Kicking the Habit

by Kari Lee Townsend

  Cece patted his knee. “Detective Jackson says you’re welcome. He knows how close you were to the senator. We all do.” She donned a sympathetic expression, and Ace had to give her credit once more. She was damn good at relating to people and getting them to come out of their shells. Maybe sticking to her like a bad habit wasn’t so bad after all, and letting her take the lead now and then wasn’t a completely bad idea. For now, he decided to roll with it.

  “Not the Feds.” Eleanor pursed her lips. “They are relentless. They go on and on and on, not believing a word you say. I’m not a fool. I know what the whole town thought. Just because I was in love with Senator Sloan, doesn’t mean I was having an affair with him.”

  “You’re absolutely right,” Cece replied. “Love comes in all forms.”

  “Exactly,” Eleanor responded.

  “Kind of like you and the senator’s campaign manager, Li Wang. We all know you can love someone as just a friend.” She shot a quick glance at Ace and then refocused on the organist, leaving Ace to wonder what the hell that meant. “I’m sure you were friends for years,” Cece continued, “working so closely on the campaign together.”

  Eleanor stared at Cece as though she were the smartest woman on the planet. “You’re good. You really truly have a gift, Sister. No wonder your clinic is such a huge success.”

  Cece flushed again and looked as though she were about to cry in gratitude.

  Ace agreed, she was damn good. He felt like he didn’t even exist as he sat quietly, letting Sister Mary Sleuth work her magic.

  “Thank you,” Cece said modestly, “but it didn’t take a genius to see what was going on with you two.”

  “You’d be surprised,” Eleanor responded. “Pretty much everyone thought Mr. Wang and I were an item. I swear it’s nearly impossible for men and women to be just friends.”

  Ace shot a glance in Cece’s direction and caught her staring intensely at him. She flushed cotton candy pink when she caught him looking at her, and then she turned back toward the organist. “I understand and can relate. I haven’t known that many men outside of the church, but I have to say that men on the ‘outside’ are different: hard to understand and hard to relate to. It’s almost like they’re aliens.”

  “There’s a book about that, you know.” Eleanor laughed.

  “You don’t say? Wow, I really have been out of touch for a very long time.” Cece laughed back.

  Ace shook his pounding head and stifled the urge to comment.

  “Anyway, the senator and I were just friends, much to my dismay. He is such a wonderful man. A marvelous catch. A great husband and father, but I knew he preferred men for a while now.”

  Ace dropped his crossed foot to the floor and leaned forward. “You did?”

  “I know that the town had no clue, but like I said, we were close. His wife knew. I know he loved her and his children as well. That was enough for her, but she would never admit it to anyone. God forbid it leaked out and ruined his reputation. It was easier for her to blame me for the affair than it would have been to come clean to the public. She would have been scandalized, and he would have been ruined. Not to mention the embarrassment it would have caused his children and his parents. His own father was in denial. He practically ruined me in his quest to make sure everyone believed me to be the home wrecker, but I wasn’t the real home wrecker.”

  “Who was?” Ace asked, almost afraid to speak and ruin the moment.

  Eleanor stared at him as though just now seeing him for the first time, and for a moment, he was afraid she would clam up again.

  Cece reached out before he could speak and did the most remarkable thing. She grasped Eleanor’s hand and said, “You don’t have to say anything, Eleanor, but know this. We want to catch the senator’s murderer as much as you do. Anything you can tell us that might lead to the capture of the animal who murdered him would be greatly appreciated. I also promise you that we will not rest until justice is done.”

  Eleanor stared at Cece for a long moment, and then finally said, “I wasn’t Senator Sloan’s mistress. His campaign manager, Li Wang, was.”

  “But you said mistress. Li Wang is a man,” Ace stated.

  “Ah, but Li was not always a man,” Eleanor clarified. “He was once a she.”

