28 #2
“You tell me! Are you going to be punching anyone?”
“Ha! I really did lose my cool there for a minute! He said some very disparaging things about...” He trailed off and glanced at Rowan. Vivian missed whatever message flashed between them, and she looked up at Rowan in confusion.
“Anyway, I did not turn the other cheek, and I will be talking about that in Confession, let me tell you! But it looks like your lawyer friend Belinda,” Vivian blinked to hear Belinda described as her friend, “has gotten us a new police detective. So that’s good.
A Detective Caine. She’s in looking at the security footage, and then she’ll be over here to talk to you. ”
“OK,” said Vivian. “That’s probably good.”
“Hey, boss,” said Jake, looking over the top of Chappie’s head. “Teddy says he’s going to step away to splash some cash around.”
“What does that mean?” asked Vivian.
“Teddy’s taking care of something for me,” said Rowan. “Thanks, Jake. Tell him to take José with him.”
Jake nodded and disappeared again.
“You just sit tight,” said Chappie, smiling at her. “We are under control out here. More or less.”
Ashley looked in. “I’m going to start passing out the desserts.”
“Good idea,” said Vivian tiredly.
“I’ll help,” said Chappie and left with Ashley.
Vivian looked up at Rowan. “I know that this is not the thing I should be thinking about, but I have to say that it’s still on my mind.
This will go down in the history of Seattle fundraising events as the single worst event of all time and will be held up in development seminars from now until eternity as a model for what not to do. ”
“Huh. From the tactical response standpoint, I thought it was going well.”
“What?”
“I think you’re doing great.”
“You’re not allowed to say that.”
“Why not?”
“Because you think I’m a twenty-something bimbo.”
Rowan’s face tightened angrily. She didn’t know what right he had to be angry since he was the one who had said it first.
“Viv, I said that because—”
“Hi there,” said a pleasant voice, and Vivian almost screamed go away. Turning around, she plastered a smile on her face and faced the newcomer.
“I’m Detective Caine.” The new detective was a Black woman with thick Dutch braids and a film noir-worthy beige trench coat. Detective Bodge hovered behind her, his mustache bristling.
“Hi,” said Vivian.
“You’re Vivian Kaye?” asked the detective, flipping open her notebook and clicking her pen. “And Rowan Valkyrie?”
“Yes,” said Vivian, trying to keep her smile in place. So far, the new detective was leaps ahead of Bodge through the application of simple manners, but Vivian decided to withhold judgment.
“I think I’ve got the basic gist of events, but I’d like to ask a couple of quick questions just to make sure I’ve got everyone’s locations at the time of the shooting.”
“OK,” said Vivian.
“Maybe you’d like to sit down,” said the detective, taking a seat on the couch.
Rowan pulled one of the chairs forward for her, and Vivian glared at him but sat. He continued to stand next to her. She wasn’t sure how to insist that he sit without making a scene.
“So, to recap: you gave what they are calling the ask, which is apparently the speech asking for money.” Vivian nodded. “Then the intention was to let everyone have time to give and then serve dessert. During this time, Howard Hoskins received a phone call and took it outside.”
“Yes, I think so,” said Vivian. “I don’t know who called, though. When he didn’t come back in for pictures, I went out to get him. We wanted one with the entire Board before the dancing started.”
Detective Caine nodded. “And you, Mr. Valkyrie? You left right after the ask? Where did you go?”
“I went to the Whole Foods down the block,” said Rowan.
“I saw the SUV. It was three people in a parked vehicle, and it looked odd. The driver was Caucasian. Due to the reflection on the windshield, I couldn’t see much more than that.
I took a photo of the license plate, which I will forward to the appropriate person. ”
The detective nodded. “Mr. Mark Navarro has already sent it. Thanks. But perhaps you can tell me why you happened to step out to the Whole Foods at that time?”
Rowan did not want to share why he had suddenly decided to leave the event. Vivian could see it in every line of his body, but she wanted the answer too.
“I needed to buy chocolate,” he said at last. Which was so patently ridiculous that the police detective blinked as if she couldn’t comprehend the answer.
Rowan angrily reached into the pocket of his suit jacket and yanked out two bars of Theo chocolate. They were bent and broken, probably from Rowan throwing himself between Howard and a hail of bullets, but the labels were still intact.
“That’s my brand,” said Vivian.
He looked down at her, and the answer of why he’d had to go to Whole Foods right then was written all over his face.
“Yes, I know,” he agreed, holding the bars out to her.
“Thanks,” she whispered, taking her apology chocolate out of his hand and clutching it tightly.
“OK,” said Detective Caine. “Thanks.” She seemed to tick something off in her notebook. “So, you were on your way back and saw the SUV start to move. You yelled at Mr. Navarro to cover Ms. Kaye?”
“Yes,” said Rowan.
“Then what happened?”
“I tackled Howard and returned fire.”
“CSI will need you to provide the weapon,” said Detective Caine.
“Sure,” said Rowan with a shrug. “I’ll need a receipt.”
“Of course. CSI will give an exact total, but can you give your impression of how many times they shot at both targets.”
“The majority were at Howard. I thought it was only a couple at Vivian. Mark thought it was at least two.”
“Yes,” agreed the detective, nodding and making another tick-mark.
“What?” Vivian looked up at Rowan.
“It’s fine,” said Rowan.
“No. They aimed at Howard. I saw them.”
“Yes,” agreed Rowan. He hesitated. “And then they aimed at you.”
“That’s ridiculous. Who would shoot at me? I’m a paralegal.”
“And Howard does Estate Planning and Trusts,” said Rowan.
“Yes, the most boring field of law possible,” said Vivian. “Who would shoot at either of us on purpose?”
“Most drive-bys are drug-related,” said Detective Bodge, and Vivian thought Detective Caine’s eye twitched slightly.
“I wouldn’t know,” said Rowan, eyeing Detective Bodge. “But I know that they waited. They didn’t move until Howard came out to the street. And if Mark hadn’t stopped Vivian, she would have walked right up to Howard. What I don’t know is why Howard went all the way to the curb.”
“In the video footage,” said the detective, “he appears to look around as if he’s expecting to see someone.”
“I was watching the SUV,” said Rowan. “I can’t confirm that.”
“That’s what it looked like to me,” said Vivian. “He was mad at whoever he was talking to, but he looked at the street.”
The detective nodded and then stood up. “Can I have contact information for both of you? We may have more questions later.”
Rowan fished in his pocket, wincing as he attempted to use his injured arm and then pulled out his wallet and provided a business card.
Vivian looked around and realized she didn’t have her purse with her. “Um… Chappie—Father Fred—or Ashley have my info. They’re giving out desserts. Or I can write it down.”
“No, I need to talk to Father Fred anyway,” said Detective Caine, waving away Vivian’s offer. “He has your home address?”
“Ms. Kaye will be staying with me until the matter is resolved,” said Rowan confidently, and Vivian thought about kicking him in the shins. She opened her mouth to correct him, but nothing came out. The detective paused slightly, eyes flicking between the two of them.
“Thanks,” she said and walked out the door.