by Hadley Quinn
Oh. Then I guess there’s that…
“She’s kidding, Dane,” Perry said upon reading my face. “She’s hasn’t had a lick of plastic surgery.”
I looked at Emily and chuckled. “Well I’d say whatever you have done for yourself really worked for you.”
“It runs in the family,” she winked. “If you meet Sasha, I’m sure you’d change your mind about dating.”
I didn’t even know where I stood with dating. Natalie had dumped me a few days ago and I hadn’t heard from her since. I did feel bad about that, but what could I do? It was the very reason why I didn’t want to change things with her. I swear saying you’ll always be friends with someone was a sure-fire way of jinxing your relationship from the start.
“Alright,” I agreed. “I don’t know why I’m doing this, but sure, I’d like to meet your niece.”
“Excellent!” Emily grinned, clasping her jewelry-clad hands together.
If her niece was half the looker she was, I was already winning. But I wasn’t so sure about lifestyle and personality. I loved the Downings as clients, but I didn’t think I could ever mesh with someone of that caliber in a relationship.
“I’ll get this finalized in the next day or two,” I nodded, motioning to their house design. “If you have any questions or concerns, call or email me, otherwise they’ll go to Jim for engineering.”
“Perfect,” Perry nodded. “Thank you, Dane.”
I’d noticed Emily writing on a notepad and she gently peeled the top layer off. She handed it to me and said, “I won’t give out Sasha’s number—I’d like that to be her choice—but we’d be honored if you could join us for Perry’s autism fundraiser next weekend. It’s Saturday night, and yes it’s formal attire but it’s very low-key. And every penny goes to charity,” she added, as if she could sense my hesitation because of the word “formal.”
But I consented. I told them I’d attend. I wasn’t a stranger to charity fundraisers, but truthfully, I was suddenly nervous. I was a beer drinking, loud-mouthed sports fan and I didn’t do hoity toity.
I was going to be out of my element and that kind of made me feel pissy.
20
Dane,
I’m going out on a limb here but… thank you for the flowers you sent me. I’m very moved that you’d be so thoughtful. Please keep in touch.
Sinclair xoxo
I stared at her email while I sat in front of my television. My heart was pounding and I could feel panic zing through every corner of my body. The flowers I sent her!? No, no, no, noooooo! I’d sent them and signed Madden’s name! How would she know they were from me!?
Groaning, I clicked ‘reply’ on her message. I was kind of humiliated at this point and couldn’t think of anything intelligent to say. God, she thought they were from me! I mean technically they were, but how would she know that?
A knock sounded at my door, and since I was in a pure state of panic, I popped up from the couch to answer it. Any distraction was a good distraction.
“Howdy ho, neighbor!”
Unless it was Peter. Shit, this day just couldn’t get any better, could it? I’d only gotten home from work a half an hour ago and was looking forward to just relaxing. Natalie called and chewed me out, asking why I didn’t tell her I was having her brother investigated. I explained it’d been my intention to fill her in but it slipped my mind, but that I also didn’t realize anything was being done at that point. She was pissed, told me that was like stabbing her in the back after she confided in me, blah blah blah.
She hung up on me.
Then I got a text from Emily Downing, reminding me about the charity event the next night. I was seriously planning to bail…until she said Sasha was looking forward to meeting me. But that could have been a fib. And then the email from Sinclair, and now fucking Peter at my door.
It’d been a rollercoaster end to my day.
I summoned some patience. It wasn’t much, but I at least felt capable of refraining from murder. “What can I do for you, Pete?” I asked drably.
“Well, now, it’s what can I do for you,” he chuckled.
I tried not to roll my eyes. I’m not sure if I succeeded or not. “I can’t wait.”
I swear to God he was trying to look inside my house. His eyes were darting over my shoulders, and he tried shifting casually from side to side. But he was using his smile to distract me, and I have to admit, maybe it worked. Because he looked like a fucking tool.
