Twenty-Eight
"Sorry about the trouble."
She already had a cup of coffee waiting for her. Black, no sugar. She wasn't sure how she was supposed to feel about him being presumptuous enough to order for her, but the idea fit him more than she wanted to admit.
"What trouble?"
"I sent the wrong address."
"Oh, no problem. It happens."
"I hope you didn't drive all the way out there."
"I was running a few minutes behind," she lied. "So I was still driving when I got your text."
He smiled at the waitress, who brought two plates with pancakes stacked higher than was absolutely prudent and set one down in front of her.
"You know you shouldn't text and drive, don't you? It's dangerous. You could get pulled over."
"Bad habit, I know. I've been working on it, though. Hopefully I can stop myself being so foolish in the future."
"Make sure you do," he joked. "Or else. You might be arrested."
He was teasing her with the fact that he knew something that he thought she didn't. Too bad for him that she knew exactly what he was joking about.
"I wouldn't want to have to go into a police station." She faked a shiver, and then a real one took over an instant later. "They seem so scary from the outside. You ever been in one?"
"Once or twice. I used to be a very aggressive jaywalker."
"Oh yeah? They arrest you for jaywalking?"
Craig made an exaggerated expression of uncertainty. "Well, there may have been other circumstances."
"So now the truth comes out, does it?"
"What? I'm shocked. I'd never try to hide anything from you, Erin."
"No, I don't imagine you would." She gave him a smile that could have flavored a milkshake.
"So someone broke in to your apartment? Sounds scary."
"When it's not you, you mean?"
"Well that goes without saying. When I do it, it's because you liked it."
"Ah. How obvious."
"I hope nobody was hurt."
"I'm alright," she answered. She would keep playing as close to the truth as she could, as long as she could, until things looked like they weren't going to keep working that way.
"The guy who broke in, did you see him?"
"No, I was asleep. I just woke up to find the chain on my door busted in and someone had gone through my stuff."
Craig let out a low whistle. "Scary. You could have gotten really badly hurt if the guy was looking to do some damage."
"I know. It just keeps going through my head, like—what if he'd brought a gun? What if he'd decided to—" she blinked and let out a long breath. "You know, like…"
"Oh Jesus, I hadn't even thought of that." Craig took another bite of the slightly-too-high pancake stack and poured more syrup in to fill the hole he'd made.
"I know. It didn't occur to me at first, either. I was just thankful, you know, he didn't steal my computer, or my TV, or anything, and then I just got to thinking about how bad it could have been."
"Yeah, I see why you wouldn't want to stay there any more. You could always stay at my place, though, if you want."
"I couldn't impose, though."
"It wouldn't be any sort of imposition."
She repeated herself a little more firmly. "I couldn't. I need my own space."
"The place isn't small, you know. There would be plenty of space for you."
"The offer is very kind, but no. I just couldn't. I like small places, and I like to have plenty of time to myself."
He swallowed another bite. "Well, it's your choice. I don't want to force you into anything you're not comfortable with."
"Again, thanks for the offer. It's very kind, but I just would prefer to stay in the hotel, at least until the cops give me the clear and a locksmith has a chance to look at the place."
"Say no more. I understand completely."
He put his mind into eating. She wondered how much of it he believed. She had killed one of the boys responsible for the murders, and another would be going in for his crimes any time now.
But she had told him that she wasn't involved in either—she hadn't seen anyone in her apartment, hadn't even been awake. The other, she hadn't been there in time to see. If he believed her, then he'd start thinking someone else was going around, doing his dirty work for him.
A third person in the shadows might be enough to make him change his plans, start adjusting. Then again, Craig might see right through her. It was never easy to tell, and it was that much harder with Craig, because he seemed so ready to lie himself that he must have been good at it.
He pushed his plate back when she still had half a stack to eat, drank down the last few mouthfuls of water. Erin poured out the last of the syrup onto her plate, mopped some of it up with the next bite. The place was pretty good. Once this was all over, she might come by again. She almost imagined bringing Roy here before she realized that he wouldn't be around for it.
She couldn't risk it before the case was cleared up. She didn't know where Craig called home, but she knew he wouldn't call her out to somewhere far away from home turf. Which meant this was a no-go before their charade was over. When it was, he would be gone. She suddenly lost her appetite. She pushed her plate back just a bit and set down her fork.
"Too much food?"
"I don't know. Just don't feel good I guess."
"Do you mind—" He started to reach over before she answered, hesitating a little way to hear her answer.
"Go ahead."
Craig pulled her plate in front of him and started to eat again. She drank down the rest of her coffee, just cool enough to take a deep swallow of the last mouthful, and then started in on her water. The cool so soon after the hot felt good.
"I'm going to be out of town the next couple days. Work stuff."
"So that's why you needed to meet today?"
"You caught me."
"I thought you were a mechanic?"
"Client needs me to do some work on his bike, and he needs it done yesterday. I know the guy, and I know he's willing to pay, so I'm going to be going down to Arizona. Call it a house-call. But I think it'll take a couple days to get the bike in real good condition."
"Okay."
She didn't need a lie detector test to know that he was hiding something. He might be establishing an alibi for himself. If he suspected that she was on to him, it would be smart to be out of town for the third murder. That way, she wouldn't be able to accuse him of doing it. After all—he was four hours away.
But if he wasn't, and he really had some business to take care of down south, then what was it, and should she really be letting him go to take care of it?
The answer came before she took even a minute to think about it. She couldn't afford to tip her hand like that. She'd have to let him do whatever he wanted, even if what he wanted was to run roughshod over the law with abandon.
She had no other choice, not right now. So she'd keep her doubts to herself and wait for the right opportunity to arise. Then she'd nail him on whatever she could find.