Caffeine & Killers (Roasted Love Cozy 3)

"He was worried about that. But even though Steven was an addict, he wasn't using at the time his brother died." I sipped my Coke. "But what do you get from my visit with Linda Henson? She verified Steven’s innocence, if she's telling the truth."

He shook his head, and took another bite of his sub sandwich. "I don't know," he said, around a mouthful of bread and cheese and roast beef.

"I'm just wondering why a woman as gorgeous as Linda would hang around with Ronald Larch – much less throw away her marriage for him. I don't see where she and Larch have much in common."

Daniel shrugged. "Hard to say. But I guess nobody knows about stuff like that for sure except the ones who are in it."

"Would Larch actually tell Linda about planting drugs in Steven’s apartment? I mean, if they're just on-again, off-again, it doesn’t make sense that he'd tell her something like that."

"Yeah. That's a good point. And when you think about it, she may have her own reasons to point the finger at him."

We fell silent. Neither of us could figure out what those reasons might be. But at the same time, it felt good to lay it all out with Daniel.

I held off talking about Ricky Thomas’ recent arrest, though. It wasn’t the time to bring up how I knew this Ricky Thomas. And I was still curious about what jail he was in. That mystery would have to be taken up with Chief Donald Hayes. If he didn’t know, he could find out – if he wanted to.

I took a bite of my yummy turkey-bacon-guacamole sub and thought things over. "There is one more thing I need to tell you, Daniel."

I told him about the prank calls. "I think it was probably kids who had nothing else to do all night long. Maybe they randomly dialed a number that happened to be mine."

But he frowned deeply, and concern showed in his dark eyes. He wasn't laughing now. "Laila, that’s something that worries me. Did you call the number back?"

"No. Nothing showed up on caller I.D. It was blocked."

He held out his hand. "Let me see your phone for a minute." Daniel scrolled through the call logs and saw where the calls had come in. He tried to call back, but only got an error message.

He shook his head and handed the phone back to me. "Hmm, hard to tell anything. It makes sense it's b

locked. Whether it was a prank or something more serious, no one would be dumb enough to reveal their number. But, if it happens again, try to call it right back. I doubt you'll get an answer but it’s worth a try."

"Okay. But I really don’t expect to get any more stupid calls like those."

"I hope not."

We ate in silence for a little while, just enjoying a nice sunny day outside in the park.

Eventually we got back to the subject of the growing list of suspects. "I think you should go have a talk with Chief Hayes again," Daniel said. "It wouldn’t hurt to throw out a few of your new observations. You could mention your visit with Linda while you’re at it. And the prank calls, too."

"I'll make notes. I don't want him to think I'm disorganized or anything."

"And you could talk about your visit with Steven at Maxfield." He shook his head. "That's quite a list you've got going there."

I laughed a little. "Yeah, I guess it is. By the way – Steven told me that he and John shared the same last name. It's Wilkins. I'd thought John's last name was Collins."

"Didn't you ask Steven about that?"

"No. I was always too late. The guard told us the time was up and took him back to his cell before I could ask."

We wadded up the trash on the picnic table and Daniel threw it into the trashcan nearby. I looked up at the beautiful azure sky and wished I could spend the rest of the day with him.

The park matched the sky in its beauty. It had been recently mowed and there was something for everyone here. We walked towards the lake and watched the ducks. A young couple rowed a boat a few yards from us. The warm air was soft on my face. I needed to get out in the sun more, I thought.

Then Daniel took my hand and suggested we walk a while on the trail around the water. It was good to get away from the murder of John Wilkins and the sad, seedy conditions that surrounded it for a little while, and from the people who were connected to it.

"We should do this more often, Laila," said Daniel. "It's times like this that we really connect."

"You bet," I said, and allowed all negativity to leave my mind.

Unfortunately, our peaceful time was ended when Daniel’s phone rang. It seemed that the station house was short one paramedic who had his own emergency at home, so Daniel was being called in.