“I realize you’re a busy fella, Dane,” he continued. “Seems like you leave pretty early and get home pretty late.”
Seems like? Pssh. The guy probably kept a log of my departures and arrivals each day! “I work long hours.”
He nodded like he was being sympathetic. “Yes, you do. And I guess you could have a better job with more sensible hours—”
“A better job?” I scoffed. God, what was this guy’s deal? “I’m an architect. I design houses. Sometimes I work eight-hour days, sometimes it’s twelve. Sometimes I’m at the office, sometimes I work at home. It’s a job.”
He stared at me for a moment. I wasn’t sure if he actually knew what I did for a living or not, but the guy wasn’t an idiot. I’d brought blueprints home before. Surely he knew what those were, right?
“Yes, everyone needs a job,” he agreed. “But I’m just saying… Maybe there’s more to life than that? Go out and do some hiking or—”
“I’m just gonna stop you right there,” I sighed. I rubbed my forehead because a headache was beginning to form behind my eyes. I wasn’t even in the mood to mess with him; I was straight up pissed off. “What I do with my time is my business. I’m not even sure what your problem is with me, so I’ll just ask you outright. What’s your problem?”
He shook his head, either surprised or feigning surprise. “I don’t have a problem, Dane. I was only going to offer help if you need it. I know you live alone and might need a hand or two. You helped me out when Charlotte moved in and—”
“How’s that going for you?” I interrupted. “You two married now?”
He paused briefly. “Well…yes, of course. I wouldn’t have allowed her to move in if—”
“If you weren’t legally hitched. Yeah, I got it.”
He slightly nodded but something about his demeanor changed. “And what is it you ‘get’?” he asked in a lower voice.
I heard the oven beep with my pizza and I silently praised God. “Dinner’s done,” I grinned. “Gotta go, Pete—”
He actually prevented me from shutting my door. The fucker put his foot in the way to stop it. “If you need help with your yard, let me know.”
I peered behind him at my front lawn. I mowed it once a week, the grass was green, and I brought my garbage can in and out on time. “Pretty sure my yard looks fine.”
Again, he seemed to glance over my shoulder into the house before he answered. “Well…if you decide you need some help, my wife has friends in the cleaning business.”
It took me a few seconds to respond. “Maid service?”
“Yes. And one of them has a husband who does yard maintenance. I’ll give you a card—”
He’d reached into his pocket, but as soon as he took his body out of my doorway, I shut the door in his face. I seriously stood there for almost a minute, trying to make sense of his creepy activities. He watches my house, notices who comes and goes, insists I need a maid and a landscaping crew?
I finally remembered the pizza, and even though I’d had the oven on a timer and it shut off automatically, my crust was still overcooked. I took it out and dropped it on top of the stove, pissed that my stupid neighbor had ruined my dinner.
But I was absolutely getting creeped out by his behavior lately. It was one thing if he was just a weird guy, but for him to be in my business and know when I came and went was absurd!
I called Emmet again. He’d actually been running some errands and stopped by an hour later. I filled him in on everything I could, and while he listened, he ate th
e last two pieces of my overcooked pepperoni pizza.
“Sounds like a tool,” he mumbled as he wiped his mouth with a napkin.
“Man, you don’t even know the half of it. Hearing him talk is probably the worst part. His voice, and the stupid ways he says things.”
“He hasn’t physically threatened you?”
“No,” I scoffed. But just the thought of Peter acting that way was kind of amusing. I sort of wanted him to be confrontational so I had a reason to kick his ass.
“I can’t write up a complaint about a ‘howdy ho, neighbor!’”
I laughed. He’d said it the same way I had. “I don’t want to file a formal complaint. Can’t you just…?”
“I’ll look into it unofficially, Dane. But Jesus, three people in the past week you’ve asked favors on? Anyone else?”
I pretended to be serious as I nodded. “Yes, there are a couple of women…”
“Ha! Weed out your own psychos like the rest of us have to.”
