The P.I. Contest

by C. J. Carmichael

  “You’re boiling the chicken?”

  “I’m making stock.”

  “What can I do?”

  She handed him an onion, one of the carrots and a stalk of celery. “Chop these coarsely and add them to the pot.”

  “So what’s your plan?” Jay asked as he set to work.

  “You mean for finding Hannah’s father?”

  “No. For filling those free evenings of yours.”

  She turned up the heat on the stove. “My short-term plan is to get a kitten.”

  “And long-term?”

  “I already told you what I want,” she said softly.

  “Children.”

  “Yes.”

  Jay added the chopped vegetables to the pot. “A woman like you should be able to have it all. A husband and kids and a cat. Hell, you could probably even go for a dog if you were greedy.”

  He passed her a wooden spoon, and she gave the pot a stir. “You make it sound so easy.”

  “I just think you should hold out for the whole package. If that’s what you want.”

  She turned the burner to simmer, then covered the pot. Already a delicious aroma was filling the kitchen. “I wonder if my hurry to start a family clouded my judgment where Conner was concerned. And I’m worried the same thing could happen again.”

  “You don’t strike me as the sort of person to make the same mistake twice.”

  “So I make a different mistake next time.” She shrugged. “Wouldn’t I be better off having a child and taking the pressure off my biological clock? Then if I meet the right guy, great. The whole package is still possible.”

  “That doesn’t strike you as a little backward? Having the baby first, and finding the husband later?”

  “Not really. No.” She thought of the cute baby at the grocery store and sighed. “We need to chop more vegetables. These are for the soup, not the broth, so they need to be much finer.”

  She showed Jay what she meant and they worked together in comfortable silence for a while. Only, it wasn’t that comfortable. She was very aware of Jay’s presence, of his wide shoulders, his strong, capable hands.

  He moved around the kitchen with ease, yet never lost that aura of masculine authority that seemed to be bred into his bones. She suspected Eric looked up to his uncle far more than Jay realized. The sullen behavior was just a mask. But what had put it there was a mystery to her.

  When it came time to strain the broth, Jay lifted the large pot while she held a colander over a second pot. Once the bones had been discarded, she added the freshly chopped veggies and some herbs.

  “What about you?” she asked as she wiped down the counters. “Now that you’re not flying around the world anymore, how are you going to meet women?”

  “Dating is the last thing on my mind right now.” His gaze drifted toward the living room.

  She didn’t need to wonder what was worrying him.

  “It sounds like his mother didn’t place much importance on education.”

  “Tracy wasn’t mean or abusive. She just didn’t put much effort into raising Eric. Given the example our mother set for her, I guess I can’t blame her.”

  “What was Tracy like?”

  “She was sweet and pretty. But all she cared about was having a good time. She also seemed to be a magnet for jerks. So maybe it was a good thing that none of her romances lasted long.”

  “What about Eric’s father?”

  “Oh, he took off as soon as he found out Tracy was pregnant. Never been heard from since.”

  “Have you ever tried to find him? For the support payments if nothing else?”

  “Nah. No point with a guy like that.”

  Kate nodded. She had seen too many of that type in her years as a cop. “Well, that’s tough on Eric.”

  “He hasn’t had an easy go of it,” Jay agreed. “Living with Tracy couldn’t have been fun. One minute she was ecstatically happy, the next despondent. It was her latest breakup that triggered the overdose that killed her.”

  Kate winced. What a brutal summary of a tragic death. “I’m sorry.”

  “The guy at the heart of it all didn’t even show up to her memorial service.” He gave her a halfhearted smile. “No wonder Eric’s a mess, huh? I should have made more of an effort with him.”

  “Did you see him very often?”

  “When he was younger. Once Tracy no longer needed a babysitter, though, she started to avoid me. I guess she was tired of the lectures about her drinking and her boyfriends and I just couldn’t stop myself from giving them.” He rubbed the back of his neck, his expression so weary and full of guilt, it made her heart ache.

