Chapter Nineteen
Chapter
Nineteen
We scrambled out onto the fire escape and shut the window behind us in the nick of time. When I chanced a peek through the glass, I saw Rosario enter the apartment along with Agnes. I quickly pulled back out of sight.
Wyatt was already making his way down the rickety metal staircase.
He reached the lowest landing, where a drop ladder had to be released to extend down to the alley.
Instead of bothering with the ladder, he crouched down and then jumped from the landing to the ground.
He did it with such grace and agility that it was as if he jumped from heights on a regular basis, like maybe it was part of his hot-guy training regime.
Admittedly, the ladder looked like it would clatter when dropped, causing a commotion and probably drawing a crowd. Not something we wanted to do. We couldn’t exactly explain why we were on the fire escape without lying, and at the moment, I couldn’t even think up a good lie to explain it.
Still, my muscles were already starting to freeze up at the thought of having to make that jump. I slipped out of my shoes since high heels and metal grating do not mix well. Then, gripping my shoes with one hand and the railing with the other, I crept down one step, then two.
I stopped.
“What’s the matter?” Wyatt whisper-called to me from the alley below.
I gulped and crept down to the lowest landing. Then I backed up one stair.
“I think I’ll go another way.” I tried to sound casual, but my voice came out more high-pitched than normal.
“Hang from the edge, and I’ll help you down,” Wyatt said.
Sure, that’s exactly what I wanted. To accept help from Wyatt again.
“Thanks, but I’m good! I need to go up anyway! See you later!”
I scurried up the fire escape, crouching at certain points so I wouldn’t be visible through any windows. When I made it to the fifth floor, I paused, mapping out the building in my head. If I’d guessed right, that would put me at…
I peeked through the nearest window.
Yep. Exactly where I thought I was.
I glanced downward. Wyatt still stood in the alley, looking up at me.
The last remaining threads of my dignity required me not to appear foolish to him. I needed to look like I was absolutely not panicking or doing something ridiculous.
So I tapped on the window and waved through the glass.
I couldn’t blame Bodie for looking surprised to find me outside his window, but his shocked expression lasted a mere second or two. Then he was at the window, raising the sash so I could climb in carefully, making sure not to rip my dress or get myself into any unladylike positions.
When I had my feet safely on the floor, I leaned out the window, waved at Wyatt—who was still watching me—and then ducked back inside.
I smiled at Bodie. “Thanks.”
“You could have used the door.” Bodie hooked his thumb in that direction. “I know the people in this building like to gossip, but we’re both adults.”
“That’s not why I’m here,” I rushed to say as my face flared with heat.
Then I saw the laughter in his blue eyes and the twitching of his mouth.
My shoulders relaxed, and a relieved breath whooshed out of me.
“I’m kidding,” he said, confirming my suspicion. “But why were you out there?”
“Let’s just say I wanted to escape an awkward situation.”
Bodie took a look out the window as he lowered the sash. “One involving that guy from the cocktail party?”
“You could say that.”
“Hmm.” He dragged his gaze away from the window. “Come on in. All the way in, I mean.” He turned and headed for his kitchen.
I took one last peek out the window—to see Wyatt finally walking off down the alley—before I followed Bodie.
“Why ‘hmm’?” I asked as I set my shoes on the floor and slid my feet into them.
He opened the fridge and looked at me over the door. “Sorry?”
“You said ‘hmm’ like it meant something.”
“Nah. It’s nothing. Can I get you a drink?”
“I’m good, thanks,” I said. “Drink-wise, anyway. Curiosity-wise, not so great. You can’t say ‘hmm’ like that and not tell me what it means.”
He shut the fridge without taking anything from it. “Look, I barely know you, so I’m not going to tell you who you should or shouldn’t date. It wouldn’t be my place to do that even if I did know you well.”
“I’m not dating Wyatt.” The statement came out more emphatically than I’d intended.
“Oh, okay.” His expression relaxed. “My mistake. That’s probably for the best, though.”