Smiling, I shrugged. “Was worth a try. But her name is Sasha… Shit, don’t even know her last name.”
“You’d suck as a detective. Glad you didn’t follow your old man’s footsteps.”
“You’re not so keen yourself,” I countered. “Tell me about this birthday party I didn’t actually know about.”
I seriously loved the look of embarrassment on his face, but after he paused for a couple seconds, he shrugged. “So I’m not too smart on the social front. My bad.”
“Meh, no worries.”
I’m sure I could have asked him more details about it, but I figured Chloe was probably throwing the party and she might cry if she knew the surprise was ruined.
“Tell me about David Denman. Natalie called and chewed me out, saying I stabbed her in the back. Did you talk to him or something?”
“Talk to him?” Emmet scoffed with surprise. “No, kid, that whole crew was already under investigation. I didn’t even get a chance to look at him specifically. Some kind of fight broke out and the police were called to Danzig’s place. Few guys were arrested, drugs galore, Zig is in jail again.”
I blinked with confusion. “But what about Davey? Natalie was pissed off that I didn’t tell her someone was going to be in his business.”
Emmet slowly shook his head in thought. “No, David Denman’s name never came up in the police report. It wasn’t my bust, but maybe I can find some more information on it. What exactly did she say happened to him?”
“I don’t recall if she even did, just said she confided in me and felt like I’d stabbed her in the back.”
“Hmm. Far as I know he wasn’t one of the kids arrested.” He stood and turned for the front door. “I’ll check on it. And if there’s something important about that neighbor of yours, I’ll let you know. Other than that, he deserves his privacy just as much as you do.”
I scoffed at the irony, but I understood. I followed Emmet to the door as he opened it for himself. He said goodbye and mentioned Chloe, but something on the porch caught my eye and I might have screamed like a girl.
It was a bouquet of flowers—like the ones I’d had sent to Sinclair—but it was crawling with huge fucking spiders and they were spilling out all over my porch!
21
“Dude, you gone and pissed someone off big time.” Madden shook his head as he stared at the charred porch step where the heap of burned flowers and dozens of barbecued spiders had been.
Yeah, I fucking torched that shit.
“What the hell is going wrong in my life?” I groaned.
“Well let’s see here,” Madden said as he shut the door and held his fingers out to start counting them off.
“Shut up.”
He laughed. “Oh come on, man. Just trying to keep things light.”
“Light? I get a fuck ton of spiders delivered to my house last night and you want to joke about it?”
“Alright.” He cleared his throat and put on a serious face, but as soon as the pest control truck showed up, he wouldn’t stop laughing.
No way was I taking any chances. Hell yeah they were going to spray my house and all the potential spider babies. I’m not even sure I was going to ever sleep again. Last night I kept the lights on in my room so I could see if something touched me.
Once I spoke with the pest control guy, I shut the door and returned to Madden.
“Natalie would never do something like this,” he said.
“I agree.”
“And you’ve got that Holly chick you said you haven’t seen for a while?”
“Yeah, why would she suddenly wreak havoc in my life? She’s trying to maintain a low profile.”
His confusion was apparent. “Low profile for what?”
I’d never told him who her family was, but I just shook my head and answered, “I don’t know, she just likes her privacy.”
“The quiet ones can be pretty nasty,” he shrugged.
I had no reason to suspect Holly. It was true that maybe we didn’t end things on the best note—even though we’d never really gotten anything started—but I hadn’t seen or spoken to her since. And really, why would she start shit like this when she feared her privacy would be messed with?
“Look, there’s something I have to tell you,” I said, staring at the TV until I found the guts to admit what I’d done. I knew Madden could tell something was up by the way he was looking at me. “Promise me you won’t be mad?”
He scoffed, but was trying to play it cool with a smile. “Man, I got your back but no promises. What’s up?”
