“And it didn’t occur to him that Sam was asking him to manipulate the children so that there were no witnesses to the murder?”
“He told me he asked Sam point blank if he killed Valerie, and when Sam said no, Vee said he believed him.”
“That’s just great!” said Anna. “I can’t build a case on a gut feeling!”
The old woman smiled a knowing smile. “You better than anyone should know how powerful a gut feeling can be.”
Anna brought her gaze away from the old woman’s intense eyes and looked down at her notes. “What about the markets? If you and your nephew are so innocent, how did you know about them?”
“Sam told Vee.”
“Of course he did.”
“You clearly already decided that Sam Cottons is enemy number one here, so I don’t know if anything I’m going to say will convince you otherwise, but Sam is not the killer you think he is.”
“He tried to abduct me on the side of the road my first night in town,” said Anna. “So sorry if I have a chip on my shoulder when it comes to Sam Cottons but I think given the circumstances, my bias is justified.”
“I’m sorry,” said Ursula. “I didn’t know. I’m not saying Sam is innocent. He got mixed up with that gang, and I’m sure he stood by while the rest of them did horrible things, but I don’t think he’s a killer. After Valerie died, Vee said Sam called him all the time. He’d start out by saying mean things, calling Vee names, then before Vee could hang up, he’d start talking about Valerie and he’d get real emotional. He’s just a kid who got wrapped up in something much, much bigger than him and he’s answer to people who will not just murder him, but his entire family, if he doesn’t cooperate. He called Vee after he learned they took Sal’s daughter, and Vee called me and that was why I was at the market.”
“What exactly was your plan?”
“I was going to find the person who bought the girl and convince them to give her to me.”
Anna nodded. It was a very convenient story, it seemed Usula had an answer for everything. This was the problem with detective work: when someone has an answer to everything, it means either they are telling the whole truth or they are lying through their teeth.
“I’m going to have to talk to your nephew,” said Anna.
“I know,” said Ursula. “But can you do it here, instead of making a scene at his job. He can’t afford to get fired and I’m worried what it will look like if the deputy walks into Sal’s and demands to talk to one of his waiters.”
“I’ll give him the chance to come in voluntarily and talk to me,” said Anna. “But if he doesn’t show, or if I think something fishy is going on, I’ll arrest him on the spot, regardless of if he’s at work or not.”
“Okay,” said Ursula. “I’ll make sure he comes in.”
“Good. I think I’ll call him right now.”
Stella cleared her throat from the other side of the room. She shot Anna a look.
“What?” said Anna.
“It’s getting close to five and I thought you had plans tonight.”
Anna shook her head. “The plans can wait.”
“The plans,” said Stella. “Are probably cooking you dinner as we speak. If you’re late, it’ll be cold.”
Anna groaned. “Fine.” She looked at Ursula. “Have Vee be here first thing tomorrow.”
“I will bring him in myself,” said Ursula. “You have my word.”
“Alright then, you’re free to go.”
Building Trust
Anna was late to dinner at Noah’s. After talking with Ms. Jones, she’d gone through her chicken scratch, sore excuses for notes and rewritten them cleanly on a new sheet of paper, trying to make sense of all she’d heard as she did so.
She would have completely lost track of time and stayed well into the evening if Stella hadn’t thrown a pencil at her from across the room at 5:30 and told her that if she didn’t go home and get ready that instant, she would hide all of Anna’s notes from her for the rest of the week. Anna knew she was bluffing, but she left the station anyway, secretly excited to have something else to focus on for a few hours.
“Wait!” Stella yelled to Anna just as she was getting to her car. “I forgot to give this to you.” Flaily behind her as she ran was a black garment bag with an evidence tag on the hanger.
“What is it?”
Stella got to the car and unzipped the bag. It was the purple dress she’d been wearing when she was abducted.
“How did you get this?” Anna leaned her weight onto one crutch and reached out to touch the fabric. It hadn’t been washed since that night, but luckily she hadn’t sweat much during the twelve or so hours she’d been in it, having been tied up in a trunk of a car driving on a cold winter’s day.
“They found it in the raid of the market,” Stella explained. “They grabbed every article of clothing they could find in case there was any DNA evidence. They ran this one for prints already and I asked the Sheriff if it would be okay if I took it back, seeing as it was my dress. He said yes, and I thought I would surprise you with it.”
Anna smirked. “Noah did make a special request that whenever we got around to having dinner I should wear this. He’s going to be totally floored.”
“Good!” said Stella. “That’s what I was hoping.”
“I better get home,” said Anna. “I’m late as it is.” Anna struggled to hold the dress and get the door open while balancing on the crutches. Stella opened the driver’s seat door for her and laid the dress out in the back seat.
“Okay! See you later tonight!” Stella winked. “Or perhaps tomorrow morning.”
Now, as she remembered this conversation, a pit formed in Anna’s stomach where she stood in front of the door to Noah’s apartment. She hesitated before knocking, and tried to regulate her breathing. Nothing had to happen. Noah was not the type of guy who would have expectations of… that nature.
She forced her hand forward and rapped her knuckles on the door twice.
