CHAPTER 11 #2
She grabbed her wineglass off the counter, she’d poured herself before he’d arrived, though she'd only had one sip of.
“On second thought, can I have a beer? I can’t let you drink alone,” he said.
“Sure,” she plucked one out of the fridge on her way back to the table.
“This looks great.” He cut into the substantially large sirloin on his plate. “How’d you know how I like my steak cooked?” he said, examining the pink center.
Lainey giggled, “I remembered from the first time we met at the steakhouse with Jake and Emma.”
“You remembered how I ordered my steak that night?” He smiled, “I’m impressed.”
Lainey loved watching him chew his food. She didn’t know why, but seeing him devour the food gave her an unusual satisfaction.
After a polite conversation about the weather, they seemed to find their groove.
“What was the most interesting thing that happened to you today?” Lainey asked, trying to sound clever.
Robert took a swig of his beer, taking a moment to think about it.
“Aha,” he said when something struck him.
“I caught one trainee taking a break from an assigned duty and I told him, The plants are producing the oxygen you’re over here wasting.
Go apologize to them. Then I made him stand in front of a set of bushes and apologize. ”
Lainey burst out laughing. “You didn’t?”
“I did,” Robert smirked and took another drink of his beer.
“I don’t know how you think of that stuff on the fly.”
“I get into that mindset and just do it,” he shrugged. “What about you? What’s the most interesting thing that happened to you today?” he said before taking another bite.
Crap. She wasn’t expecting him to throw the question back at her. Think, Lainey, think! “You,” she blurted out.
“Me?”
“Yeah. This,” she motioned. “Us tonight.” She cut herself off by taking a sip of wine.
“Now I feel bad for not picking this,” he grimaced.
She shook her head, waving his guilt away.
“Being totally honest, I’ve been counting down the days since you invited me,” his voice softened.
“Really?” she said, flattered and surprised.
“Were you?” he’d asked.
Lainey sheepishly grinned.
“I knew it. You can’t bullshit a bullshitter,” he laughed and dropped his fork on his empty plate.
The doorbell chimed. They both gazed towards the front of the house. It’d caught them off-guard.
“You expecting someone?” Robert asked.
“No. No one.” She was puzzled.
She went to the door and looked out the peephole. A stocky man with salt and pepper hair was standing on her porch. When he turned to the side, she saw the badge on his belt and his sidearm.
“Can I help you?” She asked, opening the door.
“Hi, Mrs. Wickham?”
“Yes,” Lainey scowled with confusion.
“I’m Detective Moore with the Abilene PD.”
Lainey felt Robert’s presence come up behind her.
Upon seeing Robert, Moore said, “I’m sorry if I’m disturbing your evening. I usually have better luck catching people at home after dinnertime, is all.”
“What’s this about?” Robert spoke up.
Moore addressed the question by responding directly to Lainey. “I have some questions about your late husband and the night he died.”
This couldn’t be happening at a worse time. Not with Robert here, not now, she thought.
Obviously reading her expression, “I can come back another time if this isn’t good for you. It looks like you have company.”
Yeah, ya think? But this interruption had already subdued the evening. “How long is this going to take?” she asked, wanting to get this over with. If she didn’t answer his questions, she’d be wondering the rest of the evening what he wanted.
“Ten minutes, maybe less.”
Lainey sighed and opened the door. “Come on in. It’s too dark and cold to talk on the porch.”
“Lainey, I’ll get started on the dishes for you,” Robert said, returning to the kitchen.
As Lainey showed the detective to the living room, Robert collected the plates off the table and found the dish soap. He purposely made as little noise as possible, so he could eavesdrop on their conversation.
The detective asked when the last time was that she’d spoken to her husband. She stated, “He was on his way to dinner. I’d called him. My daughter and I were in Kansas City visiting my sister.”
Robert could tell from his own investigative training that the detective was trying to find inconsistencies compared to the original report three years ago.
Robert learned she’d found her husband the next day when she’d returned home lying dead on the kitchen floor.
He felt a chill and dropped a glass in the sink, realizing he was standing in the room where her husband had died.
He heard Lainey’s voice cut from the noise.
“Glass slipped from my hand, but didn’t break,” Robert hollered.
Moore showed Lainey some sort of picture, because he asked, “Have you ever seen one or more of these lately in your husband’s belongings?”
“No. Are those the coins Jan Bingman is looking for? Do you think Geoff had something to do with it?” Robert heard the perplexity in her voice.
Who was Jan Bingman? Coins?
Moore said, “Yes, Ms. Bingman said she came by and talked to you. No one is accusing anyone of anything, but there have been some developments concerning the missing coins. I can’t discuss them at this time, but I’m trying to look at it all with fresh eyes out of respect for the late Professor Bingman and, of course, your late husband too.
” He added, “I appreciate your time, and I’ll be on my way. ”
Robert finished up the dishes and came around the corner as Lainey was shutting the door.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
Lainey paused, looking at the floor, obviously considering what had transpired. “Yeah, I think so.”
Robert stepped closer, wanting to embrace her, but not wanting to overstep. He placed his hands in his pockets, allowing her space. “That didn’t sound convincing,” he said.
Lainey shook her head. “No, I’m fine. I’m sorry that happened. I should’ve told him now wasn’t a good time, but I’d be wondering the rest of the night what he wanted to ask, so I figured it best to get it over with.”
“I get that.”
“That was weird though, right?” She looked up at him for reassurance.
“Something, evidently is going on. Sorry, but I was listening the whole time,” he admitted. “What coins are missing and who is Jan Bingman?”
She didn’t reply. Instead, she stepped forward and wrapped her arms around him. That wasn’t what he was expecting, but he embraced her. His heart skipped a beat. God, she felt good in his arms.
She looked up, with sorrow in her eyes. “I’m sorry. I hope this didn’t ruin the night for us.”
He squeezed her. “I’m fine. I only want to make sure you’re alright.”
Lainey sighed, “I’m good. But I’ll need some more wine before I tell you about Bingman, these mysterious missing coins and whatever else you want to know.”
This is what he’d wanted. Her voice sounded the same as it had during their late-night phone calls.
She was relaxing and, most importantly, touching him.
“Actually, I’ve been wondering about your husband.
You’ve never talked about him, and I didn’t want to pry.
But now...” he let himself trail off as she released him and made her way to the kitchen. She retrieved her wineglass.
“Let’s sit in the living room and I’ll ask you some things I’ve been curious about too,” she winked, refilling her wineglass.