I paused for a bit, just find the right words. “Okay, well, when I talked to Emmet about helping me with Sinclair, he turned me down. I mean I understand. He had a valid point about her career depending on her anonymity and all that stuff. I get it. I agree.”
Madden shrugged. “Yeah, I kind of thought that too. But I was hoping.”
I smiled to match his. “Yeah, I’m curious. But I don’t want to ruin anything for her.” He nodded. “But Emmet suggested emailing her again or sending flowers to say thank you…so I did.”
Madden raised his eyebrows. “Well that’s cool, buddy. Good for you. Maybe she’ll…” He trailed off as his head slowly craned toward the front door. “Um, spider flowers?”
I snorted a scoff. “No, man. They were pretty. Roses and lilies and that sort of thing. Now that I’m thinking straight, I don’t believe it was the exact bouquet I ordered online—I mean I lit it up before I could be sure—but the same colors, at least. But what if her order might’ve come a little different?”
His eyes bugged out. “Dude, you mean she spidered them on your fucking porch!?”
“I have no clue. It’s seriously the only connection—I’d just sent them to her—but why the fuck would she do that? And yesterday I got an email from her, thanking me for them.”
He went silent for a few beats. “Well…someone at her work have a vengeance? Wanted her blamed for putting that shit on your porch.”
I sighed and ran a hand over my face. “There’s one more thing.” He waited in silence. “I put your name on the order for who it was from.”
Madden stared at me. “Wait, what?”
“I’m sorry, dude, I just thought maybe it would open that door for you and…” I trailed off, hoping he’d jump in so I didn’t start rambling on with excuses.
“No, I don’t think I’m mad. So why did she thank you?”
“That’s exactly what I’m trying to figure out. I specifically put your name on the ‘from’ portion, with Becker & Lewis.”
Again he went silent as he rubbed his beard with two fingers. “Wow, I’m totally intrigued by this. I think it calls for some serious investigating. What’d Emmet say?”
“Said he’d looked into it himself,” I shrugged. “I don’t know what that means, though. I was ready to head to that radio station and find someone to give me answers.”
“Yeah, I hear ya. Wow, that’s fucking weird. Hey, show me the email from her,” he motioned
.
I grabbed my phone and pulled it up, and then handed it over. He took a moment to scan it, and then shook his head. “Well, sounds like she wasn’t quite sure it was you. ‘Going out on a limb’? She was guessing. But she sounds…appreciative.”
“Yeah, that’s what I thought. And they were supposed to be from you. I was maybe hoping she’d look into it and find you or… Fuck, I don’t know, man.”
“Yeah, I’m not mad. I’m flattered, actually. Thanks for thinking of me. Not sure what I’d do if I did meet her, though. You know I’m a fucktard.”
I laughed. “Well…sometimes. But I was hoping this could be different.” It was a Saturday morning, just after ten. I flipped through a few sports stations until I found a game to watch. During that, I filled him in on Peter’s most recent activities as well.
“What. In. The. Fuck.” Madden’s mouth hung open. “That dude is one weird ass mofo! He wants you to have a yard crew? I mean is he paying for this shit because maybe you should just say yes.”
I laughed along with him, but shook my head. “I don’t want any connection to that fucker.”
“Ditto. God, Dane. Why is your life so exciting?”
“Please. Take something. Anything.”
“Hmm.” He pretended to consider it. “Hey, I’m okay with you sending Sinclair my way.”
“What if she’s a total dog?”
“Meh.”
“What if she’s married?”
“You’d think she would have said something after your last ‘gesture’.”
True. But I didn’t know a thing about this woman. Felt like I was playing with fire. (As my mind went to torching that fucking spider nest). She could be anyone, and just the thought of that made me feel like the biggest idiot. Obviously she was educated, hence her ability to have her own radio segment. But beyond that, I had no idea what I was dealing with.
“Let’s just wait and see what Emmet comes up with,” Madden said. “Maybe we’re just too weirded out to think clearly about this. Let’s let the orca guy do his job, then we roll on the bikes.”