The door swung open so quickly, Anna guessed Noah might’ve been waiting just on the other side.
“Hey,” he said. He took in her appearance. The purple dress, slightly curled hair, and some lipstick. “You look amazing. The dress.”
“Stella found it,” she said. “I know it’s a little cheesy, wearing it again, like something out of a bad rom-com, but you did ask for this so it’s sort of your fault.”
He held his hand up, palm facing her. “I take full responsibility. C’mon in.” He stepped aside and let her into his medium sized, modestly furnished apartment. She hobbled past him on her crutches, suddenly feeling a lot less sexy.
Anna wasn’t sure what exactly she’d been expecting in regards to Noah’s living quarters, but it was certainly something more extravagant than this. She knew Noah was a multi-millionaire, and this apartment, while nice, was wholly unimpressive. Which, in fact, was the very thing that impressed Anna the most. She never much cared for what her apartment or office looked like, as long as she could be comfortable working or living in a space, that was all that mattered. She appreciated that Noah seemed to share these values.
“The kitchen is this way,” he said, leading the way down the hall, passed the living room and to the right. “Dinner is almost done.”
“It smells amazing,” said Anna.
“Thanks,” he said. “I’m trying my hand at a new recipe for Chicken Parm. We’ll see how it turns out.”
“Do you cook often?”
There were two stools pushed up against the small island in the center of the kitchen. Anna sat down in one and Noah promptly poured her a glass of wine. She leaned her crutches against the counter.
“I only started recently,” he said. “Is red okay?”
“Red is great,” she said, accepting the glass.
“I haven’t been working as much lately,” he said. “Because of… well, you know what happened.”
Anna felt her cheeks flush as she recalled the fight they had gotten in
to a few weeks before, in which she said some pretty nasty things to Noah about having botched his last security job.
“Right,” she said. “Well I guess that’s one upside to taking some time off. You get to explore all the hobbies you never had time for.”
He took a sip from his own glass of wine. “Cooking is nice, but there’s a reason I didn’t become a chef. There’s nothing quite like solving a case, you know? The rush of investigating and catching the bad guy, it’s addictive. I needed to take a break and I’m glad I did, but I’m ready to get back out there.”
Anna laughed. “You don’t need to explain it to me. I know all about that addictive rush.”
“I know you do.”
They shared a moment of eye contact that Anna was almost sure would turn into a kiss, but then the oven started to beep and Noah turned his attention back to dinner.
“I hope you’re hungry,” he said.
He pulled the chicken out of the oven and a delicious smell wafted through the kitchen. Anna felt her mouthwatering already and she took a big gulp of wine to help wash some of the excess saliva down. Nothing kills a mood quite like drool.
“You can go ahead into the dining room if you want.”
“We aren’t eating here?” She looked down at the heavy boot she still had to wear on her bad ankle.
Noah shook his head. “I thought we might as well take advantage of the dining room, seeing as I’ve never had a reason to use it before. That is, if you’re okay with moving. It’s just in the other room”
“It’s fine,” she said, standing up on her good leg and starting to hop, careful not to go too fast for fear of spilling her wine. “You don’t have people over?” What she really wanted to ask was whether or not he often had dates over to his place, but she hadn’t had enough wine yet to be so bold.
“No,” said Noah. “I generally like to be alone.”
“Me too. Which probably doesn’t bode well for our prospects as a couple.”
Noah followed her, having put the chicken on to a large serving platter and carrying that with two hands. “A couple? Who said we were going to become a couple?”
“We aren’t,” said Anna, taking a seat at the immaculately set table. “It simply wouldn’t work.”
Noah put the chicken, ran back for his glass of wine, then took his seat across from her. “And why not?” he asked.
“Because we are both too in love with our job to fall in love with another person, and we both enjoy being alone too much to let someone permanently invade our personal space.” She took a large drink, finishing a good portion of her glass. “I think we’d have a few great dates, don’t get me wrong, and we would probably have compatibility in the bedroom, but I doubt this whole thing will end in happily ever after.”
Noah nearly chocked on his sip of wine when she mentioned the bedroom. He coughed a few times and then his fit turned into one of laughter.
“What?” said Anna. “What’s so funny?”
“It’s just interesting to hear you talk about our potential sex life seeing as…” He took a deep breath in and instead of finishing his statement, he reached for his glass of water.
“Seeing as what? Seeing as I’ve never had sex?”
“Well, frankly, yes.”
“I’ve done other stuff before, you know.”
“I did not know,” said Noah, grinning.
“You can’t smell everything,” said Anna. “You have no idea what I have and haven't done, besides the one technicality, so don’t go assuming you do. It’s unbecoming.”
Noah smirked. “Okay,” he said. “But to be fair, you’ve been making some grand assumptions tonight as well.”
“Like what?”
“Well, you said I was too in love with my work to fall in love with someone else, which is you just assuming I’ve never been in love or had a serious relationship.”
Anna nodded. “I guess that was my assumption yes. Was I wrong?”
“Quite.”