  Eric’s life had been tough. But as far as she could see, Jay’s had been just as difficult. “Hopefully Eric will learn from his mother’s mistakes and start going to his classes.”

  “If he does, it’ll probably be thanks to you. You were really communicating with him today. There’s definitely something special about you, Kate Cooper.”

  They were standing several feet apart, yet Kate could feel the warmth in his gaze as he looked at her. There was gratitude in his expression, but something else, too.

  She felt connected to him in a way she couldn’t explain.

  And attracted in a way she didn’t want to acknowledge.

  Neither one of them was looking for a relationship right now. Was it possible that made them perfect for each other?

  She dried her hands, then said briskly, “In fifteen minutes, add the egg noodles to the broth. When they’re cooked, the soup will be ready to serve.”

  As she headed toward the door, he asked, “Aren’t you going to stay and eat with us?”

  She shook her head. “The soup is for Eric. I hope he feels better soon.”

  And then she left, because she was afraid of what might happen if she stayed any longer.

  WHEN ERIC WOKE UP, Jay filled a bowl with chicken soup, then brought it to the living room and set it on the coffee table.

  “Do you feel like eating anything?”

  “I’ll give it a try.” Eric leaned over the table, then took a spoonful. “Not bad.”

  “Kate made it for you.”

  “Yeah?” Eric nodded. “She’s nice.”

  Jay couldn’t agree more, which left him feeling pretty conflicted about the competition between them. But what could he do? He needed this job.

  He went back to the kitchen to grab the sandwich he’d made for himself, then returned to the living room to eat it.

  When they were both finished with dinner, he braced himself to say what needed to be said.

  “You’ve got to start going to school, Eric. Every day. No skipping.”

  Eric gave him an indolent stare. “Yeah?”

  “This is nonnegotiable.”

  “What’ll you do if I don’t do it? Call that number for social services? Maybe put me into foster care?”

  Jay felt sucker punched. “Why would you say something like that?”

  “I’m cramping your style, right? First you had to rearrange your apartment to make room for me. Then you had to quit flying. You’d probably be dating that hot redhead right now if I wasn’t around.”

  “Boy, have you got things wrong.”

  Eric set his mouth mutinously.

  “First off, I wouldn’t be dating Kate Cooper. She’s looking for something I can’t give her. And secondly, of course, I made room for you in my home. You’re family.”

  “Whatever that means.”

  Jay clenched his jaw, holding back an angry response. He couldn’t let this disintegrate into a shouting match between the two of them.

  He took a deep breath. “It means you’re stuck with me. And you’re stuck having to go to school. Got it?”

  Eric glared at him.

  Damn it, the kid had sounded almost normal when he’d been talking to Kate. Fifteen minutes with him, and Eric was back to being a rebellious, out-of-control teenager.

  Jay took the dirty dishes to the kitchen and wi
shed he had even a clue about what to do next.

  THE NEXT MORNING Eric’s fever was gone, so Jay insisted he get up and get ready for school. He’d already decided he wasn’t going to start work until he was certain that Eric was on school property.

  His nephew was sullen and uncommunicative as usual, even when Jay handed him the new cell phone.

  “What’s this for?”

  “It’s yours. I signed up for the basic plan. No voice mail, but you have unlimited local calls and text messages.”

  Eric turned the phone over in his hand, as if he were trying to find something wrong with it.

  “I’ve programmed my numbers in there,” Jay said. “Home, cell phone and office.”

  “Oh, I get it. This is so you can keep better tabs on me.”

  Hell. There was no winning with this kid. Jay grabbed his briefcase and his keys. “Come on, let’s get going. You don’t want to be late.”

  “I’ve got a few minutes. You go ahead.”

  “I don’t think so.” Jay held the door open and waited as Eric slipped into his running shoes.

  “What are you going to do?” Eric asked as he shuffled out into the hall. “Hold my hand and walk me into my classroom?”