“Why do you say that?” For a panicked moment, I wondered if Bodie knew of some evidence linking Wyatt to Freddie’s murder.
He gestured toward one of the barstools by the kitchen’s peninsula. I shimmied my way onto it while he leaned his forearms on the counter, like he’d done at Yolanda and Minnie’s apartment earlier. The stance drew my attention to his tanned, muscular arms, distracting me from my worried thoughts.
“You know,” he said, “he probably has a fancy car, a penthouse suite, a country club membership. Those guys are always players.”
No evidence of murderous traits then. That came as a relief, though skepticism quickly followed.
Bodie caught sight of my raised eyebrow. “Okay, I know what you’re thinking. I’m a thirty-year-old bartender. Probably a player too, right?”
He’d guessed correctly. I didn’t have to tell him that.
“There’s more to me than meets the eye.”
“Care to share?” I asked, intrigued.
He grinned, though I thought I detected a shadow of sadness in his eyes. “One day.”
I shoved aside my disappointment. “I guess the cocktail party is over?”
He shrugged as he opened the fridge. “There were still people there, but the bubbly ran out, so my work was done.” He smiled again, this time without any sorrow. “And Minnie slipped me a twenty-dollar tip on my way out.” He looked in the fridge. “Are you sure I can’t get you something to drink?”
“I’m sure, but thank you.” I slipped off the stool. “And I won’t impose on you any longer. You weren’t exactly expecting me to drop in.”
He shut the fridge, turning his full attention to me. “Maybe not, but I can’t say I’m unhappy about it.”
Butterflies stirred in my stomach. “No?”
“As the only two adult residents of this building under the age of fifty, we should hang out more.”
“That would be good. Except I don’t have a whole lot of free time. Definitely not free nights. Well, rarely, anyway.”
“Because of Livy?”
I nodded. “Unless she’s with my parents, I can’t really have a night out. Mrs. Nagy loves to babysit, but I don’t like to keep her up late at night, and now that…”
“I know.” Bodie sank down onto the couch. “I hate what she and her husband are going through. I wish I hadn’t told the cops about the croquet mallet incident.”
I hesitated but then sat down beside him. “You just told the truth. The police would have found out about it eventually anyway. Especially if that security camera in the lobby works.”
“Still…I wish I hadn’t been the one to tell the cops, you know?”
I nodded. “I can understand that.” I stood up again. “I should really get going. I didn’t mean to interrupt your day.”
Bodie got to his feet and touched a hand to my arm. “Hey, feel free to interrupt my day anytime.”
I smiled at him, the sincerity of his words warming my heart and my cheeks.
His blue eyes held mine captive, and the air between us practically crackled with intensifying electricity. My breath hitched.
A glint of light caught my eye. I looked away from Bodie, and the electric energy vibrating in the room faded.
Something sparkly lay beneath a leather recliner, one corner peeking out far enough to catch the light streaming in through the window.
I picked it up and saw that it was a dangly earring, about three inches long and encrusted with diamonds and emeralds.
Real or fake, I didn’t know, but it was pretty.
And it most likely didn’t belong to Bodie.
He’d never actually denied being a player, and now I wondered how many women he had traipsing through his apartment each month.
“Looks like somebody lost this,” I said, handing the earring to Bodie while avoiding his eyes, embarrassed that I’d felt flattered by his apparent interest in me moments earlier.
He held the piece of jewelry in his palm. “I’m glad you spotted this. It should get my ex off my back.”
“Your ex?”
“We broke up weeks ago, but she’s been hounding me about a lost earring ever since,” Bodie explained. “I’ll drop this off at her place. Maybe then she’ll finally stop texting me. Thanks, Emersyn.”
A thread of tension eased inside of me. “I spotted it by luck, but I’m glad I was able to help.”
His story had a ring of truth to it, so maybe he wasn’t a player after all. I was willing to withhold judgment on that point.
I left his apartment with a smile and some parting words, glad that my fear of heights had led me to Bodie.