Noah didn’t offer up any further explanation, and while Anna was curious about his past relationships, she worried hearing about them right then, with nothing but wine and nervous butterflies in her stomach, would make her feel more uncomfortable.
“Let’s eat,” she said.
Noah carved the chicken and Anna served both of them heaping helpings of the sweet potato side dish from the ceramic container in the middle of the table. The chicken was melt-in-your-mouth delicious and Anna couldn’t help but let out a groan of delight after taking her first bite.
“You like it?” Noah asked.
“It’s very good.”
“I’m glad.” He took a small bite of sweet potato. “So, anything new with the case?”
Anna sighed heavily. “Thank god you asked. Stella told me not to talk about work, but I’ve been dying to tell you. And since you’re the one who brought it up, not me, she can’t be mad.”
“I think that logic is sound,” he said. “Tell me.”
Anna put her fork down and launched into a detailed, somewhat overdramatized explanation about what she’d learned from Ms. Jones.
“They are vampires!” Noah cried at the point in the story that Anna revealed Ursula and Vee were manipulators.
“They don’t use that word,” said Anna. “And they definitely do not suck blood. They call themselves manipulators.”
“That’s way less cool,” said Noah. “It’s almost as lame as ‘intuit’.” He flashed Anna a smile and she laughed. “Honestly though, I can’t believe you came here tonight. After learning all of that, I would have thought for sure you’d rather spend the night interviewing Vee and potentially heading over to put Sam Cottons in handcuffs.”
“Don’t think the thought didn’t cross my mind,” she said. “But I figured we already had to raincheck once, I didn’t want to do it again. Besides, Stella’s right. It’s been nice to be out of the office and away from it all. Vee is coming into the station first thing tomorrow morning.”
“May I come as well? I would like to hear what Vee has to say.”
“Of course.” Anna picked up her utensils and went back to her dinner.
Noah was quiet for the rest of their meal. Anna interrupted the silence every once in a while to give her thoughts on the new developments within the case, and to reiterate how delicious the food is. Once they were done eating, Noah stood up and grabbed the wine bottle from the kitchen to refill their glasses.
“I shouldn’t have too much,” Anna said as he poured heavily. “I have to drive home soon.”
“Right,” said Noah. “I forgot. I could call you a car if you’d prefer. That way you don’t have to worry about it.”
Anna shifted uncomfortably in her chair. Was he trying to get her drunk?
“That’s okay,” she said. “I need to have my car at home to get to the station early in the morning.”
“I could pick you up on my way,” he said. “Or you could always just crash here, on the couch if you’d like. It pulls out into a bed.”
Anna was beginning to feel frustrated and a little bit angry. She went to stand, forgetting about her injury for a split second, and when she put weight on her bad ankle, her knee buckled and she crashed back down into her seat.
“Are you alright?” He reached out towards her but she pushed his hands away.
“I’m fine,” she said. “Can you just bring me my crutches please?”
“Yeah, sure.”
He ran to the kitchen and brought them back for her. “Here you go.”
“Thanks,” she said, standing up and trying not to wince, even though her ankle was aching. “I think I’m going to head home.”
“What?” said Noah. “So soon?”
“Yeah, it’s getting late and I have an early morning. Thanks for dinner, it was great.”
“Did I do something wrong?” asked Noah. “I thought we were having a pretty good time, but now you seem sort of upset.”
“It’s nothing,” she said. “I just want to g
o now.”
“But why?”
“Why are you trying to make me stay?” Anna raised her voice and felt a hot stinging sensation behind her eyes.
“I’m not!” said Noah. Anna scoffed. “I mean, I am, but only because I enjoy your company and I wanted to talk some more.”
“Yeah, right.” She rolled her eyes. “Talk.”
“What are you implying?”
“Nothing, never mind. I’m leaving.” She hopped along with her crutches out of the dining room and into the hallway.
Noah followed her. “Are you insinuating what I think you are?”
“I’m not insinuating anything,” she called over her shoulder. “I’m just tired.”
Noah stopped short of the front door and let out a breathy, low laugh. “I can’t believe you think so little of me.”
Anna was at the door but she didn’t open it. She twisted around to see him. He was shaking his head and looking down at his feet.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “If something I did or said made you feel like I was expecting you to sleep with me. I would have thought after all the time we’ve spent together that you would know me better than that, but apparently not. I had no expectations of that sort, I was simply providing you with some options and trying to take some of the stress of tonight and tomorrow morning off.”
Anna breathed in a heavy, ashamed breath. “This isn’t your fault,” she said. “I shouldn’t have freaked out on you. I just thought because you were being so insistent about me staying longer and me having more wine that maybe you were trying to facilitate a situation in which…”
“In which I would take advantage of you?” Noah’s eyes were wide, he was looking at her now. He looked like he was about to cry, which made the tears finally escape from Anna’s eyes.
“No,” she said. “No, of course not. I know you would never do something like that.” She went to him as fast as she could given her injury. Once she was close enough, she let her crutches fall and she wrapped her arms around his neck. He hugged her back, somewhat supporting her so she wouldn’t topple over. “I’m sorry I overreacted.”
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