  Episode 7

  Chapter 13

  Thursday morning Cece sat beside Ace as they drove to Senator Sloan’s campaign office to talk to Li Wang. It was the end of October in Massachusetts, so the days were getting shorter and colder. Today was no exception as the dark, gloomy clouds broke open and rain started to fall. It wouldn’t be long before it turned to snow. Cece shivered and buttoned her pea coat up all the way. Detective Jackson must have read her body language, because he reached forward and cranked up the heat.

  The day before, Eleanor had revealed that Li was the one the senator was having the affair with, not her. They’d asked her about Mumfry as well, but that had turned up nothing new. She wasn’t exactly his friend. He cleaned the church while she played the organ, so they ran into each other a lot. She had taken pity on him and been nice to him because he’d seemed so lost and alone, but even she admitted he was a troubled man.

  Hopefully, their talk with Li this morning would turn out better. Time was running out to solve this case, and they still had so many unanswered questions, with very few leads. They pulled into the parking lot of the office building, and Li Wang came out, looked around, and then climbed into his car. He drove past them just as Ace cut the engine.

  “Hey, isn’t that Mr. Wang?” Cece pointed through the rain-spattered windshield to the striking Asian man behind the wheel of a luxury car going way too fast.

  “Sure is.” Ace cursed softly, half under his breath, and then restarted his truck.

  “What do we do?” Cece asked, as a zing of adrenaline shot through her.

  Ace pulled out after Wang and turned the wipers on high. “We follow at a safe distance, being careful not to lose him but staying out of sight. I want to know what he’s up to. Where he’s going.”

  “Ooh, like a stakeout?” Cece clapped her hands.

  “No, that’s when we sit tight in an inconspicuous spot and watch him, waiting him out. This would be called tailing a person of interest.”

  “Staking, tailing—it’s all the same to me.” She waved her hands about as she talked. “I’m just glad I get to tag along.”

  Ace glanced at her with sparkling green eyes, an amused expression on his chiseled face. “Trust me, Sister. It’s not nearly as exciting as it sounds.” He shook his head. “Besides, I feel better with you tagging along so I can keep my eye on you. Every time I order you to stay put, you never do, and the last thing I need is for you to get hurt again.”

  Stay put? She mused. “I’m not a dog, you know.”

  “I know.” He arched a brow at her and then said, “Apparently, I am.”

  “Keep being a bad boy, and I’ll have to put you in the doghouse.” She tsked.

  He just grunted.

  “So, should we get donuts?” she couldn’t resist asking.

  “Yeah, sure,”—he paused for a beat before finishing—“right after we pick up some holy water.”

  “Touché.” She laughed softly, and he smiled back a genuine smile that brought out the crow’s feet at the corners of his eyes. She had to look away before she did something stupid. “Where do you think he’s going?”

  “I have no clue.” The detective focused on the road. “It seems odd that he’s leaving the campaign office after just getting there.”

  “Not necessarily. Maybe he’s finished wrapping up the senator’s campaign. I mean the funeral is over, the tribute is finished, and I did see him talking with Councilwoman Reynolds, so maybe there’s nothing more for him to do.”

  “Maybe.” Ace shrugged. “I wonder what he plans to do now. Stay in politics, work on someone else’s campaign, or try his hand at something new maybe?”

  “Who knows.” Cece tucked a strand of loose hair
back into her bun, thinking hard—until she saw where Li was pulling into. “Somehow I doubt any of those things involves buying a gun, though.”

  “What do you mean?” Ace frowned.

  “Look.” Cece pointed to the sign above the store in front of Li’s car.

  Guns, Ammo & Company.

  “Interesting.” Ace turned into the parking lot of the hardware shop across the street and waited.

  “So, would this be considered a stakeout?” Cece looked up at him excitedly.

  “Yes, Sister Mary Sleuth.” His sarcasm oozed over every word.

  She rolled her eyes. “Okay, Watson.”

  “Watson’s the sidekick. I would be Holmes.” He pulled his bomber jacket closed, slid down in the seat, and leaned his head back, crossing his arms over his chest and watching the brick building across the street.

  “You would be if you had the kind of deductive reasoning Sherlock possesses, but methinks you don’t, or this case would already be solved.” She fluttered her lashes at him and gave him a smirk of her own.