  “If I have to.”

  AS SOON AS HE STEPPED outdoors, Jay’s foot sank through several inches of fresh snow.

  The storm must have passed through last night and now the city looked as clean as a miracle. But the dirty sludge was still underfoot, frozen into dangerous patches of ice. “Watch your step,” he warned Eric as he felt his own feet sliding beneath him.

  “It’ll be a mess at the airport,” Jay commented, mostly to himself. He thought about things he didn’t miss in his former career: deicing, slippery runways, muddled schedules and grumpy passengers.

  The subway ride with Eric wasn’t pleasant. They basically ignored one another, then moving in concert, disembarked at the Cathedral Parkway station.

  Without a word, Eric started walking toward his school and Jay hurried to catch up, several feet stretched between them, until they reached the boundary of school property.

  Then Jay stopped. “Look, I know that as soon as I turn my back, you can leave if you want to.”

  “No kidding.”

  “I’m asking you not to. Please, Eric. Go to school. Do it for yourself. For your future.”

  Eric dropped his gaze. Jay had no idea if his words had reached him, if anything he had to say mattered to the boy anymore. They stood there awhile, neither one saying a word. Then Eric turned and began to trudge toward the school.

  Jay watched until Eric had disappeared inside, then checked his watch. He was running so late, he decided he would take a taxi to the office. Holding up his arm, he signaled to a yellow cab he could see just down the block.

  AS KATE RUSHED through the new fallen snow toward the subway station, she battled an uneasy feeling of guilt. There was nothing underhanded about her going to the gym to meet Oliver Crane without telling Jay. They weren’t supposed to be working as a team. She was doing nothing wrong.

  Yet after yesterday, seeing him in his home and with his nephew, she couldn’t help wondering if he needed this job more than she did. She hurried down the stairs and spotted a train at the platform. She dashed past the doors just before they slid shut and grabbed for a pole as the car lurched forward.

  But this was always supposed to be her job, she reminded herself, steeling her resolve to win. Lindsay had tried to woo her to the agency so many times. It really did suck that when she was finally ready to say yes, Nathan had to have promised the same job to one of his friends.

  She supposed she was feeling conflicted, because she was used to working as part of a team—not as adversaries. And also, perhaps, she had allowed herself to develop too much of a friendship with Jay.

  He was her competition. She should be treating him like the enemy.

  Keeping people at arm’s length had never been her way. Still, she resolved to talk to him later. To remind him that she wanted this job and she intended to get it. Just because she’d made his nephew a batch of chicken soup last night, he shouldn’t expect her to go easy on him.

  The train screeched to a stop and she scrambled out with a score of other passengers. Like a river, the mass of them flowed along the platform, then up the stairs before spilling out to the gray, snowy city sidewalks.

  Kate waded through the muck toward a big stone building across from Central Park. The Athletic Club was an institution in the city, and it was a measure of Oliver Crane’s success that he had managed to obtain a membership.

  Once inside, she made her way to the lounge just past the reception area, as she’d been instructed, taking the liberty of ordering two fresh juice cocktails before settling at a small table.

  Oliver Crane kept her waiting twenty minutes, which didn’t surprise her. Consideration for other people didn’t strike her as one of his strong suits. When he finally arrived, she had no difficulty picking him out from the crowd. Though his hair was thinner and touched with gray, his ears still stuck out the way they had in his university yearbook.

  She stood to shake his hand, then gave him one of Lindsay’s business cards. He glanced down at it and frowned.

  “I thought you said your name was Kate Cooper.”

  “It is. I wrote my name and number on the back of the card. I’m representing The Fox & Fisher Detective Agency, which is why I wanted you to have their name and number, as well.”

  “So what is this matter you’re so urgent to discuss in private?”

  She waved him to the empty chair and offered him the juice cocktail, which he accepted grudgingly. So far, she was not impressed with this man. He was rude, self-important and, she suspected, chronically grouchy. Had he always been that way, she wondered, or had a career as a Wall Street lawyer corrupted him?

