CHAPTER 17 #3
This man was putting himself out there, and she felt like Rapunzel.
All she had to do was let down her hair.
“I’ve been thinking, and I’d like to....
” She paused, talking herself out of throwing that long, thick braid down the side of the tower.
She needed to find the right words. She’d like to ...
what exactly? Be friends? That’d never work.
They were beyond that. Go out again? Was she ready now after learning of Geoff’s dirty deeds?
What had really changed between her and Robert in two days?
Her hesitation was felt because he said, “It’s okay. I just wanted to make sure you were okay. But call me when you want...if you want to. I miss talking to you.” He exhaled, “You know I care about you, right?”
“Yes,” she answered and took a breath, letting his words soak in, “I know.”
She should say, I care about you too, but before she could ... “I’ll let you go. Take care of yourself, okay?” Robert’s deep voice was like hot fudge on a sundae. Warm, smooth and a welcomed sweetness she didn’t know she needed today.
She felt a small smile emerge on her face. “Okay. You take care too.”
* * *
Moore’s office door was open, and his phone to his ear. “Ms. Bingman, this case has my full attention and priority, I assure you.” Detective Moore said into the receiver. His voice may have been hiding his scowl, but his face wasn’t.
Jake stood in the doorway, thankful Detective Moore was taking her calls and she didn’t have to resort to making surprise appearances at the station again.
“Since it is an active investigation, I can’t, as you say, compare notes. I’m willing to listen to anything you have to share, but I can’t share discovery from an active investigation,” Moore continued.
Jake couldn’t make out what Jan Bingman was balking about, but he heard the whining of her voice coming out of the receiver like a Victrola speaker.
“I cannot disclose if I’ve uncovered new info. But I assure you I’m making headway,” Moore explained. The man had the patience of Job with this woman.
“Yes, I’ll call you next Monday with an update, if not sooner.... Yes, you too. Bye.” Moore hung up, releasing the phone like he was playing hot potato before it scalded his palm.
“Where in the world do you get the patience?” Jake asked.
“Years of practice. Plus, I have three daughters,” Moore smiled.
Jake smirked. He didn’t have any daughters, but he had a wife. He could only imagine what it would be like having multiple women under one roof.
“Question for ya.” Moore straightened in his chair.
“What’s up?”
“Can you spare a couple of guys? I’d like to put a tail on Samantha Cosgrove.”
“I can’t spare any right now.” Jake shook his head. “We’re spread thin with the budget cuts, and I’ll never get overtime approved from up top.”
Moore relaxed back into his chair. “I witnessed something interesting last Saturday night.”
Jake stepped further into his office. “What?”
“Samantha Cosgrove’s been dodging my phone calls and my pop-ins at her restaurant.
She disappears, and I get the, she just left from the wait staff.
Me, myself and I decided to do a stakeout of the restaurant last Saturday evening.
And about twenty minutes after ten she exited the back door and jumped into the passenger side of a truck. ”
“Boyfriend?” Jake asked. Moore had twenty years over Jake on the force, yet he spoke to him as an equal. Somehow Jan Bingman involving Jake had led Moore to do the same with no reservations.
“I don’t think so. The guy in the driver’s seat had a heated conversation with her from what I could tell from their body language. They didn’t appear to be lovers.” Moore shook his head.
He had no obligation to share any details of the case, nor bring Jake in on it. But with Emma’s connection to Lainey, and Robert’s now too, Jake regarded the job of sounding board for Moore seriously.
“Who was the driver?” Jake asked.
“Ran the plate, and it’s Richard MacKenzie.”
“Mac the fireman? Friend of Geoff Wickham’s?” Jake was surprised.
“You know him?”
“Not personally. But I actually saw him Saturday afternoon, a few hours before you, apparently.”
“Where?” Moore asked.
“The park off Pine Street. The one with the pirate ship playground.”
Moore raised his brow.
“Lainey Wickham fainted and collapsed,” Jake motioned. “She’s fine now. But Mac arrived to assist the EMTs. He probably heard her name come over the channel like I did.”
“You two talk?”
Jake shook his head. “No. But he said something to Lainey Wickham. I got the impression she wanted nothing to do with him when she shot out the back of the ambulance to get away from him.”
“Something is rotten in Denmark, as the old saying goes,” Moore said.
“What are you gonna do about Samantha Cosgrove? Keep following her yourself?” Jake asked.
Moore scoffed, “No, I don’t have time to do that with seven other open cases. When she went back into the restaurant after the conversation with MacKenzie, I went in the front door, but got the runaround again.” He sighed, “I’ll catch her eventually.”