  “Very funny.”

  “I have my moments.” She slouched a little, mimicking his movements, and folded her hands in her lap. “What do we do now?”

  “We’re doing it.” He stared straight ahead through the rain, which had let up a little.

  “But we’re not doing anything.”

  “Exactly.”

  “Well, this is boring.” She pursed her lips.

  “Told ya.”

  “How old are you?” She scowled.

  He sighed. “Old enough to know I made a mistake in bringing you along. Besides, you’re the one who’s acting like you’re waiting for the recess bell to ring in elementary school. It’s called patience, Sister. You of all people should know that it’s a virtue.”

  She took a deep breath and eased the tension out of her shoulders. “You’re right.”

  “I am?” His brows shot up, and he gaped at her. “I couldn’t possibly have heard you correctly. Maybe you need to say that again.”

  She counted to ten. “I’m working on not being so stubborn. Let’s just say patience is something that’s going to take a few more trips to Father Flannigan’s confessional and an act of contrition or two.”

  The mention of the priest and the confessional erased the smug grin from the detective’s face. Before either of them could say another word, Li Wang came out of the gun shop, carrying a small bag just big enough to hold a pistol. He looked fidgety and upset; then his shoulders slumped, and he slid behind the wheel of his car, taking off at a rapid pace once more.

  Cece’s alarmed gaze shot to Ace’s. “That doesn’t look good, Sherlock,” she said.

  He rubbed his whiskered jaw. “No it doesn’t, Watson. Hold on.”

  No words were necessary to know what they had to do. Ace threw his truck into gear and took off after Wang before he could do something stupid, and Cece prayed they wouldn’t be too late.

  ***

  Ten minutes later, Ace knocked on Wang’s apartment door. “Mr. Wang? Open up, it’s the police. We know you’re in there.”

  There was a long pause, and then the door slowly swung open. “What do you want?”

  “A minute of your time,” Ace said. “I’m Detective Jackson, and this is Miss Monroe. We’d like to ask you some questions.”

  “Now is not a good time. I was right in the middle of something.”

  “We know exactly what you were in the middle of.” Ace gave him a hard look.

  “I didn’t do anything wrong, and I’ve already answered the FBI’s questions,” Wang responded defensively.

  “We’re not the FBI,” Ace countered. “What’s the problem, Wang? You got something to hide? Like maybe you’re the person Senator Sloan was having the affair with?”

  Wang’s face paled. “But how …?”

  “Never mind that. You need to—”

  “Relax, Mr. Wang.” Cece placed her fingertips on Ace’s lips, giving him a look that said I’ve got this, and his heart skipped a beat. She focused back on the campaign manager, who had already calmed considerably. “You need to quiet yourself and take a breath. How about some tea? Do you have any?” She finally removed her fingers from Ace’s mouth, and he could breathe again, but the heat from her touch still lingered.

  Li quickly nodded and led the way inside.

  Damn she was good, Ace thought. She had such a natural way with people. They trusted her, felt safe with her. While he, on the other hand, felt anything but safe when she got too close. And when she touched him, he’d damn near come undone.

  Cece shot Ace an odd look. “You coming, Detective?”

  Ace swallowed hard, refusing to acknowledge the fact that he could still feel her touch. “Sure, yup, right behind you.”

  Ace sat in a chair, and Li sat on the couch across from him, while Cece made herself at home in his kitchen and fixed him a cup of tea. After handing him the cup, she sat beside the man.

  “So, Mr. Wang—”

  “Please, call me Li.”

  “Alright, Li then.” She smiled kindly and used a gentle tone. “Feeling better?”

  He nodded, but shot Ace a wary look.

  “Look, Wang. Eleanor Meriwether told us everything. We know what happened so you might as well come clean,” Ace said bluntly, running out of patience.

  Cece shot him a disapproving frown.

  “I didn’t mean to run his father off the road,” Li started rambling as he stood up and paced. “I only wanted to talk to him. None of this would have happened if it wasn’t for him.” His eyes welled up with tears, and he turned away. “He ruined my life.”