  There must have been something fun or charming about him at one time to attract Rebecca Wagner.

  “Our agency has been retained to find the biological father of Hannah Young. Her mother identified you as a possibility. You would have known her as Rebecca Wagner.”

  His eyes flashed wide at the mention of that name. A moment later, though, his expression was cool and disinterested. “I don’t remember anyone by that name.”

  “Did you go to New England College in 1984?”

  “Yes, but so did a lot of guys.”

  “Well, Rebecca only slept with three of them.”

  “And you think I was one of that select group?” he asked, in a tone of prissy superiority. “I’m afraid I must disagree.”

  Kate hadn’t expected an outright lie from the man, but she had come prepared. She dug the photocopied pages from the yearbook out of her carry case and showed him Rebecca’s photograph. “Does this refresh your memory?”

  He studied the picture carefully, then shook his head. “Afraid not.”

  Now Kate was getting angry. “Hannah isn’t looking for money, or support of any kind. She just wants to find out about her health history before she starts a family of her own.”

  For a moment she thought Oliver Crane would capitulate. Then his lips thinned and he shook his head. He set aside the fruit juice and placed her card on the table.

  “You’ve come to the wrong man. You’ll have to keep looking.”

  She had not found the wrong man, but she realized she had nothing to gain by pushing any further today. Instead, she picked up her card and slipped it into his jacket pocket as she rose from her seat. He didn’t notice, nor did he wait to help her with her coat or to walk with her to the street. He just took off as if he never wanted to see her again, which she was certain was the case.

  Kate hoped that later—maybe a few hours, maybe a few days—he would find that business card, and his conscience would give him a good hard nudge.

  She hoped. But she didn’t count on it.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  WHEN KATE ARRIVED back at the office, Nadine got up from behind her desk to greet her. “The DNA
results haven’t arrived yet,” she said. “And Jay’s in the office. I don’t think he’s in a very good mood.”

  Their well-dressed receptionist was wearing sleek brown boots today, with knee-length wool trousers, a hip, metallic belt and a red sweater. Somehow all these disparate elements came together to make perfect fashion sense on Nadine.

  Kate helped herself to coffee. “Thanks for the update.”

  Nadine looked at her expectantly. “Well? Did you get another DNA sample?” she asked in a hushed voice.

  “Afraid not.” Oliver Crane was beginning to look like a lost cause. Her only hope now was to find Gary Gifford. As long as they were able to test the DNA of two of the three men, they would still be able to tell Hannah and her husband which one was her father.

  The door to the office she shared with Jay was open.

  He was just wrapping up a phone call when she entered, and she found herself smiling at him, heart skipping like a teenager’s when he smiled back.

  “Okay. I’ll see you shortly.” He closed his phone. “Hi, Kate. I was wondering when you would show up.”

  Guilt nudged at her again, and she resolved to set things straight, right here and now.

  “I was following up a lead. Didn’t go as well as I hoped.”

  “I’d like to say I was sorry, but I can’t really do that. Look, Kate—”

  “Wait a minute. There’s something I need to say to you. About yesterday. Coming with you to get your nephew, then making that soup…You didn’t ask me to do any of that, I just sort of pushed my way in.”

  “Pushed? You were helping. And I really appreciated it.”

  “Thanks. I’m glad you think that way. But I need to make sure you understand that I still want the job at Fox & Fisher. I’m still determined to find Hannah’s father and solve the case before you do.”

  “You didn’t need to explain. I wouldn’t have expected anything else.”

  She was relieved to hear him say that. And yet, a tiny part of her felt disappointed, too. “Good. I’m glad we’re clear on that.”

  “Me, too. Because I’m determined to win this competition, as well.” He grabbed a sheaf of paper from his desk and shoved it into his briefcase. “See you later, Kate. I’ve got a lead of my own.”