. Just us together.”