  Ace glanced at Cece, and she looked as confused as he was. They communicated silently to play along.

  “Come, have a seat, Li. It’s going to be okay. We just want to help.”

  He sat beside her once more. “No, it’s not. Nothing will ever be the same again because Stanley is dead. I don’t care what happens to me anymore.” He glanced to the bag from the gun shop.

  Ace kept a close eye on him as he said, “If you’re the one who ran old man Sloan off the road, then why didn’t he tell the police who it was?”

  “God forbid our affair might leak out to the press. When Sloan found out about Stanley and I, he threatened to cut off all funding to his campaign if he didn’t break it off with me. I knew Stanley loved being a politician, but I truly thought we had something special. I never imagined he would choose his career over me. I was such a fool.”

  “Is that why you went to talk to Mr. Sloan?” Cece asked. “To see if you could get him to change his mind?”

  “Exactly,” Li said, looking at her as though he’d found someone who finally understood. “I just wanted to talk to him, but he took off in his car. I followed him, but he sped up and then he spun off the road. I panicked and left the scene.”

  “Or did you leave him there, hoping he would die and leave you and the senator in peace?” Ace interjected.

  “I admit I wouldn’t have been heartbroken if he had died, but no, that wasn’t my intention at the time.”

  “And maybe you killed the senator in a jealous rage. If you couldn’t have him, then you didn’t want anyone else to have him either,” Ace added.

  “That’s not true.” Li sat up, ramrod straight. “I would never hurt anyone, let alone Stanley.”

  “Yet you conveniently called in sick that day and can’t prove you were home alone.” Ace narrowed his eyes.

  “I was home alone. I was a mess.” Li wilted back against the couch. “Stanley refused to take me back, and his father refused to speak to me. There was no way I could have functioned at work that day.”

  “Yet, interestingly, you bought a gun today. Something tells me you could function just fine pulling a trigger.”

  “I have a license. I bought the gun for safety. There’s a lot of dangerous things happening around town lately.” Li’s gaze shot to Cece, tracing over the faint bruises still left on her throat.

 
Ace had to wonder if it was a warning. He didn’t think Li was involved, but maybe he knew who was. “Do you know anything about the person responsible for attacking Miss Monroe?”

  “Sadly, no. I’m just saying politicians aren’t the only corrupt people in this town. There are eyes everywhere. It’s too late for me, but if I were you I’d watch my back and not trust anyone,” he said the last part to Cece.

  “It’s never too late, Li, and certainly nothing is worth hurting yourself over,” Cece said. “Please tell me you’re not a danger to yourself. Just know I am here to help if you need it.”

  “Thank you, Sister, but I don’t think that anything can help these days.”

  “Telling us all you know would be a damn good start,” Ace said.

  “Detective, I don’t think—”

  “It’s okay, Miss Monroe,” Li interjected. “Believe me, if I knew anything that would help put the animal that killed Stanley behind bars, I wouldn’t hesitate to say so. Unfortunately, I don’t.”

  “So you say,” Ace said. “Just do me a favor and don’t leave town anytime soon.”

  “Call me if you need anything,” Cece said.

  “Be careful, Miss Monroe. You’re a good woman. It would be a real shame if something bad were to happen to you.” Li looked at Ace. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have things to do. I’m sure you can find your way out, Detective.” Li stood and walked upstairs, grabbing the legally licensed bagged gun along the way, and there wasn’t a damn thing Ace could do about it.

  ***

  Cece and Ace sat in Millie’s Diner, having a late lunch. The diner wasn’t busy. Most of the lunch crowd had already gone back to work, and it was too soon for the dinner crowd to arrive. That was a blessing since she wasn’t in the mood to socialize. She picked at her Caesar salad while Ace devoured a burger.

  “I don’t have a good feeling about this,” she said, shaking her head. “What if something happens to Li? We shouldn’t have left him. My gut is usually right about these things. Something is going to happen today. I can feel it.”